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“Hello?”
“Gabriel!”
The hair on my arms and the back of my neck stands on end. It’s a voice I haven’t heard in over twenty years, a man with a deep timber and an authoritative tone only matched by my own.
“Chet, you son of a bitch,” I say quickly. “Where are you? Where’s Raquel?”
“Fifth Arrondissement,” he replies hastily. Somewhere in the background, I hear gunfire. “There’s an old, abandoned warehouse. We’re pinned down. Hurry!”
I swear to God I hear Raquel scream something before the call ends abruptly, gunshots still ringing in my ear.
“I’ve got an address,” I tell Klaus and Anders. “How quickly can reinforcements arrive?”
“Fifteen minutes? Maybe twenty with all the traffic. They closed off the main road for the New Year’s parade.”
“I need somewhere safe to keep my daughter. There’s no way in hell I’m taking her into a live fight.”
“Doesn’t Sherry from accounting live nearby?” Anders asks Klaus.
He nods. “You can leave her with our team.”
“And she’ll be safe?”
“I swear it. She’ll be kept out of harm’s way.”
Odette hugs my leg tight. “Please be careful Papa.”
I crouch down and press a kiss to her forehead. “I promise, ma chérie.”
Klaus rubs his hands together in glee as he inspects the collection on my wall. “None of these are street legal, you know.”
“Hurry up and grab some gear,” I snap. “There’s no time to lose.”
Chapter 38
Raquel
The Devil works hard, and then there’s me.
I might be temporarily beaten, but I’m not down for the count. The second Lucius turns his back, I manage to pop my thumb out of its socket with a grunt and slip out of the flimsy handcuffs he slapped on me. Moving swiftly, I snap my finger back in place and untie myself and get to work on freeing Dad, so hopped up on adrenaline that time seems to stand still. The second he’s free, Dad springs out of his chair. We charge Lucius together, slamming him hard into the workstation.
I kick him in the stomach. Dad rocks him with a sucker punch to the face. I hit him in the gut, winding back my fist before letting him have it. Dad knocks him in the side of the head with his knee. It’s fast, it’s brutal.
And let’s face it, it’s totally satisfying.
Lucius slumps to the concrete floor, out like a light. We waste no time, communicating only through quick looks and even faster gestures. Dad searches his pockets for a phone while I yank the USB from the laptop and pocket it. Nobody’s going to get their hands on what’s rightfully ours.
Better luck next time, Lucius. It’s game over.
“Gabriel!” Dad shouts into the phone.
My heart skips a beat. I’m excited to get the hell out of here. The thought of seeing him again fills me with hope. It’s only been a few hours, but my God do I miss him.
“Fifth Arrondissement,” Dad says hastily.
Before he can utter another word, the violent crack of a gunshot rips through the air. At first, I mistake it for someone setting off fireworks to welcome the new year. Then the glass window behind me shatters and I thinkdefinitely not.
“We’re under fire!” I shout at Dad. “Get to cover!”
