Phantom Shadows Part 41

The one Bastien recognized as Todd cleared his throat. "Um . . . we know Bastien is in there and . . . we heard noises, sir, and just wanted to make sure-"

"Everything's fine. b.u.g.g.e.r off." Roland slammed the door and turned back to the room.

A tap tap tap sounded.

Scowl deepening, Roland yanked the door open again. "I said-"

"With all due respect, sir," Todd stated bravely, "when Mr. Reordon gets back, he isn't going to settle for 'It's all good.' I need to know that Bastien is in custody and I need to know what's going on."

"Immortal business that's none of yours."

When Roland would have shut the door, Todd stuck his foot in the gap to stop him.

"Do you want to p.i.s.s me off?" Roland asked him, voice soft and deadly.

The men behind Todd looked terrified, but stood their ground. Chris had chosen well.

"Sir, my job is to protect the men and women who work in this facility. Men and women, I might add, whose work has proven invaluable to you and the other immortals. Mr. Reordon believes Bastien poses a threat and . . . if whatever is happening in there will endanger any of the network employees-"

Sarah stepped up beside her husband. "We appreciate your loyalty, Todd, but there's no danger to anyone outside of this room. We were just . . . taking care of a little personal business." So saying, she opened the door wide enough for those in the hallway to get a good look at Bastien.

Their shock was obvious. As was the gleam of satisfaction that entered their eyes when they saw Bastien had had his a.s.s handed to him by at least one of the other immortals present.

Yeah. They hated him.

Todd nodded and offered Sarah a smile. "No problem. Thanks for clearing that up for us, ma'am. I'll let Mr. Reordon know that everything is under control."

"Thank you." Sarah closed the door and stared up at her husband. "You see? That's all you had to do."

"Scaring them is more fun."

She grinned and kissed his chin.

Bedding rustled as Melanie s.h.i.+fted. Though her head rolled on the pillow, her eyes remained closed. "Bastien?"

Bastien moved toward the bed.

Sarah darted across the room and yanked the privacy curtain forward, hiding them from Melanie's view. She frowned at the others and hissed, "She can't see him like this."

Everyone in the room looked at Bastien.

"What?" he asked. Did he look that bad? The bone in his arm was no longer protruding from the skin.

Lisette pursed her lips. "You're right. etienne, switch clothes with him."

etienne frowned. "No way."

She rolled her eyes. "Just do it. You're the same size and Richart can teleport you home to change when we're done here."

"Fine," he grumbled and, in seconds, stripped down to his boxer shorts. He wadded his clothes up into a ball and held them out to Bastien. "Well?"

Okay. This was . . . strange.

Bastien stripped down to his skivvies, handed over his torn, sticky bundle, and donned etienne's clothes.

Scrabbling sounds drew Bastien's attention to the hole in the wall as he zipped up the pants.

Linda awkwardly clambered through it with something white in her hands. Once her feet were firmly planted on the floor, she straightened and blew ruffled bangs out of her eyes. "You're done fighting, right?"

"Yes," Sarah a.s.sured her.

Linda smiled. "Good." She strode toward Bastien. "Here. This should help." She held out a couple of large hand towels, both damp.

He took them, wondering why she was smiling at him. "Thank you."

Lisette s.n.a.t.c.hed one of the towels from him, gripped his chin in one deadly feminine hand, and began to wipe his face clean. And she wasn't rough.

Sarah took the other towel and tossed it over his head. Rising onto her toes, she rubbed it over his hair, luring some of the blood and dust and other debris onto the towel and out of his thick locks.

Bastien stood there, feet rooted to the floor.

Yeah, this was really strange.

Everyone in this room scorned him. And yet they were doing their d.a.m.nedest to make him presentable for Melanie. He knew it was for her, not him, but . . .

Was this what it felt like?

Sarah turned to Roland. "Sweetie, do you have a comb?"

Was this what it felt like to be one of them? To have friends who always had your back and were always there to help you with anything you needed? To be part of the immortal family in truth, not just in name?

Roland reached into his back pocket and drew out a comb.

"You carry a comb around with you?" Bastien couldn't resist asking around the towel Lisette was using to wipe the blood from his nose and chin. The envy that stole its way into him left him uncomfortable.

"It's for Sarah, a.s.shole."

The towel Sarah discarded was surprisingly filthy. She settled back on her heels. "Let's switch, Lisette. I'm too short for this."

Lisette, several inches taller than Sarah's five feet, exchanged the towel-now soiled with pink blotches-for the comb and s.h.i.+fted to Bastien's side.

Sarah ducked under Lisette's arm and examined Bastien's face. Her soft lips turned up in a small smile. "How's the head?"

Bastien chuckled at the question he usually presented to her. "Pounding."

Sarah wiped his face a couple of times, then drew the cloth down his neck. "I feel sort of bad now that I know why you picked the fight."

"Don't."

Her smile widened. "That's it? Just don't?"

He nodded, wincing when Lisette tried to tug the comb through his tangled hair. "You would've done the same damage had we been sparring."

She and Lisette finished spiffying him up and stepped back. Both grimaced.

"Roland, sweetie, come heal him."

"h.e.l.l, no."

"At least heal his face. It's all swollen and gross."

Well, h.e.l.l.

"It's for Dr. Lipton," Lisette threw in.

Roland sighed. "Fine. But I reserve the right to b.l.o.o.d.y it up again after she recovers." Nudging his wife aside, he palmed Bastien's face with little care for the pain it sp.a.w.ned in the bruised flesh and broken bones.

Roland's hand heated. The aches and pains faded as the many injuries on Bastien's face healed, the tightness vanis.h.i.+ng as swelling decreased. When Roland withdrew his hand (giving Bastien's head a shove in the process), Bastien's face felt normal again.

The rest of him still hurt like h.e.l.l. But at least his other wounds weren't visible.

"So?" he asked the women.

"Good enough," Lisette said.

Sarah and Linda nodded their agreement.

"Bastien," Melanie whispered again on the other side of the curtain.

He eyed the others, feeling awkward as h.e.l.l. "Thank you."

Roland shook his head. "It wasn't for you."

Right.

Chapter 14.

Seth materialized in David's home and followed the sounds of voices to David's study.

Darnell was talking on the phone while typing furiously on the computer keyboard.

"What's happened?"

Darnell jumped and spun around, dropping the phone. No relief swept his countenance as he hurried to pick it up. "The network was attacked."

"By vampires?" How the h.e.l.l had vampires found them?

"No, by Emrys's men. No estimates yet on how many are dead."

Seth teleported to the network . . . and had difficulty believing what he saw. Bright golden sunlight illuminated the destruction. Almost everything above ground had been obliterated. Even the paved parking lot bore large craters. A few jagged chunks of wall still stood, weary reminders of the building's dimensions. Charcoal smoke stretched to the sky and formed dark, wispy clouds.

Seth could see the first sublevel through gaping holes in the foundation. Surrounding the building's skeleton were two downed helicopters, several armored personnel carriers, and four Humvees. Bodies of the mercenaries formed piles around the places immortals had stood their ground. d.a.m.ned near everything present bore scorch marks or bullet holes. Large bullet holes.

The scent of death clung to every surface.

A war had been fought here. With all of the casualties that went with it.

Sirens wailed in the distance.

Seth swore. A hasty inspection of the various vehicles revealed a few that were salvageable. Seth held his hand out and sent them to the field bordering the building Chris-if he lived-was no doubt already setting up as the new network headquarters. Teleporting something or someone without touching or accompanying it took a lot more energy (no other immortal could do it), but he had little choice with fire engines speeding toward him.

The other vehicles he sent to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the world's oceans. The dead soldiers he sent to the morgue at the new headquarters. Perhaps network employees could identify them.

A wave of his hand produced a breeze that scattered and dispersed the smoke.

Then Seth sped into the lower levels of the network.

The scents of blood and smoke burned his nostrils. Broken bodies lay amid the rubble. Seth listened hard for a heartbeat and found none. Not on Sublevel 1. On Sublevel 2. Nor on the remaining three. The damage Emrys's men had done astounded him, reaching all the way down to the fifth bas.e.m.e.nt level.

The wall at the end of the hallway had been blown, opening the escape tunnel for survivors.

The tunnel was a long one that led up to the bas.e.m.e.nt of a single story home with no neighbors and no outward connection to the larger building.

How many had escaped through it?

The floor was red with blood that had dripped from the injured as they were helped to safety. He could smell the fear and pain of those who had pa.s.sed through here.

The sirens grew louder, then stopped above his head. Seth raced up to deal with them, ready to erase memories and plant new ones. His strength was flagging, not from his battle earlier with the vampires in South Korea, but from the teleporting he had done to clean up some of the mess topside. By the time he finished dealing with the firemen and policemen who would likely follow, he would barely be able to put one foot in front of the other.

Three fire engines awaited him, parked, motors idling, lights flas.h.i.+ng, sirens off. Seth strode forward as several firemen emerged and walked toward him.

"Mr. Seth?" one said.

Hmm. "Just Seth."

The man nodded. "Mr. Reordon sent us, sir."

Seth sent a big Thank you Chris's way. Even when all h.e.l.l broke loose around him, Chris managed to get s.h.i.+t done. He was a good man.

"Did he have a particular explanation in mind?" Seth asked. Chris had a knack for making just about anyone believe anything.

"Gas leak."