A small, dark place inside Rule opened up, releasing a heaviness he didn’t name. That lump of darkness met air, turned to mist, and evaporated. A smile spread over his face. The hand he held wore his ring. He ran his thumb over it. “And I have you.”
“You’re sounding pretty possessive there.”
And she sounded pretty amused. He didn’t care.
Beck chose that interesting moment to join them. He glanced at their joined hands, then spoke to Lily as if Rule wasn’t there. “I’ve got an APB out for Javier. I can’t figure this out. It isn’t his style, setting us up that way.”
“I imagine he got one of those ‘can’t refuse’ type of offers.” She glanced at Rule, including him. “Just before I came here I got a tip from someone who knows what he’s talking about. Our perp’s taken over two small gangs and wants more. According to my source, he wants to run all criminal operations in San Diego. I’m betting these clowns are from one of the gangs he’s already co-opted.”
“I don’t know, Lily,” Beck said. “These particular scum are Soldados. They’re a small gang, yeah, but they’re vicious, ambitious, and territorial, and their leader is Cruz Montoya. He wouldn’t hand control over to some newcomer.”
“If he refused, he’s probably dead. We’re not dealing with the usual sort of perps, Cody. If . . . Looks like the detective’s here. I need to talk to—no, hell, I’d better get that.” She dug out her phone.
Rule recognized the ringtone. “Wouldn’t Ruben still be in the air?” He seemed to remember that Brooks’s flight was to land around ten.
She nodded, touching the answer link. “Lily Yu here.”
Rule heard Brooks’s voice clearly. “Lily, your family is in grave and immediate danger. That’s all I know, but I am completely sure of it.”
THIRTY-FOUR
LILY commandeered a patrol car. Beck’s vehicle was half a mile’s hike away, Rule’s was blocked by two patrol cars and an ambulance, and she wasn’t waiting.
She might not have gotten away with that if the detective who’d pulled up just as Ruben called had been someone other than T.J. He told the patrol officer to quit whining and give her the damned keys.
Beck insisted on going along. It made for a crowded front seat—but since the backseat was essentially a small, mobile prison, neither Rule nor Beck was eager to ride there.
Lily hits the lights, the siren, and the accelerator. Rule tried calling everyone he had a number for—Julia and Edward Yu, Susan, Beth. Nothing got through.
Before they were halfway there, the city went crazy.
The first call on the police radio concerned Godzilla. It was quickly followed by shots fired; a brawl at Walmart; giant ants; more shots fired; people running naked and screaming along a busy street . . . all in the general vicinity of Edward and Julia Yu’s home. When the first fire bloomed, opening its hungry orange petals on the roof of a home a block from their destination, they were still two miles away, but they saw the sudden glow.
Lily’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel as she took the exit ramp at high speed. “Grandmother knew this would happen. She knew.”
“You’re right. She was expecting this, so she’s prepared.” Rule tensed and drew hard on the mantles. “Shit.”
“Hell and damnation!” Beck leaned across Rule, grabbing for the wheel. Rule shoved him back.
“What is it?” Lily demanded.
“I just saw a demon like the one who ripped me open in Dis. I don’t know what the deputy saw.”
“People.” Beck swallowed. “Dead people. Bodies. The car’s bumping over them. I feel it. Can’t you—”
“No bodies,” Lily said grimly, “yet.” She swerved violently, narrowly missing another car as a semi came barreling at them, straight down the middle of the road.
“You’re sure.”
“I’m sure.” Lily braked for a turn onto a less busy, more residential street, then hit the gas again. “Close your eyes if you can’t deal. Rule? Is the, uh, technique Sam mentioned doing you any good?”
This street wasn’t as congested, but—“It was, but now I’m seeing people.”
Lily hit the brakes. “Those are for real.”
At least twenty people raced down the middle of the street straight at them. Screaming. The car fishtailed as Lily fought it. She got it stopped—but three people ran right into the stopped car. It wasn’t the darkness—their vehicle was lit brightly by headlights and its strobing police light. They simply didn’t see anything except whatever they believed pursued them.
Two got up and started running again. The third didn’t.
“I’ll get her.” Cody threw the door open.
Lily’s face was pale. “The Chimei’s throwing out a ton of power. If it’s centered on my parents’ place, the effect is widespread. We’re still a couple miles from the house.”
“Apparently she’s got a ton of power.” Rule tried calling again. Nothing.
In front of the car, Cody scooped up a woman’s limp body. Two cars whizzed past, going the other way. “Knocked herself out,” he called. “Open the back and I’ll put her in.”
Lily hit a button. “Come on,” she muttered. “Hurry.”
Cody slid the woman inside, slammed the door, and climbed in. Before his door was closed Lily stomped on the gas. The police radio squawked about a fire somewhere—there was a lot of static—then announced a “10-190 in progress at the Walmart at—”
It went dead.
“Magic surge?” Rule said.
“Probably. And the brawl at that Walmart we passed is now a riot.”
Cody yelped.
“Whatever it is, don’t believe it,” Lily said.
“So you’re not really sprouting horns right now, huh?”
Rule watched as a dozen gang members standing in a well-lit apartment parking lot drew guns and shot at them as they barreled past. He heard the shots even over the wail of their siren—but the sound was off. Muffled and wrong. He kept his voice steady. “I’ll need to Change as soon as we stop.”
“Okay,” Lily said. “Why?”
“That matter I discussed with my father.” She’d know he meant the mantles. “The wolf will be better able to listen in that particular way than the man.”
“Is it helping any?”
“I still . . . see things. Perhaps not as many as Beck is seeing. But my other senses aren’t as affected by the illusions.” They slowed for the next turn, this time onto a purely residential road. A man standing in his front yard leveled a rifle at them as they approached. “Is that man—” But he heard the gun go off.
“Shit.” Lily swerved. “Hit the rear of the car, I think. Oh, Christ.” She swerved again—this time to avoid hitting two bodies lying, bloody and still, in the street. At least that’s what Rule saw in the headlights.
Two blocks later, fire erupted directly in front of them. She didn’t slow, even as the flames leaped up huge and hot. Cody yelled something profane.
He saw it, too? Or did he think they were plowing through a swamp or a crowd of innocent people? Rule listened for the roar and crackle of fire—and didn’t hear it. But every window was lit with orange flame. “I can’t see anything but fire,” he told Lily.
“Good thing I’m driving. We’re nearly there. Shit.” She skidded to a stop. “Can you see anything?”
“Just fire.”
“There is a fire, but it’s over a block away. I’m stopped because the street is blocked by a three-car pileup.” She undid her seat belt. “I’ll go the rest of the way on foot. We’re close.”
“I’ll get out on your side, so you can guide me, if needed.” He hoped like hell that after he Changed he wouldn’t see fire everywhere, but if he did, he’d need help.