He smiled. “You can kiss me now.”
Caught up in her thought process, she pulled away and grabbed the medical research again. Pushing stacks of folders out of the way, she found the crèche blueprints. Notes and formulas from the research correlated with the specifications for the crèche. They were connected—the crèche a direct product of the leanansidhe research. It was a tool for channeling a powerful fey—but not Draigen. It was specifically tailored for the abilities of a leanansidhe. “The crèche fits the description in this research. It’s meant for Cress, Jono, not Draigen. Legacy has Cress.”
He twisted in place to see what she comparing. “It does look similar.”
She grabbed her jacket. “Where do they do your urban-assault training?”
“I told you, about fifty miles due west of here. Front Royal, Virginia,” he said.
She kicked off her shoes. “Get that uniform on. We’re going in,” she said.
Sinclair moved back as she pulled on her work boots. “That’s a thin connection. Can we get a warrant with it?” he said.
She stood. “I’m not going to waste the time. It’s been over twenty-four hours. Terryn said that means Cress has moved into the danger zone.”
“Laura . . .” he said.
She held her hand up. “I know what you’re going to say, but right now I don’t want to hear it. I’m going, and I’m taking a tactical team. You can stay or come with me.”
He smirked. “I was going to say this is the woman I am all hot about.”
She paused. Truth. He hadn’t made it up on the spot. She smiled. “Just for that, I’m going to let you drive.”
CHAPTER 46
FIFTY MILES NORTHWEST of the city, the line of black SUVs drove along the back roads outside Front Royal, Virginia. Laura rode in the passenger seat as Sinclair led the caravan through the gathering dusk. The trip out had taken over an hour, even with using roof lights the first half of the way. Not for the first time did she envy the power of flight. She had four Danann fairies on the tactical team, but they weren’t enough to ferry everyone out to the camp.
“Are you sorry you’re missing the party?” Sinclair asked.
Laura checked the cars following in the passenger-side mirror. “You’re joking, right?”
He draped his hand over the steering wheel. “A little. I’d think with the way you run your life, a party would be a nice change of pace.”
She thought about the reception. The planning. The guest lists. The decorations. The politics. “No, Jono. I don’t miss it. I can’t remember the last party I went to that didn’t have to do with work. They’re always about work, one way or another.”
He pursed his lips and shot her a slow, sly look. “Man, you need fun.”
She wasn’t sure whether to laugh or not. They were on their way to find a kidnapped friend. “You know, you have an odd sense of timing.”
“I do?”
“Do you think I want to talk about having fun right now?”
“Is there ever a right time?” he asked.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He shrugged, frustration on his face. “We’ve been in this car for an hour. We covered the layout of the compound. We bitched about traffic. We made note of all the pretty scenery. At some point, the conversation isn’t about crap, ya know? At some point, Cuddles, you need to stop thinking every moment of your life about the dire consequences for everyone else and relax.”
She flushed with heat. “Are we having an argument? Because it sounds like you want an argument.”
“No, I don’t. I want to talk about something other than the end of the world,” he said.
“It’s not the end of the world,” she snapped.
He tapped the steering wheel. “Good. We’re getting somewhere.”
She glared at him. As much as she wanted to hit him, she knew he had a point. She never did relax. She did think only about work. Having a personal life had always meant letting down her guard. Enjoying herself, as Sinclair put it, meant interacting with other people. It meant risking exposing herself—or worse, them. It meant, she had to admit, that she feared those risks so much, she had let her life disappear. Made it disappear.
“You hit all my sore spots, you know that?” she said. She said it quietly, with little emotion. A statement of fact.
Sinclair glanced at her without any sign of smugness. He dropped his hand on hers and squeezed it. “I think that’s why you like me.”
She did laugh then. “You know, it would be worth dating you if only to deflate that ego of yours.”
He tilted his head at her with a boyish smile. “That sounds like a lot of dating.”
She shook her head and chuckled. The smile lingered on her face as she stared out her window. Sinclair still held her hand, and she decided she would be damned if she pulled away.
They passed into Front Royal. The town had a quaintness about it that reminded Laura of other times and other places. Antique shops and colonial homes lined the main route. It was a lot like Alexandria must have been before it became the coveted bedroom community it was today.
“We’re a mile away,” he said.
Terryn, can you hear me? We’re almost there, she sent. No reply. She didn’t expect a response. The Guild had Terryn in a holding cell that jammed sendings. She thought it might be worth a try to contact him on the off chance he had been allowed to attend Draigen’s reception.
On the GPS screen map, a large swathe of land appeared as blank green space along the Shenandoah River. “It takes a lot of money to make something disappear off satellite maps,” she said.
“And the contamination is an incentive not to attract attention,” he said.
“Contamination?”
He checked his sidearm. “It’s an old Superfund site. Lots of buried toxins. Probably why they were able to afford so much land this close to the city.”
She hummed in disagreement. “Close? I hate the commute across the river to Alexandria.”
“Yeah, well, not everyone can afford that by double-dipping their paychecks,” he said.
She shoved him playfully. “I work for two different agencies, so it’s not a double-dip.”
He pulled off the two-lane road onto grass overhung by tall trees. “It is if you get paid full for half-time work.”
She zipped up her uniform jacket. “I wish. Try two salaries for three times the hours.”
He grinned as he got out of the car. “And you have, what? Three or four apartments? I feel bad.”
“Jerk,” she muttered as she joined him on the side of the road. Behind them, more black-uniformed InterSec agents waited, a mix of Danann fairies, Teutonic elves, and druids.
Sinclair surveyed the gathering. “You know, you’re looking at these guys’ worst nightmare.”
Laura assessed the tactical team. They were armed, trained, and willing to follow orders. “I think this would be anyone’s worst nightmare.”
“Yeah, but we’re a bunch of fey about to storm a protected human compound. That’s their biggest fear right here,” he said.
Laura started walking toward the camp. “You’re wrong. If anything has happened to Cress, I’m going to be their biggest fear.”
She sent the Dananns ahead for surveillance. They swept in a low formation over the road, their wings a dim glow in the night sky. The rest of the team fell in behind. They jogged up the road until a tall chain-link fence appeared. Laura started to receive sendings from the Dananns as soon as she sighted the guardhouse next to the driveway.
“We’ve got one guy in the gate,” she said.
Sinclair moved in front of her. “I’ll take him.”
She grabbed his arm. “Let one of the Dananns do it. It’ll be quicker.”
“And raise an alarm,” he said over his shoulder. “This place is warded with essence detectors. They zap him, we lose the element of surprise across a quarter-mile run up to the bunkers.”
Laura considered his proposal. “Make it quick.”