The lieutenant appeared mortified. “I never thought of that.” In a wary tone, he asked, “Is that the reason why the night guards have standing orders to use silencers on their weapons?”
Joshua smiled wryly. “Given tonight’s incident, I would say those measures were justified, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant readily agreed. “I will direct my men to say nothing about what happened.” He cast a glance toward the body lying on the grass. “Who do you suppose he is?”
Joshua ambled back to examine the remains at close range. “I have no idea. I’m sure my father has made many enemies amongst the Fallen. Have you searched him yet?”
One of the guards bent down to turn out the dead man’s pockets. He looked up helplessly at his superior. “Nothing here, sir. No identification at all.”
Joshua sighed. Once again, he turned toward his lieutenant. “You say you caught him on a security camera by the side entrance?”
“Yes, sir. We couldn’t identify his face. Only a figure dressed in black, but we’re quite sure it was him.”
“I see.” The spymaster silently contemplated the corpse for a while longer. “If I were to posit a theory, I would say this intruder was employed by the Fallen boy that Sister Hannah seduced while living in the outer world. He must have been hired to steal the girl away from her lawful husband. Given our trespasser’s demise, we’ll never know for sure. Since he is one of the godless, a missing person’s report might be filed with the Fallen authorities. That’s just the sort of pretext that would allow the local police to meddle in our affairs. We can’t give them a reason to suspect our involvement.”
In a louder voice, Joshua instructed his men, “Search the perimeter. If you find a vehicle, dispose of it immediately. And remember that all of this must be done with absolute secrecy.”
“Yes, sir.” They all saluted.
His lieutenant asked, “How do you want to get rid of the body? The same procedure as the mercenary who tried to kill our diviner?”
Joshua gave a slight nod. “Yes, that method will do quite nicely.”
Chapter 47—Bad News Bearer
Cassie drummed her fingers fretfully on the cushions of her living room sofa. Griffin, no less tense, was seated beside her and making a supreme effort not to tap his foot. Maddie had taken up a position by the front window, peering through the side of the curtains. It was almost five o’clock in the morning. Something had gone terribly wrong. The pythia could feel it, but she didn’t want to alarm the others by saying so out loud. Erik and Zach were supposed to bring Hannah straight to her apartment. After the attack on the farmhouse, Faye’s home was no longer considered safe. Taking Hannah to the vault was out of the question because it would make her privy to all sorts of information she was better off not knowing. Since the Nephilim hadn’t been able to track Cassie to her new place, this was the best location they could find on short notice.
The pythia stiffened at the sound of a car pulling up.
“They’re here,” Maddie announced. She immediately swung the door open.
A few minutes later, Zach entered sheepishly.
“Where’s Hannah?” Cassie asked.
“Where’s Erik?” demanded Maddie.
“Can I sit down?” the tyro asked in a weak voice. Without waiting for permission, he sank into an armchair.
Maddie closed the door but remained standing.
“This is bad, isn’t it?” the pythia asked in a small voice.
The boy nodded, afraid to meet her eyes. “I was waiting on the ladder at the top of the fence. I had night vision binoculars, so I could keep tabs on what was happening. I saw Daniel and Hannah come out of a side door. They stood there for a while, waiting for Erik to show up. I could tell Hannah was getting antsy. Then, for some reason, she looked in my direction. I don’t know how she knew I was there. It was too far for her to be able to see me in the dark from that distance. Maybe my spy glasses reflected off the yard lights. I don’t know, but I swear she looked straight at me. I saw her lips move. It seemed like she was saying ‘Zachary’ and then she took a step toward where I was hiding.”
Zachary raked his hands through his hair distractedly. “One step. That’s all it took. She must have moved out of a blind spot, and one of the cameras caught her. Right after she took that step, I could hear a commotion in the guard tower by the front gates. I still had my glasses trained on Hannah, and I could see Daniel pulling her back inside the building. He must have realized what happened and I guess he figured they couldn’t make it. If they tried to run for the fence, the guards would have cut them off before they got halfway there. Their best bet was to go back the way they came and get her into her room before anybody noticed she was missing. I sent an alarm call to Erik on the two-way radio, but I couldn’t track him. Next thing I knew, his radio came sailing over the fence and almost hit me in the head.”
“In an emergency, ditch anything that can connect you to the Arkana,” the chatelaine said mechanically.
“Yeah,” Zach agreed feebly. “That’s what he did. Then I heard his gun go off somewhere in the woods at the back of the property. I guess he was trying to draw the sentries away from the spot where I was waiting. Then he was going to double-back. Four guards went charging for the place where they’d heard the shot. They all had assault rifles with silencers, and they just started spraying bullets everywhere—not even aiming, just shooting into the trees. Erik didn’t
