“I see,” she muttered ominously. “I’ll deal with them later.”
Zach’s attention shifted to Erik. “India, huh? Then you must be part of the team that’s trying to stop those crazy Nephilim dudes.”
Erik nodded warily.
“Weren’t there three of you?” The tyro persisted. “What happened to the other two? Did you get the artifact already? Where is it?”
The paladin shifted in his seat, nettled by the barrage of questions.
Maddie half rose from her chair and scowled at the teenager. “Isn’t there somebody else you could be annoying right now?”
Zach’s mouth snapped shut in mid-question.
“You better make yourself scarce, kid,” Erik advised. “Take it from one who knows. Her bite is way worse than her bark.”
The tyro’s eyes slid toward the war club in the corner of the office. “I guess maybe I should get back to filing.” He scuttled toward the door. “Nice to meet you, Erik,” he called over his shoulder.
“Likewise,” the paladin murmured before turning his attention back to Maddie.
By now, she was tapping her long red nails on the desk blotter. “Shall we get back to the matter at hand?” she asked pointedly.
Erik rolled his eyes, steeling himself for the inevitable cross-examination. “Whatever.”
The chatelaine cut to the chase. “So, let me get this straight. You figured you’d be more useful filling out field reports at Home Office than stopping whatever mayhem those Bible-thumping dimwit s are cooking up. Is that the gist of it?”
“Oh, I’m all for stopping the dimwits, but I can do it better from here,” he retorted.
Maddie instinctively reached for her pack of cigarettes. Clutching them helped to calm her nerves even though smoking was forbidden anywhere except in the bell tower. “I’ve got a feeling that whatever you’re about to say is going to make me wish I could light up right now.”
“You’re not wrong,” he agreed. Leaning forward in his chair, he fixed her with a serious gaze. “I came back because I want to volunteer.”
“Volunteer? Volunteer for what?” Her face froze as the truth hit her like an icy bucket of water. “Are you out of your mind?”
“Why are you so surprised? You’ve been shopping that pet scheme of yours around the vault for the past year with no takers.”
“But... but...” she spluttered. “I never expected it to be you!”
“Who else then? I mean, seriously.” He threw his arms wide. “You know as well as I do that nobody else has the skills to pull something like that off.”
She gave a bark of a laugh. “You sure think well of yourself if you believe nobody else is smart enough or tough enough or fast enough or cagey enough to manage it.”
“Hey, give yourself some credit.” He flashed an impudent grin. “You taught me everything I know.”
“Yeah,” she replied in a whisper. “Maybe in retrospect that wasn’t my smartest move.”
He appeared genuinely puzzled. “What do you mean? You ought to be proud that I’m that good. I owe it all to you.”
“I am proud,” the chatelaine admitted with an air of mortification, studying him in exasperated silence for a few seconds. “You’re gonna make me say it, aren’t you?” She gave a deep sigh. “OK, fine! It’s like this. I never had kids. Never really wanted any either but then you came along—an eighteen-year-old punk with a smart mouth who wasn’t afraid to stand up to me. Not even from Day One. So, I decided to put you through the wringer just to take you down a peg. I gave you the toughest assignments I could find. Things nobody else had the nerve to tackle. But no matter what mission I threw at you, you always managed to get the job done. When there was an obstacle in your way, you jumped over it, or tunneled under it, or blew it up, but you never quit. In the end, I had to respect that.”
She paused for breath, shaking her head ruefully. “I don’t know how it happened, or when it happened, but you kind of grew on me. Erik, you’re the closest thing I’ll ever have to a son. And I’m worried sick at the thought—” She broke off, feeling herself getting weepy. Gripping the edge of her desk, she forced herself to continue. “At the thought of what might—”
“I know,” he cut in softly, flustered by her display of emotion. “You don’t have to say anymore. And don’t worry. Everything is gonna be alright.”
Maddie’s mood shifted rapidly from sentimental to angry. “Alright? I don’t think so! I know how you usually operate. Flying by the seat of your pants won’t cut it this time. If you get caught infiltrating the Nephilim, you die!”
“So maybe it would be a good idea if I don’t get caught,” he observed impishly.
“This isn’t a joke, dammit!” Maddie slapped her palm on the desk for emphasis. “I’m serious!”
“So am I!” he shot back angrily. Then in a calmer tone, he added, “I’ve had a lot of time to think about this. To plan a strategy that will keep me from winding up on the wrong end of a bullet.” He gave a timeout signal. “So unruffle your feathers, chief, and listen up.”
She glowered at him, unconvinced.
He sat back and laced his fingers behind his head. “We’ve been looking at this problem all wrong. Everybody assumed that to get the scoop on the Nephilim, we’d have to plant somebody inside the organization as a convert.”
“Agreed.”
“That’s a tough sell,” Erik observed. “I don’t think anybody in the Arkana is a good enough actor to go full-on fundamentalist crazy and make it look convincing.”
The chatelaine cocked an amused eyebrow. “Go on.”
“But there are other ways to squeeze intel out of the compound without it necessarily being fatal. We caught a lucky break when Hannah told you about Abe’s building projects.”
“You mean the secret lab and the weapons training facility?”
“Yup.” He nodded. “It’s pretty unlikely that the Nephilim had the necessary in-house talent to finish those jobs. They must have hired outside
