Goetia

suddenly been infested by demons, no trouble outside of that looked big enough to worry about.

So she’d shown up to see how Simon Cross and his group handled the problemshe’d put into their laps. She’d felt bad about dropping it on him because it wasn’t—at least in a way—hisproblem.

“How do you know we’re walking into a trap?” Simon demanded.

Leah sighted on him through the sniper scope. He looked huge in the armor, like a human tank. But it was hard to see him with the camo effect engaged.

“Because I was just told that those Templar are being held as bait to pullyou out of hiding,” she replied.

“I haven’t been hiding,” Simon replied.

He sounds tired, Leah thought. “I know you haven’t been hiding.”

For the last four years he’d been building his own underground. All of thatwas without the resources the Templar had assembled over hundreds of years.

He’d also been saving lives where he could. That endeavor had dropped offsteeply. It wasn’t just that there were fewer people to save, but that it washarder to find them among the city’s ruins. Simon had been weeks without savinganyone, and Leah knew he kept track of that. During the last four years, even with infrequent meetings, she’d come to know what kind of man he was.

And the kind of man he was…

Well that’s what’s brought you up on top of this bloody building in themiddle of the night and breaking cover, which you’ll catch bloody hob for ifyou’re caught, isn’t it?

From what Leah Creasey had seen, Simon Cross was the kind of man they didn’tmake any more. And she wasn’t about to let him just up and die without lending ahand.

Or warning him off.

“Are there Templar inside that building?” Simon growled.

“There are,” Leah told him. “But the demons holding them are expecting you.”

“How do you know?”

“Because the bloody High Seat of Rorke, Terrence Booth, left them there asbait.” When she’d been in the Templar Underground as a reluctantly admittedguest, Leah had met Booth. The man wasn’t likable, and he held a huge grudgeagainst Simon for bygone trespasses.

“Booth knew they were there?” Simon asked.

“Yes.”

“And he did nothing?”

“They’re still there, Simon. I’m sorry. But you can’t go in there. They’ll beready for you.”

“How do you know this?”

Leah couldn’t explain everything. There was still too much that depended onsecrecy. Even if they couldn’t defeat the demons, the people she was with weredetermined not to let the death of the planet go unavenged.

She’d sworn an oath to uphold her station, and she couldn’t breathe a word toanyone until she was released to do so.

“You’ll have to trust me, Simon.”

“You’re spying on them, aren’t you?”

Leah didn’t bother to deny it. The information her superiors gleaned from theTemplar Underground was important. The Templar were the only people to be truly ready to battle the demons.

And nearly all of them had died that first night of the invasion. The rest, everyone except Simon and his lot, had gone into hiding.

“Who are you with?” Simon growled.

“I can’t talk about this,” Leah said. “And this isn’t the time or place evenif I could.” She paused and watched him through the sniper scope. Throughout herupbringing, she’d been raised on heroes, of men that would lay down their livesin a heartbeat for their country.

When she’d stepped into that world, she’d found most of the men—andwomen—there weren’t that way. Most of them concentrated on getting out of theirpredicaments with whole skins first. Mission success came in a distant second.

There were some like Simon Cross and the Templar he’d drawn to his flag, butthe majority of them were like the other Templar hiding in their Underground fortresses. Men like Simon Cross, she’d found out, didn’t come along often andthe world needed more of them. Especially now.

“What you need to understand,” Leah said patiently, “is that you mustn’t gointo that building.”

“It was your information that brought me here,” Simon replied. His voice wasa flat accusation. “I wouldn’t have known about them if you hadn’t contactedme.”

“I know.” Leah took a breath and tried to remain calm. Dealing with Simon andhis simplistic do-gooder belief was often frustrating, she’d discovered overthese past years. If someone else’s life was on the line, he’d risk his everytime. “Now I’m telling you that it’s a trap.”

“The bottom line,” Simon stated quietly, “is that Templar—maybe friends ofours—are being held by demons inside that building. That’s all we needed toknow.”

“Simon.” Leah heard the click of dead air and knew he’d cut the communicationlink with her. She cursed him soundly, but she didn’t abandon her post.Apparently Simon Cross’s particular brand of stupidity was incrediblycontagious.

She settled in behind the cluster rifle and waited for the action to start.

THREE

The decision to go, even with the new information that they were headed into a trap, was almost instantaneous. All of the Templar with Simon knew he had a mysterious source of information within London. None of them trusted her as much as he did. But they believed the information she’d given them: the bad news andthe worse news.

As Simon had said, with Templar lives on the line—with friends, fellowwarriors, and possibly relatives hanging in the balance—they could do nothingelse.

However, it did change the tactics.

“The first team will go in for a brief recon,” Simon said. “If we can get inand out without anyone the wiser, we’re even better off. But if not, we get themout into the street where we’ll have a chance to save ourselves.”

Then he led the first team down into the underground parking garage while the other two teams set up in flanker support positions for a hasty withdrawal.

Simon unlimbered his Spike Bolter as he strode through the darkness of the garage. The pistol was specially encrypted to his armor and wouldn’t operate foranyone other than another Templar.

The weapon looked ugly, with a pig’s snout for a business end. Six rapidlyrotating barrels could fire up to sixteen hundred rounds per minute. The rounds were palladium needle bulletsthat could shred even the densest demon hide. With so many rounds spewing from it, the Spike Bolter wasn’t