“In the condition you’re in?” Gordon’s tone made it sound as if everyone should know how impossible that was. “I don’t mean to be overly blunt, but you’re less than what you were the last time you were out there.”
That stung. Leah bit her lip in order to keep from responding.
“I’m confident in her abilities,” Lyra stated.
“If Agent Creasey is the only asset with which we can pursue this endeavor,” Carpenter said, “she needs to be protected. Not risked.”
“We’re all risking,” Lyra said. “Every day that we live in this city under demon occupation, we’re risking all that we are. And all that we will be.” She looked at Leah. “Your med clearance came through. Draw what you need from weps and the motor pool. Let me know if there’s anything else you need.”
“I will. But how do you plan to give Simon control of the Templar? Booth and the others aren’t going to just willingly cede control.”
“We’ve tracked some of the Templar from those underground bunkers,” Lyra said. “We’ve found enough of them to make a point to the Templar that we can work with them or against them. I’m also willing to make it costly for them to decide not to play along.” She paused. “But I’m betting on one other thing, too, Agent Creasey. The Templar organization—every man, woman, and child that grew up in those Houses—was trained to love heroes.”
Remembering what Simon had revealed to her when she’d gone down into the Templar Underground with him, Leah knew that was true.
“I want to remind them that not all the heroes in the world died that night at St. Paul’s,” Lyra went on. “And that not all of them wear Templar armor.”
Clarice shook her head. “You know as well as I do that one of the first things we do in this organization is disabuse new recruits of the notion that they’re going to be heroes. Heroes die far too quickly in the field.”
Lyra looked at them. “The world has changed. Before, we served best by staying within the shadows, and I’m not saying we should step out of them now. But I believe the time has come for heroes. At least, heroic enough to pull more assets to our side of the game board for a time.” She paused. “Is there anything else?”
No one spoke, but clearly no one was happy.
“Agent Creasey,” Lyra said, “I want to wish you good luck.” She crossed over to Leah and extended her hand.
Leah shook hands. “Thank you. And if it’s all the same, I’m going to be leaving straightaway. I’ve sat around my apartment for the past five days. I feel as though I’m about to go mad.”
“Of course.”
Leah left the room, but none of the others made an effort to move. She wondered what else the group would talk about in her absence. Then she cleared her thoughts and concentrated on the trip to see Simon Cross. She couldn’t believe how much she looked forward to that. The excitement felt almost sinful.
By three that afternoon, Leah sat astride a matte-black finish Enduro motorcycle and sped through the metro area with a Blood Angel screaming in pursuit. Clad in the blacksuit, her mask securely in place, and feeling the unfamiliar heavy weight of the eyepiece she was forced to wear that augmented her vision, Leah checked the Blood Angel’s pursuit in the vibrating mirrors.
The demon swooped down again and opened its mouth.
Leah stomped on the rear brakes, locking the tire up and sending the motorcycle into a controlled skid across the street. At least, she mostly controlled the skid. The cracked street surface offered constant challenges to her driving skills.
The Blood Angel flashed by overhead. Not as much resistance existed in the air as on the street. Leah braked quicker and sped faster in the straightaways than the demon.
She had a problem with distance, though. Adjusting to the vision augmentation was going to take time. She skidded uncomfortably close to a wrecked Mini Cooper that housed two shattered skeletons. For a moment, the compact car’s rear bumper held her leg trapped against the motorcycle.
Leah grabbed the handlebars and shoved backward. Without the blacksuit’s strength augmentation, she probably couldn’t have moved the motorcycle, and definitely never in time.
The Blood Angel heeled over in the sky. Two buildings down, a gargoyle that wasn’t actually a gargoyle suddenly took flight. Leah didn’t recognize the type of demon it was. New ones seemed to come through the Hellgate every day.
You’re not going to hang about and find out what it is, she told herself. Move.
She twisted the throttle and roared through the streets again. Turning her inside leg out during turns, she leaned the Enduro over so far that her knee at times kissed the rough street surface. Beams and bullets from demon snipers tore through the air, missing her by inches and punching through the corpses of vehicles as she deliberately sped by close to them for cover.
In the mirrors, the Blood Angel flew after her.
Leah hit the brake again, dropped the shifter into a lower gear, and made a tight turn into the first narrow alley. The alley was hardly wide enough for a lorrie to get through, let alone a Blood Angel with wings fully extended.
With a scream of rage, the Blood Angel pulled up out of pursuit and pushed off one of the buildings to keep from colliding with it. It unleashed a burst of arcane fury that set the alley on fire right behind Leah. The motorcycle’s big engine filled the small space with rolling thunder.
Two Stalker demons, looking like overgrown lizards mixed with wolves and equipped with alligator’s jaws, occupied the alley in front of Leah. Corpses and rotting garbage provided an obstacle course out of Hell. The stench of death and decay fouled the air and made it thick.
The Stalkers turned toward Leah and opened their jaws to reveal rows of serrated teeth. They launched themselves at her. Leah wasn’t sure if the demons were smart
