By now they were stooped next to Ellie, who was still unconscious.
“She okay?” the cop asked, concern in her voice.
“I think so.” Again, Carter quickly checked her pulse. “Pulse is steady. She’s breathing fine. Here.”
He handed the cop Ellie’s glasses which she accepted and pocketed for him. She then continued to talk quietly as he scooped Ellie up. “Long and short of it is, since their mission failed, they decided for now to break ranks and try to cover up what happened. At least until they could regroup and replan. Elia’s people took me and the Stones back here. Elia went back to the country club to perform. And Mrs. Costas went home to her husband. I think.”
Interesting. Carter wondered what they’d told Sean to cover up his and Ellie’s disappearance. As Sean’s head of security, his absence would hardly go unnoticed.
The cop paused, glancing around. “Which way?”
Carter screened his annoyance. “I figured you’d know better than me. You’re the one who’s been here.”
The detective’s eyes narrowed. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Ballis. They blindfolded me before they brought me here, and I’ve been kept in the dark—literally—ever since. The only exit I know for sure is through the office. I’m asking you if you want to chance that or try and find an alternate route?”
He scanned the perimeter of the murky warehouse, wishing his shifter alter had the ability to see in the dark, like some.
“Ah, the hell with it. We could stand here all day arguing, or waste a lot of time trying to find an exit that doesn’t exist, or we could go for the one sure option we have. Since you’re not a shifter, they may not have many guards on it anyway.”
“They may have more than you think since the Stones are here,” warned Detective Ewing as she trailed him towards the office.
It was a fair point. And here he was, carrying an unconscious Ellie, which limited his range of motion, to say the least. They both crept towards the closed door. Before Carter opened it, he paused long enough to allow the shiver of power to race through his system. He felt the old magic, the familiar sense of coming into his truest sense, and then Carter the man was gone and the Talos had assumed his place. Behind him, he heard the cop’s quick intake of breath.
“I’ll never get used to seeing that, as long as I live,” she muttered.
He might’ve been amused, but the situation was too grim. Instead, he switched his hold on Ellie, draping her over his shoulder instead of carrying her in both arms. In the event of a catastrophe, at least his hands would be free.
“Ready?” his companion asked.
The Talos nodded towards the closed door. Ready.
The cop took point, opening the door and glancing around, then shifted to the side, beckoning him to go through. He obeyed, sidling past her. The explosion of light against his senses temporarily blinded him. He shook his head, dispelling the spot that danced across his vision, his eyes adjusting to the brightness after being in the warehouse for so long. The detective reached out an arm, pointing past him. A guard in human form—although Carter reckoned it had to be some type of shifter—sat in a black office chair, her feet propped up on the desk in front of her. She wore earbuds and bobbed her head to the music she was listening to.
Carter glanced at the detective, a silent question. She nodded back. He was holding Ellie, so she’d take care of it.
A heavy lamp sat on the wraparound desk. It was no trouble for Detective Ewing to unplug and retrieve it as she snuck up on the guard. It may have been more trouble for her to raise the lamp and bring it down on the back of the other woman’s skull. Carter saw her freeze and wince before she lowered her arms, but she went through with it. The guard let out a funny sound—a half choked, half yelp, half whimper as she crumpled, her legs falling from the desk, her body sliding down to the floor in a heap.
The detective released a heavy breath.
“Hate doing stuff like that,” she murmured. The Talos heard the self-recrimination in her tone, but she’d done what she had to do to get them out of there, and he admired her grit.
“I’m going to check for my gun,” she added, and the Talos nodded. She opened a drawer or two, and found success. “Ah ha.” Rising, she showed off a Beretta and SIG. “Yours and mine, I think.”
Even in his Talos form, Carter felt a sense of relief to have his regular weapon back. The detective secured her own weapon with the holster on her thigh before wordlessly assisting him into loosening then shrugging on his gun harness. He’d left both the gun and the harness in his car that night on the country club grounds. One of Nosizwe’s people had been sent to retrieve them. He was lucky they’d wound up here. Detective Ewing placed the SIG in its holster, then stepped back to check him over.
“A bronze man with a voodoo sword and a gun. Can’t get much better prepared than that.”
She said it half-jokingly, but her humor melted when the woman on the floor stirred, releasing a quiet moan.
The detective caught his eye. “Time to go.”
The Talos nodded in agreement.
Withdrawing her weapon from its holster, she eased open the rear door to the office. Her gun arm went out first, followed by her head, her body. She signaled for him to follow. He did, stepping into a narrow corridor. A couple of doors branched off to the left and right, but they were closed. Silent. Dead in front of them was a large, metal door with a push bar and a glowing red “Exit” above it. Again, Detective Ewing
