“Damn it. You’re right.” Lyssa grimaced.
“Then go, Hecate!” Aisha shouted.
Lyssa pulled out her guns. She only had half a penetrator magazine and one explosive magazine left but plenty of ablative and conventional magazines. Her gaze dipped to the pocket in which she kept the showstoppers.
“You should use them if necessary to end the threat,” Jofi said, knowing where her gaze now rested. “A rogue will be much more dangerous than Shadows.”
“I’ll do what I need to, no more, no less,” Lyssa muttered, again disappearing into the night with a spell before jogging toward the hill. She kicked into a sprint after a few yards. Each step jarred her wounds, but she didn’t want to take a painkiller herb until she was sure the battle was over and there was no risk of her reaction time being slowed or her mind clouded. A split second in a battle could be the difference between being gut-shot and standing over somebody else who’d been gut-shot.
Lyssa looked up as something small and round came into view. She pointed her guns at it, then slowed. “Oh, crap. That’s not good.”
She continued forward to confirm what she was seeing, then glared at the decapitated head of Alexander Lubon.
A screech sounded in the distance. One of the SUVs pulled away. She didn’t bother to fire. There was no way she was going to hit it from here.
“Looks like someone got lucky,” Lyssa said. “And this whole thing just became a big damned waste of time.”
Chapter Twelve
Between the Traveling Club and invisible parking spots in the park, it felt quaint the next day when Lyssa met Samuel at her home. After the battle was over, she further stabilized Aisha and sent a message to Samuel. A van radiating sorcery arrived, with the driver not revealing himself. Two Shadows offered her Samuel’s confirmation phrase before helping Aisha onto a stretcher in the back, along with the surviving prisoners.
Lyssa returned home after that, half-expecting to be shot at along the way. That didn’t happen, but she remained sore from her injuries. She took a moment to set up extra alarm spells before downing more herbs and going to sleep. When she awoke to her alarm spells going off the next morning, it wasn’t an enemy ambushing her but Samuel in disguise. She appreciated his promptness despite not getting to sleep in. They had a lot to discuss.
He now sat on her couch in his true white-haired and white-suited appearance, deep bags underneath his eyes. Even great Elders got tired during stressful times. He hadn’t said much, instead staring down at the floor, his face tight. Lyssa didn’t need to have a mind essence to know what he was thinking.
“Yeah, that didn’t go down how we planned, did it?” she asked. “It was a complete mess, and we were damned close to losing Aisha on top of Lubon.”
“This rogue now has two dead Illuminated to answer for,” Samuel replied. “And I fear his kill count will increase before this incident is over.”
“I don’t know if it was a rogue who took out Lubon.” Lyssa shrugged. “I was thinking that at first, but on the way home, something else occurred to me. The commander had a shard knife. He might have had a sniper with something similar. Someone like that might have gotten the drop on Lubon.”
“I’m speaking of the person responsible for all these incidents.” Samuel lifted his head and cast a baleful look at Lyssa’s innocent wall. “This isn’t a series of well-connected mercenaries and killers with shards deciding to conveniently attack different Illuminated with an important connection. It doesn’t matter if the man wielded the weapon himself; he’s still responsible for who he sent and their targets.”
Lyssa chuckled. “Now you’re starting to sound like me. Paranoia all the way down.” Her smile vanished. “What about Aisha? How she’s doing? She seemed okay, but we both know how stubborn she can be.”
“Miss Khatri is stable,” Samuel replied. “We have her in a secure location, though she insists on returning to her own home soon. Although I don’t believe she was targeted other than her involvement with you, there is no reason not to take extra precautions until she can defend herself at full strength.” He frowned. “The Tribunal is troubled by this unusual level of threat.” He stroked his beard. “But I can answer one mystery based on your initial report to me last night and the accompanying concerns. The bullets used to down Miss Khatri were not shards.”
“They went right through her shield like it was nothing. You sure they weren’t shards?”
Samuel nodded. “Yes, they did accomplish what you describe, but for a far more banal reason. They were constructed out of a tungsten alloy with an extremely high melting point. I’m no expert on such things, but from what I’ve been told, they are used in some military applications, but they are not standard issue for reasons both financial and practical.”
Lyssa sighed and laid her head back on the couch. “Tungsten and flares. It’s like the guy said; they did their research. They knew what to expect and tried to counter with conventional gear. You don’t always need shards to threaten a Sorceress.”
“Indeed,” Samuel replied. “But that doesn’t change the reality that these men were merely pawns of someone far greater than them. A Shadow, no matter how wealthy or connected, would have no reason to care about the subject of interest.”
Lyssa glanced toward her bedroom. She’d almost forgotten Jofi was there. Talking about all of this without him being around was going to get increasingly annoying.
“The thing that keeps bothering me is why take out the Eclipse but not follow up and finish me off?” she asked. “I’m the primary target. The merc commander made it clear that’s what they were there to do, and he gave no indication he even knew about Lubon. Instead, they lost almost
