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"She earing a vest," I h me He had no clue she was a demon He meant to kill her

"Ah, s a vest So please do get your ass down here I have shit to do You have half an hour" And with that he hung up

I slowly lowered the phone "Guess we’re going to have a confrontation after all"

Chapter 23

The first confrontation turned out to be an arguo there alone or not Obviously, Ryan was in the "or not" camp So was I, to be honest, but at the sa hurt or killed

"Yes, it’s a hostage situation," I finally said after he tried to convince me to call in the SWAT team "But I’m not about to risk other cops if there really is a zhurn acting as lookout and guard Plus, the fact that our suspect is a cop is going to raise all sorts of issues" I checked my watch Ten minutes left We were parked about a block away froiven us I’d retrieved my ballistic vest from the trunk and put it on beneath my shirt and coat I also wore the wire and earpiece

"You don’t sound sure about the zhurn," Zack said, frowning He wasn’t any happier about our limited options or our tier He’d killed plenty of others already

"I’m not, but only because of Kehlirik If Tracy summoned a reyza, would he be able to suh for anybody to do, even if done on two different days" Plus it was several days after the fullof Kehlirik would have already been insanely difficult

"Tough, but not iuy It’s quite possible he has the chops to do it, so I’d rather act on the assu else he hasn’t told us about"

Ryan’sto be watching the peri to settle the churning ofthe cuff, he can’t use o in, get him to release Roman, and then fuck up his world"

"I hate this plan," he lanced at et this shit over with"

Garden Street was anything but garden-y It was probably intended to be a high-tech industrial park, but whoever had built it failed to consider the fact that Beaulac’s industry tendedwarehouses had been built, but the expected flock of high-tech industry failed to materialize Now it housed run-of-the- supply place Althoughthe owners found it necessary to drop the rent far belohat they’d initially expected to get

The warehouse I was going to was not one of the occupied ones It looked like it had been at one time--there was a faded patch on the front façade that looked as if a sign had once been there But e drove by to see if we could hts beyond the glass doors in front And there were no cars parked anywhere nearby

Ryan stopped the car a few hundred yards away from my destination I half-expected hi in there, but thankfully he si smile and silently handed me the mike and earpiece

I clipped the oes," I said, then got out of the car before I could lose iven led nerves, but I couldn’t stop the worries fro in Could Tracy sense that I’d destroyed his focus diagraate up? Surely he would have said so on the phone if he knew And how ate? Kehlirik had said it would still work but not as well How much was "not as well?"

"Can you hear h my earpiece

"Loud and clear," I lass doors The previous tenants had apparently been in soe by the faint imprint of painted letters that still re too I’ though"

"Guess we’ll find out the hard way," I replied, pausing before I entered Here goes Let’s not fuck this up, ‘kay?

I stepped into a foyer area that looked like it ly wood paneling covered the walls, and a dust-covered ainst a far wall I could see my breath in the musty air The air didn’t feel any warmer than the outdoors, but at least I was out of the wind

A set of metal doors in front of me probably led to the warehouse proper My earpiece popped and hissed with static as Iin contact I took hold of the door handle in front of s, honored zhurn," I said, taking a chance that my hunch was correct