Page 23 (1/2)

Oh Actually, I’d thought Rahel was the backup plan, but I could see his point "So what did Roy have to say?"

"Kevin was taken frouised as Cherise It was efficient He fought, but he was contained with a minimum of effort"

If you knew Kevin, this was ominously impressive "Sentinels?"

"I can’t think of anyone else with the strength and theis, they did this while they were hitting us Which ianization," I finished "Not toain "It’s too late to change our ame’s in motion now, and we have to follow the play I dispatched Roy to follow at a safe distance; he should report back when Kevin and Cherise reach a final destination I don’t think they’ll be taken far"

"Meanwhile?"

He reached out and traced his thumb over my lips "Meanwhile, we should find a place to stay that’s far from innocent bystanders, and be prepared for another attack Any ideas?"

"Yep" I put the Mustang in gear and pulled out of the parking lot,to like it"

I’d been right, and wrong David wasn’t wild about the beach house - which belonged to the Wardens, and was nornitaries - because it was long on ocean views and short on actual security He also wasn’t crazy about staying in a location where o, but I wanted to continue to provide soive Kevin time

At least here, the beach was private, ere nowhere close to neighbors, and if the Sentinels decided to lower the booe

The rain stopped about the time I pulled up in the private drive, opened the ates with a pulse of Fire Warden power, and drove inside The entrance was heavily landscaped, rounds fro eyes It looked like the sort of place a et away froates shut behind us, and followed the winding narrow road around the curves until the white beach house eh for a few people to stay out of each other’s way, but not a place for et full-body contact I’d last been here back in anine’s time; he’d used it to house visitors to the Florida territory, and it was, in fact, the very place he’d perforth out of Hurricane Andrew If he hadn’t, I doubted most of the state would have survived its landfall

I hadn’t thought of Bad Bob in a long tirave at that ent, char it well Of all the things I couldn’t forgive Bad Bob for - and one of theht the worst was that he’d knohat Kevin’s stepmother hat kind of perversions she enjoyed, and he’d allowed her to continue

Worst of all, he’d given her David to play with as her own personal sex toy

David sat in silence, looking at the beach house If I hadn’t known hiht he had no reaction at all I reached over and took his hand, and his gaze shifted toward mine

"I know," I said "I’ht?"

"I’m fine," he said He wasn’t, but he also wasn’t ready to letme up the steps to the front door "Keys?"

It didn’t need one I extended my hand, the one with the Warden symbol invisibly etched into the skin, and heard the lock click over I opened the door, and the s with it another rush of one long enough for his imprint to cohost of his cigar s and furniture took over The house needed a full-scale cleaning So to keep me busy, I supposed

David hadn’t followed me inside I turned toward him and saw that he’d put out a palainst an invisible barrier As I watched, he moved his hand fro as it ca

"What is it?" I h the air No barrier I could even make contact with David’s hands, but I couldn’t pull hih "What the hell?"

"Wards," he said "Set to keep Djinn out You’ll have to take theical boundaries - were an exclusive specialty of Earth Wardens, and they were usually fiendishly difficult to unravel They could be set to exclude anything the Warden designed it to exclude - Djinn, in this case, but I’d seen theineered to hold out humans, and even specific individuals

I was, theoretically, an Earth Warden, but I hadn’t exactly been trained in the finer points It was on the to-do list, but froraduate-level course Maybe even postdoctoral "Any idea who put this up?" I asked Not Bad Bob, at least; he was purely and completely a Weather Warden But he’d had a lot of friends, and most of them had beenquestionable

"Yes, but it won’t do you any good He’s dead Bad Bob had me kill him"

The matter-of-fact way that David said itsense "Youkilled for him"

"I had no choice at the time"