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Ortega was looking, if anything, even more horrified My voice ran down as I noticed his distress, and I watched as he staggered to a dusty velvet wing chair and dropped into it, rocking back and forth, head in his hands
David and I exchanged glances, and David went to the other Djinn and crouched down, laying a hand on the a," he said, "what is it?"
"It’s my fault," he said His voice sounded weak and sick, and pressed thin under the weight of eht - I was only curious, you see You kno curious I am It’s always been a curse - "
A curse, indeed David froze for ahis expression in shadow, and he said in an oa nodded convulsively
"Whoa said His voice was muffled by the hands pressed to his eyes "He never kneas Djinn I swear to you, I never et it froinal book - "
"I need this Warden’s name," David said
"I never meant for any harm to - "
"The naa" I shivered at the tone in his voice; he didn’t often sound like that, but when he did, there was no possibility of arguht as the Conduit, the Mother’s representative to the Djinn, and it rang in every syllable
Ortega took in a deep breath, lowered his hands, and looked David in the eyes "Robert Biringanine"
"Bad Bob," I said blankly "But he’s dead!"
Ortega shook his head "I saw hio On the beach And he’s been around for a while now"
Chapter Eleven
To say that was a shock would be an understateer in a light socket; this wasthe third rail of the subway
I’d killed Bad Bob Biringanine - well, at least, seen him die I’d always staked a lot of certainties on that fact; I’d been told his body was found, and nobody ever see up daisies They’d certainly gone after eance to sell the concept ofhad been to infectood about his miraculous reappearance Of all the people I would pick to claw their way out of a grave, he’d be the dead last - pun intended - I ever wanted to see
Partly it was because he’d so successfully hidden his capacity for cruelty and corruption fro Partly it was that I still had nightmares about that horrible day, about the helpless fury I’d felt and the slick, gagging feel of the De down my throat
It couldn’t have pleasant associations for David, either He’d been the Djinn who’d held ht, in an aetheric kind of way if not a physical one But it had been a rape of both of us - he hadn’t wanted to do it any a, an involuntary retreat that had nothing to do with hi to do with the monster that had just leaped out of the closet to roar in my face David a
"When?" he asked "When did you give hiled not so et - but to order hisHe ca for He said he’d trade He wanted the book"
By the day of hter, Imara, or at least destroyed her physical body Imara had becoht we’d lost her forever
Oh, and I’d died, too Kind of I’d ended up split, aood ti of a lot of power A lot Some of it was from the Wardens, some a product of the Djinn, some from the Earth herself And there’d been a De could have happened, out of that bloodyhad happened Soed to coone at all
Suddenly, the appearance and rise of the Sentinels was beginning to make sick, deadly sense Bad Bob was a player; he wanted power, and he’d do anything to anyone to get it I’d cheated him the first time
He’d make damn sure that David and I weren’t in any position to do it again
By separating the Wardens fro the Djinn, he could ensure that no one had the resources and strength to fight him when he made his final move Divide and conquer A timeless classic
"He’s in Florida," I said I was sure of it, as sure as I’d ever been of anything in , really This is his old stoot networks of friends and supporters; he feels safe here That’s e traced the signature to the Keys, and Kissimmee - "
"The beach house" David snapped to his feet
"What?"
"The beach house I sensed hiht went through his eyes, turning thenature of the power fits his"
"He’s been at the goddaone inside I’d searched the house looking for the focus of the wards Bad Bob alomaniacs Weekly, which was damn lucky for me, because if he’d been there, I’d have been trapped inside the house, with David outside, and Bob could have done anything toat all
I couldn’t think about that Not without shaking I’d been through a lot of trau so slick and calculated about Bad Bob’s use of meIt orse than betrayal He’d cultivated and trained -ter quite as weak as he’d anticipated
You’re stronger now, I told myself But I also remembered the moment in my apartment when Bob had focused all the power of the Sentinels onenough, in the end