The Flight of the Silvers (Silvers #1)(192)

Theo saw the dreadlocks dangling from an armored agent’s helmet and struggled to avoid all thoughts of Melissa. If the Pelletiers identified her as the face of their federal problem, she was dead.

Azral put his hand on Theo’s back. “Come.”

In a windy swirl, the scenery changed once more. Now they stood in the vast marble lobby, a place that had seen much violence since Theo left it. Furniture all around the room had been smashed and singed and spattered with blood. Two wet and gory strangers lay facedown in the elevator bank while a third corpse languished on the stairwell.

Theo looked to the inanimate couple at the eastern wall, poised inches from a glowing white portal. Though the alluring Indian woman was a stranger to him, he had no trouble recognizing the bald and brawny thug who’d shot him in Terra Vista. A stagnant curl of smoke extended like coral from the barrel of Rebel’s revolver.

“Goddamn it. It was him, wasn’t it? He shot Mia.”

Azral glared at Rebel. He’d only just now caught up on the battle in the lobby—the savage beating of his mother, the timely intervention from his father. His voice dropped a cold octave.

“You won’t have to worry about him much longer.”

“Why is he trying to kill us? What did we do to him?”

Azral shook his head in scorn. “Beneath all that bulk, Richard Rosen is nothing more than a frightened child. He sees a dark event coming and he can’t bear the thought of it. So his weak mind conjures a theory, an enemy, a brutal solution. He’s hardly the first man in history to blame his troubles on immigrants.”

Theo scanned the room and caught David hiding behind a support pillar, his pistol raised high in frozen readiness.

“Oh no . . .”

Azral bloomed a small grin. “He’ll be fine. The boy’s remarkably capable for his age.”

Theo was all too aware of that. Azral gleaned his flip-side worry.

“You believe he’ll kill this pair.”

“I don’t know.” Theo eyed the pregnant bulge in Ivy’s bodysuit. “I hope not.”

“Why would you show concern for those who would slaughter you without hesitation?”

“I’m mostly concerned for David. I don’t want to see him go down a dark path.”

“Have you?”

Theo had to think about it. He’d suffered countless premonitions over the last several days, but only just now realized how very few of them involved David. His future seemed to fall in a blind spot.

“No.”

“Have faith in him then,” Azral said. “Let us continue.”

The next jaunt took them up to the fifth-floor walkway that overlooked the lobby. The mist was ten times thicker here. Theo had to stand next to Amanda to see her on the cushioned bench.

“God, her leg . . .”

Azral studied her broken ankle. “Yes. Strange that my mother didn’t heal her. She favors this one. The child must have angered her.”

“You’re talking about Esis.”

“Yes.”

“She doesn’t look old enough to be your mother.”

“She would adore you for saying that.”

“I’ve only seen her in visions.” Theo scowled in hot contempt. “She keeps killing Zack.”

Azral frowned. “Trillinger is a buffoon and a nuisance. I see now why Quint found him so vexing.”

“He’s my friend!”

“If you seek to keep him, his fate is easily prevented.”

“How?”

Azral raised a long finger at Amanda. “She knows.”

The white-haired man floated deeper into the fog. Theo scrambled to keep up with him, even as his screaming thoughts urged him to flee.

“Why is it so hazy here?”

“Even in this realm, none of us are omniscient. As we move farther from our own sphere of influence, our view grows weaker. Should we venture but one floor higher, I wager we’d glimpse nothing but mist.”

That’s why you’re teaching me, Theo surmised. You need me to see the things you can’t.

If Azral heard his thoughts, he didn’t acknowledge them. He led Theo into a small office that looked like a low-grade law firm. Through the swirling mist, he spotted Hannah inside a small tempic cage. She gripped the bars, her face contorted in a silent scream.

He had to move closer to spot the source of her anguish.

“Jesus Christ! You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Evan Rander was dressed in the stately beige uniform of a security guard, an ensemble that looked silly on his scrawny frame. Theo could only guess the outfit was part of his personal escape plan. He’d probably put on his best Barney Fife impression for the Deps, give a few shaky statements, and then slip away while no one was looking.

The rogue Silver wore a nasty grin as he fired a bullhorn-shaped device at Hannah.

“What’s he doing to her?”

“He inflicts her with a low electric charge,” Azral replied. “He seeks to torment, not kill.”

“Son of a bitch. Why does he hate her so much?”

“He hates both sisters. The reasons hardly matter. Rander is nothing. A pathetic fool. I only show him to you as a cautionary example.”

“What, you’re afraid I’ll become like him?”