Eternal (Shadow Falls: After Dark #2)(94)

“Miss Tsang?” one of the council spoke. She looked back over her shoulder, not caring that her eyes were probably bright from fury.

“If you change your mind about working for us, you will find there is a place for you here.”

She swallowed the retort she wanted to give, something about a cold day in hell. Then, without another word, she left the room and restaurant so fast, she probably appeared as a blur to the patrons eating in the front.

It wasn’t even five-thirty, but the sun had already set and it was almost dark. She leapt into the passenger seat of the car and waited for Chase to open his door and slide in with a calmness that downright irritated her.

“That was bullshit!” she told him.

“They answered you, Della.”

“They did more talking around my questions than answering them.”

“And you think the FRU is better? You think if I went in there asking questions to the bigwigs of the FRU that I’d get straight answers?”

She remembered her little encounter with those FRU bigwigs. “Maybe not, but why couldn’t your council just have told me instead of…?”

“I seem to recall one telling you that you had talent and abilities that we could use. That seemed pretty straightforward to me.”

“Then why didn’t it feel like the truth?”

“Maybe you just don’t want it to be.” He paused and looked out the front of the car as someone passed by. “What is it you’re hoping to learn?”

When she didn’t answer, he asked, “Do you want to put blame on them for Chan’s death?”

“No. I want…” She almost told him then about her uncle, about the murder of her aunt, then she heard his words from earlier in the car: If you came to work for them you could ask all kinds of questions.

He swore he hadn’t been implying anything, but … she still had a tiny whisper of doubt.

“Maybe I don’t know what I want,” she said, and there was some truth in that. Did she really want to find her uncle now that she suspected he’d killed her aunt?

Chase pulled out of the parking lot. “We should probably just head to the airport. Do you know where we’re supposed to meet Burnett?”

“He said he’d call.”

Her phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket. “Speak of the devil.”

“So you’re admitting he’s the devil,” Chase said with a touch of humor.

She cut him a smartass look and answered the phone. “Hey, I was wondering when—”

“Where exactly are you?” Burnett barked.

“About fifteen miles outside of Fallen, we were just heading toward Houston.”

“Where?”

Della recalled the street signs she’d just seen. “We’re in the twenty-nine-hundred block of Howell Street.”

“Hold on,” he said, then she heard him say to someone else, “They’re close.” And then, “Della, do you know where Cooper Airport is?”

She looked at Chase and he nodded.

“Yeah. Chase knows. What’s wrong?”

“We put a man on the plane with Damian Bond. Ten minutes ago, he realized the guy sitting in that seat is only a lookalike. He confessed to our agent that Damian took an earlier flight, a smaller plane that should be arriving at Cooper airport in fifteen minutes. We’re pretty sure it’s flight ten-twenty-six on Token Airlines. We’re already in Houston. Even flying it’s going to take us twenty to get there. You might make it in ten if you ditch the car and fly. Both of you should have just gotten his mug shot on your phones.”

Della heard both of their phones ding. Chase looked around for a place to park.

“Stay away from any major streets,” Burnett continued. “It’s not quite dark enough, and I don’t want you getting spotted.”

“We won’t,” Della said.

“And don’t … do not … confront Damian. Just follow him. He carries a Glock and he likes using it. You got that?”

“Yeah,” she said.

“Do you understand, Chase?” Burnett barked.

“Yeah,” Chase answered, and he grimaced as he pulled over in a drugstore parking lot beside a patch of trees.

Perfect for taking off.

The line went dead. Della pushed a button and stared at Damian Bond’s face. Ready or not, here we come.

*   *   *

Nine minutes and thirty seconds later, they landed in a wooded lot a half block from the airport. It was the first time since being Reborn that Della had flown that fast. If she wasn’t so worried about what they were about to do, she would have really enjoyed it.

The sun had completely faded, only the corner of the western sky held a touch of color to bid the day good-bye.

They didn’t speak. No time. If the plane came in early, their last lead to finding Natasha and Liam could be gone. Her blood zinged through her body, preparing to do whatever it took to keep Damian in their sights.

She ran her hand through her winded hair as they headed out of the woods toward the one-story airport.

“Look.” She spotted the lights of a plane already on the ground and rolling in to the airport.

“That’s probably him,” Chase said. They hurried their steps, trying not to call attention to themselves as a couple of cars pulled into the airport parking lot. Walking into the building, which was mostly glass, there were about two dozen people standing around waiting for passengers.