Then he cleared his throat, looking directly at me.
“Ma’am?” He waited for me to turn.
For a moment I couldn’t take my eyes off the others around the table. Jon was staring at Revik, as if willing him to say something. Cass was looking at me, her eyes holding a kind of disbelief, but I saw anger there, too. She glared at Maygar then, but he only smiled, winking at her before he kissed the air with his lips.
When I glanced at Revik, I found I couldn’t look away. He was staring at the table, his face completely devoid of expression.
“Ma’am?”
I turned my head finally, realizing the words were aimed at me.
“What?” I said. “Eddard? What is it?”
“The military is outside.”
“What?” Maygar leapt to his feet, shoving his chair back. “Which one?”
Eddard looked only at me. “I believe all of them, sir.”
Nine by Night: A Multi-Author Urban Fantasy Bundle of Kickass Heroines, Adventure, Magic
28
DESCENT
I crouched in an alcove by a long row of chimneys.
None of us were really talking, not anymore.
Without anyone saying much, Revik and Maygar took over once the military showed up. Within seconds they were using Revik’s secure network, contacting people in the Seven’s Guard, calling in a team to get us out through the roof.
Still, the silence was deafening.
I don’t know what the others thought, I didn’t want to read any of them, but I felt a kind of futility when I saw the line of military cars blocking off the street at the base of Revik’s building. Someone down there had a voice amplifier, too. They were shouting instructions we could hear more than eight stories up. I heard other languages besides English, so it was a good bet that SCARB and the Sweeps were down there, too.
I saw the feed vans pull up right before Maygar grabbed my arm, tugging me away from the window. I let him drag me up the stairs along with the others, then to a smaller, hidden staircase behind a small bureau in the master bedroom. Above that one, an even more narrow staircase lived, one that led up to a metal plated door and out on the roof.#p#分页标题#e#
All six of us now squatted in a low line, gazing at the same expanse of gray sky.
Revik leaned on the white-painted wall beside me. I hadn’t really thought through the order in which we walked that last piece of stairs, but now he was clearly too close to me. Clutching the edge of one brick by my face, I managed to close off my light from his, but my eyes drifted to him again and again.
He didn’t return my glances.
I focused on a fading welt that showed above his white collared shirt.
“I’ll tell you, Allie,” he said. “Anything you want. But not now.”
My throat tightened. He’d felt me looking at him.
He still had a construct over this place. Given our connection, he might even be able to hear me apart from that.
Maygar’s voice rose behind me and I turned, saw him talking on a headset. He used the seer language mixed with what sounded like French.
“They’re closing off the street,” Revik said, translating.
“Didn’t Maygar tell them we’d blow up the building?”
“Yes.” Revik still wouldn’t look at me. “They’d expect that.” I saw him glance at Maygar again. His jaw tightened.
Just then, Eddard shouted, “Sir! They’re coming!”
I followed the human’s pointing finger. In the distance, black, insect-like shapes rose above the skyline. For months I had them burned into my brain as things that brought death and guns and capture, but this time, I felt my heart lift as I watched the black dots grow larger. Maybe we really would get out of this.
I glanced at Eddard, studying his light inside Revik’s construct. Definitely human.
“Who is he?” I asked Revik.
Revik’s eyes followed mine. “He works for me. He said he wouldn’t tell the military unless I did something ‘untoward.’ He’s clean,” he added, preempting my next question. “...and I’m paying him well.”
I nodded, watching the approaching helicopters.
Seconds later, sound came pounding into the alcove where we crouched. At first it came from the helicopters alone, then a whooshing noise ricocheted between buildings, soft at first then deafeningly loud. Revik tensed beside me. I barely recognized the flash of a pair of U.S. fighter jets, right before they fired.
The first missile hit the front helicopter and exploded.
I flinched back, unable to tear my eyes away even through Revik’s shielding arm. I watched as black smoke mushroomed up out of the tilting cockpit. Fire billowed out even as the second one came to its end a breath later.