"Then we use our humans." Mr. Dorn shrugged. "Easy enough."
"As long as they're cooperating. Otherwise we'll be demon shit." That angry retort came from Mr. Toren as he glared at his couple. Uh-oh. Must be trouble in paradise.
"Skylar can handle that part, she's made of true grit." Mr. Toren's wife patted the hand of the woman next to her.
"Well, so can I," that Ezekiel guy said, seeming pissed.
"That settles it." Mr. Dorn ignored the petty spatting. "We keep in contact via telephones."
"Cell phones." The tiny words came from the dark haired girl next to tattoo dude. Reminded him of a timid church mouse. "It's called…cell phones." She flicked her eyes to Tyler's and he looked away. Hope her super power wasn't reading minds. He was kinda tired of that. Needed to guard his thoughts with this bunch.
Mr. Kassern leaned forward and looked at Francis a few seats to his left. "What about your little operation? How's that going?"
Tyler watched Francis' face from across the table. He seemed calm enough, but Tyler read people pretty well. And Francis was really nervous for some reason, and working hard to hide it.
"I have gained the…cooperation of one of the leaders that would like to see the boy out of the gang. They have agreed to help. We move to plan B this evening."
"Which is?"
Francis put his hands on the table and laced his long nearly elegant fingers together. "We obtain the boy. I needed to know if it was okay if we brought him back here. He has no home or family except the…person helping me. He currently lives with a friend of a friend of his dead mother."
Mr. Kassern nodded and sat back. "Good. We can use that kind of intel. Not to mention saving a soul from those brutal streets."
Everybody nodded.
"So, it's settled. The Ruby Quad goes to Florida and the Southeast. The Mercury Quad goes back to Montana. My Quad and I are heading for the Vatican to get Jessie that Papal audience. And the kids will take care of the local trash. Doc?" Mr. Dorn closed the giant TV screen. "Can you babysit the boy and the…the monkey…people? While you're working on your testing?"
Tyler almost laughed when the intelligent angel stuttered over those monsters. Seemed like none of them were very keen about them. He eyed Peggy on his right. Except her.
She seemed to feel him looking and glanced his way. Tyler had the sense to not hold her gaze for more than a few seconds. Long enough to not look like he was caught staring but not so long that it was…personal.
His heart raced when she took his hand in hers under the table. He glanced at her and couldn't help but smile a little at how innocent she looked. And beautiful. He also knew she was deadly and that idea made him feel just a tad inferior. A tad.
Babysit. Mr. Dorn's word sank in belatedly. How about babyshit? He'd had enough of the childish treatment, that's for sure. The problem was, how was he supposed to find where Francis and them were going? He had no idea where the place was or how he would get there without one of them to beam him up.
Damn. He hadn't thought of that. Maybe he could convince Peggy to let him go just once. He'd spend the afternoon practicing his little trick. If he could get into that territory, he could read the gang members' minds and answer questions that might take weeks to find. Then they'd realize what a huge asset he was.
The doc had said the humans were like deflectors when it came to supernatural powers. Did that mean his ability made him entirely invisible to them? He'd need to find out.
Excitement made his guts churn and his heart skip all kinds of beats. Peggy squeezed his hand and without thinking, he did the same back. He stole another glance at her. Everybody assumed he was young. And that was his fault, he'd lied about his age. But how did he tell her the truth without seeming like he was waving an I'm old enough flag in her face? But he was old enough. And he did want her to know. She treated him like a good friend, maybe even a brotherly type of good friend, the kind you looked out for, took care of.
How would she feel when she knew he was really sixteen? Would she be mad he lied. Three times? See him any differently?
Chapter Thirty-Two
"With practice, you can exit your body with a mere thought." Those had been the doc's words when Tyler had asked after the little meeting. And Francis and them were leaving for plan B in four hours. That gave Tyler a lot of practice time. But it was turning out to be a real pain in the neck. Literally. His head and neck ached for some reason. He'd have to ask the doc about that.
Other than that, Tyler was stoked. He was exiting his body in a record two minutes. The doc said it was easier when he was hooked to him because the doc acted like a portal to another world. Learning to relax enough to step out was the hard part, and doing it fast was even harder.