Troy and Lucian exchanged meaningful looks, then Troy arched one quizzical brow. "What do you mean?"
Great. He had to spell it out. That made him nervous as hell. "Who's paying for it? This place is one of the most opulent hotels I've ever seen, and I admit to having been in a lot of hotels. And besides all the luxuries, there's state of the art electronics and enough weapons to start a revolution. So I'm curious."
Lucian shrugged and turned his attention back to his screen, unconcerned. "Man, have you not noticed our bosses are archangels? I haven't asked where the bucks come from, but there never seems to be a shortage and I’m certainly not thinking they’re stealing it."
Ezekiel let himself relax a little. After some of the shit he'd seen, coming up with money didn't seem all that big a miracle. But hadn’t he just told himself that very thing before making a fool of himself by verbalizing the question? Having confirmation for his logic comforted him anyway.
Devyn looked up from her computer. "Ezekiel, what's the name of Sam's ranch? The C-Bar?"
"Yeah why?"
"Shit, there's something here she needs to see." She rose and headed into the kitchen in search of Samantha and Toren. A moment later, she returned in a rush, Samantha following close behind. Devyn held the laptop out to Samantha, who quickly scanned whatever was on the screen.
"Oh God, no.” She looked at Toren, face deathly pale. “What has Joe done? I need to call home, see if Kassie is okay."
Lucian and Troy looked up with concerned expressions. "That might be a problem," Troy said in a careful voice. "The demons know who we are, who our families are, and monitor communications so they can track us. We can't just call home to check on things."
Samantha's stunned expression warned of a coming storm. "What?"
"Hold on." Ezekiel couldn't help stepping in. "Samantha, by 'fake mystic' you mean the cowboy called Joe?" At her nod he continued. "What did he do?"
She began pacing, her eyes looking eerily whiter. He had a hard time looking at her since the freaky eye change. And since she frequently shut them, he guessed she was still seeing too much. That was one fucked up angelic trait to inherit. Although in a war like this, he could certainly see the advantages of such a thing.
He and Skylar had gained a bit of strength and speed. For Skylar, it was impressive, for him even more so since what he gained was added to what he already possessed. And if he wasn’t mistaken, whatever change happened in him wasn’t done happening. Unless the hot flashes he was having were merely an annoying side effect.
Sam paused and shut her eyes, holding on to the back of a chair. "That article says he had a psychotic break after his long-term fiancé, the ranch owner's daughter, eloped with a drifter." She paused to put a shaking hand over her mouth and take a deep breath. "He… He—" Toren appeared at her side, silent, and took her into his arms. Ezekiel had to strain to hear the rest. "He strangled my father then poisoned all the men, including himself, with something he put in the woodstove. Kassie came back from her evening church service and found them all." She clung to Toren while tears rolled down her cheeks.
Holy shit.
Devyn laid a sympathetic hand on Samantha's shoulder. "I'm sorry." She drew back, looking uncomfortable.
Samantha took a deep breath and swiped at the tears. "Toren, I have to be sure Kassie is okay."
The angel nodded. "Of course." He led his distraught wife from the room, pausing at the door. "Lucian, Ezekiel, I checked with Dorn and Kassern about the next step in our plans. Dig up everything you can. We'll talk in a couple hours. Just in case, find a way to get us into that auction." He turned back to the hall, half-carrying his now-sobbing wife.
Devyn returned to her seat beside Troy and took up her laptop again. "That kind of thing makes me really glad I don't have any family. I don't think I could deal with something like that happening back home and not be able to at least call."
Ezekiel shook his head. "Toren will make sure she can call, or take her there. He won't deny her anything." He should know. He'd never be able to turn Skylar down, even if it put them all in danger. Thoughts of her drifted into his mind, and heat flashed through his body. Hope he wasn’t just coming down with something. Besides that, he was a little too young and too male to be having hot flashes.
He forced his attention back to the illegal arms business and finding a way to get into the auction. Come hell or high water, as the Americans were fond of saying, he intended to be there.
** ** ** **
Toren was tempted to just flash Samantha back to the C-Bar without bothering to let Dorn and Kassern know what had happened. Contradictory to his usual impulsive nature, common sense and caution won out and he buzzed the other two archangels telepathically and convinced them to meet with him about it.