As soon as he arrived at the location of Vera’s car, Magnus pulled out his phone. “Vera, I just wanted to tell you that we found your car and it’s perfectly fine. No damage whatsoever.”

“Oh thank goodness. Where is it?”

“Somewhere downtown. I’ll have one of my guys drive it back to your house.”

“Don’t you need to collect evidence? I watch crime shows all of the time and the detectives check for fingerprints and other things like that.”

Magnus chuckled. Already, Vera sounded much less distraught. “This is a simple fraud and theft investigation. Not a murder scene.” And thank the merciful Fates for that.

“Yes, of course. You have to excuse an old woman.”

“I have to go, Vera. I’ll call you later.”

“Good luck on catching the thief.”

“Thank you. I’ll do my best.” He disconnected the call.

“Drive to the parking lot of that hardware store we’ve just passed,” he told Liam. “I’m going to text everyone to meet us there.”

There was a good chance Grud was going to lead them to a Doomer nest, and Magnus wasn’t taking any chances.

“Yes, boss.”

As they waited for the Guardians and Jeff to arrive, Magnus texted Onegus with the update.

Do not engage. Just scope the area. It’s vital for the Doomers not to realize that their location is compromised.

Magnus was disappointed, but the chief was right to exercise caution.

As much as he would have wanted to storm the Doomers’ hideout with the Guardians he had with him, Magnus had to agree with the chief that it would’ve been irresponsible. A raid required extensive reconnaissance and a well-prepared plan. Besides, the Guardians were not combat-ready yet, not for modern warfare, and not in the middle of a densely-populated city.

Liam parked at the far end of the hardware store’s parking lot. A few minutes later Jeff’s van pulled up next to them, and some of the other Guardians he’d summoned were starting to arrive as well.

Magnus got out of the car and signaled for Jeff to lower the window. Unfortunately, he had to thrall the guy again. Seeing so many burly men arrive was no doubt going to freak him out. The guy had signed up for a simple search job, not for a war.

“Everything is okay. I called in more buddies from my old commando unit to help find our friend. They are all good men. You have nothing to worry about.”

Jeff nodded.

When all the Guardians were accounted for, Magnus signaled for them to gather around. “I’m going with Jeff and the dogs. I want you to fan out and watch our backs. Don’t get too close and make sure to keep some distance from each other. Onegus wants us to check things out, not to storm the place. It’s crucial that we don’t alert the Doomers to our presence.”

He waited until the men dispersed before opening the van’s door and letting the dogs out. Surprisingly, the animals had been fine with the small group of immortals that had searched the neighborhood, but they might have gotten agitated around a larger one. Too many predators in one place were sure to scare the dogs.

As Jeff got out of the van, his responses were markedly slower. He was starting to show the effects of the repeated thralling.

Hopefully, it would pass. Magnus had been careful to use as little as possible, but the guy was very susceptible.

“Can you keep the dogs from barking? I don’t want our guy to notice us. I want it to look like we are just two guys walking our dogs.”

“They won’t bark unless they feel threatened.”

“Then let’s go.”