12
Manus stormed into the command center, fury coursing through every cell of his body.
“Fucking bastard!”
Logan had betrayed him. Hell, he’d betrayed not only their compound, but their entire race. And if he didn’t find him fast, Logan would pay for it with his life.
Manus marched to the computer console, where Pearce was working. “Anything?”
Behind him more people entered the command center. He knew that Aiden and Hamish, who’d helped with the clean-up at the psychic’s shop and apartment, had followed him. But now he saw Enya, the only female warrior in their compound, enter too.
“I got something,” Pearce said. “Not sure if it’ll help.”
“Can somebody fill me in on what’s going on here?” Enya asked and approached.
“Later,” Manus said and motioned to the computer. “What have you got? Where is Logan?”
“Well, I can tell you where his car is.” Pearce pointed to a map on the screen. “He parked it right outside the Greyhound station in Philadelphia. It’s still there. Somebody had better pick it up before it gets towed.”
“Yeah, later,” Manus said impatiently. “What about Logan?”
“I figured since he left his car outside the bus station, I’d start there. And bingo, a camera picked him up entering the ticket hall with a woman.”
“And then?”
Pearce swiveled in his seat. “How about you give me a little bit more information about what’s going on here. It’s kind of hard to figure out what he’s planning when you’ve only given me half the facts. What went down on your mission? Or is it too super-secret to tell even us?”
Manus looked back to where Aiden and Hamish were standing. They’d come to get him in Wilmington and helped dispose of the demon bodies, but he hadn’t told them much either, only that Logan had left with the woman.
“Ah, fuck confidentiality. I don’t know why Barclay bothered.” When he caught Aiden’s raised eyebrows, Manus shrugged. “Your father can be a pain in the butt sometimes.”
“You’re preaching to the converted,” Aiden said. “Now tell us what’s really going on. Logan wouldn’t just run from demons.”
“He wasn’t running from the demons. He was running from me.”
Enya let herself fall into a chair. “Well, this sounds like it’s going to be an interesting story.”
“What did you do to piss him off this time?” Hamish asked.
“I’m not the one at fault here.” Manus shook his head. “Logan didn’t follow the order the council gave us.”
“Could you be any more cryptic?” Pearce asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
Manus tilted his head to the side, grimacing. “Fine. Here’s the deal. Logan and I were tasked with eliminating a psychic.”
Several gasps filled the room.
“Yeah, and before you all start talking at once, I’ll tell you what you need to know. The psychic, a woman named Winter Collins, is apparently unaware of her psychic abilities. She’s mentally unstable, and she displays drawings of her visions in her shop.” He motioned to Aiden and Hamish. “I mean, you saw it. We had to wipe down the runes she’d scribbled on the door frame with chalk. And the pictures she’d hung on the walls, we had to take them down. Anybody coming into her shop could see them. That’s probably how she drew the demons’ attention to herself.”
He sighed. “Anyway, Logan was supposed to go in and slip her the poison, kill her quickly. I was waiting in the car outside, and I saw the demons break in. I rushed after them as quickly as I could. And when I got there, Logan was fighting them, and the psychic was still alive. He hadn’t killed her.” He looked at his colleagues. “We fought the demons together. Killed them all except for one, who escaped through a vortex. But I knew they’d come back. We’d been lucky to defeat them at all without them snatching the psychic. So I figured, I’d do the deed myself, since Logan hadn’t managed to.”
Manus huffed angrily. “And what the fuck does he do when I’m about to slice her throat? The asshole attacks me! Me! And puts me in a chokehold until I lose consciousness.”
“Mmm,” Aiden hummed. “I don’t understand why he would do that. I mean, it was an order from the council. They voted, right?”
Manus nodded. “Five to four to eliminate the psychic.”
“Bit odd that they’d vote to kill her, when she could be of use to us,” Enya threw in.
“Apparently the council didn’t think so,” Manus griped.
“And Logan?” Hamish asked.
“When I called the asshole, he gave me this whole spiel about how useful she could be, that she has visions about the demons and could help us destroy them. Don’t you think the council didn’t discuss that before they took their vote? But no, Logan thinks he knows better. He said he has to save her. That he’ll prove to the council that she’s worth more to us alive than dead. Idiot! They’ll never change their vote!”
Enya shrugged. “Given the right evidence, they might.”
“Oh please!” Manus glared at her. “Are you going soft, or what?”
Enya narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t you—”
“Stop, both of you!” Hamish ordered. “Your bickering isn’t gonna help us find Logan.”
“Hamish is right,” Aiden said. “We have to find him. Quickly, before the council gets wind of this and figures out that he ran off with the psychic instead of killing her. That’s treason. And I’m not letting my friend go down for treason.”
“I’m not either,” Pearce confirmed.
“Same,” Enya said tightly.
Hamish only nodded.
Manus snorted. “Yeah, well, I’m not letting him do that either. But he’s still an asshole!” Asshole or not, Logan was his friend, and he couldn’t let his friend be tried for treason, an offense punishable by death.
He turned to Pearce. “Did you run Logan’s credit cards already to see if he used them at the bus station?”
Pearce nodded. “Yep. No hit. He wouldn’t be so stupid as to use his credit cards if he’s trying to evade us.”
“Then check the woman’s. Winter Collins. Maybe they used hers.”
“Give me a second to find her records.” Pearce started typing on his computer. Windows popped open, then closed again. It seemed to take an eternity, when in reality it probably took Pearce only several minutes to located the woman’s credit card and review her latest charges. He pointed to the screen. “Here. Purchase of two tickets on the Greyhound bus from Philadelphia to Chicago.”
Manus stared at the entry. “Why would he want to go to Chicago? It doesn’t make sense. Why travel by bus?”
Pearce met his look. “I get it. Why risk being exposed for so long, when he could just go to the next portal and travel anywhere without us being able to track him?”
“Exactly,” Manus said. “He meant for us to track him. But why?”
“Can we check if he even got on that bus to Chicago?” Hamish asked. “How about his cell phone? Can you ping it?”
Pearce turned back to the screen. “I did it earlier, but couldn’t get a good reading. He might have been in an area with bad reception. Let me try it again.”
A few moments later a map appeared on one of Pearce’s screens. A red dot flashed.
“He’s moving,” Pearce said. “Currently outside of Pittsburgh. That’s the route the bus would take from Philadelphia to Chicago. Looks like he’s on the bus.”
Manus shook his head. Something wasn’t right. He turned to his compound mates. “Tell me something, if you were on the run from us, would you leave your cell phone switched on, knowing that we can trace it with our software and find your location?”
All of them shook their heads.
“That’s what I thought.” Manus grumbled. “Fucking bastard. He’s laid out breadcrumbs for us to follow, leading us on the wrong trail. He’s nowhere near Chicago.”
“Then where?” Aiden asked.
“He’s making his way to a portal so he can disappear.” Manus turned back to Pearce. “Get me a list of all known lost portals within reach of the public transport system of Philadelphia. Because unless Logan stole a car, he couldn’t have gotten far. He would have had to use the rail system. And check reports about any stolen cars in the area, just in case.”
Pearce tapped away on his keyboard, then cursed. “Shit, there are too many portals. Their rail system is too extensive. There’s no way that between us we can have a man at every portal in the area to lay in wait for him. And we can’t ask another compound for help. Nobody can know about Logan going rogue. We need to narrow down the number of portals.”
“How?” Aiden asked.
“We have to put ourselves in his shoes,” Pearce said. “What would Logan do?”