Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 112287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 561(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Mind whirling after Dmitri hung up, he shot off a quick message to one of their people stationed with the angelic children, that communication part of his assigned tasks: Is your location secure?
Negative, came the devastating answer. Severe quakes have damaged the foundations. We’re evacuating the children to the secondary safe house.
“Shit.” He immediately disseminated the plan to the entire senior team.
The secondary location was aboveground, in a remote area of the Amazon jungle, and he knew the angels must have a way to get the children there without being spotted, but they’d still be traveling through violent weather.
He sent another message even as he brought up the weather systems en route: Do you have assistance in avoiding weather?
Yes. Hannah, consort to Archangel Elijah, and Mimata out of Southern Africa.
Of course Vivek recognized both names. Listen to them. Both have experience with the weather along your flight path. Mimata, for one, was a high-level courier; not one of the young kids, as most couriers were, but a senior angel who was called on to safely transport treasures—such as angelic children. I’ll also continuously forward you satellite updates so you can avoid storm cells.
Thanks, Vivek.
Leaving the angel to get on with the transfer, he continued to put out as many fires as he could while shooting answers at questions asked by his people. He didn’t realize he was gritting his teeth against the pain in his leg until a spasm locked it up in a knot so painful that it brought him to a screeching halt.
“Damn it,” he said under his breath, reaching down to massage his calf.
His personal line rang at the same instant, Katrina’s name on the screen.
He answered because he couldn’t not answer when it was her. “Hi.”
“What’s wrong?” came the sharp response.
“Oh, nothing.” He grimaced as sweat broke out along his spine. “Just one of those times I’m not sure being able to feel sensation is a good thing.”
“You’re in pain.”
“Muscle spasm in my leg.” Using his fingerprint to key open a drawer, he grabbed a blister packet of pills from the stash of medications in there. “A sec.” He popped out five, chewed them down—his vampiric metabolism meant most mortal medications had no impact until he took a serious overdose.
Forcing himself upright because he’d learned through painful experience that being seated just made the whole thing go on longer, he continued to talk to Katrina using his earpiece. “Is your place still standing?”
“It has solid bones,” was the clipped answer. “How bad is the pain?”
He thought about lying, knew she was too smart to accept bullshit. “Feels like someone’s twisting my balls.”
“Crude, but descriptive,” was the cool response. “Can you come down to me when you stop for a rest?”
“No,” he said, wishing it was otherwise. “I can’t leave the Tower.” Not given the current situation.
“This is who I am,” he found himself adding, to this woman he barely knew . . . and wanted to know so much better. “It’s important to me that I be here, do what I can.”
“I know that,” she replied, and once again, he had no idea how to read her tone. “Return to your work.”
The call ended.
Exhaling, he wondered if her response meant he’d pissed her off. He couldn’t tell, didn’t know her well enough yet. But there was nothing he could do about it, so after walking off enough of the cramp that it wasn’t debilitating—though he knew the affected muscles would continue to ache like a bitch for hours—he got back to juggling a hundred urgent balls at once.
When Izak walked in with a package half an hour later, he nodded at the young angel to leave it on a clear section of his circular desk. “Thanks,” he muttered absently.
“Um, Lady Katrina was very firm that it was to be hand-delivered to you, and that I had to stay here until you opened it and confirmed it had arrived safely.”
Fire under his skin, Vivek spun around in his seat. “Why is she commanding you like a courier?”
Blushing, Izak lifted his shoulders in a shrug, the arches of his wings a rich cream that Vivek knew was speckled with deep blue lower down. “I mean, she’s not the kind of lady you say no to—she waved me down outside her establishment, and, well . . . here I am.”
Jeez, the kid was green. “Don’t even think about going into that establishment,” Vivek ordered as he grabbed what he realized wasn’t a box at all, but a discreet gray insulated cooler.
“I can’t anyway.” Izak moped. “She has an entry age of three hundred for angels.”
Vivek grinned. “Right, of course she does.” Katrina wouldn’t want to be in the business of rescuing baby angels.
“It’s not fair when she doesn’t have any limit for vampires who’ve completed their century of service.” A glare. “Hey! Why do you know her or anything about her place when you’re nowhere near a hundred?”