Heart and Soul by Jackie May (reading list .TXT) 📗

any one of them in custody, we get the hell out. Give me your hands. Feel that?” Into my outstretched palm she places something tiny and round, like a watch battery. “It’s a tracking device. Secondary objective. You see anybody or anything that looks important, you put that tracker on it. Sticks to anything, including clothes. If we can land one, we can track any of the worker bees back to the hive. Any questions?”

“What’s our exit strategy?” Jay asks.

“Good question. Exits are tricky in the best of scenarios, and this won’t be that. In fact, I think it’s fair you all know that I consider this to be one step above a suicide run. Demons and sorcerers working together means the entire building will be locked down and warded. Security will be everywhere, and they will be heavily armed. We can assume no cell phones allowed, so communication is out. There’s no backup, because we can’t trust anybody, even at the Agency. We are completely on our own, which means our exit strategy is simple. It’s Shayne.”

“Me? I don’t have any exit plan.”

“Not yet. But you will, or I wouldn’t be doing this. When it’s time for us to get out of there, we’re following you.”

“Geez. No pressure.”

The car comes to a stop and turns off. Russo and Hillerman step out and shut their doors. I hold Jay back. “Wait, Jay.” I feel around in the dark until my fingers find the bowtie at his neck. I straighten it.

“How do I look?” he jokes.

“Like ten million bucks.”

“Wow, ten million.”

“Every penny.”

“You okay?”

“That’s what I want to talk about. Where’s your hand? Let me hold it.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Just shut up and let me do the talking right now. I love you, Jay, but we can’t keep living like this. Looking over our shoulder, hiding behind wards. If we ever want to have any kind of life together, we’ve got to end this. You have to finish it, and you have to finish it tonight. Getting here almost killed us several times over, and we might never get another chance like this.”

“Babe, what’s up? Just say it.”

“I want you to forget about me.”

“What?”

“No, don’t get all dramatic about it. I’m not saying for good, I’m saying for now, you do what needs to be done, and you don’t stop to think about me, not even for a second. You don’t look for me or wonder where I am. You don’t worry about me, Jay. You put me out of sight, out of mind. It’s just you and them, and that’s all that matters tonight. No hesitation. No holding back. All in.”

He squeezes my hand. “I will, if you will.”

“Right behind you, babe, every step of the way. I promise.”

“Shayne, you need to understand what you’re saying. If I flip that switch, I…if I go down that rabbit hole, you can’t take it personally, the way I’d look at you.”

“You mean, the way you won’t look at me?”

“Right. If this thing goes down, I won’t see you. I won’t see anything but red. And even if we end it tonight, I can’t just turn that off again.”

“I know it, babe. Maybe it’s not tonight, and maybe it’s not tomorrow, but you will come back to me. All of you, hear me?”

There’s a knock at the window. Time’s up. Jay squeezes my hand. “Shayne, you have to be sure.”

“I’m sure, Jay. Go get ’em.”

His hand begins to tremble with intensity. Adrenaline rushes through his veins. “Fine, but I get a final wish.”

“Hold on; I’m not giving you permission to die, Jay. Let’s be clear about that.”

“A wedding date. Just a day. Any day.”

Another knock at the window, flustering me. “A wedding day? How should I know?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Opening day of baseball season. That’s in two months.”

My heart melts. This has to be the first time somebody else has ever given me an idea that was more me than anything I would have come up with myself. I pull him in for a kiss, then a firm pat on the face. “Now, go fetch.” He kicks the door open and practically leaps from the car.

“We got a problem,” Hillerman announces.

I see what she means. The blackout is still in effect, but now there is a red glow outlining our concealed weapons, as though we’re in some sort of magical x-ray machine. Four bright-red guns floating in the darkness.

“Shit. Red means bad,” I say.

Russo sighs. “So much for concealed weapons. We’re supposed to go in there unarmed?”

I take the pistol from my clutch bag and drop it into the car. As soon as I do, a faint blue glow outlines my body. “I guess blue means good.”

Jay tosses his gun into the back seat. After the others follow suit, we have to hustle to catch up to Jay’s blue silhouette. He takes large strides along a glowing blue path on the ground.

“Off the leash?” Russo mutters to me.

“For better or worse. You get yours, I’ll get mine.”

Russo drops back to Hillerman’s side while I lengthen my stride to keep close behind Jay. It sounds like we’re in a parking structure—there’s an echo from the click-clack of the men’s dress shoes. My feet are silent, because under my luxurious, emerald green maxi dress I’m wearing sneakers.

The blue path ends with a large East Side demon sigil that pulses with purple energy. A dark figure with glowing eyes and a mouthful of sharp teeth appears in front of us. “Kindly stand inside the circle.” His glowing teeth are framed by the shape of a wide smile. “If you please, I will now inspect your invitations.”

After we move into the center of the demon sigil, he raises a hand that suddenly ignites with purple energy. The markings on Jay’s back appear, glowing purple—the words GRANDE BALLROOM and the symbol of the first quarter moon.

“Ah. So you are the Betrayed,” the demon sorcerer says, licking his lips. “Tell me, how did it feel?”

“It tickled,” Jay says.

The demon moves on to