Demon Fire (The Angel Fire Book 3) by Marie Johnston (best authors to read .txt) 📗

to happen, and she had to get out of here before it did. Had she gotten to the phone in time?

Boone waited in a dark alcove blocks away from Fall From Grace. He made it look like he was having an argument on the phone, his back half turned to the street. The hardware store he was in front of had closed hours ago.

Urban spoke over the line. “Harlowe’s in place, on top of the third building down. I can see you from where I’m at.”

Boone shoved a hand in his pocket and turned, leaning his back against the glass front of the store. He saw nothing but a dark, empty street and wide buildings spread out around him. Urban was nowhere in sight.

“You’re not supposed to be able to see me.” Urban answered his unspoken question of Where the hell are you? “Jagger and Bronx are in place. Dionna’s in the van three blocks north of the club. Call her for an emergency extraction.”

Because Boone and Sierra couldn’t find a quiet corner to vanish.

Unease prickled through Boone. He had a bad feeling about tonight. The bartender had started asking pointed questions. Kinsey, the redhead who found him half the time he went to the club, was getting pushier, and he just wanted Sierra out and done. If he had to stand to keep Kinsey from climbing into his lap, he would, but even the bartender had been questioning why Boone wasn’t taking advantage of what she offered.

“But, Boone.” The warning in Urban’s tone was enough. “If she doesn’t come willingly, this is it. There are too many humans around. We can’t risk putting them in danger.”

“She doesn’t even know we’re extracting her tonight.”

She’d sent them information. How many guards Andy had, when they worked, where she’d seen them stationed. The third floor seemed off-limits and she’d been allowed to take walks each day on the main floor. The time varied but it had to be done before the cleaning crew came.

Andy used the back entrance to come and go, which the warriors had already noted. They couldn’t get close to spy on the club, but they didn’t have to be close.

Sierra had also said that everyone thought Jameson was still alive, but that Andy planned to stage a spectacular death. Andy would no doubt want a death befitting Jameson and one that would secure his mysterious legacy, but the reason for the wait wasn’t yet clear.

She sent descriptions of the layout that confirmed it was the same as when Harlowe had gotten into the building last time. Andy’s routine was the hardest to pin down, but he seemed to be in-house when the club was open. And often during the day. Did the man sleep on the third floor?

But the most concerning was her message from yesterday. Not only had demon activity been increasing, as had Andy’s pressure to get her blood, but he was actively working with demons. Plotting with them. And she suspected it had to do with her blood. Like they knew what Sandeen knew.

Andy might be helping demons roam the earth.

She’d put him off about the blood, but the midwife’s visit was tomorrow. With two particular demons showing every night that kept staring at her like they knew what her future held, she was getting nervous.

Boone was more than nervous. He was frantic. He’d worked long operations, but this was going on too long. Each week that ticked by increased the risk to the baby if they made a move. She’d given them enough info about human and demon activity to extract her while minimizing human injury, which was the main concern for the warriors. The proof they needed to convince the senate Andy should be terminated would have to wait. They had to get Sierra out, whether she wanted to give up the mission or not.

They couldn’t get into the club during the day without a fight, and all the customers were screened for weapons, so it was best to get in like normal and get Sierra out from there by neutralizing the guards. The farther Boone could get in, the better.

Urban sighed. “I’m just saying . . . we’re going to do what we can to get her out of there and deal with Andy. But you can see how it’s so convenient that she didn’t tell us much of what we didn’t already know.”

“And she had almost zero to go on when she went in there.” He didn’t have to pretend to have an argument on the phone for any onlookers. “All you knew was that Jameson did business in a conference room. She used the fuck out of that little tidbit just from standing in the window only when he was in that room. We know he’s in the office every night the club is open. We know he works with demons by name. He’s not fooled by a possessed host.”

Meanwhile, Boone’s main assignment was to go to the bathroom and hide a phone. He’d never felt so damn powerless, going to sleep each night surrounded by warriors while Sierra slept surrounded by the enemy. He’d only had a taste of what Phoebe had gone through. Lingering resentment toward his wife had faded completely in the last few weeks.

He’d had to make sure the operation tonight was extracting Sierra because it needed to be done, and not just because he wanted her out and away from those demons. But it was true. Sierra and the baby’s safety came first and they were more at risk than ever. He and the warriors had come up with a plan. The angels would take the roof. Boone would ask about a job, fast-talk his way to the second floor, and they’d converge on Andy. Between Boone and the angels, they knew to use nonlethal force on the guards.

Since the senate had refused to sanction a kill order on Andy, Boone planned to use nonlethal force on everyone—but Andy.

Boone was no angel.

He hung up. They all