“Sounds like he can turn it both directions,” I said with a frown. “Gets his loyalty with fear or love.”
“Yeah, that sounds right. Shit.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Now that his hold on me is gone, I look back and wonder how I could do what I did because of fear. I’m not afraid to die, but that motherfucker had me so terrified, I’d kill for him, execute for him.”
I’d seen him take a bullet for Paul. He wasn’t lying about not being afraid to die. “Sonny’s been with you since the beginning of all this. You and Paul are close to him.”
“Yeah.” Pain and regret shone in his eyes. “It’s hard on him. He’s a decent guy. I’d give anything to get him out of there.”
I had a feeling he’d lay down his life if it meant Sonny could be free of Farouche. He carried the responsibility for what Sonny was now. “After we get Idris, maybe we can help make that happen.” I met his eyes. “Bryce, what you went through was utter shit. I have no problem with you being in this house. Do you have any problem being here?”
His face grew hard, and I saw the killer in him plain as day. “Not unless you have a problem with me having one more mark on my hit list.”
“No problem at all.” I knew exactly who he meant.
“That’s dangerous thinking for a cop.”
“I’m not a cop anymore.” I pushed down the ache that rose at the reminder.
He gave me an oddly penetrating look. “Can you ever get away from being a cop, even if you aren’t carrying the badge?”
Bryce sure as hell wasn’t a meathead thug. “No, not really. Not having the badge is like losing a bit of me.” I batted a mosquito away. “It’s stupid, and I know I’ll get over it, but being a cop was as much a part of me as the summoning.” I paused, then shook my head. “No, it was more. A lot more. I belonged. I was part of something. I felt like I could make a difference as a cop.” I blew out my breath. “The summoning was just a super cool thing I did. There wasn’t any particular reason behind it. Not until last year. Then everything changed once Rhyzkahl made an appearance.”
He digested all of that, nodded. He looked calmer now, as if a weight had lifted from him. “Thanks for everything. And as long as we’re clear, I’m grateful to stay in your house.” His voice held a slight hitch. A lot of emotion lay beneath the tough guy exterior.
“Glad that’s settled.” I slapped my hands on my thighs. “C’mon. Let’s grab whatever Jekki has on the stove, fire up the game system, and kill some aliens.”
“You’re singing my tune,” he said with a smile.
Chapter 26
Half an hour later I’d been made into mincemeat by aliens more times than I could remember, and Bryce was back to himself again.
Fuzzykins abruptly heaved her very pregnant butt onto the sofa and into Bryce’s lap. She hissed at me, then looked up at him with a Mrow?
“Don’t be shy about moving her,” I said, narrowing my eyes at the feline. “She’s a persistent pest with people she likes. I’m not one of those. She’s Eilahn’s.”
“I’m okay with her on me.” He scratched her head. “You don’t like cats?”
“Cats don’t like me. They were fine when I was young, but hated me when I got older.” I shrugged, pushed down the bloom of regret. “Found out last year that it has something to do with being a summoner.” I glared at her in mock menace. “No great loss, you mangy beast.”
Bryce gave a laugh. “Looks like you’re going to have a houseful soon.”
I groaned at the thought, then felt Mzatal’s touch and smiled. “I have something to take care of,” I told him. “I’ll leave you two to get acquainted and catch you a little later. Need to pick your brain a bit.”
“Might be some slim pickings,” he said with a smile. “I’ll get started with some ideas for the camera system. It’ll keep me out of trouble.”
Mzatal knelt on the mini-nexus, head lowered and hands splayed in front of him as though sensing. A road atlas lay on the ground before him, open to a map of Texas. A faint tingle of potency flowed to him as he drew upon the resources of the convergence. I remained still and waited for him to complete whatever he was doing.
After about a minute he lifted his head, gave me a smile. “Zharkat.”
I gestured to the map. “Did you find something?”
“Great disruption in the flows here,” he said as he traced a wide circle around the Austin area. “Precipitated by an event that occurred the same day you arrived back on Earth.”
“Idris was near Austin when he called me,” I said, narrowing my eyes in speculation.
Mzatal nodded. “I sense an echo of his arcane signature amidst the tangle of flows, yet I have not yet located the cause or point of origin of the event.” Frustration darkened his eyes, and I reached for his hand to give it an encouraging squeeze.
“It’s still huge progress,” I told him, then smiled. “You’re too used to having the world at your fingertips in your plexus.”
He exhaled, gave my hand a return squeeze. “Yes. Here, it is as if—” A whisper of amusement pierced the frustration. “It is as if I am forced to use a mere calculator after utilizing the full scope of the Internet.”
I blinked at his use of such an Earth-centric analogy, then laughed. “You have been talking to Paul.”
Mzatal’s mouth twitched in a faint smile. “He sought me out during one of his breaks when no others were awake, and I spent a pleasant hour conversing with him.”
“Sounds like you needed the break as well.”
“I did, though I knew it not at the time.” He touched the map before him. “Yet it was after I returned to my search that I found the trace that eventually led me to the disturbance.”
“Excellent. I’m adding ‘Make Mzatal Take a Break’ to his job description.”
The screech of a power tool had us both wincing. Mzatal glanced toward the mobile home and the workers then back to me. “Tell me of the events of the morning,” he said, expression serious again.
“Farouche killed the trigger-happy security guard from the warehouse and dumped the body on Jill’s lawn a little after four a.m.,” I told him with a scowl. “He’s letting me know how tough he is and that he knows where my people are.” Anger swept through me again, but I didn’t pygah. I wanted to be mad about this crap for a while. “On the plus side, Jill’s finally agreed to move in.” I gestured toward the mobile home. “Of course now I’m worried about Tessa. Shit!” I smacked my forehead. “It’s been so crazy around here I totally forgot to tell you. I’m almost positive Tessa’s been manipulated.” I proceeded to fill him in on my odd visit with her and the way her responses felt programmed. His expression darkened as I spoke and was positively black by the time I reached the bit about Zack’s micro-nod confirmation that Tessa had spent time in the demon realm with Rhyzkahl.
Though the anger on his face pretty much told me what I needed to know, I still had to ask. “Do you remember her being in the demon realm?”
“No,” he replied. He stood, body stiff with tension. “However, with Katashi’s associations at that time, she could have been brought in undisclosed.”