He sat on the couch beside me, close but not touching. "I would have mentioned it, but I wanted to get through this first. It seemed unfair to discuss long-term plans now, when you were getting your first glimpse of what a life with me might entail-the… familial issues."
"So, you think I'm going to turn tail and run?"
He managed a wry smile. "I'm surprised you haven't already."
"No, I'm serious. Is that really what you think? That I care so little for you that I'd-" I shifted down the couch, away from him. "I knew all about your 'familial issues' when we got together, Lucas."
"Yes, but you may have been unprepared for the impact it could have on our lives. I would completely understand-"
"Would you?" I said, springing to my feet. "You'd understand if I walked out the door? Said 'Sorry, not for me'? Just like you'd understand if you showed me this house and I said, "I'll take it… now where are you going to live?'"
"I don't want to pressure you, Paige. Of course, I don't want you to leave, and, yes, I want to get this house with you, but if that's not what you want-" He reached for my arm, but I yanked it back.
"You have no idea how I feel about you, do you?"
When he hesitated, I strode to the door. Then I paused, hand on the knob. I couldn't do this. Not now.
"Come on," I said. "We have work to do."
The Cabal photos of Miami had given Lucas a half-dozen possible hotels, which we now needed to check. As for our spat, neither of us mentioned it, though the heavy silence in the car said we were both thinking about it. As much as I wanted to resolve the problem and get past it, I told myself it was better to ignore it for now. Plenty of time to fix things later.
On the fourth possibility, we found a match. A five-story mid-price hotel, with a southern view that matched Faye's description.
We were walking up the side alley, heading for the front of the building, when Lucas's cell phone rang.
"That was Oscar," he said when he hung up. "Faye's awake and very upset. All he can make out is that she wants to see me-immediately."
"Damn," I said.
"If she has new information on the case, it almost certainly relates to Edward's whereabouts, which we've probably found, rendering her information welcome but potentially unnecessary. At this point-" He looked up at the hotel. "I'm loath to walk away, however briefly, from the best lead we've had."
"I could go talk to Faye," I said. "But if Edward's in this hotel, I'd rather back you up."
"And I'd rather have you backing me up."
"What about sending Jaime? She's good with people, and it sounds like she's had some experience with Faye's type of condition, with her grandmother."
"Good idea."
Lucas called. Jaime was still in bed, but once she had woken up enough to understand what he was asking, she agreed to speak to Faye. If it was important, she'd call me back. So Lucas turned off his phone, I switched mine to vibrate, and we headed into the hotel.
"Sure, yeah," the young desk clerk said, head bobbing as he looked at the photo Lucas held. "Room three-seventeen. That's him."
"He's still checked in?"
"Right."
"Has he gone out yet this morning?"
"Not this way." He checked his watch. "And not this early. He usually heads out around noon, comes back after my shift."
Lucas wrote down a phone number. "If he comes down, wait until he's gone, then call this number. But only after he's left. Don't do anything to make him suspicious."
"Sure." The young man's head bobbed. "Okay. Sure."
Lucas strode through the front doors, face grim. "Time to call the SWAT team?" I said.
"I'm afraid we have more immediate concerns. Right now that clerk is on the phone to Edward, warning him we're here."
"What?"
Lucas rounded the building corner, walking so fast I had to jog to keep up. "I introduced us as NSA, told him we needed to find this man immediately. The first thing he should think, given the current climate, is 'terrorist.' But he doesn't ask any questions, even after I tell him not to raise the man's suspicions, implying he's dangerous. He tells us what we want to know and gets us out of there fast so he can call Edward, collect whatever reward Edward offered for warning him."
"And once Edward gets that call, he'll grab his things and bail."
"Precisely. Now-" He stopped halfway between the front of the hotel and the side door. "I want you to stand here. Cast a cover spell. If he comes out, don't do anything. Let him go, but watch where he heads, then get me. I'll be around back watching that door."
I nodded, but Lucas had already broken into a jog, heading toward the rear. I stood against the wall opposite the hotel, and hid behind a cover spell.
Less than two minutes later, the side door opened. A man stepped out. He wore a baggy windbreaker, sweatpants, sunglasses, and a ball cap pulled low, but none of that left any question that it was the man from the photograph: Edward.
Edward stepped out from behind the door and looked both ways. When his gaze passed over me, I resisted the urge to hold my breath, and concentrated instead on staying perfectly still. He eased the door shut. Then he lowered his backpack to the ground, bent, and opened it. As he crouched there, I couldn't help thinking how easy it would be to trap him in a binding spell. All I needed to do was break cover for a second and-
Edward pulled a gun from the knapsack and my idea died mid-thought.
He fiddled with the gun, then tucked it into the pocket of his windbreaker, hoisted his knapsack onto his back, and headed toward the rear of the building. Damn it! If only Lucas and I had practiced my long-range communication spell more, I could warn him. He'd be hiding, but not under a cover spell, since his cast wasn't reliable yet. I reassured myself that Lucas knew better than to pop out of hiding the moment he heard someone. Not that he'd even hear Edward. The man walked across the gravel like it was a foam cushion, not so much as rattling a stone underfoot. He stuck to the shadows, glancing over his shoulder with every few steps. Right before he reached the back of the building, he turned left and seemed to walk right through the wall I stood against.
I counted to three, then broke cover and leaned out to see an adjoining alley farther down. I took one slow step. The crunch of gravel under my feet resounded like thunder. I quickly recast my cover, but Edward didn't return. Again, I broke cover. Again, I took a single step. Again, the gravel crackled underfoot.
This wasn't working. After a moment's thought, I cast a light-ball and tossed it down the alley, praying Edward didn't pick that very moment to look behind him. When Lucas saw the ball, he peered around the corner. I gestured to the side alley. He nodded, darted across the alley, and pressed himself against the far wall. Then he inched to the opening and peeked down it. As he pulled back, he waved me forward.
When I got to the adjoining alley it was empty. Lucas motioned that Edward had slipped into a corridor farther down.
"He has a gun," I mouthed, pantomiming a pistol with my hand.
Lucas nodded and we set off in pursuit.
The Target
We hurried along the passage, then peeked into the cross-alley Edward had taken. It ended at a street. Edward stepped onto the sidewalk and turned right. We hustled to the end of the alley and looked out. Edward was poised on the curb of a busy road, as if debating whether to dodge through traffic. Lucas motioned for me to get into a better viewing position and cast a cover spell. I did.
After a moment on the curb, Edward wheeled and headed left along the sidewalk. At the first stoplight, he joined a small crowd and waited, rocking on the balls of his feet. When the light changed, he wove through the other pedestrians, then darted into the first door on the other side.