“How are you calling me? Whose phone is it?”
“I’m calling from a burner Connor’s people brought. That phone is my emergency phone.”
“Why do you have an emergency phone at Linus’ house?”
“He bought it for me to use when I come over because my phone is always dead.”
Of course he had.
“Anyway, not important. Mom is out.”
“What?”
“She left to identify Pete’s body. She took a security detail with her, three guards. We can’t reach them.”
“Why did she go in person?”
“Pete’s son is there. Someone had to go and explain why Pete died.”
Crap. Pete had been taken to a private morgue at the Woman’s Hospital of Texas. Twenty-five minutes from us.
“I’ll get her.”
An electric crackle split the air on the other end.
“Got to go,” my sister said and hung up.
I shoved the phone into my pocket.
Bern yanked the cords out of the back of the tower and picked it up.
The three of us took off for the front door. The security team was piling into an armored personnel carrier. Jean, the tall olive-skinned woman in charge, looked at me from the front passenger seat, her window down, waiting for instructions.
The use of Warden guards was strictly limited. Guarding the family of Wardens wasn’t covered by their duties, so telling them to escort Bern and Runa was right out. Technically they would guard me if I ordered them to as long as I was performing an official investigation but going to get my mother wasn’t a Warden matter, it was a Baylor matter.
“Go back to base and fortify,” I told her.
“Yes, Acting Warden.”
The last person climbed into the Warden vehicle and banged on the side. The carrier rolled out. Linus’ people had a base outside of Houston. Its location was well hidden and the base itself enjoyed the full benefit of the best defensive weaponry Duncan Arms could provide. If Arkan went after them, he would regret it.
He wouldn’t go after them. Why would he when what he wanted was inside the Compound.
Bern loaded the computer tower into the Humvee and got behind the wheel. The Humvee rolled up to me, windows down. “Do you need us to come with you?” Runa asked.
“No. I need you to go home and get our phones back online. Alessandro and Leon are out there, and they are deaf and mute.” And Bern was the only one who could fix it.
“I’ll take care of it,” Bern promised.
The Humvee took off.
I ran up to Rhino and jumped into the driver’s seat. Cornelius was already in the passenger seat, holding a tactical shotgun. Gus panted in the back. I reversed, peeled out of the driveway, and stopped just outside the gate.
Seconds ticked off. One, two . . . Ten . . .
The gate clanged shut. Turrets spiraled out of the ground, sparking with residual magic. A low buzz rolled through the street. The system was hot. From now on Linus’ mansion would be off-limits.
Cornelius’ silver BMW waited parked ten yards ahead. He must’ve moved it.
“Do you want me to drop you off at your car?” I asked.
“No. We’d like to ride home with you. Safety in numbers. I’ll pick up my car later.”
Gus made a small woof in agreement.
I could use all of the backup I could get. “Thank you.”
I drove down the street, rolling over the speed bumps, pulled a U-turn and sped toward the Buffalo Speedway.
The Buffalo Speedway was crowded. The traffic was steady but moving at a decent speed.
“I paired the phone to the car. Your mother’s phone was already in contacts under Mom,” Cornelius reported.
“Call Mom.”
The car’s audio system obediently dialed. Ring. Ring. Ring.
“Your call has been forwarded . . .”
“Mom, I’m coming to get you. Call me.”
A sign flashed.
CAUTION
CONSTRUCTION AHEAD
The car in front of me put on its brakes. The caravan of vehicles compacted, slowing down.
“Call Mom.”
Ring. Ring. Ring.
LEFT LANE
CLOSED
500 FEET
“Your call has been forwarded . . .”
“Your mother is very capable,” Cornelius said.
“Yes.”
My mother was also a high-value target. If Arkan’s crew got to her, I would give them anything they wanted to get her back.
“Could you please look up the number for Margolis Autopsy Lab at the Woman’s Hospital and try that?”
“Of course.” Cornelius fiddled with the phone. “Here it is.”
He put the phone on speaker. Ring . . . Ring . . . “You have reached the Margolis . . .”
I waited until the tone. “This message is for Penelope Baylor. Please call me immediately.” I left my new phone number and Cornelius hung up.
The traffic funneled into a single lane. We crawled past the left lane blocked off with cones and white pickup trucks.
“Of course there is construction,” I said. My voice was so calm, it was almost robotic.
“Different cities are famous for different things,” Cornelius said. “San Antonio is known for the River Walk and the Alamo. Austin is famous or infamous for 6th Street with its bars and shootings. We have construction and floods.”
The lane narrowed, hemmed in by concrete barriers on the right. I steered Rhino with laser precision, caught between the nonexistent shoulder and the row of traffic cones.
“Catalina,” Cornelius said quietly. “Your hands have gone white.”
“Thank you.” I eased my grip on the wheel.
“You are exceptionally calm,” he observed.
“Alessandro got into a car with a man who is supposedly working for Lenora Jordan but could’ve been an illusion mage, because the Harris DA evidently has an emergency with strikingly convenient timing. Leon was supposed to shadow the FBI, but I didn’t see any sign of him at the Cabera mansion. My mother is outside of the Compound, and none of them are answering their phones. The Compound is under attack. I can’t afford anything but calm right now.”
“They separated us and are hitting us one by one?” Cornelius guessed.
“That’s how I would do it.”
“I’ll try Alessandro and Leon again.” He tapped the phone.
We passed Richmond Avenue.
“No response,” Cornelius reported.
If I thought about it for too long, I’d panic.
The phone lit up. An incoming call. “Accept!”
“Catalina?” Mom asked.
Finally. “Where are you?”
“I am in an office in Dr. Amandi’s lab.” Her voice was eerily calm. My mother had gone into that serene place she always visited just before she lined up a shot through her scope.
“Where are your guards?”
“Tyler called from the airport. His car didn’t show up.”
Tyler was Pete’s son.
“I sent the guys to pick him up. That was an hour ago. They’re not answering their phones and I can’t reach the house. My phone isn’t working. I am using their landline. There is an armored vehicle in the parking lot. They’ve been sitting there for ten minutes, and nobody has gotten out.”
They’d found her.
“It’s Xavier.” Xavier wouldn’t have passed up a chance to catch my mother. He would come in person and probably not alone. “Arkan is attacking us. Our phones are compromised.”
“Ah. That explains things.”
My voice was flat and calm. “Xavier will wait for you to come out, but he’s impatient. He will come into the lab to get you.”
“Staying put isn’t an option.”
“No.”
I crunched through our options. The Woman’s Hospital had a large campus, sprawling between Greenbriar and Fannin Street and cut off by Old Spanish Trail in the north. I was still at least fifteen minutes away. Even if she hid in the building, they would find her. And if I pulled into that parking lot, Xavier would hurl the nearest lamppost through my windshield. I had to get Mom and get out alive.