He nodded and swallowed hard, then sucked in a shaky inhalation. "It's hard to shift gears and not hate 'em like I do. When I saw that old man in a hospital bed I thought about my moms . . . Alejandro, Juan, Miguel . . . everybody they came for and took, you know. Damn, they got Padre Lopez . . . I mean, when does it end, D? Got Hubert and Sara, the whole f**kingBrazil team, brothers and sister Guardians from that whole ambush inMexico . . . your mom and dad, start there." He held her tighter. "Even took what woulda been our firstborn."
Her body swayed in a gentle rocking motion as her hands traced his back, soothing, healing,trying to staunch the pain. "I know, and when we get somewhere safe and peaceful and protected, me and you are both gonna let all this rage and pain and hurt out. But right now, I have so much to show you, and what feels like so little time."
He drew back and nodded. "You'll now be the sender, and you're female. In a minute you're gonna know why I was so mad at my boy. I know he didn't realize that I wouldn't just go take it from Val without an intermediary . . . but this mind-lock is sender-loaded.You following me?"
"Aw, man . . ." Damali rested her forehead on Carlos's chest. "We ain't got time for this!"
"Yeah.My point exactly."
"All right.Shit. Well, you can talk me down later." Damali reached up and held Carlos's skull. "You ready?"
He smirked. "Making this clinical ain't gonna change things . . . maybe give you a five-second lead on sensation, but my boy took over my old throne, and I know what was in it."
"Just be quiet and let me send you the images." She held his head harder than was necessary and focused on a file cabinet.
"You havegot to be f**king kidding me," Carlos said as she hard-thrust images into his mind. "Lucrezia . . . we ain't gonna see Nuit for a month!"
Damali didn't speak. She bit her bottom lip and focused on the cabinet harder, noting the tone of gray in the paint, the dull fixtures on it.
"Oh, so they LoJacked me, huh . . . put a tag on me. Wait till Nuit's grimy ass resurfaces. Yeah . . . oh, it's like that-and went after Ayana like wha? See, D, this is what I'msay -" Suddenly Carlos burst out laughing. "Sebastian is gonna get his stupid ass bumped off for sure. Drac's woman-beserious. That-"
Damali crushed the words from his mouth with a kiss. "Remind me to kick Yonnie's ass when I see him." Breathless, she found his jugular with her tongue.
"I don't know whether to kick his ass or genuflect . . . but, uh, D, we can't even begin to go there, till I get a purge."
She backed off and walked in a circle for a moment."Right, right, compromised silver, bad toxin, bad situation."
"Was that the end of the message?"
She looked at him, squeezed her eyes shut, and squeaked out the answer. "No."
"Okay, baby, just finish it . . . and, later . . . we'll get everybody home, make a run . . ."
She held up a finger. "I can't think that far in advance right now. Let me dump thisintel and then go put some water on my face."
He stepped in close and allowed her to gently hold his head again. "Take your time."
She offered him a scowl. "Just be quiet-you're enjoying this, aren't you?"
"Will you be mad if I say, slightly? Rare that I get the tables turned on me so lovely these days."
"Man, hush." She closed her eyes and shot him the rest of the images and then backed away quickly from him. "Damn. Is that what you guys go through all the time?"
"Pretty much, but only if the sister is hot."
She cut him another glare but had to smile.
"You know I'm never,eva gonna rest until I step to Nuit about slamming Inez's mom and throwing that baby, right?"
Damali folded her arms over her chest."You?Sheeeit. I was there, bro."
Carlos nodded. "See how a little violent anger can just kill your libido and make everything all right? I like my anger, not sure I wanna part with it. Gets me up in the morning, helps me manage my day.Wouldn't know what to do as a peace and Zen representative. I just want the Light to burn off a little bit of the super-toxin so the darkside doesn't hot the house. Worst of it is,I hate being LoJacked like a thoroughbred dog. But other than that, the darkside can kiss my ass."
She chuckled. "I don't think the Light is ever gonna be able to burn this level of rage outta my system, and I know there's nothing they can do with you. Thing that messes me up is, they can keep this bullshit going now twenty-four-seven.At least before we had a twelve-hour window of daylight. Damn!"
"Then let's go eat dinner. What else is there to do at the moment?" He wiggled his eyebrows and hurried out the door.
CHAPTER NINE