He stood, turned, and began to walk away.
She scrambled to her feet. A mild current of panic washed through her. "Where are you going?"
He stopped but didn't turn around. He couldn't bear to be alone with her another minute, any more than he had it in him to tell her about the coven brothel that was his destination. It was Halloween, and there were willing witches that he could use to purge her from his mind-for the night, at least. He glanced at Tara over his shoulder.
"I'm going to see what the witches can divine for me," he muttered, walking farther away from her. Why he'd felt it necessary to cover his whereabouts truly disturbed him.
"Where?"
"Don't worry about it."
"But if you get trapped out there, alone," she said quickly, the urgency in her voice making him shudder and know she cared.
"Go in the house!" he yelled, pointing at the front door without looking at her. The sweet sound of her voice was making him crazy. The melody of it laced with concern rippled through him. "Don't argue with me. You've made your decision and I'll take care of me."
She didn't move, and he turned to look at her, eyes blazing solid red.
"I said," he repeated, more gently, "go in the house. I'll be back before dawn."
"Be careful," she murmured, backing into the barrier light.
There was nothing to discuss. The team gathered up the remaining weapons. Carlos took up a position by himself in the rear of the cabin, while others fanned out strategically in seats throughout. That suited him just fine. He needed space to think and to nurse his wounded jaw and pride.
They had been rerouted just before midnight, so their flight never touched down in Dubai as originally planned. He thought about the attack and knew he was missing something. Numbers kept jumping into his mind for some reason. So did locations. Strategy and figuring out connections had always been his strong suit, living or dead. He toyed with the logistics, knowing there was a clue within them, becoming agitated that his loss of additional insight and powers of discernment that he would have had if he were still a vampire, blinded him to the root cause of the attack. Daybreak couldn't come fast enough for him, especially now that they were over land. Once they'd neared the Red Sea, all Hell had broken loose on their thirteen-hour flight. There was a connection; thirteen had to be a bad number; he could feel it in his bones.
He glanced up and saw Rider stand up and noted the time. Four A.M. In an hour they'd touch down. It would be dawn. If they could just get to the ground in Addis Ababa without any more drama, that would be enough for him. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He was too exhausted to fight.
All of a sudden, he felt a presence standing over him and he opened his eyes.
"Can we talk?" Rider said, looking down at Carlos.
Carlos shrugged. "Yeah, whatever."
Rider sat down next to him. "I'm sorry about the jaw."
"It's cool," Carlos said, and stared out the window.
Rider held out his hand to Carlos.
Carlos turned his head, looked at Rider, then at his outstretched hand. After a few long seconds, he accepted the handshake. His pride still stung. A forty-five-year-old guy had flattened him.
"Listen," Rider said carefully, when he went back to talking to Carlos's profile. "We're all a little touchy right now. Everybody's senses are off, except maybe Marlene's. So we may not be making the best decisions." He rubbed his jaw. "I know while you were a vamp, you had to do what you had to do to survive," Rider finally said through a weary sigh.
"Yeah, I did," Carlos muttered. "You have no idea what kinda shit I had to contend with, man. Having people who could watch my back was imperative."
Rider nodded. "Your boy, Yonnie, is cool... he'll honor your marks?"
"Yeah. He's cool, man," Carlos said, looking at Rider for the first time.
He saw real fear in Rider's eyes.
"Look, man," Rider said. "I've done a lot of shit that I'm sure she knows about, and, by rights, she could..." He glanced away, finding that same vacant space on the horizon that Carlos had been staring at. "We've been together a long time, dude, and she means the world to me."
Carlos nodded. "He won't hurt her. I never rolled like that and neither does he."
Rider looked Carlos in the eyes. "That's not what I was worried about, dude."
For a moment, neither man said a word.