"Tell me he can find the place again," Butch breathed, aware of a suffocating urgency. And he wasn't the only one on instant alert. Phury looked so intense he didn't seem capable of speech.
"Yeah. He marked his way out, dematerializing two hundred yards at a time until he reached Route 22. He's e-mailing me the trail on a map. Damn smart for a civilian."
Butch ran out to the living room, heading for his coat and the keys to the Escalade. He hadn't taken off his holster, so his Glock was still strapped under his arm.
Except V got between him and the door. "Where you going, my man?"
"Has that map come through your e-mail yet?"
"Stop."
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Butch glared at his roommate. "You can't go out during the day. I can. Why the hell should we wait?"
"Cop"-V's voice grew soft-"this is Brotherhood business. You're not going in on this."
Butch stalled. Ah, yes, shut down again.
Sure, he could work around their periphery, do some crime scene analysis, get his gray matter churning over tactical problems. But when the fighting started, the Brothers always kept him off the field.
"Goddamn it, V-"
"No. You're not handling this. Forget it."
It was two hours later before Phury had enough information to go to his twin's room. He figured there was no point in getting Zsadist agitated with a half-story, and it had taken a while for the plan to jell.
When he knocked and there wasn't an answer, he stepped inside and winced. The room was cold as a meat locker.
"Zsadist?"
Z lay on a couple of folded blankets in the far corner, his naked body drawn up tightly against the chill in the room. There was a sumptuous bed not more than ten feet away from him, but it had never been used. Z slept on the floor always, no matter where he had lived.
Phury walked over and knelt down beside his twin. He wasn't going to touch the male, especially when he would be caught unaware. Z was likely to come to on the attack.
My God, Phury thought. Asleep like this, all his anger banked, Z was almost frail.
Hell, take back the almost. Zsadist had always been so damned thin, so terribly lean. Now, though, he was just big bones and veins. When had this happened? Christ, back during Rhage's rythe, they'd all been naked in the Tomb, and Z certainly hadn't looked like a skeleton. That had been only about six weeks ago.
Right before Bella's abduction...
"Zsadist? Wake up, my brother."
Z stirred, black eyes opening slowly. Usually he came awake in a rush and at the slightest noise, but he'd fed, so he was sluggish.
"She's been found," Phury said. "Bella's been found. She was alive as of early this morning."
Z blinked a couple of times, as if he weren't sure whether he was dreaming. Then he hefted his torso off the pallet. His nipple rings caught the light from the hall while he rubbed his face.
"What did you say?" he asked in a gravel voice.
"We have a bead on where Bella is. And confirmation that she's alive."
Z grew more alert, his consciousness moving like a train, gathering speed, creating power with its momentum.
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With every second the force of him was coming back, the vicious vitality surging until he no longer looked weak at all.
"Where is she?" he demanded.
"In a one-room house in the woods. A civilian male got loose because she helped him escape."
Z sprang to his feet, landing in a lithe punch to the floor. "How do I get to her?"
"The male who escaped e-mailed V the directions. But-"
Z headed for his closet. "Get a map for me."
"It's noontime, my brother."
Z stopped. Abruptly, a blast of cold came out of his body, making the temperature of the room feel balmy.
And those black eyes were dangerous as hammer claws when they flashed over his shoulder.
"So send the cop. Send Butch."
"Tohr won't let him-"
"Fuck that! The human goes."
"Zsadist-stop. Think. Butch wouldn't have any backup, and there could be multiple lessers at the location. You want to risk her getting killed in a botched rescue attempt?"
"The cop can handle himself."
"He's good, but he's only a human. We can't send him in there."
Z bared his fangs. "Maybe Tohr is more worried the guy will get pinched and squeal about us on one of their tables."
"Come on, Z, Butch knows shit. He knows a lot of shit about us. So of course that's part of it."