Magic Misled (Lizzie Grace #7) - Keri Arthur Page 0,94
setup.”
Belle glanced at me. “Why?”
“The fact that Roland told Kash where he was going. Why would he do that when he had to be aware that Kash had called us? It makes no sense.”
“True.” She wound down the window and peered back at the facility. “If he is waiting for us to appear, then we can’t go in through the main entrance. What about the fence behind our unit?”
“We can’t go over it, because it’s topped by razor wire, and we can’t go through, because we haven’t got wire cutters.”
“We could still walk down there—”
“Given he could be anywhere inside—including on a rooftop—it’s not worth the risk. Besides, that isn’t what your mom would call careful behavior.”
“No, but it’s pretty normal by your standards.”
I grinned and once again didn’t deny it. In truth, had he not been armed, I’d have been tackling that fence in an instant, razor wire or not.
I turned off the headlights and pulled over to the side of the road to wait for Duke. He appeared a few minutes later—lights and sirens both off—and came to a halt beside us.
After winding down his window, he said, “You been in?”
“We were told not to.”
“Yes, but how often does that matter?”
“You seem to be getting something of a reputation,” Belle murmured.
I ignored her. “He’s armed, and I’m not silly.”
He grunted. I wasn’t entirely sure whether it was a sound of agreement or not.
“I’ll pull off road and do a quick run around the perimeter. Wait here.”
He parked behind us and got out. In wolf form, he moved into darkness and quickly disappeared.
The storage facility remained silent. There were no shouts, no movement, and no gunshots. Nothing to indicate Roland lay in wait.
I had no doubt he was here, but where? And what was he up to? Retrieving the books he and Kash no longer had access to? Kash had said he was the type to destroy what he couldn’t have, but that didn’t mean it was the truth. And it certainly didn’t mean the two of them hadn’t jointly hatched this bloody plan to make a final grab for the books.
Duke reappeared out of the shadows and stopped beside the passenger door. “I can’t tell if our suspect is there, because the wind’s going the wrong way and the only scent I could smell was damn petrol.”
Alarm ran through me. Though our spells would protect our unit from fire, the last thing I wanted was the whole complex going up in flames.
“There’s no petrol stored on the site,” I said. “Not as far as I know, anyway.”
“There isn’t—we do regular safety check across all the storage places in the area. He’s obviously brought it in with him.”
“Roland didn’t have the time to fill containers after shooting Kash.” Belle glanced at me. “Whatever they’re up to, it’s something they’ve pre-planned.”
That was becoming obvious. “How bad is the saturation, Duke? Is it the whole complex or just around our storage unit?”
“Right now the latter, but there’s no saying he’s not busy pouring it around the rest of the units as we speak.”
“The whole facility has alarms and sprinklers,” Belle said, “It’s a pretty pointless action.”
“Unless it’s nothing more than a means of drawing you two out.”
Duke had barely finished that sentence when Belle’s phone rang. She glanced down at it. “Unknown number.”
“Answer it,” he said. “I’ll do another loop and see if I can locate him via voice.”
As Duke disappeared into the darkness again, Belle hit the speaker button, then answered the call. “Hello?”
“I take it you’ve now seen what has happened to Kash?”
The voice was cool and calm. This definitely wasn’t a man acting in anger.
“According to what he said on the phone, you shot him. I dare say the rangers and the ambulance officers are in the process of dealing with it.”
Roland paused. “You didn’t go there?”
“Why should I? He was using our relationship to steal my books and profit from them.”
The pause was longer. He obviously wasn’t expecting her to be so blasé. Threaten to come after him, Belle.
She raised an eyebrow. Is that really wise?
He obviously doesn’t know we’re parked up the road. It gives us an advantage.
I’m not seeing how, she grumbled, before adding, “And if I were you, I’d be hightailing the hell out of the reservation.”
“The rangers don’t worry me.”
“It’s not the rangers you should be worried about, Roland.”
He laughed. “You can’t touch me. I’m wearing a band to protect me against telepathic intrusion.”