Dark Champion (Flirting with Monsters #4) - Eva Chase Page 0,27
signal the end of the world if he ever lowered himself—both figuratively and literally—to sitting on the leather sofa-bench with us.
“Our observations across the past few days have made it quite clear that we can’t rely on our previous tactics,” he said. “Whether based on Tempest’s urging or their own initiative, the local Company facilities are under total lockdown. We can’t charm or threaten anyone into getting us past the outer defenses if no one ever comes out in the first place.”
“Do you really think all the Company workers are living inside those buildings?” Snap asked. He nestled me even closer against him as he spoke, which was quite a feat when he’d already had me practically on his lap. He seemed to have become extra possessive after our confrontation with Tempest a few days ago.
I gave him a peck on his cheek to return the affection, and he beamed at me before continuing. “The facilities we found didn’t appear to be made as homes. Won’t the Company people get bored spending all their time at work? Won’t some of them have families they’ll be separated from?”
“I’m sure the answer to both of those questions is yes,” Omen said. “They’re just willing to sacrifice a few freedoms to make sure they can continue screwing us over.”
I drummed my fingers on the table. Days of surveillance and no real action had left me restless, especially with my resolve to defeat Tempest hanging over me. “To be fair, being bored and lonely probably beats getting beheaded or disemboweled. If they think they’re in mortal danger, I could see them putting up with a lockdown for quite a while.”
Thorn glanced at Omen. “The sphinx knows we’ll be investigating in this city. Our prior sources have indicated that the mortal leader of the Company of Light travels across Europe. The map we saw displayed several bases of operations here. Might they be less stringent elsewhere?”
“I don’t think Tempest will be cutting any corners. Even the leader himself might be cloistered somewhere until she feels we no longer present much of a threat.” The hellhound shifter rubbed his jaw. “She was only able to interrupt our last plan, which came very close to working, because she intervened quickly enough. If we could find another point of access and distract her well enough at the same time—or even attempt to take her down completely before we tackle the mortals… But without that point of access, we have no way of getting at their current operations or potential weaknesses.”
“I could put out feelers for another mortal with hacking skills,” Ruse suggested. “Someone who’s not already working for the Company but who might be able to dig up some data that’ll give us a lead. These jackasses can’t run their operations without any interaction with the world around them.”
Omen nodded. “Good idea. Your computer person back in the US contributed quite a lot. Run with that. And while you’re tracking an appropriate human down, the rest of us will head underground. Paris has a mass of tunnels and catacombs that sprawl under a significant portion of the city. We’ll split up and check the areas near the Company facilities for any alternate means of entrance. It’s a long shot, but we might as well try whatever we can.”
“I’ll test for impressions in case the Company has used those passages themselves,” Snap said, brightening at the opportunity to contribute his non-lethal supernatural talent.
“Excellent. In case we run into trouble, let’s have someone with plenty of combat experience in each party. Snap, you go with Flint. Thorn, see if you can wrangle the imp into some sort of usefulness. And our disaster”—he rested his icy eyes on my face—“is coming with me.”
Because he didn’t trust any of the others to keep a close enough eye on me? I bit back half a dozen snarky remarks I’d like to have tossed at him. After seeing the echoes of his history in our conversation with Tempest the other night, I’d made a point of not hassling him quite so much, and I’d been succeeding at that pretty well, if I did say so myself. Why ruin my winning streak just to get a tiny dig in?
“It’s a date,” I said instead, and was rewarded with the twitch of the hellhound shifter’s jaw.
My devourer wasn’t feeling quite so generous. I didn’t think he’d forgiven Omen for his past transgressions yet. Snap’s arm tightened around me. “I would prefer to stay with Sorsha. I