"Perhaps not, but given your own sense of unease—"
"Look," I said, impatience edging my voice—which wasn't really fair given he was only trying to keep me safe. But there was safe and there was mollycoddling, and this had the feeling of the latter. "It'll take you all of three seconds to get to Stane's and less than that to ask him to scan the police frequencies. I can hardly get myself into too much trouble in that short time."
Surely even I wasn't that clever.
He studied me, clearly unhappy, then nodded abruptly and disappeared. I headed out the front door, locked up, then called to the Aedh. A sliver of pain ran through my head, but I wasn't entirely sure whether it was a warning that I was pushing my limits again—despite the energy Azriel had given me—or the mere fact that I was too close to the wards that prevented the Raziq from entering our home. But if pain and pushing my limits found Ilianna, then I really didn't care—though I had no idea why I thought Ilianna might be the reason behind Jak's sudden demand for a meet. Maybe it was nothing more than stupid hope.
I zoomed through the streets, the bright lights little more than a blur underneath me. Larry's, it turned out, was an old, somewhat rambling warehouse structure that had obviously been no more successful as a bar than it had as a warehouse. I re-formed and pulled the somewhat holey remains of my sweater together, my gaze sweeping the grimy, blue-painted building dubiously. I couldn't imagine any good reasons for Ilianna being in a place like this, and I sure as hell did not want to think about bad reasons. But maybe this wasn't about her—after all, it was Jak who'd collected the information that had led us to the standing stone gateway under the run-down warehouse near Stane's. Maybe he'd found another one.
I walked across the road, every sense I had attuned to the old building. Nothing stirred, and I couldn't see or hear anyone near. The night air was cool and whispered through the holes in my clothes, chilling my skin and causing goose bumps. Or maybe they were simply the result of growing unease.
"Jak?" I kept my voice soft. If he was here, he'd hear.
"Inside." His voice was as hushed as mine, but oddly lacking warmth.
Unease growing, I grasped the door handle and wrenched it open. Unfortunately, I used more force than necessary and it crashed back, trapping my hand between the door handle and the wall. I bit back my yelp and shook my fingers, my gaze searching the dark room as I eased inside. I couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything.
"Where are you?"
"Here."
He sounded closer, but no warmer. Trepidation prickled across my skin, and my footsteps slowed even further. "Where the hell are the lights?"
"Can't risk them."
"Why?"
"Get in here, and you'll see."