A blur swipes it from her hand, and she sighs.
Mathias holds it up. “She’s good. Plus, our phones are compatible. Same encryption software so we can send secure texts and messages.” He hands it back to her, and she rolls her eyes at him. He ignores her response and turns to the rest of us. “Here. Don’t set these down anywhere or hand them to anyone.”
The second the phone hits my palm, I call Basilisk. “It’s Jamison. You don’t happen to have the original footage from Kline’s burglary, do you? Can you send it to me?” After he agrees, I hang up and look at Gatlin. “Transportation. We need to get there without using council resources. Do you have anyone who can assist us?”
Gatlin turns to Phaedra. “Are there any private airstrips nearby?”
“Yes, there are a few,” she replies cautiously. “What size plane?”
“Light jet,” Gatlin answers. “Phenom 300.”
She whistles. “Only two of them can accommodate a ten-seater.”
He picks up the phone. “Gatlin here. We need to borrow your plane.” There’s silence as he listens to the person on the phone. “Got it. Thanks.” He hangs up and looks at me. “Maverick has a plane on a private airstrip not far from here. He’ll even supply a pilot.”
Phaedra snickers, but when I turn toward her, she simply lifts a shoulder.
Something’s amused her, but I don’t have time to delve into it. “Sounds good. Grab your bags.” I take mine from Mathias and pick up Phaedra’s. We’ve worked with the demon on a fewoccasions. He’s expensive, but worth it. Plus, he keeps his mouth shut. As usual, Gatlin takes lead.
She grabs her backpack and follows me out the door with Hawthorne and Mathias in the rear. It doesn’t take us long to get to the garage, then the plane. We pull up at a nearby hangar and wait for Maverick to show up with the pilot.
“Well, well, well. This is an unexpected surprise,” Maverick says as he materializes in front of us, another man at his side. He eyes the four of us, then moves his gaze to Phaedra. “Charlie’s your pilot. Let him check the plane before you board. You can never be too careful.”
Charlie’s eyes are fixed on Phaedra.
I step forward. “Is there a problem?”
Charlie raises an arrogant brow but leaves without saying anything in return.
I glance at Gatlin, and he makes the sign for “stand down.”
Uneasy, I step back. Amusement flashes across Maverick’s face. The atmosphere is tense as we all stand there together. Finally, a signal comes from Charlie, and Maverick motions for us to board the plane.
“Have a safe flight. I’ll see you in two days.” The demon’s words almost sound like a warning.
Gatlin nods, then turns and ushers us up the steps. “They know each other.” Keeping his voice low, he subtly points to Phaedra. “Both Maverick’s and Charlie’s eyes widened when they saw her with us.”
“Is that why he warned us?” I ask, wondering if Phaedra owes something to the demon. “Do you think she’s in trouble?”
He snorts. “Not likely. They’re friends. The warning was for us.”
For someone who seems to lead such a solitary existence, she certainly has interesting friends. The kind you don’t want to double-cross. “Thanks.”
When I get on board, I see Charlie leaning over her. She immediately waves him off. He leaves, but glares at us on his way to the cockpit.
“Everything okay?” I ask her, irritated by their closeness.
“Fine,” she replies with an innocent look I don’t buy for a second. “All set?”
“Someday, you’ll decide to share something with me,” I tell her as I grab the seat next to her. “Are you sure you’re up for this?”
Her laugh is sultry and unexpected. “For the flight or us?” For a second, she appears startled, as if she didn’t expect those words to come out of her mouth.
I inhale sharply and search her blue eyes.Both, I think, but say nothing. The jet takes off a moment later.
Basilisk sends the footage through a few minutes after we hit cruising altitude. “Unedited version” is the title of the file. The video is different from the one I viewed previously. This one shows Sia opening the door, greeting a group of human men, and handing them a case. Unfortunately, the angle of the camera prevents us from seeing what’s in it. One of the men takes the case out the door, while the others stay and ransack the place. When they pick up the Ming vase, Sia rushes to stop them, but they quickly turn on her. After she’s dead, they smash the vase and leave.
“Bastards,” Phaedra snarls. A few tears slip down her cheeks. “Sia wouldn’t have hurt anyone, and they knew it. They were looking for an excuse.”
