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“They’re gone,” Mika said, her voice loud and final. “Unless someone put a brain implant in their heads so we couldn’t see their light, they’re fucking gone. Nick couldn’t smell them, just the remnants of them. He’s the one who said Angel might be in trouble. I did a scan of that whole level. They weren’t anywhere from the lobby on down.”

Kiko looked between Mika and Ace, then at Miri and Black.

Holy fuck. What the hell was happening?

26

THE HUNT

“How do we even know for certainJemis the one behind this?” Nick scowled. He looked between our faces, his own highly defensive, bordering on hostile. “Wedon’tknow. We don’t. You really think this is a coincidence?”

He motioned in a circle with one pale hand.

“All thisshitrevolving around the girl while we’re in the middle of this mess with Prometharis and their illegal tech? She’s got one of those implants in her. Not to mention the fact that we found her under Rucker’s damned floorboards. You have to know that’s valuable to more than just us! The tech in her head alone is valuable!”

“You smelled Jem,” Black said, his voice hard. “Where Angel was taken.”

“Maybe he was taken, too!” Nick burst out. “Maybe allfourof them were taken by someone at Prometharis… or Archangel, maybe. You know what they’re like! Archangel could have decided the tech was dangerous. Maybetheytook Rucker out, like Gorren said!”

I watched Nick’s face from where I leaned against the built-in, mid-century cabinet against the wall behind Black’s desk. Wewere back in the Black Securities and Investigations suite, in Black’s enormous, glass-enclosed office that overlooked most of the rest of the business offices, at least when the glass walls were left transparent.

Right now they were dark.

The only view we had was of the Bay Bridge.

Black scowled at Nick. “You don’t really fucking believe that, do you Nick?”

“I don’t know what I believe,” Nick shot back. “I’m just saying, wedon’t know.This might not be what it looks like. It might not be about Jem at all. He might be just as much of a victim as the girl. For all we know, someone’s been fucking with his mind for months!”

Black frowned.

He looked at me, one eyebrow slightly quirked, then back at Nick.

“I’m not saying Jem’s not involved,” Nick growled. “I’m just saying we don’t know in what way. And the fact is, we really don’t knowwhotook her. Or why. You say that tech can block seers, right? And that it’s completely unique? So there are a lot of reasons why someone might want to get ahold of it––”

“You mean vampires,” Black said, blunt.

Nick’s complexion darkened. “I didn’t say vampires.”

“You didn’t have tosayfucking vampires to mean vampires, Naoko,” Black growled. “Did you mean vampires? Or not? Because that’s about the only thing I know of that could overpower a seer like Jem… at least without a decent amount of firepower.”

Nick’s eyes hardened.

I knew some of it was the name Black called him.

Nick had never particularly liked it when people called him by his full name, but he really didn’t like it now. I was prettysure that had something to do with the fact that his vampire sire, Brick, called him that, as did the rest of Brick’s coven.

Despite the supposed special bond between a vampire and their sire, Nick and Brick never had what I’d call a “harmonious” relationship. That was probably because Brick made Nick a vampire against his will. BrickchoseNick. He got close to him, stalked him, kidnapped him, and then, from the very small amount Nick told me about his turning, tortured and killed him as a human over the course of something like fifteen hours.

It was highly unlikely Brick would ever apologize for that, or even believe he’d done anything wrong. Maybe for the same reason, I also doubted Nick would ever “make peace” with the manner of his “birth,” or with his sire.

“Fucking Brick,” Nick muttered.

I jumped. For a few, bewildering seconds, I wondered if Nick had been reading my mind.

Nick wasn’t looking at me, though. He was staring at out at the view of the San Francisco Bay. Looking at his face, all at once, I understood.

“You think Brick did this?” I said.