Page 3 of Born to Be Legends (Soulbound Universe)
Jono was a few minutes from the Queensboro Bridge when the soulbond went tight in a way he hadn’t felt in years.
Swearing, he resisted the urge to slam on the brakes in moving traffic and cause an accident.
He fumbled for his mobile even as he flicked the indicator on, aiming for the next right turn that could get him heading back downtown.
“Come on, pick up,” Jono muttered, but the line rang out to voicemail, Patrick’s recorded voice filling the SUV’s speakers for a second before Jono ended the call. He didn’t bother trying again, instead calling Sage. “We have a problem.”
“What’s going on with the packs in Queens now?” Sage asked, sounding distracted.
“Not the packs. Patrick.” The sharp, indrawn breath on her side of the line and the way he heard her heartbeat spike told Jono he had all of Sage’s attention. “Just felt Patrick yank on the soulbond in the way he’d do when he was in trouble.”
“He hasn’t done that in years.”
“I know. I’m not on the bridge yet, so I’m heading to the SOA field office. ”
“I’ll meet you there.”
Jono blew out a breath, glad he didn’t even need to ask. “Call Wade.”
“I will. Don’t treat the streets like the highway.”
Sage ended the call, which let Jono focus on Manhattan traffic while trying to ring Patrick again.
Each time, it went directly to voicemail, while the pull on the soulbond never let up.
It’d been so long since he’d felt the clawing tightness after so many years of peace that he did, indeed, treat the streets like the highway, despite Sage’s warning.
By the time he reached the street the SOA field office was on, he couldn’t turn because a detour had been put into place by the police.
Traffic was a snarl as cars tried to funnel away from that block and into a bottleneck that wasn’t moving.
Jono clenched his hands tightly around the steering wheel, trying to remember not to break it with his greater strength.
Someone pounded on the passenger-side window, grabbing his attention. “Hey!”
Jono jerked his head around, staring in surprise at Wade standing in the street between Jono’s SUV and the neighboring taxi, traffic stalled all around them. Jono stabbed a finger at the window controls to roll it down. “You better not have flown here.”
Wade at twenty-five was no different than at eighteen when he retorted, “I know better than to do that in Manhattan!”
It was everywhere else in the country that was sometimes the problem. People still talked about Boston, and as far as Jono knew, the suburbs outside Seattle still told stories about a dangerous beast in the night. Wade thought it was hilarious. It only gave Jono a headache.
Riordan McGuire gently pushed Wade aside and ducked down, catching Jono’s eye. “I’ll take the SUV. You both head for the police line. It’s not like I’ll be of much use on land right now.”
“Don’t sell yourself short,” Wade immediately said, always Riordan’s defender.
Riordan rolled his eyes, a fond look on his face as he shoved Wade toward the sidewalk. “I never do.”
Their relationship was something Jono heartily approved of, as did everyone else in the pack.
Riordan was a selkie whose clan had split for business purposes to break into the New York City restaurant business.
They all still considered Boston home, and Riordan commuted between the two cities every other week.
He was fiercely dedicated to his people and to Wade, and Jono was happy the two had found each other.
Jono shoved open the car door and flipped off the driver behind them who honked their horn. It was anyone’s guess if the bloke understood what the two-fingered salute meant. Riordan ducked around the front of the SUV and slid into the driver’s seat. “I’ll find a place to park nearby.”
“Not too close. We don’t know what’s going on, and Patrick used to have a tendency toward property destruction,” Jono said.
Riordan winced. “Duly noted.”
Jono left him to navigate the now bumper-to-bumper traffic and went to join Wade on the sidewalk. Wade bounced on his heels, waiting impatiently, mobile in hand. “Apparently, it’s a hostage situation.”
“How the bloody hell do you know that?” Jono asked as they hurried down the street, going in the opposite direction of everyone else.
“It’s all over social media. The SOA building is on lockdown, along with the other ones around it. Everyone outside the block is being told to evacuate.” Wade had his eyes glued to his mobile but was keeping up. “How are you going to get through the police line?”
Jono had his own mobile in hand, scrolling through his contacts for the one person who had the authority to clear them. “Who do you think?”
The line rang out and picked up after the first ring, the voice of the NYPD Police Commissioner Giovanni Casale coming through gruffly. “How’d I know you’d be calling?”
“Who’s being held hostage?” Jono asked, figuring Casale’s question was rhetorical.
“Social media will be the bane of my existence.” The sound of traffic on Casale’s side of the line sounded similar to the area Jono and Wade walked through.
His gaze swept the street, looking for where Casale might be.
“Aaron Javic somehow got through the SOA’s security and took the defense team working his coven’s case hostage. ”
Jono went cold, the soulbond still a tense line drawing him forward. “Is Patrick one of the hostages?”
“We have snipers on the roof with eyes on the conference room where the hostages are, and they confirmed he’s one of them.”
“That’s a rookie move with all those windows,” Wade muttered, clearly listening in. “Someone could easily blow the asshole’s brain out.”
“Why isn’t the guy in jail?” Jono asked, ignoring Wade. They were half a block from the police line, and Jono was fully prepared to argue his way past it. For that matter, he wondered why Patrick hadn’t fought his way out of the situation yet.
“Javic escaped arrest some months back and went on the run. My understanding, based on news reports, is the SOA has been searching for him but had no luck in finding him,” Casale said.
“So who is in charge of negotiations?”
“SOA is working in tandem with the NYPD to handle the situation. I’m on the way to the scene right now. Patrick has a direct line to me and the SOA headquarters in DC. He convinced Javic to let him act as a mediator of sorts to pass on his demands.”
Jono sighed. “Of course he did. And what are Javic’s demands?”
“He wants his wife freed from jail and a flight to a country that doesn’t extradite.”
Wade gave Jono an incredulous look. “Does he really think that will work ? This isn’t a movie.”
“Is anyone going to free his wife?” Jono asked.
Casale snorted. “Hell no. Javic is coming out of this mess in handcuffs or a body bag. What do you know about the case Patrick is working on?”
“Nothing that hasn’t been in the news because of confidentiality. Patrick doesn’t talk about the cases he’s called in to act as an expert for.”
“The Javics head up the Evergreen Coven, which controls other covens in roughly half a dozen states. Alleged criminal enterprise that sells off magical artifacts powered by mining people’s souls for their magic, sometimes until the victims die.
The coven then fences the artifacts through supposedly legitimate sellers. ”
“Sounds like the government followed the money.”
“It’s why there’s a RICO charge. None of the magic users in the Evergreen Coven or the ones they control are mages. They couldn’t tap a ley line for the work.”
“So instead, they tapped people.”
“Yeah, using blood magic. Our snipers confirm there are active spells on the hostages in the room, most likely controlled by Javic. We don’t know what will happen to them if we give the green light to take him out.”
Jono wanted to punch something. “Did the sniper see if Patrick was affected?”
“He didn’t appear to have any active magic on him, but we can’t confirm,” Casale said slowly.
“That doesn’t mean it’s not there.”
“When I spoke with him, he seemed annoyed but didn’t let on about anything that might have been done to him. I told him to call me back in twenty minutes so I can get on scene and have the call set up to record. I’m almost there.”
“How close are you?”
“Why?”
“Because we’re at the police line.”
Casale let out an aggravated sigh. “Of course you are. You do realize this is a matter for the police, not your god pack?”
“Patrick is part of our god pack, which makes it my business. I want to know what’s going on as it’s happening.”
“I’d say you don’t have clearance for a situation like this, but I remember the Battle of Samhain. I’ll call in the permission to let you through. Where are you at?”
Jono rattled off the cross-street as he and Wade reached the corner, catching the attention of one of the uniformed police officers on duty there. “Call it in quick because we’re not going anywhere. ”
Casale didn’t bother with responding to that and simply ended the call. Jono tucked his mobile away into his back pocket and shoved his sunglasses on top of his head. He stared down the approaching officer, who hesitated for half a step once she got a good look at Jono’s eyes.
“God pack,” the officer said, sounding only a little wary with just a faint trace of fear in her scent.
“Casale is clearing us,” Jono said brusquely.
“You could always let us through anyway,” Wade said hopefully.
The officer shook her head, one hand resting on her holster, but she didn’t draw her weapon. “You know I can’t do that.”
Wade opened his mouth to argue, but Jono nudged him lightly in the ribs. “We’ll wait for Casale. It shouldn’t be too much longer.”