Page 59 of Silas

“Where are you two going to go, now?”

“Vegas, the long way.” Silas checks his phone and re-pockets it. “You go direct.”

“Silas?” I ask, “Why don’t we just fly to Las Vegas?”

“A few reasons,” Silas answers. “You have to show ID to get a ticket, and I guarantee you your dad has someone monitoring airlines—also, you don’t have an ID. If we took an airline, your dad would have people waiting for us at the airport. The Cabal also is going to be monitoring the airlines, and they’d have people waiting on the other side, too.” He considers. “We could have IDs made, but that takes time. I also don’t want to lead either the Cabal or your dad to Sin. We’re not going to go to Sin itself until I’m sure the threats have been neutralized.”

“How can you neutralize threats like the Cabal or my father? They both have a lot of people and money at their disposal. Even if you hadn’t taken a vow to not kill, it’s not like you could kill that many people. Right?”

His hesitation is telling. “Whether I could or not isn’t really relevant, since I’m not going to try.”

“So…what’s your plan, then?”

Silas stares at me for a moment. “You raise an excellent point, Naomi. I don’t really have a plan—I’ve been reacting rather than planning.” He lets out a long sigh, then glances at Taj. “You get out of here, Taj. Head home.”

“I can help,” Taj says.

“I know you would, Taj, but…don’t you have your own issues to worry about?”

Taj tips his head to one side. “Yes, I do. I do not know if my enemies have located me here in the United States yet, but I confess I am not eager to find out.”

“Exactly. Head home. I can handle this.”

“If you are certain.”

“I am. Go.”

Taj nods once and then folds himself into the Aston Martin. The motor snarls to life, and then he’s rocketing down the ramp and out of sight.

A siren howls somewhere—not too far away, either.

“Shit. We gotta get out of here.” Silas climbs behind the wheel of the SUV, and I round the hood to take the passenger seat.

Seconds later, we’re circling down the ramp and out of the parking garage. We pass no fewer than four squad cars with lights and sirens going, but we don’t seem to attract their attention. Silas huffs a sigh of relief as we round a corner and put the garage and the officers out of sight. A few minutes later we’re on a freeway.

Silas digs out his phone and places a call, putting it on speaker and balancing the phone on his knee.

It rings once, and a low, smooth female voice answers. “Silas.”

“Inez, you’re on speaker, Naomi is next to me.”

“Hello, Naomi.”

I hesitate a beat or two. “Um, hi?”

“The meet with Taj went well?”

“Um, not exactly. Cabal found us before we got away. Taj and I fought them off, and no, we didn’t kill anyone.” He glances at me. “Naomi did, though. He was about to shoot me, so she cracked his skull open with a baton.”

An unreadable silence from the other end. “I see.” Another pause. “Naomi—how are you handling it? I assume that was your first kill?”

“Y-yes,” I stammer. “I…I don’t know. I feel guilty, but…I don’t think I had much of a choice. Silas has done so much for me already, and I couldn’t sit there in safety while he got hurt.”

“The guilt will fade with time. Continue to remind yourself that you had no other choice, that you were acting in defense of someone you care about, someone who cares about you.” She pauses, and I hear typing. “Now. You are making your way here?”

“Actually, no. Naomi brought up a good point—even if we reach the club without incident, we’d be leading The CabalandNaomi’s dad’s people there. And what am I going to do at the club? Hide and hope they go away? Obviously, they’re not going to just leave us alone. They’d hit us with everything they’ve got, and there’s no way we could defend ourselves without killing.”

“So what’s your plan?”