Her eyes met Alex’s as he took in what this meant.
Liz blinked. “Yes? And?”
“A blessing’s seen as a really serious thing to ask for, so probably not that many people will go up,” explained Alex. “But for the ones who do, the preacher will hold their hands, maybe for as long as a minute. So Seb could try to get the information psychically first.” Even though Seb had said he didn’t always get specific details, it was definitely worth a shot. Not that this option was without risk, either; the angels might decide to make an appearance and sense something amiss. But at least in the main cathedral, the team could provide Seb with cover.
“Will we be able to get in?” he asked Kara. “Every devout in the city’s going to want to go to this service.”
She nodded. “It’s a ticketed event. They’re on sale from tomorrow; I’ll go down there first thing.”
“Listen, are you
sure
we can trust that guy?” put in Sam, leaning on his forearms. “What if he gets in there and starts talking or something?”
“He wouldn’t,” said Alex. He was sure of that much, at least; Willow would never speak to Seb again if he betrayed them. He drained his beer. “Come on, we’d better get back so I can talk to him.”
They left the cafe and started walking towards the Metro station. It was coming up to rush hour, with a steady flow of people all heading in the same direction. Far across the square was a pair of circling angels. Though the AKs couldn’t bring them down in daylight with such a crowd around, Alex saw several of the team glance at them speculatively. Good – they were doing scans now without being told.
He hung back a little, walking with Kara. “Can I ask you a favour?” he asked.
She glanced at him in surprise. “Sure.”
Alex cleared his throat, wondering how to phrase this. “Well...you know Willow and I don’t get much time alone together. So I thought I’d take her out for the night on Friday. Would you be in charge while I’m gone? We’ll just be at that hotel on Alfredo Chavero; if anything comes up I could be home in five minutes.”
Though he knew Kara still had reservations about him and Willow, she smiled. “No problem – I’ll babysit the troops.” She gave him a thoughtful look. “Planning a romantic evening, huh?”
Alex’s ears reddened; he jammed his hands in his back pockets as they started down the station stairs. “Yeah, sort of.” He’d booked one of the hotel’s nicest rooms, and arranged for flowers and chocolates to be put in it, plus ordered a special dinner to be delivered by room service. It had pretty much cleaned out his personal funds, but he wanted it all to be so completely perfect.
“Sounds nice,” said Kara, her voice neutral. “I hope you have a really good time.” As they bought their tickets, Alex was glad she was keeping her thoughts to herself – and even gladder that the issue was settled. Because to be alone with Willow, really alone with her, for an entire night...god, right now there was nothing on the planet that he wanted more.
When they got home, Willow and Seb were both in the kitchen; Willow was peering into the fridge. “Hi,” she said, straightening up as they came in.
Her green eyes lingered on Alex’s, smiling. He smiled back. Knowing that just a few nights from now they’d be alone together made it easier to see Seb standing there against the counter. Like always, he’d gone quiet, though Alex had heard him and Willow talking as everyone came in.
Alex had the impression there was something she wanted to tell him; then she glanced at the others and seemed to decide to wait. “I was just thinking about fixing dinner,” she went on. “How does chilli sound?”
“Thanks, but I’ve already got some chicken marinating,” said Liz, coming into the kitchen. Her tone was so polite it was practically an insult.
Alex saw Willow give a small sigh as she closed the fridge door. “Well, just let me know if you want any help.”
The others passed through without saying much, heading to their dorms or the TV room. As she disappeared, Kara gave Alex a
tell me what he says as soon as you talk to him
look, and he nodded. Meanwhile, Liz had taken Willow’s place at the fridge and was pulling out a covered dish. With a flash of irritation at Liz, Alex went to Willow and kissed her, though they didn’t usually in front of the others.
He saw her look of pleased surprise as they pulled apart, and resisted the urge to kiss her again. “Hey, can you do something for me?” he said, caressing her arms. “The Shadow’s been acting kind of funny – would you take a look?”
Liz glanced up, startled. “What – you fix
motorcycles
?” she blurted out.
“Yes, when I’m not fixing dinner,” said Willow mildly. Liz coloured and looked away. Still propped silently against the counter, the corner of Seb’s mouth twitched, and Alex knew that none of this had passed him by either.
“‘Funny’, how?” Willow asked. She was wearing jeans and her green camisole; the pendant he’d given her caught the light with a tiny sparkle.
Alex described how draggy the Shadow had been behaving the last time he’d driven it to the Torre Mayor. He’d forgotten to mention it afterwards, and now he was glad – the look on Liz’s face had been pure gold.
“The air cleaner might be blocked,” said Willow thoughtfully. “Or it could just be the spark plugs. But I don’t have a toolkit, remember?”
“There’s one in the hall closet – I saw it the other day.” Alex went to the hallway and dug it out. “The Shadow’s parked out in the courtyard.”
“There’s not enough light out there now, though,” said Willow. He held back a smile; he could see she was itching to start tinkering. “Could we bring it into the range, maybe?” She smiled. “You can be my able assistant. And there’s something I want to tell you – we can talk while I fix it, okay?”
The desire to pull her into his arms was almost overwhelming. Alex managed to restrain himself, and squeezed her hand instead. “Okay, I’ll be in with it in a minute.” He glanced at Seb. “Can you give me a hand?”
Seb’s brown eyebrows rose, but he nodded. “Yes, sure.”
Out in the dimly lit courtyard, Alex briefly explained the situation. He spoke in Spanish – Seb’s English was good, but he wanted to make sure there were no misunderstandings about this. As the moths battered against the bare light bulb overhead, he could hear the sound of a TV from one of the nearby houses.
“What do you think – will you help us?” he finished finally.
Seb was lounging against the Shadow with his arms crossed over his chest; Alex could see a long, thin scar on his forearm. Seb gave a wry smile. “Yeah, I’ll help, but I hope I can get the information psychically – ’cause I really can’t say I like your backup plan very much. Search the office with twenty angels hanging around outside?
Amigo,
you have got to be kidding me.”
“No, I’m not kidding,” said Alex. “But yeah, I’m not crazy about it either. Look, what I need to know most is what time the private audiences are going to be at the celebration and where exactly on the fifty-fifth floor, so that we can head straight for the Council once we’re in – if you can get that from the preacher, then forget about breaking into the offices. Do you think you’ll have enough time?”
“Yeah, hopefully,” said Seb thoughtfully. “I mean, it’ll probably be on his mind anyway, so with any luck—” He broke off. A troubled look flickered in his eyes; he went silent, frowning.
“What?” asked Alex sharply.
“Oh, hell.” Seb rubbed at his stubbled jaw. “Willow.”
“What about her?”
“She’s going to want to come, too.”
Alex shook his head, picturing the ornate cathedral with its crowds of people; the cruising, feeding angels. “I don’t want her anywhere near there. Her aura’s way too distinctive with so many angels around.”
“Believe me, I don’t want her anywhere near there either. She’s told me about how those Church of Angels
cabrones
want her dead. But her aura’s the whole point. She finally learned how to disguise it today.”
Alex went still as he took in what this meant. So this was what Willow had been going to tell him. “She’s really mastered it?”
“Once you’ve got it, I guess you’ve got it.” Seb grimaced as he kicked at the concrete. “And I know she’ll tell you this if I don’t,” he added gloomily. “She’s better than me at getting details from people. If both of us went to the cathedral, you’d have a lot better chance of getting what you need – unfortunately.”
Alex saw that in this one thing at least, he and Seb were totally united – neither of them wanted Willow exposed to any danger. He pinched the bridge of his nose, wishing he could just not tell her about the plan. He couldn’t even use the possibility of someone recognizing her as a reason to keep her away now; Kara had been disguising herself with wigs and make-up every day to get in there.
Somewhere in the darkness, a cricket was creaking. “Maybe I’m wrong, and she won’t want to do it,” ventured Seb, not even sounding like he believed it himself.
“Oh, she’ll want to do it,” said Alex.
Seb exhaled. “Yeah...I know. God, I should just search the office – she couldn’t help much with that; she doesn’t speak enough Spanish to read the documents.”
Now,
that
was appealing. But he couldn’t let Seb take that kind of risk unnecessarily – and it was true that if Willow helped, they’d have better luck in getting what they needed. No matter how fervently he might want to, he couldn’t put his girlfriend’s safety over that of the entire mission; not if there was a reasonable chance she’d be all right.
Reasonable chance
. Fear lurched through him; he pushed it away. “We’d better go and talk to Willow,” he said finally. “Come on, let’s get the bike inside.”
Seb detached himself from the Shadow and flipped up the kickstand. “At least this isn’t as dangerous for her as the Council attack,” he muttered as he wheeled it over to the back door. “When
that
happens...”
Alex had just been moving to the step to help lift the bike through the doorway; now he stopped in his tracks, his spine stiffening. “The Council attack?”
Seb looked at him in surprise, then shook his head with a soft snort. “
Hombre
, how well do you actually know your girlfriend? I know you’re not psychic, but come on – you
have
to realize what she’s been thinking, don’t you?”
Alex hadn’t, but suddenly it dropped into place with icy certainty: the Council. With a human-looking aura, Willow could be there when they attacked. He swore as he slumped against the outside wall of the house. “Oh, Christ, I’m an idiot.” He scraped a palm across his face. “I can’t believe I didn’t see this coming...I am such an idiot.”
“No argument from me,” said Seb. He twisted at the bike’s throttle. “Still, you couldn’t have
not
wanted her to learn to disguise her aura,” he added grudgingly. “Or even put it off, really. She had to know how; it was vital.”
“How long has she been planning this?” Alex asked, massaging his temple, where a distant ache had started.
Seb shrugged. “I picked it up from her a couple of days after I arrived. But knowing her, probably from the second she heard about it being possible.” His gaze went over Alex, considering him. “She’s determined to be there, you know,” he said finally. “And not just to help the team – she loves you very much.”
Coming from Seb, this should have given him a feeling of satisfaction; instead he was just worried sick. “Yeah, I love her too,” said Alex. “So much that I think I’d rather see her get together with
you
than come along on the Council attack.”
Seb’s mouth quirked into a humourless smile. “That wouldn’t get an argument from me either. Just say the word; I’ll kidnap her and take us both far away from here.”
“Don’t tempt me.” Alex dropped his hand and let out a breath. “Okay, look – we still have to get the security info if we hope to even have a chance. Let’s just focus on that for now.”
Seb helped him get the motorcycle into the house, then they wheeled it down the hallway into the range. Willow was crouched on her haunches, inspecting the toolbox. “I’d thought you’d both absconded,” she said, glancing up with a smile. Then she took them in more closely. “Hey, is everything all right?”
Alex propped the bike up on its kickstand. “So I hear you’ve got something to tell me,” he said, stalling for time.
Willow raised an eyebrow at Seb. “You already told him?”
“Yes, I’m sorry,” he said. “I should have let you do it.” Alex was impressed despite himself by how relaxed Seb seemed – there was no hint anything was wrong.
But Willow’s forehead had creased. Slowly, she rose to her feet. “Something’s going on, I can feel it,” she said to Seb. “You’re really worried.”
Seb’s smile faded. “Willow...”
“Something about me, and the cathedral.” She moved closer to him, her eyes searching his. “Seb, what is it?”
Alex watched, his emotions suddenly off-kilter. Why was it Seb’s feelings that she was picking up on so strongly, and not his own? Meanwhile, Seb stood almost motionless, looking down at Willow’s delicately pointed features...and at the expression on his face, Alex’s jaw tightened. Couldn’t Willow see that being her
friend
was the last thing on Seb’s mind?
Only seconds had passed; Willow was gazing at Seb, frowning intently. Alex almost had the sense they were still communicating. Then she shook her head; fleetingly touched his arm. “You’re blocking me out. I can feel it.”
Seb sighed. “We’d better tell her,” he said to Alex.
Yeah, thanks for the newsflash,
Alex thought. Suddenly his skin felt like it was prickling with heat. What the hell did “You’re blocking me out” mean? Was Willow really that used to wandering around in Seb’s mind now, sharing everything with him?
Willow’s face was tense as she turned to him. She wove her fingers through his, squeezing his hand. “Alex? What’s going on?”
Her touch was warm, grounding. With an effort, he shook away his thoughts.
Stop being ridiculous,
he told himself.
Yes, they’re close
–
they’re both psychic, for god’s sake. It doesn’t mean anything, at least not as far as Willow’s concerned
.