Page 32 of Fool Me Twice

Anger roars through Roma.“Don’t touch him!”she snarls, and she sprints forward, aiming her next slice at the demon’s throat. It dodges in the nick of time, whirling around to face Roma with a growl, and all at once‍?—

All at once, Roma recognizes it. The size of a lion with the body of a dire wolf, its proportions horribly skewed and nightmarish, two-inch-long fangs jutting from its jaws‍?—

“Ez?”she hisses.

Ez only hesitates for a split second before lunging. Roma’s shout is lost as the floor rushes up to meet her, her ax barely managing to graze Ez’s side on the way down‍?—

Her skull hits the ground hard, and the world blinks into darkness.

The next time her eyes open, it’s to see one of the prison’s purebred spellcasters kneeling over her and to hear Chester’s scared voice to her left. “Is she going to be okay? Is she‍?—‍?”

“She’s fine,” the spellcaster‍—Amani, Roma believes‍—says, and she snaps her fingers. Roma fights back a wince as the last of her headache dissipates in a rush of pins and needles, leaving her faintly nauseous in its wake. “Good as new. Right, Gutierrez?”

“Right,” Roma agrees dazedly, and she tries not to gag as Chester and Amani help her sit up. “What happened?”

“Security breach.” Chester’s voice is grim. “Looks like it was Smith and Laguerre again. No sign of Chin or‍—or anyone else.”

No JJ. Roma doesn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed. “What’d they take? Or‍—orwho’dthey take?”

As an answer, Chester points silently at the line of cells to their right. Roma’s heart drops.

Every single door is gaping open. Some of them were unlocked normally‍—probably from a stolen interrogator’s key ring‍—but the last few were ripped apart by force, clearly torn open in the middle of a battle. When Roma whips her head around to check the other direction, it’s to see that those cells didn’t fare any better.“Shit.”

“You can say that again,” Amani says, pushing herself to her feet. “Looks like you two were the first to respond. Activating the alarm spell was a good call.”

The words are directed towards Roma, just like most words are when she’s accompanied by Chester. Bitterness snakes through her. “That was Locke,” she says pointedly. “I’m not patched into the prison’s spell network, remember?”

Amani’s eyes flicker towards Chester for a brief moment. “Ah,” she says, and she takes a measured step back. “Councilwoman Nasir wants to see you both in her office to debrief. I need to go help the infirmary’s spellcasters with the rest of the wounded.”

Roma’s stomach roils as Amani turns on her heel and jogs away. “How many injuries?”

“Too damn many,” Chester says, and he pushes himself to his feet, offering her a hand. Gratefully, Roma takes it, letting him haul her up. “Nothing that can’t be fixed by an overnight in the infirmary, though, and no deaths. Smith and Laguerre were probably trying to avoid a war.”

Roma bites back a grimace. “And they tookeveryone?All the prisoners?”

“All the ones in holding cells, at least. They didn’t have enough time to break into the interrogation rooms.” Chester winces. “But that leaves us with less than ten demons in the entire prison. And considering how keen the Council has been on our testing program lately…”

Roma swallows hard. “They’re going to start sending us on more missions.”

Or maybe they’ll just get the Chain to send them more demons.

Mortified, Roma shoves the thought from her mind. “All right. I don’t think either of us saw much, but let’s get to Nasir’s office and tell her what we know. And make it clear thatyouactivated the alarm spell, understand?” she adds, eyes narrowing. “The damage probably would’ve been far worse without that, Locke. You should be proud of yourself.”

A grin jumps onto Chester’s face. “Thanks, Gutierrez,” he says, and he stays close next to her as they start down the ruined hallway.

Roma does her best to ignore the empty cells, but she can’t fight back the drumbeat of guilt behind her ribcage. Ez orchestrated this jailbreak onRoma’sintel, hurt her fellow hunters onRoma’sintel‍?—

She got the neophyte from midtown out of here on Roma’s intel. And that, Roma realizes with a jolt, is probably why Ez and Obie tookallthe demons‍—it would’ve looked too suspicious for them to know that the neophyte was here after ostensibly being delivered to the Chain. A full-scale prison break gives all of them plausible deniability if any of their superiors start asking questions.

Roma can only hope it’ll be enough to keep them both out of trouble. Taking a deep, steadying breath, she lifts her chin and follows Chester out of the prison.

After she reports to Nasir, she’ll head straight back down here to complete her nuance analysis on thatMagic-Weaver’sspell. The sooner she can put this mission behind her, the better.

15

It’s an unseasonably cold Monday in mid-May when Ez saunters up to a particular Personnel Outpost uptown, squares her shoulders, and barges in without bothering to knock. “’Sup, Ricci?”

Gregorio Ricci cuts himself off mid-conversation with Micah to raise his eyebrows at her, looking thoroughly unimpressed. “Ez. Nice to see you. Do you need a TX-203?”

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