Page 119 of Black to Light

I did my best to ignore it, murmuring a grateful thanks when he thrust a mug filled with cappuccino into my hand.

All around us, seers and humans were doing the same thing I was. Waking up, throwing off blankets, looking around blearily. Clearly, I wasn’t the only person who’d taken the opening to crash for a few hours.

Fifteen minutes later, most of the people I saw were fully dressed and also had mugs in their hands. They put them down when the “fasten seatbelts” light went off over the door leading to the cockpit. Everyone snapped seatbelt buckles and rose to their feet, pulling luggage from overhead compartments and shouldering on jackets and coats.

I’d just taken a last gulping swallow of my own coffee when Kiko walked up to me and Black.

“We’ve got a Detective Honoré Allard and Chief Sergeant Gabriel Pastor meeting us inside the terminal,” she said, her voice all-business again. “They’ve got CCTV of Jem and the others leaving the Air France flight. Thegendarmestried to intercept and hold them, but Jem and the other persons of interestsomehow…”She used air quotes, her voice cynical. “…slipped past the officers and agents waiting at the end of the airbridge, andsomehowmade it through customs without being stopped, as well…”

Kiko placed her hands on her hips, looking us both over.

“You might have to talk them down, boss,” she added. “They’re wondering if this is a national security threat.Apparently they know who you are, and they think you wouldn’t be involved in this if it wasn’t a military intelligence issue.”

“I’ve met Allard,” Black acknowledged. “Nick knows him, too.”

Nick, who stood near us, aimed a brief look at Black. “It would probably be better if we didn’t remind Honoré that we’ve met. I looked pretty fucking different when I last saw him. It’ll only raise more questions.”

I flinched at the reminder, then felt foolish it hadn’t occurred to me.

When he’d last met Allard face-to-face, Nick looked like a forty-something human police detective, complete with scattered gray hairs, crow’s feet, a thickening middle. He’d also had a much darker complexion back then, and not only from surfing. Now Nick wore the ageless, shockingly pale skin of a vampire, where he could pass for twenty-five, and didn’t scar.

Even Nick’s body size had changed.

He stood at least an inch taller now. He was also leaner, but with broader shoulders and longer legs. That didn’t even get into how differently he moved, his cracked-crystal irises, his strangely exaggerated features, his shockingly perfect teeth.

Nick hadn’t called Jean or Lauren on our way over the ocean, either, two friends of his in a special unit of the French police that linked to their intelligence services. I hadn’t thought about either of them until now, but they’d helped us once before, when we’d followed Black to Paris while Charles had him in custody.

Nick not calling his friends made perfect sense, though. It was the same reason Nick steered clear of any of his old colleagues in the S.F.P.D.

Angel told me, something like six months ago, that she’d spread the rumor around their old precinct that Nick moved to New York City about a year ago.

I wondered if Nick had changed his name legally yet.

I also wondered why the hell it had never once occurred to me to ask himanyof that.

He’d lost a lot after what Brick had done to him.

“I’ll talk to Allard,” Black said, dismissive.

He gave me a surreptitious look before focusing his stare on Nick.

“You go with Kiko and Jax to hunt down the CCTV footage inside the airport,” he told the vampire. “It’s doubtful Jem would have taken the time to shut it down, so maybe we can get eyes on where he went from here. Jem has to know he’s on the clock now. Whatever the fuck he wants in Paris, he has to get there before we catch up with him.”

Nick exchanged looks with Kiko, who nodded back.

“Is Aura still alive?” I asked Kiko tentatively. “Were there are still four of them when they came through the airport?”

Kiko sighed, hands on her hips. “I mean, yes… I think so. Me and Jax were very clear that we’re looking forfourpeople, and they didn’t contradict us, not even after we described them. But doc, these cops have likely had their memories tampered with. Nick and I’ll try to confirm with CCTV footage, but right now I can’t say with absolute certainty that four got off that plane.”

I nodded and bit my lip.

I couldn’t think about Angel yet.

I could barely contemplate something happening to Javier, much less Angel.

But Aura was likely the one in the most danger.

Unless, of course, Dalejem was doing this all for Brick, in which case, all bets were off on who might be at risk. Brick likely wanted the implants, whether in Aura, or Jem, or both of them, but that didn’t necessarily mean he wanted them dead.

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