Page 6 of Sins of Leo

CHAPTER 2

Leo didn’t wastemuch time on the main living floor of the shrink’s place because he could hear the receding footsteps of the intruder as they fled up some stairs. He quickly followed, cursing himself for not bringing more than a pocketknife. Then again, one didn’t expect a session about his fuckups to require physical defense. Mental armor, yes, but he’d left the guns at home.

He moved up the stairs swiftly and caught someone clad in black clambering out an open window. No point in shouting “Halt!” Criminals never listened. Leo gave chase instead. He swung out the window after them and noticed a few interesting things. One, it was a thin wiry dude who’d broken into the shrink’s place. Two, they wore slim-fitting, dark clothing that included a head-covering mask, making them more than a simple thief. And three, an expensive SUV idled in the alley below, appearing to be waiting for them.

The person clambered quickly, racing down the noisy metal steps, heading for the already lowered ladder. Leo outmaneuvered by swinging himself over the rail and dropping, timing his descent to grab at the last section. He grunted as his body jolted, but he recovered immediately, swinging himself to aspot in front of the ladder, ready to snare the would-be thief. The intruder saw him and did an abrupt about-turn. Leo grabbed him by the calf before he could go hopping upwards.

Rather than the thief admitting defeat, he pulled a knife and slashed in Leo’s direction. Poorly, he should add.

A fast-thinking Leo yanked the leg he held, throwing the guy off balance. The knife went tumbling, and the man hissed, “Let me go or you’ll regret it.”

“I don’t think so.” He grabbed the fellow by the jacket and lifted him. “Care to explain why you’re breaking into this house?”

“None of your business, neanderthal.”

“I’m making it my business.” Especially because he’d hate to think that knife was meant to threaten or hurt the doctor he’d just been talking to.

The front of the thief’s jacket bulged, and a frowning Leo went to unzip it, which led to the guy struggling. Not a smart thing to do on their narrow rickety perch, especially since when the guy, unbalanced, managed to drag Leo with him.

As they plummeted the last twenty feet to the ground, Leo did the only thing he could think of to avoid crushing his skull on pavement.

Called on his Zodiac tattoo to bring him home. Spanning his entire back, part of his transformation, it provided a conduit that linked to his constellation, which, in turn, beamed him home to Babel Tower.

A bright flash of light later, he landed in a heap in Tower’s portal room still holding the would-be thief.

A thief who went into hysterics.

“What the fucking hell? Where am I? What did you do?”

Rather than reply, Leo set the thief loose. He wouldn’t get far. As a matter of fact, his unwilling guest ran so fast for the nearestdoorway that he slammed into Aries, who stood framed in the entrance for the portal room.

The thief bounced off Aries’ chest and hit the floor hard, hyperventilating. Not so cocky now.

“What the hell, Leo? I thought you were supposed to attend a therapy appointment,” Aries growled in his direction.

“I went, but in the midst of yapping with the shrink, this little fuck interrupted. He decided to be a dumbass and rob the doctor during my session,” Leo explained.

“And you brought him back here?” Aries snapped. “What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking we were falling and that this was preferable to me smashing my skull on pavement and splitting it open like an overripe melon.”

Aries pursed his lips. “What am I supposed to do with him?”

Thehimin question scrabbled backwards, blubbering. “Ain’t no one told me I was messing with wizards. Here, take it. It ain’t worth what they were paying me.”

From the jacket emerged a picture frame, which the thief tossed. The glass on it cracked as it hit the floor and slid.

Aries crouched to snag it. He glanced at what the frame held, frowned, then narrowed his gaze on the thief. “Why did you steal this?” The boss sounded angry.

“Because I was told to. Almost didn’t find it. She had it hung on the wall. I barely managed to grab it when I heard the door opening.”

The plot thickened, and Leo, who usually didn’t show much interest in anything these days, found himself curious. He treaded to Aries’ side to peek at what the frame held. His brows rose. It was a pencil drawing of what appeared to be a doorway set within a rockface covered in vines. Of more interest, what appeared to be zodiac symbols lined the edges of the entrance. The bottom corner was dated April 9, 2004.

“Who ordered you to take this?” Aries waved the picture in the thief’s face.

“The people who hired me. I don’t know their name. They contacted me on the dark web. Told me they had a job for someone with light fingers. Once we negotiated a price, some dudes picked me up, rather than telling me where to go, and dropped me off at the target location.”

Aries glanced at Leo and mouthed,Cetus.

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