Page 28 of Helsing: Demon Slayer
He laughed to himself as he poured a dollop of cream into his coffee and shook his head. He was way younger than that great Hungarian lug András, who’d been born just after World War I, making him nearly a hundred years old. As for Mihàil and Miró, well, those two seasonedElioudwarriors were so old they might as well be immortal.
SweetElohim, Miles was practically a baby at 36. Human or not, he should be able to cover for Ryan Helsing, the Kastriotis’ chief of security, whose second-in-command didn’t need Miles looking over his shoulder. The silent, capable man listened to Miles’s commands and then executed them, often more quickly and effectively than Miles had ordered. Only access to the ops center required Miles’s authority.
Miles grabbed some nuts and cheese with which Olivia had stocked the breakroom along with one of the addictive chocolate bars her company made. He liked them all, but this morning he sought out the dark chocolate with purple peppercorns from Vietnam. Despite their name, these tiny berries added a complex, fruity sweetness that reminded him of the three years he’d spent in southeast Asia as a young field operative with the CIA. If he were honest, the flavor of the exotic peppercorns reminded him more of the energy and drive he’d had back then.
He could use a little of both right now, at least until Helsing returned from whatever mission thezonjëhad tasked him while her husband was distracted strengthening alliances with otherElioudwarriors along with building up his own network of assets. Although Miles suspected that Olivia had purposefully kept her husband out of the loop, he would never give her game away, not even to the fearsomezoti.
But when Miles walked into the TOC a few minutes later, he saw that his discretion no longer mattered. Mihàil knew. And by the looks of it, theElioudcommander was pissed. Miles had never seen Olivia so white or trembling. She’d always been a cool customer, even when he’d been chasing her through Disneyland Paris for the Company.
Of course, Miles had to sally into that scenario and deflect some of the ire aimed at her. Olivia was tough and didn’t need his help, but he’d give it, even if he didn’t owe her for rescuing him from the soul-destroying job he’d had at the American intelligence agency.
“Hey, Boss One and Boss Two,” he said, lifting his mug to each of them in turn, Olivia first. “You both look tired. Luljeta keeping you awake?”
He walked to the command desk for the operations center, which belonged to whomever operated as Aerie Actual, and nodded at the junior staff member who’d held operational authority during the graveyard shift. She got up so that he could relieve her as commander.
As operations director, Miles had a small, but swanky, office in the Aerie, the new, uncompleted operations building that Mihàil had ordered built after Asmodeus’sbogomilihad attacked them last December. Miles hoped he’d get to spend more time there than currently, but for now he did all his office work in the ops center.
He set his mug down on the desk and turned to face the power couple. Olivia sat at a corner workstation with Mihàil standing an arms’ length away, his expression thunderous. Electricity swirled in the air between them.
Crossing his arms over his chest, Miles looked at each and said, “Okay, out with it. I’m pretty sure you aren’t hiding in the ops center from your teething baby. Something must be going on.”
Olivia jerked upright a moment later, her eyes widening. She spun in her chair, dismissing them. “Understood, Demon Slayer,” she said, an edge in her voice Miles had never heard before. “Transport vehicle has gotten caught in traffic on the D410. Can you hold that location until they clear a path to you?”
That’s when Miles caught sight of the monitor behind Olivia, which showed a street-level view of a seething mass of people along a coastal promenade. A dynamic black-and-white graphic overlay showed the distorted harmonics around this mob in stark relief.
“Holy crap! Where’s that?” he asked, as if the answer might come with a body count.
He came to stand next to Mihàil, his gaze scanning the various text blocks running along the bottom and right side of the livestreaming video. The GPS coordinates had a text label: Split, Croatia.
The next moment, Helsing’s voice came through the TOC’s speakers. All of the staff, including the two from the night shift who’d remained working on non-urgent tasks, sat up. Without being told, they knew that their jobs had just moved from routine to battle mode.
“I’m gonna go old school on this one, Harlequin,” said Helsing. “Better hope your team reaches me before I run out of Aperol and kitchen towels.”
“Get my helo ready,” said Mihàil, growling into the pointed silence. “I want Alpha team along for the ride, standard gear and weapons. Wheels up ASAP.”
One of the staff said, “Yes, sir,” before spinning in her seat while murmuring via the comm system to the flight crew, who’d moved onto Alert status as soon as thezotihad walked into the TOC. ASAP was code for five minutes.
Mihàil glanced at Miles, who couldn’t suppress the instinctive shiver that raced down his spine at the supernatural glow lighting theElioud’s angelic blue eyes.
“What assets do we have between here and Split?” his commander asked, already heading toward the door.
Behind him, Olivia stood, her gaze riveted to Mihàil’s back.
Miles narrowed his eyes in thought. “We’ve got a couple of teams installing network bollards with day bases in Kastrat and Belaj. There’s also Shkodër, which has the prototype truck, but it’s up on a lift while diagnostics are being run.”
“Miró has a Daemon Buster ready to test,” said Olivia aloud, shifting her feet apart and folding her arms across her chest.
Miles knew that they’d already been discussing theElioudtech architect’s latest design telepathically. He wasn’t surprised when thezotistiffened and halted without turning.
“I can guide it,” said Olivia in a stubborn tone that suggested they’d alreadydisagreedabout using the prototype harmonic missile. “It cleared diagnostics days ago.”
“Do as you will,” said her husband. “You have already made it clear that my judgment on this matter means little to you.”
And saying this, he disappeared. Literally. Miles would never grow used to the supernatural powers hisElioudbosses wielded, especially thezoti, whose mother was an angel.
Olivia, shooting a cryptic, narrowed glance at Miles, sat back in her chair.
“You’ve got your orders, Farm Boy,” she said, her voice ringing with her authority as thezoti’s lady as she alerted him that she’d taken command of the TOC by using his personal call sign. “Get those teams on the road, and work up a plan to extract Helsing. He’s the only one standing between my sister and an army of the damned.”
