He traced a blunt finger over the sandy beige topographic map. In red, he’d scrawled the long front lines of the armies, with their backup forces pulled in on either side.
“How am I supposed to get around that?”
That much power in one place could literally make the battlefield vibrate. The energy on the ground would be astronomical. It would fry me in a second.
Marc glanced up. “I’ve got a person working on it.”
I studied him. “Do you really think I’m crazy enough to go with you?” Even I had my limits.
A dull suspicion spiraled in the pit of my stomach. “Wait. Are you trying to use this to somehow try to reunite?” Because it wouldn’t work. “I can’t handle that.” I was done getting yanked around.
He didn’t budge, but his eyes betrayed the depth of his hurt. “I’ve known about you for weeks.”
“Oh,” I said, stung. He certainly hadn’t rushed to my side.
Guilt flashed across his features. “PNN.”
The hoarders. Great.
He looked me square in the eye. “I’m not going to lie to you.”
I nodded, not sure if I appreciated that or not. There’s nothing like knowing your ex truly didn’t miss you.
Stamping down the hurt, I offered a tremulous smile. This wasn’t about love or loss. The practical, bold, take-no-prisoners Marc hadn’t been hell-bent to see me. He was risking his skin in order to talk to our dead ex-professor. And this really was about a reckless field trip to an enemy camp.
I pushed back a layer of hair that had fallen over my eyes. “I don’t even know how I’d get there.” He could shift and fly, but I was stuck on the ground within the strict confines of camp.
We kept our borders protected for a reason. Imps roamed the Limbo landscape. And if they didn’t get you, you were just as likely to be swallowed by a bottomless sinkhole or attacked by a rogue demon.
Not to mention the punishment I’d face if the New God Army discovered I’d gone AWOL.
If the army went easy on me, I’d face execution. If they wanted to make an example out of me, I could be looking at eternal torture.
Still, I couldn’t help but think about the prophecy, about the new weapon.
Marc’s eyes searched mine. “I know it’s too much, but do this for me. With me.”
Even though I don’t want anything to do with you.
Merde. Was he trying to shove a knife in my chest?
Or make me want to shove one into his?
He stood before me, ready to lead the charge, curse the consequences. It was as if he could change things through sheer force of will. I drew a hand over my eyes. “You’re certifiable.”
He seemed to take that as a compliment. “And you’re stronger than you think.”
I sighed, torn. “I don’t know how to do this.”
“It has to be under the cover of night.” He glanced out of the tent. “I came in by the priest’s hutch, but that’s too dangerous now with the patrols out.”
“Don’t tell me you were going to rope Father McArio into this.” The realization dawned on me. “You already did.” That was why the padre drew the patrol away. That was why he was wandering around the minefield.
Father McArio was sixty-five if he was a day. He should be starting to think about retirement. Instead, he’d volunteered for an assignment in Limbo, a life sentence. He was my mentor and my friend, and as far as I was concerned, he took too many risks already.
He was going to get himself killed one of these days, and I didn’t want it to be because he was helping me.
Marc cast me a rueful look. “I met Father McArio while scouting the camp. Great guy. Before I knew it, I was telling him who I was.”
Father had a way of making people do that.
“He delivered the note to your door. He told me where we should meet.”
I groaned out loud. They were two peas in a pod. The old Jesuit never could leave well enough alone, but this was too big—even for him. I shot him a look. “No more talking to Father McArio.”
“You’re right,” he said, completely nonplussed. “It’s a risk to both of us at this point.” He thought for a moment. “When I was flying in, I saw a maze of gas tanks at the rear of the helipad. Go there. I’ll get you transportation. I’ll get you one of our uniforms as well.”
As if all we needed was a Jeep and a new plan. “You’re asking me to go AWOL. To hide out in an enemy camp. To seek out a murdered soul. To spy on a top-secret project.”
He stood tall, unapologetic. “That about sums it up.”
“You’re not worried about me?” Galen would never let me take this kind of risk.
“You’re not a kid anymore,” Marc said. “You’re a strong, smart woman. I need you on my side.”
He didn’t say it, but I knew. He wanted me as an equal.
I glanced up at him. “You think it’s that important?”
“I know it is,” he said with utter conviction. No sugarcoating it, no backing down. He was a soldier, the same as if he carried a sword into battle.
“Then I’ll do it.” I’d been in the clinic for two weeks straight. I could take a few days off. “Give me a few hours to pack. I’ll be at the helipad when the suns set.”
Chapter Four
I’d left Marc with a handshake, as if we were passing acquaintances or business associates who’d met for a chat over coffee.
This was so screwed up. I didn’t know what to think or feel, much less what to do around that man. But I’d felt the urge to reach out to him in some manner, so I did. In the lamest way possible.
It was an uncomfortable end to a gut-wrenching meeting. I could hardly believe he was alive, or that I’d agreed to help him.
I made my way down the busy walkways of our small tent city, one hand stuffed in my pocket, holding the note that had started this whole thing, running my fingers over the paper as if I needed to make sure it had even happened.
A group of nurses passed me going the other way, and I nodded to them, or at least I thought about it. I glanced back at the rise that led to the minefield. I just hoped Marc had gotten out before that patrol came back around.
He’d asked the impossible. I had every right to be ticked at him for that. I was.
But like a fool, I’d taken him up on it. It was a terrible risk, one I’d never planned to take.
Aside from the demonic creatures that would delight in eating me whole, there were hell vents, bottomless sand traps, not to mention the stark dry desert itself. That was before I arrived at the Great Divide.
Immortal armies built up incredible amounts of energy. It was a side effect of the enormous power of these demigods. It could melt engines, jam guns, short out modern weapons systems. Colonel Kosta told me once that walking the front lines could actually make an immortal’s hair stand on end. Which was pretty funny at the time because Kosta was stone-cold bald.
The current wouldn’t be as powerful with the armies standing down, but it wasn’t like I could skip through the middle of the Great Divide. Marc was a silver dragon. He’d shifted and flown. I’d have to find another way.
When I reached the hutch, I saw my werewolf roommate’s bags stacked outside, along with half a dozen crates of Star Trek figurines.