Angel Fire (56 page)

“Don’t do anything, just let them go,” he’d broken in coldly. “I just want them
gone
, okay? That’s all.”

And so they’d left without incident, though Willow’s necklace on the kitchen table had provided an extra knife in the guts when Alex had found it later. Kara had been in the kitchen too; her eyes had flown to his. “Alex...” she’d started.

“Forget it.” He picked up the necklace with its shining pendant – the pendant that had reminded him so much of Willow’s angel self, with her wings glinting in the sun – and shoved it roughly into his pocket, wondering why, exactly, he wasn’t just pitching it into the trash.

“Okay,” he said. “Let’s go over the plans.”

And for a few hours he’d almost been able to lose himself in them, even though some little voice inside of him was still dazed, bleating over and over,
I don’t believe it; Willow wouldn’t do this. She just wouldn’t.
Whenever he thought it, he mentally kicked the voice to death until it shut up. Because all he could see was Willow in her short black skirt, reaching up to hold Seb’s hand; hear the calmness in her tone as she told him that, by the way, she’d forgotten to mention it until now, but all along her dream had included
Seb
, and he himself had apparently just been the chauffeur to get her to Mexico City. God, no wonder she’d looked so thrilled when she first met Seb, her green eyes shining with wonder – probably the only thing that had been on her mind from that point on had been how quickly she could dump Alex, now that she’d found another half-angel.

This thought came to him later that night in his bedroom; he only barely managed not to punch the wall. He couldn’t just sit in here; he’d go insane – he pulled on a pair of sweatpants, yanked on a T-shirt, and headed out. Sam, Wesley and Brendan were in the dorm playing cards. They looked up as he passed through. Wesley’s arm was in a home-made sling; it hadn’t improved much since the day before.

“Hey bud, you okay?” said Sam, his voice casual.

“Great,” said Alex shortly. He opened the cabinet where the towels were kept and grabbed one.

“You working out? Want me to join you?”

“No, thanks.”

Down in the exercise room, he did fierce, pumping reps on the machines for almost an hour, then ran for miles on the treadmill, until the sweat was streaming and his muscles felt limp. Finally he stopped, panting. He’d pulled off his T-shirt as he ran, and now he used it to mop his face and chest. The house was quiet around him; he knew it must be after midnight.

His frenzied workout hadn’t helped much. It hadn’t even obliterated the fact that this was the night he’d been going to take Willow to the hotel, so that they could finally have the privacy they’d both been craving. He’d actually bought
flowers
to put in the room; chocolates, which now the maid or someone would eat. He’d wanted it to be so incredibly special for them both, but especially for Willow.

And instead, she had been with Seb.

Oh god, do
not
think about this. He wadded up his shirt and threw it across the room. Restlessly, he went upstairs to the TV room, where he sat on the sofa and opened up Brendan’s laptop, studying the plans once more.

When he’d first looked at them, the relief had been almost indescribable. This was exactly what they’d needed: someone on the inside, getting them in as guests. The attack might actually succeed now – Charmeine the rogue angel had thought of every conceivable detail. Any doubts he might have had about the information’s authenticity had vanished as he read through the notes; Charmeine clearly wanted the Council dead as much as they did. The VIP passes meant they could just walk right in through the main entryway without being stopped. There were also floor plans of the VIP area; a schedule for the afternoon’s events; notes pointing out where the private audiences would take place and at what times. Best of all, the team now had a private audience with the Council themselves.

The first private audience will be for
“
Mexico City University
”
. This is you,
said a note.
Keep your minds as blank as possible and wait until they’re talking to open fire, to catch them off-guard. Don’t hesitate. The Twelve have extremely strong psychic abilities, though we don’t know whether these extend to humans. It’s essential that they’re dispatched without ever letting them get the upper hand – or else your team will be summarily executed and humanity will not stand a chance.

Alex tapped his thumb against his mouth as he read, frowning slightly as he pictured the scene. If Wesley’s arm wasn’t healed by then, there would be six of them against the Twelve. The target practice they’d done earlier had focused on that – all of them standing in a line, each going for their own particular two targets. The team was proficient enough by now that this slight variation on their skills hadn’t fazed them; they’d all been performing at well over ninety per cent by the time he’d finally called a halt. Hopefully Wesley
would
be okay, though – they could really use a clean-up man standing over to the side, to shoot any angel that the others might have missed. If Wesley was still injured, then Alex would have to fill that role himself, nailing his two angels quickly and then going after any others.

Earlier, he’d brought the paper file that Willow had given him in here too, and now he leaned forward to the coffee table and flipped it open again. Neither he nor Kara could read Spanish nearly as well as they spoke it, but he could make out enough to see that most of the details were the same as on the memory stick. The only discrepancy was to do with one of the hallways. The computer file said they should exit by that route to reach the elevators quickly – the paper file said there were renovations going on and the doorway at that end was blocked. But the computer file was clearly more up-to-date; the work must have been completed by now.

As he glanced at the laptop again, Alex suddenly remembered what Sophie had said about some kind of proposal for him. On the main menu screen, he found a file he hadn’t noticed before:
Nevada.

He clicked it open, and discovered plans showing an underground camp in the desert – a huge, sprawling bunker of a place, sleek and modern. As he read, he learned that it had been used for some kind of military training and was now in the hands of the CIA, who apparently had been considering moving his dad’s camp up there.

It’s fully stocked with survival gear and weaponry – with the addition of holographs for training, it would be a perfect base for the AKs,
read a note from Sophie.
There was limited knowledge of the facility even when Project Angel was running; I am reasonably certain that this information, along with the access codes contained here, are now known only by myself.

Reasonably certain
– great.
I’ve already got a base,
thought Alex as he moved the laptop to one side. Besides, they’d only need a place to operate from if they failed to kill the Council – and if that was the case, the odds of the AKs even being around afterwards seemed pretty slim.

In just a few days, he could die.

Alex sank back against the sofa, staring at the ceiling. Being raised as an Angel Killer meant that, deep down, he’d always expected to die young – and he wouldn’t mind, not if it rid the world of the angels. The only time he’d ever wanted more had been these last few months with Willow, when the desire to actually be around long enough to have a life with her – seeing her smile as she woke up beside him every morning; hearing her laugh – had given his fight against the angels more of a purpose than ever before. Even now, he loved her so much that uppermost in his mind was gladness that she wouldn’t be there for the Council attack. That no matter what happened, she’d at least be safe.

God, what a sap he was – when she was with Seb right this second. He closed his eyes against the sharp twist of pain.

“Hey,” whispered a soft voice. The cushion sank down as someone sat beside him.

His eyes flew open. Kara was there, clad in the shorts and T-shirt she wore to bed. “I came down to the kitchen and saw the light on,” she explained, tucking her long legs up under her. “You okay?”

“Fine.” He stayed slumped where he was, not bothering to straighten up. Distantly, he was aware that the house felt cool now, the air prickling at his bare chest. “Couldn’t be better.”

Kara was silent for a long moment. Without make-up, the dramatic lines of her face looked softer, more vulnerable. “I know how you feel,” she said finally. “I really do, Alex. I never told you, but do you remember David?”

At first Alex didn’t. The camp in New Mexico had been home to hundreds of potential AKs over the years. A lot of them didn’t have what it took and ended up being escorted out again – without ever having known exactly where the camp was, in case they later got angel burn and tried to confess everything. Then he vaguely remembered a good-looking guy with broad shoulders and red hair, like a Viking.

“Wasn’t he a college football player, or something?” he asked.

“That’s the one,” said Kara with a humourless smile. “Mr. All-American. Anyway, we sort of had a thing going for a while. And what can I say? I fell in love with him – totally, completely in love with him. I thought he felt the same way, but...”

Alex didn’t say anything – memories were starting to come back. David had ended up leaving the camp unexpectedly with a married AK named Susie; gossip had buzzed around the camp for days afterwards. “Did you know about Susie?” he asked after a pause.

Kara shook her head. “Nope. Didn’t have a clue. I found out later that she hadn’t even been the only one. I felt like such a...” Her voice faded, then she cleared her throat. “And you know what? The stupid thing is that part of me still loves him. I mean, I’d spit in his face if I saw him again, but I still love him. Almost as much as I hate him.”

“Yeah,” murmured Alex. That summed it up, pretty much. He’d die for Willow, even now, but he’d meant it when he said he never wanted to see her again.

Kara was sitting sideways on the sofa, her legs still curled under her. “Jake was so great, you know, after all that,” she said. “He let me cry on his shoulder so many times. That was when I started to think that maybe someday...” She looked down. “Your brother was a really good guy,” she said finally. “I miss him.”

“I know,” said Alex. “I miss him too.” He wondered what Jake would have said about Willow. After he’d finished kicking Alex’s ass for being involved with a half-angel in the first place, he had a feeling Jake would have taken him out to get drunk a few times. And brought lots of pretty girls over to their table, as if Willow could be replaced by anyone with two X chromosomes.

He became aware of the stillness of the house. He turned his head and looked at Kara. She was sitting very close, her brown eyes fixed on his; he could smell the gentle scent of body lotion.

She hesitated – and then in slow motion, she reached out and stroked her hand up his bare arm. When she came to his tattoo, she explored it as if she’d never seen it before, tracing its letters. The heat from her fingers was like little suns. “Remember the Christmas party that time?” she asked.

He knew immediately the party she meant – it had been just a few months after Kara had first come to the camp. She’d worn a Santa hat and carried around a sprig of mistletoe, giving everyone quick, laughing kisses. Including him – his first kiss ever. The other AKs had thought it was hilarious; he’d just wanted to grab the mistletoe from her and do it again.

Kara still had her hand on his arm, trailing her fingers back and forth. “Yeah, I remember.” His voice was rough.

“Al, listen,” she said quietly. “I know you’re still in love with her. But you and I really care about each other, and in a few days we could both be dead. Maybe we could just...keep each other warm, for a little while.”

Pain and longing mixed within him, so that all at once his heart was beating fast. He’d wondered ever since he was fourteen what it would be like with Kara. So why not, when the girl he loved was lying in someone else’s arms right now? Why the hell not?

But for some reason the words
Yes, great idea
wouldn’t come.

The room grew heavy with tension, like the air before a storm. Looking down at her hand, Kara slowly glided it across Alex’s chest, inch by inch. It dipped up and down over his muscles, making him shiver. Finally her palm came to his other shoulder and stopped. For a long moment her eyes searched his...and then she leaned over and kissed him.

Alex sat very still. Her lips were so soft, so gentle, and this was Kara,
Kara
– who he used to lie awake at nights thinking about. He was enjoying this, he told himself – a gorgeous girl who he’d had a crush on for years was kissing him; of course he was enjoying it.

The image came from nowhere: Willow, sitting at the picnic table in Chihuahua. The smoothness of her neck under his palm as he kissed her; her laughter as she complained that his lips were too spicy.

He pulled away almost harshly. Kara sat back in surprise, her eyes wide.

“Sorry,” he muttered. His throat was so tight he could hardly speak. “I can’t. I just can’t.”

Lying in bed later, Alex stared unseeingly into the darkness and wondered what exactly was wrong with him, that he couldn’t even bring himself to
kiss
someone else. As if he thought he’d be cheating on Willow or something, when she’d dumped him as thoroughly as it was possible to be dumped. When according to her, she’d been using him for weeks, just to get to Seb.

He couldn’t believe it. He still just couldn’t believe it.

Wake up, it happened,
Alex told himself harshly. Anyway, to hell with this. He had a team to take care of. He had to be there for them these next few days; that was the only thing that mattered. Thinking of the upcoming attack, Alex was aware of the same dread Willow had sensed in him on that long-ago night in New Mexico. But everyone was going to be okay, he’d make sure of it.
He
could die; that was fine – but not his team. He’d do everything in his power to keep them safe.