The Belial Ring (The Belial Series 3) (14 page)

He knelt in front of the grave, bowed his head, and prayed for his little niece, who never had a chance to enjoy life.
For his sister and her husband, taken too soon. And for Laney, who had been dealt this horrible twist of fate.

Victoria had given his niece her own daughter
’s name. He glanced around at the incredible flowers surrounding the grave. Victoria’s doing, no doubt. She had mourned his niece as if she was her own. And the fact was, when Victoria gave Laney away, it must have felt, to Victoria, as if her own daughter had died.

Patrick placed his hand on the top of the tombstone, using it to help him stand.
He turned and looked at Victoria, who now sat on the bench. “It’s a beautiful spot,” he said softly.

Some of the defensiveness slipped from Victoria
’s posture. She gave him a sad smile. “It was an impossible decision. Your niece was never meant to be part of this world. But through Sarah’s death, Laney had a chance at a normal life. A chance to be safe. And the only way for that to happen was for no one to know. No one, but me.”

For the first time, Patrick didn
’t see Victoria as a cold woman who used people as chess pieces. He saw instead a terrified woman—one who made the heartbreaking decision to give up her only daughter in order to save her life. He still didn’t understand why Victoria thought that it was necessary, but it was obvious that she believed it.

And the pain of that decision was etched across her face.
Victoria’s decision had given him decades of happiness—and had left Victoria with only decades of loss.

Patrick sat next to her on the bench.
He took her hand, tears in his eyes. “I’m sorry for your loss, too. It couldn’t have been easy giving her up.”

Victoria nodded, but he saw her chin tremble.
Her voice was barely above a whisper. “It wasn’t.”

They were silent for a moment.
Patrick took a deep breath. “Laney’s in trouble, isn’t she?”

Victoria nodded.
“Yes.”

Patrick wrapped his arm around Victoria
’s shoulder.

Victoria let out a small sob before turning into his hug.

And Patrick hugged her back.

They sat there
for a long time, sharing the pain of loss and the fear for the life of the child they both loved.

CHAPTER 28

H
enry blew out a breath as he stepped onto the landing in front of his office. He felt exhausted. Laney was safely home, but her world had been ripped apart. Patrick was off to confront Victoria. And as for him—he had no idea what to think, what to feel. And he was way too tired to even try to figure it out.

He knew his exhaustion wasn
’t physical. One of the side benefits of being a nephilim was that fatigue wasn’t a part of his life. But emotional exhaustion? Well, his abilities didn’t seem to be any help with that.

Henry pushed open the double doors to his office, a tingle running through his body.
He glanced up sharply.

Jennifer Witt sat on his couch, flipping through a magazine.
She looked up with a smile. “Hey.”

Henry perked up at the sight of her.
Standing six feet tall, with black hair and ebony, almond-shaped eyes, Jen was more than easy to look at. She was also a brilliant archaeologist and a nephilim as well.

They
’d met last year, although he’d heard about her for years from her brothers, Jordan and Mike. She was also one of Laney’s best friends, and now one of his as well. He hadn’t been handling the torture at the hands of Hugo as well as he wanted people to believe. Jen had been the person he’d been able to talk to. She understood.

“
Hey,” he said back to her.

Jen stood up, crossing the room to give him a hug.
“I thought you guys would head up here as soon as you arrived. This
is
your guys’ version of the Batcave, isn’t it?” She paused. “Everybody okay?”

The heartbreak on Laney
’s and Patrick’s faces flashed in his mind—as well as the anger on Jake’s face, and his own feelings of confusion. “I’m not sure about ‘all right.’ But physically, no one got shot or broke anything. Oh wait, Patrick got shot, but it was only a graze.”

Jen stepped forward, looking intently at Henry
’s face. “What about you? Are you all right?”

He gave her a small grin.
“Not really. But it’s good to see you.”

Jen pulled him down to the couch.
“More flashbacks?”

Since Vegas, Henry had suffered from insomnia and occasional flashbacks.
Jen noticed something amiss one time when they were at dinner with Danny, and hadn’t relented until he’d told her the whole story. And since then, she’d been the one he spoke with. His own personal counselor.

Henry shook his head.
“No. No flashbacks, not for a week at least.”

“
Well, care to tell me what
is
going on?”

Henry had called
Jen on the way back from the meeting with his mom. He’d explained about the attack in Hershey, but he hadn’t been able to bring himself to explain about his mother’s revelations. It was just too unbelievable, too fresh. He needed a little time to process it himself before he spoke of it to other people.

But even with all of that chaos, his priority was protecting Danny.
He had a feeling the next couple of days were going to be intense. He needed to know Danny was safe, so he’d called Jen to see if she’d mind watching out for him. He had incredible security, but he wanted the best. And as far as he could tell, Jen was the best.

He blew out a breath.
“It’s been a rough day.”

She gave a little laugh.
“You do have a gift for understatement. I’m here as long as you need me. I spoke with Jordan and Mike as well. Jordan’s cutting his vacation short. He’ll be here in a few hours, and Mike’s only in DC. He said if you need him, he can drop everything and be here in under an hour. Less, if he can nab a chopper.”

Henry said a small prayer of thanks for the Witt family.
Jordan was one of his security specialists, and his twin brother Mike was an FBI agent. Both were former Navy SEALs who’d trained with Jake, and having them around Danny eased his concern even more. “Thanks.”

“
That’s why I’m here. But Kati called me from Hershey. Told me her version of the attack.”

Henry cut her off.
“How’s she doing? How’s Max?”

“
Not going to lie. Kati’s pretty shook up. Unlike the rest of us, that was her first gunfight. But she’s strong. She’ll be okay. And Max, luckily, didn’t really understand what was going on.”

“
Well, I guess that’s the best we can hope for.”

“
But I think there’s more going on here.”

“
True.”

Jen took his hand.
“You don’t have to keep it all in, you know. I know you’re used to taking care of yourself, but it’s okay to share the burden.”

The idea of sharing this burden was more than a little appealing
, but right now wasn’t the time. “Maybe one day. I think Laney needs you more now.”

Jen was quiet for moment.
“It’s okay for you to need someone, too, Henry.”

A knock at the door
grabbed Henry’s attention. Agent Matt Clark walked in without waiting for an invitation.

Henry laid his head back against the couch, struggling not to groan.
“Clark. How nice to see you.”

Clark inclined his head, seeming to acknowledge the sarcasm in Henry
’s words. “Sorry to interrupt, but it’s important, or I would have called.”

Henry stood, his upbringing overriding his exhaustion.
“Agent Matt Clark, this is Dr. Jennifer Witt.”

“
Ah, the archaeologist from Ecuador. An incredible find.”

Jen shook his hand, her tone dry.
“Actually, it was more of a theft.”

Clark inclined his head.
“True. But you and Dr. McPhearson did well by the Shuars.”

“
We could have done better,” Jen said abruptly. She turned to Henry. “Well, I’ll leave you to your unscheduled meeting. I’ll go see Laney. I promised Danny dinner later. Join us?”

Henry managed to find a smile.
“Best offer I’ve had in days. I’ll find you when I’m done here.”

Jen squeezed his arm before walking around Clark.
She nodded her head stiffly. “Agent,” she said before walking out of the room.

Clark watched her go.
“You know, I don’t think your friends like me very much.”

Henry ignored the agent
’s accurate statement. He watched Jen leave instead, wishing he could go with her. Whatever Clark had to say, Henry was pretty sure he didn’t want to hear it. He’d had enough bombshells for one day.

Forcing the words past his teeth,
Henry said. “All right, Clark what is it?”

“
I realize this isn’t a good time.”

Henry raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. I know about Hershey. But I have some new information you need, especially after that attack. It was the Fallen, wasn’t it?”

“
Actually, there weren’t any Fallen, but there was a nephilim. And a bunch of humans.”

“
I think I know who’s behind the attack. They were after Laney, weren’t they?”

Henry squinted at Clark.
Now what?
He spoke slowly. “We think so. But how did you know that?”

“
We were worried that might happen.”

“
Well, thanks for the heads-up.”

Clark put up his hands.
“We had no concrete intel. It was really more of an educated guess. But what I have to tell you now is concrete.”

Henry sank back into the couch, gesturing to the seat across from him.
“Well, by all means, pull up a chair and lay it on me.”

Clark pulled his seat
toward Henry until he was only a foot away. “I know who’s gathering the Fallen, the nephilim.”

Henry
’s exhaustion disappeared immediately. “What? Who?”

“
His name’s Amar Patel.” Clark pulled out his phone, hit a few buttons, and handed it over. On the small screen was a close-up of a man of Indian descent, probably in his late forties—dark hair, long nose, thin face, pale green eyes.

Henry handed the phone back.
“Never seen him before. Do you guys have anything on him?”

“
A bit. His formal title these days is venture capitalist. He makes most of his money through investments. And he’s made a lot. But he has no criminal record—no formal ties at least. But there were rumors.”

“
Rumors?”

“
Amar was born in a little village outside
Trivandrum, India
. He was on the streets by age seven.”

Henry didn
’t like the sympathy that welled up in him. “Poor kid.”

“
Yeah, well, that ‘poor kid’ was apparently running those streets by the age of ten. He had a stable of kids working for him. As he got older, his reach extended until he controlled all the organized criminal activity in southwestern India. The authorities were just moving in when he closed up shop. They were never able to tie anything to him.”

“
He came to the States?”

Clark nodded.
“He’d been diversifying for years. He had enough saved to start over, and start over well. He’s worth millions now. But he’s the guy we’ve been looking for. Since the very founding of the SIA, we have been—and are always—looking for him.”

Well
, that wasn’t good. The agent looked awfully troubled, and while Henry didn’t know Clark well, he was pretty sure not much fazed the guy. “Why? Which Fallen is he?”

“
Samyaza.”

Henry
’s eyes flew to Clark’s face. Samyaza, the leader of the Fallen angels. The one who convinced them all to fall. “
The
Samyaza?”

Clark nodded.
“Yes. He’s the leader. And we believe he’s the one trying to get to Laney.”

“
How’d you get this information?”

“
I can’t tell you that.”

“
Can’t, or won’t?

“
Both.”

Henry imagined himself strangling the answers out of the secretive agent.
It wasn’t an unpleasant thought. “How sure are you that it’s Samyaza?”

“
Pretty sure.”

Henry raised an eyebrow.
“Pretty sure?”