“Yes.”
Knowing Seth really could stop him didn’t reduce Jared’s ire.
“To be an Immortal Guardian,” Seth reminded him, “you must maintain the delicate balance we always have. If you can do that, follow me to David’s. If you cannot, return to the network and sit this one out.”
Leaving him to decide, Seth teleported away.
Sean eyed the men and women gathered around David’s long dining table. Ami sat beside Marcus, catty-corner to Seth’s empty chair at the foot of the table with a baby monitor in front of her. Little Adira must be sleeping. Roland and Sarah sat beside them with a second baby monitor.
Darnell and Chris Reordon sat at the opposite end by David’s empty seat, scrutinizing the screens of a couple of laptops. Darnell shook his head and pointed. Nodding, Chris started to type.
Krysta claimed the seat beside Sean near the middle of the table. Once she greeted him and Nicole, she fell quiet and kept sending him glances from the corner of her eye.
“What?” he blurted when it worked his nerves.
“Nothing,” she answered quickly.
Étienne snorted as he took the seat on her other side. “She feels guilty.”
Krysta shot him a scowl. “Don’t tell him that.”
Puzzled, Sean studied his sister. “Why?” Had she done something he hadn’t heard about yet?
She loosed an exaggerated sigh. “Because I’m usually the one who does reckless shit, like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute.”
He quirked a brow. “Or leaping into the air and grabbing the landing skid of a helicopter as it takes off?”
Her husband’s lips curled up. “Then killing the pilot before he can land?”
She grimaced. “Yes.”
Sean smiled. “It sucks, doesn’t it? Being on the other side.” Worrying from the back seat.
“Yes!” she exclaimed. “It sucks balls! Don’t ever do that crap again.”
Amusement dawning, he shook his head. “I’ll tell you what you told me.” He assumed an exaggeratedly penitent expression. “I’ll try.”
Krysta bit out several curses.
Laughing, Sean nodded hello to Jenna and Richart as they sat on Nicole’s other side. It looked like Nicole and Darnell were the only Seconds seated at the table. Everyone else who claimed a chair was an Immortal Guardian. The rest of the Seconds formed an oval around them. All bore grim expressions and stood with their feet braced apart, arms crossed over their chests.
Zach teleported in with Nick, Kayla, and Becca. Sean was a little surprised to see the teenager joining them. Had she insisted they include her? Or had Nick and Kayla been too afraid to let her out of their sight?
Seth appeared and seated himself beside Leah at the foot of the table. Rainwater drip-drip-dripped from his shoulder-length hair. Taking his wife’s hand, he brought it to his lips for a kiss and looked around. “Where’s David?”
Darnell glanced over at him. “He went to the airport here in North Carolina to see if any unplanned flights left tonight.”
“The one Sean and Nicole departed from?”
“Yes.”
Jared appeared and sank into the only other free chair. Like Seth, he looked as if he’d just showered with his clothes on.
Sheldon darted into the kitchen. When he returned, he handed Seth a towel and tossed the other to Jared.
“Thank you.” Seth drew the soft cotton over his hair and down his face.
Jared did the same, his face set in stone.
Sean stared at him. The smiling, loquacious movie buff from network headquarters had morphed into a silent would-be executioner who looked ready to attack.
David joined them, his clothing as saturated as the others’, droplets of water dripping off the ends of his dreadlocks.
Sheldon trotted into the kitchen once more and returned with another towel.
Taking it with a smile, David sank into his chair. “Thank you.”
All quieted.
Chris held up a finger and met Seth’s gaze. “Before we begin, I think you should bring Henderson in on this. I already gave him a heads-up.”
Leah patted Seth’s hand and rose. “I’ll get him.” She vanished. A few seconds later, she reappeared with Scott Henderson, head of the Midwest division of the network.
Holding a briefcase that looked as battered as Reordon’s, Scott nodded. “Evening, everyone.”
Aidan retrieved a chair and nudged it in beside Chris and Darnell.
“Thank you.” Henderson seated himself and drew a laptop out of his case.
Once everyone was settled, Seth met David’s gaze. “What did you learn?”
Chapter Seventeen
David leaned back in his chair. “Another flight left earlier tonight. Like the first, it was unscheduled. No one at the airport knows how many were aboard. An SUV with dark windows bypassed the terminal and drove into a hangar. All passengers boarded before the private jet exited. But the fact that Danvers called the terminal supervisor ahead of time and insisted he keep all eyes indoors leads me to believe they had Tessa.”
“Did anyone know its destination?”
David shook his head. “The pilot filed no flight plan.”
Nick huffed in disbelief. “How many jets does this bastard own?”
His eyes still on his laptop, Chris said, “Five. Benford usually keeps one here in North Carolina for personal use, another in Texas for family use, and three more in California for charter. But two months ago, he moved a couple of the California jets here to North Carolina, likely to aid him in his quest to get his hands on an Immortal Guardian.”
One of the Seconds muttered, “What the hell do rich people have to complain about?”
Another snorted. “I know, right?”
David ignored them. “I teleported to the other airport and read every mind. It took some time to find someone who saw the identifiers on the tail of the last jet to land. They were the same as the numbers on the jet that departed here. But again, no one could confirm how many passengers disembarked. Nor did they know where the passengers went after they left.”
Seth leaned back in his chair. “I think it’s safe to say that the same people who kidnapped Nicole now have Tessa.”
Murmurs of agreement rumbled all around.
Nicole looked from face to face. “What about Marge? What happened to her?”
“They took her to an advanced research facility,” Seth said, “in an isolated location in Texas used to study diseases and develop pharmaceuticals. Based on what I heard, Marge is about to become the subject of their latest study.”
Sean shook his head. “Seriously, what is up with Texas? The facility they tortured Ami in was there. Gershom infiltrated a top-secret military base there. Now this?”
Chris dragged his gaze away from his screen. “It’s a big damn state with a lot of land to get lost in and plenty of places to hide things.”
Henderson nodded. “Real estate is also more affordable there.”
“And it’s home to the largest medical city in the world,” Chris added.
“Where’s that?” Krysta asked.
“Houston,” Nick, Kayla, Henderson, and Reordon replied.