Deadlock

Chapter Sixteen

Julio protested as he coasted to a stop in an empty parking spot along the curb. «We’re already late, Car.»

«This’ll just take a second,» she promised, already unbuckling her seat belt. «I promised Franklin I’d drop these papers off yesterday, but I didn’t get a chance.» She’d been too busy trying to figure out how to approach the situation when she confronted her father and her uncle.

«You know Cesar. Any excuse to say you’re disrespecting him.»

Carmen wished she could deny it outright, but part of her relished the opportunity to make him wait, wanted to seize it. «He deserves a little inconvenience, especially on the clinic’s behalf.»

Julio drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. «You want me to come in with you?» She flashed him a forbidding look, and he laughed. «Fine, I’ll stay here.»

«Thank you. I don’t need someone holding my hand every second of every day.»

«Is Franklin even still here?»

«His office light’s on.» It glowed through the frosted window at the back of the building. «His car’s still here too.»

«Lily must have stopped by after work to keep him company.» He nodded through the windshield to the dark-gray BMW parked around the corner.

«Don’t worry, I won’t get stuck talking.» Though it wouldn’t hurt to let Lily know that Alec had invited her over, so she didn’t plan on being home for the weekend.

«You’re blushing.» Her brother’s eyes narrowed. «Why are you—? Oh God, I don’t want to know, do I?»

«Shut up.» She climbed out of the car and bent inside for her bag. «I’ll be right back.»

The street was quiet even for the late hour, but there never was much traffic on the nights when the clinic closed early. Even Franklin should have been home already, but Cesar’s complaints and harassment had lengthened his already considerable workdays.

Carmen’s heels clicked on the sidewalk, and she smoothed her palm over the lightweight fabric of her pantsuit. She’d wanted to attend the meeting in her grungiest jeans, but she had to be reasonable. More than reasonable, because she and Julio had to pick up the slack left over from their uncle’s irrational behavior. It left no room for pettiness, justified or no.

She stumbled and barely caught her balance. At first, she thought she must have tripped over jagged concrete or broken a heel, but a wave of emotion crashed over her a second later, nothing short of mind-numbing, inescapable terror.

She stood there under the streetlight, trying to make sense of the fear holding her riveted to the spot, knees shaking. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth, though she couldn’t tell if she’d bitten her tongue or if something more sinister was happening, if her body was ripping apart from the inside.

A car horn blared, familiar. Her own. Then Julio’s voice, barely cutting through her petrified haze. «Carmen! Carmen, get dow—»

The glass doors of the clinic exploded with a roar that drowned out her own heartbeat. Time stopped, seconds stretching into a strangely frozen moment where everything was silence, the concussed hush of eardrums under so much pressure they can’t even conduct noise. Her mind catalogued it and marveled even as broken shards rained down, cutting through the stillness.

A weight jerked her to the ground. Julio. He grabbed at her, and she realized she was flailing, trying to crawl across the glass-strewn walk.

«You can’t go in,» he yelled. «There could be structural damage. We have to wait for the fire department—»

If he’d survived the explosion without life-threatening injury, Franklin might be fine. But Lily… «She won’t make it. I have to, Julio.»

«No.» He dug his phone out of his pocket and put it in her hand, folding her numb fingers around it. «Call 911. I’ll find them.»

«Julio—»

«I’m trained, Carmen.» His voice was steady, even. «I’ll find them, and I’ll come get you.»

She swallowed her protest and nodded. «Be careful.»

It took her two tries to dial the numbers, and she answered the dispatcher’s questions in a fog, her gaze fixed on the dark hole that used to be the clinic’s entrance.

An eternity passed before Julio reappeared, dusty and coughing. «I found Franklin.»

She was on her feet already, the phone forgotten in the grass. «Is he—?»

«He’s hurt, bad. Come on.» He led her through the clinic, a path already picked out among the glass and debris. «There’s no fire, but I’m not sure how stable the building is. I’d have brought him out, but shit.»

Franklin was on his back, eyes open and feverishly clear in spite of the bloody mess of his body. «Lily. Where is she?»

«I’m going to find her,» Julio promised, already moving down the hallway. «If you need me, yell.»

Carmen ripped at Franklin’s shirt. «What hurts? Your legs?»

«Eight-seven-zero—» He coughed, air rattling in his chest. «Write this…Sera’s number. No one else knows.»

You call her. The words wouldn’t come. There wasn’t always a chance, and insisting there was didn’t help. «I’ll remember it. Eight-seven-zero,» she prompted.

He delivered the rest of the phone number in a relieved whisper. «I’ve never called her. I was afraid — afraid he’d move them if he knew I’d found her.»

Franklin lay in a rapidly spreading pool of blood. His best chance — his only chance — was for her to stop it. Carmen repeated Sera’s phone number like a mantra as she shoved a filing cabinet out of the way and dragged open the supply closet. Pressure bandages and an IV, and the rest—

The rest would have to wait.

She dropped the supplies beside Franklin and began to cut open the legs of his jeans. «Tell me about Sera.»

«Her mother left when she five.» One of Franklin’s hands curled into a fist. «I was no good at raising a little girl.»

«You were there.» The superficial wounds on his legs had already begun to heal, but the bones beneath them were misshapen. They’d heal badly and have to be broken again, reset, but she couldn’t help that. «Where does Sera live?»

«Arkansas.» He hissed in a pained breath and started to lift his shoulders. «Lily — I need to find her.»

Altered mental status. Carmen pushed him back down, firm but easy. «My brother’s looking for her, remember? Julio. Did I tell you he’s a firefighter?»

Franklin’s brow furrowed, but he relented. «Sera’s in Arkansas,» he whispered. «The bastard she married took her there when she was seventeen. Getting the law involved was too dangerous.»

Too dangerous because they asked too many questions — and she’d just called 911. «Shit.» She hadn’t dealt with an emergency in New Orleans that hadn’t been funneled through Franklin first. As far as she knew, he was the one everyone called when they needed a doctor.

So what happens when the EMTs show up and load him up? What happens when they watch him heal under their hands like he is yours?

She fumbled in Franklin’s pocket for his phone. The screen was cracked, with inky black blobs stretching across it, but the keypad worked.

She dialed and, halfway through the first ring, Alec’s voice filtered through the crackly speaker. «Franklin? What the fuck is going on? McNeely just called.»

At least someone had alerted him. «It’s Carmen. I’m here at the clinic. Franklin’s injured, and we’re still looking for Lily.»

«Carmen? Christ, you’re breaking up. Where are you?»

«At the clinic,» she repeated. «I’m with Franklin, and Julio’s searching for Lily.»

«Already on my way. There’s…» The speaker crackled, distorting his voice. «…going to take Franklin somewhere safe.»

Relief steadied her hands as she tucked the phone against her shoulder and began to dress the still-bleeding wound on Franklin’s side. «I called 911.»

A horn blared on the other end. Alec swore. «I’m five minutes away. Madden might get there first. You can» Another crackle, longer this time, and when Alec’s voice came back it was fuzzier. «Carmen?»

«I’m here. We’re» A crash from the back of the building cut off her words, and fear flared anew. «We have to get out of here.»

«You’re in the clinic? Get the fuck out, Carmen, right now—»

The phone beeped as it dropped the call, but another crash drew her attention. There was no way Franklin could walk, even if he could stand, and a wheelchair would never make it through the busted block, fallen light fixtures and sheetrock that littered the hall.

A clatter and a shout echoed around the corner, and Julio came into view, Lily cradled in his arms. «She’s unconscious. Go outside with me and check on her, and I’ll come back in for Franklin.»

«I can’t leave him.»

Franklin’s hand shot out and curled around Carmen’s wrist, hard enough to bruise. «Go. Call Sera,» he rasped, a command in no way tempered by the weakness of his voice. «Tell her I need her. Go.»

Not a command at all. A plea. «Okay.»

Carmen followed close behind Julio, moving as quickly as she could. The sooner they got out, the sooner he could bring Franklin, and then they’d be safe, and nothing else would matter.

Sirens wailed in the distance, and Julio hurried across the street with Lily. «Stay over here,» he instructed. «No matter what happens, don’t come any closer.»

Carmen dropped and reached to help him lay Lily out on the sidewalk. «I’ll stay put.» Help was coming and, even if something went wrong, going back inside would do no good.

He nodded and took off again, running across the street with more speed than he should have possessed.

Lily stirred, her eyes fluttering open only to close again, and a quick check revealed a nasty bump on her head and a gash on her cheek.

An ambulance arrived first, a tall, bulky man hopping out of the back as it coasted to a stop. His gaze fell on her, then dropped to Lily. «You Mendoza? Alec Jacobson said you were here.»

Alec had said something— «Madden?»

A short nod. «One of the dispatchers recognized the address and pulled some strings, but we don’t have a lot of time. Need to get anyone who’s supernatural and injured out of here. The first cops on the scene will probably be ours, but we can’t control something this big.»

She looked down at Lily. «She’s human, but Franklin Sinclaire is inside. My brother went back in to get him.»

Madden crouched next to Lily. «If she’s his girlfriend, we need to bring her with us. Won’t be able to settle him if we don’t.»

Carmen squeezed her eyes shut. «Of course. I don’t know what I was thinking.» Except that she wasn’t thinking, not with her brain pulling her in three different directions. «I’ll help you.»

The driver’s door of the ambulance clicked open, and boots hit the ground lightly before a vaguely familiar feminine voice cut through the night. «I got this, Madden. Go get Franklin.»

A strong hand landed on Carmen’s shoulder for just a moment. «There’s a secondary location waiting. Franklin had it set up a few weeks ago. Maybe he’s got a little precog in him, huh?»

Or Wesley Dade had instructed him to do so. «Someone does.»

Madden squeezed her shoulder, then rose and bolted across the street, moving so fast his form was a blur. The woman who’d spoken before appeared at Lily’s side, a sturdy blonde Carmen had seen at the clinic from time to time. «Hey, Doc. Help me get her loaded up, would ya? Madden’ll get the others out.»

Together, they eased Lily onto the backboard, and Carmen stabilized her neck while the blonde — Diane, maybe — made room in the back of the ambulance. They lifted her into the vehicle, and Diane climbed in after her.

Tires screeched behind them. Brakes squealed. The stench of burning rubber preceded a slamming door, then Alec appeared at the back of the ambulance, eyes as wild as the dizzying press of his emotions.

Relief sent Carmen tumbling into his arms, relief and a need she hadn’t known existed until just then. «They’re still inside. Julio and Franklin and—»

«Shh, it’s okay.» Warm hands smoothed over her hair. «What happened? Tell me what happened.»

«I don’t know. An explosion. Julio told me to get down, and it just — it blew up.»

«Franklin?»

«He’s hurt. They’re going to take him to another clinic.»

Alec frowned and glanced at Diane, who shrugged one shoulder without looking up. «Don’t ask me. I didn’t know Franklin had a backup facility until Madden told me.»

«Madden’s inside?»

Tension and fear spiked inside Diane, strong emotions that went wild at the mention of her partner’s name. «It’s only been a few minutes. Maybe—»

A loud noise that sounded like a pop shot through the night, and the building groaned as part of it folded, collapsing in on itself with a shudder. Carmen lunged, a scream caught in her throat, and Alec’s arms locked around her body, unyielding as steel. «Carmen, no.»

Either Julio had lied about the threat of fire or something else had happened, because orange fingers of flame began to lick out of the clinic’s ruined facade. «Alec.»

«Stay here.» He released her, only to strip off his jacket and shove his keys and phone into her hands. «I can try to find a way in.»

Fear melted into terror, but she didn’t have time to voice her protest before Diane stepped in front of them both. «There they are.»

The EMT led the way out of the smoke with Julio just behind him, Franklin balanced on his shoulder. Madden carried an IV bag, and Diane rushed to meet them with a collapsible gurney as more sirens pierced the night.

Julio’s shirt was ripped, and the blood soaking the fabric didn’t all belong to Franklin. «What happened?» Carmen asked.

«The ceiling fell.» He winced as she pulled his shirt away to reveal a gash across his back. «A beam almost caught us.»

Alec eyed the ambulance, then his truck. «We need to get the fuck out of here. Where’s this second clinic?»

«Outskirts of town, near the airport.» Madden spoke from where he sat, hunched over Franklin. «You three follow behind us.»

Alec was already urging Carmen toward his truck. Normally, she would have fought to ride along — she was board-certified in emergency medicine, for Christ’s sake — but this wasn’t a normal situation. Her boss and her best friend lay in the back of the ambulance, and she couldn’t treat them with the same necessary detachment as the EMTs. «Okay, we’ll follow.»

She ended up in the front of the truck, wedged between Alec and Julio. Pain, fear and tension made the front of the cab nearly unlivable as he gunned the engine and followed Diane. One cop car careened around the corner toward them, but Alec’s stream of curses cut off abruptly when a dark arm thrust out of the window and waved them on. «McNeely. He’ll cover as long as he can.»

Julio peeled off his shirt, and Carmen helped him tie it into a makeshift bandage around his wound. «What will he tell the others?» she asked.

«He’ll figure something out. McNeely’s quick on his feet.» The truck swerved as Alec took a corner too fast. «There are a few like him scattered across the city. Your brother probably knows.»

«Like hell,» Julio said. «If there was some sort of underground supernatural cover-up system in Charleston, no one ever clued me in.»

Ahead of them, Diane flipped on the ambulance’s siren, clearing a path. Alec frowned as he took the next corner. «Maybe Reed takes care of it.»

«No idea.»

It could be a measure of how far out of the supernatural loop Julio stayed — or an example of just how much Alec did in New Orleans in the absence of any official leadership. «I can’t even worry about any investigation right now,» Carmen whispered. «I only need them both to be okay.»

«I know, honey. I didn’t get a look at Franklin.» Tension threaded Alec’s voice, and true concern. «How bad is it?»

«His legs were broken. He’ll need surgery.»

Another soft curse. «I stay out of the clinic as much as I can. I don’t know who to call. Who we need.»

Neither would Wesley Dade, who had no doubt funded this other clinic, as well. «I know an orthopedic surgeon we can call. If it’s for Franklin, she’ll drop everything. There should be space where we can set up an OR, but I’ll have to make some calls, see if we can find a spell caster who can negate his healing while we work on him.»

«My phone’s in my pocket. Jackson’s on speed dial — number three. He’s got magical contacts. And he can round up Kat. Someone needs to track down Franklin’s kid, and Kat’s the one she’s most likely to listen to long enough to realize she needs to get her defiant little ass back to New Orleans.»

«Franklin gave me her number.» She reached into his pocket and retrieved his phone. «I can handle the call.»

Alec’s voice turned rough, tension bleeding through. «Don’t call Sera from my phone. Her prick of a husband will make them both disappear if he thinks anyone knows where they are.»

Her hand found his knee, seeking to soothe more than anything else. «I’ll do it in a little while, when I know what to tell her.»

«All right.» He glanced past her, at Julio. «You holding together?»

«It’s a scratch,» he answered simply. «I think it’s already knitting up.»

A quick check under the bandage revealed as much to Carmen. «I’ll still have to check it out.»

«Yeah, I know.» He went back to staring out the window.

Cold certainty settled over Carmen. «You knew, didn’t you?»

Julio grimaced. «Knew what?»

«What was going to happen.» More than anything, she remembered the fear that had paralyzed her. «When you got out of the car, it was because you knew.»

His skin had gone ashen. «Not soon enough,» he whispered, a small sound full of self-recrimination.

He’d seen it in time to stop her from walking up to the clinic doors. In her mind, she traced her steps, tried to judge how close she would have been to all that jagged, flying glass if Julio’s terror hadn’t frozen her in place. «I could have been killed.»

Alec’s low, furious growl rumbled through the cab as the truck lurched. He bit off an angry noise and steadied the vehicle. «Precognition?»

Her brother snorted. «You have no idea what I’d give to be rid of it sometimes.»

A familiar lamentation, one Carmen had heard from their mother dozens of times over the years. Even when her visions encompassed something she could change, a course she could alter, the lingering images had given her nightmares, sometimes for months.

Alec’s fingers tightened on the wheel. «I don’t want to ask this. I really don’t.»

Julio turned his head suddenly, his expression set, his gaze angry. «We were supposed to be at Cesar’s hotel. A meeting, me and Carmen, at eight sharp, not a second later. He said that — not a second later.»

A sob rose before Carmen fully processed his words. «What?»

Alec’s quiet, vicious curse cut through the cab. More alarming was the way his anger and worry circled inward, vanishing like water from a tub after someone pulled the drain. In moments, he was shut off from her. Quiet.

His voice was quiet too. «That’s it, then.»

«No.» Carmen repeated the denial, shaking her head. «Cesar wouldn’t have gone that far. Peyton could strip him of his council seat for something this careless, and you said it yourself, Alec. They won’t jeopardize their positions because they have too much to lose.»

«There’s one fatal flaw you’re missing in that equation. The one that got Noah Coleman killed and opened up this damn Conclave seat to begin with.»

«He’s not human, Car. None of us are.» Julio sounded as bleak as he was pissed off. «You can’t say Uncle Cesar wouldn’t have done it because he might have. If your boss challenged him enough, he could have completely lost it.»

Worse, Alec didn’t disagree. «We can plan. We can plot. We can have all the best fucking intentions in the world. If someone pushes the wrong button, none of it matters. We’re monsters when it counts.»

Any other time, Carmen would have tried to deny it. Now, she closed her eyes. «If Cesar did this, he’s going to pay.»

Alec’s steely façade cracked — just for a moment — and she felt the vastness of the rage gathering inside him. «I’ll add it to his bill.»

She wished she could feel more from Alec than blankness with the occasional flash of anger and pain. More than that, she didn’t want to face the fact that he’d pulled away from her again, or the possibility that this time he might have done so for good.