Matt Archer: Redemption by Kendra C. Highley Read Free Book Online

I’d understand the spirit’s request to go to Uncle Mike? Or was the question about my position on this team being answered again?
    I settled with the most pressing question. “Murph? Has anyone seen my sister?”
    He glanced at me in the rearview mirror. “Thought she was still in the bunker.”
    Major Ramirez shook himself out of a stupor. “Me, too. Why would you ask where she is?”
    Jorge, who was sitting in the rear-facing seat next to him, cocked his head to one side. His eyes widened. “She left. She left and is out here somewhere, isn’t she?”
    I nodded. “I can’t really explain what happened, but she ditched Brent to come outside. I’m scared she’s hurt or lost.”
    Ramirez didn’t ask, for which I was grateful, and relayed an order to Murphy. “Call Johnson. Tell him to gather a small team to go after her.”
    “He’ll find her if she hasn’t already turned up,” Jorge said. “I’m sure she’s fine, though. She has a knack for surviving.”
    He didn’t know the half of it. I couldn’t decide what had me more upset—Parker being dead and his knife basically telling me my uncle was its new wielder, or Mamie turning into some kind of monster-dodging ninja. At least they were sending Johnson to find her. If anyone could, it would be her most devoted disciple.
    Weird that I thought of him—and her—that way now. But Johnson had sensed long before anyone else that Mamie had shamanic abilities, and he’d treated her accordingly, with respect and no small amount of awe.
    “So, where did those flying monstrosities come from?” Ramirez asked, rubbing his forehead. “We didn’t have an eclipse.”
    I had a feeling I knew. This had happened to us in Africa and Australia, too. “Anybody hear about a mass suicide on the news?”
    Murphy nodded. “It was on the radio. I heard about it right after we dropped you off for the hearing. Five adults and one little girl. They found them in Fairfax, Virginia this morning.”
    “A classic Nocturna Maura calling ritual,” I said. “I think their twisted head witch wanted to prove that being in jail wasn’t enough to stop her from going after us.”
    “And what better time for Ann Smythe to do that than when all five wielders were in one highly populated, very public spot?” Will growled. “All those poor civilians dead, and for what?”
    “They managed to take one of us out,” Jorge murmured. “But what a large cost to accomplish that.”
    I put my head in my hands, unable to deal with it. That’s when I realized something else. “Will, you have a migraine?”
    “Yeah, why?”
    I didn’t. After a fight, especially one where we used a ton of energy, normally I ached all over and felt like there was a rave going on in my skull. I did ache—but a lot of that was from the fight itself, not the magic.
    “I do, too,” Ramirez said, rubbing his temples. “Like I’ve got a massive hangover, which is how it always is.”
    “Little twinge here,” Jorge said. “But that’s normal for me.”
    Okay, so what was different for me this time? “Tink, what’s happening?”
    She sighed. You took residual power to cope.
    She means you took power from me, Parker’s knife-spirit said. My wielder was dying; it was inevitable and regrettable. The best I could do was assist you.
    It hurt to think I’d used Parker’s spirit while his life bled out. It made me feel like a leech. “Thanks for the help, then.”
    You need all your strength to get through the next few hours, Parker’s spirit said. His voice was as quiet and cultured as his previous wielder’s had been. I’m glad to assist you. But in return, take me home.
    What would Mike say? How would he handle being part of the wielder team again after so long? How could I take Baby Kate’s father away from her—again?
     
    * * *
     
    The military had cleared the streets around the Rayburn building and the National Guard was in full force, evacuating survivors, helping the injured, and keeping the