The Thorndyke Trilogy 2: Dancing at Midnight by Lynne Connolly Read Free Book Online Page A

Dalton.
    “So here’s the question I never got around to asking you last night. Why leave your comfortable home to find me when a storm was brewing? What did you need to say to my face that you didn’t trust to the phone or Internet?”
    Dalton had arrived shortly before the storm hit hard, and then they’d been too busy ensuring everything was secure and the backup systems for power were working properly to talk about anything else.
    Dalton poured out the fragrant brew before he answered. He picked up the cream jug and added the barest spot of milk. Nathan shook his head when Dalton offered it to him. “Okay.” Dalton blew on his coffee and took a meditative sip. “Do you remember that mess last year, when the PHR nearly caught up to you?”
    Nathan nodded grimly. His friend Jay Trevino had sent a woman down the escape line he helped run. “She went back to Jay, but she left a shit storm behind her. Not her fault, but a cell’s in Jay’s Texas home. Her brother’s still in Chicago at Saint Paul, and I’m having him carefully watched in case it happens again.”
    “I’m sure you have a fresh cell in your area,” Dalton said. The PHR took lessons from the terrorist handbook and organized in cells—small, self-contained units.
    Nathan sighed and gulped his coffee. It burned the back of his throat. Almost without conscious thought, he partially shifted for a moment, long enough to invoke the healing properties of his dragon. “What makes you think so?”
    “We got a member.”
    Now Dalton had all Nathan’s attention. “When?”
    “Two days ago. He wasn’t a key member, but a Sorcerer got to work on him. The poor sap was a kid, barely out of his teens.”
    “They like to recruit ’em early.” Nathan remembered other such kids. In Chicago, with its large student population, the threat was always there.
    He had no sympathy for the kid. He couldn’t afford it. Talents had too much to lose from the bastards dedicated to wiping them from the face of the earth. “Indoctrinate them while they’re young and impressionable; that’s their motto.”
    “Yeah.” Dalton ran his hand through his hair, pushing the long forelock back so his temples stood out in sharp relief. “This one didn’t take much probing, thank God, but he didn’t know much. By the time we’d got to the address he gave us, his pals had gone and taken their evidence with them. But we got enough to know another cell has started. That should put you on your guard. It’s not the man in front of you with the sword you need to worry about; it’s the one behind you with the dagger.”
    Nathan knew that too.
    He grabbed a mug from the cabinet and poured another coffee, then, after a little hesitation, put the cream jug next to it and opened the cupboard to find the sugar. “She’s a dancer, so she might take sugar,” he said.
    One good night was all they’d have. He couldn’t afford to let her get close to him. Not without finding out a lot more about her, and he’d been too busy to do anything but the basics. He made a sudden decision. “I’m leaving this morning, and I’ll take Kristen with me since she’s anxious to get to Chicago. I need to get back to town to make sure everything is locked down and safe. You can stay if you want.”
    Dalton drained the last of his coffee. “I’ll come with you. I want to test the situation in Chicago. You’re an important link for the Thorndykes and their mission.” This time he wasn’t talking about himself, but the network his family had set up to help Talents start new lives or spirit them out of danger. Even beings as powerful as Talents could be threatened.
    Dalton put down his extra coffee cup and eyed the near-empty jug with a sigh. “Why doesn’t Cora do breakfast?”
    Nathan rolled his eyes. “She was up late. Vampire, remember?”
    “Ah. So she was out last night?”
    “It wasn’t the best night, but she needed to feed, and she doesn’t like using me. She has a mortal friend