Thirteen (Otherworld 13)

The lead officer waved for his people to move out of the way, walked over, pulled the shade back a few inches and yelled, "We're closed."

An ID badge slapped against the glass. The lead officer winced and mouthed a curse.

"An intra-Cabal security team," he said. "Everyone maintain position, but lower your weapons."

He opened the door to admit a grizzled, thickset man. Two others followed. All wore suits and looked more like FBI agents than security.

Curry whispered, "That's what I meant, miss. I told the Nasts. I had to. I've got kids. Helping you escape--it's treason. But I made sure you'd be safe. That's why I called the intra-Cabal office. I sent Sean a message, too. He'll know what happened. You won't go back to the cells. They'll have to do this fairly. You're okay."

I glowered at him. "I'd be a lot more okay if I was in a cab right now."

"I--I've got kids, miss."

"Stop whining," Kaufman hissed. "Sean trusted you, Frank, and you screwed him over. Do you think you'll get your golden handshake now? Both sides will consider you a traitor."

Curry paled. I turned away from him. The grizzled man in the suit walked over to us.

"Miss Levine? Mr. Vasic? Bo Stein. I'm going to accompany you back to Nast headquarters for a proper hearing into these allegations."

"That's funny," Adam said. "I could swear that was where we were headed twenty-four hours ago. Before we got locked in a filthy cell with no bed and a pail to piss in."

Stein's lips tightened. "Those allegations will be heard as well, sir. I've been told the Cortezes have also been notified and they are on the way with their legal team. This will be handled properly from now on."

"We're not going back into a cell of any kind," I said.

"You won't. We'll be with you until--"

"And I want my mother."

Stein stared at me, as if the shock of my incarceration had scrambled

my brain.

"Eve Levine was with us," Adam said. "Captain Kaufman can attest to that. She was brought over from the afterlife. Manifested."

Kaufman nodded. "It's true, sir."

I said, "I haven't seen her since we were put on the plane in New Orleans. I want her found. If they try to say she passed over again, I want Jaime Vegas of the interracial council brought here to make contact."

"We'll begin investigating--"

"Before we take one more step we also want to speak to Lucas Cortez," Adam said. "You say you're with intra-Cabal security, but I don't know you."

Stein handed Adam his cell phone. Adam passed it to me.

I called Lucas. He answered on the second ring.

"Hey, it's me," I said.

A pause. Then a sigh, so soft it was more a whisper. "Savannah. Since you're calling on Agent Stein's line, I presume the extrication attempt was thwarted."

"It was."

"We'd hoped otherwise. Sean only learned of Frank Curry's intentions thirty minutes ago, making it too late to warn Captain Kaufman. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. So's Adam, though they beat the crap out of him when we were arrested. Mom's missing, but they say they'll look into that. Stein's okay, then? We can go with him?"

"You'll have to, I'm afraid. But yes, he is a legitimate representative of the intra-Cabal agency. We'll have this mess sorted soon. Sean is already on his way. He was staying near the airport, so I had him take the jet. I'm following with the legal team on a commercial flight. We'll be there as soon as we can."