“Er, no, I can’t just—”

“You aren’t ready?” Giles turned, his face coming close to Jaz’s. “Then maybe you should never have left. I don’t need your theatrics, Gordon. Just get in there and perform.”

Jaz argued. Even I tried, carefully interjecting a suggestion that maybe they could compromise and give him ten minutes.

“I don’t believe anyone asked you,” Giles snapped at me. “Now get back to your post.”

“Sorry, sir, I didn’t mean—”

“I’ve told you to get back to your post twice already, Walker. Now get back there.”

“Sir?” Adam said. “I understand you need people on the doors, but I really wanted to watch—”

“Back to your posts!” Giles roared.

A group heading into the meeting room stopped to stare. The oldest was a guy I recognized as one of the leaders from when Giles kidnapped me.

“Is there a problem, Giles?” he asked.

“Nah,” Adam said. “Sorry. We just got a little carried away. Hoping we could watch the show from down here. But I guess someone needs to stand guard …”

Giles pushed Hope’s wheelchair away, taking Jaz and leaving us standing with the other man.

The man waited until Giles was gone, then whispered, “We do need all the guards on the floor, but there’s the video feed in the back room. Just wait until Giles has gone.”

“The room behind the auditorium, right?” I said, remembering it from my first visit.

“Exactly. But if he catches you …”

“It wasn’t your idea.”

The man smiled and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a show to catch.”

One good thing had come of my scouting—I’d found an empty, unlocked room. Once inside, Adam closed the door and I spell-locked it.

“Lucas?” I said. “You’re there, right?”

“Yes,” he said through my earpiece. “I just didn’t want to distract you. I heard everything. We’re coming in.”

“I’m sorry. We—”

“There was nothing you could have done differently. The main thing is that we have you and Adam inside, and Jasper is with Hope. While I don’t trust him to hand her back to us, I do trust him to keep her safe.”

“I don’t think the guards inside the garage were replaced.”

“They weren’t, which gives us a buffer. With any luck, we can disable the outside two and get in before anyone notices.”

“We can take out the girl at the door.”

“No, she’s been replaced by two armed guards.”

“Damn.”

“It doesn’t matter. I want you and Adam in there. Go to the room with the video. Watch from there. That’s backstage, is it not?”

“It is. We’ll be behind Giles and Jaz.”

“Good. Once the guards are taken out and our men are in place, you and Adam will go in and take down Giles.”

I nodded. “With any luck, once Giles is in custody and the kids in the audience realize they’re surrounded by Cabal tactical goons, they’ll surrender.”

FORTY-FIVE

The backstage door wasn’t locked. As I pushed it open, I saw the room wasn’t empty either. A young man and woman sat on a single chair. Even from the back of their heads, I recognized them.

Sierra turned first. “Private viewing room, chumps. Get back on duty.”

I finally remembered the name of the guy we’d just spoken to. “Chris told us to watch from here, in case you two need help.”

Sierra grumbled.

“Fine,” Sierra said. “Sit down and shut up then.”

We eased into the room. Adam closed the door behind us. There were plenty of chairs to choose from. Sierra was on Severin’s lap.

They’d pulled their chair right in front of the screen. That meant we had a lousy viewing angle, but it also meant we could sit behind them while whispering to each other.

We didn’t do much whispering. We were both too busy listening to the Cabal’s progress through our earpieces. It was frustrating as hell, watching Hope on the video feed and knowing we couldn’t help. But the cavalry was coming.

Giles’s plan was to threaten Hope and bring her daddy running. It was a scene I’ve watched in plenty of movies. The classic demonic sacrifice. A gorgeous young woman bound to a table, knife poised above, her dark curls spilling artlessly, her amber eyes wide with horror and glistening with tears as she writhed against the ropes. Torture porn with a black magic twist.

Or that’s what I imagined.

That wasn’t what Giles did at all. Probably because the woman in question wasn’t a nubile young virgin. She was a heavily pregnant woman that many of the audience likely felt they knew, the witty True News reporter who’d kept them laughing as she kept their secrets safe. Did they really want to watch her writhing on a table, a knife poised over her huge belly? Of course not. So Giles kept her in the wheelchair, wearing a loose dress to make her condition less obvious.

First, he assured his people that no harm would come to Hope.

“Lucifer will not allow it,” he said. “This is his oldest surviving child. His first grandchild. We have already seen how the lord demons will interfere to protect their offspring. If a lord demon will kill Thomas Nast for his granddaughter, Lucifer will move heaven and earth to protect his own. He may wear the guise of a demon, but he is an angel. Cast out from heaven, yet pure of soul. Merciful and good.”

Really? Did Giles believe that? Did anyone here believe it? Yet I could see the first row of the audience on the screen and I could tell by their faces that they did. They wanted to, so they did.

“Remember who Lucifer is. The fallen angel. The angelic turned demonic. He was cast from heaven because he questioned. Because he does not see black and white, and for that reason, he has bowed out of this fight. He cannot be sure which side he belongs on, nor which side is right. He has been burned before, so he shies away from the fire.”

I had to admit the guy was good.

“What we are doing today is not threatening Lucifer. That would be blasphemy. No, what we do is exactly what we have been trying to do for weeks. Invite him to a meeting. Give us the chance to show him why we are the right choice for all—mortal, demonic, celestial. He has not heeded our invitations, so we must take this regrettable measure. Once he has come, though, there will be no threats. No disrespect. We will explain our position and he will see our truth. Lucifer will join our cause.”