"Jeanie London - Retrieval" - читать интересную книгу автора (London Jeanie)

Damian snorted. "Trust me. If you had a clue what was going on around here, you'd know the answer to that."
Roman didn't give him the satisfaction of a response.
Ignorance of the fundamentals notwithstanding, he still held some high cards, whether or not this man had realized it yet. "Is it possible to crowd her and force her out?"
Both men stared.
"Demons crowd, Barrymore," Damian said. "Not anyone who wants to make it into heaven one day."
Following his gaze to where the living host sat, Roman considered the available intel in an exercise familiar from years of briefings at Sanctus. "Demons, and Ms. de Lacy, apparently. So, tell me, you don't crowd or you can't crowd?"
There was a distinct difference to Roman's way of thinking, especially when he was evaluating skills for a new team.
Damian gave an impatient toss of his head, sending the long queue whipping behind him. "Didn't you hear what I said?"
"We've never had cause to try it," Grey admitted.
"I assume Ms. de Lacy hasn't abandoned all desire




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to reach heaven one day. So why didn't she recognize you?"
"There's only one explanation," Gray said gravely. "A shroud."
''That's the ability to shroud reality behind some evil--like despair, guilt, or anger. Do I have that right, gentlemen?"
Damian nodded. "Nasty mojo. But it explains why she didn't respond to us. Nina thinks she is Katie McGuire." "You don't look so certain, Lord Westbury."
Gray shook his head, clearly troubled, but he said, "I'm certain. Nothing would possess Nina to crowd the living. Not of her own free will. And she isn't exactly newly dead."
"Only a powerful demon could cast her back and shroud her memory," Damian insisted. "What in hell is she caught up in?"
Hell, precisely. This strong woman had made some equally strong enemies. "It's my understanding Ms. de Lacy got in the way of some unsavory demons. They want her out of the way."
"Whoa. Whoa." Damian held up his hand as if to halt an oncoming train. "Out of the way of what?"
"Why would any demon care about Nina?" Gray demanded.
Nina possessed a skill that could tip the scales in the battle for the passage. But that was need-to-know information, so Roman simply said, "Perhaps the demons are interested in Ms. de Lacy for the same reason an angel is."


CHAPTER TWO

HAD she finally cracked, or what?
Katie McGuire wished she could dismiss !:be idea offhand. She couldn't. Life had been turning end over end lately. She felt like a completely new person in her body and didn't know why. Not that she was complaining. Not by a long shot.
But even all the changes she'd been making didn't explain why everything felt so new. Things she hadn't noticed before. How the warm sun felt on her skin. The way the air smelled as if it hadn't let go of that crisp edge of winter. The whine of the hydraulics on a city bus stopping across the street.
Voices that didn't sound quite real.
Yet someone had spoken to her. More than one someone. A quick glance revealed only the dog around, and she knew Oodles Marie hadn't suddenly learned to talk.
Katie hadn't understood the voices, but she sensed



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RETRIEVAL

urgency, frantic voices rising in pitch, urging her to
do . . . what?
She didn't know. But she was left questioning her sanity. Her adrenaline spiked. Her heartbeat throbbed in her ears, drowning out the real sounds of the busy afternoon: kids shrieking when a melodic jingle signaled an approaching ice cream truck, teens from the nearby high school pounding over the path in expensive running shoes.