Infernal Games (Templar Chronicles Urban Fantasy Series) by Joseph Nassise

said?”
    Cade
could all but hear Riley’s sigh of relief. “Yes, by the harbor. I’ll send a
car for you.”
    Cade
was already shaking his head, even though Riley couldn’t see it. “No. Don’t
do that. I’ll catch a cab and you can give me a lift back yourself when we’re
done. Fair enough?”
    “If
that’s how you want to play it.”
    “I
do. Give me the address.”
    After
memorizing the street and property number, Cade told Riley to give him an hour
and he’d be there as soon as he could.
    After
hanging up with Riley, Cade called a cab company he had used in the past, told
them he needed to go to Bridgeport but not the exact address, and then spent
several minutes reviewing the state of the wards protecting the house, making
certain they were operating properly. Satisfied, he climbed the stairs to the
second floor and double checked the padlock he had installed on the outside of
the door to Gabrielle’s bedroom. The lock was for her protection as much as
his; she would be safe inside the room if she awoke during one of the brief
periods when he was not at home and he would have time to assuage her mental
condition before letting her out into the rest of the house. It pained him to
have to lock her in; but if it kept her safe, it was the least he could do.
Satisfied, he returned to the kitchen.
    The
last thing he did before leaving was take the .45 out of the drawer and slip it
into the pocket of his coat. It wasn’t that he was expecting trouble or that
he didn’t think the Templars would be carrying adequate weapons, for he knew
they would be.
    It
was simply that these days, after all he’d been through, he never went anywhere
without being armed.
    Often
in more ways than one.
    ––––––––
    A s
soon as they entered the neighborhood where the warehouse was located, the
cabbie, a student from Fairfield University trying to earn some extra bucks
working the night shift, began to get cold feet, just as Cade had known he would.
Cade watched him grow more nervous by the moment until at last the cabbie’s
courage gave up and he pulled over to the curb at least two blocks from their
destination.
    “Gonna
have to let you off here, man. It’s a bad neighborhood and I’m not going any
farther.”
    Cade
knew it didn’t make any sense to argue; he could see by the way the man’s hands
were jittering that this was as close to the warehouse as he was going to get.
He paid the driver – even added a reasonable tip in the interests of not doing
anything to make him stand out in the driver’s memory – and then got out of the
cab.
    The
cabbie barely waited for Cade’s feet to hit the sidewalk before he pulled away
and hustled off down the block as fast as he could.
    Cade
was in an industrial neighborhood, with darkened office buildings and large,
looming warehouses sealed off from the street behind twelve foot steel fences
topped with rows of barbed wire. A lone hooker stood beneath the streetlight
at the end of the block and she eyed him hopefully for a moment until he turned
and headed in the other direction. She shouted something at his back in
Spanish, but he was too far away to hear what she said clearly.
    Better
not to know, he thought.
    He
strode forward with determined steps, his head held high, projecting an aura of
menace. He wanted those watching from the shadows of the buildings around him
that he was like them.
    Predator.
Not prey.
    They
got the message and left him alone.
    After
ten minutes of walking, Cade reached the address Riley had given him over the
phone. The gate to the property was open and he could see three black SUVs
pulled up inside the yard, facing the entrance to the building. As he drew
closer, a shadow detached itself from the side of the building.
    Cade
tensed, but then a familiar voice said, “There goes the neighborhood.”
    Riley.
    “Who
are you kidding?” Cade shot back. “Property values fell into the toilet the
minute you stepped out of your