“Nice night,” said Mike, tapping his hand on his thigh in time to the music. “The street dancing, and the lanterns. Nice.”

“Yes, it is,” agreed Seb. He didn’t really understand himself, but he supposed it didn’t matter. He reached into his pocket and touched the brass frame of the photo, stroking his finger across its smoothness. And he knew that his half-angel girl would understand this, probably a lot better than he did. He could feel her compassion for what had just happened, for both the street girl and himself; see the warmth in her green eyes. He let out a breath, drinking in the sense of her that felt so close now. He needed her; he always had. Somehow he knew that she needed him too.

I will find you, he thought. It was a promise to them both.

But for now, it was enough to just be watching the dancers, basking in their happiness.

Chapter Ten

“OKAY, THE RECEPTION’S GOING to be in here,” said Kara, pointing. We were sitting around the kitchen table with mugs of coffee, looking at Brendan’s laptop – he’d found floor plans for the hotel on the internet. “There’s a private reception with just the Church of Angels officials first, then we lowly peons will be allowed in.”

Alex and I had been there for just over two weeks, and it was starting to feel like a plan was coming together. Luis, after being hesitant to tell Kara too much, had now become a lot more forthcoming. Not only did he start opening up about security details, but he’d given Kara invitations that would get her and her “friends” into the reception for a private audience. It was a huge relief – if the word relief can be applied to something that fills you with utter dread.

“So we’ll be entering by the hotel front door at three o’clock,” said Alex, lightly touching the screen. “We’ll go in with the other guests...then up the elevator to the main function room.” His finger trailed along the map, then he glanced down at the printed schedule Kara had gotten from Luis. “Do we know where the private audiences are being held yet?”

Kara shook her close-cropped head. “But it’s got to be one of the rooms on the same floor, right? Maybe that one?” She pointed to a meeting room down the hallway.

As they kept talking, my eyebrows drew together...because I wasn’t picking up anything at all from the floor plans. I don’t always from images, but given the circumstances I would have expected something – some glimmer of emotion. But it was like the plans were just empty pixels on a screen, instead of a map showing the location of the most vital operation in the world.