His hands tightened on the wheel. No. They would not die.

“Tell me everything,” he ordered.

Willow did so, gripping the dashboard with a white-knuckled hand. As Alex listened, he became more certain than ever that this was true. Christ, of course Raziel had been spying on them; it was how Charmeine had known the details about their previous attack against the angels.

Though it wasn’t a massive surprise, his jaw tensed at the news that both Luis and Sophie were dead. One had been devout to the angels, the other dedicated to stopping them. It didn’t matter; they’d both gotten in the way and so they’d been discarded like used toys.

“Okay, do we know that killing the Twelve will cause damage to our world?” he asked as he steered them onto the Paseo de la Reforma. Up ahead, the empty plinth where the Mexico City angel had stood for decades was like a solitary sentinel, with traffic streaming past on both sides.

“It’ll definitely cause damage to Mexico City,” said Willow. “Apart from that – no, we don’t know. It might be that killing the Council really will destroy all the angels. That’s what most angels think will happen. Or it might be that it kills only some angels and not others, and the rest of the world will be fine. But—” She broke off, her face pale. “I just don’t think so,” she whispered. “They’ve put down roots like that under dozens of other major cities, too. There’s a chance those may not have had time to take effect yet, but the Twelve’s energy feels so entwined with our world now – I can’t imagine that there aren’t going to be serious consequences all over.”

With just over ten minutes to go, they were nearing the Torre Mayor. It rose up above the other buildings in a graceful curve of green glass, its half-moon summit gleaming. As he turned onto the Rio Atoyac, Alex swore suddenly.

“What?” demanded Seb from the back.

Alex explained, his voice terse. His original plan for getting the team into the loading dock area had depended on them having the white van, which actually looked like a delivery van – he’d then announce a delivery for a company that always took for ever before sending someone down to let the guy into the elevator.

“Plus I was going to piggyback along with the afternoon FedEx delivery,” he finished grimly. “So that we could get into the service elevator when someone let the FedEx guy in.” He rapped the steering wheel, trying to think. They were going to have to force their way past the guard, except how could they? Somewhere overhead, security had their beady eyes on the video screens – they’d bring the service elevators to a screeching halt the second they saw guns being waved around.