Nervousness seeped up through me as if rising like fog from the earth. Whatever it was, it had been illegal. We were sliding into this criminal thing far too easily. Did it matter if our motives were good if the means were bad? Or was the real question, did I want to go to Alcatraz and get my ovaries taken out and wind up lobotomized? This was survival against illegal action, and Trent was at the root of it. Guilt could take a long walk in a short shadow.

“Okay. Spread out,” I said. “We’ve got ten minutes to find the door to the tunnel.”

Immediately Jenks took off, his wings a slow, depressed hum. Jax was hot in the other direction. It was obvious that Jax was trying to impress his dad with his backup abilities. Jenks didn’t seem to care, still hurting about Matalina. I hadn’t even wanted him to come, but he needed to be needed right now, not alone in a church.

Ivy started for the front of the stables, and Nick followed Jax to the back. I poked about after Jenks, checking out the opposite row of stalls. Somewhere in here was a passage under the road and back to the main compound. It wasn’t on any of the plans, but if you brought up the public record of who got paid during the construction of the stables, it was obvious that there was one here. You don’t write a check for the materials and equipment to make a tunnel just for grins. I only hoped it didn’t go right to Trent’s private quarters.

The lights were low as we searched, and the horses were getting nervous. Nick wasn’t comfortable with the big animals, and Ivy was like having a panther among the herd. Me, they ignored as I tapped the walls for an echo and looked for unexplained worn spots on the floor.

“What’s the time, Jenks?” I asked as I rapped my knuckle against the wall holding a dozen different saddles.

“Five minutes, twenty-six seconds,” he said, skimming the floor where it met the wall.

“I’ve got it!” shrilled a high-pitched voice, and the horse across the way snorted, her ears objecting to Jax’s exuberant call as much as mine. “I think I’ve got it!”

Jenks was gone in a burst of dust. Breath held as I walked through it, I followed his sparkles to the end of the stables. Ivy came even with me, smelling of vampire incense. She was enjoying this. It had been a while since we’d done anything together, and I’d missed seeing her happy.

“Good going, Jax,” Jenks was saying as the pixy hovered in a double-size box stall, making the black horse in it toss his nose at the dust sifting down. “How did you find it?”