We left the RV in a wooded area and rented an average-looking sedan for our reconnaissance. Then we waited until after dark to circle Garrett Street, driving past the former plumbing supply factory as slowly as we could without looking suspicious. As Don had predicted, the building appeared to be deserted. No cars in the parking lot, no lights inside, and the security cameras weren’t operating. That, or someone should be fired since the lenses on two of them were cracked to the point of being useless for surveillance.

“Looks like no one’s used this place for years,” Ian stated.

Just as Don had said. Disappointment filled me. Now what?

“We don’t have time to wait until Madigan eventually leaves your old compound,” Bones said. “Much as I’d enjoy grabbing him and torturing the truth out of him, we’re on a deadline, and it might be weeks before he leaves the safety of that facility.”

“Even if we got lucky and he left it tomorrow, it would be obvious who kidnapped him if Madigan ‘disappeared’ shortly after we came to see him,” I added.

We also couldn’t storm my old compound to capture him for that same reason. If we did, we’d be tipping our hand to whomever else Madigan was involved with, thus giving that person a chance to switch their base of operations. Or to increase its security. No, the element of surprise was our only advantage. Thank God Madigan didn’t know that Don had turned into a ghost. As far as Madigan was concerned, there was no way we could find out about his species-merging agenda, giving him no reason to be any more paranoid about protecting it than he already was.

Until the day I showed up to kill him, that’s how we intended to keep it.

“We can try some of the other bases Don and I used as safe houses,” I began, only to have Bones’s sudden “Shh!” silence me.

I glanced around, gripping a silver knife. Nothing rushed toward us, and my senses hadn’t picked up any supernatural energy, so what was it?

Ian also glanced around before shrugging as if to say, Beats me.

I looked back at Bones. A frown stitched his brows, and his head was cocked to the side.

“You hear that?” he asked softly.

I sent my senses outward. Noise from nearby traffic competed with sounds from the restaurants and other businesses across the street, but none of it sounded threatening.

“I hear nothing out of the ordinary,” Ian murmured.

“Not you,” Bones said with a hint of apology. “You, Kitten.”

Me? What could I hear that Ian couldn’t . . . oh, right. I pushed back the audible sounds to concentrate on the lower hum of thoughts beneath. After a moment, snatches of sentences crept into my mind. Most came from the populated areas across the street, but a few seemed to be transmitting from somewhere else.

Underneath the derelict building we’d been scouting.

Bones began to smile.