Shadowlight by Lynn Viehl

transmitter he’d planted to be sure it remained strong and steady. If she changed her mind about the meeting, or for some reason bolted at the restaurant, he might have to pursue her.
    He found a space on the next block over that allowed him an unobstructed view of the lot beside Jessa’s office where she kept her car, and parked there in order to pull up a map of the streets and businesses surrounding Cecile’s. The large restaurant occupied a corner lot and offered valet but no public parking. Another concern was how he would remove Jessa from the premises. He called Drew and had him pull the building blueprints to check how many ways he might enter and leave the restaurant.
    “On the plans I see two access doors and two emergency exits,” Drew said. “You can go in through the front and walk straight through the kitchen out to the back. The alley has only one exit, though.”
    “I need two ways to leave so that if one is blocked, I can use the other.” Matthias consulted the map. “I think I will take her from the front. I will need the car close.”
    “The valet isn’t going to let you park anywhere in front of the place,” Drew said. “Your best bet to get her out that way is to do a snatch and run: Pull up, leave the engine running, yell to the valet something about your wife being sick, go in, grab her, drug her, carry her back out, toss her in the car, and go.”
    He made it sound simple, when Matthias knew it would be anything but that.
    “I haven’t taken my lunch hour yet,” Drew mentioned. “I could run over there, give you some backup.”
    Matthias grunted. “If you are seen, they will know.”
    “Yeah, that’s why I avoid the fieldwork,” he said, his tone wry. “But I don’t think you can pull this off by yourself. It’s too public. Too many things can go wrong.”
    “Place a call to Lawson at one fifteen,” Matthias said finally. “That is when I will go in after her.”
    “Will do. Keep your gloves on,” Drew said before he hung up.
    Matthias watched the lot until he saw Jessa Bellamy emerge from the building and walk to her car. She wore another plain suit, this one a green so dark at first glance it looked black. Between her lapels a vee of emerald cloth and a flat length of golden chain gleamed. Another glint of gold at the back of her head came from the long, plain comb holding her jet-black hair in a smooth roll.
    She looked serious and sedate and strikingly beautiful.
    This time Matthias saw that she carried a briefcase instead of a purse, and when she slid on a pair of sunglasses he noted that she had once more donned her black gloves. She would not use her ability on her clients unless she had a reason to, he thought. That would prove helpful to him as well, for if she touched him with her bare hands, her ability might make her see that he had come to take her.
    He reached for the pack he had left in the backseat, and set it in the space between the front seats. As Jessa Bellamy drove out of the lot, he rolled up his sleeves and strapped thin, flexible sheaths to his forearms before sliding his daggers into them and covering them again. Rowan had also packed a coin-size pressure dart that he could hold and hide in his hand, but after looking at it for a moment he placed it in his pocket. He would use it if he had to, but not unless things went wrong inside the restaurant.
    His remote receiver showed Jessa’s car to be a safe distance ahead now, so he pulled out of the parking space and followed her. She took the most direct route to Cecile’s, which convinced him that she had no suspicions of what was planned for her. That would make things easier for him, but more difficult later, when the time came to tell her why she had been taken.
    As he maneuvered through midday traffic, he put his hand in his pocket and held the pressure dart between his fingers, turning it over and over.
    Not long now, my lovely one.
    Jessa surrendered her keys to the young valet parking