The Prof Croft Series: Books 0-4 (Prof Croft Box Sets Book 1) by Brad Magnarella (best business books of all time txt) 📕

mean protection, but at what cost? I would be committing to a war against City Hall as well as the werewolves, maybe even the fae. And something told me it wouldn’t play out as neatly as Arnaud was forecasting.

Trust in the one you trust least. Lady Bastet’s remembered words again.

Around me, Arnaud’s musk was strengthening, stoking my adrenaline. I was having trouble breathing. As the ring glinted out in front of me, I felt pressed in from all sides.

“I need to make a phone call,” I blurted out.

“To whom?” Arnaud asked, watching me for a lie.

“Detective Vega.”

“For what purpose?”

My gaze moved around the table. I couldn’t reason in here. My thoughts were slamming together. I needed to know what was happening outside, and Vega would give it to me straight.

“Information,” I answered.

“Look at the screen, Mr. Croft. There is all the information you need.”

“It will only take a minute.”

Arnaud closed his fist around the ring. “Very well,” he said. “Through that door you will find a small office with a phone. You have exactly one minute.”

I stared at him, making sure I’d heard him right.

“Run along,” he said. “The second hand is ticking.”

I hurried through the door he’d indicated and closed it behind me. A conference phone sat on one end of a desk. For a moment I considered calling Caroline, but I doubted her offer to help me still stood. Besides, there was too much she hadn’t told me, and I wasn’t going to waste my one minute on more vagueness. I pulled Detective Vega’s business card from my wallet and dialed her cell.

“Vega,” she answered.

“Before you say anything, let me explain—”

“Croft,” she whispered. “What in the hell are you doing?”

“I ended up at Arnaud’s, yeah. But listen, listen, listen,” I said over the expected outburst. “I didn’t have a choice. The wolves caught my scent. I got trapped in the subway tunnels and had nowhere to go but downtown. His men grabbed me at the Wall.” All true on the surface.

She was quiet for a moment. “You’re okay?”

“For right now,” I said. “How about you?”

“Yeah. Told the officers you kicked my gun away and jumped out the window. But what in the hell are you gonna do now?”

“How bad is it out there?” I asked.

“On a scale of one to ten? Twenty. We’ve got just about every piece of military equipment aimed at the Financial District. There are some in the chain who want to start blasting.”

“Where are you?”

“Police Plaza … inactive duty because of my knee.”

The acidic churning in my stomach abated slightly. Vega wouldn’t be involved in any fighting. “The mayor made Arnaud an offer,” I said. “Turn me over and he’ll pull back, quash the vampire rumors.”

Vega snorted. “Budge would have a better chance putting out a volcano with a bucket of water.”

That was what I’d been afraid of.

“The story’s already caught fire, huh?” I asked.

“Put it this way. If you’re looking for a crucifix or bulb of garlic, every store in the five boroughs sold out this morning.” She lowered her voice further. “And the government security guards, Croft. They’re working with the NYPD in ways I’ve never seen.”

“The werewolves,” I muttered. “Who’s in charge?”

“Hard to say. Cole is down at command-and-control, but this feels higher up the chain. I could try to—”

“No, no,” I said, seeing where she was going. “You’ve already helped me enough.”

She’d also given me the straight answers I needed. Arnaud was right, dammit. The city meant war.

“I don’t know how to tell you this, Croft. But you’re trapped.”

“Yeah,” I said, sighing. “I’m starting to see it that way too.”

There was another pause on her end. “Listen,” she said, “you make some really aggravating decisions sometimes, but you try to do right. I know what they’re saying about you is bullshit.”

I thought about how that aggravation ran both ways but was too touched by her words to say it.

“Thanks, Vega. That means a lot. Especially coming from you.”

“Just—” she started, but the room shook and the line went dead.

“Vega?”

A growing rumble sounded outside, like thunder. I hung up and returned to the conference room. On the flat-screen television, a white cloud had appeared among the skyscrapers. An answering explosion sounded, and one of the helicopters burst into flames. It went down in Battery Park, creating another small plume. More shots thudded and boomed.

“The war has begun,” Arnaud said. “It is now or never, Mr. Croft.”

The vampires along both sides of the table were watching the screen in rapt attention. But opposite me, Arnaud was holding out the ring again.

“Hey, uh, shouldn’t we get out of the top of the tower?” I said.

Arnaud didn’t answer. His eyes sharpened and pressed into mine.

Trust in the one I least trusted? It wasn’t like I had a goddamned choice anymore.

“All right,” I said, my stomach in a nauseating fist. “I agree to renew the Pact.”

Across Arnaud’s lips, a smile clicked on and off. He set the ring flat on the table and slid it toward me. The ring bisected the eight vampires and came to a rest in front of me. I pushed it on. The ring fit as I’d remembered, squeezing the base of my middle finger. A chill energy coursed down my body, and I imagined it circling the room, binding us all in the agreement.

The conference room shook again.

“The mayor has made the opening move,” Arnaud announced. “Phase one of the war has begun. Go now. Assemble your slaves. Be ready to mobilize them. This is for our very existence, gentlemen.”

Arnaud spoke with the authority of a general. The vampires stood and filed from the room, the Undertaker’s eyes lingering on me. My attention remained fixed on the screen. Several of the tanks were in flames, and two sections of the Wall appeared to be smoldering.

“Come, Mr. Croft,” Arnaud said. “Let’s go to my office for a live view.”

Zarko appeared and opened the conference room door for us. I pulled my gaze from the screen and fell in behind Arnaud. We