He was their leader.
Gideon was the first to speak. He had come around from behind the computers and monitors and offered Gabrielle his hand. "Good to meet you," he said, his voice tinged with a vaguely English accent. "Fast thinking, getting those cell pictures of the attack you witnessed. They've been a big help to us."
"Um, no problem."
She briefly shook his hand, surprised to find him so personable. So normal.
But then, Lucan had seemed relatively normal to her as well, and look how that turned out. At least he hadn't been lying entirely when he told her he'd taken her cell phone into the lab for analysis. He'd only neglected to tell her it was a vampire CSI lab, and not the Boston police.
A loud beep sounded from the bank of computers nearby, spurring Gideon into a quick jog back to his monitors.
"Yes! You beautiful bucket of bolts," he shouted, dropping into a spin in his chair. "Guys, you'll want to see this. Especially you, Niko."
Lucan and the other warriors gathered around the monitor that bathed Gideon's face in a pale blue glow. Gabrielle, feeling a bit awkward standing alone in the center of the room, slowly trailed over as well.
"I just hacked into the security feeds over at the T," Gideon said. "Now, let's see if we can get some footage from the other night, maybe find out what the bastard who took out Conlan was really about."
Gabrielle watched quietly from the periphery as several computer screens filled with closed-circuit images from a handful of the city's train platforms, the feed scrolling by in fast-forward motion. Gideon rolled his chair along the line of workstations, pausing to type commands onto several of the keyboards before continuing on to the next, and then the next. Finally, his frenetic energy came to a halt.
"Okay, here we go. Green Line, coming up." He backed away from the monitor in front of him, allowing the others a clear view. "This is footage of the platform beginning three minutes before the confrontation."
Lucan and the others closed in as the feed displayed an influx of people pouring on and off the train. Peering between the massive sets of shoulders, Gabrielle caught the now familiar face of Nikolai on the monitor screen as he and his companion, a menacingly large male outfitted in dark leather, strode onto the commuter car. They had hardly gotten seated before one of the other passengers caught the attention of Nikolai's companion. The two warriors stood up, and just before the doors closed for departure, the guy they'd been watching suddenly leaped out of the car and onto the platform. Onscreen, Nikolai and the other man jumped to their feet, but Gabrielle's attention was rooted on the person they meant to follow.
"Oh, my God," she gasped. "I know that guy."
Five pairs of hard male eyes turned toward her in question.
"I mean, I don't know him personally, but I've seen him before. I know his name. It's Brent - at least, that's what he told my friend Kendra. She met him at the dance club the night I witnessed the killing. She's been seeing him every night since, pretty seriously, in fact."
"You're certain?" Lucan asked.
"Yes. That's him, I'm positive."
The warrior called Dante hissed a violent oath.
"He's a Rogue," Lucan said. "Or rather, was. A couple of nights ago, he walked onto the Green Line train wearing a belt of explosives. Niko and another of our brethren chased him down an old track. He blew himself up before they could take him out. One of our best warriors died with him."
"Oh, God. You mean that unexplained explosion I heard about on the news?" She looked at Nikolai, whose hard jaw was clamped tight. "I'm very sorry."
"If not for Conlan throwing himself on that suckhead coward, I wouldn't be standing here. That's for damn sure."
Gabrielle was truly saddened for the loss Lucan and his men had suffered, but a new dread had lodged itself in her chest when she thought of how close her friend had come to the kind of evil Brent had apparently delivered.
What if Kendra was hurt? What if he had done something to her, and she needed help?
"I have to call her." Gabrielle started digging in her purse for her cell phone. "I have to call Kendra right now and make sure she's all right."
Lucan's hand clamped down around her wrist, firmly yet beseechingly. "I'm sorry, Gabrielle. I can't let you do that."
"She's my friend, Lucan. And I'm sorry, but you can't stop me."
Gabrielle flipped open the phone, more resolved than ever to make the call. Before she could dial Kendra's number, the device flew from her fingers and appeared in Lucan's hand. He closed it, then slipped the phone into his jacket pocket.
"Gideon," he said conversationally, even while his steely gaze remained locked on Gabrielle. "Ask Savannah to come and see Gabrielle to more comfortable quarters while we finish here. Get her something to eat."
"Give it back to me," Gabrielle said, ignoring the current of surprise that ran through the other men when she challenged Lucan's attempt to control her. "I need to know that she's okay, Lucan."
He came toward her, and for a second she feared what he might do to her as he reached out to touch her face. In front of the others, he stroked her cheek tenderly, possessively. He spoke softly. "Your friend's well-being is out of your hands. If she's not yet been bled dry by this Rogue - and believe me, that's a very real possibility - then he poses no further danger to her now."
"But what if he did something to her? What if he turned her into one of those Minions?"
Lucan shook his head. "Only the most powerful of our kind can create Minions. That gutter trash who blew himself up in the tunnel was incapable. He was nothing but an expendable pawn."