SARA STAYED BY THE window, hoping for a sight of Gabriel or Adrian Draycott. The storm seemed to pick up force with every gust, and two trees beyond the moat had already snapped.

She had had no more contact with Gabriel, but she sensed him nearby. She could feel the deep force of his concentration.

Gabriel, what are you doing?

Static. Emptiness. Gabriel?

Soon...

With the touch of his thoughts, she felt a wave of relief. At the window, she eased back the curtain and then froze.

Two dark shapes moved along the side of the gatehouse. Both of them wore night-vision goggles and carried automatic weapons.

Sara struggled to take in this new threat. No possibility that these were friendly visitors. Harding's contact would not have arrived with such stealth.

Gabriel, be careful. There are men- He was back in her mind suddenly, drifting like a warm wind. We have seen them. Stay where you are.

Sara felt the cold weight of his fear. And then his thoughts broke into a hiss.

What can I do to help? There must be something.

There was an echo. Stay...stay...

Sara was still out of sight at the window, hidden by the velvet curtains, when two more figures moved up the slope from the far side of the drive.

She leaned against the cold wall and forced herself to think calmly. To act like the professional she was trained to be.

Gabriel and Adrian had skills she couldn't hope to equal, and she had come to accept their magic as real. They had already seen two of the intruders, if she understood Gabriel right. But would the two of them be equal to four men, all well equipped? Modern weapons had power and range that a Crusader couldn't hope to understand.

She stood undecided, her heart pounding. She had told Gabriel she would stay, because he feared for her safety. But she had also sworn to perform a job, and her responsibility was clear.

She couldn't sit passively and hope for success. Adrian and Gabriel might be outnumbered. Even with their magic their bodies were physical now. They could bleed and die.

She tried her cell phone, but the batteries were completely dead. Tossing the unit down on the bed, she tugged on her clothes, then searched in her drawer. With her service revolver loaded and holstered, she climbed a flight of stairs and inched silently outside. At the third floor of the gatehouse, a balcony overlooked the front and inner courtyard. Crouched out of sight behind its stone railing, she crept to the balcony's far side.

She made out one figure flat on the ground beyond the fountain, invisible to anyone on the first floor. The other three men had vanished.

Gabriel? Tell me what is happening.

Wait in safety, Sara.

Nothing more came through.

I'm on the third-floor balcony. There are two more men now. One is beyond the fountain with a rifle. You- Sara froze at a creak below her. When she looked over the edge of the balcony she saw a tall figure moving through her room, one floor below.

How had they found her room so fast? It didn't make sense.

In the sudden flare of lightning she saw the man pick up her cell phone from the bed. Sara realized they had some kind of tracking device on the phone.

She was being tracked at close quarters. Her only hope of safety was to keep moving.

Carefully she drew back against the balcony wall. Over her head a narrow metal staircase led up to the roof. A stone arch connected the gatehouse roof to the main house.

Sara knew surveillance protocol. A sniper would search out the high ground and use a scoped rifle to monitor all activity while his teammates methodically subdued opposition in the terrain below.

Sara assumed they had blueprints of the abbey as part of their careful preparation, which meant they had a route to the roof.

From her own mission preparation she knew there was only one door from the main house that led out to the roof. That was where she would be.

Panic sliced down at memories of the nightmare things that waited there, but she had no choice.

With her gun holstered, she climbed the slick rungs of the ladder up toward the roof.

GABRIEL STARED AT THE man lying behind the conservatory. Twenty yards away, Adrian had dropped a second intruder, using a broken tree branch.

Neither man had suspected they were being watched, thanks to Navarre's skills. But this unholy storm had affected even his magic. And if the storm continued to gain power...

Suddenly Navarre froze.

Sara?

Something was moving on the roof. Dark and unsettled, the gate had roiled back to life, feeding on the storm's growing energy. He looked down at the man breathing haltingly at his feet, focusing as he drove his mind deep in search of answers.

"No," he growled. "Not Sara."

Adrian gripped his arm. "What is it?"

"They want what she has discovered. After they have the papers they will kill her and take all clues of the work she has done here."

"Not while I can draw breath," Adrian muttered. "They think to storm my walls?" His eyes gleamed with unholy fury. "Just let them try."

CHAPTER TWENTY.

SARA FOUND HER VANTAGE point on the flat stone parapet overlooking the door to the roof.

From the space where she huddled, she could see the front of the door, but she would remain hidden behind the stone panel.

Gabriel?

A surge of warmth. The memory of his hands.

Sara-where are you?

On the roof. I'm hiding above the staircase. Someone may come up to this vantage point. It's where a sniper would go first.

She felt his irritation and the weight of his fear. Stay well hidden. Leave this to us. We are coming.

Sara didn't respond. Her duty came before personal safety or comfort. If a sniper broke cover, she would see him and deal with him as she had been trained. Gabriel had his skills.

But she had hers.

FOUR MINUTES LATER, the door from the stairway creaked faintly. Sara squinted into the rain and kept her focus on the area where the man would emerge onto the roof.

Gravel hurtled past, driven by the wind, and her finger itched, but she forced her muscles to relax against the cold metal grip.

Not yet...

She saw the back of a head, the outstretched hand that held a scoped sniper rifle shouldered to fire.

Adrenaline pumped through her, blotting out the ugly kick of fear. Long months of weapon training held her dead-still, her aim steady.

The figure moved into full view, turning fast to scan the perimeter. Sara squeezed the trigger, felt the recoil in the same blurring moment that flame shot from the muzzle.

The black figure was thrown sideways by the round, but he spun awkwardly, sighted in her direction. Sara fired twice. He fell from her third shot.

As his rifle clattered onto the roof, a round burned through Sara's shoulder and she saw a second man in firing stance at the other corner of the roof. A round whined above her head, shattering a ridge of stone behind her. She dropped flat. A third round zigzagged across the parapet.

Something grazed her face as she hit the roof. The world spun, going black.

Gabriel's alarm crackled into her mind. Sara- Hurt. Watch for a sniper-east side of the roof. Hurry.

She felt Gabriel's fury as she crawled painfully toward a broad chimney, the only cover close.

Blood seeped down her right shoulder and every movement was agony, but she gripped her pistol, watching for a clear shot at her attacker.

Abruptly she felt a change around her, felt the weight of darkness and hunger. Shadows roiled up, pouring from the dark, shifting hole. She forced down panic as the nightmare began anew, shadow forms pouring out in search of fresh prey. Sara pressed against the tall chimney pillar. There was no more room to retreat, not with a sniper closing in.

Stay down.

She turned to see Gabriel striding through the mist, his cloak drawn about him. Adrian was near the stairs, gesturing toward her.

Sara, go to Adrian. I will deal with this cur.

Be careful- Go now!

Wincing, she crept along the chimney, then sprinted toward the staircase, one hand pressed to her bleeding shoulder.

As wind howled over the rooftop, she heard a man's grunt and the crack of a rifle falling against stone.

Gabriel raced past. Her attacker cut in the opposite direction in pursuit. Sara realized the shadows had followed the men, boiling over the roof like smoke.

She caught back a sob of panic. "Adrian, help him-"

Adrian's hands circled her wrist. "Hurry. We'll meet them at the fountain."

She didn't understand but there was no time for questions. She followed Adrian down the narrow staircase and through the dark house.

"This way. Hold my arm."

For seconds that felt like an eternity she followed Adrian along a twisting maze of corridors through what was probably an old servants' area. They emerged at the far side of the house, facing the gatehouse.

Through a rain-streaked window Sara saw Gabriel backed against the fountain, parrying her attacker. Smoke writhed up like living waves around them. She couldn't imagine how they had reached the ground first, but she also didn't understand how her attacker seemed to rise and fall two feet above the ground with a spin of Gabriel's hand.

"Adrian, we have to go. We can help him."

His fingers gripped her wrist, holding her where she was. "We cannot. This is his work to finish. He opened the gate and now he must close it." His voice was rough with emotion.

Sara's fingers tightened on her pistol. "I'll help him if you won't."

Adrian pressed her back against the wall. "No. This is by his order. We may not interfere."

As she squinted into the rain, Sara saw the dark storm of figures above Gabriel's head. Too late she realized the danger he faced. She wondered if Gabriel had chosen this as a penance.

Be careful, my love.

He didn't turn but Sara felt his thoughts curl around her in warm solace. The darkness opened, enveloped the man from the roof, then seethed out toward Gabriel.

No!

This is my choice, Sara. For you, with all the gifts of my heart. Remember me and that this is the first good thing I do in too long...

And then the link between them was lost in a pounding wave of emotion.

The hole widened, surrounded Gabriel and his attacker like an angry mouth.

Nightingale. A small bird but its song will break your heart.

His last words.

Then he was gone, swept into the darkness. The hole seethed and then the dark shapes were swept back in its passing. Mist drifted slowly. Equilibrium was restored. Only rain and emptiness were left.

Sara cried out in disbelief, starting forward. This time Adrian let her go, and she felt the terrible weight of his sorrow as he followed her to the fountain.

Emptiness struck her like a blow.

She sank down blindly, rain in her face. Her fingers clutched at the rough stones of the fountain where Gabriel had been swallowed up without a trace.

WHEN IZZY TEAGUE reached the abbey's front lawn fifteen minutes later, he found Agent Sara Nightingale sitting in the rain on the edge of a weathered stone fountain.

She was oblivious to the downpour, and she didn't seem to see him cross the gravel drive.