Black As Night (Quentin Black Mystery #2) (30 page)

“What happened this morning exactly?” I said. “When Solonik came to the hotel? Did he and Black communicate in any way?”

Neither of them answered me.

Anger slowly built in my chest. I found myself picking bits and pieces off them, using my psychic ability deliberately now. I felt enough off both of them to know I was right.

“Did Solonik call Black out? Challenge him in some way?” When they didn’t answer me again, I had to fight to control my anger. “You know I served too, right? That even more recently, I worked for the police? Homicide, no less. I’m not just some piece of furniture you’re guarding for Black. I have experience in this. Almost ten years.”

Dex stuffed a piece of pancake into his mouth and winked at me with coffee-colored eyes as he chewed. Swallowing, he said, “Doc, I’m telling you, you don’t need to worry. Really. No disrespect...we all know you know your shit, and Black has said repeatedly that you’re smart as fuck, like I said. But I also know you’ve been through a lot, and you’re new to how Black does things. Trust me. He knows what he’s doing.”

“What exactly does that mean?” I said coldly.

“It means this confrontation was going to happen, doc,” Dex said, aiming his fork at me again, his eyes serious. “With or without your consent. Maybe you haven’t figured it out yet, but Black protects his own. You’re family now. Because you’re family, this vodka-swilling fuckhead crossed a big goddamned line with all of us...but especially with Black. The guy needs killing. End of story.” Waving his fork vaguely again, he focused back on his food. “Not a single one of us disagrees with Black on that, doc. Not one.”

I glanced at Kiko, and saw a similar fire blazing in her eyes.

Exhaling, I leaned deeper into my chair, fighting back my fury for real, knowing it would only make them even less likely to listen to me. I could feel enough off both of them to know they weren’t stonewalling me to be assholes. They both felt sorry for me. They were both worried about me. They both took their jobs deadly seriously, too––including, if not especially, the job of protecting me for Black while he went after Solonik.

They also both thought I was being completely alarmist.

They thought the idea that Black might be in danger was ludicrous. Dex had been telling the truth about Black threatening them in regards to me, but he’d also been telling the truth when he said the whole team took what Solonik had done personally.

Dex and Kiko weren’t even the only ones Black tasked with guarding me. They were just the two doing it out in the open.

There was no way I could get past all of them.

Truthfully, I didn’t want to. I wanted their help.

“What if you just sent
part
of the team out there to keep an eye on Black?” I said. “If you’ve got as many people here as you say, you don’t need all of them at the hotel, right? Send a second team out to watch his back. That’s all I’m asking. Do it to humor me, for fuck’s sake.”

Dex dropped his utensils again, staring at me. “What are you smoking, doc? There is no ‘second team.’ There’s the one team. The one line. You are behind it.”

I looked away, gripping the arms of my chair. I’d gotten that, too.

I was behind the line, as Dex said.

The problem was, Black was on the other side of it.

“You have more people than you need here just to guard me,” I said, clenching my jaw. “What could be the
possible harm
of sending a group out to spot Black?”

“Black doesn’t want our help, doc,” Dex said, shaking his head, adamant. “He’ll welcome this fucker coming at him with open arms, don’t you get that? None of us is going to deprive him of that. Certainly not me.”

I felt my jaw harden more.

When I glanced at Kiko, she was looking at me more thoughtfully, but I still saw shimmers of that anger in her dark eyes, as well. Not anger at me. Anger at Solonik. Anger that, in her view, Solonik had made me so afraid. And she was right of course...I was afraid. But she wasn’t entirely right, and that was where the circular conversation was making me nuts.

As far as they were concerned, the situation was simple.

They were going to sit here and wait for Black to kill Solonik.

They weren’t going to do anything that might get between Black and his right to take care of the Solonik problem personally. Their job, as they saw it, was to make sure Solonik didn’t get near me while Black was out hunting. They saw themselves as guarding the home nest while Black got revenge for the rest of the family.

They were
proud
of that.

I was still trying to decide what to say, how I might come at it differently, when a burst of static from Dex’s walkie-talkie caused me to look over.

“Receiving,” Dex said, once he’d lifted the microphone to his lips.

“He’s back,” the voice on the other end said. “Code red. Rasputin’s here.”

I didn’t have to ask them what that meant.

Thirteen

CODE RED

TERROR POOLED IN my gut, turning my body cold, even under the noonday sun. I barely knew where I was as hands caught hold of my arms, pulling me to my feet and then steering me through the glass doors and inside the hotel building. I’d barely managed to focus my eyes, to pull my mind back on line, when Black’s voice rose in my head.

Miri! Miri! Are you there?

I’m here,
I told him.
...I’m here.

Fighting an irrational wave of relief at feeling him there, I swallowed when a sharp wave of his fear hit my mind. My own fear worsened in those few seconds, thickening my tongue when it echoed against Black’s. I started to say more to him, to calm us both down maybe, when another voice rose loudly in my head.

Beautiful, ilya...you are waiting for me?

I let out a low cry, biting my tongue hard enough to taste blood.

Next to me, Kiko gripped my arm, alarm bleeding through her fingers. I barely felt it. I might have blacked out for those few seconds. I felt more happening around me, some kind of struggle in the silence around my mind.

I felt Black in that, and I felt...

Him. The other.

I couldn’t even make myself think his name.

Black’s mind once more rose in mine.

Miri...listen to me.
His voice came out low and cold, hard as metal.
Miri, he’s in the building. We don’t have much time. I need you to get the fuck out of there. Now. I’ll tell Kiko and Dex..they won’t want to leave you, but they’ll listen to me. You need to go now, while I’m shielding all three of you. If Solonik hacks their minds, they’ll do what he says. Do you hear me? You won’t be able to trust them anymore, Miri...I need you to understand that...

I felt my fear turn into full-blown panic.

Black’s presence strengthened, steadying me.

You can do this. Kiko will give you a gun. Take it. And take the money they give you. Use it to get as far away from the hotel as you possibly fucking can...

I felt my panic worsen, wanting to turn back into paralysis.

Immediately, Black’s presence grew stronger.

He smacked me in some way I almost felt, snapping me out.

Miri!
His thoughts grew harder, as clear as if he stood right next to me.
You can do this. I’ll guide you out. If you lose my voice, take alleys and backyards. Don’t look at street signs. Don’t look at anything that might be a landmark, Miri...anything Solonik might use to find you. Don’t look at faces. Don’t get in a cab unless you can do it without interacting with the driver. You’re better off with buses...or better yet, trains. Don’t interact with anyone that Solonik can gear into and use to hold you. Let me find you through the GPS, okay? I’m coming for you right now. Right now, Miri...I swear to the gods, I’m on my way.

I nodded, my brain starting to work over his words slowly, to make sense of them.

The logic there forced everything back into straight lines, gave me something to hold on to, even if it still felt like everything inside me moved crazily slow.

Next to me, I heard Dex swear.

“Why?” he burst out. His fingers gripped my arm harder, fear reaching me through his skin and then my own. Fear for me. “Why, boss? That’s fucking insane!”

He’ll find Dex and Kiko through you,
Black said to me, as if he wasn’t talking to Dex through the headset only a few feet away.
Trust me on this...you need to get away from them, Miri. Now. He’s already breaking through my shield. Can you do that? Can you go on your own? I need you to hurry...

Yes,
I sent, the thought almost a whisper.
 

You can’t go through the front door. I need you to go through the parking lot...below the hotel. Are you hearing me? Are you ready, Miri? I need you to go to the elevators now. Take the fourth elevator. Number four, okay? Take the gun and the money and go. Go now.

Yes,
I sent, my voice sounding like it came from really far away.
Yes. I’m ready.

I DON’T THINK I’d ever been so completely out of my head with fear, confusion and panic in my life. This was nothing like the war. It was nothing like working with the police, or even being in a firefight...or even worrying about being hit by an IED or a sniper. There was something so completely different about this, so much more
personal
about this...I couldn’t even try to articulate those differences in my head.

I could feel Black still, but not as strongly as before.

I could also feel Solonik.

Solonik talked to me, nonstop...pretty much the instant he broke through Black’s wall.

He talked calmly at first, reassuringly, trying to “reason” with me maybe. He promised me that everything would be okay, that he’d found a better place for us, that there’d be no more ropes, no more bad food and living underground. He promised to buy me things, nice clothes...human servants...cars...expensive jewelry. He promised everything would be different if I would just come back and stop this “childishness.”

The fact that he talked to me affectionately, coaxingly, almost lovingly, terrified me more than I think anything has ever terrified me in my life. I got the sense of someone coaxing a small animal into a trap, like if he just offered the right bait I’d walk right up to him willingly.

When I didn’t do that, he got annoyed.

You giving your cunt to Black now, ilya? He get his thorn into you?

I stared down at the carpeted floor of the elevator car, trying desperately not to see the numbers counting down in my head.