Boreal and John Grey Season 2 (39 page)

Ella sighed. “You’re an insufferable prick, you do know that, right?”

“Yeah, you’ve told me before,” Dave said, executing a perfectly illegal u-turn in the middle of the street. “Now let’s go.”

***

The car was closing around Ella. The need to act, do something, was eating at her insides.

She felt like killing someone.

And Dave was in a chatty mood. “What’s your idea? Why do you want to see Sarah? What do you expect to see on the footage?”

Blah blah blah.
Then, before she could even think of a blistering answer, he was on the phone, barking orders.

Maybe he’d also had some coffee, by mistake, instead of his usual greasing oil.

Ella tapped him on the arm. “Don’t send anyone to Sarah’s. We go in quiet.”

“I’m sure Sarah hasn’t done anything wrong,” Dave grumbled, but he told his people to stay two streets down from Sarah’s place before disconnecting.

He parked and they climbed out of the car in silence, the two gorillas in the back heaving their huge bodies out with some difficulty.

“Wait here,” Ella said.

Dave shook his head. “No, you can’t—”

“Let me talk to her first.” Ella nodded at the entrance of the building. “I need her focused on me. Give me five minutes.”

Dave grunted. “You’ve got three.”

Damn him. “Not funny, Dave. This is about Finn’s life.” She held Dave’s gaze. “Stay here.”

She strode inside but was too restless to wait for the elevator, so she took the stairs. She bounded up the steps, trying to let out her anger; trying to decide how to frame her questions — what to say and what to hide, how to get Sarah to talk — when someone crashed into her, coming down the stairs.

“Hey, watch it!” Ella grabbed the person — a woman, she realized — and steadied her. “Don’t you see where you’re going?”

The woman didn’t reply and stepped aside to continue down. Something familiar about her face made Ella turn and block her way once more.

“Diane?” she asked.
Dave’s secretary.
“Dave said you resigned.”

The woman blinked. “Yes, that’s right. Oh. I know you. You work at the Bureau. How’s that young man who was with you, the one who was hurt?”

Finn.
Ella grimaced. “He’s fine. What are you doing here?”

Diane flinched.

Yeah, that had been so polite, had it? “Sorry.” Ella scrubbed a hand over her face. “It’s been a long day. Dave’s been wondering why you suddenly up and left.”

Leaving without giving a reason was unprofessional and the short time Ella had known Diane — all of two weeks — she couldn’t say she liked her all that much.

“Personal reasons,” Diane said. Her eyes flicked to the staircase. Why was she so nervous? “It’s my health.”

“I didn’t know you were friends with Sarah.”

“Oh yes. She’s very nice.” Diane gave a thin smile. “I got to know her through Dave and we hit it off right away.”

“I take it she’s in?”

“Hm? Oh right, yes. She was feeling poorly, though. That’s why I came, to make her a cup of tea. You know.” Diane patted her hair that was pulled up in a chignon. “She was going to lie down for a while.”

“I won’t disturb her long,” Ella said, stepping out of Diane’s way and resuming her climb up.

She didn’t go far. Hesitating at the next landing, she twisted around and waited to catch her breath. Why did she feel she knew Diane’s face from another context? A sinister one, at that. She leaned over the rail, trying to see Diane, but couldn’t. Where had she gone?

Ella pulled out her cell and called Dave.

“Is Sarah all right?” Dave yelled in the phone. “I’m coming up.”

“Hold your guns. Diane, your secretary, is on her way down the stairs. Can you see her?”

“No, why the hell is she here?”

“Good question. Stop her, Dave, and keep her there until I tell you.”

“Why would I stop my secretary—?”

“Just do it, dammit. Don’t let her go.” She disconnected and continued up the stairs.

It was so irritating that she couldn’t put her finger on where she’d seen Diane outside the Bureau.

She found Sarah’s door and rang the bell. Footsteps sounded and she tensed, not really knowing how to ask, what to do.

But her body took over as soon as the door opened. She pushed through and grabbed Sarah by the shoulder.

Okay, so she’d been swallowing a lot of anger where Sarah was concerned, and the shooting followed by Finn’s kidnapping hadn’t exactly soothed her nerves.

“Where’s Finn?” Ella whispered in Sarah’s wide-eyed face, still pushing her backward into the living room. “Where is he kept? What are they doing to him?”

“I don’t... What are you doing?” Sarah’s voice rose in pitch with each word. “Get your hands off me!”

“You know why I’m here. They’ve taken Finn. They’ve killed people.” Each word hurt coming up. “And I think you know what this is about.”

Sarah’s green eyes were dark, the pupils dilated with fear. “No, I don’t.”

“What, not shocked that Finn was taken away?” Ella shoved Sarah backward into the sofa and leaned over her. “Not a big surprise?”

“Dave.” Sarah swallowed hard. “He said someone ought to get him away from you and get his magic to work.”

“Dave. Really.” Ella narrowed her eyes. “Are you saying Dave is behind this?”

“Well, what do you think?” Sarah’s features tightened in a scowl. “Of course he is.”

“And you’re no longer concerned that Finn may get stronger, able to open Gates?”

“Dave said if he doesn’t get stronger, he’ll be used by his people, and then...” Sarah glared. “I trusted Dave. But he’s a machine and has his own plans for Finn. You have to stop him.”

Dammit
. Ella’s head pounded. Yeah, she was suspicious of Dave, and yeah, she thought he had ulterior motives — could it be he’d fooled her once more? That he’d been driving her around while his people hurt Finn, blatantly lying and faking concern?

“And Jefferson is dead,” Ella muttered. “Jeff Somesby. You knew him, right?”

Fear flashed through Sarah’s eyes again. “Oh my god. How did that happen? He was in charge of the armory.”

“Yeah. Weren’t you and him and Simon best buddies back in the day? Simon was FBI. Jeff was his war buddy. And you were dating one and friends with the other. You didn’t collaborate and try to bring Finn down? Didn’t Jeff try to kill him?”

“You’re nuts,” Sarah spat. “If John Grey dies, then our chances of being safe will be zero. You said that yourself.”

“You don’t want to kill Finn. Only hurt him until he comes into his power. And Dave told you that maybe by having Finn relive his nightmares, he’ll be cured.”

“Yeah, that was Dave’s idea.” Sarah pressed back against the cushions of her sofa. “Not mine.”

“But you liked it.”

“That’s a lie.”

Goddammit, if she found out Dave had lied to her yet again and hurt Finn, she’d unscrew him and scatter his metal pieces to the corners of the earth. “So you’ve got nothing to do with this. You didn’t send anyone to kill Finn or kidnap and torture him.”

“I swear I didn’t.”

Ella studied Sarah’s pretty face. She couldn’t read the woman under the best of circumstances and now even less. But it didn’t make sense, did it, that Sarah had sent Jeff to kill Finn. Because she’d been shot and your life surely wasn’t something you chanced. Finn hadn’t even been in the line of fire, and one would be hard-pressed to confuse the pale-haired, broad-shouldered elf with the dark-haired, slender woman that was Sarah.

Her phone buzzed and then rang. Ella straightened and glanced at the display. Dave’s number. She took the call and turned sideways, keeping an eye on Sarah. “Yeah?”

“Diane is on the picture of Jeff and Simon’s sniper team,” Dave said.

Ella drew a sharp breath.
Gotcha.
“I didn’t know we had women in sniper teams.”

“She was an intelligence officer, and obviously a good friend of Jeff and Simon. She just confessed to carrying out Sarah’s orders.” His voice sounded strained. “Sarah is the mastermind.”

Fury sent fire through Ella’s senses. She actually saw red as the threads vibrated around her — her threads, dark and fueled by her anger.

A sound came from behind her, and she knew exactly what it was: the snick of a gun safety being released. 

“Really, Sarah?” The girl didn’t know who she was dealing with. In her panic, she’d almost believed Sarah. She’d been careful, even gentle.

Not anymore.

Reaching out, she grabbed the threads and twisted them. The apartment jerked and swayed, and Sarah cried out.

Then
Ella turned around.

Chapter Seven

Demons

 Dave burst through the door, his gun raised and two agents in tow. “Status.”

“Fine,” Ella said.

“Did you get the info? Where are they keeping Finn?” Dave stared past her at Sarah and winced.

Ella glanced down at the sofa. Sarah was arched back, her eyes huge and almost black with fear. Neither Sarah nor Dave could see the crimson threads holding Sarah still. “I was hoping you could get that info out of her.”

She still didn’t know how she’d done that with the threads. It was as if they obeyed her, felt her touch and moved to her bidding.

Creepy didn’t even begin to cover it.

“She’s FBI,” Ella said. “Told you.” Yeah, it felt good saying it.

Dave’s eyes narrowed on Sarah. “I would’ve known if that were true.”

“Oh, get your head out of your ass, Dave.” Ella felt a growl rise in her throat. “This,” she jabbed at Sarah, “this idiot thought she knew better than all of us and took things in her own hands, and you can’t even see—”

“Don’t talk about her like that.” Dave hummed so loud he could probably be heard in the apartment next door. “She’s my step-daughter.”

“And the reason Finn was taken.”
Deep breaths, Ella.
“She won’t tell me where he’s kept. Dammit, Dave, time’s running out. Do something instead of standing there and finding excuses for her! She was working undercover with Simon, Jeff and Diane, for Chrissakes, looking for John Grey. They knew about me and guessed John Grey would gravitate toward me, so they waited. Simon was unlucky.” Ella swallowed a lump in her throat.

“She told you all that?” Dave now looked uncertain.

Sarah whimpered. Did she sense Dave wavering, losing his faith in her?

“Yeah.”

“Did you hurt her?”

“Does she look hurt?” Ella really wanted to roll her eyes. “She told me the wolves caught Simon when they came through one of the first Gates. That left the three of them. And then came dissent. Jeff insisted John Grey couldn’t be trusted and should be killed. Initially Sarah agreed with him, but then...”

“Then what?”

Ella sighed. “Then she met Finn and liked him. Trusted him. They argued with Jeff. So he went off on his own to kill Finn, without telling Sarah. She thought she’d convinced him to stop. When she opened the curtains in our apartment, Jeff was hoping to get Finn, but when he saw Sarah in his lens, he decided to kill her, too.”

Dave groaned. He went to stand in front of Sarah, his hands fisted. “What did you do?” he bit out.

“What I had to do,” Sarah said, and suddenly her eyes were filled with tears.

Jesus.
Fury leaked out of Ella like poison. She hated family drama. Her threads quieted and unpinned Sarah.

“Why?” Dave whispered.

“Why? Are you serious? To help you. Give you what you always wanted.” Sarah drew a ragged breath. “You’re my father, and I love you, and you need Finn to gain his powers.”

Help Dave?
Ella had rather expected Sarah to deliver her usual line of protecting the world.

Dave leaned over Sarah and grabbed the front of her t-shirt, his face twisted with rage. “Where. Is. He.”

Sarah tried to move back but Dave’s hold was implacable. “I don’t know.”

“Don’t give me that shit. Talk.” Dave hummed louder than Ella’s threads ever had. Red was bleeding into his eyes.

Ella took an involuntary step back. The red in his eyes was new. Malfunction of some sort? Was he going to autodestruct? 

“I don’t know!” Black mascara ran down Sarah’s pale cheeks. She’d never looked so pathetic before. Then again, her stepfather had probably never looked Terminator before.

“Who
does
know?”

“The special agent in charge. She gives me instructions.”

“You betrayed me.” Dave was still shaking Sarah. Ella wondered if his step-daughter was seeing him clearly for the first time in her life. “Her name and phone number.”

“I don’t have them.”

“How does she communicate with you?”

“She contacts me through a man named Edward. I have his number.”

“Call him right now.”

But Ella knew it wouldn’t bring anything, and when Dave backed off and let Sarah retrieve her cell phone and call Edward or whoever, nobody answered. Dave grabbed the phone from her hand and listened.

Then he threw the cell on the sofa. “You must know something about her whereabouts. Have you never met her?”

Sarah shook her head, her dark hair falling in her eyes.

Ella leaned her shoulder against the wall, tried to hide her rising panic. “Did she ever mention anything that gave you a clue as to where she might be?” Her palms were clammy and sweat ran down her back. God, they still had nothing to go on and bad things were happening to Finn, she just knew it. “Come on, think, dammit. Finn never hurt you. You’ve got to do something.”

And she’d never meant to beg, but couldn’t help herself.

 “Last time she mentioned the stadium.” Sarah didn’t look up. “Something about the traffic being so bad because of a match.”

“The stadium.” Ella pushed off the wall. “Let’s go.”

“That’s too vague,” Dave said. “We need more if we're going to find him.”

“It’s a starting point.” Would she know when they approached the place he was held? Maybe his threads would behave differently in his vicinity, or — if her fears were right — he’d be reliving his horrific memories and opening Gates randomly. “I’ll find him.”

Dave shrugged and strode out of the apartment, without a backward glance at Sarah.

Ouch.

Ella turned to follow him.

“Ella,” Sarah called out softly. “One second.”

Ella stopped, her hands curling into fists. “Only if you’re going to say something useful.” 

“I never meant for Finn to get hurt. I only wanted to help him get back his power.”

“And help Dave.” Ella turned slowly. “To get what he always wanted. Which is what exactly?”

“Save the world,” Sarah muttered.

“Bullshit. The truth for once, Sarah.”

She nodded. “He said... He once said that the
Duergar
, the Guardians, have their own dream.”

“Explain.”

“He said there are Nine Heavens.”

“I know that.”

“The
Duergar
want to go there.”

“The robots?” Ella blinked. “You mean, what, alone? Without the Dark Elves?”

“They’ve been abandoned by their creators,” Sarah said, her voice hoarse. She wiped at the streaks of mascara on her cheeks. Anger flashed in her eyes. Was this her idea of revenge on Dave? “They want to find a world for themselves where they don’t have to be slaves. They want to destroy the elves and travel to the Nine Heavens instead of them.”

Ella gaped.
Rogue machines.
Finn said there were many in his world, but Ella had never included the Guardians in that category.

Stupid, Ella. Naive.
Dave had been following his own agenda all along.

She’d asked herself what the Dark Elves might want, but never the
Duergar
. Robots, machines, half flesh, half tubes and wires — if they could think on their own, if they had feelings, wouldn’t they have wants and desires? Created as slaves to the Dark Elves, sent on missions where no living creature would be willing to go, they had centuries to mount their own revolution, exact their own vengeance.

As Dave had told her not so long ago, who didn’t want John Grey? The answer was, everyone, even the machines.

But all
she
wanted was Finn.

***

“I received the surveillance videos,” Dave informed her as she climbed back into the car, leaving Sarah and Diane tied up and guarded by the two gorillas.

All she could think of was she couldn’t trust Dave, either. She couldn’t lead him to Finn.

But did she have a choice?

“Anything interesting?”

“I don’t think so.”

“May I see?”

“Sure.” Dave passed her his cell before starting the engine. “It’s also got sound. Special Bureau equipment.”

Ella hit play, her thoughts whirling. Could she waylay Dave? She was in his damn car and he knew where they were supposed to be looking.
Shit.

On the cell phone’s small screen, she saw the interview room where Finn sat across from Norma.

Norma.
Ella’s heart squeezed. How could she be dead? And Jefferson. Both of them dead, and Finn gone.

Finn was talking to Norma on the video, his voice tinny. Swallowing hard, she brought the cell to her ear, focusing on his words. He was asking her something about his mother.

“She may be alive,” he said, his words suddenly crystal clear. “I need to see her, protect her.”

His mother? His dead mother? Hadn’t they agreed the elven Queen was lying to him to lure him back to Aelfheim? She’d been in his memory, seen the funeral, the glass coffin.

“That’s understandable,” Norma said quietly. “Of course you want to see her.”

“Do mothers...?” He paused. “She left me. Do you think she still wants to see me?”

Left him? She’d watched him fall to his death. It’d been a miracle he’d survived.

“I’m so sorry,” Norma said. “I didn’t know. I can’t tell you how she feels. But mothers often regret giving up their children, so I guess you never know. Not until you talk to her.”

Ella shook her head. This was fucked up.

Then she took the phone off her ear as gunshots rang and on the screen masked men swarmed the room and grabbed Finn, jabbing a needle in his neck.

Numb, she watched the chaos, watched Finn’s struggles cease. His kidnappers shot whoever approached and left, hauling him out between them.

Why the hell hadn’t Finn talked to her about whatever had been on his mind? Why Norma?

Because she’d been a mother to him in this world, she realized, putting the phone in her lap. He thought she might understand.

It still stung. And it hurt in new and ugly ways, because it sounded like... Like Finn was thinking of leaving. And she trusted Finn. Hell, she loved him. Didn’t he trust
her
?

What she wanted to do was call Mike and tell him about this, ask him his opinion. But Mike was probably so pissed with her he wouldn’t even answer the phone. Besides, there were more pressing matters.

Like saving Finn.

“Talk to me, Ella,” Dave said. “What are we looking for?”

Ella stared without seeing the street outside, the cloudy sky, the lit shop fronts, the other cars, the bright billboards. “A blizzard.”

Dave’s gaze flicked sideways to her. “You expect a Gate.”

“Why, don’t you?”

Dave nodded. “Could be they’re doing us a favor.”

It took her a moment to realize he was talking about the kidnappers. “Really. How’s that?” 

“You didn’t want to hurt the
aelfr
, but if they recreate the conditions of his memory, then maybe he’ll get over the block and regain his magic.”

Ella gripped Dave’s shoulder and got in his face. “His magic is leaking all over the place. Last thing he needs is someone getting him confused in a twilight zone where he can’t control it. Do you know how dangerous that is?”

It was only dawning on her now, in fact, as she watched Dave’s eyes widen, in just how deep shit they were.

“Finn can already open Gates, can’t he?” Dave said quietly, his gaze flicking between her face and the road.

Shit, he was still driving. Reluctantly Ella let him go. “Never said that.”

Dave whistled between his teeth. “Holy fuck.”

Yeah.
“Never said he can open Gates, Dave. But he’s stronger, and he can do real damage.”

She wasn’t sure Dave was hearing her.
Dammit.
She rubbed her eyes and decided to keep her damn mouth shut from now on.

“We’ll find him,” Dave said and drove on.

***

Blizzard, check.

Ella stalked to the entrance of the next building, squinting against the onslaught of snowflakes. They’d split up to cover more area. The place was crawling with agents — so many she had to wonder whether Dave had brought in outside forces.

The kidnappers wouldn’t kill Finn, she repeated to herself for the millionth time. They obviously wanted him alive and at full strength.