Crimes Against Magic (28 page)

I nodded, barely believing what I'd heard. "You have a sister."

"Nate," Daniel said as he got back to his feet. "If you're seeing this, then I'm probably dead. So I have to ask you, please keep Samantha safe. If they've got her, you must get her free. They use psychics. I'm not privy to the details, but they change them somehow. This is how you can repay me for the years I worked for you. Get my daughter to safety." Daniel was crying now. "And thank you. Thank you for helping me, for allowing me to do something meaningful, for trusting me to work with you. If I am dead, I want you to know; it was an honour to know you. You are singularly the best and most terrifying person I've ever met." 

Daniel's stare hardened. "And if they've hurt Sam, if they've harmed one hair on her innocent, beautiful head. Bury them for me. Turn that whole fucking place into rubble."

*****

Dani walked off the second the video finished, saying that she wanted to be alone for a while. I could hardly blame her. She'd only just discovered that she had a sister. I gave her a few minutes before following her, I didn't want to give more bad news, but Dani needed to know the truth. 

I found her huddled next to a filing cabinet, staring off out of the unbreakable window. "I have a sister," she said. "Welkin's Lord has her, doesn't he?"

"Yeah," I said and sat beside her. "When they took Jenny, the girl I was with when I got shot, they forced her to give over information about Samantha's whereabouts."

"We have to get her out." She refused to turn back and look at me. 

"We will," I said. "They need Samantha to do something. Until they get you, they can't do it."

Sobs rocked her body. When she turned back to face me, her eyes were puffy and red. "I want to go through these files," she said. "I want to know why they're doing all this."

I agreed and we spent the next few hours trawling through file after file. Most of them contained information on experiments that had been conducted, or ideas that Welkin had about future experiments. 

"I need to stop," Dani said after what felt like years of reading true horror stories.

"Yeah, me too," I said and threw the file at the nearest cabinet, spilling paper and photos over the floor. "This guy's work does not make for pleasant reading."

"He got them to fight, to find out what they could do," Dani said. "Did you really kill him?"

I nodded.

She thought about it for a moment. "Good. He deserved it." 

There was so much anger and venom in her voice, that it shocked me. It was born of frustration, sadness and fear. Even if she'd been the happiest person in the world when she'd said it, I still wouldn't have felt anything wrong in her words. Welkin had needed to die. I'd done the world a service by fulfilling that need.

"The Harbinger stuff is just as bad," I said and held up a file. "This is what they want, and there's no way we can let them have it."

"But if you turn up empty handed, they'll kill you and Holly. And then her family."

I walked to the nearest cabinet and emptied the contents onto the floor, about forty files in all. "There's no way I'm giving them the knowledge to run those experiments on anyone else." I looked over at the ruined front door. "But we can't leave it all here. Someone will eventually find it." I took the USB stick out of the computer and put it in my pocket. "Empty all the filing cabinets."

Within a few minutes we had several huge piles of paper dotted around the room. "So, now what?" Dani asked. 

"Grab those files there, the ones about the Harbinger project. They're coming with us." We shared the files between us and made our way to the scorched exit. The claymore had made a massive mess, and anyone standing in the way of its blast would have been killed instantly. 

Dani and I stepped back into the hallway and I put the files on the floor. "Those involved with Mars Warfare, who helped do all this, are never going to see the inside of a court room, let alone a jail cell. I must have known that."

"So what leverage did you want?"

"I think I was going to use them to get information on Mordred. I think the removal of my memories was him hiding his own involvement." I raised my hands, orange glyphs adorning them, and threw one steady stream of fire into the room. It soon caught hold of the stacks of paper, turning the interior into an inferno within seconds. "The old plan won't work anymore. Jenny said Mordred had vanished."

"So what's the new plan?"

I picked up the pile of files and took one last look in the room. The fire had taken hold of everything, including the computer. There would be nothing left of anything by the time it had finished. 

"I don't know yet," I said honestly and looked at my watch. "But I have six hours to figure one out."

Chapter 29

"That's a terrible plan," Francis said with more than a hint of anger, after Dani and I returned to the subway station, files in hand.

"Francis has a point," Laurel said. "You're planning on engaging a gargoyle and his men in combat. It does seem... unnecessarily reckless."

"It's bloody insane," Dani chimed in.

 I raised my hands in surrender. "It'll work. I'm pretty certain of it. Achilles likes to think of himself as the greatest warrior ever, a man who can't be bested in combat. He'll see no threat going somewhere alone with me. He knows in a straight fight he could kill me without breaking a sweat."

"You're sort of proving our point," Dani said.

"But the only way I'm getting everyone out of that place alive is if Achilles is no longer an issue," I pointed out. "He has to be removed, or he'll just start killing everyone."

Francis glared at me.

"If anyone has a better idea, I'm open for suggestions." When no one else came up with anything, I decided it best to go sit by myself on the station bench. 

I'd closed my eyes and rested the back of my head against the cold tiles when Laurel spoke. "What do you need us to do?" I hadn't even heard her walk up. 

"The files I brought with me need to be scattered inside the boot of Francis' car, so that one glance will show exactly what they are." I opened my eyes and found that Jerry was standing beside her. "If there's not enough paper, get more. I want the boot almost full to the brim. Any paper will do, just make it look full."

Laurel walked off up the stairs and I glanced down at my watch. There wasn't long before I had to be back at the warehouse. 

"You got a minute?" Jerry asked.

I nodded, and he took a seat next to me. "You really think this will work?"

I nodded again. 

"You've got the boss' feathers ruffled. He's not happy that you haven't told him everything."

"That's ok, he'll be even less happy when he hears it."

Jerry laughed. "If anything happens to you." Jerry raised his hands. "Not saying it will mind, but if it does, Dani will be safe here. I think Laurel has taken a liking to her. And they won't turn her either. Not unless she asks to be. Francis doesn't like turning people without needing to."

"So, what are you, Jerry? Because you're not a vampire."

"Human," he said and noticed my surprise. "I was a Marine, left just before the whole shit with Iraq."

"So how did you come to work for Francis?"

"Just sort of fell into it. I needed a job, and he supplied one."

"It's not exactly the sort of place you can bring a date though," I said.

Jerry smiled. "I don't think that's ever going to be much of a problem."

"You and Laurel, are..?"

Jerry nodded.

"Good job."

He smiled and stood. "I wanted you to know that the girl will be safe."

"Thank you."

"Just don't get yourself killed," he said and shook my hand. "Francis would complain for years that you never paid him back for that gargoyle cure."

I laughed. The tension in my shoulders relaxed a little. "I'll do my best."

As Jerry walked away he caught the eye of a returning Laurel, and for a split second I noticed the connection between them. "We're done," she said to me. "Now for the rest of the plan."

We made our way back to Francis, who was showing Dani how to operate a semi- automatic gun. "Is that necessary?" I asked.

"Yes," Francis said without looking up. "She's not going with you. Don't argue, girl," he said before Dani could even open her mouth. "But, she needs to know how to defend herself, just in case."

"You want to know the rest of the plan, then?" I asked. 

Francis placed the gun on the counter and looked toward me, followed by Dani and Laurel. 

"Okay," I agreed. "But first things first. I'm going to need a couple of claymore mines."

*****

Francis' response to the rest of my plan had not been one of joy. In fact out of Dani, Laurel and him, he'd been the most upset with my idea. It probably didn't help that I was using his car to drive to the warehouse. 

I was going to be early, but I didn't see the point in waiting around for an hour, getting more and more agitated and nervous. I stopped Francis' Jag at the guard post where I'd been searched on my first visit. The same man, in the same blue uniform, left the hut and motioned for me to get out of the car. 

As before, I placed my hands on the side of the hut and the guard searched me without a word. When he'd finished he walked round to the back of the car. "Open it," he demanded.

"No, this is for Achilles. And Achilles only," I said. "My friends' lives are at stake here. So if you don't want to let me through, then go get your boss." 

The guard stared at me, and for a moment I thought he was going to call my bluff. Instead he relented and allowed me through. 

I took the car around to the back of the warehouse Achilles and his cronies occupied, parking it opposite the Nissan. The two guards from my last visit radioed Achilles before allowing me inside.

"Come on, fight," someone bellowed from inside the warehouse. In the centre of the pit were two men, both naked from the waist up, and both bloodied and bruised. They were standing opposite a shirtless, entirely human looking Achilles, who was beckoning them to fight him. 

The closer I got, the easier it was to see blood on Achilles' hands and arms. Blood that I was certain wasn't his. 

"I said, come on," Achilles shouted. 

One of the men sprang forward, hoping to catch Achilles off balance. I recognised him as one of the regular fighters, a capable and intelligent combatant. But against Achilles, he was hopelessly outmatched. 

Achilles easily dodged his attack and landed a huge right hand to the jaw of the regular, who hit the floor and didn't move. With Achilles' attention diverted, the second man decided to pounce, but Achilles was already moving to intercept, and by the time the man had closed the distance it was too late. Achilles stepped around him, grabbed him by his hair and yanked his head back, driving his elbow into the man's exposed throat. I knew he was dead before he hit the mat. 

Achilles, appearing satisfied with his kill, turned back to the regular, who was getting back to his feet, and kicked him square in the ribs. They audibly broke, along with his arm when Achilles followed up with a viscous kick to his elbow. 

"Enough," I shouted as Achilles was about to stomp down on the back of the man's neck.

Achilles paused and looked down at me. 

"You said that no one would be hurt," I said.

"I offered them an out. Beat me and everyone goes free. I did warn them what would happen if they lost." Achilles stepped between the ropes and dropped to the floor. He picked up a bottle of water and took a long drink, using the liquid to wash the blood from his hands and arms. "Did you bring everything?"

"Dani is somewhere safe."

Achilles craned his head slightly, a look of pity on his face. "Did I not tell you to bring her? I didn't dream that, did I? I said, you bring her and the research or people die." 

"You didn't expect me to bring her. That would make everyone here redundant. You'd take me and her and then kill everyone else."

"True, but an order is an order." He nodded to one of his guards who, before I could stop him, removed a silenced pistol from his holster and shot the regular fighter in the back of his head.

The man slumped to the mats beneath him. "Now, shall we go see this research?" Achilles asked cheerfully.

I tore my gaze away from the dead man, using every ounce of willpower to keep my temper in check. "Holly and her family, where are they?"

"They're upstairs, where they were last time. And they're not dead. So unless you want that to change, I suggest you get on with it."

I set off toward the exit with Achilles alone, right behind me. "I'll be back soon, get rid of this filth in my ring," he told the guard who'd killed the fighter before we both stepped outside. 

"Nice Jag," he said running his hand along the back of the car. "Not really you though."

"It's on loan," I told him. "The stuff is in the boot."

Achilles held up one hand. "Keys." 

I tossed them to him. He caught them easily and opened the boot. A smile appeared when he saw the mass of paper inside. "I'm impressed." He picked up the first piece of paper he came to and started reading. "This is the stuff."

"So you don't need to go messing in my head for that information anymore."

Achilles grinned. It reminded me of a shark. "We need your head for something else." 

My mind raced as I tried to figure out what else they could need me for, but my thoughts were broken by Achilles as he grabbed a handful of the paper. "You could have at least tried to keep it all organised. It'll take hours to sort all this out."

"It had to be done like that," I said.

Achilles placed his hands deeper into the pile of paper and pulled out a bunch of shredded newspaper. "What the fuck is this?" he yelled.

"Kindling." 

Orange glyphs roared to life along my arms and fire erupted from the boot of the car, igniting the claymores I'd hidden beneath the paper. Francis hadn't owned many claymores, so I'd packed the boot with C4 too. The effect was spectacular. The back of the car exploded, engulfing Achilles in flame as he changed into his gargoyle form, driving him back at enormous speed and right into the Nissan, which crumpled from the gargoyle's impact.