Fields of Blood (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 2) (12 page)

“Really,” she said. “And I suppose the bloody knife I found at the scene was police issue? I’m pretty sure the NYPD doesn’t hand out big, curved daggers.”

That got Taeral’s attention. He struggled to haul himself up, gasping with every motion. “Where is the weapon?” he grated.

“So it’s yours, then,” she said. “Please don’t bother trying to tell me you’re a police contractor.”

I gritted my teeth and thought really hard at Taeral to stay out of this. He was making it worse. “He’s my brother,” I said, and kept right on talking over her skeptical glare. “Look, just call Abe. He’ll vouch for us. I’d give you the number, but you probably have my phone. It was in the van.”

The sheriff shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I just don’t believe you,” she said. “You have no paperwork, nothing to even suggest that your story is true—and you’ve already lied to me. If you want someone to contact your alleged superior, you can take it up with the FBI agent.”

“FBI agent?” That did not sound good.

“Yes. Agent Reese has been around for a week or so, helping with the missing persons cases,” she said. “He’s here at the station now. Showed up a few hours after we brought you in, and he’s been waiting to talk to you people, so I’m going to let him know you’re awake.” She shook her head. “Now
him
, I believe.”

“Sheriff, wait.” I tried to face her fully, but the handcuffs snapped me short. No way was I buying the FBI thing. I’d worked with Abe long enough to know the Feds didn’t actually operate the way they were shown in movies. “Did you call this guy, or did he really just show up after we did?”

“No, I didn’t call him,” she said. “Why does it matter?”

“Don’t you think that’s a little suspicious? He just
knows
you have new suspects? Which, by the way, you’re wrong about. We didn’t kidnap anyone.” I sure as hell found it questionable. In fact, I was willing to bet this so-called agent had never set foot in a Federal Bureau of Investigations office, and had an interesting tattoo somewhere on him. A blue ankh and sword.

They didn’t have time to infiltrate the local police, but I suspected Milus Dei would have no problem impersonating the feds.

Sheriff Gormann frowned severely. For a few seconds it looked like she might be considering, but then she said, “Look, it’s a small town. Word spreads fast. Besides, Agent Reese checks out—and I highly suggest you cooperate with him. I want my people back.”

Damn. I couldn’t blame her for what she was doing. Just like Abe, she was one of the good guys. I knew she was mostly pissed off about letting us go the first time, when the evidence she had now strongly pointed to guilty. But she wasn’t working with all the facts. “All right,” I said. “Do me a favor, though. Ask Agent Reese if he has any tattoos.”

Her mouth firmed. “Why would I do that?”

“To see how he reacts,” I said. “Humor me.”

Something in her expression shifted, and I thought maybe she’d try it. But then her features hardened. “I don’t have time for this,” she said, spinning on a heel to stalk toward the door. She opened it, stepped through and slammed it shut.

“Fantastic,” Taeral said when the sheriff was gone. “Now what?”

I closed my eyes for a few seconds. “Now…I guess we do things the hard way.”

C
HAPTER 17

S
o all we had to do was break out of the cells before the sheriff came back with Agent What-a-Coincidence Reese, escape the police station unnoticed, and somehow find a secret werewolf bunker that was somewhere on a mountain, with no transportation and no gear. Oh, and hope that Sadie had convinced her family not to kill us.

No problem.

I’d just take things one step at a time. Step one, get out of the cuffs.

I didn’t have a spare set of handcuff keys on me. But I remembered when we got Daoin out of Milus Dei headquarters, Taeral had used some kind of spell to unlock his chains. I couldn’t recall the exact word, but a few times I’d been able to sort of translate words or phrases into Fae, if I didn’t think about it too hard.

I’d just have to hope I had some magic. Still wasn’t sure how it all worked.

I curled my fingers around the cuffs, thought about unlocking them, and spoke the word that floated into my mind. “
Oscaihl
.”

The handcuffs clicked.

Taeral twisted to look at me. “Going somewhere, brother?”

“Yeah. The hell out of here.” I wrenched my wrist free and used the bars to pull myself to my feet—then I had to lean on them to catch my breath. Damn. I was in a lot worse shape than I’d thought. “Be there in a second,” I called to Taeral. “Feel free to unlock those cuffs any time.”

He laughed. It was not a happy sound. “After the werewolves, I’ve no spark left,” he said. “Though I should not have bothered using magic against them.”

“Why not?”

“Werewolves draw their abilities from the moon as well,” he said. “Fae magic cannot directly affect a fully transformed were.”

I frowned. “Well, that shield thing worked.”

“Aye. The shield affects the air. Not the wolf.”

“I guess that’s good to know,” I said. “But spark or not, we still need to get out of here. And we have to move fast.”

Taeral grimaced. “I’m not certain I can move at all, let alone fast.”

“Fine. I’ll drag you out, then.” I took another minute to hope my legs would stop shaking, and then started across the cell toward him. “It’s a small town. They can’t have that many people working full-time here,” I said. “Should be able to avoid them. I’ll just keep unlocking things until we find the exit.”

He was already shaking his head. “You’ll not make it, if you try to bring me.”

“Like I’m going to leave you here. You know this agent guy is probably Milus Dei, right?”

“Aye,” he said. “And that is why you must go alone. They cannot take you.”

“Don’t even—”

The door opened, cutting off my angry rant and reducing our options to bad, or worse.

“You’re loose.” The man who walked in wore an expensive suit that was way above government agent pay grade. He stopped facing us between the two cells, and casually moved his jacket aside to show off his gun. “Interesting. You’ll tell me how you did that eventually. Meanwhile, I have a few questions for you,” he said. “Answer them right, and you’re free to go.”

“Yeah, right. Do I win a new car and a trip to Cancun, too?”

After a brief pause, he said, “I can tell you’re going to need incentive. Unfortunately, the FBI doesn’t bargain with—”

“Cut the crap,” I said, trying to shuffle closer to Taeral. Maybe I could spring his cuffs, at least. I’d figure out the rest from there. “If you’re an FBI agent, then I’m the goddamned President.”

The man gave a chilling smile. “Fine. We’ll skip the pleasantries and get down to business,” he said. “First, I’ll just mention that I know what you two are. We were only expecting the werewolf…but a couple of Fae? Quite the bonus.”

I stared at him. “What do you mean, expecting?”

“I’ll ask the questions, Fae.” He unholstered the gun with a quick motion. “And you’ll answer. Or your friend here dies.”

He pulled the trigger.

The report thundered through the room. Taeral jerked and cried out, slumping against the bars as a wet stain spread rapidly from the center of his black shirt.

“Son of a bitch!” I snarled, dropping beside him to put a hand on the cuffs. His arm had twisted unnaturally when he fell, and his attempts to shift his position were failing. “
Oscaihl
,” I said.

There was a click, and I pulled the handcuff loose from the bar.

“So that’s how you did it. Nice trick,” the man who wasn’t an agent said. “But it’s not going to save your friend. That bullet is cold iron, treated with a little something extra.”

I shivered. “What…”

“Mandrake,” Taeral gasped sharply, curling in on himself.

“Your friend knows his poisons.” Not-Agent Reese gestured with the gun. “I’ve got four more full clips of those. You don’t talk, I’ll keep shooting. We’ll find out how many it takes to kill him,” he said. “Let’s start with this. What were you doing with the werewolf?”

My jaw felt like it hit the floor. He should’ve known damned well what we were doing with Sadie. “You are Milus Dei, aren’t you?”

“Do you think I’m kidding?” he shouted. “I
will
kill him. Answer the question.”

Before I could, the holding room door burst open and six feet of angry sheriff bolted through, weapon drawn. Her rush slowed as she took in the situation. “What the hell happened?” she said. “I heard gunfire—”

Her eyes widened when they landed on Taeral and the spreading pool of blood beneath him. “Agent Reese, did you shoot my prisoner?”

“This is a federal investigation now,” the man said tightly.

She glared at him. “The hell it is. If they’re abducting my townspeople, it’s my business,” she spat. “I want you out of here, while I contact the Bureau and get someone in here to treat that man. If he’s not dead.” She turned and headed for one of the desks.

“I don’t have time for this,” Reese muttered under his breath. And aimed his gun at the sheriff.

“Sheriff, look out!” I shouted.

To her credit, she didn’t even glance back. She dove under the desk, just in time for the bullet to whiz through the space she’d been seconds ago. But as she shimmied toward the other side, Reese crouched for a low shot.

He wouldn’t miss this time.

I grabbed the door of the cell with both hands and whispered, “
Oscaihl
.” There was a click, and as the bars swung outward, I lunged for Reese and knocked him flat on the floor just when he pulled the trigger.

The bullet sheared off a wooden desk leg, and the sheriff swore loudly. The desk tilted and crashed.

I tried for the gun, but Reese threw me off and scrambled up, kicking me back down before I could do the same. Another report split the air.

That one came from the sheriff.

Reese let out a garbled shout. His gun clattered to the floor, and he clutched his bloodied hand to his stomach.

“Don’t move,” the sheriff breathed from behind the ruined desk. She started to get up.

And Reese moved, whirling on a heel to bolt for the door.

“Goddamn it!” Sheriff Gormann fired a parting shot that punched a hole through the lower wooden panel of the door before Reese shoved it open and darted through. She grabbed a walkie from her belt and spoke into it. “Unit two, unit five, we have a runner. Take him down. Use necessary force. And get an ambulance here.”

I coughed loudly. “Sheriff…”

She turned a heated stare on me. “Thanks. It looks like you saved my life,” she said—and then raised her gun at me. “Now explain what the hell’s going on, or I’ll shoot you myself.”

C
HAPTER 18

I
let out a breath. “What’s that saying about no good deed?” I muttered.

Sheriff Gormann didn’t waver. “Good guys don’t know how to pick locks. Especially handcuff and cell door locks.”

Well, at least she didn’t say I was magic. “That’s kind of a long story,” I said. “Can we—”

“I’ve got time.”

“Yeah, well my brother doesn’t!”

“Shit. He’s alive?” Her face paled, and she grabbed for the CB again. “All units, I need that ambulance. Now.”

The walkie crackled. “Called ’em, Sheriff,” a male voice said. “But your runner…did you mean that FBI guy?”

“He’s not FBI, Walt.”

“Oh.” The CB fell silent.

“He got away, didn’t he?” the sheriff said.

“Uh…yeah.”

“Sheriff!” I said. “We don’t have time for an ambulance. The son of a bitch shot him with a poisoned bullet.”

Her mouth parted slightly. Without a word, she headed for the far wall and the oversized first aid kit hanging on it.

I made myself stand. This wasn’t going to be easy to explain, either. Once she got a look at Taeral, she’d know he shouldn’t have survived the shot. And I doubted they had surgical tweezers around here—so I’d have to cut him to get the bullet out. Which he definitely shouldn’t be able to survive, if he was human.