Authors: Adrian Howell
I passed Raider’s pistol to Ed Regis and he holstered it. Then I closed the side door and put on my seatbelt.
No one spoke.
Ever so gently, Raider pulled his van back onto the dark country road.
Chapter 13: For the Love of a King
It was still only about 10pm when Terry spotted a lonely two-story summer house that we could use for the night. The largish cabin was a little off the main road and unoccupied at this frozen time of year, with the added bonus of being alarm-free.
“You can hide a house this size, yes?” Terry asked Raider as he pulled the van around to the back of the house.
“Of course,” said Raider.
“Then do it,” snapped Terry. “And remember that if anyone bothers us here, Marion will be the first to die.”
“Have you no conscience?” asked Raider.
“No,” she informed him. “Now get to work.”
Remaining in the driver’s seat, Raider closed his eyes in concentration.
The invisible, intangible nature of hiding fields would, in theory, allow Raider the perfect opportunity to betray our location to the Angels, but I wasn’t worried. Raider might be King Divine’s loyal subject, but he was also a father.
After a few minutes, Raider opened his eyes and frowned at us in the mirror, saying, “The house and thirty yards around in every direction. Happy?”
“Congratulations,” I said to him, opening the side door and getting out. “You’ve just dug the first corner of your own grave.”
My sister was wide awake, and as she followed Terry and Ed Regis out of the van, she looked at me in a way that made me instantly regret my words. A few hours of silence had brought Alia back to a comparatively normal condition. I suspected that she had been listening to my earlier confrontation with Raider after all, and that she understood what was happening now.
Marion stirred a little in her seat. I telekinetically undid her seatbelt and levitated her out of the van. Raider put his arms around her, holding her tightly. Perhaps because of the sudden exposure to the freezing night air, Marion stirred again, and then opened her eyes.
“Where are we, Daddy?” she asked groggily.
“Safe,” whispered Raider. “Go back to sleep.”
Marion rested her head on Raider’s shoulder and closed her eyes again.
I moved around to the side of the house and telekinetically unlocked a window so that we could enter without breaking anything. Once inside, Ed Regis kept an eye on Raider and Marion in the living room while the rest of us spent a few minutes restoring electricity to and exploring our temporary home.
The living room and dining room were spacious, the kitchen outdated but clean. There were three bedrooms on the second floor, and a narrow flight of stairs led down into a two-room basement. Though there was no second-floor balcony, this house reminded me a little of the Angel outpost we had attacked last year. I took a moment in the bathroom to finish wiping James’s dried blood off of my face.
Most of the furniture in the house was covered with dusty sheets. As we returned to the living room, I pulled off one of the covers, revealing a plush velvet armchair with a tall back.
“I wish we could stay here forever,” I said sadly, running my fingertips over the soft armrest.
Terry looked at me grimly. “Let’s get this over with.”
I looked at Raider and his daughter. Marion had woken up completely. She was standing close to her father, holding his hand and looking around at us anxiously. She knew intuitively that something was very wrong. Kids can always sense evil in the air.
“Alia,” I said, “I want you to take Marion upstairs and watch over her.”
Alia didn’t need to sense it. She understood exactly what I was asking of her.
“Please don’t argue,” I said, staring down at my feet.
“Your brother’s right, Alia,” said Ed Regis. “You don’t have to be a part of this, and you don’t want this girl to see it either.”
I heard my sister say hoarsely, “Look at me, Adrian.”
Slowly, I did. It hurt worse than being kicked in the gut, but I forced myself to raise my head and look into Alia’s eyes. Alia stared back at me for a silent, excruciating eternity. Then she went up to Marion and took her free hand. “Come on, Marion,” she said gently. “Let’s go upstairs.”
But Marion refused to let go of her father’s hand.
“Go on,” Raider said to her, pulling his hand free. “Go upstairs with Alia. It’ll be okay.”
Alia looked like she said something telepathically to Marion, and finally Marion nodded and let my sister lead her away from her father.
I hollowly watched them exit the room, and then followed Ed Regis and Terry as they escorted Raider down into the basement. Terry brought a wooden straight-back chair down from the dining room. Ed Regis found some thin rope, which he used to tie Raider down onto the chair. Ed Regis wrapped the rope several times around Raider’s upper body, and then tightly secured his wrists to the armrests and his ankles to the chair’s front legs.
Once that was done, we just stood there for a moment as if taking in the atmosphere. Raider looked up at each of our faces in turn. He looked at me longest. I remembered the times he had invited me into his home. Despite his sometimes blunt manner, Raider had been my friend, and more importantly, Alia’s protector. We had known each other well. But not as well as I had thought.
Ed Regis asked, “You want me to talk to him, Terry?”
Terry didn’t answer.
“I’ll talk to him,” I said quietly.
Ed Regis looked at me in surprise. “Adrian, you don’t need to be here, either,” he said, shaking his head. “Someone really should keep watch on the first floor.”
“Then you go, Ed Regis,” I replied. “I don’t want to do this with you watching, anyway.”
I knew that Ed Regis was just trying to do Alia and me a favor, and I knew that he was the certified expert in this particular field. But this was something I had to do myself. Here, finally, we had found someone who could lead us to Randal Divine, and to Catherine. No matter how wrong Alia felt this was, it nevertheless had to be done. And if, someday soon, I was going to kill my own first sister, then I couldn’t be afraid to get my hands dirty.
“Terry?” Ed Regis asked hesitantly.
“Take the first watch, Major,” said Terry. “We’ll call if we need you.”
“And make sure my sister doesn’t come down here,” I added.
Ed Regis asked, “Do you mind if I keep an ear to the floor?”
“As you wish,” I said.
Ed Regis climbed up the stairs and out of the basement, but he left the door open so he could hear us.
Raider hadn’t spoken a word since parting with his daughter.
“We have questions,” I said to him quietly.
Raider raised his eyebrows, perhaps surprised by such an obvious statement.
I had learned long ago that a standard psionic interrogation involved asking questions to the subject while a delver looked into his thoughts, as people usually think the truth before they lie. But delving could be blocked with a strong mental focus. Hence, torture. In this case, however, the only delver in the room was the interrogation subject himself, and I doubted he was going to make this easy for us just to avoid a little pain.
I glanced at Terry, who gave me a little shrug. To the best of my knowledge, my combat instructor was no more experienced in interrogation tactics than I was. Perhaps we did need Ed Regis after all, but I wasn’t going to call him back down just yet.
“I once worked for a man who enjoyed burning people alive,” I said to Raider. “Today we can either start with a polite conversation or a pair of pliers. It’s your choice. But I watched my best friend die today, so even assuming that I have any mercy left, don’t expect me to waste any on you.”
“What do you want?” asked Raider.
Terry brought the tip of her hook to Raider’s neck. “Divine.”
Raider looked like he wanted to laugh at the absurdity of our demand. “And you think I’m going to help you find and kill my master? Do you honestly think I’m capable of that?”
“I think you’re capable of being persuaded,” I told him.
I had seen the madness that conversion could cause. I remembered the insane pyroid at the PRC. I remembered the manic eyes and fanatical tone of Mr. Simms and Ms. Decker, and how the Angels at the Wood-claw outpost had bashed their own heads open out of loyalty to their master. Converts – especially new converts – frequently sacrificed themselves for their master.
But conversion affected people in different ways. And as Cindy had once said, converts could still think and feel and choose their own lives, which meant that they could have other priorities too. Earlier, Raider had freely given me details of his secret mission in the Resistance, which proved that he wasn’t so completely soaked in conversion that he was beyond reasoning with. Raider clearly cared for his daughter and for his own future raising her.
“Would you like me to find you some pliers, Adrian?” asked Terry. “Or do you want to get straight into something more persuasive?”
“Your hook will do just fine,” I replied. “But not yet. I haven’t finished asking him nicely.”
Raider said matter-of-factly, “Asking won’t help. I have sworn my life to the service of King Divine. Do not question my loyalty. I will never give up my king.”
I shook my head. If Raider’s conversion had turned him into an Angel fanatic with absolute submission to his king, he would never have been able to keep his identity hidden among the Guardians. Still, as a converted Angel, there would be a limit to how much he could assist us before the guilt of his betrayal became too much to bear. Fortunately, I had a workaround for this.
“Relax, Raider,” I told him. “We’re not asking you to give up your king at all.”
Raider looked at me questioningly.
I asked him, “Do you remember delving Tigress from Wood-claw? Remember how she told you that we were independent of the Guardians?”
Raider nodded slightly.
“We’re kind of like you, Raider,” said Terry, still keeping the tip of her hook pressed lightly against Raider’s neck. “We don’t answer to the Guardian Council. And like Adrian said, we’re not interested in your king.”
“Then who are you interested in?” asked Raider.
“His daughter,” I told him.
“Daughter?” repeated Raider. “You mean Cathy Divine?”
“The same.”
“You’re lying.”
“Delve me and find out,” I said evenly.
“Adrian?” said Terry. “Are you sure?”
“It’s okay,” I said, carefully pulling Terry’s hook away so that Raider wouldn’t be drained.
“Do it,” I said to him. “Ask me.”
The only time I had ever been delved before was by the Historian in his mountain home, and the Historian could do it so subtly that I could never tell when he was looking into my consciousness. But with Raider, I instantly recognized his psionic presence in the back of my mind, carefully watching my every thought. I had a feeling I could block him if I wanted to, but I kept my head calm and clear.
“Admit it!” Raider said in a commanding tone. “You are trying to kill my king!”
I shook my head, and Raider’s eyes widened as he realized that I was telling the truth.
“Enough,” said Terry, touching Raider’s neck with her hook again.
“Why are you after his daughter?” asked Raider.
“That’s our business,” said Terry.
Raider didn’t know my relationship to Catherine Divine any more than he knew who his real master was, but I wasn’t surprised. Aside from Cindy and Mr. Baker, who now both held high positions in Randal Divine’s government, how many other people actually knew that Catherine Divine was my sister? There was Mark, and then the late Laila Brown, Mr. Simms and Mr. Barnum, and perhaps a few others, but that was it. I wasn’t the only Guardian with a price on my head, and devout Angels knew better than to question their king’s motives.
“Cathy isn’t even King Divine’s real daughter,” said Raider. “You didn’t know that, did you?”
I didn’t reply, and Raider continued in a smug tone, “Cathy isn’t really a Divine by blood, Adrian. The king adopted that child back during the rule of Larissa Divine. It was just a publicity stunt to better the image of the Divine family. You’ll gain nothing from her.”
“Then you have no reason not to tell us,” I pointed out.
I found it mildly amusing that Raider thought we were after Catherine because of her bloodline, which of course we were, and yet he still believed that Randal Divine, not Catherine, was the master. But it was also true that my workaround wasn’t working as well as I had hoped.
“Cathy Divine is worth nothing to you,” insisted Raider. “She’s just a girl, plain and simple!”
Terry pressed her hook harder against Raider’s neck, drawing blood as she said, “Then you are going to give us this plain and simple girl.”
“Your loyalty is to King Divine,” I reminded Raider. “Give us the child and everybody wins.”
“I can’t do that,” panted Raider as blood trickled down his neck and soaked into his shirt. “Cathy is an adopted daughter, that’s true, but I’ve seen King Divine with her. He dotes on her like she’s his own flesh and blood. He spends every second of his waking day with her. Even if I could somehow lead you to Cathy without giving away my king, to betray Cathy Divine would be no different from betraying King Divine! I simply can’t do it!”
Terry said to me, “I think asking nicely isn’t working, Adrian.”
“No,” I admitted, “it’s not.”
“Then it’s my turn to persuade him.”
Without further warning, Terry grabbed Raider’s left ring finger and yanked it back until it snapped. Raider, caught off guard, howled in pain.
“Don’t tell us there are things you can’t do, Raider!” Terry barked over his screams. “Because you have no idea what we can!”
Raider struggled against the ropes binding him to his chair, and I grabbed the back of it so he wouldn’t fall over. Terry broke Raider’s left middle finger next.
The door at the top of the stairs was still open, so I telekinetically pulled it shut. I suspected that Raider’s screams would still carry straight up to the second floor, but at least they would be quieter.
“I’ve got a healer waiting upstairs,” said Terry as Raider clenched his teeth in agony. “We can do this over and over, as many times as it takes until you’re ready to tell us where we can find Catherine Divine.”