It was a lot to ask, I knew. The Winter Queen was making it clear that in her opinion his help would result in damage to his political career and yet she was asking him anyway.
Roger leaned back, looking down at his hands on the table, in thought. After a few moments, he looked up and said, “Yes.”
He was a good man. If he ever ran, after this, I would vote for him. I got his personal cell phone number and gave him the Winter Queen’s. As we left, I got a call from London Jane. She would be by in just a few minutes to pick me up, it was important she said. I gave John a hug, promising to give him a call and shook Roger’s hand telling him to expect a cashier’s check soon drawn on a Swiss account without the donor’s name on it for his charity. It was the least I could do and it would be a sizable donation.
My mission had been successful, with the unexpected help of a former angel. I couldn’t help but wonder again if this was something I was getting help with from above, very high above. I shrugged and told myself, “I am not God.” I would continue doing what I thought was the right thing to do, regardless.
Jane and Jill were waiting outside the door in a rented SUV. They both looked the worse for wear. Jill’s clothes were full of brambles and thorns and she had bits of leaves in her hair, dirt and mud pretty much all over her. Jane looked like she had been in several fights, spots of blood dotted her clothes and there was a cut across her cheek, slowing but still dripping and a big bruise on her shoulder, it looked as if somebody had hit her with a baseball bat.
“They went after me with knives and baseball bats,” she said. She had located the other two masters. Luca was safe and promised his help but could only commit himself and a few others if we needed him, most of his vamps had left the city area or were deeply hidden. Many had been hunted down and killed. “There are vigilante squads hunting vamps all over the city,” Jane said. “I was trying to get to the other vamp master’s hiding spot and they were all over the place, his safe house was in flames. About thirty of them jumped me with knives and clubs, there was one guy with a can of gasoline, he kept trying to douse me with it. I probably killed about a dozen of them but more just kept coming. I was lucky to make it out of there alive.”
“I made it through to the Butler cabin in the dark, through some rough country,” Jill said, giving us her update. “James, Lily, Emily, Markus and Hans are all there, wondering if Jade was going to show up. Rolfe had been there along with your two FBI friends but they had left a few hours before I got there, lured by Rolfe’s Captain to a meeting at the territory border. You are going to have to knock some sense into your partner if you ever see him again,” she continued. “It was of course a trap and they have taken them to Central Prison. James believes that’s where they are running their operation from, the warden is evidently in on this thing as well. The Mayor called James on his cell phone and said he would call back at two am to talk to you, Jade. He said he was concerned for your friends’ health if James was unable to get you to talk to him. Emily believes the Mayor thinks you are in Pack territory, hiding out there as well. James gave me his phone, two am is coming up in about fifteen minutes. Markus wanted me to make sure I told you that he has your dagger safe with him. James is prepared to place the Pack at our disposal.”
I had tears running down my cheeks, I didn’t realize I could get so emotional. Rolfe, Sarah, and Chris all hostages of the Mayor. I would be lucky to see them alive again, they were among my first few friends that I had made. Jane reached over the front seat and handed me some tissues, placing them in my palm and gently squeezing my hand letting me know she was there for me.
It took me a minute, I had to wipe my eyes and blow my nose and gather my thoughts, all I really wanted to do was to go and get my friends back.
“My task went very smoothly this time,” I said, not mentioning I had some help with it. “Roger is in, he has given me his cell phone number and told me to tell you to give him a call if he is needed.” I gave Jill his card, he had written his private cell phone number on the back.
“My guess is that they have a trace set up on James’ cell phone,” Jill said. “They are hoping to pinpoint your exact location and probably use that as an excuse to go into Pack territory. I wanted to make sure you take this call in the city, if we are moving we can ditch the phone as soon as you complete the call. That interview has made them desperate, they want to eliminate all opposition very quickly before we make things even harder for them.”
The phone rang and Jane handed me the cell phone.
“Smith,” the Mayor said. “You are a real pain in the ass. I want you to know I have your partner and your FBI witches with me at Central Prison. They are not doing so well. I don’t expect them to make it after twenty four hours from now. By the way, you are going to burn in hell.”
“I am going to squash you like a bug,” I replied, and hung up the phone.
Jill pulled our SUV up next to a pickup truck in the other lane and I threw the phone in the bed of the pickup, Jill turning left at the next intersection. I felt a little sorry for the guy in the pickup, he was going to have some company shortly. We could already hear some sirens sounding in the distance, heading in the direction we had just left.
We headed for Central Prison instead of going back to Tanglewood. Our time was limited now if we wanted to save my friends, and Jill wanted to see what they had prepared for us. A prison is designed both to keep people out, as well as keeping people in. If we thought the compound we had attacked the previous night was a fortress, seeing this place made that one look like a house of cards. There were close to a hundred cop cars, SWAT team vehicles, and National Guard vehicles in the parking lot. Two armored vehicles were stationed at the gate, guns pointed outwards. Guns at every corner tower, a triple series of electrified fencing with rolls of barbed wire at the top, cops, and Swat, as well as National Guard troops walked the interior perimeter, carrying automatic weapons. Lights and spotlights had the place looking brighter than daylight.
I had rolled down my window, smelling, letting my shifter side tell me if Rolfe was there.
“He’s still alive, I think he is in that small building at the corner of the parking lot, what looks like an administration and visitors facility.” I had difficulty pinpointing much else, witches smell similar to humans and I was not close enough to get a read on their magic.
“Then your FBI witch friends are probably there as well,” Jill said, telling Jane to drive us back to Tanglewood. “I have some ideas” she continued. “We will take some major casualties and the odds are not in our favor, nor is there any guarantee that we can save them, but we can bring this thing to a close tomorrow night, one way or another, using all of our assets in one attack. Let me think about this on the way back and we can discuss my plan when we get back to our cabin.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
It was a good plan,
I thought,
maybe even brilliant,
as we waited in the woods outside the prison. Twenty-three hours had passed since the phone call from the Mayor. It was almost one am. I had slept most of the day, I was well fed, well rested, and impatient to get going. The weather was cooperating, a fine misty rain, humid and muggy. This would work in our favor. Behind me stood two dozen shifters, led by the Pack Alpha, James. Behind them, were the vamps, everyone we could gather for this attack, about sixty strong. On the back side of the prison two shifters waited with a car and a group of three witches. Roger and his two bodyguards had showed up for us. We could not execute the plan without them.
Actually, we can’t execute the plan without any of the pieces,
I thought. The Winter Queen had used every available resource and then some. From the back of the prison, the three witches would create a spell of dense fog that would roll over the prison and stay there. Roger said they could hold that spell for around ten minutes, that should be enough for our needs. At that point, two things would happen. The two shifters would start the car, get out, tying the steering wheel down and placing a brick on the accelerator, they would place the car in gear and jump out. The car would crash into the first of the three fences, it would not penetrate but in the fog of confusion it would sound like we were trying to breach the fence at that point.
At the same time, the Winter Queen, acting in concert with the Summer Queen on the other side of the divide would open a portal to Faerie in the little guardhouse next two the two armored vehicles sitting side by side, blocking the entrance, with guns facing outwards. Four of the Summer Queen’s more powerful warriors would enter the gate house through the portal. They were all capable of holding a shield against bullets for at least a few seconds. They might not need it, I hoped, if the fog was thick enough. Two of them would take the closest armored vehicle, killing the guards, and ram it forward into the swinging gates that allowed vehicles in and out of the prison. Opening a new portal to Faerie is an enormous task, Jill had told us that after this effort she would likely collapse from exhaustion and would not be able to help us further. The two shifters in charge of ramming the car in the fence in the back would take her to safety.
The other two fae would back the other vehicle up, straight into the administration building’s door, breaching it, That’s were the shifters came in, me included. We had the best chance of finding the hostages, finding Rolfe by smell would be easy, and that close we should be able to pinpoint the location of Sarah and Chris as well. I would take half the shifters through the front door and James would lead the other half into the second floor windows, the hostages could be in either place. Jill hoped the two pronged entrance would add to the surprise and confusion.
Jane would lead the large group of vamps, their job was to eliminate the guards around the grounds, so when we emerged with the hostages, we would not be riddled with bullets. Both vamps and shifters can maneuver in the dark and fog, it’s a bit harder, but still manageable.
Jill warned us that the guards were likely to be shooting indiscriminately at this point, probably shooting some of ours at the same time they were shooting some of their own. Her casualty estimate was half our force and that is if the plan worked to perfection. The unknown factor was inside the administration building, we didn’t know how many armed guards would be inside, certainly some, and the fog on the grounds would not help us there. We would need to be fast and viscous she said, kill anything and anyone that is not the three we were there for.
I asked her about the Mayor and why he was not a target. “We simply do not have the resources,” she had answered. She did have one more part to her plan. She had been monitoring the news while Jane and I had slept. Evelyn’s story had started to be picked up by the national outlets. The Mayor had first denied it and now was not available for comment, probably because he was waiting for us.
Evelyn had agreed to wait at the same meeting room we had rented before, Roger would give a live interview, as well as the hostages, if we were able to rescue them and they were up to talking. Jane and Jill would both speak as well, and James would be there to speak for the shifters. I hoped all these folks would make it out of this thing alive. Evelyn was planning a live feed with a camera crew and news truck, with many interviews, one after another. Jill felt that this would have a huge impact on public perception, she said she could see the media starting to understand something funny was going on already.
I was sure glad we had the Winter Queen on our side and was thankful to my Queen for asking her to team up with me. I would hate to have to go up against her in a fight. We waited for the fog. I could sense the witches building the magic and could almost see the fog coming at the back of the prison compound. When it reached the front, the Queens would open the portal.
I looked back at Jane, her group of vamps behind us in the woods. ”Piece of cake,” she mouthed silently, and winked. I smiled and blew her a kiss. The fog was halfway across the prison as I turned around. We could hear guards, shouting commands in concern and confusion. Just before the fog reached the front of the prison, a big screeching crash could be heard from the rear of the prison and the shooting started.
Jane had got me started, as I realized I was again muttering, “Piece of cake,” to myself. Almost time to go. I could not wait, I had made a promise to the Mayor and I planned on keeping that promise, as soon as the hostages were secure.
The fog reached the front of the prison. I had sensed fae magic building the last ten yards or so and then a surge of power and I felt a portal open. Four fae emerged from the small gate house, swords in hand, shields sparkling with magic. Diocletus and the Queen’s Blade were among the four. Diocletus and his partner took the first vehicle and the Queen’s Blade, moving at a speed I envied, had reached the second vehicle and killed three guards before I could even blink. Both fae teams achieved their goal, the first smashing through the entrance gate, the second backing in a weave, towards the administration building.
That’s my cue,
I thought and we surged forward swarming over the vehicle that was now stuck in the front gates, but open enough that we could still go through three abreast. We moved fast and almost beat the second armored vehicle to the admin door and we were through the front door just a half-second after it crashed inside, pieces of bricks from the building flying off of us as the vehicle smashed not only the door but partially entered the building as well.