“Then we take the weapon, tell Navarre we have it, and run like hell?” said Caina.
“Something like that,” said Nadia.
“I can’t think of anything better,” said Riordan. He took the AK-47 in both hands. “Ready?”
“Let’s go,” said Caina. “Nadia?”
Nadia nodded and waved her hand towards the corridor, concentration flashing over her face. Caina saw the flicker of power as Nadia dismissed the ice wall, and it dissolved into white mist. She raised her rifle, preparing to fire at any Rebels or anthrophages, but the corridor was empty.
“Huh,” said Nadia. “I was sure they would try to follow us.”
“Chasing an enemy into a maze of corridors you don’t know is a great way to get killed,” said Riordan.
“Yeah, which is what we’re doing,” said Nadia.
Caina started up the corridor, Riordan on her right, Nadia behind them. They went around the corner, Caina going low, Riordan going high, and Nadia cast the Shield spell. The dome of hazy gray light flickered to life in front of them, and Caina’s eyes moved back and forth, seeking for enemies.
She didn’t see any.
In fact, Nadia’s original ice wall still stood. It had taken damage from bullets and was starting to melt, but it was mostly intact.
“Okay,” said Nadia. “Wasn’t expecting that.”
“Wait until we’ve covered half the distance,” said Riordan. “Then release the wall.”
Nadia nodded, and they walked in silence. At the halfway point Nadia waved her hand, and the wall dissolved into nothingness. Caina’s finger tensed against her gun’s trigger, but nothing moved in the corridor.
And the trophy room beyond looked deserted.
“What the hell?” said Nadia.
“They must have gotten the weapon out already,” said Riordan.
“Maybe we can catch up to them,” said Caina.
They hurried into the trophy room. The display cases were undisturbed. With their eyes on the main prize, the Rebels must have decided not to bother with the Baron’s curios and trinkets. The vault door had been cut from its frame and lay a few feet away, shoved out of the way. A massive spiderweb of cracks marked the floor where it had landed.
Inside the vault was absolutely nothing.
Caina walked forward, pointing her rifle. The vault looked like a standard bank vault, a large box of steel-reinforced concrete. Unlike an actual bank vault, it had no safe deposit boxes, and the walls were smooth and unmarked. The floor was scuffed and scraped.
“Look at those marks,” said Caina. “Five or six pallets were sitting here. You can see the splinters from the pallets and the scuff marks from the wheels of the jacks. The Rebels took the pallets, dragged them out, and loaded them onto the freight elevator. Probably they’re putting them on the truck right now.”
“Pallets?” said Nadia. “What the hell kind of weapon is stored on pallets? Plastic explosives or bombs or something?”
“Maybe the weapon was disassembled,” said Riordan.
“Must be,” said Nadia. “No one goes to all this trouble just to steal some goddamned plastic explosives.”
“No,” said Caina. “It…wait.” Something on the rear wall of the vault caught her eye. There was a faint straight line in the concrete. “I think there’s a hidden door there.”
“Maybe Kaldmask has a second secret vault behind his first secret vault?” said Nadia. “That sounds like…”
Even as she spoke, the door swung open.
Caina and Riordan leveled their guns at the hidden door, and Nadia raised her hand.
Baron Kaldmask stepped into the vault, an annoyed expression on his face.
“I thought I recognized your voice, Worldburner,” said Kaldmask.
They stared at him in astonishment.
“What the actual hell?” said Nadia.
“You’re upstairs,” said Riordan. “I saw you with a gun loaded with Shadowlands bullets pointed at your head.”
Kaldmask only smirked.
“Caina,” said Nadia. “Is he an illusion?”
Caina shook her head. “He doesn’t have any active spells around him. His appearance is not an illusion.”
“You might as well lower your guns,” said Kaldmask. “You have no bullets that can harm me.”
“We’ve got weapons other than bullets, your lordship,” spat Nadia. That dangerous look was starting to come into her eyes again. “Are you a fake, or is the real Baron Kaldmask upstairs?”
“The man upstairs is a body double,” said Kaldmask with a smug smile. “I am well aware that my popularity among both my human subjects and my fellow Elven nobles is quite low. So I used a variety of flesh-altering spells to reshape one of my retainers to match my appearance. When the bombs went off, I immediately retreated to my safe room, and my body double took my place.” Kaldmask paused. “Is he still alive?”
“Last time I looked,” said Nadia.
“Oh, good,” said Kaldmask. “It was quite difficult to alter his appearance, and I would hate to have to start over with someone new.”
“What weapon were you hiding here?” said Nadia. “I know the Rebels aren’t here to hold hostages or to make demands of the High Queen. That’s just a ruse. What did you have hidden down here?”
Kaldmask sneered. “A human does not make demands of an Elven lord.”
“An Elven lord is currently hiding in his safe room underneath his mansion,” said Riordan. “That’s going to look very bad when Duke Mythrender storms the building.”
Kaldmask gave an indifferent shrug. “Duke Mythrender already hates me. Unjustly, I might add. His opinion is of no further consequence.”
“What kind of weapon were you storing in this vault?” said Nadia.
“I am certainly not going to tell you,” said Kaldmask. “But I am not stupid enough to store magical weapons in my mansion. The High Queen takes a dim view of such affairs. Such things draw unwelcome attention.”
“You’ve already got unwelcome attention,” said Riordan.
Kaldmask shrugged again. “I am hardly responsible for the base greed of humans, am I? It is not my fault that my wealth has drawn robbers. That really is the responsibility of Duke Mythrender and Homeland Security, isn’t it? They should do a better job of keeping public order among the human rabble.”
“Wait,” said Caina. “Wealth? Then you weren’t storing a weapon? Just wealth? Gold?” But that didn’t make any sense. If the Rebels wanted gold bullion, there were a hundred easier ways to get it. With the kind of firepower and magical ability that Navarre possessed, it would have been far easier to rob a large bank, or maybe even the Royal Bank branch in Washington DC. What kind of wealth would make Navarre risk so much…
Then the answer came to Caina.
“Oh,” she said. “You were storing aurelium in here, weren’t you?”
Riordan’s dark eyes went wide. Nadia only looked confused. But Kaldmask reacted as if she had slapped him. The Baron took a step back, his eyes widening.
“What?” said Kaldmask. “How did you know? You have been spying on me, haven’t you? You…”
“No, I just figured it out,” said Caina.
“It makes sense,” said Riordan. “Navarre knows the Rebels are finished. What better way to secure his personal future than with a few hundred pounds of aurelium?”
“Wait, wait, wait,” said Nadia. “What the hell is aurelium?”
“Gold mined from the Shadowlands,” said Caina. “Bullets made with ore dug from the Shadowlands can kill Elves and magic-infused creatures. But gold mined from the Shadowlands, properly refined and prepared, can store a vast amount of magical power. It’s used to make magical objects and artifacts.” Kaldmask’s face worked. “And it’s also illegal for anyone but the High Queen to possess. She won’t even let Elven nobles have any aurelium. Let alone six pallets’ worth.”
Nadia let out a nasty laugh. “That does makes sense.”
“It does,” said Riorda
n. “Aurelium is incredibly valuable. I suspect Navarre wants to use it to escape from Earth. He can use that much aurelium to buy sanctuary on nearly any world – the dwarves, the orcs, the frost giants, and others would be happy to grant him asylum in exchange for that much aurelium.”
“Or they’d just cut off his head and take the aurelium anyway,” said Caina.
“That’s only fair,” said Nadia, her voice cold, “given that he’s probably planning to abandon most of his men so he can escape. I bet he’s told them that the aurelium is some sort of weapon like the Sky Hammer, something that can win victory for the remnants of the Rebels. But he’s going to abandon them all and use the aurelium to buy himself a cushy retirement on some other world.”
“That is my aurelium!” said Kaldmask. “I command you to recover it for me and bring it here.”
“Or what?” said Nadia. That dangerous look in her eyes had gotten sharper. She was seriously angry, and Caina was concerned Nadia was about to do something rash. “So you can spend it on more nude paintings of yourself? I bet the reality is a lot less impressive than the painting, and that painting was seriously ugly.”
“That is elfophobic,” said Kaldmask.
“No, it just means that I have a modicum of good taste,” said Nadia.
“I command you to retrieve my aurelium, return it to me, and never speak of it to anyone!” thundered Kaldmask.
“Sorry, buddy, but we don’t answer to you,” said Nadia. “You go hide in your little hole and wait until the danger is passed. I bet the High Queen’s going to have a very pointed conversation with you when this is all over.”
Kaldmask snarled. “Then I have no use for you, little humans, or for your lives…”
Fire crackled around his hands as he started to cast a spell, and Caina dropped her rifle and summoned her valikon.
But Nadia was faster. Before Caina could call her valikon, Riordan could summon his Shadowmorph blade, or Kaldmask could finish his spell, Nadia stepped forward and clapped her left hand against Kaldmask’s temple.
The glow of the mindtouch spell flared around her.
Kaldmask scowled and grabbed her wrist, and then his eyes bulged, and he started to scream. The Baron dropped to his knees, shrieking incoherently, and Nadia kept her hand clamped against his head, her face cold and hard. Kaldmask shuddered once and collapsed in a heap to the floor, unconscious.
“Dumbass,” said Nadia, and she straightened up, flexing the fingers of her left hand.
“What did you do to him?” said Caina. Despite herself, she was a little horrified. The taboo against elfophobia, against ever criticizing the Elves, was so strong that she found it difficult to overcome even when the Elf in question clearly deserved criticism and much worse.
“Mindtouch spell,” said Nadia. That rictus of a grin went over her face. “Showed him some unhappy memories. Like I did with our buddy Vincent. He’ll wake up in a bit with a nasty headache and no memory of the last half hour.”
“So he won’t remember that conversation,” said Caina. She hadn’t known Nadia could do that to Elves. “Just as well. I don’t want him taking out his frustrations on Ghost Securities.”
“It doesn’t matter what he wants,” said Riordan. “When you two tell the High Queen about the aurelium, he’s going to be in a lot of trouble.”
“Yes, he is,” said Nadia. “Goddamn it. This wasn’t about a weapon at all. Kaldmask was a greedy asshole, and Navarre is a greedier asshole, and between them, they’re going to get a lot of people killed for nothing.”
“Unless we stop it,” said Caina.
Nadia grinned. “Navarre robbed Kaldmask. Let’s go rob Navarre.”
“Sounds like a plan,” said Riordan, and they headed for the freight elevator.
***
Chapter 8: Never Steal From A Thief
I was really pissed off.
Kaldmask had been greedy and stupid, hiding that aurelium from the High Queen. And his stupidity had drawn the attention of Navarre, who must have realized that Kaldmask had a secret aurelium stash. Because of that, there were thousands of people held hostage in the dining hall, people who were going to die when the Elven nobles’ men-at-arms and Homeland Security stormed the building.
All those kids. All those kids were going to die.
And that really, really pissed me off. I don’t know why. Something about threatening kids just made me furious. I didn’t particularly want children, which was just as well since Riordan was a Shadow Hunter and the regeneration spell I used had some nasty side effects, so I was very unlikely to conceive. But people threatening children just made me furious.
I had shot Nicholas to death for that, and I had spared Lord Inquisitor Arvalaeon for the same reason, because as much as I hated him if he hadn’t put me into the Eternity Crucible a lot of people would have died on the day of the Sky Hammer.
Now Gabriel Navarre was threatening people in front of me.
Boy, was that a mistake, and I was going to make sure he found that out the hard way.
“Should we Cloak?” said Caina as Riordan pulled the freight elevator door closed and hit the button for the ground floor.
“Nah,” I said, flexing my fingers as I summoned magical power. “Won’t matter. They’ll hear the freight elevator coming, so we can’t sneak up on them. We’ll have to come out fighting. I’ll put a Shield spell in front of us, and you guys can shoot the Rebels.”
“I suspect we won’t have to deal with too many of them,” said Caina, checking her rifle over one last time. “Navarre needs a few men he trusts to pull this off, and he’ll have told them the truth. But he’ll keep that number as small as possible. Less chance of treachery that way.”
“Here we go,” I said, and I cast the Shield spell, interposing the translucent dome of gray light between the door and the concrete wall of the elevator shaft. About two seconds later we arrived at the truck dock, and Riordan reached out with his free hand and slid the cage door open.
Caina’s deduction was right yet again. Four Rebels with AK-47s stood near the truck port, startled expressions on their faces, their weapons pointed at the elevator. Behind them yawned the open trailer of the idling semi, and inside the trailer, I saw the dim shapes of six pallets wrapped in black plastic. I was surprised at how short they were, only a foot or two tall. But gold was really heavy, right? Likely Kaldmask had been forced to load his hoard of aurelium onto multiple pallets to make them light enough to move.
“Who the hell are you?” shouted one of the Rebels.
“Bad news,” I said. “Drop your weapons and put your hands in the air, or…”
They opened fire. Holding a Shield spell against four AK-47s set to fully automatic fire was a pain, but I was up for the challenge. It helped that their aim really sucked. One man wasn’t holding his weapon in a proper grip, and the muzzle jerked to the left, spraying bullets into the wall as he struggled to get his rifle back under control.
Riordan and Caina were much better shots.
Seven bullets later, the four Rebels lay dead on the floor. I looked back and forth, but I didn’t see any more Rebels in the truck dock. Given that Navarre must have brought somewhere around two hundred men with him to pull this off, I was surprised. But Caina’s guess was right. Navarre had only a few men he had trusted with the truth of his mission, a few men who knew that this whole thing was nothing but a con and a robbery.
And we had probably killed a bunch of them already.
“We’re clear,” said Riordan.
“Let’s move,” said Caina.
We hurried across the truck dock. I looked back and forth, but no more Rebels emerged from the corridors. We stopped at the empty truck port, and I looked up the ramp to the cab of the semi. Its headlights were on, throwing shadows across the access road, the beach, and the ocean beyond. I focused my will on the cab, preparing to throw spells, but no one was inside the truck.
“Well,” I said. “Wasn’t it thoughtful of the Rebels to leave the keys
for us?”
“Oh,” said Caina as we climbed up the concrete ramp. “I just had a thought.”
“Sounds like it was a bad thought,” I said.
“I don’t know how to drive a semi lorry,” said Caina.
“I don’t, either,” said Riordan.
I sighed. “I do.”
“Really,” said Caina. “Where did you learn how to do that?”
“Believe me,” I said, thinking of the decades I had spent driving that semi into that church in the Eternity Crucible every day, “you really don’t want to know.”
“All right,” said Riordan. “Nadia, you drive. Caina and I will keep watch.”
“You think Navarre’s going to come after us?” I said. I scrambled up the side of the cab and got the driver’s side door open. Which is harder than you might think when you’re short and wearing high heels and a dress. I got into the driver’s seat and pulled it as far forward as it would go as Riordan and Caina climbed into the passenger’s side. The interior of the cab was worn-down and shabby and smelled like it hadn’t been cleaned in quite some time. Fast food wrappers littered the footwells, and there was a variety of junk behind the seats, empty pizza boxes and road atlases and empty soda cans.
“I don’t think he has any choice,” said Riordan. “This attack has probably used up all his available resources. Especially since he was willing to abandon his men to their deaths. If he doesn’t get his aurelium, he’s out of options.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Yeah, that makes since…shit!” I had pulled the driver’s seat as far forward as it would go, but I couldn’t quite get my feet on the pedals. “Goddamn it. Why don’t they make these things smaller? One of you might have to drive.”
I heard shouting and glanced through the side window. I saw Rebels milling around the truck dock. They must have found their dead friends.
Riordan nodded. “If you walk me through it, I can probably manage…
“Wait!” said Caina, reaching behind the seat. She pulled out a pair of thick phone books and handed them to me. “Here.”
I looked at the phone books, at her, and then back at the phone books. “Oh, for God’s sake.”
Cloak & Ghost: Rebel Cell Page 10
