by Dannika Dark
I turned down the radio. “Are you going to behave around Patrick?”
Shepherd crossed his heart, but I wasn’t confident that taking him along was the wisest idea. Now that the cat was out of the bag about his son, he might follow through with one of his deranged fantasies about killing Patrick. He’d gotten his revenge on the men who’d killed his pregnant girlfriend, so whatever Patrick had coming was going to be exceedingly worse. We had enough dead officials at the moment.
“If you kill anyone, we don’t get paid,” I reminded him.
His leather jacket creaked when he folded his arms. “Feels good to get that shit off my chest. Niko was right.”
“Niko knew?”
Shepherd didn’t answer.
Knowing that Niko hadn’t divulged such a secret made me feel better about confiding in him. Niko must have encouraged Shepherd to tell the group, but I could understand Shepherd’s point of view. It wasn’t easy laying out all your dirty laundry for the world to see, especially when it could affect your position in the group. Keystone was all we had.
“I could really go for a bacon sandwich,” I said, pulling into the church parking lot.
“Inside a warm roll,” he added. “With hot coffee.”
“If this job doesn’t pan out, I might open up a joint that serves bacon with everything.”
“Keep it open twenty-four hours, and I’ll be a regular.”
“What the hell are they doing?” I muttered, noticing two men poking around in the bushes by the building.
I parked and switched off the engine. When one of the men turned around, I recognized his face and shot out of the truck. Pulling a long dagger from the strap on my leg, I flashed toward him, weapon drawn. “What are you doing?”
Merry bowed, his gaze affixed to my blade. “I would advise you to put the weapon away, lest I have to kill you in self-defense.”
“Not until you tell me why you’re snooping around in the bushes. Weren’t you reassigned?”
He squared his shoulders, his expression blank. “Are you aware of the mass assassination?”
Shepherd appeared at my side, a gun drawn but aimed at the ground.
Weather stood up when he caught a whiff of tension culminating behind his back. He brandished his katana, and we were suddenly in a standoff. “Put down your weapon, Mage.”
I scowled at Merry. “Are you planting a bomb?”
Merry slowly moved his hand over the pommel of his sword, his blond hair tied in the back. “That’s what we’re here looking for.”
“Why here and not the location where we sent you?”
He stepped forward, eyes still on my blade. “Because the other location was burned to the ground.”
I glowered. “You were at the church, and it just so happened to burn down? Shepherd, call Viktor.”
Weather raised his sword. “Touch that phone, and I’ll cut off your hand.”
Shepherd raised his gun and aimed it at Weather. “Can you run faster than a bullet?”
Merry blurred as he rushed at me, and two fangs sank into my shoulder. Incensed, I blasted him with energy, and down he went. I heard a gunshot but ignored it as I straddled Merry and shocked him again. His eyes glazed over, but he still looked confused as to why his venom hadn’t paralyzed me. I pulled the collar of my sweater off my shoulder and looked at the two bleeding puncture marks. He hadn’t meant to kill me, or there would have been four. After unbuckling Merry’s belt, I rolled him onto his stomach and tied up his hands while he was still unconscious.
“Stay down, motherfucker,” Shepherd snarled.
He shoved Weather’s face against the concrete while tying him up with a nylon cord.
“Where the hell did you get that?” I asked.
He cinched the knot tighter and then looped it around Weather’s feet. “You think I don’t got pockets in the lining of my coat?”
“I thought you put cigarettes in there. Who knew you carried an arsenal of survival gear?”
“You’re going to regret this,” Weather growled. “Just wait until the higher authority hears you’ve attacked a Regulator.”
Shepherd kicked him, and I blasted Weather with enough energy to silence him.
“You attacked first,” I spat. “And who’s out here planting bombs? Huh? Yeah, the same guys who burned down the church.”
Shepherd walked over to the bushes and performed a search. I sheathed my dagger, still out of breath.
“Jaysus wept. Is that who I think it is?”
I turned to Christian. “They were up to something.”
“Aye,” he said, approaching me and lowering his voice. “They were searching the grounds for bombs and hidden weapons. I sent them out here.”
“They’re not supposed to be here in the first place!”
“They never made it to the other location before the attack.”
“Is that what they told you?”
Shepherd eased up to our huddle and wiped the sweat from his brow.
Christian pinched the bridge of his nose. “They didn’t have to. The attack happened ten minutes after they left. Now, unless they have wings stuffed in the back of their trousers, they weren’t at the scene of the crime.”
Shepherd wiped his forehead. “Didn’t find anything in the bushes.”
Christian cut him a sharp glare. “Of course you didn’t, you big numpty. Did I hear a gunshot?”
Shepherd shrugged. “Nobody’s dead. It’s just a flesh wound.” He glanced worriedly over his shoulder and then back. “This looks like something we’ll have to deny later.”
* * *
Shortly after untying Merry and Weather, we cordially invited them inside for a “Please don’t have us executed” cup of coffee so we could explain.
I finished the last sip of my drink and slid the cup across the table between Merry and me. “Look, we’re all here for the same reason. You have to admit it looked suspicious.”
Merry rubbed his chest where I’d shocked him. I averted my eyes to Weather, who was sitting at the end of the table with his shirt off while Shepherd stitched up his arm with a needle and thread the priest had given him.
“Why didn’t the other Regulators step in to help you?” I asked.
“Each is assigned to guard a location,” Merry answered. “To leave his assigned post creates a breach. It’s a common divisional tactic. Our priority is to protect the officials, not each other.” He gave me a long look that made me uncomfortable. “You suspected us all along, didn’t you?”
I glanced to my left at Christian. “No.”
Merry leaned forward and drew in a deep breath. “You lie.”
Christian pointed a finger at him. “I’ll thank you kindly to get your nose out of her face.”
“I didn’t suspect you the entire time,” I explained. “So it’s not a lie. But why does my suspicion come as a surprise? The victims let the murderer into their homes—someone with a long sword that they trusted enough not to use it. Who carries swords?”
“Lots of people, I might add.”
“Yes, but let’s take a hard look at the last victim. She invited a man back to her house. She drove him. Everyone at the party had a car, so why didn’t he follow her? Because maybe he didn’t have a car. I’ve seen the way you guys pile into one vehicle for these events, and one of your buddies would’ve noticed if the car went missing. She invited an armed man back to her house. There’s only one form of protection women want men to carry when they invite them into their bed, and it’s not a sixty-inch sword.”
Christian chuckled and sat back.
When Merry lifted his coffee cup to his lips to blow the steam, it drew my attention to a scratch on his cheek where I’d shoved his face into the concrete.
“You’re still not convinced of our innocence,” he said to me. “Even after your partner confirmed our whereabouts.”
A knock sounded at the door, and Father Martin stepped in. “Christian, I need your assistance.”
Christian ros
e from his seat and squeezed my shoulder before leaving the room.
Merry set down his cup. “Would you two gentlemen give us a moment of privacy?”
Weather wrenched his arm away, and Shepherd grumbled a curse as they gathered their things and left us alone.
When the door closed, Merry wrapped his hands around his coffee cup. “What has you so convinced that I can’t be trusted? I smell your emotions, female. Don’t lie.”
I scooted back. “Why did you invite me to the last crime scene?”
“You were involved with the previous.”
“Yes, but we were called in as a third party to verify the identity. We weren’t hired to work the murders, and you know that. Viktor’s contact didn’t ask me to go with you, so why did you invite me? Why did you lie and tell me you already asked Christian, knowing I’d find out the truth? Maybe I don’t have a Chitah nose, but I can smell bullshit a mile away.”
His lips pressed into a mulish line before he let go of his cup. “This evacuation wasn’t by the book. I had apprehensions about your team staying within the church. I looked you up, Raven. I’m aware of your sketchy past. Let me allay your fears by explaining that I have no intention of killing you.”
“But you did.”
“Correct. I invited you to Mathilda’s house because I wasn’t certain of your motives. I wanted to draw you away from your partner and get you alone.”
“To kill me.”
He raised his palm, signaling me to slow down. “Let me explain. The purpose was to speak with you alone. You said you had no loyalty to the higher authority, and when someone makes a bold statement like that, it’s a red flag for treason. I had every right to question your intentions. But you also said something that changed my mind—about your loyalty to mankind and the necessity for law to exist. You recognize the value of our agencies even if you disagree with our methods. You care about humans, and perhaps it’s because you’re still connected to their world.” He leaned back in his chair, his fingers laced together. “What made you suspicious of me in particular?”
“Because you asked me how loyal I was to the higher authority. And that’s a red flag in my book. I wondered if you were fishing to see if I might be willing to join your rebellion.”
Merry laughed, a dimple pitting his cheek. “The very question that saved your life was one that risked my own. I merely saw Keystone as a threat to the lives I’m duty-bound to protect. I understand your organization has aided in the capture of many outlaws, but you each have questionable pasts that make you untrustworthy in the eyes of a Regulator.”
“If you killed us, you would have suffered the consequences.”
“Killing you would have been for the greater good, protecting the lives that save us all. That alone is worth my life and freedom. I will admit that my concern wasn’t with you directly harming them.”
I folded my arms. “You thought one of us would leak the location or sell it to the highest bidder, didn’t you?”
“One church is destroyed. Should I still be concerned?”
“Why would we betray the people who fund one of our revenue streams?”
“Because maybe an organization unconcerned with ethics doesn’t care where their money comes from. If someone offered one of you a substantial bribe, I don’t see what would stop you from accepting it.”
“Criminals want nothing to do with us. We’re the ones who hunt them down, and we don’t just do it for a paycheck. I don’t know what you dug up about me since I’m not in any records that I’m aware of, but my past has nothing to do with who I am.”
“On the contrary, it has everything to do with who you’ve become. You can’t understand a man’s present frame of mind without looking at his past.”
“There are men out there with squeaky-clean records filling your jail cells. You can’t make assumptions based on someone’s past; you have to look at their motives. What motive would Keystone have for putting our lives at risk to save these idiots just so we can have them killed? Money? The higher authority hires us because they trust us. I thought you guys would respect that, but now it appears you were going to execute me for nothing more than suspicion.”
“No one is above the law. No one.”
“Good. Then we’re on the same page. Do you trust your comrade in arms?”
“All Regulators have been accounted for. We watch each other closely. No one could have left their station to pull off an attack.”
“What about the ones who aren’t Chitahs? They’re not on the job. Do you think one of them might have leaked information?”
“Only those who showed up are privy to the locations and details. When a man is assigned a task, he doesn’t divulge the information to anyone who is not part of the assignment, not even his brother. It’s the code we follow.”
I rubbed the bite marks on my shoulder. “Before you start assuming all your guys are clean, maybe you should do some sniffing around.”
“I agree,” he said, rising to his feet. “May I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
His eyes lingered on my shoulder, and he drew a breath. After a beat, Merry blinked a few times and looked me in the eye. “Did you report me to anyone?”
“No one outside my team. But that’s not what you were going to ask me, was it?”
He wanted to know why his bite hadn’t paralyzed me but likely decided that asking the obvious wasn’t worth the effort if he wasn’t going to get the answer.
Merry drifted toward the door, hands in his pants pockets. “Let no Regulator inside the church. Except for the two I trust, I’m issuing an order for them to remain outside. Can you have the priest back me up?”
“Sure. You should put someone by the road to look for suspicious cars or activity. Now that the lights are on, we can see who’s coming.”
“If our location was compromised, this was all for naught.”
When we stepped outside, Merry sauntered off to organize his men. I still had reservations about how much we could trust these guys, but if Merry and Weather were the killers, they wouldn’t have come inside for coffee.
Then again, maybe they were the killers but had nothing to do with the church assassination. What if that was unrelated? It didn’t fit with how the previous murders were connected.
I rubbed my temple. “What the hell did you sign up for, Raven Black? Political conspiracies? Serial killers? Black marketeers? I miss the good old days when I could just single out an asshat and suffocate him in the bathroom.”
When I neared the door to the subterranean Mage motel, it opened, and Christian lingered in the doorway.
“Come with me,” he said.
Curious, I followed him down the spiral stairwell, my hand touching his back to keep me from tumbling in the dark.
“I heard you out there,” he said. “If you’re having second thoughts, maybe you should go back to your scavenger life.”
“Could you please tune me out when I’m talking to myself?”
I stumbled and flew into Christian. To keep from falling down the stairs, I wrapped my arms around his waist and held on.
Christian stood motionless. “I know my arse is sublime, but can’t you restrain yourself?”
I clawed my way up to my feet, and we continued our descent. “What’s this about? I thought we weren’t letting anyone down here but the priest.”
Overlapping voices grew louder as we approached the bottom and emerged through the door. Christian had the key, and he locked the door behind him.
Officials in the main room were engaged in noisy discussions that sounded more like debates.
“I broke the news,” Christian quietly informed me.
“What’s the vote?”
“They wanted to stay. But Patrick Bane, our illustrious rabble-rouser, is riling them up.”
“He probably wants to see his kid,” I said facetiously. “By the way, you missed the big news.”
Christian turned his back to the crowd and cast his gaze downwa
rd. “And what news is that?”
I leaned in tight. “That boy doesn’t belong to Patrick. He made up that entire story about the mother working for him and getting killed. That’s Shepherd’s kid.”
Christian’s eyes rounded. “Don’t be telling me fibs.”
“I’m dead serious. Shepherd said they had a confrontation at one of his parties. Shep saw a picture on my phone of the kid not wearing his mask. There’s a scar on his face just like the one the baby would have had because of the knife. It didn’t take him long to put two and two together. Anyhow, Patrick admitted it, and he threatened to ruin Keystone if Shepherd tried to come after him. You can’t say anything to him—not yet. He’s still got a lot of power, and Shepherd wants to protect his kid. If Patrick thinks we’re all in on his little secret, he might do something—”
“Ruinous,” Christian finished. “You mean to tell me he was behind murdering the child’s mother, or he coincidentally ended up with the boy?”
“What Mage coincidentally ends up with a child? He orchestrated the murder, and he has plans for this kid. It’s a long story, but don’t even allude to it.”
“That infernal little shitebag.”
I watched the animated crowd. “I agree with him on letting everyone out. They’re sitting ducks.”
“Aye. And Daffy wants a word with you.”
“Why me?”
“Because I told him to feck off when he asked for my phone. He threatened to dismantle Keystone if I didn’t get someone down there who would listen to reason.”
“Aww, that’s so sweet. You need my help, don’t you?”
He dipped his chin. “Maybe I just wanted your help hiding the body.”
I circled around Christian and headed for Patrick’s room. By the sound of all the dissention, he’d managed to convince enough people to vote on leaving.
“What’s this all about?” I asked, storming into his room.
Patrick quit his pacing and stalked toward me, this time dressed in black slacks and a white button-up. “Give me your phone.”
I folded my arms. “Give me your mansion.”
“Don’t be daft,” he growled, holding out his hand. “Give it to me!”
