Revelations: Book One of the Lalassu

by Lewis, Jennifer Carole

  “I’ve got what you need,” the hacker’s gravelly voice reported. “But the real information is all behind some impressive firewalls. It’ll take me too long to crack them. I need codes.”

  Dani’s attention flicked to Michael like the snap of a bowstring. “If you touch Dalhard, do you think you can get the codes?”

  Michael nodded. “It’s all secrets. But I’ll need more than a quick brush to get past his surface mind. I haven’t probed anyone deeply in years.” Queasiness surged at the thought of opening himself up, but he reminded himself that it was for Bernie.

  “We’ll make sure you get it,” Dani promised. “Can you get in to the security system, Vapor? Monitor the cameras and help us track down our people?”

  A snort of amusement. “Child’s play. They have remote monitoring.”

  “Good. Nada will make sure we don’t show up onscreen. She’s got a real gift for manipulating electromagnetic signals,” Dani explained to Michael.

  “I remember. Keep her away from my stuff,” Vapor added.

  “Before we go in, Vapor will tell us where Bernie, Vincent, and Eric are. Michael, you and Nada will go after them while I distract Dalhard,” Dani finished.

  “Won’t we need more help than Vapor and Nada?” Michael frowned. The Goddess’s warning not to go alone had been clear.

  “More people means more risk of collateral damage. We know the building will be abandoned. We know Dalhard is luring us into a trap. He doesn’t expect anyone else to be with me.” Dani was certain. “Once you’ve got everyone out safely, I grab Dalhard and drag him out to you. You read his deepest secrets, and we all disappear into the night.”

  Michael still felt uneasy. This had to be more than only pulling out the people they cared about. Dalhard would continue to pursue them. He had resources they couldn’t even dream of. They needed something to stop him. An idea occurred to him, one that might work. But he doubted Dani and her family would approve.

  Hopefully they would forgive him when he did it anyway.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Even hidden in the trees, Dalhard’s facility squatted over them like a giant in a fairy tale, ready to swallow them whole. A solid block of concrete and narrow windows, it resembled a prison more than a lab. They’d stashed the car out of sight at the beginning of the access road and hiked through the underbrush to avoid being seen. Vapor reported that Bernie, Vincent, and Eric were all on the upper floor, making it easier for Michael and Nada to get them out together. Dani dismissed the memory of Dalhard’s claim that her brothers were working for him voluntarily. It wasn’t possible.

  The sun bled out on the horizon, crimson and purple light blazing in a final dying display as their precious last minutes of freedom ticked away before the jaws of the trap closed around them. Dani studied Michael’s determined face painted with light. They’d spent the day together, stealing away from the planning every moment possible to make love. At the time, she’d reveled in it, but now it seemed more like a prisoner’s last meal, a final reprieve before execution.

  She tried to shake off the gloomy thoughts, but they persisted in clouding around her. Michael isn’t like you. If he gets hurt going toe-to-toe with these people, he’s going to get himself dead. Joe’s words still echoed in her head. She knew she couldn’t keep Michael from participating, that she shouldn’t keep him from helping. But despite the Goddess’s warning, part of her still believed this would be safer if she did it alone. With him there, she would be distracted, her mind always wondering if he was safe.

  “Sunset,” Nada reported, picking up her backpack. She tossed her long iron-gray braid over her shoulder as she hoisted the pack into place. Although she’d been a feature of Dani’s life since before she could remember, there was nothing grandmotherly about Nada. Built of muscle and sinew, her skin tanned and craggy, she was as tough as the leather she crafted.

  “Wait. One more minute.” Michael put his hand on her arm before Dani could rise.

  Frustration battled with concern. Did he see something she didn’t? Waiting longer would only shatter her calm further.

  “I invited someone else to this adventure,” he said, answering her unspoken question.

  “You did what, now?” Of all the things he could have said, that hadn’t been in her top five guesses. Dani knelt in the undergrowth, trying to put together enough coherent thought to decide whether or not she was furious or hurt.

  “Joe.” The way Michael said the name told her he anticipated an unpleasant reaction.

  “You invited a cop to our illegal break-in?” Dani couldn’t quite muster the proper outrage—shock and disbelief kept interfering. He must have a good reason. Except she couldn’t think of one.

  Nada looked at them both as if they were state-custody-ready crazy. She shook her head, setting her thick braid swaying.

  “Listen to me. Joe is a good guy and a good cop. He’s been working to help Bernie and her mom. He can help us.” Michael didn’t seem concerned by the emotional turmoil his words unlocked in her.

  “He’s not one of us.” Dani needed to make him see how bad this idea could get. Good cops didn’t do illegal and keep their mouths shut. “He needs warrants, probable cause. He can’t do what we need to do.”

  “He can do the one thing we need most. He can help us to take Dalhard down properly. Legally. We can’t leave this guy and all his resources sitting here to come after us. Your father was right—we can’t escape from a multinational corporation. We have to hamstring it, and to do that, we need to do it in the open. Joe’s a good guy. He’s worked out ways to make the information from my gift usable in the past. We need him here now. He’ll see what we don’t know to look for and come back with proper warrants.”

  His sincerity was unmistakable. His reasoning seemed sound, and that kept her from exploding at him. Trusting a cop went against every programmed instinct, but she couldn’t deny that Joe Cabrera had moved beyond being a traditional cop. He’d let her go and asked her to protect his friend. He’d seen glimpses of the strangeness moving behind the scenes of normal lives, and although he hadn’t embraced it, he hadn’t pretended it didn’t exist, either.

  “Trust me.” Two simple words. So easy to say, so hard to do. Old instincts screamed warnings at her, but she wasn’t going to be that person any more. She still intended to have a very spirited discussion with Michael about why tactics and surprises didn’t mix, but it could wait until they’d survived the night.

  The faint crunch of gravel and the potent stench of oil and gasoline announced the arrival of a car, even though the driver kept the headlights off and coasted into position. Dani shifted slightly, standing between the car and Michael, her senses flaring into painful sensitivity. She could pick out every scent in a twenty-yard radius and hear the faint crackle of sap flowing through the trees.

  The faint traces of gun oil and sweat told her the identity of their intruder before he could step out of the car. Joe took a long look at his friend before shifting his gaze to her. He noticed her guardian stance and the harsh edges of his protectiveness lowered.

  “Detective,” she said.

  “Should I call you Danielle?” he asked.

  “Dani is fine. For my friends.” Her skin tingled as Michael squeezed her hand in approval.

  “Hell of a thing you’re asking me here, Michael.” Joe looked over at the building and its array of lighted windows. “Breaking and entering is not a great way to collect evidence.”

  “We’re not breaking. We have an entry code,” Michael returned.

  “Let me get a warrant. You said you had a witness, someone who can place Bernadette here—”

  “Our witness is the ghost of a twelve-year-old boy who has been dead at least eighty years, delivered through a medium who is certifiably crazy.” Dani couldn’t help but grin at the dismayed expression on the cop’s face. “Still think a judge would give you that warrant?”

  “This is way more than I ever wanted to know.” Joe held up his hands.<
br />
  “Joe, I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important. This man is using his power to hurt others,” Michael interjected. “We need your help to take him down.”

  “I didn’t say I wasn’t in. Help me find something I can reasonably bring before a judge and I’ll do it. Just spare me the freaky details, okay?” He held out his hand to Nada. “I’m Joe.”

  “Nada. I’m one of the freaky details,” she replied without lifting her hands, her husky voice full of amusement.

  Joe’s hand dropped back to his side.

  “Nada’s going to make sure we don’t show up on any security cameras. She’ll be able to freeze them into repeating a split-second loop from before we appear,” Michael explained.

  “You can do that?” Joe’s mouth opened in a gape before he snapped it shut. “Okay, let’s get this show on the road.”

  They crept out of the forest, approaching the building. Dani stopped to pull Joe aside for a moment. “Watch his back.”

  She didn’t have to explain who she meant. Joe nodded, and she exhaled in relief. She didn’t doubt that Michael could handle himself, but this wasn’t a movie where the heroes would catch all the breaks. The possibility of losing him stole her breath and heartbeat, leaving her drained and shaken. She couldn’t stay with him once inside, but now someone else with combat training would watch over him.

  She left the others out of sight to approach the massive doors alone. Standing in front of them she felt even more like she was about to walk into the gaping maw of a leviathan. “Fee, Fie, Foe, Fum, Fucker.” She punched in the code on Dalhard’s card.

  The green light obligingly winked on. She opened the door, holding it wide with her head down as if reconsidering her choice. At least, that was what they would think when they saw it on the monitor, she hoped.

  Shrouded by Nada’s electronic invisibility, Michael, Nada, and Joe rushed past her to head to the stairs. All Dani needed to do was hold perfectly still so she wouldn’t switch suddenly to a different position when the camera activated again. Then she needed to make sure whoever was watching stayed focused on her.

  “Momma always told me to play to my strengths,” she whispered as she stepped inside the lobby. An ugly guard station wrapped in thick glass and mesh dominated the space. A few plastic chairs huddled together on the tile floor near a heavy, mass-produced abstract sculpture of intertwined metal strands. She stared up at the unblinking red eye of the night-vision camera keeping an endless vigil. Dalhard would never believe it if she came meekly. Spreading her arms wide, she issued her challenge. “You wanted me. Now come and get me.”

  Her words fell flat, swallowed whole by oppressive silence. Dani might have scored a new personal best in emotional growth over the last few days, but she still hated being ignored.

  “Fine. You want to play games? Bring it.” She considered using one of the chairs but decided to play with the sculpture instead. Although it was set into the floor, she easily bent the thick rebar, ripping it out of the tile. Now she needed something that would make a satisfying crash.

  Like the glass around the security station. Raising the art piece, she prepared to launch.

  Like an outstretched hand or a panicked shout of protest, a low tone announced the activation of the elevator. The motor whirred as the car slid down from the upper levels of the building. Her fingers tightened on the sculpture, ready to throw it or use it as a club, every nerve in her body screaming for her to act while her mind struggled to hold on to control.

  The doors slid open, revealing Dalhard. He straightened his jacket, drawing attention to his thick hands and powerful shoulders, before stepping out. With his dark hair greased back, he was practically the perfect image of a Mafia kingpin. “I assumed you would accept my invitation.” He studied the sculpture. “You’re not a patient woman, are you?”

  “Never saw it as much of a virtue.” Dani tossed aside the piece, letting it clang onto the floor and chip the expensive tiling. “Especially not with kidnappers.”

  “Yet you came alone.” Dalhard’s gaze skimming along her body left her feeling more naked than any performance she’d ever given. Lust she could handle, but not this cool acquisitiveness as if he were deciding whether or not to click an invisible “buy” button.

  “I want my brothers back. Now.”

  “I don’t believe they want to return. But I assume you still won’t accept my word on it. They’re waiting upstairs in my office.” He held out his arm toward the open elevator. The office was on the second floor, Dani remembered from the blueprints, near the stairs. The last time Vapor had reported, her brothers were on the third floor. She wondered what waited for her in Dalhard’s office. Guns? Drugs?

  “Did you know that human beings are the only species stupid enough to get into a sealed box with no visible exits along with a known predator?” Dani circled past Dalhard slowly, keeping her eyes locked with his. “No other creature on the entire planet will do it.”

  “An interesting fact.” He smiled as she stepped into the car. “Presumably, our instincts have atrophied after millennia of not being hunted.”

  Dani ran her hand down the smooth metal walls as Dalhard joined her. His harsh chemical scent stung her nose like a swarm of bees, but she kept her expression under control. “We hunt each other. Predators and prey all look alike. Knowing which is which—now that’s the trick.”

  “I couldn’t agree with you more.” He kept his distance in the elevator as if he expected her to rush at him like an aggressive dog. He never once took his eyes off her, and there was no sour tang of fear under his expensive cologne.

  It felt strange not to have the Huntress coiling and crashing against her mental barriers, struggling for release. Instead, she could sense the powerful divine connection lurking beneath the deceptively still waters of her unconscious. It might not be visible, but she felt the edges of ripples in her soul. She took comfort knowing it was still there if she needed it.

  Dalhard escorted her down the hall, using a keycard to open the door at the far northern end. Inside the plush office was a sleek glass desk, thick carpets, original art, and Vincent and Eric. The first flaw in our simple plan. Dalhard must have moved them since her last contact with Vapor. Dani inhaled, deep and quick, not only for relief but to be certain neither was hurt. Their scents came through strong and clear: Vincent’s distinctive mix of beer and salt, and Eric’s earthier scent of oil and leather. No coppery tang of blood or chemical distortion from drugs. Maybe they could still pull this off.

  “I’m a man of my word.” Dalhard’s smug smile made her want to slap his face.

  “Fine. Let them go.”

  “Go? Sis, you’ve got to be kidding.” Vincent shook his head. “We’ve got a sweet deal here. He’s giving us tons of money, and you would not believe the shit he’s got in the basement. It’s like a lab out of a movie.”

  Listening to Vincent was like hearing a different audio track, one that didn’t match the original footage. She glanced at Eric, wondering if he shared her disbelief. Eric bit his lip, looking aside. He couldn’t be agreeing with Vincent’s nonsense.

  “I believe I warned you.” Dalhard smirked, his lip curling in intolerable smugness.

  The man had no idea how close he was coming to a fist in the face. Her arm ached from restraining herself. Neither his body language nor his scent showed any sign of fear or self-doubt.

  He smoothed his oiled hair, his thousand-watt politician’s smile beaming at full power. “Persuasion is always more powerful than force. My mother taught me that.”

  He’d done something to her at the police station—tried to cloud her mind. But she’d shrugged it off. Vincent and Eric should have been able to do the same. They must be playing along to protect Gwen. But the three of them together could surely take out one posturing sack of bullshit and beat him to the ground. She kept silent, trying to read her brothers’ signals. Eric slumped and hung his head in defeat and Vincent seemed oblivious.

  “She worked a simil
ar job as you, back in the day. She took pride in it, said it gave her access to some of the most powerful men in the country.” Dalhard took a healthy swig of the drink he’d poured from the bar. “It was only a matter of time before she persuaded one to marry her. Quite the romance story: stripper with a heart of gold marries wealthy businessman.”

  “Touching, yet boring,” Dani sauntered through the office as if looking around. It brought her closer to Eric.

  Dalhard continued. “I’m telling you this so you won’t worry about me looking down on you because of your former profession.”

  Former? Look down? His brazen arrogance reminded her of dozens of preening alpha males, all believing they were entitled to whatever they wanted, regardless of who it hurt. The young lords of the football field from college, the drunken tourists who thought a girl showing a little skin entitled them to a free grope. Dalhard was no different from any of them. He just had more money to back up his desires.

  Dalhard continued his monologue. “With my mother’s help, my father turned his profitable shipping enterprise into a multinational corporation with a dozen different businesses under our umbrella. She always told me it would be mine—that my father wouldn’t stand in my way. He was quite the fool. Searching for supernatural powers everywhere and never recognizing the ones in his own home.”

  Eric kept shaking his head as she got closer. Keeping her body angled so Dalhard couldn’t see, she tried to signal him to join her attack. Behind him, she could see Vincent watching the conversation as if it were a slightly dull movie on TV. Michael and the others must have Bernie by now, and she didn’t want to listen to one more second of Dalhard’s narcissistic droning. “I’ve heard about your dad. I’d like to have a word with him.”

  “Sadly, he died in a convenient yet tragic car accident once I was ready to take over.” Dalhard poured another drink and held it out to her.