A Case of Magic: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Wildes Chronicles Book 1)
Page 9
"You were out for about an hour. I didn't want to wake you because you needed it," he said.
I rubbed my eyes with my hands and suddenly remembered what he had told me right before I passed out.
"Chance? You were telling me about Chance?" I asked. Apparently, an hour of sleep was enough to get me thinking clearly again. The excitement of his status as a living guy and not a dead guy invigorated me even more.
"That was the reaction I was expecting from you," he said with a grin. God, I hadn't noticed how handsome he was before today. To me, he'd been the mage's son and not a man in his own right. He was over 6 feet tall, built, his black hair had streaks of red from the sun and told of much time spent outdoors. He had an air of authority over him. Focus, Mabry, I thought.
"You do know he's missing?" I started.
"He's being held in a secret prison in the Hollywood Hills," he said.
"What prison? By the look on your face, you must have the address."
"I know exactly where it is." I rose to my feet and my head swam so hard that I swayed back and forth. All the blood had left my face and gone screaming down my body to my legs and I was about to pass out. He stood up and grabbed me before I hit the floor and laid me gently down on the couch, my head back in his lap. I tried to move but he pressed me down gently.
"Hold on, Mabry. You need to slow down a little bit. You're going to pass out again if you move this fast."
Just as I was settling back into the comfort of this gorgeous man's lap, the door opened and Leslie stepped inside. Her look of joy turned into a look of confusion when she saw who was with me. I jumped off Damian, my head spinning.
"You're Damian Nottingham," she stated.
"I am. Who are you?" he asked.
"My name is Leslie Shale. I believe your father killed my husband Marcus Shale last night. How's that for an introduction." she said.
"I don't know what to say to that. I came to give Mabry information on a missing resistance leader."
I could tell by the tension in the air that these two were about to come to blows so I got it together enough to stand back up again, taking it slowly this time.
"I passed out. Did you see the SWAT team coming in?" I asked her.
"I saw them unloading at the end of the street and took off before they reached me. I figured you would come back here but it took me a while because they set up roadblocks. They were apparently looking for someone but I couldn't catch who it was. It was definitely Fae though because when I went through the line, they didn't much care that I was a witch."
She turned back to him. "What information do you have to tell us?"
"I don't know who you are, and I came to tell this to Mabry." He looked from me to her.
"Leslie is my colleague and is working this case with me. Whatever you have to tell me, you can tell her. And quite frankly, I'm still not sure if I should be trusting you. You set this whole mess in motion, may I remind you." He nodded in the affirmative.
"Chance is being held off of Mulholland Drive. I can show you exactly where it is, but I need to come with you." Leslie turned away from him and looked at me.
"You believe him?" she asked me. My brain was too scrambled for any sort of nuanced thinking. I wanted to trust him and I wanted to believe that Chance was just in the Hollywood Hills. I mean, easy wasn't exactly him being in a secret prison but it was something that we could at least deal with. He was alive, and that was all that mattered.
My other line of thinking was to believe this was a trap. A trap being set by the mage and sending Damian here to butter me up and keep me occupied enough for me not to make the connection of what was really going on. OR it could be both. Figures a man would think that a pretty face would disarm a woman so quickly that she would just believe in him. That line of inquiry made more sense to me although I could tell by my disappointment that I liked his attention.
"I suppose you can't really tell us whether this is a trap?" I asked. The look on his face was too much for the question I had just asked him.
"I'm going against my father. If he knew I was here he would have me killed," he said.
"Why are you doing this then?" Leslie asked.
"I need to find Regina. Without her, I have nothing."
"What does this have to do with Chance?" I countered. I was not getting the connection. Felicia had told me that Regina was dating Chance when she went missing. He had to be meaning that in some other way. I doubted he would tell us though. We needed to decide if we would trust him enough to include him in our breakout of Chance.
"What do you think, Leslie?" I asked her, ignoring him completely. "Should we trust him?"
"We need to keep moving forward. What did you find out at the bar?" she asked.
"I didn't get very much information out of anyone. I'm still an outsider. I'm what they call a halfie, a derogatory term if you were wondering. Callie had gone down to the Seelie court and had taken the brownie who helped us with her. There was nobody else that really wanted to talk to me in there."
"The only lead we have is what Damian is telling us right now?" she asked and I nodded.
She paced several times in front of the small space between my desk and the door. Damian had decided to make himself comfortable and sat back down in my chair behind the desk. I didn't mind. I watched as Leslie built herself up into a fury. She didn't need to tell me what the decision she had made was. It was clear on her face.
"You want to pursue this, don't you?" I asked.
"We don't have any other leads now. It's almost been 24 hours and we're going to lose the thread of this investigation. There's so much going on in this that I say we follow every lead. If there's any way we could get our hands on Chance, then I'm willing to take the risk. For the record, I don't trust you, Damian. I don't understand what you want with Regina." My head snapped at that. I had never mentioned Regina's name to Leslie. Did she know who she was? I wanted to ask but Damian began to talk.
"This is a very heavily armed facility and we will not be able to do this with only the three of us. Is there anybody else you can call that you trust to coordinate as a team? We need to coordinate some sort of attack as a diversion and then sneak in the back way to break out Chance."
I leaned back into my sofa. I knew who I could call but I didn't want to.
"That seems like a goofy plan. If it's so heavily guarded, how are we going to get through the doors?" I asked him.
"I have the keys," he said and jangled a large circle of keys at us. I had no idea where he had even pulled those things out from. It didn't sound entirely kosher but I agreed with Leslie. We didn't have any other options.
"You said Mulholland?" Leslie asked.
"That's right. Close to Beverly Hills," he said.
"That's the Hollywood Hills pack territory. I bet they could help us if they believed we were working with the resistance," she said. I had heard of the Hollywood Hills pack and their alpha Henry Davis. He had some family lineage going back to Bette Davis but I figured that was just a rumor. They kept to themselves and really out of the fray so I was surprised that they would be so willing to help the resistance.
"We need an introduction to them. They are notoriously secretive and are unwilling to meet with strangers on these kinds of matters," Damian said. I was surprised that he knew so much about them. Something didn't seem to fit. It was too easy and convenient.
"I have Chances' right hand woman as a contact. I have her cell phone number. I could call her in and she could make that introduction. If they do any work with the resistance, they will absolutely know Felicia. Oh, do you have my phone Leslie? It seemed to have dropped out of my pocket when I was driving your car." She dug around in her purse and threw me my phone. I hadn't gotten any calls since it had been out of my possession. It wasn't surprising as I didn't get that many calls anyway. I flipped to the contacts and found Felicia's name.
"Are we gonna do this?" I asked Leslie and included Damian as well.
"Give her a
call. She will understand the urgency I'm sure," Leslie said. I ran my fingers through my hair and couldn't believe the turn of events. I had come into my office thinking I wanted to be a lone wolf and now, instead, I was part of the leadership planning a raid with a pack of werewolves in the resistance. I didn't believe in such big groups getting things done but there was a certain safety in numbers. And if what Leslie said was true and the Hollywood pack was used to these kinds of operations, then maybe this one could actually work and not get everyone killed instead.
13
The moment I made the phone call to Felicia everything began to move at a breakneck speed. Not that things were moving quickly already but the speed in which the resistance fighters moved was astonishing even to Damian. We had assumed that it would take a good half day for the coordination between the resistance fighters led by Felicia and the Hollywood Hills pack to agree to terms and come to help. But instead, we found ourselves driving to Greystone Manor off of Sunset Boulevard 45 minutes later.
Felicia had somehow managed to get out of the San Fernando ghetto and was going to meet us there with several of her most trusted companions. The alpha, Henry Davis, had already called me and explained how to get to their headquarters. I couldn't believe it when he told me that he had heard good things about me.
And that's how we ended up at the bowling alley in the basement of the world famous Greystone Manor watching a pack of werewolves bowl while Henry, his trusted second Robert, myself, Felicia, Leslie and Damian, poured over a map of the location that Damian swore Chance was being held at.
"I like your idea of creating a diversion, but I think we could do it in an even simpler way," Henry said. "My pack has a good relationship with your father and the LAPD. We have offered our assistance in many raids and operations just to store up goodwill for times like this. We have always been and will be part of the resistance," he said to Felicia who nodded.
"This is what I'm proposing. I think that we can have a convoy coming to the prison with you three hidden in the back. We get you inside the compound and as we chat up the guards, you three sneak into the main grounds."
"I've drawn out the plans of the prison," Damian said and took out a piece of regular notebook paper out of his pocket. He hadn't told me he had the plans but he was turning out to be full of surprises.
"I stole this from my father's study after he and his lieutenant left. From what I overheard, Chance is being held on the fourth level for the special prisoners. There's a couple of skeleton keys on this ring to open up most of the doors. Now, if they do anything more technical, as in fingerprints or eye lasers, then I'm not sure of what we can do with that."
"Let's hope all those keys work. Plan work for everyone? I'm thinking that if we go in in this friendly manner there will be less chance for my pack to get hurt. We also stand a better chance of getting out of there in one piece. We keep them busy and chatting while you go back and forth from the building into the back of the truck."
I liked the idea quite a bit because things inevitably went wrong and if we had an operation that didn't include blowing shit up and firing then when the inevitable happened and we had to use guns then it would be more precise and strategic. Although, I was hoping that we'd be able to do this as planned and sneak Chance out without the mess. I assumed that there would be cameras everywhere and we would need a safe house.
"Where can we go once we get him out?" I asked.
"We have safe houses scattered all over the Hollywood Hills. A lot of the wealthiest humans lived up there and when they mysteriously disappeared we co-opted their houses. I can think of at least 15 right in that area that we can use as a hideout," Henry said. I shook my head thinking of how many homes out there were still sitting empty, their inhabitants whisked away under all of our noses. I caught Damian staring at me and put my attention back on the task at hand.
"So, what timeframe are we thinking of?" I asked.
"How about in the next two hours? We're ready. We've been waiting for an operation like this for a while and have kept our provisions and supplies packed up in our trucks. Ready at a moment’s notice," Henry said and I could tell by Felicia's face that she was surprised by that. She hadn't done much talking once we had gotten here and she allowed Henry to take the lead. But, Henry was an alpha no doubt about it. He naturally took charge. I myself didn't feel like talking and allowed him to do the planning himself. There was a special bond the alphas had in their pack and I could understand why this pack had chosen Henry Davis as their leader. I looked at Felicia for approval.
"What do you think of this plan?" I asked her. She didn't entirely look like she was following the conversation which I found curious. I still didn't like the woman much but I trusted that Chance had her checked out. I mean, why else would he have her as his right hand? I noticed that Henry and Damian were looking at her, too. I wasn't the only one that was having some reservations about her, apparently.
""What's wrong, Felicia?" I asked, watching her closely. There was something she wasn't telling us.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Mabry," she said.
"I'm seeing what Mabry is seeing," Damian said. "It looks like you have some information that you don't want to share with us. Are you finding a flaw in the plan? Because if you are, the time to tell us is now." Damian jumped in having my back. It felt odd having so many people helping me. Odd but good. I hadn't realized how separated I had become from everybody because of what I was. I didn't think that anybody would be part of my tribe seeing that I was not part of any tribe.
But really, we were after the same cause. He wanted to bring justice to the people who deserved it. And break some chinks in President Dixon's armor and apparatus. That was the cause and even though we were different creatures, we stood together in that.
Felicia was not good at hiding her displeasure.
"What is it, Felicia?" Henry Davis's voice rang out loud enough that some of the members of his pack stopped bowling and looked over to make sure he was okay. I could feel the tension.
"We need to do a reconnaissance mission first. Going in blind with only Damian's word is concerning to me. He is, after all, the mage's son and should we really be trusting him? He's part of them. The oppressors. We need to double check and see if the layout and the amount of people is correct."
"There's no way of knowing if they have Chance or not. And, if we do a reconnaissance mission and we alert them in any way of our presence then, if Chance is there, they will move him. I think we need to strike when the iron's hot and get him out of there." I felt pretty confident about that and Leslie and Damian were nodding their heads in approval.
Henry watched Felicia closely. "You're not telling us something."
"I just told you what was on my mind. I want to do a reconnaissance mission but nobody agrees with me and so I will go with whatever you decide."
"I agree with both sides," Leslie said. "But I also agree that we risk exposure. Also, if Damian's information is true then there must be very few people who know it. If we get caught in any way doing a reconnaissance mission, and they move Chance, the mage will know that someone in his inner circle had compromised him. How is your relationship with your dad?" Leslie asked Damian.
"It's not good. Why else would I be going against him? The man is a monster," he said. He sounded convincing to me but I was also realizing that I was having strange feelings for the man standing next to me and I couldn't entirely trust my decision-making process. This sudden influx of people in my life confused my senses and I felt like I was walking on quicksand. I stared down at the intricately patterned parquet floor and wished that things were a bit simpler than they were now. At least, when I was a lone operator then I trusted my own instincts. Now, my instincts were all over the place. I wanted to trust Damian, but I was afraid to. And Chance trusted Felicia. I wanted to trust her but I also worried about that. These kinds of mistakes could get us all killed.
"We can do a vote on it," Henry Davis said.
"I'm going to stand with Leslie on this one," I said and figured that if I was gonna trust anybody, it would be her. Everyone fell in line except Felicia. Henry turned to her. "Felicia, are you okay with this?"
She nodded. "This is your team and your operation. I'm the only one here from the resistance so I'm going to trust in your decision," she said.
"Is there anything else that you can tell us, Damian?" Damian thought for second and shook his head. "That's the information that I have. I don't know how many guards there are but I've been to other secret prisons and they tend to staff a small amount because these are, after all, supposed to be secret. If you have 50 guards working at one of these places invariably somebody's going to talk to someone. The last place I went to was out in the Santa Monica Mountains and they had about 15 guards."
Henry nodded at that. "That makes a lot of sense actually. And, of course, it will help us."
"So, what do we do?" I asked him.
"To prepare? Nothing," he said. "Be ready to leave in the next half-hour. It should take us about 15 minutes to get to the location. Stick it out and see if we are dealing with only 10 to 15 guards. At that point, we'll hide you in the compartment that we have at the back of our trucks and drive you into the compound."
We all nodded and the operation began.
14
The sound of the coyote yips told me that we were in the Hollywood Hills. We were in the second trunk of the two cars that were heading towards the secret prison that Damian claimed Chance was being held at. I peeked out and saw that we were just cresting the hill, a view of the entire Los Angeles basin blinking in the ozone beneath us. The lights that had graced so many movie screens were comforting to see. It had been a long night as the werewolf pack prepared and we were left to worry. At least, I worried and felt strange not to be able to help them in the preparations. But, Henry Davis had told me that would slow things down.