They slowly advanced, confused looks on their faces. One by one, they made their way into the cupboard and started down the stairs.
Jennie stopped the balding man when he reached her. “Not you. Stay here.”
She ushered the remaining two into the dark, then when they were far enough down that they would be no issue, she grabbed the stone slab. “Let’s see how you guys like it when the tables are turned, eh?”
With one strong push, she shut them inside.
Their footsteps echoed on the stairs, and soon their fists pounded on the rock. Jennie moved various items of furniture into the cupboard in front of the slab to block it in case they broke free.
Tanya raised an eyebrow. “Are you really going to leave them there?”
“For a while.” Jennie cleared her throat from the dust that had found its way inside. “At least let them learn their lesson before we free them.” She turned to the balding man who had gone a strange shade of white. “As for you, you’re coming with us. I want to know as much as I can about Vincenzo before we meet him, and if there’s anything I’ve learned in my years of playing this game is that when a bird sings once, they never shut up.”
She grabbed the back of his collar, stepped over the woman’s corpse, and dragged him outside.
* * *
The rain beat down on them as they drove toward the hotel. They didn’t have far to travel. It was located on the edge of the city, only around a twenty-minute drive from Susannah’s former residence.
The car journey was oddly quiet; the only sound was Jennie summoning the rest of her squad to come and meet her near the hotel. The wipers fought the rain on the windshield, allowing them visibility, and soon the hotel loomed before them.
It was a cute building. Wider than it was tall, it looked more like a retirement home than a hotel to Jennie. She parked far enough away to keep the hotel in view without drawing attention and cut the lights. From here, she could make out the car park and would be able to monitor anyone heading in or out.
“That’s Vincenzo’s car,” the balding man commented, pointing to a sleek silver Rolls Royce.
“I thought you said you flew in this morning?” Carolyn quizzed.
The balding man didn’t hear her.
Tanya repeated the question.
The man shrugged. “Vincenzo has money. He doesn’t go anywhere without his baby. I don’t question his methods, I just do what he tells me.”
“The blind leading the blind,” Baxter remarked.
Jennie narrowed her eyes and studied the hotel. It seemed a strange place for a gangster to be hiding. The hotel was upmarket, one of the places where senior citizens might go for a weekend retreat. She wanted nothing more than to storm the building and grab Vincenzo by the collar, but she didn’t want to risk any casualties. They’d already lost innocents in the skirmish outside the community center. More innocent blood on her hands would count as a failure to her.
They waited patiently. Nothing came in or out of the hotel. After another ten minutes, Jennie grew bored of the silence and put her phone’s music on shuffle. The low-volume dance tunes were a stark contrast to their situation and drew a curious stare from the balding man.
Ten minutes later, Jennie looked over her shoulder and studied the man. He shrank beneath her stare. “What’s your name?”
“Tim,” he replied.
Jennie smirked. “Scary name.”
“You don’t need a scary name to do scary things,” Tim replied, growing defensive.
Jennie considered this and nodded curtly.
“Think I can hop out in the rain for a sec?” Tim asked, hands moving to his crotch. “I got to go.”
Jennie was silent for a moment before reaching into the glove compartment and taking out a pair of SI goggles. She handed them to the confused man. “Put them on,” she commanded.
He did, immediately jumping back into his seat. He turned from left to right, taking in the spectral forms of Feng Mian, Tanya, Sandra, Baxter, Carolyn, and Susannah, all crammed in the car around him.
“What the…” His respiration increased rapidly, and he wasn’t sure where to put his hands. Carolyn had taken the place on his lap.
“These are specters,” Jennie informed him. “Ghosts. Dead people. They are my friends, and we protect each other. Here’s the deal: if you go out there to piss, one of my friends is coming with you. If you try to run, you will be haunted for the rest of your days. You got that?”
Tim nodded emphatically, turning as pale as the specters. “Y-yes. Of course!”
Jennie grinned. “Okay. Go.”
If the rain wasn’t reason enough to get back into the car as quickly as possible, having a specter studying him as he did his business did the trick. He launched back into the car, his head gleaming with rain and his clothing sodden. Instantly, the water began to evaporate and steam up the car.
Jennie switched the engine on and pumped the heat to clear the condensation from the windows. “Better?” she asked.
Tim didn’t answer, instead choosing to take the SI glasses on and off as if investigating their effects. “It’s like VR,” he commented. “One minute they’re there, the next minute they’re not.”
Jennie turned back to the front as a pair of headlights caught her attention. “Kind of. Except they’re always there, let me assure you.”
Baxter laughed from the passenger seat.
Jennie didn’t recognize the approaching car, but when another dozen turned up and parked nearby, she guessed they were her people. A quick call to Roman confirmed they were indeed parked out front.
They waited for hours, wondering when Vincenzo was going to make his move, or if the rain had put him off going to this meeting that Tim had informed them of when finally the doors to the hotel opened and a group of suited men emerged into the protection of the canopy.
Tim shifted in his seat and muttered, “That’s him.”
Vincenzo looked exactly as Jennie had pictured him, a least a foot shorter than the men around him, with black, slicked-back hair like she’d seen in Italian gangster movies. The men protected him from the rain with a mass of black umbrellas as they left the awning and crossed the parking lot toward the Rolls. One man held the door open for him, while the others climbed inside. Vincenzo took the driver’s seat.
“Funny,” Jennie mused.
“What?” Baxter asked.
“Most head honchos let others do their driving,” Jennie replied. “It’s a power thing with crime bosses. You don’t do anything someone else can do for you.”
Carolyn chuckled. “So, the complete opposite of you?”
Jennie blushed.
Tim leaned between the seats. “Vincenzo loves his precious baby too much to let someone else handle it. This is his third Rolls.”
“His men crashed the car?” Baxter asked.
Tim looked at him through the SI goggles. “No. That’s the worst part. Minor scratches. Country roads and bramble branches left the tiniest of scrapes, so he fired them. Well…”
“No need to say it,” Jennie remarked, knowing what gangsters often did with the men they wanted to get rid of.
Vincenzo started the car, and the headlights bloomed. The rain could be seen in their beams, pounding into the ground as the downpour increased. Far off, the rumble of thunder came again.
“What’s he waiting for?” Jennie asked after a few minutes when the car hadn’t moved.
Her answer came when another group of men—and women this time—emerged from the hotel. They made their way to another car. A few minutes later, another group came.
A strange feeling settled in Jennie’s stomach.
After another group emerged, Vincenzo finally kicked the Rolls into gear and accelerated out of the parking lot. He turned right at the main road. Jennie shot a message to the others and drove silently behind the other cars leaking onto the road. She kept her headlights off, following like a silent specter in the night.
To wherever the cars mig
ht lead.
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Richmond, Virginia, USA
Sturgeon watched from the passenger seat of the car as they crawled through the rain, following the line of cars. The only light inside the car was made by her phone screen as she scanned the mountain of messages and checked in with her team.
Updates from Clark and Tiptry gave a step-by-step report of their mission to catch the Seven. After following a number of leads, they had turned up empty-handed. The good news was that no further bombs had exploded, the bad news was that they had no idea where to turn.
Sturgeon checked the subject line of each message, doing her best to absorb the information and decide its importance. There were other messages mixed among the rest, updates from her fiancé in London, a few forwarded messages about ongoing cases in the UK.
She wondered where the missing members of the Seven could have gone. As far as she was aware, there had been no updates about them from the teams who had been sent to explore the neighboring states. They couldn’t have just vanished into thin air, could they? The cities were large enough to make hiding easy, but with the mass of cameras and the combined expertise of the people looking for them, something should have turned up by now.
So far, only this Vincenzo figure had arrived in Richmond. Sturgeon had been too far down the line to see anything happening at the hotel, but she wondered where they were heading. Nothing in the world outside the window looked familiar thanks to the hammering rain. It was as though a great cloud had descended upon them and cloaked them in its mist.
Sturgeon stared out the window and took a deep breath. When she exhaled, she misted up the glass. She missed the UK terribly, but she knew that this was important for everyone involved. Agreements made by opposing parties only led to aggravations if either side didn’t make the effort to uphold their end. It was humbling for Jennie to ask for help and magnanimous for Victoria to offer it when called on.
Sturgeon just hoped that soon they would wrap up this never-ending mystery and finally get into a position where she could go home victorious. The last thing she wanted was to end up in the same way as Agents Clark and Tiptry.
The SIS was a place run by mortals.
* * *
Jennie kept her map open on her phone screen, tracking their progress along the edges of the city.
The rain beat down hard, drumming against the metal skeleton of the vehicle and making it near-impossible to see much beyond the car ahead. The world around them looked like an alien landscape. The road was slick with puddles, and drains were threatening to overflow. Lightning flashed in the distance and thunder followed as they journeyed ever west.
“What is it with these guys and the west side of town?” Jennie asked, craning her neck to catch Susannah’s eye in the rearview.
“That’s where it all happened,” Susannah replied. “Haybourne came in from the west and crossed east into the city. That was the route of his destruction.”
“Haybourne?” Tim asked, emboldened by his entry into the world of specters. “I thought he was called Wraithbourne, or something?”
“Rathbourne,” Carolyn corrected. “Or The Dreadnought when he enters the ring.”
Susannah raised an eyebrow. “What ring?”
Baxter smiled. “The wrestling ring, of course. All the greats have stage names and aliases. Names like The Rock or Stone Cold Steve Austin.”
Carolyn raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t think to mention The Undertaker, Big Show, or The Ultimate Warrior? I’m revoking your man card, Bax.”
Baxter had the grace to blush. “I was always more of a football fan,” he mumbled.
Susannah looked unimpressed by the exchange. “They say he had a hideout. I’m not sure where he would meet with his advisors to plan his operations., but it had to be somewhere beyond the city limits.”
An idea came to Jennie. She envisioned Haybourne and his men marching over the fertile hills on the west side of the city to the only place nearby that could have acted as the perfect meeting point for a secret organization to plan their domination.
Her eyes flicked to the map. She only hoped that her hunch was wrong. Still, when the cars ahead found their way into the rolling hills, Jennie knew that that wouldn’t be the case.
They were heading back to the quarry.
* * *
The map showed the quarry nearby, although it was impossible to see it from inside the car. The clouds rumbled and rolled overhead, and the cars in front of them started to slow as they came up on the turn for the dirt access road.
Jennie leaned toward the windshield, doing her best to track the cars through the misty glass. When they finally pulled to a stop, she turned and found a place to park. The line of cars following her swept in a circle around her and came to a halt.
Jennie rested a hand on the door, wishing she wouldn’t have to go into the rain. Roman’s voice came through her earpiece. “Back where it all began, huh?”
“Well, this part of the journey,” Jennie replied. “But what’s Vincenzo doing here?”
This time, Rhone’s voice came over the radio. The former SIA agent was stationed in another vehicle. “I think you know the answer to that question.”
Jennie did. The Dragon has summoned them.
“I thought the tunnels collapsed?” Carolyn muttered. “This doesn’t make sense. Where are they all going?”
Susannah answered. “Where there’s one tunnel, there’s normally a network.” She stared determinedly from the car, then rose and melted through the door.
Jennie turned in her seat. “You guys stay here. We’re going to scout ahead.”
“Really?” Carolyn complained. “Or are you going to run into action and complete the mission without us?”
Jennie laughed. “Whatever it takes. Although, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this one might need all of us. Okay?”
Carolyn nodded but folded her arms and slumped back in the seat. Tim gave a shocked look when she disappeared into the trunk.
Jennie latched onto Susannah and melted out of the car. While she could still feel the rain, it didn’t soak into her clothes the way it would if she was mortal. She took a step toward the waiting Susannah, then turned back, confusion on her face.
She poked her head back inside the car. “Are you coming, Bax?”
“Right!” Baxter disappeared through his door and emerged on the outside.
The three of them stalked toward the other cars. At first, Jennie worried that they had continued driving because there was no sign of them through the rain. After a moment, they came into view as dark shapes through the downpour.
They sneaked toward the cars, wary that people may still be inside them despite being spectral. The procession contained nine vehicles in total. The windows were all blacked out. Jennie edged around the nearest car and allowed her head to melt through the door into the inside.
It was bare. All she found was the lingering smell of cigarette smoke and something malty like bourbon or beer.
They approached the next car and found the same thing again, only this time the car smelled brand new. They worked their way along the line until they found themselves at the Rolls Royce.
Jennie ran a hand along its side. “God, it’s a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, isn’t it?”
Baxter nodded and melted inside, examining the dashboard and the circuitry contained within. Jennie joined him inside and took a spot in the driver’s seat, made herself comfortable and imagined that she was driving the car. “Maybe this will be my next car,” she mused. “Something beefy with some edge that’ll draw people’s eyes.”
Baxter laughed, his head down by the footwell of the passenger side. “What’s wrong with the Mustang? That not beefy enough for you?”
Jennie chewed her lip. “I guess so. Just always nice to have something new, isn’t it?”
“And why would you want to draw the eye?” Baxter chuckled. “Our line of business is hiding from sight, isn’t it? You don�
�t want the extra attention.”
A smile appeared on Jennie’s face as she glanced down at Baxter. He noticed the look and added, “What?”
“I think it’s the first time you’ve ever said ‘our’ business, instead of ‘yours,’” she explained. “Nice to see you’re finally admitting that you’re on my side.”
Baxter pushed himself to an upright position. “You know I’ve always got your back, Jen.”
Jennie shuddered.
“What?” Baxter asked.
“Jen?” Jennie replied. “That’s pushing it a little, okay? Stick with Jennie.”
Baxter told her he would.
Jennie reluctantly pulled herself away from the Rolls Royce and emerged back into the rain. She looked around for Susannah and was alarmed to find that the witch was missing. No matter which way she looked, she couldn’t see her anywhere.
“Shit,” Jennie hissed. She took a few cautious steps toward where she imagined the quarry to be and found the lip of the pit below her. The muddied edge was slick and seemed determined to drag her in, but she managed to backpedal before gravity could pull her over.
When she was confident that she was safe again, she found a specter walking up the haul road toward her. It took a few seconds to realize that it was Susannah.
“Where did you go?” Jennie scalded. “We’re supposed to be a team.”
Susannah was unabashed. “While you two were playing with toys, I scouted ahead. All I can see is a cave mouth filled with rubble. There’s nowhere else around that a group of mortals could have disappeared.”
“You’re sure?” Jennie asked.
Susannah nodded.
“Come on,” Jennie instructed. “Sometimes a second set of eyes can help.”
She strode down the access road, which the rain had almost turned into a natural slip ’n’ slide. Giving in to the momentum, Jennie turned mortal and allowed herself to slide down until they were at the bottom of the pit.
Agents, Agreements and Aggravations: In Her Paranormal Majesty’s Secret Service™ Book Three Page 51
