Capture (The Machinists Book 4)

by Craig Andrews

  Allyn saw the human-shaped shadows in the garage door windows before heard the muffled sound of voices. Three in all, they’d stopped outside the warehouse. The doorknob jiggled as one of them inserted the key and unlocked the door.

  The Knights had arrived.

  Chapter 21

  “Hide!” Allyn whispered sharply.

  The magi quickly ducked behind crates, boxes, and anything else that would provide a modicum of cover. Rory, caught in the middle of the warehouse, rushed toward the BearCats and dove into the nearest cab just as the warehouse door opened. The three Knights lingered outside just long enough for Allyn to duck behind the computer station. Nolan did the same, but not before he turned off the computer monitor.

  “Good thinking,” Allyn whispered.

  Nolan nodded, held a finger to his lips, then positioned himself so he could see around the corner of the desk. Allyn mimicked his movement, sliding to the edge of the station so that he could see the door.

  The Knights stepped into the warehouse slowly, their eyes alert, scanning the area. Dressed only in black fatigues, they were without their normal tactical gear and helmets, but all were armed with pistols.

  Allyn and Nolan glanced at each other, eyes wide.

  “They know we’re here,” Nolan mouthed.

  The Knights fanned out, two moving to the opposite corners of the warehouse, while the third remained in the center.

  “Looks empty,” one said. He was shaved bald and broader in the chest and stomach than the rest. More jarring, he spoke in unaccented English.

  “Shhh!” snapped the middle Knight, clearly their leader. He was taller than the rest, with spiky bleached hair and a square face made more intimidating by a scar that ran diagonally from his left eyebrow to his right cheek.

  “Come on, Nikolai,” the first Knight said. “There’s no one here. The door was locked.”

  “Silence!” Nikolai snapped. He turned from the other Knight, raising his gun and starting toward the BearCats. He motioned for the others to start a similar search down the edges of the room.

  Allyn quickly estimated the probability of their entire force remaining undiscovered. The odds weren’t good—especially considering the Knights had shown up expecting to find something.

  There was a silent alarm, he realized.

  He surveyed the room with fresh eyes, looking past the armed men walking in his direction, and took note of the equipment. Of the weapons. Allyn was no firearms expert, but he was willing to bet the assault rifles, grenade launchers, and other explosives hadn’t been purchased legally.

  The beginnings of an idea began to take hold. But first, they had to get out of the warehouse unseen.

  The Knights were a quarter of the way through the warehouse now and had already passed Andrew and Topher, who had hidden inside a stack of shipping crates. When the Knights passed, Topher rose, completely revealing himself. Allyn’s breath caught in his throat.

  If even one of the Knights turns around…

  Topher moved silently across the warehouse, disappearing behind the BearCats just as Nikolai whipped around, his gun trained on the space where Topher had just been. Nikolai paused, his eyes darting from wall to wall, corner to corner, then dropped onto his haunches, peering under the BearCats. He remained still for several moments, waiting, searching. When he finally stood again, he returned to his original course, though he was clearly more on edge, his movements sharp.

  Having seen Nikolai’s jumpiness, the other two Knights began to search more earnestly, and Allyn watched in horror as they neared Mason’s place of hiding. There was no way they would miss him. He’d found cover in a shadowed alcove between what looked like large munitions boxes.

  As the Knight approached, Mason seemed to come to the same conclusion, and Allyn made out a lance of ice forming in his hand. Allyn prepared to wield too, flexing and unflexing his hands with nervous anticipation.

  Mason shifted his position, preparing to spring his attack, but before he could, movement caught his eye. Topher reappeared from behind the BearCat, slowly making his way toward the front of the warehouse.

  What’s he doing? Is he running?

  Topher fumbled with the doorknob behind his back, his eyes focused on the Knights. His body grew rigid as his hand found it, and after a single sharp breath, he shoved open the door, allowing it to crash against the front of the warehouse.

  The Knights whipped around, seeing Topher in the open doorway. Daylight poured in behind the magi, making his features difficult to discern. Nothing to trace them back to who he really was. What he really was.

  Unless they catch him.

  Topher apparently had other plans. With a smile, he launched himself outside, sprinting away from the warehouse.

  “Stop him!” Nikolai shouted, not waiting for his fellow Knights to respond before he broke off in pursuit. The remaining Knights followed their commander, disappearing out of the compound a moment later.

  With the Knights gone, Allyn stepped out from behind the computer terminal. He couldn’t believe their luck. No, not luck, he decided. Topher had made it possible. Without him… Allyn didn’t want to think about it. He quickly led the magi out the side door back into the alley.

  “Make sure you lock it,” Nolan said to Mason as the other magi was about to close the door behind them.

  “Good thinking,” Mason said then locked the door before pulling it closed.

  “We need to find Topher,” Allyn said.

  “He’ll be fine,” Mason said.

  “But—”

  “I’ve known the kid since before he could wield,” Mason said. “He’ll be fine. And once he loses those bastards, he’ll come looking for us in the only place he knows where.”

  “The car,” Allyn said.

  “The car,” Mason agreed. “Let’s go. We need to be there when he arrives; otherwise, he might come looking for us.”

  They emerged from the alley as calmly as possible, finding the main street quiet, with no sign of Topher or the Knights except for a black BMW parked in front of the warehouse. Allyn broke away from the group, approaching the car.

  “What are you doing?” Nolan hissed. “Allyn!”

  Ignoring Nolan, Allyn pulled his phone from his pocket to take a picture of the license plate then another of the VIN. Satisfied he’d captured both, he crossed the street, returning to the group who hadn’t stopped to wait for him.

  “What the hell was that about?” Nolan asked.

  “We’re grasping at straws, Nolan. Something as simple as a license plate or VIN might be enough to unravel this mystery.”

  “Or get us all killed,” Nolan said sarcastically.

  “Or that,” Allyn agreed. But it’s worth the risk.

  They made it back to the SUV without incident and without sight of Topher or the Knights.

  Back in the driver’s seat, Allyn started the arduous process of waiting for Topher to return. He thought about texting Liam and telling him that he’d been right about the warehouse. But that would link Liam to the operation, erasing any plausible deniability. No, Allyn wouldn’t write Liam until he had something of note to tell him.

  Topher appeared a short time later. His face was flushed and he breathed heavily, but he was uninjured.

  “Were you followed?” Mason asked once Topher had climbed into the vehicle.

  “No,” Topher said between breaths. “I… lost… them.”

  “Where?” Allyn asked.

  “Few blocks over. Hid and made sure they didn’t follow me. Last I saw, they were returning to the warehouse.”

  “Good work,” Allyn said. “And thank you. You saved our asses back there.”

  “Just doing what I could.” Topher’s beaming expression was at odds with his nonchalant response.

&
nbsp; Allyn fired up the SUV and turned back onto the road, keeping his speed down and scanning the road for the Knights.

  “Where are you going?” Nolan asked.

  “Back to the warehouse.”

  “Back to the… what?”

  “The warehouse is compromised, Nolan. Sedric will know. By this time tomorrow, the warehouse will be empty, and all we’ll have is a couple of pictures of a license plate and VIN numbers.”

  “Which is more than we had before,” Nolan said.

  “It’s not enough.”

  “So what are you going to do?” Mason asked.

  “I’m going to follow them,” Allyn said. “They came here expecting to find someone, and that means someone sent them. We’re going to find out who.”

  Allyn heard no further complaints and returned to the same corner they’d parked at when they’d originally arrived. The Knights’ BMW was still parked in front of the warehouse, though a pair of shadows now occupied the front seats, and the car was running.

  “Is the driver on the phone?” Nolan asked.

  “Looks like it,” Allyn said.

  “We were definitely undermanned for this,” Nolan said, no doubt thinking about how Canary could have helped them again.

  “Quiet,” Allyn said, though silently agreeing with his friend.

  “They’re moving!” Mason said. “Down!”

  Allyn and Nolan ducked behind the dash as the BMW moved toward them.

  “Let me know when they’ve passed,” Allyn said.

  “They’re gone,” Mason said.

  Allyn sat up and watched in the rearview mirror as the black BMW turned down a side street. With it out of view, Allyn pulled a U-turn and sped down the street in pursuit. Turning onto the same side street the BMW and turned down, he spotted the black car a block and a half ahead.

  “Slow down,” Nolan said. “Keep your distance.”

  Allyn wanted to snap at him, wanted to say that he knew what he was doing, but quickly bit his tongue. As a former FBI agent, Nolan had much more experience at this type of thing than Allyn did. So he kept his distance, attempting to keep at least two or three blocks between them as they cruised out of the industrial district.

  “They’re getting onto the highway,” Nolan said. “Once you merge with traffic, keep at least three or four cars between us and stay in the right lane as much as possible. We sit higher than they do, which is good. We should be able to keep eyes on them.”

  “Okay.”

  Allyn merged with traffic and did as advised, remaining in the right lane several cars behind the Knights. Several minutes went by—ten, fifteen, then twenty—and the Knights’ direction became clearer.

  “They’re leaving the city,” Nolan said.

  “For where?” Mason asked.

  “We’re about to find out,” Allyn said.

  The highway went from three lanes of directional traffic down to two as Stuttgart disappeared behind them then eventually became one as small towns began to dot the German countryside.

  “Something’s not right,” Nolan said. “They arrived too quickly. There’s no way they drove this far.”

  “Maybe they’re not going back to where they were before.”

  “Or they know we’re tailing them,” Mason suggested.

  “Doubtful,” Nolan said.

  Allyn hoped the man was right. The same thought had been creeping into the back of his mind, especially since the road had narrowed and the traffic thinned. There weren’t as many places to hide as before. Nolan had told him to slow down again, opening up the space between them to a couple hundred feet, but if the Knights were being vigilant and looking for a tail, they would have easily spotted the magi vehicle. Allyn had no intentions or turning back, though. He was committed to seeing his plan through.

  Minutes turned into hours, and steeper hills and thick forests replaced the grasslands as the sun began to dip on the horizon.

  “I think I know where we’re going,” Nolan said suddenly.

  “You do?” Allyn asked. “How?”

  Nolan peered out the windows as if the beech trees held answers. “I’ve been watching the signs. We’re west of Berlin, maybe northwest.” He gestured to his phone. “There’s an old military training area hidden in the forest out here.”

  “Old military training ground?” Allyn asked.

  “Yeah,” Nolan said. “Apparently, it was owned by the Soviet Union until the early nineties. It’s huge, Allyn. Damn near a city. And there’s nothing nearby. No other towns for at least twenty miles.”

  “Who owns it now?”

  “That’s just the thing. The German government sold the land, but I can’t figure out to who.”

  “Why would they sell an old military base?” Allyn asked skeptically.

  “It was abandoned,” Nolan said. “Look.” He turned his phone around, attempting to show Allyn the pictures he’d found. The windy road made it difficult to see, but Allyn was able to make out concrete bunkers, watchtowers, and even what looked like an old basketball court.

  “But why would the Knights move into an abandoned military base?” Allyn asked.

  “Because the infrastructure is there,” Nolan said. “Think about it, Allyn. They need places to store vehicles and equipment. They need space to train, and they need to do it away from watchful eyes. This has their fingerprints all over it.”

  Allyn didn’t disagree. “I guess we’re about to find out.”

  The BMW was slowing down, its brake lights glowing.

  “Where’s it going?” Allyn asked as it turned off the road. “Should I follow them?”

  “No,” Nolan said.

  “Why not?”

  “Just don’t.”

  They quickly caught up to where the BMW had turned off the road, finding an overgrown lane, its concrete cracked and potholed, running perpendicular to the highway.

  “This is it,” Nolan said. “I’m telling you, this is it.”

  Allyn drove another quarter mile before turning off onto a small turnoff and killing the SUV’s lights.

  “What do we do now?” Nolan asked.

  “Let me see those pictures,” Allyn said.

  Nolan handed him the phone, and Allyn quickly cycled through. Most of the buildings looked to be completely rundown, their walls crumbling, roofs caving in, though some seemed to be in surprisingly good shape. Nolan was right. This did seem like the type of place the Knights would operate out of.

  “This isn’t like the church,” Allyn said, almost to himself. “Or the warehouse. It isn’t a staging ground. Isn’t a temporary base.” He looked up from the phone. “I think you’re right, Nolan. I think we just found the Knights’ headquarters.”

  Chapter 22

  Liam strode through the Klausner Manor, hoping his mask of confidence hid the boiling sense of unease twisting in his chest. Allyn’s call had eased his concern, only to replace it with something even more troublesome. Liam had told him to be discreet and all but ordered him not to get caught, and Allyn had come back with this? What he asked for—no, what he’d demanded—was outrageous. It was also brilliant, but Liam doubted the council, let alone the arch mage, would see it that way.

  A pair of Elemental Guards stood outside the council’s office, their eyes forward, backs stiff. Liam glanced at them as he walked by, absently wondering when they had stopped donning ceremonial weapons. Even guards in the British Palace still held outdated, ceremonial weapons.

  Stay focused. He didn’t have time to daydream about the swords and spears the magi guard had once carried. He needed to have his speech ready. Needed to be prepared to answer questions, fend off objections, and twist arms. Allyn and the rest were counting on him, and they didn’t have much time. Not only did Allyn want to move quickly, b
ut the council session would be adjourning shortly. Reassembling them wasn’t a hoop Liam wanted to jump through, since that would require convincing the arch mage first—the one person most likely to be their strongest challenger. No, as much as he would have liked to have time to write out his argument and brainstorm potential objections, they simply didn’t have the time. Allyn hadn’t given it to him.

  Win or lose, there’s going to be hell to pay when this is over.

  Liam took three more circuits around the manor, finally drawing a questioning look from one of the Elemental Guards. The look was little more than a flick of the eyes, but that was as much as anyone could expect from an Elemental Guardsman. Completing the final pass, Liam took a final deep breath and made for the door. The Elemental Guards slid into position, blocking his passage.

  “The council is in session,” one of the guards said. “No spectators.”

  “I’m not a spectator,” Liam said. “I have urgent information regarding the enemy.”

  “The arch mage said—”

  “The arch mage is going to want to hear this,” Liam said. “I guarantee it.”

  The guard took an irritated breath. “Very well. Wait here.” He opened the door and entered. The door clicked shut behind him, but Liam still could hear questioning tones and agitated voices inside. When the door opened again, the man gestured for Liam to enter.

  Liam strode into the council chamber with his back straight, his chin up, and his hands clasped behind his back. The council members sat around a rectangular table that held a color-coordinated map and figurines that Liam assumed were a representation of deployed forces.

  Drawing his lips into a tight line, Liam surveyed the council members. Only a few wore expressionless masks; most radiated hostility. At first, Liam thought it was because of his intrusion, but he quickly realized the council had been in the middle of a heated debate before his interruption. In either case, it wouldn’t make his job any easier.