by Kit Hallows
Bullets roared around me and several whiskey bottles exploded along the bar as I dashed past them. I jumped over an overturned beer keg Adams had left in my path and tore through a small kitchen, my eyes on the swinging back door. Adams ran out across a yard and for a moment he seemed to fly through the air before crashing to the ground.
Astrid appeared, knife in hand. Adams turned from where he lay and fired. I shoved Astrid aside and took the impact of the bullet in my coat before returning fire. I aimed for his arm but my rounds went wide then he scrambled to his feet and leaped neatly over a fence.
“You okay?” I asked Astrid.
“Go!” She shouted as she ran over to the building behind us.
I clambered over the chain-link and fell hard on a stony, potholed path. Adams was running hard and fast down the alley, springing over icy puddles. He fired a few shots but his bullets whined past me and when his magazine was empty he threw his gun to the ground. I holstered my weapon as I ran. From the corner of my eye I saw Astrid following across the rooftops.
I snatched up Adam’s gun and stashed it in my bag, and then a dog leaped out from behind a cluster of garbage cans. It really threw me, and I lost momentum as I drew back from its gnashing teeth. Slather hung in curtains from its scabby snout as it lunged again then the chain around its neck snapped taut, saving me from having half my leg torn off.
There was no sign of Adams by the time I recovered my stride. I ran on, crunching through the ice in the gutter as I tore out into the street beyond.
It was empty.
Adams was gone.
48
“Over there!” Astrid called from the roof at the end of the alley. I followed her finger to the subway entrance across the street and ran, my chest tight, my breath ragged.
I flew down the worn steps and weaved in and out of sleepy-faced commuters. There was no sign of Adams, but there were plenty of upset people looking back behind them. I leaped the turnstiles, ran through the knot of passengers and wound my way down the escalator.
There. At the bottom; Adams shoving and pushing his way toward the platform.
I raced down the shifting stairs as people watched agape. There was always tension on the subway these days as the specter of violence and terrorism hung over the city. Several commuters reached for their phones, which meant it was only a matter of time before security or the police would be on my case. I glanced back as I heard rapid footsteps behind me. Astrid.
We leaped off the escalator, raced across the concourse and a sinking feeling passed through me as I heard the mechanical drone of a train pulling away.
I ran onto the platform to find Adams sprinting alongside one of the cars, hammering at the button to open its doors. He glanced back my way and ran harder, following the train as it vanished into the tunnel. I grabbed a crystal and cast a spell to illuminate his footsteps. They glowed red as they led us into the darkness. “Keep clear of the tracks,” I whispered to Astrid as we walked alongside the rails.
The footprints ended a few yards in and I could just make out his form against the wall. I made like I was walking past him before turning and grabbing him around the throat. “Next time,” I said, “try holding your breath. It reeks and you sound like a broken vacuum cleaner.” I turned to Astrid. “You got a light? I need to look him in the eye or he’s going to lie as soon as I start with the questions.”
“Who…”
I clamped a hand over his mouth. “You only speak when spoken too, asshole.” I waited until Astrid summoned a small orb of light into her hand, just enough to show Adams’ wretched features. He gave me a hard stare, and I read its inherent threat. Do you know who I am? Do you know the people I know? Yeah, I did. I removed my hand from his mouth.
“Who the fuck are you? Feds?” he demanded.
“You ever see the feds summon a magical orb of light, jackass?” I asked. “No, I’m the man that’s going to beat the living shit out of you if you don’t cooperate. And if you piss me off, I’ll kill you.” I held his gaze. “You doubt me?”
The rails clattered and light flickered on the wall near the bend of the tunnel. I yanked Adams away from the wall, marched him to the tracks, and held him there as the train rumbled closer. “The driver won’t even notice until he sees your head bouncing off the rails in the station.” I shouted over the din. “You want that?”
Adams continued to stare at me, his eyes filled with defiance, but it faded as the train drew closer. He shook his head, and I pulled him back and shoved him against the wall. The tunnel lit up as the train went by, and as it slowed I saw Adams gazing up at the windows almost imploringly. “No one can see us,” I said. “I took care of that, and I know you know what that means. You’ve seen Endersley’s powers. We’re worse.” I glanced at my watch. “The next train will be by in three minutes. You’ll be all over it if you don’t tell me what I need to know.”
“What do you want?” he shouted. His face was a greasy shade of white, his lips flecked with spit.
“I want to knock out each and every last one of your teeth from your sick, rotten skull. But instead I’ll settle for details about what you and your gang of miscreant fucks have planned for the Winter Festival. And don’t bother trying to lie. Seriously, don’t.”
He stared at me and I saw him weighing things up. What to tell, what not to tell… He screamed, the sound loud in my ears. I looked down to find Astrid jerking a blade back from wherever she’d stuck it. “Sorry,” she said. “It’s hard to see down here.”
“Three bombs are set to go off at eleven. They’re being carried by two men and a girl.”
“Girl?”
“She’s about twenty, I guess.” He shook his head. “I didn’t want anything to do with it. Seriously. I told him that. I grew up in this city. But…”
I gazed deeply into his eyes and could see he was telling the truth. He didn’t like the plan and had genuinely considered backing out. And he might have done it if it hadn’t been for the insane amount of cash Endersley had offered him. Which meant he was just as bad as they were, if not worse. “Don’t give me that shit. You’ve had a long illustrious career preying off this city and using your muscle to extort. Don’t give me that fake sentimental crap about caring. Don’t go there. So three bombers… is that it?”
“No, there’s shooters too. Five or more. They’ll be there by ten thirty.”
“When are they going to strike?” I demanded and shoved his head back further into the wall.
“When the bombs go off at eleven. The crowd'll be rushing past them as they try to escape the explosions.” A tear ran down the side of his face. “I…”
“Why?” I asked. “What the fuck is this about?”
“I don’t know, I don’t.” Adams cried. “Endersley only told me what I needed to know so I could work with Slater and coordinate things. He might have told Slater more but he made all of us go our own ways after we knew our part of the plan.”
Which meant there was a possibility the shooters and bombs weren’t the only attacks they had planned. “Where’s Slater going to be?”
“Leading the gunners.”
“And where are the bombers coming from?” I asked. “Or are they already in place?”
“I don’t know, they might be” Adams said. “They said there’s not going to be much in the way of security because…”
“Because the festival’s been running peacefully for the last forty years with no problems at all,” I said. “Which makes you and your friends real trailblazers.” I had to stop myself from turning his face into a soft, wet pulp. Instead I grabbed his wrist and tore through his memories.
The first I found was of him at the tavern earlier, drinking coffee and trying to read a gambling site on his phone, his thoughts riddled with fear, anticipation and nervous excitement.
I went back further until I saw him leaving a steel mill in his car. The place had long been deserted and I could see the restless prowling around the fenced-in grounds like guard dogs.
None of them approached Adams because Endersley had placed binds around him to make him untouchable. I rifled further through his memories until I found one from the day before when Endersley had summoned Adams.
He’d gone to the building that looked like a hangar where Endersley had set up the meeting. Adrenaline had flooded through him. He didn’t like Endersley, hated the weird spooky hocus-pocus that surrounded him. Like the huge black painting on the wall behind his benches. It had been painted so recently it still reeked of solvents and he’d had to step over the empty paint tubes that littered the metallic walkway. He’d seen the painters too, after they’d finished it and none of them had been right in the head. They’d filled the air with their screams just before the guns went off. After that he’d been coerced into helping dump their bodies into the furnace.
Then three new people had shown up to speak with Endersley. The bombers. One was a tall teenager in tight-fitting pants and a padded green jacket. His hair was bright blue and his face was filled with piercings. The other guy had closely cropped hair, steel-rimmed glasses, and pasty skin while the girl had spiky black hair and the look of someone who’d been brutalized since they were young. All were broken, and perfect for Endersley’s plans.
I committed the three faces to memory and was about to trawl back further into his recollections when I felt a spike in his heartbeat.
Go, an icy voice whispered in the center of his mind. Now!
I opened my eyes and Adams head butted me in the face. Before I could recover, he tore away. Astrid began to go after him but I grabbed her arm, pulled her in and held her tight because I knew, with blood chilling certainty, what was coming.
A train clattered round the bend and Adams ran full tilt to meet it. There was a sickening thud, a squeal of wheels and a flash of light in the darkness.
49
We ran back through the tunnel. I was eager to clear the subway before the place went into lockdown. The train had come to a stop with half of its length in the station, the other half still in the tunnel. We moved fast and slipped through the ghoulish crowd of onlookers as they held up their cell phones to capture the morbid scene.
“That was unfortunate,” Astrid said, as we emerged onto the sidewalk.
“I feel for the train driver,” I said. “As for Adams, it was no loss.”
We found Samuel leaning against the bus shelter, his attention split between the Three Horses Tavern and the little old lady standing beside him. She’d clearly warmed to his charms, and she laughed loudly at whatever it was he said. As we approached, she looked us up and down and made a comment about him keeping dark company.
“They’re good friends, Edith,” Samuel said, “even if they do look a bit odd.”
Edith ignored us as she dug into her purse and handed Samuel a dollar.
“What’s that for?” he asked.
“For the music,” she said and nodded towards the bow he’d disguised as a guitar case.
“I didn’t any play music,” Samuel said as he tried to hand back the dollar.
“Oh, but you did. Your voice is a beautiful song, young man.” Edith waved the dollar away, fixed Astrid and I with a suspicious glance and climbed aboard the bus that had just pulled over at the stop. A colorful banner was plastered on the side of it, featuring a sparkling cluster of bright, cheery snowmen. It was an ad for the Winter Festival and a cold pang passed through me. Would this become another name on a long list of infamous acts of violence and terror? No. I wasn’t going to let that happen.
I grabbed my phone and called Haskins while Astrid told Samuel about the Adams situation.
“Rook,” Haskins said with his customary irritation.
“Adams is…down.”
“I heard there was a fatality on the subway. The call just came in. I figured with the proximity of the station to his tavern, and the fact that you were on his case…”
“There was nothing I could do. He ran down the tracks. But that’s not why I’m calling. Grab a pen and paper. I’ve got a description of the bombers.” I said as I proceeded to give him the details.
“Bombers?” Haskins said. “You never said anything-”
“They’ve lined up shooters as well.” I filled him in on the entire sick plan. “But we’re going to stop them. It’s not going to happen. Now, circulate those descriptions.”
“I’ll get this out right away.” Haskins said, “even though what we should be doing is shutting the festival down.”
“We went over this, they’ll just plan another attack and the chances are we won’t know where. This man is not going to give up, we have to stop him.” I glanced at the families on the bus as it pulled away and wondered how many of them were heading to the festival. “Okay,” I said. “How about this; if we haven’t tracked the suspects down by ten, we shut it down.”
“I guess,” Haskins said, “but I’m going to have submit a report on this. You know that, don’t you?”
“I do. But tell them what I said, this is our chance to nail these bastards for good. Before they vanish and commit their atrocities elsewhere.”
“Right.” I could hear Haskins’ conflict as he hung up and I understood it. The whole plan was a gamble and one that might literally blow up in my face if I got it wrong. And any innocent blood spilled would be on me. But what I’d said was true. If the Festival was closed down Endersley would order another assault, and that could mean even more casualties. I checked the time. Eight twenty three am. Just over ninety minutes to find three bomb-toting assholes and a truck full of shooters.
“What are you thinking?” Samuel asked.
“That we need to find Endersley’s crew, and fast.”
“There’s a chance he’s used spells to conceal the bombers,” Samuel said. “That’s what I’d do.”
“Yeah, me too,” I said. “But while that might work on the blinkered authorities, it’s not going to work on us. But it would simplify things if we only have to look for people who are cloaked. Come on.”
We arrived at the long stretch of the boulevard where they held the festival every year; five blocks lined with restaurants and shops, each of them vying for attention from the masses that were about to descend. In fact, the crowds were already beginning to swell, the coffee shops and diners were crammed with people, and kids wearing reindeer antlers, elf ears and tiny Santa hats. I would have considered it a cheerful sight if it wasn’t for my knowledge of Endersley’s plans, and the devastation it would bring if it came to fruition.
“Is there any way I can share the memories I stole from Adams?” I asked. “I mean the images of the bombers and Slater.”
“Yes, I can take them, if you’ll let me” Astrid said, “and I can pass them to Samuel. But I’ll warn you, it’s going to feel… strange.”
“Let’s do it,” I said, as I scanned the crowds and glanced at my watch once more.
Astrid embraced me, her grip tight and warm. She looked up at me and as our eyes locked her pupils dilated. I felt myself flush. It wasn’t what I was expecting, and I began to…
… a cold shudder passed through me. She was inside my head, a sensation I knew perfectly well thanks to my dark other. Memories began to flash through my mind without me summoning them and I watched passively as she rifled through those private things like a burglar. My dark other began to stir, detecting the invasion. He rose from the depths of my being, his anger and outrage charging through me…
Stop with the darkness, Morgan. Stop tapping into cursed magic. I want you to be you. Not someone else.
Hearing Astrid’s voice in my head broke my other’s pull. She released me and stepped away. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“Did you get what you needed?” I asked, doing my best to sort through the feeling of intrusion and the words she’d whispered to me.
“Yes,” Astrid said, “Samuel, come here.”
I was struck by a sharp twinge of jealously as he embraced her, just as she’d embraced me. Then he gazed into her eyes blankly as she sh
ared the information she’d taken from me. I glanced back through the crowd, searching for anyone using magical cloaks to disguise themselves. The tell was pretty simple, a glassy aura. It was a dead giveaway.
“Okay,” I said, as Samuel broke their embrace, “we know who we’re looking for, and we’ve got,” I checked my watch once more, “almost an hour to find them. No pressure then.” I delved into my bag, pulled out a spare phone I’d picked up at the armory, and handed it to Samuel. Astrid held up hers and read out the number as he entered it into his phone. “If you see anything, call and I’ll do the same. And,” I paused as I looked at each of them in turn, “take care. Okay?” I smiled despite feeling sick. It felt like everything was about to go seriously wrong.
“You too,” Astrid said, before striding into the crowd.
“We’ll find them,” Samuel said. His tone was light but I could see he felt almost as ill as I did. I nodded, and then we split up.
There were people everywhere I looked, wearing winter hats, sipping cocoa and coffee, breath steaming the air, checking on their little ones, their eyes bright with anticipation. All of them perfectly oblivious to the horror that was planned. I wove my way through the crowd hawkishly as the buzz of their chatter filled the air.
The roads and intersections were barricaded off, which meant I had little option but to remain in the thick of the gathering revelers. Now and then police cars cruised down the empty street, and stony faced cops gazed from their windows. I hoped Haskins had managed to brief them and I was just about to search a row of food vendors when a series of screams pierced the air.
50
I raced toward the screams, my hand reaching for my holster, only to discover they weren’t cries of terror but cries of delight. I watched as kids leaped up and down in a bouncy castle decorated like a snowy ice palace and a little girl smiled at me. Her grin faded as she continued to meet my eye. I tried to smile in return, but it didn’t seem to help so I turned away and walked past long tables covered in scarlet cloth with white trims. They were piled up with canned goods, bags of produce, bottled drinks and holiday candies. The donations continued to amass as people in the crowd stopped by with their contributions and volunteers rushed to pack up the groceries and load them into vans heading for local food banks. It made me think of the succubus Kitty’s jaded remark.
