“How long?” I asked, patting my pockets for a pen and trying to remember the nine digits. “How long does it last?”
“Forty-eight hours,” she answered grimly and removed a pen from her lab coat. “In addition—”
“In addition?” I said, taking the outstretched pen from her and writing down the code on my palm. “There’s more?”
She nodded, ignoring my interruption. “The ventilation system will cycle through several neuroinhibitors—some of which are toxic to humans,” she said, stepping back. “Don’t input the wrong code. Do you remember the combination?”
Monty nodded as he propped me up. “Palm print and the nine digits you gave us,” he said. “Simon was right. I’ve never dealt with a blood arrow in this manner. It may be best to clear the wing.”
Roxanne hesitated a moment. “Do you need me to go with you?” she offered. “I could get you into the room.”
“No,” Monty said quickly. “No, I need you to look into something else.” He searched his jacket pocket and pulled out the keepsaker. The runes covering the blue box gave off a faint glow.
“A keepsaker?” Roxanne said, the surprise evident in her voice. She took the ornate box from Monty and examined it. “This one is exquisite. What is it holding? Can it be opened?”
Monty nodded. “Vampire blood. I disabled the protective runes,” Monty said, pointing to the surface. “Ten vials used as payment for LIT rounds, or at least their exchange. I need to know if they all belong to the same vampire. Check with the Smiths.”
“LIT Rounds, vampire blood and these bloody arrows,” Roxanne said, gesturing at my leg. “What are you two mixed up in? I’m sorry. That was uncalled for and none of my business.”
Monty looked at her, narrowed his eyes, and turned away. He always had trouble explaining why he did the things he did. He risked his life when it would have been easier to walk away.
The one time I’d asked him, he’d given me a typical Montyesque answer: “Power must be used to benefit others. Not kept hidden away on some mountaintop.” I never felt the need to ask him again.
“Oh, the usual,” I cut in with a smile. “I’m sure Monty has pissed off someone or something and now they’re coming to erase us.”
“That’s not funny, Simon,” she whispered. “Promise me you’ll be safe, Tristan.”
Monty looked at her and shook his head. “No, I can’t promise we’ll be safe. I promise we’ll be careful.”
Roxanne crossed her arms. “I suppose that’ll have to do.” She pulled out her phone. “I’ll get the wing cleared out. Go take care of that arrow without blowing yourselves to bits—please.”
Monty nodded as we headed to the door separating the wings. Peaches rumbled next to me and I motioned for Monty to stop a second.
“Can you keep Peaches with you?” I said, looking back at Roxanne. Peaches sat on his haunches behind me. “If this goes south I don’t want him in there with me.”
Roxanne gave me a look. “How exactly would you like me to achieve that? Do you carry lengths of chain with you?”
“Give me a second.” I held up a hand to her as Peaches nudged into me, nearly knocking me down. “Hey, boy, I need you to stay with Roxanne. We’ll be right back.”
“We’re going to do something pretty dangerous and I don’t want you to get hurt,” I said, rubbing his head. “You’ll be safer here with her.”
“Is he talking to the beast?” Roxanne asked Monty as she stepped closer. “Does it speak back?”
Monty nodded. “Apparently it sounds like Vinnie Jones, but only Simon can hear the voice”—he made a circular gesture with his finger near his temple— “in his head.”
“Not helping,” I muttered under my breath.
“Well, it’s true, you’re the only one who can hear it,” Monty answered. “I almost feel sorry for the creature, only being able to communicate with you.”
“Peaches, stay here, with Roxanne.” I tried using my best Darth Eastwood voice. In my head, it was a gravelly cross of menace and sternness. He must have heard it differently though, because he snuffled and I could swear it was a laugh. He shook his head.
“When aren’t you?” I said, looking down at him, exasperated. “Fine, let’s go.”
“What did he say?” Monty asked, glancing at Peaches. “Wait, let me guess—he’s hungry?”
“Hilarious,” I snapped as a wave of pain crested in my throbbing leg. “He won’t go and we’re wasting time. I need this arrow out of my leg…now.”
“Probably for the best—I don’t have any stray cows lying about to feed it, in any case,” Roxanne said as she dialed a number. “I’ll get the wing cleared. You make sure you lot come back to me intact.”
She went down the corridor and disappeared around a corner. We walked past the doors and headed into the Morphology wing. The hallways were deserted as we approached the main MRI room.
“Do you remember the code?” I asked him as we stood looking at the panel for the palm print. He gave me a withering look and placed a palm on the smooth surface. It scanned his hand and went blank. A second later, a keypad appeared on the screen.
“Of course I remember the code,” he said, punching in the numbers. “It was only nine digits—child’s play.”
“Who are the Smiths?” I asked as the locks disengaged and the panel flashed a message of runes. Monty pressed a green circle and the panel went dark. A few seconds later the door hissed opened. The immense room was brightly lit, with the MRI scanner dominating the center of the floor.
“Let’s get that arrow removed first,” Monty said as we stepped inside the room. “Then we can focus on why they want your vampire and these dark blades.”
The machine resembled a typical MRI machine except that it was about five times larger and covered in runes. The machine was surrounded on three sides by three-inch Lexan, also inscribed with runes. In this case, MRI stood for morphological runic imagery. There was another pad to the side of the door and Monty repeated the process to lock it from the inside.
“That is one big machine,” I said, admiring the sheer size of the scanner. The runes on its surface danced and shifted, changing colors as they moved. “Any reason why they just can’t use a normal MRI machine and not this industrial-sized monster?”
“People and beings who wield magic can’t be scanned with magnetic resonance,” Monty said, pulling out the oversized platform for me to lie down on. “Their bodies give off too much runic ‘noise’ to be read properly. This machine essentially uses magic to read a magic-user.”
“You told Roxanne you had never removed an arrow in this manner,” I said as I slid onto the platform gingerly, keeping my leg elevated to avoid hitting the arrow. “How do you usually deal with a blood arrow?”
“During the war, a variation of these arrows was used. We employed a specific strategy called the ‘pull and shove’ to remove them,” Monty said and turned on the MRI scanner. “Pull the arrow out, use a blast of air to shove them back, watch them explode. It was very efficient.”
“I thought it was only the arrow that exploded?”
He shook his head slowly. “Once these runes come in contact with blood, they convert the blood around the wound into a liquid explosive similar to nitromethane,” he said, tracing runes around the arrow and my leg. “Pulling out the arrow is similar to lighting a fuse.”
“Can we not use that method? What the hell, Monty?”
“It was war,” he whispered as he strapped my leg down. “They were enemy combatants and we didn’t have time for niceties. Evils can be created much quicker than they can be cured. Things like this are why I left the Sanctuary.”
“Those who could win a war could rarely make a good peace,” I said, bracing myself. “I’m glad you’re working on the peace part.”
“Are you ready?” he asked and gave me a tight smile. “Tell
your creat—Peaches—to move back, if you can.”
Peaches padded back behind one of the large Lexan screens to one side of the MRI scanner.
“Good boy,” I said and gritted my teeth against a wave of pain and nausea as Monty grabbed my leg. “Monty, don’t blow me up.”
SIXTEEN
MONTY NARROWED HIS eyes as he examined the arrow. I was going to ask him if he needed spectacles or whatever mages called glasses. It seemed his vision was going since I was noticing a lot of squinting lately. I figured this wasn’t the time to bring up his failing vision or distract him so I made a mental note to bring it up later.
He gestured with his hand and I saw black tendrils encircle the arrow and my leg. The tendrils snaked around the wound and entered my skin. Sweat formed on Monty’s brow as he traced more runes.
I let out a long breath against the pain and clenched my fists around the platform. “That looks like Negomancy,” I said with a hiss as the pain increased. It felt like Monty had jammed a hot poker into my thigh and decided to wiggle it around. “That—isn’t feeling good. In fact it’s feeling pretty damn—”
Monty wiped the sweat from his eyes. “It doesn’t get better—not yet, at least,” he said quickly without taking his eyes off the arrow. “Shut it and let me concentrate. I would rather stop the unstable explosion before it obliterates us.”
“Before is a good plan. I like before.”
He gave me a short nod. “You have to remain still now,” he said. “I’m going to remove the arrow and the pain will be magnified.”
“Wonderful,” I replied, clenching my teeth. “More pain.”
“It will feel like your blood is on fire,” he added, grabbing the arrow. “Resist the urge to move or squirm or this will get messy.”
“Got it,” I answered, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. “Go for it.”
He pulled out the arrow and it felt like my body exploded in flame as I screamed. I opened my eyes, expecting to be engulfed in flames, and reflexively reached for my mark—the endless knot inscribed on the back of my left hand that allowed me to stop time for ten seconds. It bound me to Karma and occasionally she made an appearance when I used it. Right now, I just wanted the pain and burning to stop.
Monty grabbed my hand and stopped me, shaking his head.
“We have to let it run its course,” he said, strapping my arm down. “Your body’s healing should take over now.”
The burning sensations radiated outward from my leg and covered my entire body. It felt like being shoved in a sauna with a setting of ‘surface of the sun’ as the ambient temperature. I looked down at my leg and expected to see the skin melting away from my body.
After what felt like a lifetime, but was closer to thirty seconds, the burning and pain started to subside. “I’m feeling better,” I said with a gasp and put my head back against the platform. “The burning is almost gone.”
“We may have a problem,” Monty whispered, and the platform trembled. “The arrow is still active.”
An orange orb of energy floated in front of him. Inside the orb, I could make out the arrow. The runes along the shaft were bright red and pulsing.
I slid off the platform. “What do you mean it’s still active?” I moved to the side, giving the orb and Monty a wide berth. “I thought you said it was the blood that exploded?”
“It would seem, in this case, they expected us to attempt a removal and planned for this contingency,” Monty said as he backed away with the orb in front of him.
“Can you contain it?”
He shot me a look. ”What do you think I’m presently doing?” he said. I could hear the strain in his voice. “If I remove the orb, it explodes.”
“How about the MRI machine?” I said, looking at the giant scanner. “Can you put the arrow in there? It looks sturdy enough to take a small explosion.”
Monty looked from the machine to me and gave me a slight nod. “Every so often the functioning of your brain surprises even me,” he said and shifted the orb to place it in the MRI scanner. The orb floated lazily inside the scanner as we stepped back to the panel next to the door. “We want to be outside of the room. I have a feeling this will cause the scanner some considerable damage.”
“You do know Roxanne is going to be pissed you blew up her machine?” I moved next to the door as he placed his hand on the panel. “It’s probably expensive too.”
“I’ll tell her this was your idea,” he said, punching the nine-digit code. His hand froze after he punched in the last digit and the screen flashed yellow. A string of runes raced across the top of the screen. I didn’t recognize them, but the large flashing skull-and-crossbones in the center of the panel told me something bad just happened. “That’s not good.”
“Monty, that looks the opposite of good,” I said, looking for some place to take cover. “You punched in the wrong code, didn’t you?”
“Oh shite,” he whispered more to himself. “I must have juxtaposed a digit.”
The door behind us flared bright red as runes appeared on its surface. Several bolts slammed into the wall, reinforcing the locking mechanism. Red lights began to strobe above us and I could hear a klaxon going off somewhere. I felt the vibrations of blast doors slamming into place. The entire wing was quarantined.
I turned slowly to face him. “‘Oh shite’? ‘Juxtaposed,’ really?” I asked as he began tracing runes. “How much power will the blood arrow unleash inside of the scanner? What kind of explosion are we looking at?”
He muttered something quickly under his breath, crouched down and began tracing a semi-circle of runes on the floor in front of us. “If my recollection serves me, the explosion of the arrow is equal to about a quarter kilogram of TNT,” he said after a few seconds. “The energy output is approximately 1.2 mega joules.”
“Your powers of recollection don’t inspire much trust at the moment.” I stared at him, shaking my head.
“Excuse me for being bloody distracted,” he said testily. “I was only removing a volatile arrow from your leg and containing it in an orb designed to prevent it from exploding us into little bits.”
I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry and thank you, Monty, really,” I said after a moment and then examined the door. It’s just that we’re in here and Chi is out there—somewhere.”
He waved my words away and shook his head. “It’s not your fault,” he said, reading the runes on the door. “I should’ve paid attention.”
“It’s not like I can shoot this door with an entropy round. It looks stronger than the MRI machine,” I said, resting a hand on Grim Whisper.
Monty shook his head slowly as he rubbed his chin. “That door could probably stop a gang of ogres without taking a dent.”
“What does that mean in terms of us surviving the explosion?”
“The outlook is bleak to nil,” he said and traced more runes on the floor. “This shield should act as buffer, but I don’t like our chances even with your mala assisting the casting.”
“Well, I feel much better now, thanks. Guess I’ll find out how immortal I am after all,” I said and grabbed Peaches, pulling him close. “Exploding to death wasn’t on my to-do list today.”
“Unfortunately, since the arrow is in the center of the MRI scanner, the explosion will be exponentially greater, closer to five kilograms of TNT,” he said, ignoring me. He continued tracing runes and then stood, rubbing his chin again. “Wait…the entropy rounds. Give me one.” He stretched out a hand.
I ejected the magazine and removed one of the rounds. Black energy wafted up from it as I placed it in his hand. “I don’t see how one round is going to help with an explosion that’s going to erase us.”
“The round should act as a disruptive force, bifurcating the initial shockwave and allowing us a narrow trench of inverse runic activity,” he explained matter-of-factly. “It will require precise manipulation and alignment, but Ziller’s theorem of gravitational disruption should apply.”
“Is
this Ziller person alive?” I asked, thoroughly lost. “Because I would enjoy introducing his head to my fist.”
“Professor Ziller resides at the Sanctuary as part of the living library,” Monty answered as he completed the semi-circular design on the floor. “If you do meet him, I would strongly advise against any physical violence. He’s an accomplished mage in his own right.”
“Can you explain what you just said in English I can understand?”
“Stay behind this semi-circle,” he said, looking down and gesturing over the round in his hand. Blue runes floated through the air, descending on the entropy round. “The orb will dissolve shortly and the arrow will detonate. Once the orb disappears, you activate your shield.”
“Then what?” I pulled on the mala bracelet to have easier access to the main bead. “You just said we had little chance with a regular explosion. How are we going to make it through one ten times worse?”
“One second,” he said, holding up his hand. “We’re running out of time. Listen.”
At first I didn’t hear anything over the klaxons, then I caught it. It was a steady hissing.
“Shit,” I said, grabbing Peaches and covering his nose with a sleeve. “Neurotoxins. Is that one round going to be enough?”
“If I don’t collapse first, we should be fine.”
I stared at him. “Oh good, I wouldn’t want you overly concerned or nervous,” I said, making sure Peaches remained still.
“The entropy round will give us a slight chance to divert the initial crest of the explosion,” he said without looking up. The entropy round floated above his hand and rotated slowly until he aligned it to the MRI scanner and the arrow tumbling slowly in its center. “Get ready, the orb is about to fail.”
“I’m not even going to pretend to understand what you just tried to explain—again,” I answered and grabbed hold of the mala bracelet. The sweat from my hands made the smooth wood feel slick in my fingers. “Ready.”
I held my breath as the orb disappeared. Monty muttered something under his breath and the bullet shot off faster than if I had fired it from Grim Whisper. I looked down to make sure I was behind his semi-circle of runes before I pressed the main bead on the mala. The shield shimmered into place as the arrow exploded. There was only one problem. Monty was on the other side of the shield.
Blood Is Thicker A Montague & Strong Detective Novel (Montague & Strong Case Files Book 3) Page 7
