The cleanup was done in twenty minutes and then it was only them and the sinkhole.
“Area 42 is simply going to leave it here?” Maeve went closer to the edge then stepped back. “These masks don’t block the smell at all, by the way.”
“I’d like to know that too.” Bart scowled. “They took some losses, but that’s still a big mess to leave behind.” He stomped away from them and started yelling into his phone.
“I’ll give him a call or two to get them back out here, then I’m calling in our department.” Garran also moved closer to the hole but he stayed there. “I’ll also notify the Highway department; this ramp will be down for a long time while we get everything out and make sure that breach is closed.” He stepped away to make his own calls.
Harlie stood there with his eyes closed, but opened them suddenly. “It’s closed. But the veil was down and not in any way I’ve heard of before. There are people I need to talk to.” He glanced around as if looking for Caradoc’s car.
“You destroyed it, remember? It looks like it was the right thing to do, but still. Good thing all the equipment was already unloaded.” Caradoc clearly wasn’t happy about losing his car, but not as upset as Aisling would have expected.
“You were already planning on dumping it, weren’t you?” Maeve laughed as she picked up on the same thing Aisling had.
“There are far too many black SUVs running around.” He shrugged. “That wasn’t the way I wanted it to go, but it served a purpose.”
Jones nodded. “Once we know if Bart needs us or not, I can take you and Harlie home.”
“Thanks.”
Harlie looked agitated. “I know where we are, I can get there myself. I do need to talk to some people. Privately. Hermits like privacy.” He took off running before anyone could respond.
“There’s a hermit connection where they all compare notes? Why hadn’t I heard of this?” Caradoc watched as his brother picked up speed and vanished.
“Because you’re like the anti-hermit?” Mott had been silently watching everything. “I’ve heard of it. But I’m closer to being one than you.”
“A secret club for hermits, what next?” Maeve’s phone chirped and she scowled at the number. “I have to take this.” She also moved away.
“I feel like I should call someone,” Aisling said and turned to Reece and Jones. “What are you going to do now? It looks like Bart can get you both back in with Area 42.”
Jones watched Bart who was still up the ramp yelling into his phone. “I have a feeling we’ll all be working outside of the L.A. Area 42 group. His jurisdiction is higher than Captain Driyflin’s, but I think he’s trying to gather people he trusts so he can sort out the bad ones. There is something wrong with this branch.”
Reece nodded. “I just wish we had a better clue how everything is linked. The fact that all of the higher-ranking agents were lost and it was hidden even from us? That’s not good.”
Bart stomped back down the ramp. “I just got off with New York and you are all now working with me. Well, except Garran over there, but I told them I’m sharing all intel with him.” He looked around. “You lost one.”
“Harlie needed to go talk to some other scary people about whatever scary thing just happened. He did say the breach in the veil here is closed,” Aisling said. “For now.”
“Good. We’ll need that ability of his and others like him to sort this. Or you will.” Bart nodded to Garran as he came back from his own calls. “I’m assuming you’ll be reinstating these two?” He pointed to Aisling and Maeve. “Less suspicious if they’re back on the active roster.”
“I thought you were annexing them?”
“Easier to grab active detectives than benched detectives. They’ll still be working for me while this investigation is going on.”
“Do we get a say?” Maeve came back from her phone call and looked to both of them.
“Nope.” They echoed each other extremely well.
“And I do know that you are still involved with MI-6.” Bart smiled. “I’m sure, if we need to, we can pull them in as well. My job here officially is to look at what in the hell is going on with the L.A. branch. Unofficially, I’m looking at a lot of weird shit that’s threatening everything and everyone. I want all of you focusing on that.”
Maeve didn’t say anything, but the sour look on her face said MI-6, or someone connected to them, had been on that call. Aisling would wait until they were back at the house to find out exactly who and what.
A pair of black cars appeared at the top of the ramp and came down once the cops moved their cars aside. There were trucks up top with cement berms to put in place to block the ramp.
The first car had Captain Driyflin and three other agents that Aisling didn’t think had been there before. The second had five agents—also not familiar. To be fair, aside from the two who’d been killed, she didn’t get a good look at any of them before.
“Agent Churchill, thank you for taking care of things until I could return. Seattle will be sending down the special crew you requested to analyze and take apart the wreckage in the sinkhole.” She gave a stiff nod to Jones and Reece. “I understand you’ll be reporting to Agent Churchill. I’ll officially notify the FBI that you’re off their cases.”
Bart walked around the new batch of agents. “Keep an eye on things until the Seattle crew gets here. I’ll be going back to your temporary office and reviewing the findings on the first building drop. I’ll also be sharing it with the L.A. police.” He’d timed his walk around to finish directly in front of the captain. He watched her carefully as he spoke.
She gave a start at the sharing of information, but recovered. “My understanding was that information concerning these events was to stay internal only.”
“Who told you that?” Bart folded his arms.
“The NYC office.” She kept her gaze focused over his head.
“Who? Please do not mistake my jovial manner for something other than what it is. I am still internal affairs, and this is an active investigation.”
“Toril Kjai. He said it was crucial to keep anything associated with the missing building under wraps.” Her eyes darted around the group. “Since we still have no idea who was behind it.”
“We have no idea who is behind it because you have cut off resources that we could be using. Closing in on ourselves is not what is needed. However, I’m not surprised at Kjai’s actions. He’s always been a bit of an ass.” He turned toward Aisling and the others. “I’ll be in contact with you all, but there’s no reason to stay and babysit with us.” His smile was tight.
Aisling knew she was missing some dynamics going on between Driyflin and Bart but they weren’t her concern right now. Besides, the odd smell from the hole—death mixed with burning rubber and rotting vegetation, was giving her a headache. “I’m all for that.” She started toward Reece’s car, along with Mott and Maeve. Then she noticed Reece was still standing with the other two. Even Jones and Caradoc were moving toward the embankment that would lead to the access road where Jones had left his car.
“Ya coming? You are our ride home.” Maeve folded her arms and glared. From the scowl on her face, she had a headache as well.
“Just a moment.” Reece held up his hand and he, Bart, and Driyflin had a short but intense conversation. He nodded and turned to his car. Bart looked smug. Driyflin looked pissed.
Aisling waited until they were in his car and he’d turned around to go back up the ramp. One cop car was gone, and a pair of cement berms were locked in place where it had been. The car that remained moved to let them out. “Are you going to tell us what that was about, or just let us guess?”
Reece swore, but it was at trying to get onto the freeway from an exit ramp. Once he was properly on the freeway he shrugged. “Nothing too secret. I just told them that if Jones and I are working under Churchill, we want separate offices from the rest of Area 42.”
“You don’t trust Captain Driyflin.” Mott said.
“I’m not sure. Neither is Jones. I’d been focusing on some high-level moles in the L.A. police department for the past year and possibly missed some in our own organization.” He held up his hand before Aisling could speak. “Yes, I know you said there were some a while ago. I was wrong.”
Aisling’s look of shock was wasted on him as he kept looking forward.
“There might be a problem,” Maeve said as she looked at the side window. “I’m being reactivated for MI-6. I want to talk to Bart and Garran alone about it. But I’m not sure how much I can refuse this reactivation. Not only have there been three more Nix sightings, there was a sinkhole in a town outside of London. A section of the town of Noth was destroyed before they locked it down.”
Chapter Thirteen
“What?” That got Reece’s attention. “We need to tell Churchill.”
Aisling watched Maeve, but she was still just looking out the window. “And Garran. But this came to Maeve through MI-6. If they wanted the others to be involved they’d say something.”
Maeve finally looked over. “They didn’t specifically comment on my sharing the information one way or another—so I feel okay to tell Garran and Bart. But I have to report back in London within two days. They only gave me the briefest intel on the sinkhole.”
“Caradoc can find it.” Mott looked over. “I probably can as well.”
“They can force you back? What if you don’t want to go?” Aisling still wasn’t sure how she felt about Maeve lying to her for the past ten years about being completely done with MI-6. But there was an apparent chance that she hadn’t had a lot of say about remaining connected to them.
“Not sure. But I do want a chance to get Nix, however many of him there are. I want them all dead.”
They all were silent as Reece drove to Caradoc’s house, through the hedge, and parked beside Jones’ car.
Maeve sighed. “The gang’s all here, might as well sort this out.”
Aisling had wanted to get into the action, but now they might have a bit more action than they could deal with. Still, it felt better to be actually doing something. Or about to be doing something.
Jones’ and Caradoc’s conversation in the living room dropped as the rest came in. Harlie was nowhere to be seen. He’d claimed one of the rooms in the upper level of the house so was most likely up there dealing with his hermit group.
“Anything happen after we left?” Caradoc watched Maeve stomp into the living room.
“Yeah. There are now eight sightings of Nix, all close in time, all over the U.K. and Ireland. And MI-6 is reactivating me and calling me back in. I have to be in London in two days.” Maeve flung herself down onto the sofa. “Oh, and a sinkhole opened up outside of London and destroyed half of a town.”
Jones sat down near her. “I thought you wanted to kill Nix. Isn’t being in the U.K. the best way to do that?”
“Yes, but not as much as you would think. I’m more limited as MI-6, ironically. Partly because I wanted to leave. They didn’t want to let me go completely, but they also don’t fully trust me. It’s been ten years since I was an active agent.” She rubbed her forehead. “Is it too early to drink? I could use a pint.”
“Not at all.” Caradoc went to the kitchen and came back with a bottle of beer. “Need a glass?”
“Nope.” She took the bottle with a grateful smile.
Harlie came running down the stairs. “We have to go to England. Specifically, Noth. North of London. They had an accident.”
“A sinkhole that swallowed most of the town? Yeah, we know.” Maeve took a long pull of her beer.
“What? How?” He waved his hands. “Never mind how you knew. Did you know it happened at the precise time that the one here did? Or that I believe it was also caused by a piece of the Area 42 building?”
Reece and Jones had taken seats at the dining table but both stood back up and stepped closer to Harlie. Jones looked the most interested. “Are you sure? That would mean we’d need to go as well.” There was a violent gleam in his eyes. There were a lot of people who wanted a chance at killing Nix. Good thing there might be enough of them to go around.
“Even if we get there, you’re going to have to fight Maeve for killing Nix.” Aisling watched Maeve carefully.
Harlie started pacing. “My connections are sure. Noth was a small town, but a contact of mine has lived on the edge of it for fifteen years. She verified the sinkhole time and the appearance of what looked like a building. The sinkhole kept growing until it swallowed a row of cars. The resulting explosion stopped it.”
Reece rubbed his forehead. “Did your friend have the ability to sense a veil intrusion?”
Harlie pulled out a chair from the dining table set and flopped into it. “Yes. There definitely was a veil breach. They are still looking for missing people. They did evacuate the town though. Wasn’t clear exactly who, but it appeared to be MI-6.” He watched Maeve.
“Seriously, just because I’m MI-6 doesn’t mean I’m going to do something every time it comes up.” Maeve glared at them all, then finished her beer.
“True. Besides, the Area 42 group out of London should have stepped in quickly,” Jones said.
“That’s a good point. Why haven’t they?” Aisling looked around the room. She knew Area 42 was focused in the US, but they had branches in most major cities of the world. London being the largest U.K. one.
“One we might want to speak to our new boss about.” Caradoc pulled out his phone. Then frowned and hung up. “Bumped to voice mail. But what of it, you two? Why is MI-6 kicking in but not Area 42?”
Both Jones and Reece shrugged.
“I’d say they are there. Even though London is larger than the other U.K. branches, it’s still a smaller office than anything we have here. They probably work with MI-6.” Reece started to call someone, then put his phone away. “I was automatically going to call the captain.”
Harlie studied everyone for a few seconds then leapt out of his seat. “When do we leave?”
“I think we have to sort things out first.” Aisling shared a look of concern with Caradoc.
“Yes, yes, travel. Papers. I know. But we need to go quickly.” Harlie was bouncing in excitement.
Caradoc walked over to Harlie. “Are you okay? Is there something that you’re picking up that we aren’t?” He turned to Reece. “Have you sensed anything?”
Reece responded first. “I’m not a precog. I keep telling you that.” He saw Aisling raise her eyebrow. “Okay, I have picked up on some weird things in the past, but nothing right now. Including back at the site.”
Harlie kept nodding his head. “Different people connect to different things. Since the blood of yours that started beyond the veil is diluted you wouldn’t feel everything. But for me, I just know that things will happen. Lots of things. And we,” he motioned around the entire living room, “all need to be in England. Soon. My friend outside of Noth can put us up.” He frowned. “The city of London is too much for me. I can visit, but not stay there for long.”
“Well, not sure about the rest of you, but I need to report in.” Maeve got to her feet. “I’ll be packing, it won’t take long.” She left for her room. Most of her things were still in storage from when Nix had cleaned out her townhome. She’d been saying she would deal with it, and go back to her townhome, but hadn’t moved forward on either yet. Aisling thought she didn’t want to live alone right now and couldn’t blame her.
“I’ll try Bart again,” Jones said. He’d just dialed when both Reece and Harlie collapsed. He hung up the call.
Aisling reached Reece first, while Caradoc and Mott grabbed Harlie.
Aisling checked Reece’s pulse. “He’s alive, his breath is short and choppy and his eyes are fluttering under his eyelids. What the hell happened to them?”
“Harlie’s the same.” Caradoc looked from one to the other. “Unless someone else here has talents we don’t know about, I’d say something just smacked the precogs hard.” His phone beeped
and he grabbed it. “Yes, Harlie is out cold.” He caught himself before he mentioned Reece. “Understood.” He hung up. “That was Bart. Whatever hit these two also hit a precog at the sinkhole site and there are calls coming in from all over the county. Precogs are collapsing where they stand. Or sit. There are traffic accidents being reported all over L.A. as drivers pass out.”
Aisling gave both Jones and Mott a worried look. She didn’t know if they knew about Reece, nor if he’d want them to. Not only could Reece’s secret mean problems for him, it could mean prison or worse for others who knew and didn’t turn him in.
Caradoc nodded as he saw who she was looking at. “It’s okay, Reece told me who knows a while ago. They’re safe.”
Aisling nodded.
“Just in L.A.?” Not that Aisling wasn’t grateful, the amount of damage that could happen was already huge, but if it was global, it could be horrific.
“As far as they know. Not even in Ventura. They’re trying to map the reactions.”
“And they probably all radiate out from the sinkhole.” Mott pulled out his pad and was wiping through a lot of screens if his arm movement was any indication.
Groans came from both Harlie and Reece and it seemed to Aisling that their breathing was returning to normal.
Caradoc went to the kitchen and came back with two glasses of water. “This will help.” He handed one to Aisling.
“Is it supposed to be so...thick?” She swirled the glass a bit. It looked normal from a distance, but almost gelatinous up close. It didn’t look like something she’d want to drink.
“Yup. Harlie showed me where he had the packets to put in water in case this ever happened to him. Supposed to help against the overload that knocked them out, but this is the first time I’ve used it. Make him drink it all.” Caradoc dropped next to Harlie, lifted his head, and started slowly tipping the liquid into his mouth.
Aisling pulled Reece’s head into her lap and did the same. Although neither seemed conscious, they did appear to be drinking. If the growing frown on Reece’s face was any indication, the drink didn’t taste good.
An Uncommon Truth of Dying (Broken Veil Book 2) Page 10
