Revealing Silver

by Jamie Craig

  “So.” Isaac scribbled his signature across the bottom of the receipt and closed the black folder, but not before Remy saw the hefty tip he’d added to the already expensive bill. “What’s next?”

  She grinned. “Don’t you have a job to get back to, Detective?”

  “You’re my job now. Didn’t you want me to check out the warehouse?”

  “No, I wanted us to check it out.”

  “Ah, but you’re not a cop.”

  “No, it’s just my life we’re talking about here.”

  Pushing the bill to the edge of the table for their waiter to take without interruption, Isaac folded his arms on the table in front of him and leaned forward. “Maggie, I know you’re angry about what happened. That’s understandable. But this is the point where you need to take a step back. This guy grabbed you once already. Don’t give him the chance to do it again.”

  Sometimes her cover story got in the way. “But wouldn’t I be safer in the company of a cop?”

  “If that cop wasn’t trying to focus on solving a crime, yes. Otherwise, you’re a distraction.”

  “That might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

  Her flirtation disarmed him, at least for the moment. He chuckled and shook his head. “It’s not happening, Maggie. So forget about it right now.”

  She wasn’t going to forget about it. He would have to stick to legal means to get inside the warehouse, but nothing said she couldn’t go back and try again once the vicinity was clear of Marisol or any of the locals. Her mind strayed back, again, to why Marisol might have been there the previous night. Clearing the scene seemed like the best reason. And where was Gabriel? Had the ritual gone down without Remy even knowing about it?

  “You’ve gone there again,” Isaac said gently.

  Her gaze snapped back to him. “Gone where? The warehouse?”

  His dark eyes were sympathetic. “No. Wherever it is that makes you look so sad.” He paused. “Thinking about home?”

  In a way. She toyed with the stem of her water glass. The danger in spending so much time with Isaac was how much easier it got to confide in him. But every lie she told was another one she had to remember. Sooner or later, it was going to catch up to her.

  “Just wondering how long it’ll be before my life starts to feel like my own again.” Which was as close to the truth as she dared to get with him, no matter how tempting it was to tell more.

  “That depends on you. Don’t be a victim here. Don’t let him win. You want your life back, you have to take it.”

  “And what if that means breaking a few rules along the way?”

  He wagged a warning finger at her. “That’s my job to make sure you don’t have to.”

  His ringing phone stopped her from responding. When he saw the display, he rolled his eyes. “I have got to talk to him about his timing.” He shrugged in apology to her as he lifted the phone to his ear. “This better be good.”

  Remy pretended to look aloof, like she was giving him a pseudo-sense of privacy for his call.

  “Why are we even listening to this guy? He’s got the second biggest ring of girls in the…well, I know that, but…then the captain’s an idiot, because he’ll be back on the streets before the ink’s dry.”

  Though she knew it wasn’t about her, she wished desperately she could hear the other end of the conversation. Nathan’s calm tones had haunted the few hours of sleep she’d managed to get before getting her ass out of bed in time to meet Isaac. She’d dreamed of him spooning behind her, his arm around her waist, his breath warm and slightly sweet where it wafted past her ear. Nothing sexual happened, which probably would’ve surprised 2010 Isaac if he heard it. But contrary to his belief, her relationship with Nathan wasn’t entirely physical. He was her best friend. Some nights were spent simply telling stories from their childhoods, though she liked his a hell of a lot more than she liked her own.

  That was what made this separation so hard. He was the rock she took strength from. When he wasn’t there, he left a gaping hole she had to find some way to patch. It was exhausting and miserable.

  “I’m going to have to call you about what I find out on that warehouse,” Isaac said when he disconnected. “I need to get back and deal with some red-tape bullshit.”

  “Ah, the joys of working for the system.”

  “If it wasn’t for Nathan, I’m not sure I’d be able to take it. He’s better at defusing these situations than I am.”

  And yet, he had been the one to break first. That had been a blow for both of them, in so many different ways. “How long before you think you can get to it?”

  “If I’m lucky, later today. If not, probably tomorrow.”

  “Fingers crossed for holding aces, then.”

  “Fingers crossed.” Rising from his chair, he came around the table to stand at her side. He leaned down and brushed a kiss across her cheek. “Behave yourself, Maggie.”

  She summoned a smile, though she had to squelch the impulse to shy away from his friendly caress. “Always.”

  He smiled ruefully, shaking his head as he walked away from her.

  Remy sipped at her near-empty glass of water. She had little doubt Isaac would be tied up with whatever mess his bosses were trying to create for him for the rest of the day. At the very least, his afternoon would be too busy to even think about the warehouse. That gave her several hours to give it a once-over without worrying about police protocols. Her only concern would be the gang members she’d skirmished with yesterday. But if she—

  “You look like you need some company.”

  The husky alto came from behind her. Remy snapped her head around to see Marisol, smiling down at her like they were the best friends in the world. She started to stand, only to have Marisol’s slim hand clamp down on her shoulder and squeeze hard enough for it to hurt. She pushed at the same time, forcing Remy to stay seated or risk a scene breaking free to get up.

  When Remy’s eyes darted to the doorway, Marisol laughed. “Oh, Detective McGuire’s long gone. I didn’t want to interrupt your cozy little lunch.” With one last squeeze, she let Remy go and took the seat next to her rather than in Isaac’s vacant chair. “It’s better if it’s the two of us anyway. We’re overdue for a little chat.”

  “No, you’re overdue for some prison time.”

  “And your record is so clean? I know all about you, Remy. Gabriel told me about your exploits last summer.”

  “Then you know you can’t scare me.”

  “Who said I was trying to scare you?”

  There was a game being played here, but damned if Remy could see it yet. Marisol was a mystery. None of them had interacted with her. Only Stacy had dealt with her firsthand, but the young woman’s fear of everything that had happened to her while being held hostage had to stem from somewhere. She’d claimed Gabriel made them feel treasured. So if he wasn’t the source of terror, who did that leave?

  Though Marisol smiled at her, her dark eyes were as frigid as Alaskan tundra. Remy recognized a rattlesnake when she saw one.

  “So where’s Gabe? Not like him to miss the festivities.”

  “This doesn’t concern Gabriel.”

  “He might beg to differ.”

  Marisol didn’t blink. “He would have to be here to do that.”

  Remy masked the euphoric rush of relief with another sip of water. Marisol might only be referring to the fact that Gabriel wasn’t in the restaurant at the moment, but Remy doubted it. The man had been carefully planning this for years. He wouldn’t leave a loose end like Remy for someone else to take care of. Which had to mean Nathan hadn’t failed after all. There was still an excellent chance he was still alive. As long as that chance existed, Remy would claw through every obstacle in her way to get back to him. Including the smirking bitch sitting next to her.

  She wiped her damp fingers on her napkin. When she made a run for it, she needed to be ready. “Took you long enough to find me.”

  “You say that like you
’re important enough for me to waste my Christmas looking for you.”

  “Except I’m the one who can throw a wrench in your plans.”

  “You don’t actually think it was hard, do you? All I had to do was keep an eye on Pierce and McGuire. You popped up right on schedule.”

  Though she remained calm, Remy kicked herself for being so obvious. These people were far from stupid. Anything that might seem easy to her would be just as easy to them. She tried a different tactic.

  “Isaac knows about the warehouse.”

  She wasn’t the only one who could play it cool. “I know. I saw him watching it last night. But he won’t find anything there. The girls are safe. For now.”

  Gritting her teeth against the impulse to punch the smugness off Marisol’s face, she asked, “Then where are they?”

  “You are impatient, aren’t you? I’ll bet you like to skip dinner and go straight for dessert, too, am I right?”

  “I don’t like good people getting hurt for selfish reasons.”

  “You only think it’s selfish because you’re not getting anything out of it.” She leaned closer, lowering her voice like they were soul mates with a secret. “But I know what you want, Remy. And I can give it to you if you help me.”

  She had a voice that would melt the pants off any male, dead or alive, and probably take his brain along with them. Seduction tinged every word, even as practiced as they sounded. Remy might have believed her if she hadn’t seen the woman’s work up close and personal.

  “You don’t have anything I want.”

  “Oh?” Marisol rested a hand on the leather clutch she’d set on the table next to her when she took a seat. “Then you don’t have any interest in getting back to 2010? My mistake, then.”

  Remy stiffened. That was the last thing she would’ve expected to hear, especially from Marisol. “Impossible.”

  “Really? You’re here.”

  “Because of the coin.”

  “And how do you think I got here?” When Remy’s breath caught, Marisol chuckled softly. “Face it. You need me, and I need you. It’s a fair trade.”

  “No.” All she needed was the Silver Maiden. “Nate can do it.”

  “Did he tell you that?”

  “He doesn’t have to.”

  “Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but he’s not going to come riding to your rescue, Remy. The coins won’t work for him.”

  “But it reacted to him. It burned his hand.”

  “And you don’t think that sounds ominous? Think about it. The Silver Maiden never burned you, did it?”

  It seemed logical, but she refused to believe Nathan was as impotent as Marisol claimed. He was the smartest person Remy knew. If anyone could figure out a way to harness the coins’ powers, he was the one.

  “Why do you think Gabriel only took girls?” Marisol went on. “The power of the Silver Maiden is only ever manifested in the faith’s priestesses. No man has ever known what it’s like. No man will ever know.”

  “Let’s say that’s true.” And it certainly meshed with what Cora had told them in Argentina. “What do you need me for? I only got caught up in this mess by accident.”

  Marisol shook her head. “There is no accident. You’re one of us. You wouldn’t be able to use the coins if you weren’t.”

  “That still doesn’t tell me what you think I can trade for a ticket home.”

  “Stopping Gabriel’s ritual, of course. I thought that was obvious.”

  Remy burst into laughter. “Okay, you almost had me there for a sec. But come on. You can come up with a better story than that.”

  “It’s not a story.”

  “You’re his partner.”

  “I’m his pawn. He needed me to finish his eight.”

  “You cut the girls. I know you did.”

  “I had to. It was the only way I could stall Gabriel.”

  “What? That doesn’t make sense.”

  “It left them impure until they healed. You saw the way he had Stacy. All washed and oiled and purer than the Virgin Mary. I had to do anything I could to keep him from seeing it through.”

  “Gee, how’d that work out for you?”

  Marisol sighed. “You’re refusing to see the big picture here. Gabriel’s insane. He’s obsessed with trying to resurrect the Silver Maiden, and he plans on doing it by sacrificing the eight to her. Eight that includes you and me and all six of those girls he already brought back in time.”

  The gathering of power, just like Nathan had said. Except bigger and more grandiose than anything they dreamed.

  “He can’t bring back the dead.”

  “He can, and he will,” Marisol countered. “Unless you help me stop him.”

  “How am I supposed to do that?”

  “Together, the eight of us are more powerful than Gabriel could ever hope to be. Come with me, and I’ll explain how we can harness it to defeat him, once and for all. Then, we can all go back to the time we belong in.”

  Remy stared at her, pretending to think about the offer. Oh, it sounded reasonable, like she was sure Marisol intended. And there was probably more than a little bit of truth in there to make it all the more real. In fact, it was perfect, except for one little detail.

  “Nice try. But the way I see it, Gabriel can’t do anything without me. Your little plan? Puts me right into the thick of it.” She pushed her chair back, ready to leave. “Best way to stop Gabriel is to stay as far away as I can fucking get.”

  “If he doesn’t use you, he’ll use someone else from your bloodline.”

  Remy smiled, now completely positive she was doing the right thing. “Then you wouldn’t need me. See ya around.”

  She caught the movement at the door at the same time Marisol’s hand shot out, grabbing her wrist. Cruz and his ’roid buddy flanked the entrance, eyes narrowed in loathing as they stared at her from across the room. Remy reacted on instinct, using the grip Marisol had on her to twist the other woman’s arm over her head and behind her back. Grabbing the clutch sitting on the table with her free hand, she swung hard at the side of Marisol’s head.

  Marisol cried out, releasing her. At the first hint of freedom, Remy bolted in the opposite direction of the door, racing for the bathroom. She barreled through a waiter, cringing at the scene she was making. No way around it. She had to get away. If Isaac found out, he’d read her the riot act, but she’d deal with that bridge when she got to it.

  Flat-handing the door to the kitchen, Remy ignored the shouts from behind her and aimed straight for the back exit. She twisted out of the way when an unsuspecting busboy rounded a corner with a tray full of dirty dishes, then had to use the purse she still held to knock away the groping hands of a beer-bellied cook.

  More shouts followed her into the alleyway. Remy whipped her head around to see Cruz standing at the mouth, blocking her way to the street. She pivoted in the opposite direction, running as hard as she could toward the chain-link fence separating it from the next lot. Six feet away, she threw the clutch over the top. It left her hands in time to leap onto the fence, and she clambered upward, toes barely catching in the holes before she was grabbing higher and higher.

  The fence shook when Cruz reached it and tried to follow. Remy vaulted over the top, landing with a jolt on the other side. Her ankle protested, and her head was oddly light, but she pushed onward, scooping up the purse from the littered asphalt as she ran by it. Voices spilled into the alley behind her as staff came through the door she’d left open. More filtered from ahead.

  She focused on the path in front of her. Looking back would slow her down. Worse, it might lose her precious seconds of spotting a new enemy to block her way. The trick to a successful escape was never stopping. A lifetime of experience had taught her that.

  At the street, she didn’t even slow down. She veered away from the restaurant, darting between a pair of parked cars and into the busy street. A Jeep slammed on its brakes. Its bumper came within inches of hitting her side. Cle
aring the next lane with a double-time sprint, she raced around the corner, her heart pounding in rhythm with her feet.

  Two blocks later, she was still running.

  At four, she got lucky and spotted a bus getting ready to pull away from a stop. She had to pound on the glass door to get the driver’s attention, but within moments, she was collapsed in a seat, bent over as she tried to catch her breath.

  Marisol had followed Isaac to find her. She didn’t know about the hotel.

  Safety. For at least a few hours. Until Remy figured out what the hell to do next.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The department was in chaos. His initial relief for the emergency call that pulled him away from the awkwardness of Olivia’s breakfast disappeared in a flurry, one that barely reached his chest and scurried around like a puppy on crack.

  “What are you doing here, Kahl?”

  Kahl was a five-foot-nothing blonde who looked like she belonged in a Beverly Hills mansion rather than a police station. Hard to believe he’d met her the same night he’d met Olivia.

  “I’m still the lead on the storage facility arsons. They called me in.”

  “Wait.” He halted at the edge of the room. The captain’s door was ajar, ready for him to step in and find out what was going on. “This emergency has to do with that? Was there another fire?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  He hoped she was wrong. Because the more he thought about why Kahl would be brought in, the less he liked it.

  Captain Stotko sat behind his desk, the phone glued to his ear. Unlike some of his predecessors, he’d come up through the ranks in LAPD, working his way through Vice and then Homicide to land in his current position of authority. At forty-two, he was still fit enough to work the streets if he chose. Isaac knew from the occasional sparring match at the gym that the barrel chest was a wall of muscle and the small-ham-sized fists unrelenting. The man rarely smiled, his salt-and-pepper hair lending an even greater air of authority. When Stotko had gotten divorced two years ago, nobody had been surprised. Isaac imagined he was as dour and intense in his personal life as he was in his professional.