Evelyn was examining a double-edged rune-dagger with a thin, ten-inch blade and a large cross-guard, testing its balance. “These are all beautiful,” she said, fixing the dagger’s sheath to her almost knee-high boots and sliding the dagger into it. The dagger and sheath vanished into magic-cloaked invisibility.
“Shane is an artist,” Callum agreed, putting the last of five magazines for his .45 into his coat pocket. “He’ll help you make your trueblade when the time comes.” “You’ll be amazed how good your trueblade feels in your hand,” Cadell said. “Compared your own Trueblade, even Shane’s best work will feel like an over-sized sledgehammer.”
“The rune blade will have to work for now,” Cai interjected. “We have to get moving. It’s a fair bet that Blackwell and D’Errico will try to get some people into place at Castle Island early so they can control the area around the meeting place. I want us to get there early, too.” He turned to Clive. “Make sure you bring all of your surveillance tinker-toys,” he instructed. “We don’t have a lot of information to work with, and I don’t want to go into a fight totally in the dark about what we’re up against.
Mom, will you be able to track the ring and the vessel for us if you have to?” he asked. “This situation might get really chaotic and I want to know exactly where those things are.”
Astrid nodded. “Out in the open like that, they’ll be like beacons.”
“Alright,” Cai said. “Finish gearing up and we’ll get going.”
“A world to save and things to kill,” Callum proclaimed.
“That would look good on a t-shirt,” Christian said.
Chapter Ten
The Selkirks parked in a small lot on the side of Columbia Road, near Twomey Court. From there they had an unobstructed view of Castle Island from the Harbor Walk foot path. Cadell, Cai, Christian, Clive, Evelyn and Helen were in the family’s Escalade. Colm, Christian and Callum parked a short distance away in the Selkirk’s Jeep Cherokee. Cai reached through the driver’s side window and attached a radio antenna to the SUV’s roof with a magnetic base. “It’s up,” he told Clive, who was making adjustments to his laptop and a joystick controller.
“No one’s supposed to be here at this time of night,” Evelyn observed. “What do we do if we get hassled by a cop or security guard?”
Then I convince them that we’re not the droids they’re looking for, Helen answered, projecting the words into Evelyn’s mind.
“You can control people’s minds?” Evelyn asked, her eyebrow taking on its Spock-like cant.
“More like manipulate,” Helen replied. “I’m a natural psychic, like Astrid and Josh. I can’t make them shoot themselves, but I can make them believe that we’re actually supposed to be here. I can sort of … suppress their suspicions. It doesn’t work with everyone, though.”
“Josh has friends in the Park Rangers,” Cadell added. “He made some calls and made sure they wouldn’t bother us.”
“That’s a lot of clout for beat cop,” Evelyn remarked.
“Josh’s dad was a thirty-year B.P.D. vet and his grandpa was a career cop before that; so were two of his uncles. The McLaren name goes a long way in Boston area law enforcement.”
Clive turned to Cadell. “I’m ready for launch,” he announced.
Cadell opened the Escalade’s rear door and jumped out. “Hand me the drone,” he said to Evelyn. Complying, Evelyn passed him an airplane-like drone with a two-foot wingspan. Cadell pressed a button in the small aircraft’s belly and an electrically-powered motor spun a propeller on the drone’s nose. Cadell faced toward Castle Island and flung the drone skyward over Pleasure Bay. It disappeared into the darkness and Clive guided it into an orbit around Fort Independence, the Revolutionary War fortification that served as a historical monument and the centerpiece of Castle Island Park.
“We’ve got good signal,” Clive reported as Cadell climbed back into the SUV. He controlled the drone via a joystick attached to a laptop computer. “Someone got here before us, though; I’ve got heat signatures in concealed positions all over the island. It looks like they have guns.”
“You have good resolution on those cameras,” Evelyn observed, looking at the feeds from the camera package carried by the drone on Clive’s laptop. “Even the light amplification is nice and clear. That’s impressive for a sensor package that small. It’s as good as anything I saw in the Air Force.”
“The military will be fielding something like this system in few years,” Clive said, guiding the drone to circle Castle Island. “A classmate of mine at MIT developed the cameras package and let me borrow it. It’s too fragile for military use right now, but it should work fine for us.” “Your buddy just let you borrow what I’d bet is a very, very expensive prototype?” Evelyn asked. Clive shrugged his shoulders without looking away from the laptop. “He’s one of the Hidden,” he explained. “I bought the drone itself at a hobby shop,” he added before noting the presence of armed men on his monitor. “Guys,” he said into his radio headset. “I have sixteen armed men concealed at strategic points all over the island. I can’t tell which side they’re on, though.”
“We’ve got an hour-and-a-half until the meeting,” Cai said, looking at his watch. “If we’re right and Blackwell and D’Errico double-cross each other, they’ll both probably have people in place early. We’ll have to wait until D’Errico and Blackwell both get here. Then we can take the ring and the vessel and hopefully kill Blackwell, too.”
“What about D’Errico?”Cadell asked.
“I promised Martin that he could deal with the
Bishop,” Cai replied. “We’ll let the Unseen clean their own house.”
Cai took a small earpiece out of a padded carrying case. “We’ll try the new earwigs tonight. I should have remembered we had them before the fight at the church.” He put one of the tiny devices in his left ear and handed the case containing the others to Evelyn. “Clive, you’re sure that no else can hear us when we use these things?” Clive nodded, his attention still on flying the drone.
“I’m sure. It took some time to find a band that wasn’t already assigned for other use, but we won’t be heard by any civilians or government agencies. The signal is spread spectrum and scrambled like the old radios we’ve been using. Just stay within about two miles of one another and we’ll be fine.”
Evelyn smiled at Cai playfully. “You forgot to use these before?” she asked as she took an earwig from the case and placed it in her ear.
“I’m not that good with technology,” he replied with a shrug. “If it were up to me, we’d be using walkie-talkies from Wal-Mart.”
“Like I said,” Clive said, “It wasn’t easy finding bandwidth that no one else was using. The Boston area is pretty much blanketed with radio signals.”
Evelyn moved her head from side to side to ensure the earwig would stay in place. “Why don’t we just use telepathy like before?”
“That might work for you and Cadell; you’re natural psychics because you’re both Sevenths. But you’re not trained, so I doubt you’d be able to tap into that power. We used telepathy while you were playing decoy with Tinlin because we knew he’d have his hands all over you and he’d find any kind of microphone you had on you. But mom had to keep expending energy while you were linked that way. She’s still not quite recovered from casting that big locator spell, so it would be hard on her if she tried to maintain a mind-link between all of us. Helen’s a natural telepath, but she doesn’t have the power to link all of us, either.”
“My telepathy’s only good for about fifty feet,” Helen added. “I’m getting better, though.”
“I’m still not quite used to magic having so many rules,” Evelyn said.
“Magic is a lot like physics,” Helen said. “For every action, there’s an opposite reaction. Mages don’t create new energy, they just move it around and change its form.” “I guess none of you see how weird all of this is,” Evelyn said smiling and shaking her head. “We’re standing here tal
king about the rules of magic and telepathy and why we can’t use either of those things to communicate while we’re spying on enemy demons and wizards with a state-of-the-art sensor package so we can go into battle with demons, their cultish followers and mercenaries while carrying more state-of-the-art firepower than an infantry platoon so we can steal a magic box from a demented Catholic Bishop and his pack of freakishly devoted warrior monks. It’s weird.”
Cadell put an arm around her shoulders. “She said that all in one breath,” he said with a chuckle.
“Do you feel better?” Helen asked.
Evelyn sucked in a long breath and laughed. “Yeah,
I actually do feel better.”
“Yes,” Cai affirmed. “It’s all as crazy as you just said it is. The really scary thing is that you do get used to the craziness.”
Cai handed the earwig case to Helen. “Take these to Callum, Colm and Christian. I want to make sure they work. Then we’ll get everyone into position and wait for D’Errico to get here.
“Four cars and one limo just parked on the east side of Marine Park. Multiple occupants in each vehicle,” Clive reported as he watched the drone’s camera feeds. “They’re on foot and going onto the causeway. They’ll be on the island in a few minutes.” His brothers had dispersed themselves around Castle Island.
“I don’t like it,” Cai said from his position in a stand of trees on the east side of the island. Helen stood next to him, nervously twisting a large signet ring on the middle finger of her right hand. “D’Errico would have to be a complete idiot not to expect a double-cross, but he’s showing up only ten minutes before the meet is scheduled and doesn’t have any backup in place.”
“I think he’s had people nearby for a while now,” Callum said, taking a night vision scope away from his eye.
“There are two boats out in Pleasure Bay. They haven’t moved while we’ve been here and they don’t have any lights on, so I didn’t notice them till now. I think one of them lit a cigarette.” There was a moment of silence. “Wait,” Callum said finally, “Now they’re heading toward the beach.”
“I see them,” Clive reported, guiding the drone toward Callum’s sighting. “I was concentrating on the island before and didn’t look at the bay. Each boat has six men in it. It looks like they’re going to pick up D’Errico and his men and take them to the island.”
“Stay put,” Cai ordered. “Let them start the meeting,” he added. “I want Blackwell and D’Errico to get as close to each other as possible. When D’Errico shows Blackwell the ring, Blackwell will want see the vessel. When we know the ring and the vessel are both here, we’ll fight our way in and take them. Remember, we’re not here to win a fight; we’re here to get the ring and vessel and get out. If Blackwell happens to get killed, that’s fine, but killing him is not our mission. Does everyone get that?” Each of the brothers answered in the affirmative.
Using the drone, Clive and Evelyn monitored the approach of D’Errico and his guards as they were ferried across Pleasure Bay and made their way to the obelisk commemorating the great shipbuilder Donald McKay. Blackwell then arrived in a new, bullet-hole-free limousine, accompanied by two vans. “D’Errico and his Unseen are approaching the McKay obelisk from the east,” Clive told his brothers over the radio. Blackwell and two vanloads of backups have parked in Sullivan’s parking lot and are coming in from the west.”
“All right,” Cai said. “Get set, but wait for Martin’s signal. Try to take it easy on the Unseen guards if you can.” The Selkirk brothers each acknowledged Cai’s instructions. “I’d better get outside where I can see what’s going
on,” Evelyn said. “I’ve got your back.”
“Right,” Clive said. “Be careful.”
“You too,” Evelyn replied, touching him on the shoulder and picking up a set of light-amplifying binoculars. She left the SUV, crossed nearby Columbia road and positioned herself in a stand of trees.
“They’re about to do the meet-and-greet,” Cadell reported from his vantage point atop the fort’s northwest bastion.
“Neither of them is carrying anything,” Colm said from where he lay prone next to Cadell.
“They both brought a lot of backup,” Christian whispered into his radio as he watched events unfold from a stand of trees fifty yards north of the monument. “Callum and I are practically standing on top of one of Blackwell’s sniper teams.”
“Just relax and wait for Martin’s signal,’ Cai replied.
“Man,” Callum observed. “If this thing goes even a little bit wrong, we’re gonna have the biggest battle this town has seen since Breed’s Hill.”
“Breed’s Hill?” Evelyn asked as she unconsciously fingered the butt of her Beretta.
“Most of the fighting in what people call the Battle of Bunker Hill actually occurred on Breed’s Hill,” Clive explained.
“Great,” Evelyn said, “didn’t the good guys lose at Bunker Hill?”
“Cut the chatter,” Cai admonished. “Pay attention to what we’re doing.”
Cadell put his light-intensifying binoculars to his eyes as he watched Blackwell and D’Errico approach each other, each flanked by their guards. He saw Martin standing to the right of and slightly behind D’Errico. “They’re facing each other,” he said.
“I’ve got ears on them,” Colm said, training the parabolic microphone on Blackwell and D’Errico.
“I can patch the mike’s feed into our earpieces,” Clive replied.
“Why could we not just meet in the swamp?” Blackwell asked.
D’Errico literally turned his nose up at the demon. “I preferred that our first face-to-face meeting be in a neutral environment. Given Hockomock Swamp’s dark history, I thought it might embolden you to attempt to alter the terms of our arrangement. It also seemed premature to make the trek to the swamp before I was certain you have Solomon’s Vessel.”
Blackwell grunted dismissively. “How do I know you have the ring? All that I know for certain is that that dabbler Isles no longer has it.”
D’Errico gestured to one of his men who took a gold-inlaid wooden box from his coat pocket. Everyone present tensed as he opened the box and revealed the bejeweled, silver-inlaid gold ring. “As we agreed, I did not wear the ring to this meeting,” D’Errico said. “The vessel,” he demanded.
Blackwell reached into a coat pocket and revealed a cone-shaped brass container covered with intricately engraved sigils and glyphs. D’Errico’s eyes widened visibly as he beheld it.
“If you try to put the ring on, you’ll be killed before you get it on your finger,” Blackwell announced.
“Controlling you and the creatures with you is of no interest to me,” D’Errico retorted.
“No,” Blackwell agreed. “You want to release my father and the others in hopes that their presence will summon back your meddling God.”
“And you believe that the demons in the vessel can join with you and the other Grigori and Nephilim to free Satan and his hordes from Hell so that you can assail Heaven with renewed numbers and overthrow the Lord.
You will, of course, fail.”
“Perhaps,” Blackwell answered. “Isn’t it ironic that the two of us must work together to bring about a war that will burn the world to a cinder no matter which side is victorious?” His eyes panned over the landscape. “We should go to the swamp now. It won’t take long for the Selkirks to track down the ring,” Blackwell observed.
“We can deal with those heretics should they appear,” D’Errico replied. “But let us go quickly nonetheless.”
On the top of the bastion, Cadell watched the scene unfold. “They’re getting ready to leave,” he reported.
“What’s Martin waiting for?” Then two things happened almost at once.
Blackwell passed his hand deliberately through his hair three times and Martin moved in behind the Unseen who held the ring. “Shit,” Cadell cursed. “Blackwell just signaled a double-cross!” In that instant D’Errico was shot and Martin s
lit the throat of the man who held the ring. After that there was only chaos.
Several of D’Errico’s Unseen were cut down by gunfire as Martin snatched up Solomon’s Ring. Blackwell ran to the west, toward his car. Sword-wielding Unseen clashed with Blackwell’s Tainteds swordsmen. Gunfire from both the Unseen and the Tainteds, all of it sound-suppressed, struck fighters on both sides as stray rounds churned the snow covered ground and bounced off the McKay Monument. The mercenaries Blackwell had employed, guns firing, burst from their concealed positions and added to the mayhem.
“Everyone go,” Cai shouted. “Cadell, Colm, keep them off Martin’s back and get the ring. Cal, Chris, stop
Blackwell. I’ll lay covering fire!”
Cai shouldered his suppressed and night-scope-equipped Wilson Arms AR-9 carbine and fired a round that struck an Unseen warrior who was aiming a pistol at Martin’s back as he escaped with the ring. Cai’s shots continued to protect Martin as he fled the battle. Martin sprinted directly toward Cai and Helen as bullets from both the Unseen and Blackwell’s guards whizzed past him.
When he was only feet away from Cai and Helen, he fell as a bullet hit his left arm.
Cadell and Colm leapt from the fort’s bastion and attacked D’Errico’s and Blackwell’s men alike, slaying the Tainteds while trying to merely cripple the Unseen and any human mercenaries they encountered. Cadell wielded his pistol in his left hand and his broadsword in his right. He shot an Unseen who was engaged in a sword-to-sword battle with a Tainted. The bullet struck the Unseen behind his right knee. Cadell leaped over the Unseen warrior as he collapsed and cut the Tainted’s head from its body while still in mid-leap. He fought his way to where Martin had fallen, one opponent after another blocking his path.
Only feet away, Colm cut the legs from a Tainted with a single stroke from his longsword, and then stabbed it through the heart. An Unseen thrust a sword toward Colm’s chest as he pulled his blade from the Tainted’s corpse. Colm brought his sword straight up in front of his body, deflecting the thrust upward and to the right. He brought his own blade downward while stepping forward and putting his weight into a cut that cleaved through the Unseen’s collarbone and several ribs into the center of the chest. He made his way to Cadell’s side and they tried to fight their way to the fallen Martin.
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