by R. L. King
Foley’s eyes widened. “Keeler…he…left?”
“Would he have gone for help?” Jason demanded. “Is he coming back with more like you?”
The cop sat slowly up. He was still shaking, but looked much better than he had before. When he noticed the car, his posture slumped again. “It’s a couple miles back to town. If he’s coming back it’ll take a little time.”
“We need to get going, then,” Jason said. “Hang on—I’ll disable their car so they can’t follow us.” He glared at Foley. “If you come after us—”
“Wait,” Stone interrupted, focusing on Foley. “Officer Foley—I’d say you owe my friend here your life. You know that, right?”
Foley’s gaze shifted between Stone and Verity, and then he let his breath out and nodded. “I don’t know how—not exactly—but…yeah.” He blinked a couple of times. “Wait…did you say…magic?”
Stone ignored that. “Right, then. You owe us something in return.”
He swallowed, clearly expecting the worst. “What?”
“I want to know how—and why—you were so strong and fast. It’s worn off now, I can see, but it was there before.” He crouched lower, fixing the man with his cold gaze. “I’d strongly advise you not to lie. My friend might have saved you from a heart attack, but she won’t save you from what will happen if you don’t tell me the truth.”
For several seconds, Foley didn’t reply. He licked his lips, swallowed again, and ran his hand across his forehead, almost as if he couldn’t quite believe what had happened. Finally, he let his breath out. “Yeah. Okay. I’ll tell you.”
He struggled to his feet. Stone and Verity stood back, not helping but not getting in his way, while Jason kept the shotgun trained near him and continued to watch their surroundings.
“Do you work for the people at the abandoned animal preserve up this road?” Stone asked when he’d made it to his feet. He shifted to magical sight so he could watch Foley’s aura as he answered.
“What? No.” His aura flickered.
Stone sharpened his glare and took a step closer. “Officer Foley, believe me, I have no patience right now. None whatsoever. Would you like to amend that answer? Last chance.”
Foley returned the glare, but then his shoulders slumped. “Yeah. Well…sort of. We don’t work for them, but we leave ’em alone. And we stop anybody we don’t recognize who tries to go there.”
“Why?” Stone asked. “What are they doing up there?”
“I don’t know.” When Stone’s glare sharpened, he raised his hands. “No—it’s true. I don’t know and I don’t wanna know. None of us do. Safer that way. All I know is it’s got something to do with some kind of secret scientific experiments.”
“So what’s buffing you up?” Jason asked.
“And why?” Stone added. “I saw your town on the map. It’s got a few hundred people and a dog. Why do you need that kind of enhancement to deal with drunks and petty theft?”
Foley glanced around, almost as if hoping somebody would show up to extricate him from his situation. Then he sighed. “It’s not drunks and petty theft. It’s pretty remote up here, and there are a couple of decent-sized drug operations out in the sticks. We’ve been trying to root them out for years, but they’re smart and well-armed.”
“So?” Jason paced in front of him, making no effort to hide the shotgun. “Are you sayin’ those guys at the preserve are manufacturing drugs?”
“No. They haven’t been here long—about a year.” He chuckled mirthlessly. “I guess you could say they made us an offer we couldn’t refuse.”
“And what’s that?” Stone asked. “Don’t stall, Officer Foley. It won’t go well for you if you do.”
“I’m not stalling. I don’t have any idea how you did it, but I know you guys saved my life. And I know why you had to.” His hand moved to his belt.
Instantly, Jason swung the shotgun around and pointed it at him. “Hands where we can see ’em.”
“I’m just trying to show you something. No weapons. You took my gun.”
“Go ahead,” Stone said. “But slowly.”
Foley unclipped what looked like a small, metal water bottle from the left side of his belt. “This.”
“What’s that?” Verity asked.
“The offer we couldn’t refuse.”
“Wait a moment…” Stone muttered. “Let me see that.”
Foley handed it over readily. “I don’t want anything to do with that stuff anymore. I thought it might be doing something to me, but I couldn’t be sure until tonight.”
The bottle was almost full. Stone popped the cap and poured a small sample of its contents into his open hand. The liquid was brown and oily, with a musky, molasses-like odor.
It also shimmered with magical energy.
“Bloody hell…”
“What is it?” Jason demanded.
Stone flicked his gaze to Foley. “This is what you’re taking to enhance your speed and strength, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.” Foley looked miserable. “It also helps us heal a lot faster, and makes it so we can see better in the dark.”
“So…the people at the preserve supply your department with this elixir, and in return, you—”
“We leave them alone, let ’em do their thing, and keep other people away from them.” At Stone’s glare, he raised his hands in capitulation. “I’m not lying to you, man. I have no idea what they’re doing up there. None of us do. They’re quiet, they keep to themselves, and they don’t cause any trouble.”
“And the elixir they provide supplies you the capability to root out the drug operations in the mountains.”
Foley nodded. “They’re the dangerous ones. The drug guys. Getting them off the street makes everybody around here safer. Some of ’em have even moved on because they know we can deal with ’em better now.”
He gestured toward the bottle. “But that stuff—I knew it was too good to be true. I don’t know what they put in it—some kind of special herbs, they said—but I’ve been feeling for a while like it was messing with me. You know—sweating, fast heartbeat, weakness when it wears off…”
Stone pondered. He wanted to ask more questions—perhaps even comment on the irony of using performance-enhancing alchemical elixirs to help chase down drug producers—but they didn’t have time to waste. He was sure whoever was up at the animal preserve already knew they were coming, even if Keeler hadn’t alerted them. If they had Garra, they could have already killed her, or they could even now be taking her away via some hidden escape route.
He handed the bottle to Jason. “Hold on to this, will you? Verity can analyze it later.” Then he turned back to Foley. “I’d love to stay and chat with you, Officer Foley, but time is short. We’ve got to go. We think they’ve kidnapped a friend of mine, and we need to find her before they kill her.”
Foley’s eyes widened. “Kidnapping? Why would they do that?”
“You tell me. But first I’ve got to decide what to do with you. If we leave you here, you’ll run for help as soon as we’re gone, even if we disable your car and your radio.”
“No, I won’t.” He seemed to consider his next words; he looked fearful, but when he spoke again his tone held resolve. “Let me help you.”
“Help us?” Jason asked. “How can you do that?”
“Look,” he said. “I don’t know how you did it, but I feel mostly okay now. That’s—if I really did have a heart attack, even a mild one, that’s amazing. I’m never taking that stuff again. But I’ve lived in this area all my life, and I know the layout of that place. Used to go up there with my family when I was a kid, before the people who owned it went bankrupt and it was abandoned.”
Stone couldn’t deny it was a useful offer. Having someone familiar with the area’s geography would be helpful, even if he didn’t know what the current occupants were up to. But could they trust him?
Foley seemed to pick up on Stone’s hesitation. “Please. Let me pay you back. If I’d been
one some other call when this happened, I’d probably be dead now. Listen—I’ve got a wife and a little girl, and if it wasn’t for you I’d never see either of them again. That’s worth something to me.” He glanced over his shoulder. “We should go before Keeler gets back to town and brings help.”
Stone shifted to magical sight and examined the cop’s aura. It looked stressed and agitated, but that was to be expected given his scare. It also, however, looked sincere. “All right,” he said at last. “You can come with us. But we’re not giving you back your gun.”
“Yeah…okay.” He didn’t look pleased about it, but he nodded at the BMW. “Let’s go.”
39
“Why are you stopping?” Foley asked. “It’s still another quarter mile to the gate.”
“They already know we’re coming,” Stone said. “No point in making it more obvious than necessary.” He pulled the BMW as far off the road as he could and shut off the engine. “Everybody out. We walk from here. Can you manage, Mr. Foley?”
“Yeah, I think so, as long as you don’t plan to run. I’d feel a lot better if you gave me back my gun, though. I’m not going to shoot you—I promise.”
Verity, now riding shotgun so Jason could keep an eye on the cop from the back, twisted in her seat. “I believe him, Doc.”
Stone waited until they’d all gotten out of the car, then checked Foley’s aura as well. The cop looked resigned and nervous, but he didn’t sense any duplicity. “All right. Jason, give him his gun back. But Mr. Foley—if you even attempt to use it on any of us, I promise you’ll regret it.”
“Don’t worry—I saw what you guys can do, and I’m not an idiot. I just don’t want to be defenseless.” He peered around as if expecting something to jump them. “I think if I live through this, I’m gonna look for another job somewhere safer. Like Chicago.”
“Fine,” Jason said, not sounding happy about it. “But I’m keeping the shotgun.”
Stone concentrated on putting a disregarding spell on the car. It wouldn’t help if anyone specifically came out here looking for them, but he’d found a wide enough turnout that anyone going by might miss it. “Let’s go,” he said. “Keep your voices down, and watch for any signs of movement. Especially you, Verity. They’re probably watching us, or will be soon.”
“What are these guys?” Foley muttered. “It sounds like we’re not just dealing with some harmless scientist types making fancy energy drinks.”
“I doubt that’s all they’re doing,” Stone said. “Now be quiet and keep your eyes open.”
The quarter-mile walk to the edge of the complex took longer than Stone hoped. He didn’t want to walk on the road and present a perfect target if anyone was watching, but pushing their way through the heavy underbrush without light slowed their progress significantly. By the time they spotted the glow of perimeter lights up ahead, everyone’s auras radiated stress.
“Stop here,” Stone muttered, looking around in search of auras hiding among the green glows of the trees.
Verity was looking too. “I don’t see anything.”
“I don’t either, but give me a moment to get a look from up high.”
“You gonna climb a tree?” Foley asked. He gripped his pistol tightly like a lifeline, and nervous sweat stood out on his wide forehead.
“Not exactly.” Stone stepped behind a thick trunk. He concentrated for a moment and faded from view, then levitated upward. He ignored the cop’s soft yelp of confusion.
One free of the trees, he shifted to magical sight and took another look around. He still couldn’t see much in the darkness; there appeared to be a chain-link fence topped with razor wire surrounding the perimeter, but past a twenty-foot-wide cleared space past it, more trees obscured the remainder of the area. They’d have to get inside to see the rest.
He narrowed his eyes. At intervals of around ten feet apart he noticed tiny pinpoints of magical energy, corresponding to the metal poles holding the razor wire suspended above the fence proper. He couldn’t tell without looking more closely, but he was fairly sure he knew what they were: magical detection devices, designed to alert those inside if anyone breached the fence.
Good thing we’re not planning to breach it, then. But it would still be safer to disable them if he could before taking the group over.
He was about to drop back down when he spotted a faint blue glow in one of the trees just beyond the cleared area. Thankful that his newly augmented powers allowed him to remain invisible longer without tiring, he dropped lower and focused on the glow. It resolved itself into a figure crouched on one of the upper branches, holding what appeared to be binoculars to its face. A long object, probably a rifle, hung on a strap around its neck. On closer inspection, the blue glow showed the faint green edges indicating the watcher was probably enhanced with the same concoction that had nearly killed Foley.
Ah, they do know someone’s coming—or at least they’ve got a guard set. Good to know.
He was too far away to hit the man reliably with a spell from here, so he lowered himself back to the ground and landed a few feet behind Foley before his invisibility spell faded.
“Did you see anything?”
Foley jumped. “Where did you come from? Where did you go?”
“Didn’t see anything moving.” Verity scanned the area in front of her. “Just trees.”
Stone ignored Foley. “There’s a fence a short distance ahead, with razor wire. Beyond that is an open area, and I spotted someone hiding in the trees on the other side. I think he’s got a gun, and I’m fairly sure he’s dosed up on the same concoction as Mr. Foley and his partner.”
“We need to take him out.” Jason raised the shotgun. “Can you guys do that?”
“Not without getting a lot closer.”
“Razor wire?” Foley peered into the darkness. “That’s new.”
“We’ve got to get going,” Stone said. “I don’t think he saw me, but I’m sure they know we’re coming.”
“How are we gonna do that?” Jason demanded. “Sounds like they’ve got a killing zone set up.”
“Verity and I will take care of that. Stay here until we get back.”
Jason didn’t look happy about it, but he glared at Foley. “Fine. I’ll keep an eye on our friend here.”
Verity followed Stone without question. As they reached the edge of the tree line, she studied the fence. “This seems like an awful lot of trouble for one guy.”
“Normally I’d agree with you. But we can’t risk this one getting away and warning the others. I’ve got an idea.” He briefly explained it to her.
She grinned. “Sneaky. Didn’t I see that in Jurassic Park?”
“That might have been where I got it. Let’s go.”
Stone waited as Verity faded into invisibility and disappeared into the trees. He gave her a two-minute head start, then used his own invisibility spell and floated over the razor wire fence, keeping a close eye on the figure in the tree. The man didn’t appear to have noticed either of them yet—at least it appeared the elixir’s enhancement abilities didn’t extend to detecting auras or seeing through invisibility. That was something, at least.
As Stone floated across the open zone, the crouched figure seemed to be still scanning the area out past the fence. Had he spotted something there, or was he expecting something? It didn’t matter either way, as long as it kept his attention focused.
Just a little further…
Suddenly, the man stiffened. He rose from his crouch, sniffing the air around him, and pulled the rifle into position. He swung the barrel around in Stone’s general direction, tense and wary.
Damn. I forgot about the scent.
Hoping Verity was where she was supposed to be, Stone backed off, putting another thick tree between himself and the man. He used magic to pick up a large pine cone from the ground and flung it off to the side into another tree.
The man’s aura flared alarm. He jerked the rifle barrel around in the same direction as the pine con
e had hit, but didn’t fire yet.
Stone ducked behind the tree so his aura wouldn’t be visible. Come on…
For a moment, it appeared the man would leap free of the branch and to investigate the disturbance. But before he could do that, he stiffened, swayed, and toppled off the branch, crashing to the ground below.
Stone dropped down and hurried over to find Verity standing near the unconscious figure. He flashed her a quick grin. “Clever girl.”
She rolled her eyes at him, but returned the grin, bending to retrieve the man’s rifle. “Let’s hurry. I don’t think he’ll be out for long. Unless you want to kill him, we’d better be out of here before he wakes up.”
Stone didn’t see any other lurking gunmen. He took the rifle from Verity and the two of them levitated back over the fence to where Jason and Foley waited with growing impatience.
“Did you get him?” Jason demanded.
Stone held up the rifle. “Let’s move. We don’t have long.”
Foley was eyeing all three of them with stunned terror. “What the hell are you people?”
“Best if you don’t ask too many questions, Mr. Foley,” Stone told him as they crept free of the trees toward the fence. “You’ll sleep better that way.”
“If I get out of here alive,” Foley muttered.
“Stay close, and we’ll keep you safe,” Verity told him. “Just don’t run off on your own.”
“Give me a moment,” Stone said. “Let me take out the nearest sensors before we go, just to be safe.”
“What sensors?” Foley’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t see anything.”
“You wouldn’t, would you?” Stone said, distracted. “Quiet, please.” He focused his power on the tiny magical glows around two of the metal poles, and snuffed them out. If anyone was monitoring them, they’d know something was up—but then again, they already knew something was up. At least this way they wouldn’t know exactly what. “There. Let’s go.”