“Corbisher,” I said. “He’s one of your Gatekeepers.” I laughed aloud.
“What?” said Nicholas.
“Maybe Hailey did it,” I said. “Just out of pure and simple jealousy. She’s a Gatekeeper too, isn’t she?”
“She is perfectly capable of murdering you out of jealousy,” said Nicholas, “but she wouldn’t have been able to arrange something of that scale. Her talents do not lie in logistics.”
“Yeah, I think we both know which assets of Hailey’s you value,” I said.
Nicholas only smiled.
Another idea occurred to me. “Or maybe Karst sent them after me. The Knight of Venomhold. She would have the authority to do it. She outranks you.”
“The Knight and I are allies in this venture,” said Nicholas.
“Sure. Allies.”
“And, truth be told, I don’t think the Knight knows or cares that you exist,” said Nicholas. “We share a common strategic goal. She is not terribly concerned about the tactics that I use to reach that goal.”
“Then find out who ordered the attack,” said Murdo. His voice was flat, but his eyes flashed with anger. “I was betrayed once. I don’t intend to be betrayed again.”
“Rest assured,” said Nicholas, “I shall find out who acted contrary to my instructions.”
Yeah, sure. Both Nicholas and I knew that once I had stolen two more things for him, he was going to come after me and I was going to try and kill him. He needed me now, but once he didn’t need me, all bets were off. And if one of his lieutenants did kill me, I didn’t think he would be all that upset.
Or maybe he would. This thing he was after, Operation Sky Hammer, whatever it was, he couldn’t find it without my help. Nicholas couldn’t have gotten Jeremy Shane’s documents out of the ruins of Chicago without my skills.
So, what did he want me to steal now?
I had been so focused on the anthrophage attack that I hadn’t thought about what Nicholas wanted me to do now. Since we were near Washington DC, I assumed he wanted me to steal something from the federal government. That was bad.
Or maybe he wanted me to go into the ruins of Baltimore.
That would be much worse.
“Very well,” said Murdo. “I will hold you to that. But you of all men should know I will not respond well to treachery. That was why I left the Wizard’s Legion.”
“As it happens,” said Nicholas, “I don’t care for disobedience myself. Which is why I am going to get to the bottom of this.” He looked at Murdo, at me, back at Murdo, and then smiled. “Have you taken a liking to our Miss Stoker, Murdo? I should warn you that you could do much better if you desire female companionship.”
“I just saw her kill about sixty or seventy anthrophages, Connor,” said Murdo. “Is this really a woman you want to pick a quarrel with?”
“Not at all,” said Nicholas, his smile taking a hard edge. “But she picked a quarrel with me in Los Angeles. Didn’t you, Kat?”
“For God’s sake,” I said, my patience collapsing. I didn’t want to be here, and I didn’t want to be talking with Nicholas. “Can we get to business already? If you want to stand here trading insults for another couple of hours, I’m good with that, but I think we all have better things to do.”
“A sound point,” said Nicholas. He straightened up. “The others should have gathered by now. This way, please.”
He led the way, turning his back to me without fear. Murdo and I followed him in silence to the stairwell that Swathe had taken, and we climbed up to the second floor. The stairs ended in a concrete corridor that seemed to stretch the length of the building, metal doors on either side. A few flickering fluorescent light bulbs threw down pale shafts of light from the ceiling.
Nicholas crossed to one of the doors, unlocked it, and stepped inside.
The first thing I noticed was the window. On the far wall were three large windows, all of them facing north, which meant I could see the inferno of Baltimore from here. It was a hell of a bad view. No wonder the warehouse had been abandoned. Who wanted to go to work every day and see a centuries-old pyre?
The second thing I noticed was the conference table. It had been set up in the center of the room, and Nicholas’s lieutenants sat around it.
Yep, the whole miserable gang was there.
As one they turned to look at me.
Swathe had taken a seat, and he glared up at us. Next to him sat Martin Corbisher. He wore an expensive suit, and he had been handsome until a bloodrat in Venomhold tried to bite off his head. On the other side of the table sat a smiling, paunchy, dark-skinned man with arms like tree trunks. Vass had piloted the helicopter that had taken us to Chicago and the tomb of Jeremy Shane, and he had been perfectly willing to leave me behind to die at Nicholas’s orders. Enzo Morelli sat next to him, sinewy and calm and unobtrusive. I had worked well with him, but if Nicholas gave the order, Morelli would put a bullet in my head and sleep soundly after.
Hailey Adams sat away from the others, near the head of the table where Nicholas would sit. She was tall and blond and pretty and busty, and I suppose it was cold enough that she couldn’t dress as revealingly as she usually did. Nevertheless, she wore a snug blue sweater with a plunging neck and skin-tight jeans with high-heeled boots. She was a wizard skilled with mind magic, had a Dark One inside her skull, and she also was one of the Gatekeepers.
Oh, yeah, and she hated my guts. She was in love with Nicholas, a sentiment I’m sure Nicholas did not return even though they slept together, and Hailey was certain I wanted to steal away Nicholas for myself. As far as I was concerned, Hailey was welcome to him, but she still thought I wanted him back.
All five of them looked up as we entered the room. Swathe, Corbisher, and Hailey glared at me in unison. Vass smiled his big white smile. Morelli only glanced at Murdo and me, but he always had the coiled tension of a serpent about to trike.
For a moment, we looked at each other.
Nicholas broke the silence first. “Where’s Lorenz?”
Lorenz? Uh-oh.
I kept the recognition from my face. Evidently, Lorenz had escaped that explosion in Red Ditch.
Hailey’s mouth twisted. “He was still preening, I think.” I guess she shared my opinion of Victor Lorenz. “The damned peacock will be here once he finishes putting on his hair gel.”
“I see,” said Nicholas. “Go…”
No sooner had he spoken than the door on the far wall opened, and Victor Lorenz himself stepped into the room. He was wearing what I could only describe as Rebel chic – cargo pants, a camouflage jacket, a pistol at his belt, and a red beret. And he didn’t step into the room. He strode into it with a commanding expression, like he was playing a heroic general on some movie set.
He stopped, looked around, saw Murdo, and grinned.
“Well, well, well!” said Lorenz. “Rory Murdo returns! The strong but silent oaf! What, no word of greeting for me? Not even a disdainful grunt?”
“Victor Lorenz,” said Murdo, his voice flat. I wondered why he disliked Lorenz so much. But Murdo had been a man of the Wizard’s Legion, devoted to duty and discipline, and Lorenz had been a philandering actor. For that matter, Murdo didn’t seem to like the Dark Ones cultists, and Lorenz had a Dark One inside his head to fuel his magic.
Which made me wonder again what had driven Murdo to the Rebels. Honestly, Murdo didn’t seem the type.
“Eloquent as ever,” said Lorenz. “Someday, you’ll manage a complete sentence, and your brain cells will catch fire from the strain. You…”
He looked at me, and I saw the flicker of lust go over his expression. Then his bearded face spread into a wide white smile.
“Well,” he said, walking towards me. “Hello, beautiful.”
Great.
“You must be the famous Katrina Stoker,” said Lorenz. He sauntered up, snatched my left hand, bowed over it, and planted a kiss on my knuckles.
“And you,” I said, “look like you just escaped from Central Cas
ting. What, are you auditioning for the role of Drug Cartel Soldier #6?”
Lorenz only smiled, keeping my left hand grasped between both of his. He gripped my hand with just enough force to be painful.
“Nicholas, Nicholas, Nicholas,” said Lorenz. “From all that you told me of Miss Stoker, you neglected to mention that she was so beautiful. Such fierce eyes! Like a lioness. And the curve of her neck…ah, graceful indeed.”
I glanced at Nicholas. He looked amused, damn him. Morelli and Vass seemed bored, as if they were waiting for a tedious preliminary to finish so the real work could begin. Corbisher and Swathe both were amused. Hailey was glaring daggers at Lorenz, oddly enough. Maybe she had realized what a perv he was.
Murdo was giving Lorenz a flat, blank stare that promised murder. Huh.
“Careful, Victor,” said Corbisher. “She’s one of Nicholas’s cast-offs, and has a temper like a sow in heat.”
“Gosh, Marty,” I said. “Maybe Lorenz will be so grateful for the advice he’ll tell you where to buy some hair plugs.”
That shut him up. For a man who’d nearly had his face bitten off by a bloodrat, Corbisher was vain.
“A waspish temperament,” said Lorenz, still grasping my hand. “I know what Miss Stoker needs. It’s clearly been too long since she had enjoyed the attentions of a man.” He tugged me closer. He was a lot stronger than he looked. “What do you say, Nicholas? Delay the meeting by an hour, and I’ll have her purring like a kitten when she comes back…”
With that, one of his hands released mine and gave my right breast a hard squeeze.
Okay, then.
I cast a spell at once, sheathing my right hand in an invisible gauntlet of telekinetic force, and I hit him in the chest. His smug smile turned to wide-eyed shock as the force of the spell threw him backward. He hit the arm of Corbisher’s chair, which had amusing side effect of knocking the chair over and spilling Corbisher to the floor.
Lorenz hit the wall, and I wondered if he had broken any bones.
He hadn’t. In fact, he came back to his feet a lot faster than I would have thought, lips peeled back in fury…and the purple-black fire of a killing spell fueled by his Dark One around his fingers.
He wanted to fight? Well, I was game if he was. I called more power, and five lightning spheres crackled into existence around me, snarling and sparking with restrained force. Morelli surged to his feet with the speed of a snake, pistol in hand, and Swathe followed suit more slowly. Corbisher rolled to one knee, snarling, and started to cast a spell of his own. Hailey got to her feet and moved to stand near Nicholas, calling magic, and Murdo grimaced, drawing his pistol with his right hand and calling a blade of elemental force with his left.
“That is enough!”
Nicholas’s voice boomed out.
We all froze and looked at him. Nicholas remained sitting, his expression calm, but his voice was hard and cold.
“There is a greater objective here,” said Nicholas, “and there are far more important matters at stake than your petty personal dislikes. The Revolution is on the cusp of its greatest victory in the three centuries since the Conquest, perhaps even on the verge undoing the Conquest itself.”
Really? How was he going to manage that?
“But victory can only be achieved if we are disciplined and remained focused on our objectives,” said Nicholas. His eyes turned to Corbisher. “History will not be kind to those who allowed their personal vendettas to override their thinking. Such as, for example, wasting resources and risking premature exposure of our plans due to a petty grudge.”
Corbisher scowled back at Nicholas. The two men stared at each other, but Corbisher looked away first.
Yeah. My suspicions hardened into certainty. Corbisher had been the one to order the attack at the Rocky Mountain Mile. Either he wanted payback for what I had done to him at Venomhold, or he saw me as a future threat to the Rebels’ plans and wanted me out of the way.
Or, you know, both. No reason not to multitask.
“But,” said Nicholas, “what’s done is done. You don’t have to be friends. You don’t have to like each other. But we are soldiers in a great cause, and our animosity must be set aside in the pursuit of victory. You will work together, or you will answer to me.”
No said anything for a bit, then Lorenz waved his hand, dismissing the power he had summoned, and sat next to Corbisher. Murdo grunted and lowered his pistol, dismissing his blade of elemental force, and stood next to the door with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.
“Miss Stoker?” said Nicholas.
I let the lightning globes whirl around me for a few more revolutions, just to remind Nicholas that I could probably wipe out half his team before he killed me, and then released the power. “Great speech, Nicky.” I looked at Lorenz. “You could learn a few things about acting.”
Lorenz leaned back in the chair. “It really has been a while since you’ve gotten laid, hasn’t it?”
“I don’t think I’m your type,” I said. “You haven’t drugged my drink enough yet.”
Lorenz smiled. “I am quite…”
“That is enough,” said Nicholas.
“Yeah, Vicky,” I said. Lorenz’s eyes flickered. He hadn’t liked that one. “Listen to Nicky.”
“Enough, Miss Stoker,” said Nicholas, his voice and stare level.
I sighed, raised my hands in mock surrender, and yanked out a chair. I sat and folded my arms over my chest. “Fine. So, what do you want? The deal was that I would steal three things for you, and I’ve already done one. So, what’s the second thing? Hair plugs for Corbisher? A voucher for acting lessons for Vicky?”
“Something far more valuable and far more difficult to obtain,” said Nicholas.
“And just what is that?” I said. The sinking feeling came back. I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to like what he said next.
Nicholas smiled. “Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to rob the Royal Bank of Washington DC.”
Silence answered his pronouncement. Both Corbisher and Lorenz looked alarmed. I guess Nicholas hadn’t mentioned his plans to them. Hailey’s eyes had gone enormous, and Vass’s mouth had fallen open. Even Morelli looked mildly surprised.
“Oh,” I said. “Shit.”
“That’s…ambitious,” said Murdo at last.
“Yes,” said Nicholas. “Which is why we require a thief of Miss Stoker’s particular talents.”
“But what’s the big deal?” said Hailey, though she looked uncertain. “It’s the Royal Bank, yeah, but it’s still just a bank. We’ve robbed banks before to finance the Revolution.”
“I’ve even landed helicopters on the roofs of a few to help escape,” said Vass. “But I bet the Royal Bank is more heavily defended than most.”
“Martin,” said Nicholas. “You’re our expert in finance. Explain.”
Corbisher made a little tent with his fingers in front of his chest. When Nicholas did it, he looked thoughtful. It just made Corbisher look even more pompous. “Most banks in the United States are heavily regulated and limited to human use. Historically, one of the chief ways human societies have collapsed is due to misbehaving bankers, so the High Queen keeps bankers and financiers on a very short leash, and isn’t hesitant about executing them on Punishment Day videos. The Royal Bank, however, is the only bank in the United States that services Elven nobles and the Elven commoners. It is also one of the few banks allowed to operate internationally, and so the Royal Bank has branches in nearly every nation on Earth.”
“So, there will be a lot of money there,” said Hailey.
“Quite right,” said Corbisher, forgetting his disdain for her as he warmed to his subject. The man did love money. “Additionally, only privileged humans can use the Royal Bank. Decorated veterans, for one. Humans who have performed extraordinary services for Elven nobles. The Family of the Shadow Hunters and similar organizations that operate under the High Queen’s imprimatur. The Wizard’s Legion, for that matter.” He glanced at Murd
o. “You must have had an account there.”
“I did,” said Murdo. “It was frozen when I…left.”
“Pity. We all must make sacrifices for the Revolution,” said Corbisher. “Anyway, human members of the Royal Bank receive numerous benefits – reduced-rate loans, special retirement accounts, access to bond sales, and so forth. Elven nobles also store rare treasures and special relics within the Bank’s vaults. Naturally, the Bank’s headquarters in Washington DC is one of the best-guarded buildings in the Western Hemisphere.”
Vass frowned. “If we need the money so badly, why not pick an easier target?”
“It’s not about the money,” I said in a quiet voice.
Nicholas smiled. “Go on, Miss Stoker.”
“Vass is right. If you assholes need money, there are easier ways to get it,” I said. “Go rob a bunch of local banks or something. If you really needed money that badly, I bet the Knight of Venomhold would give you a couple of bags of diamonds or something. No.” I leaned forward. “It’s about the vaults, isn’t it? There’s something in the vaults of the Royal Bank that you want.”
Nicholas smiled. “Very good.”
The smile left me cold. Whatever Nicholas wanted, whatever was waiting in the vaults of the Royal Bank, I was pretty sure it had something to do with Jeremy Shane. More to the point, it had something to do with Operation Sky Hammer, that mysterious project Shane had been working on when he had been assassinated.
And I didn’t like the thought of someone like Nicholas having something called a “Sky Hammer.”
“So why do we need her help for this?” said Hailey. “Robbing banks isn’t that hard. We’ve done it before.”
Cloak Games: Hammer Break Page 9