Seeing Red

by Lyra Evans

  Niko’s eyes remained on one particular person in the photograph. Preston stood among a number of highly positioned Courtiers there, including the Elior Birch, Leonore Chêne, and Faven Kauri on one side, all together. But standing right next to Preston, hands clasped with his, was Courtier Keilani Palm.

  “That was one of the judges who let Sade free,” Niko said quietly. His body felt tight and fragile at once. Like his bones might shatter. Or maybe it was only his worldview.

  “Her?” Cobalt asked, pointing to Palm. “Shaking hands with Preston. And smiling for the camera. Well, that is certainly troubling.”

  Niko took out his phone and snapped a photo of the photo. Shaking, he sent it off to Starla with instructions to research Palm. Then, as an afterthought, he snapped photos of the images of the jungle-forest and sent those too. Perhaps they could use them to narrow down the location.

  “We need to keep looking,” Niko said, his voice rough to his own ears.

  Cobalt reached for him. “This might be unrelated,” Cobalt said, and though Niko knew the effort was to reassure him that not everything was working against him, it only angered him more.

  “Just a coincidence that one of the judges who played a key role in setting Sade free happens to be connected to Preston?” Niko said sarcastically. He shook his head.

  Cobalt flinched slightly. “I agree, it may be unlikely, but—”

  “No ‘buts,’” Niko said. He moved on to the office area of the condo. “It’s more and more apparent I can’t trust a single fucking person. Why I ever did, I don’t know.” He said this all under his breath, more to himself than anyone else, but a cold and stinging silence followed, and Niko shut himself away. There was no time for anything but the truth. Not now.

  He scoured the wood desk in what Niko assumed was Preston’s office. What Preston needed an office for was anyone’s guess, but that question only pushed Niko forward. There was no computer there, but the hookup for a laptop stuck out. Preston must have taken it wherever he went. Still, Niko rifled through drawers and papers lying around. Most of them seemed useless. Some notes were only phone numbers or appointment times. Others were vague and all-encompassing comments to himself like ‘but how???’ which Niko took to mean ‘but how can I make more money doing illegal things I never get caught for?’

  The drawers held little of interest beyond Preston’s particular taste in pens and note paper. There were also cigars in a finely crafted box, an engraved lighter that read ‘to my good boy’ in cursive writing, and a silver letter opener with a moon-like orb on the end. Niko slammed the last drawer shut, frustrated by the lack of clues, but the sound it made as he shut it was strange. A shuffling came from the contents, but the drawer contained only a collection of portable cellphone chargers. The sound of them hitting the back of the drawer was a loud clunk. But below that was the shifting of something softer.

  Niko opened the drawer again, pulling out the contents. There was nothing there that should have made that sound. He crouched down and checked the bottom of the drawer, but he found nothing there beyond the track on which the drawer was set. Tapping around the inside of the drawer, he listened. The sound came back hollow, as he would expect it, but as he moved his fingers around, he found one area sounded slightly muffled.

  Heart racing, Niko grabbed the letter opener and tried to jab it into the seam between the bottom of the drawer and the sides. He left a slight nick in the wood, but otherwise there was nothing to jab the letter opener into. Tossing the letter opener aside, he stared down at it with frustration. As a last ditch effort, he smoothed his hand over the front of the drawer, just beneath the pull, and searched for a trade to make.

  At first, he felt nothing. The wood was wood and afforded him only trades that would damage the drawer front in a way Niko wasn’t sure he could hide. But as he struggled to focus, he found the slightest little blip of magic beyond the feel of the wood. It pricked at his hand like a nub of metal, but Niko was certain it was entirely magical. Reaching for it with his magic, he traded security for clarity and heard the tiniest little click.

  Opening his eyes, he found a small notch had appeared in the base of the drawer. He pressed his fingertip into it and pulled up, releasing the bottom of the drawer entirely. Only it was the false bottom of the drawer. Beneath it was a small, leather-bound book.

  Niko took it out and flipped it open, scanning the pages for information. The entries were all carefully aligned and detailed, but they were incomprehensible. Niko ran a hand over the surface of a page, trying a similar trick to trade for understanding the code, but nothing happened. It generally worked on digital information, but as this was handwritten, the magic had little impact on the individual letters and numbers.

  But Niko was certain, looking at it, that this was some kind of ledger. A few of the numbers seemed to match up with the amounts Uri had shown him transferred into Preston’s account. The coded words next to these amounts were meaningless to Niko, but the numbers told him something. He’d been right. Preston was up to something. Whatever he was offering in return for this money, he had documented every transaction.

  Niko reset the false bottom and closed the drawer, but he kept the ledger with him as he searched for anything else of value. The office was otherwise unhelpful. It wasn’t as though Preston was about to keep the cipher to his code lying around in his office. But as Niko made to leave, he stopped to study the large framed photo on the wall. It was another landscape of the jungle forest, and Niko pulled out his phone to take a shot of it. As he did, he noticed an odd shape in the distance behind one of the larger trees. Moving closer to the picture, Niko squinted to make out the shape. It looked very much like the vaulted roof of a log cabin.

  “Niko, I’ve found something,” Cobalt said.

  Without a lingering glance at the photo, Niko went in search of Cobalt. He found him in Preston’s bedroom. Cobalt was standing at the foot of the bed surveying the room. Unlike the other areas of the condo that seemed pristine and organized, the bedroom was a bit of a mess. Clothing was strewn across the bed, only partially made, and drawers to the dresser sat half open. The closet looked looted of clothing and shoes, but plenty of expensive pieces remained. Preston’s signature silver-heeled, designer dress shoes sat neatly on the shelves in the closet, while designer watches gleamed from an open accessory drawer.

  “Someone left in a hurry,” Niko said, scanning the items. “What did he take with him, though?”

  Cobalt held up a strange item Niko didn’t recognize at first. It hung from Cobalt’s fingers like an earring, but the bottom seemed covered in brightly coloured feathers. Toward the top of it hung a small enameled tag painted in such a way that vaguely called to mind fish.

  “It’s a fishing lure,” Cobalt explained, seeing Niko’s confusion. “Used by Landwalkers to improve their chances of catching bigger fish. They’re more common further north, as the fishing boats from Maeve’s Court are mostly commercial. A lure like this would be useless on the ocean, but in a river or a lake—”

  “Like the rivers and lakes in the jungle-forest?” Niko asked. Cobalt nodded. “Where did you find that?”

  Cobalt pointed beyond the bed. There was a trunk sitting half exposed from beneath the bed. It was emptied out, it seemed, but some small debris and scattered pieces remained. Most of the pieces appeared to be only parts of fishing lures or other kit. There was a length of fishing line barely visible against the dark colour of the trunk’s floor. Niko decided it was pretty good support for his theory.

  “I think he’s got a place in the jungle-forest,” Niko said. “Too many of the photos are from there.”

  “You think that’s where he disappeared to,” Cobalt said rather than asked. Niko nodded. “But we’ve no idea where in the forest.”

  Niko pulled out his phone. “I’ll ask Starla to—” but as he spoke, Starla’s name appeared on the screen marking an incoming call. Niko answered it.

  “You’ve got to get out now,” Starla said.
“Uri just called to ask where you were and if you were safe. Someone’s called in a tip. The police are about to surround the building.”

  Chapter 11

  The absolute only advantage Niko and Cobalt had was that the building was not yet surrounded. They gathered up the few pieces of evidence they could into one of the duffels and pressed up against the door, listening for signs of people outside or the elevator arriving. They heard nothing, at which point Niko ran to the windows, blocking his body with the curtains as he peered out to the street below.

  There were a few police cruisers arriving, but not enough to set up a perimeter of the building. They had precious few moments before every exit was covered. His eyes searched out the windows, considering nearby buildings and the distance. But nothing was close enough to try the same trick Starla had planned out. Jumping from the roof or even one of the balconies of the building they were in would likely result in death. Even if they somehow made the distance to another building, the height of this building was too great to survive in a fall without cushion on the other end.

  Niko moved around, considering the drapes. If they tied them carefully enough, the drapes could serve as makeshift parachutes to create drag in a jump like that. But it was risky and dangerous and would likely still end in death. Niko scraped as his mind for the calculation of weight to drag ratio, but he couldn’t remember it. That was Special Response Team training, and Niko had only done the minimum for that to qualify as a Detective.

  Cursing himself, he watched as another cruiser arrived outside. They were running out of time.

  “I understand your concerns, but I’m afraid the only option might be for me to Sing,” Cobalt said, watching him evenly.

  Niko shook his head. “Even if I was willing to allow that, we have no time. You’d have to Sing to each officer individually, then hope that not one of them shoots me before you cover them all. There’s no way. Even Singing to either the concierge or the security guard could take too long. The moment they see me, they’re shooting.”

  Niko eased open the front door, searching the short corridor of the penthouse elevator. There was little there but the elevator doors, garbage chutes, décor, and the standard fire escape door. He considered the fire escape, thinking they might be able to make it to the garage if they bolted, but even that presented an issue. If they somehow made it down twenty-five flights in less than a minute, they still needed a way out from the garage. This building was much newer than Niko’s, which meant it likely didn’t have a connection to the old waste system. And given how close Cobalt had come to death in their last escape adventure, Niko wasn’t willing to risk another try. And then there was the very likely reality the garbage wasn’t collected in the garage, but in its own separate area with secluded loading bay.

  “Unless you have a plan, I don’t see a way out but to surrender,” Cobalt said. Niko hesitated. “Do you have a plan?”

  Pulling a face, Niko looked at Cobalt. “Possibly. But you aren’t going to like it.” He left the condo behind in a flash, moving down the corridor to the garbage chute to study it more closely. It looked relatively standard but for the chrome finishes on the latch and handle, and that it was on the larger side.

  “You intend to jump down the chute?” Cobalt asked, looking at Niko as though he’d lost his mind. “I can’t imagine any way you think we’ll survive a fall of twenty-five storeys.”

  Niko ran a fingertip over the perimeter of the chute door. It didn’t look like it, but there were tiny runes etched into the metal, much as he suspected. “Won’t be a straight fall.” He pulled open the door to examine the interior of the chute. It looked just about large enough to fit Cobalt, though it might be tight. “Luxury buildings like these have standards for all sorts of things, including noise. Garbage chutes are difficult to insulate and soundproof through standard methods because of the nature of them, so buildings like these have runes inscribed into the entry point at every floor. They dampen sound a bit, but mostly they serve as levitators. The magic will slow down the descent of anything that passes through the chute. If it isn’t moving fast, it can’t make much noise.”

  Niko reached out for Cobalt, whose eyes widened at Niko’s sudden apparent urge to touch him everywhere. “That hardly sounds sustainable for a full-grown man’s weight,” Cobalt said, watching as Niko smoothed his hands over Cobalt’s chest and shoulders, hitting all the widest parts of him. “What precisely are you—” He stopped with a small gasp as Niko’s actions became clearer. He was trading the surface layer of moisture on Cobalt for something slicker, essentially covering him in a fine lubricant.

  “You’re a bit bigger than I am,” Niko said. “Can’t risk you getting stuck.”

  Cobalt started swaying almost immediately. “Thank you,” he said, but Niko could tell he didn’t look well.

  “Is it poisoning you?” he asked, concern spiking in him. He should have asked first. But even as they lingered, more police arrived outside. He knew it.

  Cobalt shook his head. “It feels more like I’m drowsy,” he said. “We should move quickly.”

  Niko nodded, his heart beating a fast, uneven rhythm. Something caught in his throat, but it didn’t matter. He couldn’t make himself speak, anyway. Taking the duffel from Cobalt, he threw that down first, testing the theory before jumping to his death. The duffel slipped smoothly into the chute, but it moved as though Niko was lowering it by hand, careful to avoid the sides. It seemed as though the runemagick did work. At least on bags.

  Nodding to Cobalt, Niko took Cobalt’s hand to gain some leverage as he put one leg at a time over the edge of the chute. With a deep breath, he let himself fall. An unwilling gasp escaped him as he passed the runes of the top floor. The moment he crossed the line, he began to fall more quickly, the air pulled out of his lungs in the motion. But the next floor came up quickly, and the runes there took immediate effect, slowing his progress enough to calm him.

  This continued again and again, between every floor, Niko dropped like a lead weight, like he was being bounced by an awful bungee cord. The smell of the chute, better than most garbage disposals he was certain, did not help the experience much. Though there was clearly some kind of fragrance added to the chute to protect the inhabitants of the building from unwanted odours, it still stank. The floral fragrance filled Niko’s nose with a sickly sweetness that just veiled the stench of rotten fruit and expired milk from below.

  Finally, Niko felt himself drop sharply and his feet quickly sank into a large pile of plastic bags and individual waste. It was a relatively soft landing, but the feel of garbage pushing in on him from every side was not something he considered ideal. Searching for the duffel, Niko grabbed it and shuffled out of the way, desperate not to be caught under Cobalt as he hit the garbage pile.

  Niko just barely managed to extricate himself from the dumpster when Cobalt came barrelling into it. He made a groan of repulsion as he shifted through the rubbish. Niko offered his hand to help Cobalt out, and the Selkie heaved himself over the edge of the dumpster with a grimace on his gorgeous face.

  “Can we possibly avoid waste disposal tracks from here on out?” he asked, shaking himself off as though he was soaking wet. Niko realized he was, technically, and without hesitation reached up and smoothed his hands over Cobalt again to trade back his moisture. He sighed at first, then made a gagging face. “The oil you covered me with seems to have adopted some of the flavours of the bin.”

  Niko shuddered at the thought. “Sorry,” he said, looking around. He’d been right in his guess; the garbage chute came out in a small, contained area that seemed to back out to a loading dock. Waste disposal trucks probably came by once a week to gather up whatever was in the dumpsters, and Niko was mildly grateful garbage day seemed to be tomorrow.

  He didn’t hear any sirens yet, but that wasn’t necessarily indication they were not surrounded. Running to the single door, likely meant as access for the building’s various staff, Niko pressed an ear to the surface. Still,
he heard nothing, so as Cobalt pressed in close to him, Niko turned the knob and cracked the door open.

  The loading dock beyond was deserted, thankfully, but a blue and red wash of light danced on the far wall. There were definitely more police cars now. Any minute now they would be fanning out around the building to lock it down.

  Without allowing himself to think much, Niko launched himself from the doorway to the opposite end of the loading bay, aiming for the narrow path between the two buildings set up behind this one. Cobalt was on his heels, and Niko slipped into the narrow alley quickly. He yanked Cobalt with him, hearing distant sounds of alarm. Someone was yelling. Who’s there? Show yourself!

  Niko didn’t wait. He ran down the alley as best he could moving sideways, the duffel out in front of him, his other hand still grasping Cobalt’s hand. They spilled out onto the street on the other side, having emerged from between the Infinity Theatre and a historical burlesque house. People milled around on this street, some shooting them surprised and confused glances as they appeared from nowhere. Niko almost forgot he was wearing a disguise, reaching up as if to cover his face only to hit the glasses he wore. He pretended to adjust them, nodded briefly to a passerby and nodded to Cobalt to walk calmly.

  “I think someone just ran down this alleyway!” a voice called, distant to Niko’s ears but still discernable.

  Panic gripped him, and he ran across the street, trusting Cobalt to follow him at every turn without warning or guidance. A car honked as they cut in front of it, disappearing between two restaurants that lined the other side of the street. The cool air of the night—or early morning?—cut at Niko, but the heat from his desperate run made it immaterial.

  “We need to get back to the others,” Cobalt said as he followed Niko, weaving between restaurants and shops, slipping along the edges of clubs that hadn’t yet closed for the night and bars that might not close at all. There were people everywhere, though fewer than usual. He didn’t know if it was the winter weather or the mad, rogue cop on the loose that kept them home, but he had no time to think about it.