Game of Cages

by Harry Connolly

  She let go of my arm immediately. We walked together up the middle of the street toward the B and B. Townspeople stood in open doorways or in lighted windows, watching us.

  We joined the others. Annalise had her foot on the gunman’s back, holding him belly-down on the gravel. Catherine was kneeling beside him. He was talking in Chinese.

  “I don’t understand you, young man. I don’t understand.”

  His wraparound shades had come off, and I was startled to see just how young he was. I didn’t think he was old enough to buy a beer.

  Merpati said: “He wants to go back to Hong Kong. He has a sister there who needs him.”

  I looked back at the B and B. A tall, slender young couple stood on the porch. Kripke stood beside them. They had the shell-shocked look of people who’d just been through a disaster. “How many dead bodies inside?”

  Catherine stood. “Aside from this guy’s friends? Five that I found right away. Nadia is one of them. I didn’t see Nicholas, but I didn’t search all that hard.” She looked down at the kid on the gravel. “I wonder how many of them had sisters who needed them? Or kids?”

  “Enough,” Annalise said. She slapped the back of the kid’s head. It made a sound like a cracking walnut, and he fell still.

  Damn. Whether he deserved it or not, I didn’t think we were the ones to dish out that sort of punishment.

  Catherine gaped at Annalise. She didn’t look relieved to have Annalise to keep her safe anymore. Suddenly, she looked afraid. She stepped toward Merpati, clasped her hands in front of her body, and spoke in a low, friendly voice: “Hello, honey. Did you order all this killing?” It was a new role for her.

  “No!” Merpati responded. “Never. I was forced to come here by the man who killed my employer. The old man. He ordered this. They were going to leave me at the scene to take the blame.”

  This was the same voice that had bartered Kripke’s murder in the Wilbur kitchen. Of course, now that she’d been caught, she was all shocked innocence.

  “Who was the target?” I asked. I shouldn’t have butted in on Catherine’s shtick, but I was angry and I couldn’t keep my mouth shut.

  “I don’t know,” she answered, turning back to Catherine’s friendly face. “I wasn’t involved in the planning of this terrible, terrible crime.”

  “For Christ’s sake,” I said, my voice sharp. Merpati turned toward me quickly. If she was pretending to be afraid of me, she was doing a damn good job of it. I thought I might have been stepping on Catherine’s work, but the expression on her face was encouraging. I waved my hand at the dead kid. “This guy spoke German, did he? Or did that tattooed bastard speak Chinese?”

  “Cantonese,” she corrected, with the habit of someone who corrected other people often.

  “Whatever. I’ll bet the only way they could have gotten their orders was through you. You’re saying the old German guy didn’t make you a better offer? You didn’t switch teams and bring a couple of dumb young guys with you? You’re going to be stuck with that story for a while, so you better be sure.”

  She turned back to Catherine. “I swear. I am telling the truth. I swear.”

  Catherine bent low so their faces were close together. “We know that’s not true, honey. I don’t want them to kill you, but I can’t stop them if you don’t help me.”

  Holy crap. I was the bad cop.

  Unfortunately, Merpati wasn’t sold. “It’s the truth,” she said. Her voice quavered as she spoke—she was afraid, but she wasn’t going to change her story.

  “We don’t have time for this,” Annalise said. She stepped forward.

  “Wait!” Catherine snapped. She turned back to Merpati. “Honey, you have to give me something.”

  Merpati looked at her and shook her head. She had tears on her cheeks. She believed she was about to be killed, and she wasn’t going to give us a thing. Whatever the old man had on her, it was strong.

  Catherine sighed. “Okay,” she said to me. “Go ahead.”

  I blinked at her. Go ahead and what? I hope she wasn’t expecting me to start throwing punches. I had a shotgun in my hand. Was I supposed to use it on her, with little mobs of neighbors gathering down the street to watch us?

  “Ray.” Catherine sounded annoyed with me. “Quickly, or your boss is going to break this woman’s neck.”

  “What?” I was completely at a loss.

  “Lord,” Catherine said. “You’ll use it on me but not her?”

  I suddenly understood what she was talking about. I tucked the pistol under my arm and took the ghost knife from my pocket. “I used it on you because you were trying to kill me.” I grabbed Merpati’s wrist and swept the ghost knife through her little finger. It cut a notch in her braided gold ring, but her flesh was unharmed.

  She gasped. Her shoulders slumped and her hands drew up next to her chest in a frightened, defensive posture. “Both of you,” she blurted out. “I’m sorry. He sent us to kill both of you, along with Mr. Kripke, if we could find him.”

  Catherine leaned toward her. “Who sent you to kill us?”

  “His name is Zahn.” I heard Annalise inhale sharply. That wasn’t a good sign. Merpati kept talking. “He’s what Mr. Yin has wanted to be his whole life. He’s a real sorcerer. When his man approached me and offered to make me an apprentice, I couldn’t refuse.”

  Catherine’s voice was quiet. “So you double-crossed your employer for him.”

  “I … yes,” Merpati said. “Mr. Yin …” Her voice trailed off.

  Three of the townspeople, all men, began walking up the street toward us. One carried a rifle. The others were probably armed as well, but no weapons were visible. I lifted my empty hand to tell them to stop, and startled by the gesture, they did.

  “Mr. Yin was the forty-sixth richest man in the world. He was ruthless and a little crazy, but he was a good man, in his way. He loved me. He even asked to marry me, and my solicitor assured me the terms of the prenup were excellent. Here I was, just a bank teller’s daughter from Surabaya, and I would have been set to take care of my parents and siblings for life. And of course my association with him would have enabled me to pursue my only real interest: magic.”

  She glanced at the marks on the back of my hand. We were all quiet, waiting for her to continue.

  She looked at Catherine again. “When we kidnapped you, I thought we were going to get everything we would ever want. But Mr. Yin …” She looked at me. “He wanted that spell you offered him so much that he lost all caution.”

  I didn’t look at Annalise. I didn’t want to see the expression on her face.

  “When Herr Zahn approached me, I made the same mistake. Exactly the same. He promised me the secrets of the world behind the world, and I threw away everything. I lured Yin to his death. Me. When Zahn ordered me to take the few men I’d saved for myself and come after you, I knew he’d used me. He didn’t care if I made it back, and if I had, he would have killed me. I betrayed a man who would have given me a good life for nothing. I’m so sorry.”

  She began to weep. A sorcerer had once promised to show me the world behind the world, but instead I had stolen his spell book and created my ghost knife. In the end, he had seemed like a decent guy—for a sorcerer—but I saw the world behind the world without his help. And just like Merpati, I wanted more.

  With that thought, I couldn’t help but look down at the dead gunman at my feet.

  The townspeople were slowly moving closer to us again, and this time they had a crowd behind them. Whatever we were going to do with her, it would have to happen soon.

  Annalise stepped over the boy’s body and jostled Catherine aside. She laid the scrap of wood against Merpati’s shoulder; the sigils didn’t react. She wasn’t carrying any magic.

  Annalise’s voice was quiet. “Where can we find Zahn?”

  “He’s been staying at a cabin near the fairgrounds. It’s where he lured Mr. Yin and his men to kill them.”

  “I was just there last night,” I said. “Th
e chief of police discovered Yin’s body—and the others—but the sorcerer was long gone.”

  “No,” Merpati said. “He has a way of forcing you to think certain thoughts and turn away from certain places. Sometimes he can make people not see him when he’s right there with you. He thinks it’s funny.”

  “Merpati,” I said.

  “Yes?”

  “I want you to tell those people”—I gestured toward the approaching townspeople—“that you came here with these gunmen to kill everyone in the building, and that you did it on Zahn’s orders. You can say they forced you or whatever, but don’t tell them about the magic. Make up a believable lie. Understand?”

  “I will,” she said. “Do I have to spend the rest of my life in jail? I’m afraid.”

  “No,” Annalise said. “Someone will be along to debrief you and ease you out of this world. You’re done, but if you talk about spells or predators to anyone—anyone—I’ll personally kill your whole family. I promise.”

  Merpati’s mouth dropped open, then shut. She nodded.

  The three locals at the head of the crowd were about ten feet from us by then. “Excuse me,” the man with the rifle said. “What’s going on here?”

  Merpati glanced at Annalise one more time. I knew she would do what I told her until the effects of my spell wore off, but the look she gave Annalise told me that she would stick to that story for as long as she had to.

  Then she turned toward the three men. “These others are not involved. I will explain,” she said in her perfectly accented English.

  Annalise gave me a look. “Let’s go.” I followed her along the side of the road toward town, away from the throng of people gathering around Merpati.

  “Hold it right there,” one of the men said, hustling in front of us to block our path. He was a balding guy with a couple more chins than were strictly necessary, but the double-barrel shotgun in his hand was tough enough.

  Annalise sighed. “Let me show you my identification,” she said. She reached into her jacket.

  “Boss—” I was suddenly afraid for Balding’s life. But Annalise pulled out a white ribbon and showed him the sigil on the bottom. Balding suddenly closed his eyes and turned his back on us. Then he stretched out on the road and went to sleep.

  She frowned up at me. “Did you think I was going to kill him?” We started walking again.

  I glanced back at Kripke. He was watching me, his face pale and sweaty in the chilly morning air. He turned around and went back inside.

  Catherine started to follow us.

  “What did I hear about a spell?” Annalise asked. All trace of the tiny smile she’d greeted me with was gone. “You didn’t ransom that investigator—”

  “No,” I said. “No way. I know better. I gave him a fake.” I explained how I set up the arson, then got Yin to believe me when it came time to give him the spell.

  Annalise nodded but still didn’t smile. “That’s all right, for this time. But don’t do it again. People do crazy things for spells, Ray. If word started to spread that someone bartered with you for a spell, it could cause trouble for you.”

  I could imagine. “Gotcha. Can I ask a question?”

  Information shared is information leaked. But Annalise turned to me and said: “You’ve earned it. Go ahead.”

  “Is Zahn a primary, whatever that is? Are you?”

  “That’s more than one question, but okay. No, Zahn isn’t a primary. He’s a quaternary, at best, but probably isn’t even that high. And before you ask, I’m a senary. Now I’m guessing you want to know what that means.”

  “Pretty much, yeah.”

  “There are only three real spell books in the world. They’re the source of all the magic on the planet, but they don’t have any actual spells in them. They’re also not really books, but never mind that. When you read one, you have visions. Dreams.”

  She fell silent for a moment. “After the visions are over,” she continued, “the primary writes them down as clearly as possible, and that becomes what most of these idiots think of as a spell book.”

  We turned the corner. Annalise’s battered Dodge Sprinter stood on the shoulder of the road. I was glad to see it again. I said: “So, if the primary passes the written-out spell book—one named after him, like, Mowbray Book of Oceans, to an apprentice, that apprentice becomes a secondary.”

  “Right.”

  “And the secondary casts the same spells, but they’re weaker. Because, I guess, you can’t pass on a vision to another person without having it change a little.”

  This time Annalise did smile, just a bit. “Very good.”

  “And the Twenty Palace Society doesn’t have those three original spell books anymore, so you’ve been slowly losing power.”

  “We had two, but that’s right. Several centuries ago, they were stolen. It’s an ugly part of our history.”

  We reached the van. Annalise gave me the keys, and I got behind the wheel. It was just like old times.

  Except I wasn’t thrilled the way I had been when Catherine picked me up. It wasn’t an adventure anymore. It was a job. An ugly job. I couldn’t understand how I’d been so excited to come back to it a few days ago. “Are more peers coming?” I asked.

  “No. Why would they?”

  “First Pratt, then you—”

  “Pratt was assigned by the peers. He won’t be replaced until his death is confirmed.”

  “Then why did you come, boss?”

  “Because I’m checking on you, Ray. You’re my wooden man. You belong to me.”

  Catherine pulled the driver’s door open. “Are you going to leave me behind?”

  “Yes,” Annalise answered.

  “You can’t. Not after all this.”

  “Hey,” I said, “what happened to this is not part of my job?”

  “I can’t walk away from all this,” she said. “Not now. All these years that I’ve been snooping around, making a phone call and then bugging out. I’ve been hiding, making the easy choice.… Last night, with the horses and that little girl … and I was watching those people set up for their festival, but I couldn’t feel anything at all because of the ghost knife. They were working so hard in the dark and the cold—sometimes stopping to hold someone while they cried.

  “But I couldn’t feel anything, not until I woke up this morning when the effect had worn off. I haven’t … God, that little girl apologized for hiding. I can’t walk away from that. I need to do the right damn thing. Again.”

  Annalise leaned across the center of the van toward Catherine. “Will you be my wooden man?”

  I mouthed No! “You’re already an investigator. A good one.”

  Catherine frowned at me. “Pratt was a quinary, wasn’t he? And Zahn killed him.”

  “Pratt was an arrogant ass,” Annalise said. “He thought everyone would tremble at the sight of his big hat and long coat. I’m not as precious. And I have help.”

  “I want to help, too. I won’t be a wooden man, but I’ll do what you ask me to do.”

  “Get in,” Annalise said.

  I unbuckled and slid out of the driver’s seat to let Catherine sit there. I gave her the keys. While she started the engine, I sat on the deck. The van was cold and my clothes were still wet.

  “Ray, you’ve been to the cabin before?” Catherine asked. I gave her directions, and in a few moments we were on our way.

  Annalise said: “Zahn isn’t the only dangerous one here. Issler is trouble, too.”

  “Who’s Issler?” I asked.

  “Zahn’s tattooed bodyguard. He’s good. Three years ago, he took a hand off a full peer.”

  “A peer?” Catherine said. “Wow.”

  No one spoke again for a while. I thought about how close I’d come to killing him on the steps outside the Wilbur house. Things might have been simpler if I had succeeded. Or maybe not. At least I was going to get another chance.

  I looked out the back window and saw a boy standing in the open doorway of a hou
se. He was looking up and down the street, and I was pretty sure I knew what he was searching for. I hoped someone would call Sherisse about him soon.

  “Is there a plan, boss?”

  “Yes,” Annalise said. “Catherine is going to drop us off at the entrance to the property, then drive into town to look for the predator.”

  Catherine stared at her. “Is that really what you want me to do?”

  Annalise grunted. “When I brought Ray in, I had hours to put spells on him and prepare him to face a full sorcerer. With you, I have five minutes. You’re not ready. You’re still as soft as Jell-O.”

  Annalise looked back at me. “Here’s our part of the plan. We sneak up on the cabin and kill Zahn and his people.”

  “I’m not sure I can remember all the steps,” I said. “You know what would be useful? An Apache helicopter.”

  “Some peers use military equipment overseas. It draws too much attention in the U.S.”

  We were at the turnoff. Catherine slowed to a stop, and Annalise and I piled out.

  “My cell is off,” Annalise said. “If you find the predator, leave me a message. Use the one in the glove compartment.”

  Catherine opened the glove compartment, took a slender cellphone out, and dropped it into her pocket. “Can I try to kill it?” she asked.

  “Sure, after you’ve left the message. Try not to get killed unless you can make it count.”

  I stepped back into the doorway and set the sawed-off shotgun on the passenger seat for her. Just in case. I closed the door and she drove off.

  “What if Zahn already has the sapphire dog? What if both of them are up there?”

  “What do you think?”

  “Kill them both. I get it. But what if I have to choose?”

  She stopped and stared at me. “Nervous, Ray? Asking questions you already know the answer to isn’t going to make this easier. Now shut up. I don’t know if Zahn has extra-sensitive hearing or not.”