Susannah sighed. “I tried telling them, but they wouldn’t listen. No one trusts an ancient witch like me.” At the mention of “witch,” Jennie’s eyes met hers again. “What?”
“That’s kind of why we wanted to find you,” Jennie informed her. “We’ve run into a situation, and we want to ask you a few questions.”
“Okay.” Susannah threw another ingredient into the cauldron, causing the liquid to change color.
Jennie sighed, unsure of how best to approach this. Eventually, she settled on, “Have you ever lived in Richmond?”
Susannah flinched, and her lips tightened into a thin white line. Although it took her a while to answer, Jennie already had all the answers she needed.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Richmond, Virginia, USA
Jiao watched over the city as the sun climbed the horizon
She was patient, a skill she had picked up through years of observing others around her running around like headless chickens and realizing it didn’t serve them. Winning was a short-term game. To dominate long-term required strategy and planning.
They lumbered toward her, the recruits from the previous night’s mission. Rathbourne had been busy, stealing into houses in the middle of the night to perform his magic and cast his shadow on the city. He had to be selective. That was Jiao’s advice worming its way into his ears. If Rathbourne was given his way, he would create one spectacle after another, until the entire city was alarmed and came for him.
“Take it easy, my love,” Jiao had whispered into the woman’s ear, feeling no strangeness at offering words of affection to a man who accommodated a female’s body. “Secrecy is the key to your success. You’ve already stirred enough attention, now we play the quiet game. It’s harder to detect a mouse than it is to catch an elephant.”
Was that a proverb she had heard from somewhere? She could hardly remember. Rathbourne had given a simple nod and allowed Jiao to reel out her plan. Times had changed. In Rathbourne’s day, justice systems were still nascent, the population was a lot smaller, news spread slowly if at all. Jiao would act as his ticket to the twenty-first century, and together they would achieve both of their goals.
The new recruits milled around the abandoned community center like zombies—emotionless and with steady gaits. They’d been arriving through the night, and Jiao was almost certain they’d fill the building by afternoon.
What then? What comes next, when our forces need to grow and we can’t expand without causing a scene?
They would cross that bridge when they came to it. Jiao still had her contacts in the other cities. Only an hour ago, she had come off a call with Tommy Vincenzo. It appeared that he had been more careless than she had desired, but he was trying his best to hide from law enforcement. It seemed specters showed little loyalty to mortals, particularly when the SIA or the SIS showed their faces and pinned them up against a wall.
What had Zhao been thinking, to center his plan almost entirely on mortals? This was the specters’ game, and they would play it better than any mortal could. Mortals became spellbound by the revelation that something existed beyond the curtain, and because of that, they lost their focus. When you know you’ve got another life beyond mortality, you become careless. You take risks.
But not Jiao.
The helicopters had arrived sometime in the night. Jiao had watched the dark shapes appear over the horizon, their lights trailing like shooting stars. They’d passed over, heading in the direction of the manor, and disappeared from sight.
Were they backup for Jennie? Jiao couldn’t tell from where she stood, although a bad feeling settled in her stomach. Although her army was growing, so was theirs. Maybe Jennie and the others hadn’t worked out the full extent of her betrayal, but soon they would. There was only so much time she and Rathbourne could sit still.
Soon, they would make their attack and force the King’s Court out of the picture.
Jiao took a steadying breath and calmed her mind. She already knew this to be her superpower: to see clearly despite adversity. On the long street below her, one figure moved faster than the others. Rathbourne sped along the street as though he were gliding.
Jiao waited until the figure had entered the building, then made her way downstairs. It was time to debrief with Rathbourne and figure the next part of their plan.
* * *
A large map of Richmond lay on the center table of the reception lounge. The heads of the various agencies using King Manor as a base of operations gathered around the table, while the remaining agents made themselves at home in the manor’s facilities.
Krissie and Lyla leaned over the map, adding circles and scribbles with thick, red markers. Ula had already slipped back and was watching them closely, curious about the locations they were marking.
“You can get a good vantage point from here,” Krissie explained when Ula queried a mark she made. “This is the tallest building around that quarter of Richmond. You should be able to see for a few kilometers in either direction.”
Agent Sturgeon had returned with her men, leaving Tiptry and Clark in charge of the operations out in the other states. Standing beside her was SIA Agent Erik. On the other side of the table, Grimald stood with the GOA members, each shifting uncomfortably in the presence of the federal forces. Even Jimmy Dean had returned with a fleet of specters ready to lend a hand and scout the city.
Lyla pointed out a few more locations to recon, and the teams prepared to ship out from the manor and begin their search. An hour later, they set off into the city, after they had all been given their orders by Ula. They left the helicopters behind, knowing any disturbance in the sky would be witnessed and alert the city to their plight.
Once everyone had set off, Ula wandered up to Hendrick’s lab and opened the door.
“You’re just in time.” Lupe was chipper, smiling brightly as he handed Ula two vials of a bright blue concoction. “Hendrick showed me how to make it. Consider this my first official creation in the laboratory.”
Hendrick took his place beside him, a strange look of pride on his face. It didn’t sit well on that wrinkled old visage.
Ula brought them up to eye level. “Are you sure these are okay? I’m not certain I’m comfortable that your first experiment is going to be tested on two of our finest agents.”
Lupe looked hurt. “Hendrick watched every step. He inspected them himself.”
“They’re fine,” Hendrick interjected. “Everything was done according to procedure. Do you think I’d allow a botched product to go out into the world? Please think before you speak such nonsense next time.”
Ula couldn’t help but grin. “Very well. I guess there’s only one way to test that they’ll work, then.”
Hendrick grabbed her wrist to stop her from leaving. “They’ll work. Do not doubt it.”
Ula nodded and pulled herself free, leaving Lupe standing uncertainly behind.
“Are you sure it’s fine?” he asked Hendrick.
Hendrick didn’t reply. He simply went back to work.
Washington DC, USA
For the first time in days, Rogers was able to open his eyes without a piercing pain in his head.
The monitors he was hooked up to beeped discordantly around the head of his bed. He adjusted his position, surprised to find himself able to sit upright without a problem. The bandages wrapped around his body still showed the sites where the bullets had penetrated, but now there was no pain at all.
Nothing.
The small glass vial rested beneath his pillow. It all seemed so dreamlike, looking back. He had awoken in an opiate-induced spin and found the vial in his hand. The contents of the small bottle were easily identifiable as one of the signature potions that Jennie carried with her at all times. He wasn’t sure when she had visited, but he was thankful that she had. All of his operatives were far too occupied to come and provide any company.
When a nurse walked by, he closed his eyes and hid the vial in his hand. She took his vit
als, touched his head, then disappeared from the room.
The moment she was gone, he painstakingly raised the vial to his lips and drained the lot. Although he expected something to happen straight away, nothing did. After a few minutes, he found his head feeling heavy, and he fell back to sleep.
That had been one of the most fitful sleeps he’d ever had. Now that he was awake, he felt spritely. There was no trace of any of his pain, and he almost couldn’t believe it. If he hadn’t had spent the best part of the last year dealing with spectral matters and interacting with anomalies like Rogue, he wouldn’t have believed it at all.
As it was, he was healed. He pulled the bandages away and inspected the sites of his wounds. The scars still remained, but as he prodded and tested the pain with shaking fingers, he found that nothing hurt at all.
How the hell is this even possible?
It wasn’t his job to question it. It wasn’t his job to doubt it or worry about what would come next. Kurt Rogers teased the various IV lines from his skin and removed the sticky pads connecting him to the machine that monitored his vitals. The beeping turned to a consistent squeal as he removed the final pad, and immediately three nurses rushed to his room.
He had already turned in the bed, his feet touching the floor. His hospital gown had fallen from his shoulders, revealing a ripped torso covered in dark scars.
The nurses were flummoxed, unable to take in what they were seeing.
“Before you say anything,” Rogers declared, “Just know that I am leaving this hospital. I am well. There is nothing to concern yourself with. I have matters I must attend to.”
He rose from his bed and stretched, enjoying each creak of his joints and the failure of pain to spike from any part of his body. He dropped his hands to cover his groin when the torn gown fell to the floor and revealed everything to the nurses. He sighed. “Before I go, could you tell me where my clothes are? I don’t want to cause any more alarm than I already am at this moment.”
Richmond, Virginia, USA
Ula didn’t have to sneak into the hospital this time. Visiting hours were in session, and she expertly navigated to the room, while Jack and Ruby waited patiently with Cassie in the lobby.
Julia and Triton sat between the hospital cots of Rhone and Roman. They were deep in conversation, although Julia’s eyes flicked to Roman every few seconds.
“How are they doing?” Ula asked, standing at the foot of Roman’s bed.
“They haven’t woken up,” Julia replied, sadness in her voice. “They’ve moved a little, but they haven’t opened their eyes.”
“They just need rest to heal,” Triton comforted. “The body goes into shutdown to recover.”
Ula glanced over her shoulder to check that the coast was clear. When it was, she drew out the two vials of Lupe’s concoction and handed them to Julia and Triton.
“What’s this?” Julia asked.
“Something to help ease the pain,” Ula replied. “Help them drink it. It should encourage the healing process.”
Julia studied the solution doubtfully. “It looks like antifreeze. Are you sure it’ll help?”
Triton had already risen and was pouring his vial between Rhone’s lips. He held his chin up to ensure that none of the liquid dribbled back out. Rhone coughed but kept most of it in, his eyelids flickering as he woke up.
“What the…” He winced in pain as he tried to sit up, momentarily forgetting that his rib was broken. “Jesus Christ on a bike, what the hell was that stuff?”
Triton looked at Ula for help.
“Something to ease the pain,” she answered.
“Ugh. It tasted like boiled licorice and dirt.” He lowered his head and screwed his eyes shut as he tried to get comfortable again. “Was that prescribed? Not sure I’ve ever had a nurse administer something…like…” His voice trailed away, and instantly he was asleep again.
Ula grinned. “I guess it’s safe to assume chloroform is one of the ingredients.”
Julia’s brow creased. “I’m not sure I should give it to him. The nurses know what they’re doing. Shouldn’t we check to make sure?”
Ula snatched the vial from Julia and unscrewed the top. Before Julia could protest, Ula put the vial to Roman’s lips and emptied the contents into his mouth. In the same way that Rhone spluttered, so did Roman, and his eyes snapped open. He tried to sit up, then yelped in pain when the movement jarred his leg. He thrashed in the sheets like a creature disturbed from its slumber, pulling the wires attached to him until the machines screamed and drew the attention of the nurses.
“What the hell is going on in here?” a large woman in bright blue scrubs roared at them. “Out! Now!”
Julia, Triton, and Roman backed away to allow room for the nurses to work.
Ula’s cheeks flushed. She hadn’t expected that reaction from Roman, but he was in a frenzy. She wondered if different people reacted differently to the solution. If so, perhaps she should have eased it in slowly. Whatever should have been right, it was too late.
Roman continued to lash out, and the nurses couldn’t get near him.
His eyes were bloodshot and wild. He searched the room frantically, only calming when his eyes locked onto Julia’s. She balled her fists and clutched her heart, hating what she was seeing.
After a tense pause where they stared at each other, Roman’s eyes grew heavy and closed again. A moment later, he was snoring loudly.
The nurses, flustered and adrenaline-pumped, started reconnecting the wires and machines. One of the monitors had fallen and smashed, and a nurse asked for a replacement. They shouted at the visitors and banished them from the room, issuing a word of caution that she did not want to see them back there again. Roman had a long road to recovery, and they hadn’t helped.
Ula could feel Julia’s eyes burning into the back of her head. She avoided meeting her eyes, hoping she had done the right thing. Somehow, deep down, she knew it had helped.
Just maybe not in the conventional way of modern medicine.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Washington DC, USA
Susannah was sitting at the side of the chamber with her back to the wall and Jennie and Baxter on either side of her.
The old witch pursed her lips, her eyes still shining with that far-off, dreamy look. “I haven’t thought about Richmond in so long. That was years ago, a whole other lifetime. Several lifetimes, in fact. Things have changed a lot since then.”
“We need to know what happened,” Jennie pressed. “Every last detail, it could really help us.”
Susannah shook her head and smiled. “Haybourne is back. And you called him, what? Rathbourne? Sounds about right. The man went by a thousand aliases at the time. I’ve never known someone so persistent, so twisted and deranged in their desire to leave their mark on the world. You know the easiest way to leave a mark? Scorch the earth. One small flame and that will spread and spread until everything is turned to ash. The only problem is that kind of legacy doesn’t last. Over time, green will grow again, and you’ll be forgotten.”
Susannah handed Jennie a bowl filled with the contents from the cauldron. Jennie had thought Susannah was lying about the casserole, but it turned out that she was telling the truth. Where she had gotten the ingredients from Jennie had no idea, but it tasted amazing, nonetheless. Baxter watched her enviously as she ate, the hot meal enriching her soul even as it nourished her body.
“I first met Haybourne when we were children,” Susannah went on. “We can’t have been more than eight years old. Every harvest, the town held a celebration at the town hall, and families from miles around would attend to get involved and socialize.
“Haybourne was handsome, I’ll give him that. But he came from the outer reaches of town. His father raised and slaughtered cattle, and his mother died when he was born. Haybourne was raised by servants. He didn’t stand a chance.
“When his father passed, it was thought he’d inherit the farm and continue trade, but Haybourne had other ideas
. He used to write me letters and try to steal glances whenever his father brought his goods into the village. By the time he was a teen, he had made some friends, and they had a club of sorts. I don’t know much about the specifics. All I know is that those became his first followers.”
Susannah tilted her head back and looked at the ceiling. “People went missing. The local authorities hunted for a murderer, but whatever Haybourne was doing seemed innocent enough. They had no evidence that it was him, but I always knew.”
Jennie bowed her head. “Sometimes you can smell death on a person.”
Susannah nodded. “It was around that time that my mother and aunties began to initiate me into their coven. Secret stuff, of course. No one around could ever know the true nature of our business in that cottage. I was receiving an education passed down from generations, a way to retain the magic in our bloodline. I’d always known that magic existed within my heritage, but it was fun to learn and unleash. As the years went on, I withdrew from the public eye and practiced in the privacy of my mother’s basement.”
Outside the chamber, Jennie thought she could hear the agents regrouping and talking to one another. She felt no threat from them but kept an ear cocked, just in case.
“I don’t know whether my disappearance fueled Haybourne’s insanity,” Susannah continued. “Rumors began to fly about a dangerous force in the west—a man calling himself the ‘Dreadnought.’ Even back then I had an inkling that he was involved, though it wasn’t until the fires started raging that I truly understood what was happening. He was coming for me. Other villagers warned me, their faces blackened and covered in ash. Haybourne was coming for me, thought that he could claim me for his own.” She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Some might find it flattering, all of this destruction for little old me.”
Agents, Agreements and Aggravations: In Her Paranormal Majesty’s Secret Service™ Book Three Page 45