A few dodgy-looking individuals were hanging outside the off licence shop, staring at us as we passed by. Zachary noticed a few human call girls too, standing outside the building and trying to stop passing cars. It was just after eight, and the temperature dropped right down.
“I don’t like this, Max. A few of my colleagues had been shot somewhere around here. Cyril should be able to help us,” Zach said when a few youths tried to stop us to give them some money.
“We have to do what we have to do. It’s a war and this time around I’m not taking any chances,” I told him, knowing exactly what he was talking about. “Cyril is being watched. He risked a lot and I don’t want to drag him into this mess ever again.”
“You haven’t gone out with this guy, right?” Zach suddenly asked. I wanted to laugh; the detective was getting jealous.
“No, Zach, although he did ask me out a few times, but I always declined. It’s cute, you know, even if you never admit to it,” I said, as we turned to the right. There was an old pub with a broken window on the corner, and a few people were standing outside smoking cigarettes.
“Admit to what?”
“To the fact that you’re jealous.” I chuckled.
“I’m not jealous, Flower. I just want to protect my interest,” he said, sounding annoyed.
I had drunk the potion that Ronan had given me earlier on. I was fully myself again and my look only just now returned completely to normal. I knew it was a risk going out like this, but I needed Andrej to recognise me.
We went inside the pub that was opened to the general public. It wasn’t busy, there were only a few older humans, sitting around and drinking their pints. Some other men were playing pool at the back. The place stunk of sweat and old men. It needed a complete renovation. Paint was peeling and the floor was wonky when we walked through it. The barman glared at both of us, and his eyes stayed on me for a bit longer than I wanted. He must have recognised me from the news.
“We are looking for Andrej,” I said to him. He blinked at me a few times, registering the name. He was tall, probably in his late fifties. Seconds later he picked up his mobile and dialled the number.
I didn’t have a chance to hear what he said, because someone poked me in the back from behind.
“I saw your face on the evening news. There is an award for you, girl,” said the stranger. A man with a long silver beard was looking at me and Zach like he knew me. He was at least a half foot shorter than me.
“Dean, fuck off, will you? Or Andrej will squash your balls,” the barman barked at him. The man spit on the ground and wiped his face, glaring at the barman with anger.
He hesitated for a second, then backed away to his table, mumbling under his breath some swear words.
“Follow Vladek, girl,” the barman said, waving his hand for me to go.
Everyone in the pub was staring at me when I nudged Zach and followed the obese Russian that waited for us on the other side of the pub. Soon we found ourselves in the large back room. There was a table with cards and it looked like four humans around it were just about to start a game of poker. There was a significant amount of cash in the middle and I automatically thought about all the times when I used to go back home completely broke. Sometimes I would win, but my problem was that I didn’t know when to stop.
“Maxine Brodeur, what a treat! I thought you would have been rotting in some royal cell by now,” said the man with yellowish blond hair, holding a cigarette in his mouth. Andrej Dostojevsky was skinny, pale, and he had very strong Eastern European features. His inhaled the smoke into his lungs, shuffling the cards in his hand. “Who is the other dude? He’s not a cop, right?”
Zachary took the identity of Devlin, so he could avoid being recognised by the criminals that he had locked up in the past. It was kind of creepy kissing him. I used to drink and play poker with Devlin on a regular basis.
“A partner in crime, works with me in Doomed,” I explained, with a nervous chuckle. “Yeah, I used to shag the prince, but I didn’t bloody kill him. They are blaming me, because they haven’t got any other suspects.”
Andrej was the sort of man that didn’t believe in any reports on the mainstream media. A few years ago he told me that the government controlled what information was shared with the general public. The man was dangerous, he had personally beheaded a lot of people, and that’s why I kept my distance from him.
“What do you want? I haven’t seen you around for ages,” he asked, getting straight to the point, and nodded to the other guy. Another Russian placed a bottle of vodka on the table and started pouring clear liquid into the shot glasses.
“A favour. Two of my friends are being kept in the old steel factory. I need to get them out tonight,” I said and then told him what exactly I needed him to do. This wasn’t about magic or demonic energy. Rodriguez had people all around that factory and I needed someone to keep them busy while I got Ricky and Paul out of there. Andrej was a sadistic motherfucker, but with his skills, he always got the job done.
He listened, drank vodka and continued to play poker. That deep burning sensation in my core to join him was making me crazy. The thing was that I hadn’t played for a while and I kind of missed it, even though that part of my life was behind me.
“I don’t like the way your silent partner is staring back at me, Maxine,” Andrej suddenly said, after I went through all the details. I had warned Zach to let me talk. A few times Andrej touched me and I had a feeling that Zach shot him a few nasty glares. That was the downside of not having any magic. I couldn’t sense any emotions around me anymore.
“Devlin is just shy, he’s my partner. You shouldn’t worry about him,” I explained, rubbing the sweat off my forehead. The tension became uncomfortable.
“I have to make sure that Maxine is not going to get in any trouble,” Zach barked and I wished that he hadn’t said a word. Andrej liked playing games, sometimes very twisted games.
Suddenly the other Russian guy that stood by the stack of beers moved. Everything happened so fast, and when I blinked again Zach was held by the Russian dude, who was pinning him down to the wall.
“Olek will break your jaw unless you apologise, mate. Everyone in the area knows that I adore Maxine. Why would she get into trouble with me?” Andrej had spoken and I swallowed hard, knowing that Zach couldn’t afford to make any bad move right now.
Zachary’s eyes were moving from me to Andrej. The silence stretched for longer than I wanted. My heart had practically stopped beating. Dostojevsky’s men considered hesitation a weakness.
My magic was gone, lost and caput, and I couldn’t do anything, so Zach had to pull his head out of his arse and fucking apologise. We really didn’t have any time to waste. We still needed to go back to the pub and then drive to get Ricky and Paul out.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disrespect you, Andrej,” Zachary finally said, obviously struggling to breathe.
Andrej’s eyes flickered at the corners and then he winked at me. All right, so this whole thing was a joke to him. Well, that was to be expected. Andrej felt unhealthy attraction towards me. That’s why I was still alive and that’s why I had such an easy access to him in the past.
He dragged some more toxins into his lungs and blew out the smoke from the cigarette.
“Olek, you can let our guest go. We were only fucking with ya,” he added in his strong Russian accent. The huge Russian nodded and let Zach go.
“All right, Andrej, my time is precious, so I really need to know if you are able to do that tonight?” I asked, staring down at the clock on the table.
“Of course I’ll help you. One day I want to be famous, but being called one of the most dangerous gangsters in London isn’t doing for me anymore. I would very much prefer being a politician,” he said. “So I have a condition, Maxine. Something that I want you to do for me too.”
“I didn’t think that you would do it from the goodness of your heart, Andrej,” I said, folding my arms over my chest. In
the past when I had my magic, I could always predict if he was in a good mood or not. Now it felt odd not sensing how he was going to react.
“That agency of your Doomed Cases… I heard good things about it,” he said. “My ex-wife has taken my daughter away and no one can seem to track her down. I want you to find out where she is. Apparently you can find anyone.”
I scratched my head and thought about his proposition for a moment. He was right—in the past I could always find anyone. A lot of my clients had hired me to look for missing family members or people that owed them something. This was all before my troubles with royals started, before I had an affair with the prince.
“Depends how quickly you want me to find her?”
“Just find her, I don’t have a timeline. If you agree, then we have a deal,” Andrej said and lifted his hand for me to shake it.
Zachary was staring at me intently and I already knew what he was thinking. This was a bad idea, but I desperately needed Andrej’s help. Without him the whole rescue mission could be a big flop. It was my fault that Ricky was behind bars.
I smiled and shook his hand, silently thinking that I was going to regret this later.
Chapter 26
“Through me you pass into the city of woe: Through me you pass into eternal pain: Through me among the people lost for aye.” ― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
“You made a deal with the devil. What if he asks you to travel to Russia? Who knows where his ex-wife might be?” Zach said as soon as we got out of that bar.
We needed to get back to the pub as soon as possible. I didn’t have time to go over what I had promised Andrej. The whole meeting took longer than I anticipated and now we were running a bit late.
The old steel factory hadn’t been open in years and the government was considering tearing it down and turning it into an industrial estate. Cyril didn’t give me any specifics, but I knew that we had to cover a lot of ground in order to find Ricky and Paul. Getting my magic back was a priority too, but Ronan had no idea where to even start. I knew that I had to stay alive because of my daughter. She was the bright ray of sunshine during those dark hours when I thought that I couldn’t carry on. I wasn’t ready to give up just yet, and had to find the way to bring that magical part of me back.
“We have plenty of time to worry about this, Zach. Anything can happen by then,” I said, sounding like I didn’t have faith in me anymore. My track record wasn’t great and Alexis nearly broke me in that cell. Lucifer had told me that my abilities were extraordinary, but without my magic that now didn’t matter.
My daughter was my bright light in the end of the dark tunnel. I was looking forward to the moment when I could have her in my arms again.
“Dostojevsky. I’m surprised that his name hasn’t been on my radar before,” Zach said, scratching his jaw.
We were walking fast, and I felt an unexplained tension in the air. The cold air stung my sensitive skin. The pressure was slowly getting to me, and I was really worried about Ricky and Paul.
“You probably have, but you didn’t even know it. That man is evil. He murders people for fun. He owns half of East London, and he has connections all over the city,” I said, when we were finally getting into a tube. Before we went back to a more populated area I stopped in an alley and drank the potion and changed my appearance again.
We came back to the pub an hour later. Ronan was out, probably gathering more ingredients for potions that we might need to use during our rescue mission. Emma looked so much better and she insisted all of a sudden that she wanted to come along.
This time around I put my foot down and told her it was categorically out of the question. Even Zachary agreed with me this time. I packed what I thought was necessary, knowing that later on I would have to rely on my physical strength. Ronan came back in a bad mood half an hour later.
“You were right. Nameless must have gone down to join his clan in the underground. No one has seen him, not even people that are still loyal to him,” he said, placing a few bags on the table.
“I wish that I could get my hands on him,” Zachary muttered. I bet that Zara wasn’t too happy that her boyfriend had turned out to be a complete scum. She had already gone through enough and now she had a broken heart too.
“Nameless has made too many enemies. He knew that he wouldn’t have survived on the streets for long. That’s why he’s hiding,” his father said.
“That doesn’t matter. We can’t be worrying about him now. We are leaving in five minutes. Zach, get ready,” I announced. My nerves were finally getting to me. Normally I was very resilient to this kind of thing, especially after my experiences in hell.
Maybe I was unrealistic thinking that a gangster could actually take care of Rodriguez, but Andrej had proven to me too many times that he was very resourceful for a human. The election in hell should be over by now, so Lucifer should have sent someone for Rodriguez, at least I hoped that was the case. He made a promise to me, and I didn’t care if he was the dark lord or Prince Charming, he needed to keep his word.
“Max, your magic is gone, so we have to stay together. Promise me that you won’t do anything stupid,” Zachary said when we were all getting into Ronan’s car. Emma wasn’t too happy with the fact that she had to stay in, but I threatened to fire her if she dared to even stick her nose out of the pub tonight.
I didn’t want to dismiss the fact that Zach was worried about me. Trouble kind of followed me around and I didn’t like sticking to any rules. Now I was in a committed relationship so I really had to consider his feelings. Arthur was gone, and that part of my life died with him.
Ronan was driving and the tension in the car was sky high, and being stuck in heavy traffic for at least half an hour made us all agitated. None of us was willing to talk and I was okay with a bit of silence. In this moment, I felt defeated, heading over to face Watchers without my demonic energy.
The streets were foggy and thick dark clouds covered the sky. I squeezed the knife that I had with me, telling myself that my friends had my back, and so did Andrej, who wouldn’t hesitate to do anything to complete his task. This was going to work.
We arrived by the entrance to the old steel factory around ten o’clock and then we waited for Andrej’s people to show up. Timing wasn’t his strong point, so I had to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Several minutes later a black slick van rolled up behind us. We were outside the old gate on the other side of the factory. This place had been empty for many years, but demons had often claimed that someone had opened an illegal entrance to the underworld around here. There was a reason why Rodriguez was keeping Paul and Ricky in here. Maybe he knew that I would eventually show up and we were walking straight into another trap.
“Wait here. I’ll be back in five minutes,” I said, telling myself to get it together. Rodriguez had no idea what I was planning. Nameless was gone.
I got out of the car. The window of the van went down and then the back door opened up.
“My guys are ready, we have a clear objective, this shouldn’t take long,” the heavy Russian accent said as blue eyes stared back at me.
I had given him pictures of Paul and Ricky. Rodriguez had humans that worked for him and I suspected that there were other demons there too, probably being kept prisoners. This wasn’t the first time that this had happened, but I couldn’t worry about the others right now. I came here to get my friends out.
Andrej’s people went first. They cut the wired fence and got through to the other side. I gave the signal to Ronan and Zach, and then we went after them, moving through the wide open space. The old factory was right in front of us, and in the darkness the building looked haunted, unloved, as if the factory was fading into the landscape.
Soon Andrej’s gang had scattered around the place, blending into the background. Ronan had vanished somewhere to the left. He was strong, recovered, and had his magic, so I wasn’t too worried about him.
Zach and I managed to get
to some outbuildings. We hid behind the old oil tank, staring over at the empty yard. Nothing happened for about five minutes, and we couldn’t just stay here. We needed to start moving through the factory and find out where Ricky and Paul were being kept.
“Let’s move,” I said to Zach and we started speeding across the yard. I thought that I saw someone on my right, but by the time we reached the entrance to the old factory that didn’t matter. Andrej’s people had cleared the space for us. Two dead humans were lying by the door. Both of them had their throats slit.
Inside old lights were flickering, rust covered the metal walls, and a strong smell of a sweet, doughy odour tinged with charcoal wafted through the air. We heard a few more gunshots somewhere on our right, and I gestured to Zach that we couldn’t stop. We had to keep moving.
Zach pulled me inside a damp room a second when someone passed us, taking several raspy breaths at once. I figured that this must have been one of Rodriguez’s men.
“Clear, let’s go,” he said and we started running downstairs towards the basement area. Zachary had a flashlight, and he was pointing out our way. Minutes later we reached a long wide round of corridors that must have recently been flooded. My shoes were soaked, and there was a cold draft coming from underneath us.
“I know we said that we shouldn’t be separated, but the guys might be kept in different parts. There is a lot of square footage that we need to cover,” I said, thinking about heading even further down.
The factory had been built on many levels; I’d briefly seen the plan. Ricky and Paul could have been kept anywhere.
“Fine, let’s meet up in the same spot in ten minutes if we don’t find anything,” he suggested and I nodded.
Satanic Fortitude (Doomed Cases Book 4) Page 19