Unfortunately, the look on his face said that he had no desire to help me out at this point either.
“What the fuck, man?” he said as he brushed at his shirt. “Why are you being a dick?”
“Friend,” Reaper interjected, trying again, “I am a person whom you will find to be very patient, but you can see that my partner is not like I am.”
“You can say that again, dude. She’s in serious need of a chill pill.”
Reaper turned to me and direct-connected.
“I don’t believe this is going to work,” he said.
“You sure?” I said with much sarcasm.
“I am…” He paused and glanced up. “Wait, that was sarcasm, yes?”
I nodded.
“Ah, well, even if we get Methkins to do his job, he is going to be difficult through the entire journey.”
That was difficult to argue.
“Fine. What do you suggest we do?”
He grinned. “I have a plan for that.”
“Yikes.”
Chapter 13
We stood back near the main entrance and I wasn’t feeling the warm and fuzzies.
“You sure this is going to work?” I asked in a whisper.
Methkins was seated on a bench behind us, just out of earshot. We’d explained to him that there was a food truck nearby, but we had to do something first. It seemed to sate his cravings to learn he was going to get food.
Fucking wizards.
“It’s the only place we can portal in where their systems won’t detect the transference,” Reaper replied, “and it’s clear that we’re not going to be able to utilize Mr. Methkins as we had originally intended.”
“True,” I agreed.
The fact was that time was running short. Honestly, it was probably too late already, but we had to at least try. I was still baffled by the fact that I was putting my ass on the line for Brazen anyway. Kix was one thing, but Brazen? Ugh.
“Fine,” I said finally. “This is your plan, so I’ll step back and let you do your thing.”
He gave me a worried look. That, in turn, made me worried.
“What is it, Reap?”
“I’m not very adept at falsehoods, Piper,” he explained.
“So you want me to lie to him?”
He shrugged. “You’re okay with that sort of thing.”
I shook my head at my partner. It was kind of a dickish move to have me do his dirty work. Technically, I had no qualms lying to Methkins if it meant getting us into Faeland, but for Reaper to just assume I was cool with lying was a bit douchey.
“You do realize that asking me to lie on your behalf makes me nothing more than a proxy for you, right?”
“I do,” he replied without inflection, “and I’m okay with that.”
Obviously, reapers rationalized their behavior differently than the rest of us.
“Fine,” I said, “let’s do this.”
Reaper and I headed over to where Methkins was seated, which was a half block down and across the main walkway. It was far enough away from the main gates, but they were still visible from here.
The little wizard kept a wary eye on me, which made sense considering I wanted to kick him into tomorrow. But I had to play it cool.
“Look,” I said, hating every second of playing the game, “I’m sorry I got hotheaded back there. It’s just that I’ve got a couple of cops inside that place who are probably in the process of dying.”
“Yeah, that’s what you said before,” Methkins replied with a slow nod. His stomach grumbled loudly. “Still, I need some chow, dig?”
Suddenly, lying to the creep didn’t bug me so much.
“About that,” I said after a quick glance at Reaper, “the guards at that gate over there know where you can find that food truck.”
Methkins looked around me at the gates.
“Those guys know?”
“Yep,” I said. “We just heard them talking about wanting to…uh…get their food on, too.”
“No foolin’?”
“Ask Reaper,” I said, flicking my thumb at my partner. “He heard them, too. Didn’t ya, Reap?”
Reaper jolted a bit, but I couldn’t help myself. He had to get his hands at least a little dirty in this play of his.
“Well,” he began, “it is about time for most people to eat, right?”
I raised an appraising eyebrow at him. He’d skirted the edge nicely.
“Is for me,” groaned Methkins.
“Exactly,” I said encouragingly, helping him to his feet. He winced at first but then realized I wasn’t going to hit him again. “So if you go over there and talk to those fine guards, I’m sure that you can get your order in with them for a nice round of hotdogs.”
“Sweet,” he said, heading off toward the guards.
We crossed the road and then slid back up to our place behind the hedge.
“Do you think they’ll hurt him?” asked Reaper.
“Only if we’re lucky,” I replied, but then caught that Reaper was uneasy. It was his plan, after all. “Don’t worry, Reap. They’ll just give him an earful for being so close to their area, and then they’ll shoo him away. After that, Meth’ll come looking for us, but we’ll already be inside by then.”
“You’re sure?”
“Of course I’m sure,” I said.
I wasn’t sure.
The gate opened and a few guards poured out, moving to flank Methkins. Fortunately, he was smart enough to stay behind the red line that said, “Only fae allowed beyond this point.” This meant that the guards couldn’t legally touch the wizard. Whether or not they’d honor that rule was anyone’s guess, though, and considering the fact that they were clearly responsible for the riots going on in the city at the moment, I was doubtful that they’d adhere to basic law.
But that wasn’t my worry at the moment.
“We’re clear, Reap,” I announced. Once those gates opened, the field around that area of the blockade dropped. That meant we could safely portal in without being detected. “Get us in there.”
“Huh?” he replied and then shook himself back to the mission. “Oh, right. Sorry. I was just…” He stopped and cleared his throat.
It took him a couple of seconds to get the portal set.
I put my arm on his shoulder and he hit the final button.
The world faded and reappeared.
We were standing near some bushes inside Faeland now. A quick glance around told us that we were in the clear.
The gates were still visible from here, but we were now seeing the backs of the guards. We still needed to be really careful here, though. There were likely cameras around and probably sentries as well.
“Okay,” I said, “we have to keep near the path and do our best not to be seen.”
“Right,” Reaper agreed, motioning me forward.
“Hey, man,” I heard Methkins yelling, “let go of me!”
We spun back and saw the fae guards were dragging him through the gates.
He must have crossed that line.
“Shit,” I hissed, knowing full well that Reaper was going to feel responsible for that idiot’s capture.
As if we didn’t have enough problems already.
Chapter 14
Reaper and I waited for the guards to pass by, dragging a cuffed Methkins with them, before we started to move.
“I can’t help but feel responsible for his capture,” Reaper said in a forlorn tone of voice. “We’ll have to do what we can to get him free.”
My initial reaction regarding saving Methkins was “Fuck that guy,” but his getting snagged was actually a good thing for us.
Hopefully, anyway.
“Let’s keep on those guards,” I said, carefully avoiding any commitment to saving Methkins. If it came down to choosing between him and my two officers, there’d be no contest. “I’m hoping they’re going to take him to the same place they have Brazen and Kix.”
“Yes,” agreed Reaper. “That makes sens
e.”
The trek wasn’t a long one, but we were only able to follow so far before the trees ended and the city began.
I’d seen pictures online of the fae city many times over my life. They paled in comparison to the real thing.
This place was stunning.
The buildings were coated with textures and paintings that tickled the eye. Colored windows complemented each structure perfectly. Where most architects in both the Netherworld and Overworld went with the standard blocky building look, these had panache. There were deeply rounded edges, curves, spirals, and combinations of all three. It was clear that the most stunning people in the Netherworld also had an eye for architectural brilliance.
And the city was clean.
There wasn’t a dirty-looking piece of ground within eyesight.
“They’ve taken him into the one that’s shaped like a ‘C’,” Reaper said, pointing to the second building on the right.
“Good,” I said, ripping my eyes away from the intense beauty and refocusing on the task at hand. “We’ll go around the back and slip inside.”
We moved slowly, keeping an eye out for sentries and cameras. Guards were easy to spot and even easier to circumvent, but cameras weren’t all that simple. I also kept my eyes open for runes. There weren’t likely to be any around, but I didn’t want to chance it. Most factions in the Netherworld were exceptionally paranoid, after all. They had good reason to be.
Once we’d cleared the edge of the closest building, we found a few fae walking around.
“Those aren’t guards,” Reaper noted.
“No,” I agreed, “but we still need to watch our step.”
“Yes.”
It took us forever to slip from position to position because we had to wait for people to leave the area before making each move. Fifteen minutes later, we were in the alley beside the building that Methkins had been dragged into.
Just as we were about to risk heading inside, though, the back door opened and the two guards who had brought Methkins in were bringing him out this way.
Reaper and I kept our position in the alley and watched as they walked straight out into the field.
Methkins had clearly been roughed up during whatever they’d done to him in that building. He was bloodied and his feet were dragging with each step.
“We have to save him, Piper,” Reaper insisted.
“Yeah, I know.”
I never should have asked Reaper to bring that guy down to help us. Clearly, that had been a huge mistake on my part. Plus, Reaper was already feeling guilty over the fact that Methkins had been captured. And now that we’d both seen what the fae had done to the wizard, and noting that they were dragging him off somewhere that would surely end in the little twit’s demise, we were officially on the hook to stop them.
Fuck.
“All right,” I whispered without the connector, “we’re going to go after him, Reap, but you’re going to have to be ready to use force.”
He shot me a look.
“Don’t give me any shit about it,” I warned, pointing at him. “Once we break that little douche away from those guards, we’re going to be in a world of hurt.”
Reaper licked his lips and slowly nodded. Then he began to roll up his sleeves.
“I can stun the guards,” he said. “That will render them incapable of calling for help.”
“We could also just kill them,” I pointed out.
“I’d prefer we didn’t.”
“You’re no fun.”
After Reaper had done a full scan of the area to make sure we didn’t have any bogies to worry about, we took off after Methkins and the guards.
Just as we were closing in, they stopped.
We crouched and waited.
The guard on the left knelt down and began running his hand over a piece of rock. A flurry of yellow lights began running all over it. Then, after multiple flashes, a window appeared that showed a thick forest.
“That’s a window, right?” I asked, not wanting to risk speaking out loud.
“Yes,” Reaper replied. “They are using some type of portal system. I have homed in on Mr. Methkins’ personal signature and will do my best to track where they go.”
“Or…we could just follow in after them right now!”
I jumped up and started running.
But by the time we’d reached their location, the window had closed.
The guards and Methkins were gone.
Chapter 15
Fortunately, we were out of visual range from the main city, unless there were cameras around here, of course. I didn’t see any, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. Technology allowed for the tiniest remote viewing devices these days.
I was just glad there weren’t any runes to deal with.
“Do you know where they went, Reap?” I asked as he studied the stone the guard had been messing with before the window appeared.
“I was unable to track Mr. Methkins when they went through.” He took off his glasses and peered intently at the object. “With any luck, I’ll be able to spot smudges that will demonstrate which numbers he selected to activate this thing.”
I grunted. “Even if you do, you’re not going to know which order he pressed them, Reap.”
“You’re right,” he hissed. “Damn it.”
Now, that was something you didn’t hear every day. Reaper wasn’t one to use foul language. Even Chief Carter could be made to sound like a drunken sailor around my partner. That told me that he was truly taking this pretty hard.
“You know you’re not at fault for Methkins getting caught, right?” I asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. “The guy undoubtedly stepped over that red line and became fair game.”
Reaper shrugged my hand away and stood up.
“He wouldn’t have been near that line at all if we hadn’t set him up.”
The truth was that if Methkins had any sense at all, he would have told us to fuck off when we’d suggested he go near the line in the first place. If he hadn’t been so worried about “getting his food on,” we would have been able to slip through a hidden zone, and we’d be on the hunt for Brazen and Kix right now. Looking back at that stone, though, told me that if Methkins hadn’t gotten captured, we would never have tracked down my two subordinates.
His misfortune was a lucky break for us, assuming we could open the damn window, anyway.
“Pecker,” I called through the connector, making sure Reaper was also hooked in, “Meth got captured and they took him through a portal of some sort. It’s controlled by a small obelisk with a keypad on it, though, and we don’t know the combination.”
“Sucks to be you, then,” he replied soberly. “Those things are a bitch to crack.”
I swallowed my pride and muttered, “Even for a mastermind like you?”
Reaper’s eyes went wide at that, glowing like a semi-truck at night with its brights on.
“Put your damn glasses back on,” I commanded aloud, “and shut up.”
“I didn’t say anything,” he complained while putting his shades on.
Yes, he did. Just not verbally.
“You think I’m a mastermind, eh?” Pecker replied in a goblinesque Barry White voice. “I never knew you thought of me like that, Piper.”
“I’m easily proved wrong, Pecker,” I commented, hoping to challenge him. “If you can’t break through this code, then I’ll have to reevaluate my thoughts on the matter.”
“And if I can break through, what say we have a drink to discuss my mastermindedness?”
“That’s not even a word,” I pointed out, trying to rattle him a little.
“You knew what I meant, right?”
“Well, yes, but—”
“A word is a word if the person receiving it comprehends its meaning. How else do you think new words are invented?”
He had me there. It wasn’t like civilization blinked into existence with a full vocabulary that everyone understood. Hell, if that were true, t
here’d be no need for different languages, or everyone would understand all that was being said anyway.
“Fine, if you can get us through the portal here by breaking into this damn thing, we’ll do drinks.” I then quickly added, “If you can’t, though, I’m going to expect you to admit you suffer from idiotedness.”
“You could have just said ‘idiocy,’ Piper,” he remarked.
“We’re waiting,” I said flatly.
We sent him snapshots of the device, checked ground connections, and measured distances between where the window was in relation to the obelisk. Reaper had also pointed out the smudge marks on the device in an effort to give Pecker more information.
Part of me wanted Pecker to fail, of course, seeing that I had no real desire to go out for drinks with him.
But I’d do it if that meant getting through that damn portal.
“Okay, okay,” he said in an excited voice. “Agnes and I were working on it here and she’s found a solution. Steam up that keypad with hot breath and immediately take a snapshot of it for us.”
I did.
“Now what?”
“Just a sec,” Pecker replied. “Running it through a scan system that Agnes came up with. Hopefully this…” He paused. “Got it!”
“Got what?” I asked, losing my patience. “Could you be a little more descriptive here?”
“Reaper was right about seeing the fingerprints that the guard left,” answered Pecker as if he were describing his favorite Star Wars scene to a room full of fellow nerds. “Agnes hypothesized that if we had a picture of the entire layout, her computer program could analyze the density of residue left by each print. The first one would have the most oil, the second would have less, the third—”
“Right, I get it,” I interrupted. “So do we have the combination or not?”
“We do,” he replied, “and you owe me a drink. Nothing fancy. Just a glass of wine at La Shay will do.”
“Actually,” I countered, “I owe Reaper and Agnes a glass of wine. You, my goblin friend, didn’t solve the problem. They did.”
Deathly Temperance: A Piper & Payne Supernatural Thriller (Netherworld Paranormal Police Department Book 3) Page 5