He couldn’t hide his relief, which both exasperated and gratified me.
“You don’t have to look so happy about it.”
“Any time I don’t have to worry about you, I’m happy,” he said, refusing to be in the least bit daunted.
“Price?” Touray looked out of the room, giving me an implacable look like he wasn’t going to back down from shutting me out any more than Price was.
I did not roll my eyes at him, or stick out my tongue, even though I wanted to. Junior high still runs thick in my blood. Before he could say anything condescending and John Wayne little-lady-ish, I cut him off. “Where are your nulls? I was just telling Price I’d like to boost some. May help if you get exposed to SD.” The thought made me sick, but I kept my happy face plastered on.
Touray’s brows rose, no doubt surprised that I wasn’t throwing a hissy fit all over the ground. “I’ll show you.”
Price started to follow us, but I shooed him away. “I’ll be fine, and you’ve things to do here.”
He gave me a suspicious look, but for once I had no need to feel guilty. My conscience was clean. For now. I smiled brightly at him, which only made him scowl.
Touray led me down several stairways into an underground bunker, for lack of a better word. It had a steel door protected by magic. He stepped inside the massive vault, and golden light flared to life. We stood in a room the size of a basketball gym, with a broad aisle running down the center and lines of shelves, drawers, and cabinets branching perpendicular from it. A computer sat up front on a tall desk with a swiveling barstool for a chair.
“This way,” he said, leading me down the center aisle and then left. He stopped short, indicating the entire set of shelves jammed full of everything from coffee cups to cathedral crystals. “These are all nulls. I’ll leave it to you to decide what you think we ought to take with us.”
“All right,” I said, deciding that since he wasn’t into small talk, I wasn’t going to be either. Not that I had much to say at this point.
He started to walk away, then turned around, his black eyes boring through me. “You know that staying behind is the right thing to do, right?”
“I’m not arguing,” I said, not looking at him.
“That’s what worries me.”
I smiled. Ordinarily, he’d be right to be worried. This time, though, I didn’t have any mischief planned. “I hear that sort of thing sharpens the edges, keeps you alert.”
“I’m plenty sharp and alert, thank you.”
“Ah, well. Then it’s good I’m on board with your plan.”
“Are you?”
“Do you want me to swear on a stack of Bibles?”
“Would that in any way prevent you from lying?” He countered, both brows rising.
“As far as you know,” I said, then waved my hand to dismiss him. “Go away now. I want to have these ready when you need them. How long before you figure to leave?”
He clearly wasn’t convinced that I wouldn’t go do something on my own, but he had no choice but to believe me. And maybe duct-tape me to a chair before he left. I wouldn’t put it past him. Note to self—hide a knife in my bra.
“Two hours.”
“What time is it?” I asked, realizing that I had no idea. “Hell, what day is it?”
“It’s Wednesday.” He glanced at his watch. “Ten after one. Afternoon,” he added.
Wednesday? How was that possible? I’d gone into the tunnels on Thursday. I must have lost a few days between getting lost in the dreamspace, sleep, and today’s episode with the mental blocks. I kept my happy mask on, refusing to let Touray see how shaken I was by my time loss.
“I hope Percy hasn’t abandoned ship already. How long do you expect your strike on his compound to take?”
He shrugged. “We’ll hopefully capture Percy and get Madison’s family out within a couple of hours. After that, we’ll send a larger force in to shut the rest down.”
“What about the other prisoners?” I asked. “And the people he’s turning into wraiths? And Luke? He helped me. I don’t want him to get hurt.”
“We don’t know if he still has any prisoners. We’ve got Luke’s description. We’ll do our best not to harm him. As for the wraiths, I don’t know what will happen to them. Our priority to is to shut down the operation, and keep anyone with knowledge of the SD production from escaping and starting up a new drug factory. Since the wraiths are caged up, I assume they’ll be fine until the dust settles and we can free them.”
I frowned. “Free them? They can’t just go free. They’re addicts. They’ll kill to get SD, or they’ll kill themselves trying. They need to be detoxed and cared for.”
Touray smiled in that gentle, pat-on-the-head way that indulgent parents smile at children who still believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. The way the world talks to artists and dreamers.
“That’s not the way it works. Detox requires money, and I doubt any of them have it. Percy scraped up the street dregs so that nobody would miss them or come looking for them. Even if they could raise the funds, detox is effective only three percent of the time. To hit that three percent, you’d need a world-class dreamer. You’d never find one to take them on, not even Cass. It would kill her to attempt that big a healing. I’m sorry to say it, Riley, but any way you slice it, these people are screwed. Once Percy got hold of them, they never had a chance. They’ll be lucky to die sooner rather than later. Going cold-turkey off SD is more unpleasant than you can imagine, and few survive. The best I can do is to promise that they’ll be cared for until the end.”
He was right. Totally logical and reasonable. I, however, had never been accused of being logical or reasonable, and the thought of letting hundreds of people die without trying to help them made me want to scream. I rubbed my hands over my face. Maybe I could do something to help them. I’d nulled away the magic of the Sparkle Dust. Was it too late to do that for addicts?
I didn’t know, but I sure as hell was going to try. I pulled back on my galloping thoughts. That problem would have to wait until later. First I needed to get nulls ready for the invasion of Percy’s domain so that the SD victims could be rescued.
“You’d better let me work, now,” I told Touray.
He didn’t move. “You’ve got that look like you’re up to something,” he said. “What are you thinking?”
“I was thinking I could use a massage.”
The corner of his mouth quirked. “Easy enough to arrange. I’ve got several masseurs on staff. You can have one now.”
I probably shouldn’t have been surprised. I mean, the man had more money than he had room for. He probably burned stacks of it in the fireplace to keep warm. “I’ll take care of the nulls first,” I said weakly.
“I’d still like to know what’s running on that hamster wheel in your head,” he said.
Since he wasn’t going to go away without an answer, I decided to give in gracefully. “I was wondering if I could null out the addiction. It worked for me.”
He looked thoughtful. “Worth a try, though for that many people, it could take the rest of your life. Riley—I know you want to help, but you do understand that these people may not be innocent victims? Most of them likely weren’t forced to take SD. They wanted to. Even if you cured the addiction, they’d be likely to go back to it. You might be able to take away the magic that binds them, but you can’t take away the memories of the euphoria, or the desire to feel that good again.”
I felt myself deflate. I wanted to argue, but once again, he was totally logical and reasonable, and worse, he was right. I’d encountered enough junkies in my life so far to know that. “Yeah, okay,” I said.
“I’m sorry.”
He sounded like he meant it. I lifted a brow at him. “Not your clowns, not your circus, right?”
I couldn’t help staring. “Seriously?”
“I told you before, Riley, I may do some terrible things, but I intend to clean up Diamond City and make it safer.”
“You do realize that’s like the devil saying he wants to clean up Las Vegas?”
He grinned, and once again I was struck by how human he could be. “The irony is not lost on me. But I told you before, ugly things are happening in Diamond City. War is not clean and I’m fighting a war against evil people. Percy is just one head of a massive hydra.”
“Doesn’t the mythology say that chopping off one head only makes it grow more?” I asked, remembering the stories my dad used to read to me.
“With luck, we’ll seal up the compound and keep anybody from learning how to make Sparkle Dust.”
“You don’t sound all that hopeful,” I said.
“I’m not. Percy isn’t the only one making it. I’m hoping he’s the only one who knows how to make it from people. I’ll leave you to your work.”
I watched him leave. He was complicated: ruthless, brutal, and yet he loved Price, and he was totally loyal to him. And now to me, and my family, too. He still scared the piss out of me, and yet he also made me feel weirdly safe, because he’d wrapped the shadow of his protection around me. I made a face at myself, surprised to find that I actually liked him. Of course, that was the devil’s specialty: seducing you, luring you, making you feel good, all right before he dragged you off to hell.
“Next stop, Fire and Brimstone Station,” I murmured, and then laughed quietly in the silence of the vault. It wouldn’t have been funny if it weren’t so true.
Chapter 17
The number and variety of nulls in the vault was ridiculous. I was impressed by the skill level and creativity in some of them. It was a learning experience I didn’t have time to absorb. Instead, I searched until I found what I was looking for. One entire shelving unit held pegboards with a variety of necklace nulls. I pulled down three with heavy gold chains and rectangular gold ingot pendants. Rapper-wear, I thought, but gold was a dense metal and as good as lead for holding the maximum amount of magic. Each was loaded with a powerful trace null. I could work with that.
I carried the four necklaces to a table near the front of the vault. Then I went back and gathered a bunch more nulls, the most powerful I could find. Three armloads later, I figured I had enough to make a start.
I began by unwinding the trace nulls in each of the necklaces and restructuring them as magic-absorbing nulls. That would be their best chance of combating the effects of SD as well as the talent cloaks. I just didn’t know if I could load them with enough power to do the trick, especially if they were hit by multiple magical attacks and the nulls drained, or if they were left exposed too long to Sparkle Dust.
No. I couldn’t think that way. I had to believe they knew what they were doing and would strike quickly and cleanly and that my nulls would be enough. To even think otherwise would send me around the bend. I just wished I had the time to create a null that would absorb and then bind the magic to power the null. That took more time than I had, though, so I had to be content with packing the necklaces with as much power as I could.
I unwound the stock of nulls and fed the magic into the necklaces. The work was slower than I liked, but I’d drained my first load and gone back for more when Price, Leo, Touray, and Madison arrived. Time was up.
I sat back from the table, tying off the last null. Even though I hadn’t had to produce the magic to reinforce the nulls, I still ached. I’d sat in one position too long, and my mouth was dry as dust. Nevertheless, the nulls were packed almost as full of magic as the gold would bear.
“I’d wait to activate them until you’re down inside the tunnels,” I said, trying not to sound as worried as I was. I kept the table between me and Price. I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t wrap myself around him and beg him not to go, or to take me with him. Not that I would be helpful. I hadn’t created a null for myself, and the one on my belly needed to be recharged before it would do me much good. I was flat out a liability at this point.
They were all dressed in tactical gear, except for Madison, who wore a bulletproof vest, but didn’t carry any weapons. She did have a metal cable double-looped around her waist and fastened with a padlock. Metal for Leo to use if he needed it, and more importantly, to find her with if she got lost or taken. Touray, Price, and Leo wore similar cables, with a pair of handcuffs hooked to each of their wrists like fashion jewelry for masochists.
“So, all ready to go?” I said brightly, still looking anywhere but at Price, or Leo for that matter.
“On our way now,” Price said.
“Great!” I sounded like such a Stepford wife.
“If things go well, it shouldn’t take long,” Touray said. “Our people will move in if we aren’t out in four hours. We’ve got them staged at several entrances. If things go according to plan, they’ll move in and shut everything down behind us.”
“Okay,” I said and pasted a fake smile on my lips. “Don’t let me hold you up.”
Touray flicked his brows up at me, clearly amused by my attempt at cheerfulness in the face of disaster. “There’s a phone outside on the desk. Dial zero and someone will come to show you the way back to your rooms.” He didn’t wait for an answer, turning away and striding out.
Leo pulled me into a hug. I kept myself stiff as I patted his back.
“Take care of yourself,” I said, a knot building in my throat.
“Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.” He leaned back to look at me. “So, Price? Really?”
I flushed. “You know he’s standing right here,” I pointed out. “He can hear you.”
Leo shrugged. “I can’t seem to get a chance to talk to you alone.” He frowned. “You’ve been through a lot. Are you really feeling okay?”
I nodded. “Except for finding out Dad tied knots in my head, yeah.”
“We’ll talk when I get back. Promise?”
“Sure.”
“See you soon.” He kissed my cheek and hugged me again. I squeezed him tightly, letting him go with heavy reluctance. He disappeared after Touray.
I turned to Madison, still avoiding Price, even though his presence filled the room to smothering. “Take care of yourself,” I told her, giving her a hug. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I won’t,” she said. She hugged me back, whispering, “Thanks.”
I let go. “Don’t thank me. Luke got you out and these guys are doing all the rest. I’m just sitting in the cheap seats on this one.”
She tipped her head. “That’s what you really think?”
“I got lured into a bad place, got caught, and got tortured. If you want to call that helpful, then you’re welcome. Otherwise, I can’t see that I’ve done much that’s useful, except this—” I touched the gold pendant around her neck. “Hopefully that will keep you safe from magic.”
She gripped my hand. “Because of you, my sister and father have a chance of escape. That’s a lot.”
That’s when I realized she thought I was having a pity party for myself and was trying to bolster me up. “Thanks,” I said. “But the heroes here are Luke, Touray, Price, and Leo. You, too. It takes guts to go back in and face Percy.”
Touray leaned his head in the door. “Let’s go. We’re burning daylight.”
Madison squeezed my fingers again and trotted out, leaving me with Price. I edged away from him. “Be careful, okay?”
“You know,” he said, coming around the end of the table to corner me against the wall. “You really suck at good-bye.”
“I don’t want to say good-bye.”
“Okay, see you later, then.”
“See you later,” I parroted, my lips wooden. If he stood there
much longer, I was going to pick the locks on the handcuffs and fasten us together so he couldn’t leave without me.
“Hey.” He put his fingers under my chin and lifted until I met his brooding gaze. “We’re going to be fine.”
“Sure. I know,” I lied, because who wants to hear that he’s probably going to die a horrible death when he’s about to beard a dragon in its lair?
He brushed his lips against mine. I fisted my hands on the sides of his flak jacket, inhaling his scent. When he straightened, I bit my lips.
“We’ll be careful.”
“I know.” And they would be, but that wouldn’t help if Percy got creative. Price knew that, too.
“I’ve got to go.”
I nodded, and forced myself to release his flak jacket. If I hadn’t been leaning up against the wall, I’d have slumped to the floor. He started to walk away, then twisted and kissed me again, this time hard, pulling me tight against him. It was over before it started. He pulled away, and I made a whimpering sound. He gave me a crooked grin and then strode out. I slid down the wall to the floor, trying to calm my breathing, and trying not to either panic or cry.
I’m not sure how long I sat there in my daze. Five minutes. Ten. Maybe fifteen. I waited until I figured they had to be on the road. At least I couldn’t run after them and beg them to let me go with them.
I tried to picture their route in my head, but the closer I moved them to Percy’s, the more tense I got. Eventually, I stood up. I couldn’t sit there forever. I had no idea what to do with myself to pass the time, but I had to do something. Anything. I ended up lining all the spent nulls up on the table, smallest to largest, and sorting them by material and color. That took another ten minutes. I looked around at the vault. I doubted that Touray had meant to leave me inside. He might never do it again. I should explore.
Since I didn’t have anything better to do and it was more interesting than just pacing back and forth and driving myself batshit crazy, I decided to take stock of the place and see what he might have stored away. That worked for about a minute or two, but then I kept thinking about where the team was now. And then now. And now again.
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