No one seemed to have any idea where Nike had gone, though according to the surveillance video she was still traipsing around inside of Ben’s sister. Being that no one could get or give a straight answer, no one would agree on their next move.
“Hola, Benjamin,” came the chipper voice of Alex as Ben tried his coffee once more. It still stung, but not nearly as bad. He gulped down the drink and nodded to Alex.
“I didn’t know you were coming in,” Ben said, his tongue still feeling a bit weird from the burn.
“Ah well, I wasn’t until a little birdie told me that you obtained some very interesting info,” Alex said. He poured himself his own mug and sighed with satisfaction after his first sip. “So…spill.”
“So Andrew the Bird didn’t give you any details?”
Alex chuckled. “You know how mon frère is with human details. He said something along the lines of, "The human with the sister was upset after a meeting today. Come here now.”
Ben snorted and shook his head. “That sounds like him. He has a facebook page but can’t string together a coherent sentence over the phone. I shudder to think of the conversations he’s had with people online.”
“Ah, I’m sure he holds his own,” Alex said. He hooked one of the bar stools with his foot and hopped around to the opposite side of the breakfast bar to sit. When he looked Ben in the eye, he appeared concerned, but open.
It was odd. As much as Ben had tried to hate them all, and did quite frequently, whenever Alex was around Ben couldn’t help but like the guy. Norse god or no, Alex was the only one who seemed really together in all of the chaos.
“I went to turn in my letter of resignation,” Ben said.
Alex’s eyebrows rose high into his hairline. “What? Why?”
“Because we all thought it would be for the best,” Ben said, suddenly losing his confidence. Though the idea hadn’t been his, after listening to the other’s arguments, it had started to make sense. Now though, with Alex surprised, Ben was doubting himself. “I mean, we’re about to undertake this really fucked up mission, and the last thing we need is me attached to a police department.”
Alex quirked one eyebrow up and cleared his throat. “Uh well, my friend, it would make more sense to me to have a police department on your side. We don’t know what the hell we’re going to encounter, and even though we’ve got Stella leading the charge on the whole portals front, we might need some inside info. If you know what I mean?”
Ben swallowed thickly and ran his hand back through his hair. Truthfully it hadn’t occurred to him that they could use his status as a detective to get information they needed. Then again, considering he had no idea what they were going to do or what information they might need, he just hadn’t thought about it.
“Not important,” Alex said, waving his hand. “Obviously something happened.”
Ben let out a puff of air before he spoke again. The thing was, Alex had been inside of Olivia’s body, and he wondered if it was possible Alex had known she was going to get taken, or had been after it happened. He wasn’t sure how much of a bond the god had with the vessel once it left, and Ben found himself nervous.
“Nike was seen on a surveillance video,” Ben said after a long pause. “Leaving the building and dumping a dead body in one of the bins nearby.”
Alex hesitated and then said very quietly, “Yeah, I knew about the tape.”
“You did?” Ben asked, but in truth, he wasn’t surprised.
“It’s my job, at least at the present time, to keep you lot safe. And keeping you safe means keeping your image off of any videos relating to a murder investigation. It took me a while and I had to leave Nike’s little film debut on there.”
“Why?” Ben asked, his voice harder than he had meant it to sound. “Why leave her on there when you know it’s going to point right back to me?”
Alex licked his lips and looked down for a long time before he spoke. “I had to make a deal with someone, and part of that deal was letting your sister’s image get into the hands of the police.”
Ben sat back in shock, unable to keep the surprised expression from his face. When he had asked that question, he’d expected an answer along the lines of, ‘I thought it would look too suspicious to have that much video gone.’ The last answer he expected was the one Alex gave him. “Deal with whom, exactly?” he finally forced himself to ask.
Alex looked up from his coffee, his expression pained. “I’m sorry.”
“You can’t tell me,” Ben finished for him. Jumping up, he shoved the stool aside with a loud screeching noise across the kitchen tile and threw up his hands. “Well isn’t that great. We’re balls deep in this bullshit mystery of how to stop Nike without having any idea about her plans, motivation, or what she hopes to accomplish, and you make a deal with a person you can’t reveal for reasons you won’t divulge. Oh, this mission is just going swimmingly.” He turned and crossed his arms, glowering hard at Alex. “So I take it you know all about Olivia then?”
Alex nodded slowly. “I’m afraid so.”
“Did you know they were following us?”
“No,” Alex said, and put up his hand defensively, “but there’s a reason. Nike has humans working for her as well, not just possessed vessels. The ones tailing us were of the human variety, so they were able to swoop in and grab Olivia without us finding out.”
Ben pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. Things were just getting crazier, more complicated, and he felt if his blood pressure got any higher, he was going to have a stroke. “So do you know the reason she took Olivia?” he asked with clenched teeth.
“Part of me figured she was going to start sending you chopped up body parts in the mail with ransom notes asking for the immortals,” Alex said with a shrug. “Unfortunately she’s been totally silent on the issue, so I’m guessing she’s either emptied the poor girl of her consciousness and is using her as a puppet, or she’s killed her and is keeping her rotting corpse to taunt you with when we eventually have our little… chat.”
Ben walked over to the window behind the large dining room table and leaned his head against the cool glass. He saw Mark off in the distance, standing on the rocks watching the gentle waves, and there was no sign of Judas in his usual spot. He let out a breath and watched it fog up the glass, slowly receding from the chill outside.
“Look,” Alex said, taking a few steps towards Ben, “I’m not sure what Nike’s plans are, but right now the good news is that despite your sister being seen on tape committing a crime, you’re not a suspect, and we can finally sit down and start plotting our next move.”
“Did you have something to do with me not being listed as a suspect?” Ben asked, though all emotion had gone from his voice.
“Not me personally, but I confess we do have a few contacts lined up in your station.” When Ben’s eyes widened and his jaw tensed, Alex threw up his hands, “We’re trying to protect you, you realize. Fat lot of good you’ll do trying to take Nike down if you’re in jail for murder.”
Ben sighed and ran his hand down over his face. He was tired, his eyes ached, and what he really wanted was some quiet, to be in a house alone, without hovering gods, anxious girlfriends, or overly hostile immortals. He wanted his sofa, his scotch, some crappy movie about guns and bombs on the TV, and no contact with another living creature for at least forty-eight hours.
That was obviously not to be as Stella sauntered into the room, looking nice in her jeans and light sweater. She’d taken to wearing her hair down and no make-up now that she wasn’t required to look business professional for work. She smiled at Ben as she grabbed herself a bottle of water and she slid her arm around his waist when she approached. She seemed completely oblivious to the tension in the room, or to the argument they had the night before.
“You feeling okay?”
Ben tried not to sigh as he nodded, not really in the mood to go over everything again. “I’m fine, just need some space,” Ben said as pleasantly as he c
ould muster. Ignoring her hurt expression, Ben took his coffee and went upstairs to spend some time alone in his room.
~*~
An hour and a half later found the haphazard group sitting in the living room on the plush sofas. The living room had a rather nice layout, two very large sofas in an L shape, pointed toward the floor to ceiling window overlooking the bay. The room was almost always cold, despite the fire that was constantly burning, but it was a place that almost everyone in the house convened, a place they all felt comfortable.
Ben looked over at Mark who was whispering quietly to Jude. Jude, for his part, seemed completely disinterested in whatever Mark was saying, but then again, not much captured the immortal’s attention at all. He rarely spoke, and had little input when they were making decisions. From time to time, Ben got the distinct feeling Jude was ready to run.
It was somewhat awkward for Ben, being around Jude. After having read through Mark’s history, Ben knew intimate details about the stoic immortal, and they were details Jude hadn’t voluntarily given. Ben wondered how violated Jude felt about it, but never found the courage to bring it up to the other man.
“Can we get started?” Andrew asked, his voice cutting through Ben’s thoughts. Heimdall was still inside of the kid, Andrew, and whenever Ben questioned him about it, he was brushed off. Ben was starting to grow concerned over the god’s attachment to the mortal’s form, and wondered how much choice the real Andrew had anymore.
“Yes, let’s,” Stella chimed in, sounding somewhat irritated already. She had deliberately chosen the seat furthest from the detective, but Ben found he just couldn’t care.
Alex, who always assumed the leadership position whenever he was around, cleared his throat. “Well, we’ve all heard the updated events from Benny here,” he said and winked at Ben. “Not exactly good news, but we at least know that she left the building of her own accord and Nike is back in the vessel. Something we were all wondering about since she had been healed with our good friend Jude’s fantastic powers.”
Everyone glanced over at Jude uncomfortably, but he either didn’t notice or didn’t care, as his gaze never left the tiled floor. Ben sighed and shook his head. “Isn’t that a bad thing, her being back inside of Abby’s body? So far the information we’ve gotten is that whatever special crap Abby and I possess is what’s making Nike stronger than she would be in any other vessel.”
“This is true, yes,” Alex said, “but in your sister’s body, she’s easier to track.”
“We also still have no idea if Abby is even in there,” Ben said, a statement, though he was hoping Alex had some new information for him.
“If we had a way to tell, I swear you’d be the first to know,” Alex vowed. “For now let’s assume that Abby is in there and rescuing her is priority number one.”
Stella threw her head back and laughed, startling everyone with the noise. “Priority one, are you serious? Ben’s not a child, okay? He understands that priority one is stopping whatever Nike’s ridiculous plan is, even if that means killing Abby’s body for good.”
It was true, and Ben knew it, but that didn’t stop the sting, and he felt another surge of resentment toward Stella. “Yes,” he finally said, “and hopefully you are all aware that you might have to restrain me before you take her out.”
Mark looked up at Ben, his eyes pained. “No one is expecting you to-”
“Oh can it,” Stella snapped. “Benny is a big boy, and hopefully all of us expect him to behave as such. I’ve heard enough idle chatter on what we need to do to that bitch once we get our hands on her. What I haven’t heard is where we’re going next. We don’t seem to have any information on Nike’s next move, and it’s hard to make ours when we have no idea what her plans are.”
“Ah, about that,” Alex said, holding up his hand.
Before he could speak, Ben’s cell phone went off. Having forgotten it was even on, Ben fished it out of his pocket and saw the personal number of Albert Ole. His heart leapt into his throat and he stood. “I have to take this.”
The others protested, but Ben ignored them and stepped out onto the back porch. “Hello?” he answered, his voice tense and hurried.
“Am I catching you at a bad time?”
“No, this is fine. What’s up?”
There was a long pause before Albert sighed. “I have some bad news for you, Ben. I’m afraid we’ve discovered another body.”
“Abby?” Ben heard himself say, but the panic made him feel suddenly like he was outside of his body, listening to someone else’s conversation.
“Not Abby.” The hard words sent Ben hurtling back into reality and he let out a heavy breath as Albert continued. “The San Diego police department was called down to the office of Greg Asclepius this morning after a couple of nursing assistants found blood in the front lobby.”
Ben’s mouth went dry as he said, “And…”
“His body was discovered after the officers examined the back rooms. This wasn’t like the other murders, Ben. This one is violent and bloody. Whoever did this was clearly angry at the doctor.”
“And you’re calling me because you think I know something,” Ben said.
“Right now your sister is our top suspect. We don’t believe she’s working alone, and we think if we can get her on her own she’ll talk. I just need to know if you have any idea how she and the doctor were connected.”
Ben rubbed his eyes with one hand and tried to gather his wits. Greg was dead, which meant Asclepius was likely floating around without a body. If they could find him, they might have some idea of what happened. Ben had no doubt Nike was behind this, but he couldn’t figure out why they’d go after Greg. His portal was exit only, or so the other gods had insisted. Firmly. So killing him was likely either revenge, or Greg had some information Nike wanted. Either way, Ben wasn’t going to get into the building easily.
“I’m sorry, Albert, but I didn’t even really know the man. When he accompanied me to the compound, it was on a favor to Mark alone, and he very obviously didn’t want to be there in the first place.”
Albert let out a sigh. “I figured as much, but you know I had to ask. I’m really sorry to be the bearer of more bad news, Stanford. I really am.”
“It’s not your fault,” Ben said. It was an automatic reply, as his brain was already whirring with possible ideas of how to contact Asclepius and figure out what happened. “Maybe I can come down and look at the scene,” he said after a moment of silence. “See if there’s anything I noticed that the other guys would miss?”
“I’ll get you clearance,” Albert said immediately. “It’ll be good to have you back on a case.”
Ben wanted to argue that he wasn’t on a case, this was a one time deal, but he needed to get access to the crime scene and to that portal. He couldn’t use it, he had no idea how to, but Alex and Andrew both could. If they could reach out to the other side and track the missing god, they might get a jump on where Nike was heading, and what her plans were.
Albert told Ben he’d get him the clearance by the end of the afternoon. Ben slipped the phone back into his pocket and when he walked in, Jude and Mark had gone, but Stella, Andrew and Alex were still waiting, faces all masks of curiosity.
“Greg’s dead,” Ben said.
“Shit,” Stella said from behind a sigh. “Nike?”
“I’m betting so,” Ben said as he slid into one of the cast iron chairs beside the tall window. He rested his forearms on the tops of his knees, head dropping forward with the weight of the situation. “I guess it’s bloody and gruesome, or so said my boss. He’s getting me clearance to access the crime scene. I figure if we can contact Asclepius somehow, we might be able to find out where Nike was heading, and why she went to Greg’s office in the first place.”
“I don’t see why she would have bothered,” Alex said, his voice heavy with thought. “That portal doesn’t have near the amount of power to bring anything through, and all of my sources are saying she’s after someth
ing on the other side.”
“Maybe Greg had some information she needed,” Ben offered as he looked across the room at the three gods. “Maybe somehow Greg knew where there was a portal with enough power. Like you all say, only a couple of the gods in existence here know where the portals are at, and it’s possible Asclepius had that information.”
“Doubtful,” Stella said with a sneer. “That whiskey-guzzling moron didn’t know anything besides where to find the strip clubs with no cover, and the cheapest bottles of booze.”
“Well obviously she killed him for a reason, and we’re lucky enough that the god inside of him might still be reachable,” Ben snapped at her.
Stella glowered at his tone, crossing her arms over her chest. “And what if she sent that twat hurtling back through to the other side? What then?”
“Well from what you all keep telling me, it would take one of them literally walking him through to the other side to get him gone. So unless she sacrificed herself or one of her goons to take him out, we actually might have a chance.”
Stella’s jaw snapped shut and Alex’s face split wide with a grin. “You’re a genius, Benjy! Even if Nike was able to shove him through the portal, he’s probably still hanging out in the limbo between this universe and the next. He’s reachable if we can find an active portal with enough power. The one in Greg’s office should be able to do that.”
“So what we really need is one of you two,” Ben said, darting his eyes between Alex and Andrew, “to borrow the body of an officer so I can get one of you on scene. Stella’s already under enough suspicion for abandoning her job and altering records at the station, so she’s not going to be able to help out.”
Cry, Nike! (The Judas Curse) Page 4