by Curtis, Greg
It was a slow and difficult job. They were heavy and cold, and he soon discovered he was in no condition to be doing this sort of work. Still, he managed to pull them out one by one and drop them on the ground in front of him. It would have been quicker and easier to simply push them through, but that might have alerted the guards on the other side. Stealth had to be his watchword. So he pulled them through one by one and then dropped each block on the soft ground where it landed with a dull thud. After each block was removed he paused and checked for any sign he'd been detected. And when he felt safe he started on the next one.
Ten minutes later he had an entrance into the grounds that was easily large enough for him to step through and once he was satisfied that no one was waiting for him on the other side he used it.
On the other side he found himself in a small decorative patch of trees and shrubs which was fortunate as it concealed both the hole he'd made and him. What wasn't so fortunate was that he could see men in the distance patrolling the grounds. Armed men. It told him that things were not as they should be. This was a clinic, and while it did have security to keep the patients from escaping or causing harm to others, they should not be armed. They especially shouldn't be armed with automatic weapons.
Where the hell had the woman got them from? Especially in her weakened condition? And in only one day? But then he realised the truth. They were police weapons. On top of everything else that she'd made her victims do she'd got them to provide her with an arsenal. Just in case. The banshee was always prepared. He had to remember that. She had infiltrated the police and got what she needed from them. She had done the same with the politicians. And she was in the process of doing it with the Illuminati.
But there was one good thing about the guards he quickly realised. They were normals. Witches and wizards wouldn't be carrying heavy weaponry. They relied far more on their gifts. And normals he knew had no immunity to spells – with the possible exception of himself. His weapon would work on them. Which was why he drew the ray gun, clicked it to paralysis, and waited patiently for the first of them wandering the perimeter to approach him.
The man went down without a struggle, the paralysis spell instantly robbing him of any chance of resisting. After that James crept out of hiding, scrambled across the grass, grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him back into the trees. It hurt but he simply couldn't leave a body out there to alert the next guard who walked this part of the perimeter, no matter how sore he was. He certainly didn't like being out in the open like that, but it was dark and it had to be done. The fear added a little speed to James' aching legs as he worked.
James tossed the man's weapon – another damned assault rifle – to one side and frisked him while the man continued to stare up at him helplessly, no doubt wondering what was happening. James would have liked to have hit him with the knock out spell, but he couldn't risk making any noise. He quickly found the man's wallet. A wallet that immediately told him everything he'd suspected. The man's drivers’ licence proclaimed him as Doctor Furniss. He'd found one of the vets. The banshee, presumably having found someone who could treat her injuries better, had given him a new role as a security guard.
It was time to call Will again.
Sitting behind the largest tree he could find and after checking carefully that no one was nearby, he flicked on the phone and called the cowboy and told him what he'd found and where to send his people. After that it was simply a matter of waiting. The clinic was a three hour drive from the vet centre, and the vet centre another hour from their building. He had quite a bit of time to kill before they arrived.
James used it to take down four more guards one by one as they wandered by. It was easy, except for the need to drag their prone bodies into the bushes. It was also fairly safe too. These people weren't trained as guards. They didn't back each other up. They didn't radio in. And no one seemed to notice that some of their number were missing. He suspected the banshee had simply given each of them a weapon and told them to go out and patrol the grounds. The only trained security people were probably the two men on the gate, and they weren't moving from their posts.
Oddly, the one thing he did discover as he hid in the bushes and waited, was an appreciation for the stupid little ray gun. It might be a lottery when he used it against those with magic, but against normals it was a brilliant weapon. Silent and completely effective. Maybe he'd been too harsh in his condemnation of it. And maybe he should finally learn that damned rhyme.
Back up arrived a little earlier than he'd expected, but not in the form it should have been. Instead Yasmin appeared in the entrance he'd cut and crept over to him.
“Been doing a little breaking and entering?” She indicated the collection of bodies and weapons with a wry grin.
“You know, a man's got to have a hobby!” He couldn't keep a smile from his face. Despite everything and the fact that she simply shouldn't be there, he was actually glad to see her. But still he thought, she shouldn't be there. This was no place for a woman dressed in her work clothes.
“It's good to see you dressed for the occasion.” By which of course he meant that she hadn't. She wasn't even wearing dark clothes. But why would she? Her job was dealing with the prisoners, not capturing them.
“I have standards!” she whispered, a little indignantly at him. “Besides, I was in the car when I got the call and I didn't have time to go back to the office and change.”
“And I have a spare dark duffel in the boot of the car.” James gave her the keys. “That's an order. And take the weapons with you please.”
Yasmin reluctantly took the keys and an armful of the assault rifles, grumbling under her breath as she did so, and crept back to the hole in the wall. James immediately felt a sense of relief. There wasn't much he could do about her stilettos, and he suspected that she would have had a melt down if he'd tried, but at least he could keep her better concealed as they waited. It wasn't long before she was back, complaining.
“This is far too big. It's shapeless and it smells.”
“But you look wonderful in it, and it'll keep you unseen in the dark. Now undo the clasp in your hair and let it hang free.”
Yasmin did as he asked, for once not arguing. “You think this will help?” She shook her head and let her hair flow wild and free.
“It helps me. I think you look like a goddess with your hair down!” James managed a smile, and despite her immediate reaction being to argue, he soon got one in return.
“Just as long as you remember that this goddess requires regular worshipping.”
“Sounds fair.” Then he thought for a moment. “How exactly do you want to be worshipped?”
“Shoes!”
“I'm not sure I can afford your shoes. But I think I can remember how to do a foot rub.”
“Oh, that would be nice!” And she proved it a moment later by kicking off her heels and sticking her feet in his lap.
After checking to make sure there was no one around James set to work rubbing her tired feet. By the sounds she was making as he worked he apparently remembered the skill quite well. But really he was thinking that since they had time they should probably use it. The trouble was that they couldn't really use it for what was on his mind. He was in the end exactly who she'd said he was – a horny little teenager.
“You know you really shouldn't be here.” He spoke softly as he worked. It wasn't a criticism of her. Just of the simple fact that this wasn't her bailiwick. He wasn't even sure it was his.
“Neither should you!” For once though she didn't snap at him thinking he was impugning her abilities. “You should be in bed. Others can do this. And you don't even have a good solid defensive magic. At least I can protect you a little.”
James would have retorted that he could protect himself, but he stopped himself before the words left his mouth. That was how he kept getting into trouble with her. And besides he realised, she was right. Her magic made her a powerful threat to anyone who tried to attack her with
magic. He kept forgetting that. But then this wasn't his world. It was hers. So instead of arguing he kept his peace and worked on her feet.
“You want to talk about this morning?”
“I'd rather talk about it tomorrow morning when hopefully you won't be rushing off after.”
“Tomorrow morning? In bed maybe? Assuming you do want to do that again?” James wasn't sure if he was surprised or not by that. But he was happy about it. Happier than he thought he should be.
“I could be persuaded.” She smiled, her white teeth showing brightly in the moonlight. “Very easily.”
“And I would very much like to persuade you.” It was James' turn to smile. “A lot.” He'd heard what he wanted to hear. Because the truth was that while he might not know where this was going he did want to find out.
So for the next little while they sat there enjoying the moment and the promise of things to come, while they waited for the others to arrive. It was a long wait, but for once a surprisingly easy one, ruined only by occasional bursts of activity as he kept having to shoot the guards as they wandered past one by one and then drag their prone bodies back into the trees.
But every relationship had its issues!
Chapter Twenty Two
It was well past midnight when they were joined by the others and ready to move, and by then James was becoming anxious. His quarry had escaped before and he didn't want her getting away again. But he still hadn't seen any sign of anyone leaving the grounds, and he had been watching the gate carefully. As far as he knew there was no other way in or out of the facility.
Maybe his nerves were a little drug induced. One of the men had given him a potion and ordered him to drink it. James didn't know what it was, save that he claimed it was a restorative, but he had to admit that from the moment it had gone down he had felt better. It felt as though he'd just drunk a dozen full strength cups of coffee. He was still sore and things weren't working as they should but he was definitely stronger. Ready he thought, for what came next.
“You nervous?” Yasmin was beside him, crouched in the bushes, studying the facility in front of them, and he guessed a little on edge herself.
“No. Eager. And you have no need to be nervous either. You're not going to be on the front lines.”
“What?” Yasmin looked as though she was about ready to argue. No doubt she thought he was being protective of her because she was a woman.
“In stilettos? You're just not dressed for this. You hang back and cover what you can.”
“And you're not going to be on the front lines either hunter.” Mark, the one who was ultimately in charge of the twelve man team, arrived to give him the hard word in a determined whisper. “At the moment this is not a hunt, and you're in no shape for anything.”
James would have argued but he knew the man was right. So instead he simply nodded, and tried to ignore the sudden look of triumph that crossed Yasmin's face.
“Alright people. Let’s do this just like we practised.” Mark gave the order in a loud whisper, and immediately the dozen people under his command started advancing across the grounds leaving James and Yasmin behind.
When had they practised James suddenly wondered? They weren't an army. But at least they moved like a military group. And they were dressed in black combat fatigues. But the truth was that none of them were actual soldiers as far as he knew. He had a horrible feeling that the closest most of them got to such things was playing paint ball games. And none of them were armed like soldiers either. Instead they all had the magic ray guns like his. But then what else could you expect? The Illuminati wasn't a military organisation. It didn't have an army or, for that matter, much of a police force. What they had were a few people who tried to act like them. When a crisis hit they had to make do. And if he was right they were going to have to make do in Hong Kong and Macau shortly.
But if their people weren't soldiers and weren't armed like them, they did have some advantages that no other army in the world had. They had magic. He didn't know most of these people. Not well anyway. But he knew that every one of them would have some gift that would help. That was why they had been chosen.
“Now I'm nervous,” James told Yasmin. And really he thought, he might be injured but his place was still with them. He was a cop at heart, and cops always stood with their brothers and sisters.
The team advanced smoothly across the grounds without anyone raising the alarm. But then no one was outside to do so. Finally the last of the men roaming the grounds had been taken down, including the guards at the gate who had been knocked out as well and dragged back. That made about fifteen guards now lying in a small copse of trees just behind them. But at least they were unconscious, and were therefore unaware of what was happening. They wouldn't see the fireworks. And since the banshee had only had a day to twist their minds they would be quicker to deprogramme. People were already on their way to do just that. In fact they had an entire back up team of specialists on the way.
Less than a minute later the soldiers were at the clinic itself. James could see a dozen or so black shadows against the heavy stone walls of the three story tall Georgian edifice. His mouth went dry and his heart started thumping in his chest as he waited for what would come next.
When it happened though, it began very quietly. In fact at first he wasn't even sure that anything had happened at all. All he knew was that some of the doors and windows had opened. Except that as he concentrated on the building he suddenly realised that they hadn't opened at all. They'd vanished! A few of the doors and windows had actually just disappeared leaving behind holes in the building. And there had been no noise or light to tell anyone inside what had happened. Or even that anything had happened. Now that, he thought, was a trick that every armed force in the world would want.
They would want the next one too he thought. The cry of dispassion. He heard it in the distance. A strange, almost melodic cry that was at once too soft and too alien to identify. It was almost like whale song. But he knew that everyone inside the building who wasn't warded and heard it would suddenly be falling down, unable to find the will to move. The gift might not have much in the way of commercial value to its possessor, but it was an effective pacifier.
That was his cue to go in James figured, and he got to his feet, feeling a little better than he had any right to – especially after the day he'd had.
“Mark said to wait.”
“I did wait.”
James started walking toward the building, his weapon drawn, and after a couple of seconds he heard Yasmin following just behind him, cursing as her heels dug into the earth. It made him smile. She should know better. Actually she did know better. There was simply no way she was ever going to give up her high heels.
“Stop that you!” She snapped at him quietly. “This isn't funny.”
“Actually it is.” His smile grew. “Especially when you don't need them.”
“You think I'm too tall?” Her voice grew strained.
“Of course not! I just think you already have lovely, long legs. You don't need heels to show them off.” James waited for her to catch up, put an arm around her waist and escorted her across the grass, inexplicably pleased that he'd finally found something clever to say to her. It might not be the appropriate way to enter a battlefield, but it felt good. Maybe there would be more of this morning in their future? It was something he quite liked the thought of. It was a strange thought for him to have.
“You know sometimes you surprise me. You go through life as this cold, efficient almost ruthless hunting machine, and then every so often a real human being comes out. A gentleman, even a romantic.”
“This morning was pretty romantic!”
“Don't cheapen it,” she scolded him softly. “That was nice but what you just said was nicer. And I love the fact that you were standing guard over your daughter's school. Why do you think you got lucky this morning? I get the feeling that you're a good father. That even with everything else that's happened to
you, the only thing that you can't get past is being shut out of your daughter's life.”
“Well, she's my daughter!” What else could he say James wondered?
“Exactly. People don't give you enough credit for that. You don't give yourself enough credit. You're a really good father and you will be again.”
“Again?” James almost stopped dead in his tracks as the word bounced around in his skull. What was she saying?
“Think about it sunshine. This morning or the other time, did anything about that strike you as safe?”
“Safe?” James didn't understand. And then a sudden thought pierced the gloom “As in sex?” James gave up walking completely as he turned to face Yasmin. He was sure all the blood was draining from his body. “Are you saying …?”
“I'm saying I don't know. Why do you think I was so upset?”