by T. G. Ayer
The way Cassie spoke confirmed my suspicions of the room being bugged. I nodded quickly and then replied, “Of course. And thank you so much for all the cooperation that you and Sentinel have given us so far.”
Aisha repeated my sentiments and Cassie followed with more fake conversation by thanking us again and assuring us that Sentinel was only there to help.
Blah blah blah.
Moments later, we were on our way to the elevator when the queen spoke in my mind, “Now, wasn’t that strange. Do you think the room was bugged?”
“I wouldn’t put it past Sentinel. Despite what the director said, they are definitely holding their cards close to their chest. They want to know what we know but they’re not willing to share what they know or what their intentions really are.”
“What are you trying to get at, child? You’re beginning to speak in riddles.”
As we entered the lift, I gave a mental roll of my eyes, thinking that if there was anyone who spoke in riddles it was not me.
“You do know I can hear you.” The queen’s voice rang in my mind and I almost clicked my tongue. You’d think by now I’d be used to having the queen listening in on my thoughts whenever she damned well pleased, but apparently, I wasn’t.
And with that, the elevator doors closed and Aisha said, “Could you be a dear and jump me back to your house? Baa’ruk is going to fetch me in the next hour so we can focus on the spell.”
I nodded. “Sure I can. But pray tell why you’re not just jumping everywhere yourself? You’re a djinn. Jumping is in your genes. Unless djinn royalty prefer a jumper limo service?”
Aisha shook her head. “I can’t. Jump signatures are detectable, and mine would be amplified to the nth degree because of my inherent powers. I’ve managed to get away from Omega, and I’m not going to be careless enough to travel the ether and announce to anyone who is watching exactly where I am. That would be like broadcasting my location and saying ‘Come and get me.’”
I stared at the djinn queen. Her argument was sound, and expanded on why she’d been so reluctant to jump herself anywhere. She’d been subtle enough about it that I hadn’t really noticed until now.
Then I gave her an understanding smile and granted her request, taking her home where Ba’aruk had been waiting in the kitchen for her. Moments later, he jumped her to Natasha’s property where she and the demon overlord would be working on powerful magic.
Everything it seemed, now hinged on magic.
Chapter 4
With Aisha off doing her magic thing, I was intent on rest and catching up with both my home-based team and Kai and her squad.
I smiled at the mention of the new term I’d used to encompass Kai and Logan and everyone else they were bringing into the mission. From my end, I had Steph, Drake, Natasha and perhaps Aisha if the queen really counted as belonging to my squad. I had to wonder what she’d think of that.
Earlier today, I’d received a message from Kai to meet her at Tara’s weapons shop. Kai and the team had taken to using Tara’s place for anything mission-related. With so many of their family members part of our mission to save the djinn, perhaps they needed a sense of separation between home and what they may consider as work.
It could also be they recognized the dangers ahead of them and that it was probably best to prepare for imminent death somewhere other than home.
I understood that because I was only too ready to head off to Natasha’s place to talk mission-related issues rather than have her come over. I had wondered if that need had more to do with a sense of premonition regarding the mission, but I tried not to stare bad vibes in the face.
Now, as I knocked at the front door of the shop and waited for Kai to open up, I scanned the area around me, looking up the street and down again, wondering which of the shadows would soon reveal themselves to contain a deadly danger.
Paranoid much.
There was a time when I would have laughed at myself for being so suspicious, but what with everything we’d been through over the last few weeks, shadows turning into deadly killers was more than likely a possibility.
The door opened almost magically, startling me as I hadn’t noticed any of the shadows move within the shop as I’d watched for someone to come to the door.
Just as my hand began to move to the dagger at my hip, the sound of chuckling shifted toward me and the shape of a vampire began to form.
I glared at Baz as he said, “Sorry if I gave you a bit of a scare.”
I shook my head. “Sorry, my ether-traveling ass. Having fun with our powers, are we?”
All Baz did in response was grunt, though his eyes sparkled. I gave him a narrow-eyed glare and strode past him, heading toward the kitchen at the back of the shop.
“Tough crowd,” he muttered as he locked up and followed me through the silent, dusty storefront.
Kai had kept the outer section of the shop unkempt, to give the space an unoccupied air, although I wasn’t sure it was a good idea to give the impression that the place was empty.
She’d explained that Tara was well-known in the area. More than that, people not only respected her but feared her. And it wasn’t that they knew she was Fae but rather they sensed an added danger to crossing the line where Tara was concerned.
I’d often heard it was true that the danger posed by a Fae could be sensed by anyone they crossed paths with.
And right this minute, I sure could do with the help of a dangerous Fae.
Inside the kitchen, Logan and Kai sat bending over a large sheet of paper which appeared to be a hand-drawn map. I frowned and peered over Kai’s shoulder. “What are you guys up to?”
Kai grinned as she glanced up at me. “Hey. Thanks for coming out here. I know home would be far more comfortable, but I don’t need relaxation and comfort right now.”
“Yeah. I know just how you feel.”
Kai’s eyes were relieved and almost grateful as she gave me a short smile. Then she shifted her gaze to the map and the silent dragon-shifter whose expression was way more sober.
“Is something wrong?” I asked, worried now.
Kai snorted. “No, that’s just Lyandr over here, practicing his game-face.”
I chuckled and Logan grinned. “Kai’s just being an idiot. Sienna was just catching me up on a couple things,” he said, tapping his temple to indicate his mental cross-veil communication with his twin.
“Ah,” I said nodding soberly. “Hope we didn’t interrupt, Your Majesty.”
Kai snorted and Logan shook his head as though he were dealing with two idiots.
The walker finally sobered and waved a hand at the sheet of paper that was so large it covered most of the kitchen table. “This is what we’ve pieced together from a number of sources. Darcy’s treated a few people with memories of Mithras, and Grams and Mom have both been there on missions. Logan’s also supplied some of what he can recall Saleem mentioning of the city itself. We will just need to get Aisha to fill in the rest of the blanks and I hope we’ll have a stronger idea of the lay of the land.”
When I looked closer, the map proved to be a bunch of smaller sheets of paper stuck together with tape, sketches from their sources which the pair had stuck together to get us further than Director Gilfillan probably ever would.
A few pages appeared more official-looking and I pointed at them. “Those look…official. Who did Baz hack for those?”
“Nobody. That’s courtesy of Cassie. She emailed them—you’ll find a copy in your Inbox too. Said she told you she’d meet at your place but I confess I made her redirect herself here. I hope you don’t mind?”
“Of course not. Probably best for her to clue us in all in one go anyway.” I grinned, so glad that Cassie had come through. I didn’t like feeling as though I couldn’t really trust her. Hopefully, soon I could erase all my doubts.
I hunkered closer as Logan and Kai pointed out areas of interest. Logan stabbed a finger on a small square building that sat beside one of the palace perimeter walls
. “This here is a wheelhouse. Saleem mentioned this place and I found it quite interesting the way the djinn used water. At the time, I had no idea he was royalty though. Still need to chew him out for keeping that from me.”
Kai snorted. “Well, prepare for a mutual chewing out, Your Highness.”
Logan winced and his lips quirked. “Hey, I have a few legit defenses on that front.”
“Whatever. Let’s just wait for Saleem to put in his two cents on that before you go off thinking you’re all innocent.”
As the pair bickered, I focused on the map, trying to commit every corner of it to memory. I felt a little jump in my gut knowing we had a map. We had a means to put a proper plan in place.
And if we were to believe Gilfillan, Sentinel had bupkis.
Chapter 5
After studying the maps, Logan, Kai, and I spent a few hours with the younger members of the team, running them through a number of stimulations. With Logan’s guidance, Baz had created a program the team could use with 3-D gaming helmets to provide an almost-scary realism to the exercises.
Each team member was tasked with making their way through a maze without killing themselves or taking any one of their team down. And of course, without killing innocent bystanders.
Which was naturally the hardest part—both Steph and Lily were trying to come to terms with their collateral damage—a collection of little kids and the elderly.
I had to admit I hadn’t stopped worrying about including the youngest of our team, but as far as we knew we needed all the able bodies we could get our hands on. I just had to pray for everyone to return from the mission alive.
With their strength clearly fading, Logan and I dismissed them and returned to the workshop with Kai, with food on our mind. And just in time for Cassie’s arrival. The front door had clanged as we drew close to the office from the back room, and the ShapeChanger appeared in the doorway to the front of the store, the strain of the day clear in the tightness of her shoulders, though her hands were weighed down with takeaway bags.
Enveloped by aromas of Thai, Indian, and Moroccan food—as Cassie clearly hadn’t been able to decide—we filed into the kitchen and took our seats around the small Formica table. Logan, Kai, and I helped Cassie unpack and lay out the food in silence, and as we began to dig in, the ShapeChanger sighed.
“Sorry for the run-around at HQ, Mel,” she said as she stabbed at a piece of spiced chicken. “I promise I was just trying to make sure Gilfillan wasn’t on to me. I couldn’t risk him finding out I’m a snitch.” She gave a disgusted twist of her lips before popping the meat into her mouth and chewing slowly.
I shrugged. “Yeah, I had wondered about that. Is there a reason why you didn’t want him to know that you are part of our team? I assumed Ivy would have already given him a list of the people that we had on-board.”
From Logan’s expression, he’d been of the same mind as me. Then Kai rolled her eyes. “If anything, Grams would’ve kept those details close to her chest.”
I nodded but I still wasn’t convinced. “Grams is a Sentinel agent and so is Cassie, so I have to admit I am a little confused because it seems to me that their own agents don’t trust them.”
Cassie widened her eyes and spread her hands as she sighed. “Took you long enough to figure that one out.”
Everyone laughed at that—including me—and the noise and mirth put us all somewhat at ease. The noise died down, the food quickly disappearing in the lull of the conversation.
I looked over at Cassie, whose expression said she was bursting to tell us something. Shifting closer to the table, she bagged the empty cartons as she said, “The truth of the matter is Gilfillan has been hunting high and low for a set of records that he is one hundred percent sure is in the Sentinel system. He spent half of yesterday afternoon combing through the entire 17th-floor records-room looking for those maps. I swear the man was going to give himself an aneurysm.”
I snorted. “Cassie, if you’re not careful you’re going to make me think the director is actually a good guy.”
She lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. “He is a bit of a hard-arse but I think he is on the up and up. Seriously, he’s not trying to pull the wool over your eyes. This truly is a case of important files having gone missing, and the director of the agency is entirely unable to explain it.”
“So, what makes him so sure those plans are there in the first place?” asked Logan as he leaned back, balancing on two legs of his chair, to grab a bag of cookies from the counter.
Cassie smirked. “Because he claims to have done recon and generated the maps himself, and then stored them in the records system himself.”
Bag ripped open, cookie in one hand, Logan nodded. “I guess that’s a pretty good reason to set him off balance and confused. Does he have any reasons why they’re not where they’re supposed to be?”
“None he’s admitted to any one of us, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out Sentinel probably has a mole. That’s probably the only way those files could have disappeared from our system.”
Kai tapped on the table with her fingernail as she watched Logan scarf down two cookies in one mouthful. “Yeah, especially since Grams herself confirmed those maps were there. She messaged to say she’d been on a mission with the director. She sounded pretty much as confused as he seemed to be.”
I sighed and rubbed my forehead, trying to ignore Logan’s crunching. “Why do I feel like we’ve just been going around in circles. Has someone been trying to sabotage our mission? Or did the maps disappear a long time ago and Gilfillan’s finding out now because we need them?”
Cassie shook her head rather vehemently. “At this point, there’s no way of knowing. CCTV and access-card records haven’t given us as much as a hint of who the culprits could be.”
I sighed, stomach twisting as Logan now emptied the remaining cookie crumbs into his mouth, up-ending the contents into his wide-open gob. “I agree. Probably a waste of our time trying to figure it out. As much as they will be valuable in understanding if someone is attempting to sabotage our efforts, really speaking, even if we did confirm it, what will we do about it?”
“True,” Kai said, giving Logan a glare as he dusted off his mouth, giving me an innocent shrug. “It’s not as if we are likely to delay our departure in order to nab the double agent.”
I stared around the table, giving a firm nod for the team as much as for myself. “We definitely don’t have time to waste. Maybe we just consider Sentinel’s involvement as a bonus. If they do manage to sort themselves out and join us on the mission, we take that as a win. In the meantime, we keep doing what we need to in order to get this show on the road.”
Cassie turned to look at me. “I have to ask, Mel. Do you believe the queen really is unable to provide us with the maps and details of the city?”
A fair question, and something that had been on my own mind for a while now. I swallowed and replied, “I admit that’s something I have to question, but not everyone will be as loyal as we would like. And if she is holding out on us, it’s probably because she has a very good reason.”
Or so I like to tell myself.
“What could possibly be a good enough reason for Aisha to hold back maps to the city?” asked Cassie softly as she met my gaze. “Maps that would help us get into the palace and save her son’s life? What does she think we are doing all of this for?” Cassie spoke with the distinct passion in her voice, and I understood her frustration because it was something that I too was feeling.
But I knew something they didn’t—Aisha’s secret. Saleem’s prophesied power was valuable, and Aisha had done—and would still do—anything to protect him.
And the queen was a tough woman—something I knew first hand. I gave a self-deprecating smile as I looked around the table. “Look guys, I’m certainly not about to go head-to-head with her on what is possibly the eve of our departure. I know the choice makes me look weak, as though I was afraid of Aish—”
“No,
” Kai said, “it makes you look like you have a lot of respect for her. Besides, she’s kind of scary and I would advise against making her angry. It’s possible you’ll end up chargrilled or something.”
More laughter followed, after which we began to work to piece together more of the maps. Logan had hung a whiteboard in the office and we headed across the hall.
He was already working on a plan, identifying possible entry points, including those he was hoping would allow us to move through the city without getting caught.
But at the end of the day, he was throwing darts into the dark. And we did our best to help him out. Maybe more darts would mean we’d actually hit something…
And now more than ever I prayed Saleem had gotten my message.
Chapter 6
I had made a crucial decision, and, as I materialized inside my kitchen a few hours later, I thought of Aisha.
She’d really been focusing hard on figuring out how to penetrate—if not bring down—the ward preventing us from entering Mithras. But something else was going on as well, something she’d been evasive about.
But I wasn’t the boss of the djinn queen. Neither was I about to go questioning her.
The thought left the taste of cinders in my mouth and I chuckled at the memory of Kai’s mention of instant incineration as Aisha’s punishment. She wasn’t far off either, as the queen was entirely capable of performing such an execution with the flick of an eyelid.
Best keep the woman on my good side.
After our last attempt to enter Mithras, which had ended with me being impaled by a flying branch, and Ivy Odel at death’s door—however briefly—I was a little more cautious regarding travel to the djinn realm.
I could barely concentrate as I downed two pieces of cold pizza and a glass of stale red wine. I had to see Saleem, and soon, and I was willing to brave the Veil again, with fingers crossed and about a million prayers sent up to all the gods.