2. Chapter 2
Chapter 2
‘What do you mean, she hasn’t been processed?’ Emory’s voice was tight.
The poor bastard behind the desk swallowed hard and continued tapping on his computer. ‘I’m sorry, sir,’ he said finally, a tremor in his voice. ‘I’ve double- and triple-checked, but there are no records of a Miss Jessica Sharp being arrested.’
‘It has been hours since she was taken,’ Emory all-but roared. ‘You assured me she would definitely have been processed by now.’
The clerk licked his lips. ‘She should have been, but she’s not showing up on our system.’
Greg leaned over the desk and moved threateningly into the clerk’s personal space. ‘And if she’s been taken to a black site, would you have a record of that?’
The clerk paled and stammered, ‘B-B-Black site, s-s-ir? There are no b-b-black sites.’
Greg shot him a disgusted look. ‘We both know that isn’t true. Emory, come on. There’s no point in waiting around. She’s not being brought here.’
Emory’s nostrils flared and I could hear the sound of his teeth grinding from several metres away. He glared at the clerk with such intensity that I knew there was a real chance the man was about to die.
It’s not the chump’s fault, Esme muttered. He’s just inherently useless.
Ouch. I stepped between Emory and the clerk. Esme was right about the chump thing, but he didn’t deserve to die for it. He hadn’t arrested anyone; he was just a pencil pusher. ‘Come on, Emory,’ I said softly. ‘Let’s go. Plan B.’
‘Plan B is to raze this fucking building to the ground,’ he growled. Behind me, the clerk gave an ‘Eek!’ and made himself scarce. Good move.
‘That can be Plan C,’ I said lightly. ‘For now, we need to focus on finding Jess. Do you hear me, Emory Elite?’
His head snapped up. ‘I’m not the Prime Elite. Not anymore.’
‘Honey, they can take the Prime title from you, but you’ll always be elite.’ I winked, hoping to tease a smile out of him. None came. ‘Come on, Emory. Let’s find her.’ I took his shoulder and he let me manoeuvre him out of the building.
We drove in silence to Jess’s house. We’d barely been inside long enough to flick the kettle on when Nate phased in. ‘Anything?’ I asked hopefully.
He shook his head, anxiety in every line of his body. ‘No, I can’t feel her at all. I’m focusing on her with everything I’ve got, but it’s like the bond has vanished.’
Emory entered the kitchen looking grim. ‘It’s the same for me.’ Vampyrs and dragons get on like oil and water, but the two men were clearly setting aside their differences. For Jessica, they’d work together effortlessly as allies.
My phone beeped loudly and I pulled it out, hoping for a miracle. It wasn’t far off; the text message read: Even the Librarian doesn’t know this address . An address I didn’t recognise followed.
My heart started to fill with hope. The message was from an unknown number, but I knew it was from Elvira because of the reference to the Librarian. She couldn’t risk signing her name; presumably, if she was texting me cryptically, she’d also gone to the effort of acquiring a burner phone.
I suddenly remembered a crucial fact she’d told me during our talk about the Librarian: she’d said she was going undercover with the Anti-Crea. In all the furore, I’d forgotten about her latest assignment .
‘Get me a laptop!’ I ordered. Before the words were out of my mouth, Fritz was passing me his. I went onto Google maps and typed the address. It came up as The Old Assembly Hotel, but when I tried to view it on the map it was blurred out, as if it hadn’t finished loading. We waited a beat but it didn’t get any clearer.
‘Someone has removed the sharpened images,’ Fritz explained.
‘The Connection,’ Greg said grimly. ‘It’s a black site.’
‘That’d be my guess,’ Fritz agreed.
‘She’s here,’ I stated. ‘Jess is being held at The Old Assembly Hotel. Elvira texted me the address.’
Emory surged to his feet. ‘Easy, boss,’ Greg said. ‘We need more information before we go in guns blazing.’
‘I don’t need guns. I’ll storm in by myself and rip their heads off,’ Emory snarled.
‘You could put her in danger and you don’t want that,’ Greg shot back. ‘Just give us a few minutes to find out more. You know it’s the best call to keep Jinx safe.’
Emory let Greg push him gently back into his seat; some small part of him was still being ruled by logic, thank God.
Fritz took back his laptop and started typing. ‘Let me see what information I can get first. Then we can rip heads off.’ He paused. ‘Well, you can, Emory. I’m not really a ripping-heads-off guy.’ Fritz was barely old enough to call himself a ‘guy’; to me he was still a kid though he had to be knocking on seventeen, so maybe my perception wasn’t fair.
‘It could be a trap,’ Greg warned. ‘The information might not be trustworthy. It could just be a lure to get to Emory.’
I shook my head stubbornly. ‘I don’t think so. Elvira told me she was going undercover with the Anti-Crea. If she’s there now with Jess, she’ll be working with us to get her out. But Elvira’s neck is on the line and we can’t let it be known she gave us the address. This is going to have to be a quiet extraction.’
‘Well, now,’ Shirdal said drolly as he strolled in. ‘It just so happens I’m an expert at extractions.’
‘So am I,’ Emory said. ‘I’ll rip that building to pieces.’
When he stood up, Shirdal pushed him back down. ‘Think with your brains, my Azhdar, not your heart.’
‘I know you want her safe – I do too,’ I said to Emory. ‘But going in guns blazing could get her killed – and Elvira too. I’ve got a plan. You and I are going to be a smokescreen. We’re going to the Connection and we’re going to make an almighty fuss. And while we’re screaming at the top of our lungs, Shirdal and Nate will go in and rescue her like sneaky ninjas.’
Emory was grinding his teeth again; he wanted to be the one to rescue her. I felt the same way, but this way Emory and I would draw every eye towards us while our deadly allies rescued Jess. ‘It’s the safest option for Jess,’ I pressed.
‘Fine,’ he snarled. ‘Shirdal, Nate, some of the brethren and some of the dark seraph.’
Shirdal nodded calmly. ‘Yes, my Azhdar. We will retrieve your mate.’
‘See that you do.’ Emory surged back to his feet and this time no one pressed him back down. He looked at me darkly. ‘Let’s go scream at some people.’
I grinned. ‘You got it.’
I was good cop, entreating the Symposium for help to locate my poor friend who seemed to have been erroneously arrested; Emory was bad cop, adding the ‘or else’ that I couldn’t say.
Worryingly, although the symposium had been convened Jimmy Rain wasn’t there. It was his job to defend werewolf rights, so what the hell was he doing playing hooky? It had been a huge oversight on my part to leave him in a position of power. I knew he was a fool, but he was a dangerous one; allowing him to be in charge of anything other than his lunch had been a bad decision on my part.
We had to consolidate our power first. He doesn’t play fair, Esme pointed out.
Then neither will we. He’s on our shit list.
Why would we have a list of shit? Are you commenting on the regularity of bowel movements or their texture?
Some things just didn’t translate. I ignored Esme and focused on the irate dragon shifter next to me. Emory was eloquently presenting the raft of evidence his lawyers had put together to prove unequivocally that Jess had been deputised by Stone. He’d even managed somehow to get a statement from Stone himself.
He had just finished presenting his evidence when he froze for a moment, spun on his heels and strode over to me. ‘I can feel her,’ he breathed.
‘The cuffs must be off!’ I whispered jubilantly.
He smiled. ‘The cuffs are off.’ He turned back to the symposium members. ‘I’ve finished presenting my evidence,’ he said abruptly. ‘Vote to dismiss or retain the charges. Now.’
Then his phone rang and he pulled it out to answer. ‘You can’t take that call in here!’ a stuffy troll objected .
Emory ignored him and swiped to answer. ‘You have an update?’ he barked into the handset. I couldn’t make out the response but I saw the tension slip from his shoulder. ‘I’m not free to talk,’ he went on. ‘I’ll be back as soon as possible.’ He hung up.
‘If you are quite done? We need to deliberate,’ the dryad pointed out. ‘And we must verify that this signature is indeed Inspector Stone’s.’
‘Then do so,’ Emory snarled impatiently. ‘Let my second, Tom Smith, know the results.’
He grabbed my arm and hauled me out of the room. ‘She’s home!’ he said exultantly as we swept out of the fancy chamber.
‘Thank God. You’re not tempted to phase directly to her?’
‘Very, very tempted,’ he admitted. ‘But we have eyes on us.’ He pointed to an inspector who was following at a not-so-discreet distance. ‘Jess would kill me if I let them know anything about my abilities. We need to fly under the radar. She’s safe and she’s home. After I’ve seen her I can plot my revenge.’
Sensible man.
Tell him we can help him plot his revenge. We’d be excellent plotters .
‘Esme and I are more than willing to help with your plans,’ I offered.
‘Thanks, but there will be a certain satisfaction in dealing with this myself.’
‘I hear you.’ You needed to do some jobs yourself.
When we climbed into Emory’s waiting car, I noted a black Land Rover move off at the same time that we did. We were being followed with typical Connection levels of competence, which was to say none at all.
‘How did you get that statement from Stone?’ I asked Emory curiously. ‘They said it had been destroyed.’
He looked a little smug. ‘I had access to a willing hellhound.’
I blinked. ‘You went back in time and spoke to Stone?’
Emory sneered. ‘No, I went back in time and photocopied the existing statement, the one the Anti-Crea deleted to fabricate Jess’s arrest and get their hands on my fiancée.’
‘Scummy shits. They deserve to get their asses whipped.’
‘They deserve more than that.’ His lip curled in a sneer.
I almost felt sorry for the Anti-Crea bastards. Almost.