Chapter 5 #3
“An IMSI is your SIM’s unique number. Once your phone connects with a catcher, it reveals this number. The catcher can then reveal your phone’s location by measuring the strength of the signal from the phone.”
My eyebrows rose. “That all sounds very convoluted. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned call scanners?”
“The use of scanners for that sort of thing is illegal in this country.”
I grinned. “When has being illegal stopped anyone? When has it ever stopped you?”
“I will have you know that ninety-five per cent of the time, my actions are beyond legal reproach.”
“It’s the five per cent most people need to worry about.”
He smiled and didn’t deny it. “We should leave. I’ll call an Uber on the way down.”
“Why not call the emergency chauffeur and car?”
“Because if one car is bugged, the other might be. It will take time for Henrick to do a thorough check.”
“Suggesting he’s been trained for that sort of thing.”
“Indeed. He’s former military intelligence.”
The things you learn.... I finished my tea, then picked up my purse, coat, and knives, and headed for the stairs. “Have bugs been a problem in the past?”
“Corporate espionage is a problem for any successful business. We Dhār-Vals are the top at what we do.”
And what they did was run one of the largest forestry growth businesses in the UK.
Basically, they tripled the growth rate of plantation forests in order to protect the remaining old growth forests from harvesting.
Though Mathi was the son of a second son, his uncle had retired some eight years ago without male issue.
Ruadhán normally would have taken over, but had been deemed ineligible because his ability to manipulate the energy of living flora was considered below acceptable limits.
I personally doubted he’d have accepted the position anyway.
He had his own little fiefdom in the form of the daytime IIT division, and he definitely enjoyed the power it gave him over all races.
“I never really thought about that.” I glanced over my shoulder at him. “Do you bug competitors?”
“Of course. I would be a fool not to.”
“You know, there are so many aspects of your personality and your life I’ve not seen until recently.”
“Because until recently, neither of us realized the importance of the other in our lives.”
“That is definitely true.” I’d been comfortable with Mathi, had enjoyed our sex life and being with him in general, but that was it, really. I’d always known he was not my forever man and had been happy to keep our relationship light and uncomplicated, without realizing the true worth of it.
Of course, I was also well aware that Cynwrig was not my forever man, but our relationship, despite it only being a few weeks old, was as complicated as it could get, thanks to my stupid heart.
But then, I did have a history of falling far too quickly for totally unsuitable men.
Mathi opened the tavern’s front door for me, then rang for an Uber.
I tucked my knives away, shoved on my coat, then slung my purse over my shoulder.
The day was gray and rather bleak, but for the moment, there was no rain on the horizon.
The wind danced lightly around me, filled with the promise of the frost that would blanket the night later, but she was thankfully clear of the scratchy noise I’d heard yesterday.
Hopefully, that meant our thief wasn’t currently active.
Maybe he’d found what he’d wanted in the cottage—though if that were the case, why had he been hanging around in the park?
—and maybe he was simply lying low until he decided on his next target.
Instinct suggested it was the latter. It didn’t tell me why, of course. Instinct could be annoyingly obtuse sometimes.
Mathi tucked his phone away and then motioned me to the right. “He’ll meet us near the Cross.”
The Cross actually wasn’t a cross, but rather a red sandstone shaft topped by a crown, a finial, and a ball. The wide, three-stepped plinth was used as seating by tourists and pigeons alike. “Where are we meeting our dwarf guide?”
“At the community pavilion in the Water Tower Gardens.”
I glanced at him curiously. “Why there? Is it close to the woman’s house?”
“Not particularly, but there is an old access grate into the even older sewer tunnel system located there that runs under our target. Locryn assures me it won’t be much hassle to get us in.”
“Knowing Locryn,” I said wryly, “he undoubtedly demanded a very high fee for such an assurance.”
Mathi glanced at me in surprise. “You’ve met him before?”
I nodded. “He helped Lugh break into Nialle’s place a while ago. For an exorbitant fee, of course.”
“Well, he is the best at what he does, so the price reflects that.”
And what he—and Brega, his wife and partner in crime—did was tunnel, whether working as private contractors for the National Fae Museum or as freelancers willing to work with all comers.
From what I’d seen, they didn’t really care about the legalities of what they were employed to do, as long as the price was right.
“Has the cottage got any sort of security system we need to worry about?” I asked as we made our way down Eastgate Street.
“Nothing that will affect us.”
“Meaning it has got something?”
“Ring doorbell devices on both front and back doors, and alarmed windows. No movement sensors inside or anything like that.”
“And you know this how?”
“A rat shifter was sent inside to scout, and I read that part of the report before it was locked down.”
“Lucky.”
“Indeed.”
The Uber arrived the same time as we did and quickly whisked us over to the Water Tower Gardens.
I climbed out, zipped up my coat, then shoved my hands into my pockets and scanned the area while I waited for Mathi to join me.
I couldn’t see the pavilion from where I stood, thanks to all the trees on the right side of the gate, but the park looked quite lovely.
The old stone water tower stood at the back of the gardens to the right of the gate and was surrounded on either side by trees, while somewhere to the left there was a play area for little kids.
Their screams of delight and laughter drifted joyously on the air and made me smile.
Mathi joined me as the Uber sped off, and pressed a hand against my back, guiding me toward a lichen-covered wrought-iron gate that didn’t appear to have been moved for decades.
A concrete path led into the heart of the garden, then split into three; the right one went to the water tower and a nearby wooden jungle gym thing that looked recent while the left one angled toward the little kids’ playground and some tennis courts.
We took the third option, which led to the pavilion directly ahead.
It was wooden, painted dark green, with a red shingle roof, and rather oddly reminded me of an old eighteenth century stable block, complete with clock tower.
Brega waited for us at the angled doubled doors that led into the building.
Like all dwarves, she was short and thickset, but her pale features were heavily wrinkled, her eyes a dark brown, and her silver hair long enough that, even though it had been plaited, it still ran down her back to her butt.
“Right on time, Mr. Dhār-Val. Thank you for the consideration.” Her sharp gaze flicked to me. “I am surprised to find you on this adventure, young Bethany, given your distaste for tunnel inhabitants.”
I smiled. “Given any choice at all, I’d certainly rather be walking through a front or back door.”
She laughed, the sound ringing harshly against the distant noise of happiness. “These tunnels aren’t as bad as the ones we took you and Lugh through.”
“I do believe you said those ones weren’t all that bad either.”
My voice was dry, and she laughed again. “Could be right there. Come along, before someone starts getting too nosy.”
She turned and, with a thick grunt, wrenched the door open then ushered us through.
Locryn waited near a yet-to-be-opened grate in the middle of the pavilion.
Not only was he older and a little more gnarled than his wife, but he was also very bald—a rare thing, given dwarves’ reputation for hairiness.
“Bethany Aodhán, this is a surprise,” he said, warmth touching his expression. “How is your brother doing? We’ve not heard from him since we broke into that basement.”
“They’ve been concentrating on above ground pursuits rather than beneath.”
“Shame. They’re a good employer.” He reached down and grabbed the two bags at his feet, then tossed them to Mathi and me. “You’ll be needing to put these on so you don’t ruin your nice clothing.”
“These” turned out to be coveralls. I cast Brega a wry look. “So, no rats, but not exactly a pristine environment then.”
“It’s a sewer—what are you expecting?”
I snorted and climbed into the coverall, which not only covered my shoes but was large enough that I could keep my purse under it and still maintain complete maneuverability.
Once we were suited up, Locryn handed us each a pair of heavy synthetic gloves—the type they seemed to use in labs that dealt with chemicals, which was not a great sign in my opinion—then opened the grate. It made no noise, despite looking rusted over.
“This first bit is more a water drain than a tunnel and can get pretty nasty. It’ll require you both to crawl, but it does open up into the main system after about ten minutes. Follow me.”
He jumped into the hole and disappeared, though the sound of his boots hitting solid ground echoed a few seconds later.
Mathi glanced at me. “You want me to go next and scare away the rats?”
I gave him a very unamused look. He laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
He sat on the edge, then lowered himself down. A few seconds later, he said, “Okay, Beth, your turn.”
I wrinkled my nose. “How bad is it?”
“It’s an old red-brick drain that’s obviously still connected to the system somewhere. Wet and nasty just about sums it up.”