Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
Tori
I so didn’t belong in this meeting.
Two worn folding tables had been pushed together in a corner of the musty, poorly lit warehouse, and sitting around them were GMs and officers from across the city.
I, along with a handful of other lower-rank guild members, formed a loose perimeter.
My pen was poised above the pad of paper on my lap as I watched the proceedings.
Just in front of me were Aaron and Girard.
Lee from Odin’s Eye was accompanied by Izzah, and beside her were Kai and Makiko.
The Pandora Knights GM, a tall woman with dark, curly hair even wilder than mine, was there, and I recognized the Sea Devils GM and first officer.
The rest were strangers whose names I hadn’t been able to jot down fast enough during the rapid introductions.
Muffled clatters, clanks, rumbles, and booms formed a constant racket outside the cavernous warehouse.
The Sea Devils had provided the meeting spot: an old storage facility in an otherwise bustling container terminal along the inlet.
Despite the late hour, the entire site was alive with shipping activity, and amid the trains, trucks, and dozens of other vehicles, no one noticed us drive straight into the unmarked warehouse.
Captain Blythe sat on the opposite side of the makeshift table, listening with the rapt attention of a wolf on a hunt. Agent Park sat beside her, scribbling notes.
“We counted eighteen vehicles and forty-two SI agents entering or leaving the area over the past twenty-four hours,” Aaron informed the group.
“We also tracked sixteen SI agents from the precinct to the location and vice versa. Our telethesians identified the trails of five of the arrested mythics we’ve been searching for near the grounds.
Including,” he added to Captain Blythe, “the agent you asked us to find.”
She nodded and looked to the Odin’s Eye pair. “Lee?”
“We found similar activity in the area,” the GM said. “And we identified physical and technological security covering the entire perimeter. Getting closer to learn more will be risky.”
“My teams haven’t found any other locations where SI agents appear to be congregating aside from the precinct,” the Pandora Knights GM said.
Captain Blythe swiveled her attention to a trio of mythics who hadn’t spoken yet. They sat with a small but noticeable buffer between them and the rest of the group.
The man in the middle, a grizzled older guy with an ugly scar across the bridge of his nose, gave the captain a slow nod. “We swept everything—the Eastside, the docks, Gastown, Strathcona. Wherever those bastards are sleeping at night, it isn’t in the central business district.”
The Pandora Knights GM curled her upper lip disdainfully but didn’t comment. A younger guy in the trio caught the look and smirked at her.
I never thought I’d see MPD agents, guild officers, and rogues banding together to fight a common enemy. Captain Blythe hadn’t been kidding when she said the lines of allegiance had been redrawn.
She rested her elbows on the table and leaned forward, her sharp blue eyes focused on the large city map spread out across the wooden surface—and on one spot in particular. The spot our teams had been investigating.
“So, they’re running everything through a single staging area. One with substantial pre-existing infrastructure they can utilize.” The captain raised an eyebrow at Girard. “Give us the layout.”
“About a hundred and sixty acres,” Girard said, tapping each individual location as he ran through the list. “Two indoor arenas, an exhibition facility, an outdoor amphitheater, an amusement park, a casino, a racecourse and barns, an auditorium, soccer fields, multiple parks and nature reserves, and ample parking.”
He added the last item with the jaunty tone of a sales ad.
No one reacted. Every Vancouverite was at least somewhat familiar with the grounds of the Pacific National Exhibition, or the PNE as we all called it.
During the summer, it was one of the busiest and most entertaining places in the city.
This winter, however, the whole place was shut down for utility work and site upgrades in preparation for a new amphitheater, making it prime real estate for Vancouver’s SI invaders.
“How long have they been there?” the grizzled rogue asked.
“We pulled traffic cam footage of large trucks entering the PNE grounds as far back as early September,” an officer from the Sea Devils said, adding a packet of photos to the table. “They’ve been planning this for months.”
“As Aaron said, our teams counted forty-two SI agents,” Kai commented. “Have we confirmed their total numbers in the city?”
“Our count was around forty as well,” Lee said.
The grizzled rogue scoffed. “Based on what we saw last week, their numbers are over a hundred.”
The Pandora Knights GM grimaced. “I also believe they number closer to one hundred, though they’re rarely in groups of more than six. It’s impossible to get an accurate count.”
I jotted that unpleasant speculation in my notebook.
Captain Blythe leaned back in her chair. “The most pressing question now is what their objectives are. So far, they’ve focused on undermining the guilds by abusing MPD policy and intimidating the mythic community through surprise raids and abductions.”
“If that’s all they were planning,” Girard said, “they wouldn’t need so many agents or a large staging area like the PNE.”
The captain nodded. “The Consilium doesn’t take half-measures. They’ve marked us as an obstacle in their bid for control, and they intend to crush us. We must assume the only reason they haven’t is because they aren’t ready yet.”
“What are they waiting for?” Girard asked.
An ominous silence answered him.
My phone vibrated against my leg, making me jump. Ducking behind Aaron and Girard, I slid it out of my pocket and glanced at the screen. Ezra’s name stood out in bold letters. He knew where we were. He wouldn’t be interrupting us with a call unless it was urgent.
I tapped the answer button, tucked the phone against my ear, and whispered, “Ezra, what’s happened?”
Aaron and Girard turned in their seats to look at me.
“They raided Tabitha’s apartment,” Ezra said. “Less than thirty minutes ago. I just arrived.”
I launched to my feet. Every single person around the table was watching me now, but I didn’t care. I thrust my hand at Aaron. He passed me his keys, and I sprinted toward his SUV.
“Is Tabitha okay?” I demanded as I unlocked the vehicle. “Did they take her?”
“She’s in bad shape, but she’ll recover.” Ezra’s voice roughened, his next words clipped. “They took Sabrina.”
The elevator was too slow. I couldn’t bear to stand there waiting, so I took the stairs, racing up to Tabitha’s apartment as fast as my feet could carry me.
When I shoved through the stairwell door, I found what must be every tenant who lived on this floor loitering in the hallway. A police officer was interviewing someone while others watched with morbid curiosity or worried frowns.
I pushed through them, making liberal use of my elbows when they didn’t get out of my way.
“Tori!”
Just ahead, a familiar man stood in front of an open apartment door. Splinters of wood littered the carpet.
“Justin!” I ran the last few steps and grabbed him in a quick hug. “Who called you in?”
“Ezra. He wanted someone to stave off the cops.” Justin glanced at the officer keeping the bystanders occupied. “I already talked to Joe.”
Having a former police officer—now a mythic-connected PI—as my brother was handy in all sorts of ways.
“Go in,” he murmured. “I’ve got the door.”
“Thanks.”
I crossed the threshold with my heart drumming against my ribs.
Whatever comfort the spacious apartment—with its moody navy palette and warm wood furniture—might have offered had been trampled by the violence that had taken place within its walls.
Dining chairs lay on their sides, one broken.
Melting ice covered the granite countertops, blood splattered the floor, and someone had blown a hole in the living room TV.
Tabitha was sitting on her sofa. Sanjana was crouched in front of her, a medical bag beside her as she dabbed gently at Tabitha’s bleeding lip. Bruises and swelling marred her normally smooth, porcelain skin, her arm was in a makeshift sling, and three of her fingers were splinted.
“Oh my god,” I whispered, my throat tightening.
Tabitha glanced at me. One of her eyes was a purple, puffy mess, but even with her injuries, her expression was full of fury.
Ezra stepped out of what I assumed was the pantry with a black garbage bag. Our gazes met, his solid presence steadying me.
“How many of those bastards were there?” I asked.
“Four,” Ezra murmured, setting the garbage bag on the counter where a broom leaned.
Four against one. I had no doubt the SI agents could’ve incapacitated Tabitha without beating the shit out of her, but all evidence thus far suggested that beating the shit out of people was their MO.
Crouching, I picked up the card lying on the floor amidst shards of glass—a tarot card with a black and gold pattern on the back. I turned it over.
Judgment. Above the boldly lettered title of the card was an illustration of a trumpet and a crowd of people reaching up toward it as though drawn to its call. A sunburst filled the sky behind the instrument.
“Sabrina came out of the guest room with that card.”
I looked up. Tabitha was watching me, the fingers of her unbroken hand clenched tight.
“She said …” Tabitha exhaled sharply. “She asked me not to fight back, because we couldn’t change what would happen next. The SI agents broke through the door a moment later. I had no idea they were coming.”
Chills washed over my skin, leaving goosebumps across my arms. “Did Sabrina say anything else?”
Tabitha pressed a hand to her forehead, hiding most of her face. “She was yelling at them to stop hurting me. She was crying. I couldn’t—” Her voice cracked. “I should have protected her.”
Sanjana put a consoling hand on Tabitha’s shoulder. “You did everything you could.”
My throat constricted even tighter until I could scarcely breathe. Holding Sabrina’s tarot card to my chest, I fled the room before the tears burning my eyes could escape.
As I stepped into the hall, Ezra was a comforting presence just behind me. Justin was half a dozen steps away, warding off two busybody neighbors.
I turned to Ezra. He wrapped me tightly in his arms, and I pressed my face against his shoulder, still fighting the tears. This wasn’t the time for weeping. This was the time for rage.
“Why Sabrina?” I spoke into his shoulder, my voice muffled. “If they want to hurt our guild, why leave Tabitha, an officer? I don’t get it.”
“I don’t understand it either.”
I gripped the front of his jacket. Had the SI found out that Sabrina was more than a mere diviner? I remembered Kai telling me about the mentalist who’d disappeared from MiraCo, and the allucinator, another rare type of psychic the Pandora Knights had been searching for.
Then again, did I really care why they’d abducted my friend?
I lifted my head. The urge to sob had passed.
I was ready to tear out some SI throats.
I should’ve been ready weeks ago. Why had I been so complacent?
Why hadn’t I been pushing for action before they took Sabrina?
Why had we been waiting around this whole time while they were stealing other mythics from their homes?
“We found where they’ve been hiding,” I growled. “So we can get Sabrina back—and everyone else those fuckers have abducted.”
“We will,” a voice said from behind me.
Jolting, I pulled away from Ezra to find Aaron and Kai striding down the hall toward us, their expressions promising pain and punishment for the SI agents who’d dared to touch our guildmates.
“That’s exactly the plan,” Aaron told us. “We’re done letting them run rampant through our city, and getting our people back is the first step.”
“Good,” I said, my fingers biting into the Judgment card. “Let’s make them pay.”