Chapter 17 #2
Director Starling’s perfectly trimmed brows rose in twin golden arches.
She might as well have guffawed with laughter.
“Commander Walsh, you seem to suffer from the delusion I fear retribution from you. If that is the case, you are sorely mistaken.” Once more, she turned on her heel and marched off.
I bit the inside of my already raw cheek to prevent myself from snickering.
When fresh blood pooled in my mouth, I opted to spit it out instead of swallowing it down again.
The saliva hit the floor in a splatter of red, and the entire troop collectively jumped backward.
It was substantially harder to restrain myself from outright laughter as I followed the director.
We walked in silence down the corridor until it became uncharacteristically dim. The walls were still smooth and relatively new, but a pervasive dankness permeated the air with each additional step forward, as if we were venturing deep into the hollows of the earth.
“You wouldn’t by chance be leading me to the deep, dark hole that no one ever thinks to look for, would you?”
She offered me a twitch of a smile that didn’t touch her eyes.
“Seven hells. Seriously?”
“Well, that really depends.” She pulled to a stop in front of what appeared to be a blank steel wall, then placed her hand on a discreet panel. Without so much as a ripple to denote the shift, the opaque wall became translucent.
“On what?”
“If anyone comes to look for you.” She returned her attention to the panel, punched in a code too quick to follow, and leaned forward so it could scan her retina.
With a subtle hiss of pressurized air, the now-translucent wall slid open.
She gestured for me to step inside, and I did so without argument.
I crossed the threshold and turned to look back at her, surprised at the compassion I found in her eyes. Though perhaps I shouldn’t have been, after all, aside from Elijah, she was the only person in the world who knew I’d never wanted this job.
“Director Starling—”
She held up a hand. “Save it for the trial, Detective. Anything you share with me now, I will be compelled to share later.”
“Understood, Director.” I glanced around at the cell that would be my home for the foreseeable future.
All in all, it could have been worse. The bed had an actual mattress with blankets, although both were thin.
The walls were a soft shade of green, and the facilities at least had the illusion of privacy.
I turned my attention back to the woman with whom I’d always felt an odd sort of kinship.
“You should know I have certain… medical requirements now.”
“I’m well aware of your condition, Detective Hart.”
I smothered my surprise that she knew about the moon sickness and couldn’t help but wonder what else she knew.
“It may take some time to find someone… qualified and to provide them with the necessary clearance. Meanwhile, the resident physician will be along shortly to examine your current injuries.
I knew better than to correct her by pointing out that lycan healing would take care of most of it. Instead, I said the only thing that really mattered: “Thank you.”
Her hand hovered over the panel, and she looked at me, her eyes a peculiar mix of sadness and fierce determination. “I will see you again, Joshua.”
The wall slid shut, cutting off all sound beyond myself, and returned to its opaque start. Ambient lighting instantly filled the room with a dim glow.
Out of one cage and into another.
I sank to the floor, having completely forgotten about my shoulder. Finally, I let myself think about the one thing I’d avoided for the last hour. The bond was thin and flimsy, but it was still there. Even all alone in the Pit of Despair, Elijah was with me.
Elijah
“Why won’t you tell me where he is?” I shouted at Remus for probably the fiftieth time since we’d arrived at the cottage, Officer Mack in tow. Eric had arrived a short while later and was now watching me with wary eyes.
“Because I don’t know.” Remus crossed his arms. Even divested of most of his tactical gear, the were struck an imposing figure.
I dragged my fingers through my hair and contemplated pulling it out. “But you said you knew the place they were taking him.”
Remus let out a heavy sigh and dropped the defensive stance. “Everyone knows of the Pit of Despair, but no one actually knows where it is,” he explained yet again. “That’s a clearance I don’t have.”
I rubbed my chest while I paced the room. The Pit of Despair was right. The bond was so thin that it was incredible it was still intact. Wherever Josh was being held was a hell of a lot farther than he’d been the last time he left.
Jersey.
A vague recollection of his saying something about assisting another detective on a hunt in New Jersey surfaced. That at least gave me a heading. At the very least, I knew he was farther than that.
Or is he?
Pit of Despair sounded like it could be anywhere, and it definitely sounded like magic was involved. Was it possible that magic could interfere with the bond? At this point, I wasn’t willing to rule anything out. I just wanted Josh back. Now.
“Would you sit down already? You’re making people anxious.” I shot Eric a death glare that he didn’t bat an eye at.
Stubborn ass Beta.
Suddenly, the front door burst open. All eyes immediately turned to see Tommy stumble inside, looking borderline manic.
“Where’s Josh? I need to talk to him.”
The innocence of the question stabbed through my heart. I sank heavily onto the couch that I’d been snuggling with Josh on less than eighteen hours ago. “I can’t. Someone else take this one.”
Eric passed me my discarded cup of tea while Remus stepped towards Tommy.
Tommy’s frantic gaze bounced between all four of us before finally settling on the man approaching him. “Who the hell are you? What’s going on? Where’s Josh?”
Each question was like a punch straight to my gut. I took the proffered cup and gave Eric a thankful nod when I smelled the strong burn of whiskey emanating from the container.
“My name is Remus Andana.”
“Why do you look like you’re military?” Tommy took a half-step back. After what he’d been through with his own arrest, I didn’t blame him.
Remus held up both hands in a placating gesture. “Because I am. I’m part of an elite tactical force reserved for highly dangerous missions. Black Ops kind of stuff.”
“H-how do you know Josh? Why are you here?”
“My team often partners with Detective Hart on assignments. As for why I’m here…” Remus glanced at me, then turned his focus back to Tommy. “The detective… he…he’s been arrested.”
I looked up in time to see Tommy’s eyes go wide. “What? What for?”
“War crimes.”
The teacup I was holding flew across the room to shatter against the far wall. “Bullshit! He was arrested because his mother is a manipulative bitch who has done nothing but ruin Josh’s life since the second he was born. Evil snake has probably been biding her time to turn him in.”
“Why would Josh’s mom turn him in?” Officer Mack glanced around in open confusion as all our gazes fell on him. “What? What am I missing?”
“Josh’s mom is Beatrice Harker.” I could kiss Eric for saving me from having to answer.
Mack frowned. “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”
Eric spared me a sympathetic look, but it was Remus who offered the clarification.
“The Harkers are an ancient family line that has devoted their lives to the hunting and subsequent extermination of lycanthropes.” Remus blinked and turned to look at me, his face plastered with numb shock. “Josh is a Harker?”
Tommy and Eric both nodded. Officer Mack looked more confused than ever at everyone’s extreme reaction to the news.
“That makes no sense.” Remus shook his head. “Why would she turn in her own son?”
“In case you missed the memo, she fucking hates him,” Eric supplied.
Unwilling to accept the only answer we had, Remus pressed. “But wouldn’t exposing him risk exposing herself?”
My shoulders sagged in defeat as the sudden burst of anger left me. I rubbed my forehead against the pounding starting there. “I just don’t understand why she waited so long. It’s been months. Why now?”
Remus’s brow pulled down in a sharp V. “Wait. You didn’t know?”
A fresh wave of anxiety flooded through me. “Didn’t know what?”
“We’ve been searching for the detective for months. We looked everywhere. Ran down all known contacts. Even went to his actual house in upstate Washington.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. He’s been here the whole time.
It’s not like he was hiding.” Even as I said it, pieces started clicking into place.
Josh’s unwillingness to leave the cottage for anything other than the doctor or the change, and only when he absolutely had to.
His evasive answers when I pushed for more.
How, no matter what I tried, we always ended up staying home.
Remus shook his head and confirmed my suspicions.
“But he was. Detective Hart apparently had a very… unique medical plan. The second the hospital scanned him for intake, he went dark. Like dark-dark. It was like he literally fell out of existence. I don’t even want to know how much money it took to secure both a cloaking and an aversion spell that thorough.
Though after seeing his house, I imagine he can afford it. ”
“But why now? If he had that kind of magic at his disposal, why not just keep it up?”
Remus shrugged. “My best guess is that it was the extent of the spells. Even high-class magic has its limits. Because exactly six months after he vanished, down to the minute, he suddenly popped back up again. A retrieval team was scrambled, and five minutes later we walked into the Adler Springs precinct. You already know the rest.”
“‘Walked’ isn’t exactly the way I would put it,” Officer Mack grumbled.
I tuned both of them out as Remus turned to argue semantics with him.
The last pieces were falling into place, and it wasn’t making the pill any easier to swallow.
Why, today of all days, Josh wanted to clear his desk.
His determination not to be anywhere near the cottage.
His familiar appearance. The lack of weaponry. How he kept checking the time.
“Son of a badger! He knew. Bastard fucking knew this whole time and never said a word.”
Eric shot me a knowing look.
“Shut up. It’s not the same.”
Eric simply rolled his eyes and looked away. It appeared some things hadn’t changed at all. Josh and I were still absolute shit about sharing important information with each other.
“I have to find him. I won’t let him face this alone.”
Remus nodded. “I’m overdue to report back. I’ll try to find out what I can.” He shouldered his discarded gear, then turned to Tommy. “We’ll find him.”
I couldn’t help but be impressed with how well Remus was handling everything.
All things considered, he was doing substantially better than I would have been.
I couldn’t even imagine how difficult a conversation he faced telling his family and old pack about his shift in allegiance.
Not to mention, he’d disobeyed a direct order from his commanding officer.
“Remus.”
He glanced back at me. “Yeah?”
“Good luck and… thank you.”
His smile was substantially more optimistic than I felt. He clapped Tommy on the shoulder, instinctively recognizing his packmate, and left the cottage.
“I should be going too,” Mack said and quickly scurried out the front door, closing it behind him.
Tommy’s gaze followed them out, then turned back to me and Eric. “Someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?”