Chapter Twenty-Two
Van
Switching to the right channel on the comms, I say, “We have secured The Owner, we’re bringing him out now. Have the transport and the convoy ready.”
“Yes, sir,” comes the reply.
I click off and turn to the others, “Reed, you keep hold of him. Coen, go ahead and clear the path in case anyone gets in the way. Doc and I will follow behind. He’s going straight into the van, and they’ll leave immediately to head to the portal and then on to the prison, to prevent any chance of escape and lessen the distress on any of the prisoners that are still here. ”
“Got it,” Reed says as he picks up The Owner like he weighs nothing.
We all get into the right formation as we head out the door.
We haven’t made it that far down the hallway when a door to the right of us opens, and Coen makes quick work of dispatching and securing the person who came out of it.
I call in to the team who are collecting the secured guards that we have captured before someone else can free them, and then we carry on.
When we push through the doors, the van is waiting right outside of them. It’s not only armored and can withstand most physical attacks, but it’s also protected against all things magical.
Reed isn’t gentle as he throws The Owner into the back of the van, and we secure the doors.
“All set,” I say to the driver. “You will be the middle van in the convoy, but switch it up occasionally to keep people guessing. Do not stop for any reason.”
“Understood,” he nods, thankfully taking me seriously.
I wait and watch them drive away before I turn back to the guys, “Back into the fray then guys.”
Coen grins, “I’m ready to get my fight on. I was getting fed up with having shit thrown at me.”
“Me too,” Doc grins.
I smile and silently thank whoever it is that’s in charge of these things that they brought these men into my life. Not many people understand the need to fight, for violence, and the need for justice like my team does, which is why they’re not just my team but my family as well.
We all head back inside, picking our way through the hallways and back to the main arena, where the fight is still going on.
I think it's kind of poetic that the place where the people who work for The Owner and have sold, beaten, and pitted the kidnaped prisoners against each other, is where some of them will lose their lives, and where all of them will find themselves captured.
It won’t make up for the amount of blood that has been spilt there, but it does offer a tiny amount of satisfaction.
When I read over the file, I learned that The Owner would make some of the kidnapped shifters and supernaturals fight against each other, and that the one who lost would lose their life.
All in the name of fucking entertainment.
I should have killed him.
Let’s end this.
Raiden
What the fuck?
I knock the guy out who I was playing with as I fight the urge to shift and use my wings to launch myself out of the way of the majority of the fight, so I can properly see if I saw what I think I just did.
I can’t do that though.
Not only because there’s actually quite a lot of the fight going on up there, Joey is up there kicking ass and so is Griff, but also because of the Reaper Council blah blah blah.
I’m so fucking sick of it.
If I’m being completely honest with myself, then I would admit that if it weren’t for the fact that we have so much going on at the moment, and a trip to the Reaper Council will not be a short one, then I would have just said fuck it and started using my magic at full strength.
My attention turns back to Ransom as I track his movements. He’s currently fighting a big, burly mother fucker, if he isn’t a bear shifter, I would be incredibly surprised, but my interest isn’t on him at all, nope, it’s on my friend.
Sure enough, just as the bear shifter launches himself to attack Ransom, he disappears and appears behind him, a feral smile on his face, his eyes glowing a bright blood red, as he takes off the shifter's head and then disappears again. My eyes scan the room, trying to find him, and when I finally do, my eyebrows hit my hairline. He’s managed to appear high up in the corner of the room.
I watch him launch himself at the guy who was about to take Joey out, take the fucker down, and then disappear again before the body hits the floor.
Again. What the fuck?
Ransom shouldn’t be able to do any of that, and his eyes have never turned the blood red that they just did.
He has always struggled with the more violent side of his magic, but this seems even more than that. I don’t know why though, and my curiosity is more than piqued, so I can’t help but carry on watching him closely despite the situation I’m in, I can do two things at once.
Case in point, the head of someone who tried to take mine hits the floor with a splat as my eyes scan the battle in front of me for where Ransom has got to.
He’s a fucking machine as he moves throughout the room. Calculated and precise. He stays and fights until he gets bored, then secures them or kills them and disappears again.
I lose track of him for a moment and then spin around as I hear a thump behind me.
“Are you okay?” Ransom asks me, “It’s not like you to not notice someone coming up behind you.”
“I was watching you,” I tell him honestly. “How the fuck are you travelling like that?”
Ransom grins, his red eyes lit with excitement as he answers me, “Through the shadows.”
Without explaining anything else because he’s a dick and he knows it’s going to drive me mad, he steps backward into a small puddle of shadows, and my eyes widen with disbelief as he disappears.
Unfortunately, I don’t have time to track him. I really shouldn’t have been tracking him anyway, and I’m damn lucky that Ransom was paying attention to me because whatever that fucker was going to do to me was most likely going to hurt. A lot.
Refocusing, I move through those who are left, securing those that I can and taking out those who don’t comply. Finally, the last supernatural falls, and my eyes scan the room looking for my family.
“Is everyone good?” I ask through the comms on the line that is only for us. As always, my family is always my first priority.
“I’m good, that was fun,” Neith’s voice comes through, and my eyes instantly find her as I start to make my way over to where she is.
I’m not the only one.
All of us are making our way to her, and I’m relieved to see that we’re all okay, a little bruised, and some of us have a couple of superficial wounds, but nothing worrying and nothing that Doc will even have to worry about healing.
Thank fuck.
I love what we do, but I hate that it could mean harm coming to one of us.
Once we’re all gathered together again, I open my mouth to double-check that everyone is as okay as they look when Griff’s eyes turn black, and he bows his head to stop anyone else from seeing.
We crowd closer to ensure that he has the privacy he needs and that no one else sees what’s happening.
Fortunately, the vision only lasts for a few seconds.
When his eyes clear, the shock in them is evident though, and he stares at Van.
Oh, this can’t be good.
“What?” Van asks, sounding unsure.
“Your new magic, the black water is from the River Styx, you are controlling the river that is the boundary between the living and the dead, and all that it entails,” Griff replies.
“What the fuck!” River exclaims.
“Did you say black water?” Neith asks, her eyebrows raised with surprise.
“Maybe we should talk about this back at House?” Coen suggests pointedly.
Van nods, “Good point. That does explain some things though.”
“Well, that’s two of you whose Choosing gifted magic has shown up while we’ve been here,” I say, and glance at Ransom.
He grins, his eyes flash red as he steps back into the pool of shadows behind him and disappears.
“Shut the fuck up!” Neith exclaims, gaining the attention of those around us, as more agents move in to help the wounded, clear the bodies, and move the ones that we have secured to the vans ready to be transported and processed. She winces, “Whoops.”
Ransom appears behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, kissing the side of her neck.
She melts into him as his lips tilt up, and he says, “I’ll explain more when we get home.”
“I can see the benefits already,” she teases. “So what’s next? Usually by this point, I’ve cleared out.”
“We need to catch up with Ty, and make sure everything went as smoothly as we hoped, and then we can head home,” Van replies.
River looks around, “Has anyone seen Trip?”
I point behind him to where Trip is leaning against the wall further up, his arms crossed over his chest as he observes everything, and everyone gives him a wide berth.
Neith
“Trip!” I yell to get his attention, and he immediately looks over and smiles slightly as he makes his way over to us.
His eyes are still very much those of whatever he shifts into, and I get the feeling that it’s a permanent thing, like Merrikh and his wolf eyes.
It’s really fucking cool, and slightly off-putting too.
He has the eyes of a predator, and the demeanor and power level to match.
“Hey,” he greets us as he reaches us.
I quickly go around and introduce everyone.
“Alright, let's go and find Ty, you can come with us if you want to, Trip?” Van offers.
Trip nods, but doesn’t say anything as he simply follows with the rest of us. His eyes darting around the room, and his senses on high alert as we move through the hallways and out of the front door.
“Did you get The Owner?” Trip asks when we’re outside and heading in the direction of Ty, weaving through the crowd of people who are out here offering supplies, medical care, and support to those who have finally been set free.
Van nods, “Yes. He has been secured and is already on route to the strongest supernatural prison we have.”
Trip nods as tension drains slightly from his shoulders. “Good.”
Ransom frowns, “I’m sorry you didn’t get to him first.”
“Me too,” Trip replies. He sighs, “I suppose that for the exposure of those who have bought from him and for the amount of information that he has, it is better that he is alive. For now.”
“Agreed. Although I also agree that it's shitty that we need him alive,” Van replies to Trip, and Trip’s eyebrows rise in surprise.
We’re not your typical SID agents.
At least that’s what I’m learning about the guys, they all take a more brutal approach, which is necessary, but is where some of the others may hesitate.
My men never hesitate.
It’s hot.
“Hey guys,” Ty greets us as we arrive at where he’s talking to another team. “The Owner convoy just made their second check-in with no issues.”
“Thank fuck for that,” I mutter.
I need to let Rana know that it’s okay and she doesn’t need to run, but I’m going to wait until he’s actually in the prison first. That’s what I would want.
Ty’s gaze drifts to Trip, “I saw you in there, you’re fucking good at what you do. We could use more agents like you. I know you aren’t interested at the moment, but take my card and give me a call if you change your mind. The money is good,” he says as he hands a card to as surprised looking Trip.
I smile. I think we all know how unlikely it is that he takes Ty up on that offer.
“Thanks,” Trip says simply, as he takes the card.
Ty nods, “I’ll keep you guys updated on The Owner.
Everything went without a hitch, and we had minimal casualties.
The surprise factor definitely worked in our favor.
We have a specialist team heading in to gather The Owners files, and we’ve got more teams combing the property for evidence, and all of that sort of thing.
We’ll figure out who he sold the wolves and supernaturals to, and put the buyers away for a long time as well. ”
“You’re going after the buyers as well?” Trip asks with surprise.
“Abso-fucking-lutely.” Ty replies firmly.
Trip looks down at the card in his hand, and then holds it back out to Ty, “You’re going to need this then.”
“My card?” Ty asks, sounding confused.
Trip’s lips tilt up into a weary smirk, “Look again.”
“No fucking way,” River exclaims excitedly as we all look back at the card in Trip’s hand and see that it’s now somehow a USB stick.
Ty smiles as he takes it, his eyes lit with memories, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen magic like that.”
Trip watches Ty closely but doesn’t say anything as if he’s waiting to see what Ty will do next.
“That was so fucking cool, man,” Coen says to Trip. “I bet you’d be hell to beat in a poker game.”
Coen’s teasing has effectively broken the tension, and Trip grins, “Don’t play against me if you want to keep your money.”
Ty chuckles and holds up the USB, “What’s on this?”
Trip’s expression becomes serious, “The names and locations of every kidnapped wolf or supernatural going back to the beginning of the sales. I kept tabs on them all. It also contains a list of all of the buyers, the original ones, and subsequent ones if the prisoners were then sold on. It contains all the information about the inner workings of the sales, including the locations of the sales when they have been held in other realms, as well as accounts and identities used.”
My mouth drops open in shock.
Holy shit, that’s a lot of information. It’s realistically more information than we could have ever hoped to get by ourselves, and if we even got close to it, then it would have taken us years and years.
He’s fast-tracked this whole thing.
“Wow,” Reed mutters. “That’s incredibly impressive. How did you manage to find out the names of the ones who came before you?”
“I’m older than I look,” Trip replies simply.
I try not to look shocked. I have no idea how old that makes him, but I am fairly certain that it makes him really old. He barely looks thirty-five, and yet I know the sales have been around since the gates closed in Trieneliea, and that was forty-something years ago.
“Three hundred and sixty-seven,” the Voices whisper to me. It seems like now that I have acknowledged that they aren’t actually the dead, they’re being a bit freer with the information that they share with me.
Of course, I’m still me, so I probably don’t react how a normal person would and keep my mouth shut.
“Holy shit, you’re three hundred and sixty-seven years old?” I exclaim without thinking.
His gaze snaps to mine, his eyebrows rising in surprise before he masks his expression, “You’re not what you appear to be, are you?”
“Neither are you,” I reply simply with a smile because I like him and because his words have all put the guys on edge, and although I know that River and Ransom like him as well, and they all understand that he means something to Rana, I also know that they won’t tolerate a threat to me.