21. Rafferty
Rafferty
V iper’s been gone forty minutes. He is a ruthless killer on the hunt. At this point, either Lloyd Beacon is dead, or Viper is.
I’m positioned at the main entrance, using the security monitors to track movement around the perimeter. The Graduate forces have been shifting position for the past ten minutes, and I don’t like what I’m seeing. They’re not setting up for an assault, they’re setting up for a fucking reception.
“Blake,” I call softly, not taking my eyes off the screens. “You need to see this.”
He moves to my shoulder, squinting at the monitors. “What am I looking at?”
“Count the vehicles.” I point to the feed from the north gate. “Three black SUVs. High-end, diplomatic plates. And look at the personnel deployment.”
The Graduate soldiers have formed a perimeter, but they’re facing outward, not inward. They’re not trying to keep us in, they’re keeping others out. Creating a secure zone for whatever’s coming next.
“They’re expecting company,” Blake murmurs.
“Official company. Look at the way they’re dressed now.” I switch to the east gate camera. The mercenaries in tactical gear have been replaced by men in expensive suits. Still armed, but trying to look legitimate. “This isn’t a siege anymore. It’s a negotiation.”
Venetia appears beside us, studying the screens with a frown. “They can negotiate with this,” she snarls and slams her stiletto blade into the wooden table. It vibrates loudly, making me smile.
I switch between cameras, mapping their positions. “They’ve got the academy surrounded, but they’re not planning to take it by force. They’re planning to walk through the front door and make you an offer you can’t refuse.”
“Well, they’re wrong about that.”
Viper bursts through the door to the security lodge, his frantic gaze landing on Venetia and relaxing slightly. “Lloyd’s dead. But the water supply is compromised.”
“How compromised?”
“He poisoned it. I shut off the lab supply, but there might be more.”
“Blake, we need those building schematics. Find us alternate water sources, emergency supplies, anything.”
“Great, are we going hunting underground again?” Venetia groans.
“Probably,” Blake says, too cheerfully. He’s probably revelling in all of this Indiana Jones-type shit.
The lights flicker once, then twice, before dying completely. Emergency lighting kicks in a few seconds later, bathing everything in an eerie red glow that makes us all look like extras in a horror film.
“What is going on?” Venetia asks.
“Good question,” Blake murmurs.
“Did Lloyd mess with the electricity as well?” I ask Viper.
“He didn’t say. He only mentioned the water, but then I killed him, so…” He shrugs.
“Great,” I mutter. “Viper, keep an eye on the perimeter. Blake, get building schematics up. We need to know where the main panel is.”
Blake taps away and then grunts. “The main electrical panel is located behind this office.”
I turn to a closed door at the end and stride over.
Opening it, I peer inside to find the panels for the entire campus.
There are burn marks around three separate circuit breakers, but they are not caused by an overload.
These are precise, deliberate cuts. Someone who knew exactly what they were doing has systematically disabled our power grid.
“Sabotage,” I call out, examining the damage more closely. “It looks like they’ve taken out the main feed.”
“What about generators?” Venetia asks, and a moment later, the lights come back on.
“Are you magic?” I ask with a smile, coming back out.
“Ha, I wish,” she replies, snapping her fingers. “Can we fix this?”
“With what we’ve got here? Nope. I need to see what’s going on,” I say, turning back to the cams that are flickering erratically. “I’m going up.”
“Clock tower?” Venetia asks.
I nod. “Blake, hand me those binoculars.”
He passes them over, and we all move out, heading over the quad to the clock tower door. We take the stairs quickly and silently, sticking together.
Lifting the binoculars, I focus on the tree line beyond the academy’s main gate.
Three black SUVs roll up, and I frown. “Something’s happening.
” As I watch, more vehicles arrive from the north.
Expensive cars, the kind that scream money and power.
“We’ve got exclusive company,” I announce, tracking the new arrivals through the binoculars.
“Multiple vehicles, different approaches. This isn’t Graduate reinforcement, this is something else entirely. ”
Viper appears beside me. “How many?”
“At least a dozen vehicles so far, maybe more. They’re maintaining distance from the Graduate positions, but they’re definitely coordinating.” I adjust the focus, trying to get a better look at the occupants. “Expensive transport, professional drivers. Oh… okay.”
My statement is punctuated by the loud roar of machine gun fire.
“What the fuck?” Venetia snaps.
“That would be the families,” I say grimly. “They have just taken out the Graduate guards. No need to guess why they’re here.”
“They’re here about their dead children,” Venetia says quietly. “The families want answers. This is bad.”
“You think?” Viper asks, but I swear that’s a smirk on his face.
“We’re looking at a gathering of the most dangerous people in Britain, all focused on this academy.” I lower the binoculars, processing the tactical implications.
Venetia moves to stand beside me, studying the lights in the distance. “They are not letting anything stop them.”
“Can you blame them?”
We lock gazes. “No. But that means they’re looking for someone to blame.”
“They’re coming whether we like it or not. If they have come so heavily armed as to gun down the Graduate guard, what else have they brought?”
The tactical situation is clear now. We’re not dealing with a siege anymore. We’re dealing with a gathering of crime families who want explanations, answers, and probably revenge.
“Is running an option?” Venetia asks dryly. I know she doesn’t mean it. She will face anyone and anything because she is a queen.
“We’re going to have to face this head-on.”
“We’re not opening the drawbridge or the gates,” Viper states.
“Agreed. That is not happening.”
“Then what?”
We stare at each other for a moment.
“I guess that depends on whether they’re planning on forcing their way in or not.”
The siege of St. Sebastian’s has become something far more dangerous right now, and we need to give them the answers they’re looking for, or potentially face them blowing us up where we stand.
“We leave them to make the move,” Blake says. “This is our turf. They are the ones who need to make the first move.”
“Agreed,” I mutter and lift the binoculars again.
And so we wait.