Bad Blood (Book 4 of The Warden series) (16 page)

“I’ve never withheld my forgiveness from you Danato, for anything.” Danato felt the impact of those words like a stake to the heart. He took a deep breath hoping the desire to weep would pass. He knew that might be the exception to Belus’s forgiveness. “So, how do I get an invite to this poker night?”

Danato laughed thankful for the levity. “I’m not sure Ethan had a chance to get it in order before he left, but I’ll make sure your name makes the cut.”

Belus nodded his appreciation. “You do realize this desk was already the ugliest desk there was.”

“Yeah, I know,” Danato said looking down at the disgraceful evidence of his temper. “I’ll be lucky if I don’t get a card table next.”

28

Belus made up some excuse to leave the office. They both knew it was purely for the purpose of separating themselves from the uncomfortable after argument small talk, but Danato was also glad to have some time to think.

He managed to dent his desk back up, but it still left a crack in the center that he would have to cover to keep from getting cut. He made a mental note to requisition some duct tape from supply and continued to organize his desk again.

He spent the better part of an hour trying to not think about what he thought he had wanted time to think about. He was relieved, albeit temporarily, when Duke burst into his office. “Warden, sir,” Duke stammered as he gave Danato a salute that was neither necessary nor part of any protocol that he had instigated. “I’m sorry to barge in, but I think I need your advice.”

“On what?”

“Well, I was going to relieve Chuck from his post on the time bubble, and I found Cori in there with that electric elemental guy.”

“What?” Danato stood up so fast his chair fell over.

“She had her gun on him,” Duke added with waving hands. “She said she had everything under control and not to worry.”

“Not to worry? Why didn’t she report this?”

“She said that it was very important that I don’t tell the guys upstairs. She said that she knew I was probably going to go straight to you, but she wanted me to tell you not to tell the military anything, until she had a chance to explain things. She said if anyone sounded the alarms, they’d have hell to pay.”

“I don’t understand this. Efrat is dangerous. If he’s out we need to get the military to suppress him immediately.” Danato grabbed for the phone, but Duke ripped the receiver from his hand and smashed it against the side of the desk. The plastic shattered leaving its guts hanging by wires. For good measure, Duke ripped the metal listening device out and stomped on it with his foot.

Danato stared at him in awe of his audacity. Duke looked back at him with horrified eyes, like he couldn’t believe what he had just done either.

“I beg your pardon, Warden, sir, but she made me swear on Grammy’s grave that if you tried to call upstairs I would do anything in my power to stop you.”

Danato could see the abject fear in Duke’s eyes. He knew how loyal Duke was to Ethan. Consequently, he had shared that loyalty with Cori, but he had no idea he would take on Danato’s wrath for her. Either, he and Cori were better friends than he thought, or his Grammy was a
very
dear woman to him.

“Okay, Duke, start from the beginning. Is Cori hurt?”

“No, sir, she said she’s fine. She said she just needed to babysit Efrat for a little while, and that it was all for the best, she hoped.”

“What the hell is she thinking?”

“I said something similar to that myself, and then I tried to get close to her.” Duke paused licking his lips. “She then turned her weapon on me.”

“She threatened you?” Danato couldn’t believe his ears. There had to be more to this situation than what Duke was seeing.

“She said that she didn’t want to hurt me, but that a wounded man would rest better on her conscience than a dead one.”

“What does that mean?”

“I was going to ask that myself, but Efrat said he had had enough, and he gave me a ripe old zap in my butt, and told me to get the hell out of there. I hightailed it right down here.”

“Alright, I need to get up there and see what’s going on.” Danato grabbed his cane and stormed from the office with Duke right on his trail.

29

The elevator
ponked
on the fifth floor and Danato stepped out along with Duke and three other guards he had lassoed on his way up. He pushed through the double doors and found the room empty. He observed the glimmering globe before him, but no one was inside. Above in the lookout, the guard Chuck was passed out.

“Wake him.” He pointed up to him. While two of them checked on Chuck, Belus came into the room behind them winded and followed by the guard Danato had sent to fetch him.

“What’s going on?” Belus asked panting. “He said it was an emergency.”

“It is,” Danato said. “Duke saw Cori with Efrat. She seems to have taking him hostage for some reason, but now I don’t know where she is.”

“We need to sound the alarm, and get the military down here to subdue him.”

“No, sir,” Duke nearly jumped into Danato’s face. “My Grammy will haunt me from now to eternity, if I break my word.”

“Yes, yes, Duke.” Danato calmed him before gently shoving him away. “For now Belus, we need to just find her. She has some explaining to do. I’m not entirely sure she’s not off her rocker, or under the influence of something.”

“All the more reason to get more people involved.”

“No!” Duke said urgently.

“Duke, shut-up.” Danato threw a fretful hand over his shoulder at him. “We will find Cori, and determine her reasons for making Duke swear on his Grammy’s grave not to let us call in the military, and then we will determine what course of action to take. For the time being, I would like to give her a little leeway, at least for the sake of potential poltergeists.” Danato rolled his eyes as Duke thanked him profusely and did the sign of the cross.

“Are you sure
you’re
not under the influence of anything?” Belus asked.

“No more than usual.” Danato turned away from Belus as the guard Chuck joined them. “What happened to you?” he asked him.

“I don’t remember sir. I got Cori out of the bubble, and then I went back up to my post. I don’t remember anything more until now.”

“He must have knocked you out. We need to find them now. I want all of you to do a silent search down from here. When you find them corner them and report to us before you take them into custody.” The guards filed away to their assignment. Belus hung back with Danato. He waited for the impending questions about why they weren’t following protocol.

“She doesn’t want us to tell the military that Efrat is out?”

“Yes, I’m trying to give her a little trust here, rather than jump to conclusions about her motives.”

“That’s not what I’m getting at,” Belus said with consternation etched in his face. “Why don’t they already know he’s out?”

30

Danato entered his code for the elemental entrance. The military rented the entire top floor, but similar to the transmorph level it was mostly dead space. Since they only housed the four prisoners, they had bricked off the remainder, to minimize their movement. Trying to keep from alarming the floor, he opened the door just enough to peek in.

On the wall, caddy-corner to the door, held a lookout tower similar to the one for the time bubble only bigger. The guards posted in and above it were bent over their stations passed out like Chuck had been.

Danato slipped the door shut and looked back at Belus. “They’re all out cold,” Danato whispered.

“What about the other elementals?” Belus asked.

“Do you want to peak your head in to see if they’re awake?”

Belus glared, but didn’t volunteer to do it. “There is no way that Efrat got the drop on all the guards and all of them. They must be in there.”

“If they are, then why? With all the guards passed out, why aren’t they trying to escape?” Danato asked rhetorically.

“You don’t suppose they are working together on this?” Belus asked moving away from the door back to the waiting elevator. They stepped in and Danato thought about the ramifications of the elementals working side by side in a civil plot to escape.

“What if Cori did see Efrat that day she got caught by the transmorph? He could have been in and out of his cage dozens of times since then.”

“Someone would have seen,” Belus said, but he didn’t sound convinced.

“The transmorph level is nearly empty. He could jump in a cell pretend to be locked in, and who would question him if they assumed he was impersonating himself. The time bubble only has one guard posted. He could have knocked them out like Chuck.”

“They would report that,” Belus said certain this time.

“Not if they thought they had fallen asleep on the job,” Danato argued. “Come on, Belus, do you really think anyone is going to admit that to either of us.”

“What about the men upstairs? There’s got to be eight of them passed out. They aren’t all going to wake up at the same time.”

Danato thought about that. “If the elementals are working together, they might just start up a fight when he gets back. All they need to do is have enough hail of fire to wake them into a firefight. Anyone questioning the lost time would assume they were rendered unconscious by the attack. As long as they make the final battle last long enough, the men won’t realize how much time has actually passed between when they went out, and when they finally subdued them. You know how long their fights can last. I’ve heard of them doing two hour shift rotation on the worst of days.”

“Shit!” Belus said seeing where Danato’s thought process had taken them. “He could have been running around this prison willy-nilly for the past year. That is assuming this cooperation is a recent development since their last engagement.”

“Let’s hope. Right now, I think it’s more important than ever to find Efrat. Maybe he has already told her all of this, and she is keeping him down here to interrogate him without the military involvement,” Danato said with hope backing his statement more than belief. Belus threw him a look that said he didn’t agree, but he wasn’t going to argue.

When the doors popped back open on level five. Chuck jumped inside and pushed the button for the main floor. “They are hiding out in the prop room. We’ve got guns trained on the door and are waiting for your order.

31

As soon as Danato gave the order, the men were in fine form announcing their demands with flashlights and guns trained on Efrat. His face fell as he turned around to face them. He cursed and did as the men requested.

He placed his hands behind his back and slowly walked over to them. The men placed handcuffs on him, despite the shocks it gave them to do so. They shook the painful numbing sensation away and dragged him by his elbows out of the room with four guns aligned with his movement. “Take him to the part-time level. We need some privacy,” Danato said as he headed into the darkened prop room.

“Danato,” Belus said quietly. He looked back at him. “She’s armed.”

Danato nodded. He knew that Cori was armed. He knew that any other day of the week that may not have been necessary to mention, but for some reason today it was worthy of noting.

He stepped soundlessly through the rubble and found Cori crouched behind a pile, with her gun holstered and her head shielded from an unseen attack. “Efrat stop! I don’t know! I’m sorry! I just don’t have any answers. I don’t know why the hell any of this is happening to me.”

“Cori,” he said. He hadn’t spoken it loud or abrasively, but he could see her jump at the sound of his voice. She looked up at him baffled by his sudden appearance. “What’s going on?”

“Danato,” she looked around the prop room as if she couldn’t remember why she was there. He didn’t like that. He hadn’t liked the idea of her taking Efrat to do her own investigation of his Houdini escapes, but he liked her confusion even less. “Why did I come here? I should have gone back to 8:05.” She looked up at him as if he could answer this question, but he couldn’t since he had no idea what she was talking about.

“Cori do you know where you are?”

She looked around again and stood up. “Yes, I am in a shit hole storage closet, with the dangerous artifacts that no one has taken the time to catalogue, let alone organize. I can’t believe this festooned fire hazard made it past Belus’s radar for this long.”

Danato took a deep breath trying to decide if this was the side of her wanted to see. “We can discuss that later. Why have you kidnapped Efrat?”

Cori looked back at the entrance. As if remembering something, she whipped her head back to him. “Where are they taking him?”

“To the part-time level.”

“You haven’t told the military about him, have you?”

“No, not yet,” he added the
not yet
to assure her that it was still a possibility.

She pressed her hands to his chest. “Please, don’t, Danato. I know this doesn’t make any sense right now, but I can’t afford to screw up on this track. This is the only one that matters. Promise me you won’t involve the military.”

“You told Duke that this morning, why?”

“I did?”

“Yes,” Danato could see the confusion return to her eyes and he didn’t like it even more the second time. “Do you not remember holding a gun to Efrat this morning, and telling Duke not to tell the military he was out?”

Cori smiled. It was a fake smile. He knew what her smiles were. He looked forward to them too much not to memorize their meaning. “Of course I do, I just forgot that was his name.” That was a lie. She didn’t want him to know she didn’t remember.

“I think we should go up and talk to Efrat now,” he said.

He could see her trying to figure something out. She looked like she was trying to calculate a mathematical equation in her head. “Yes, I think we should do that.”

He let her lead the way out so he could watch her. He gave Belus a look over her head that he hoped conveyed, “I have no freaking clue what’s going on with her.”

Belus looked Cori over as she came out. “Cori has he been hurting you?”

“What?” Danato pulled her around and he saw what he had missed in the darkened prop room. Her cheek was red from an impact. Danato could only assume it was from a hand or fist. “Did he hit you?”

Cori touched her cheek. A look of confusion and then anger crossed her face. “Oh, yeah, don’t worry about that. He’s probably already gotten his payback for that. If not, I’ll get it in later.” She turned to go down the hall, but he grabbed her by the arms and pulled her back.

“Sweetheart, do you know that you aren’t making any sense to us?”

She looked between him and Belus. She nodded her head and scrunched up her face. “I know, but I can’t just jump you guys up to speed in the middle of a race. I’ve tried explaining, but there just isn’t enough time. We should go talk to Efrat. I think it will help.”

Belus gave Danato a look that said
no
. Cori pushed away from him and knelt before Belus as she always did to allow their conversations to take place with him as the dominant figure. It was one of the few things she ever did consistently to respect Belus. He wasn’t sure what had initially prompted the action, but he was certain it wasn’t at Belus’s request.

“I need you to trust me,” she pleaded.

“This is Danato’s call,” he said taking a step back.

“Belus,” she grabbed his hand. Danato could see his discomfort at the affection, but he tolerated it rather than rip it from her grasp. “I need
you
to trust me.” Danato could see Belus’s eyes trying to read her, trying to find the screw that was loose in her head, but when his eyes finally settled on hers, he saw the weakness that Belus usually saw on his face when Cori needed something he didn’t want to offer.

Belus pulled his hand away and nodded to her. He looked to Danato with the concern of a man who may have just accidentally sold his soul to the devil for cab fare.

“Let’s go talk to Efrat,” Danato instructed.

Danato let her lead the way to the elevator so he could watch her. Once they were all inside the lift Belus stayed on the back wall with her, while he stood in front by the controls. He turned back to her, making a point to check if her gun was still holstered. “We know that Efrat has been getting out. We don’t doubt that you saw him that night you got taken by the transmorph.”

She chuckled and gave him a smile. “That ship sailed a few mornings ago for me, but thanks for the acknowledgement.
I told you so
always sounded catty coming from me.”

Danato looked over the coy smile on her face. She was amused by this whole situation or maybe just at the baffled look on his face. “What do you find so amusing?”

“You, I like for once not being the one asking all the questions.”

“I don’t,” he said with threat in his voice. Her smile disappeared along with the sparkle in her eye. He hated how easily he could rip the joy from her, but he didn’t like being toyed with. His patience was wearing thin. “Perhaps you could help me with that?”

“To what end, Danato?” She said almost smugly. “If you don’t mind, I’m just going to let this play out a little longer to see where it goes. We just need to get to Efrat.”

“This cryptic shit will have consequences later, Cori. I hope you have a damn good explanation for it.” He turned away not wanting to look at her anymore. She was putting him in an impossible situation.

Before the doors opened, he felt her hand slip into his. She squeezed it gently, but he refused to squeeze it back. He didn’t want to do anything that might give her the impression that what she was doing was okay. When he didn’t respond, her hand slipped slowly away.

The doors
ponked
and this time he led the way to where the men had stashed him. They chose a wolf-sized cage, so they had full access to shoot him if he tried to electrify anyone or anything.

Danato wasn’t concerned about Efrat trying to escape. The military used the elemental weapons to keep him in line because they wanted to keep them alive. With real guns and real bullets facing him, he was sure Efrat would stay content in his cage.

He stopped in front of the cage and crossed his arms. “We took a peek upstairs, Efrat. Your babysitters are fast asleep. I wonder what the General would say if he knew you’d been sneaking in and out of your cage.”

“He wouldn’t say anything,” Cori said taking a spot next to Danato in front of the cell. Efrat leaned on the bars and watched her. “He would just pull out a gun and shoot him in the face.”

Danato balked at her statement, losing his commanding facade. “And why do you think he would do that Cori? Did Efrat tell you that?” Danato knew the General was a hard ass, but he knew the military took great lengths to keep these prisoners alive and contained.

“I watched him do it,” she said so matter-of-factly that he thought he had misunderstood. However, the sympathetic look she directed at Efrat, made him realize that she not only said it, but she believed it.

“Cori, Efrat is right here, very clearly alive.” Danato glanced at Efrat who has eying Cori just as dubiously as he was. That at least was some comfort.

“Yes, and I plan to keep it that way. For all involved, it’s just better we stick to the way things have played out before.” Danato assumed she was responding to him, but she was still looking at Efrat when she spoke. He could see Efrat drinking in her words, and he gave her a subtle nod as if he understood everything she had just said.

That was the final straw. Something was wrong with Cori. She hated this man, with every fiber of her being. She wasn’t going to communicate with him at all, let alone in this sub textual manner. “Enough,” Danato grabbed her arm just above the wrist and pulled her along. “We’re getting you checked out.”

“No, Danato, not again,” she said dragging her feet behind him. He didn’t understand what she meant by
again
, but he didn’t care to ask. He knew she couldn’t get free from his grasp, and her weight was no challenge for him, so he didn’t falter when she tried to pry his fingers loose and yank her arm away. “Danato let me go.”