Shadowstorm (The Shadow World Book 6) (42 page)

“Good point.”

Before Nico could say anything else, the office door opened; Miranda and Deven had arrived, looking purposeful and grave.

Nico tried not to appear as relieved as he felt upon seeing the Prime. It was like looking back to that brief time before Nico had left California, when Deven had recovered from his breakdown and was himself for a while. Odd how black leather, metal studs, and edged weapons could be so comforting.

Deven caught his eye and offered a small smile. Nico felt himself flushing and looked down, unable to hide a smile of his own.

David cleared his throat, and when Nico looked up, he was watching the Weaver with amusement in his eyes. “I’ve had an insight, but I need all brains on deck.”

Miranda took position next to Nico and Deven took the other chair. Nico had seen what happened when someone besides David sat down behind the desk—Stella had forgotten she wasn’t logged in, and the computer system had, in David’s words, freaked the fuck out.

“We’ve tried the spell six times, and gotten nothing,” David said. “We even managed to amplify the spell throughout the sensor network—that’s all over the country. But all the power in the world isn’t going to help if we don’t know what direction to look in. Right now we’re blindfolded and swinging at a piñata the size of a honeybee.”

“How do we narrow it down, then?” Miranda asked. “Is there another spell? Something in the Codex?”

Nico shook his head. “The Codex isn’t a book of practical magic. There might be more in it, but there’s no way to know until it’s decoded.”

“The answer might not be magic at all,” David told them. “At least not yet. What did we do before we had Elves and Witches around?”

Deven’s eyes were on the sensor map of Austin, projected up onto the wall. “Follow the money trail.”

“When we destroyed Morningstar’s base last year I had the Elite bag and tag every receipt and piece of paperwork they found. I had it all scanned, and the data filed away in case I ever needed it. Well, if we operate on the assumption—admittedly a problematic one—that their current operation is at least the size of the old one, we can run all of that data against businesses and utilities and look for a location that is using approximately the same amount of electricity, food, uniforms, et cetera.”

Deven gave him a dubious look. “That’s kind of a long shot.”

“That’s the only kind of shot we have at this point. That’s why I called you back—I need more parameters. Something to narrow it down further. Right now there are over a hundred possible locations just statewide. There’s no way we can raid them all. Give me more to go on.”

“Weapons,” Deven suggested immediately. “They’ve all got standard-issue swords; upper mid-range quality, mass-produced. Not disposable but not our caliber.”

“I don’t suppose you noticed—”

“Koneko, model 42.”

Nico watched as the map on the wall expanded to show the entire state, with dozens of red lights representing the possible loci. After a moment over half of them vanished.

“Wait,” Miranda said, “that many places ordered that exact sword?”

“No—that many places put in orders to weapons dealers in the price range of at least twenty of that sword. Getting actual shipping manifests from Koneko is going to take time. Any more suggestions?”

“Magic.”

They all looked at Nico, no doubt wondering what he was on about considering they’d been using magic in the search all week.

“Your network records magical energy. It is likely, given their track record of doing blood magic to take power from Signets and brainwash their soldiers, that they intend something arcane for Kai. Looking for magic alone wouldn’t necessarily help, since in any given human settlement there are spells going on every night. But we know that in addition to their base out in the middle of nowhere they also commandeer abandoned buildings—see how many of your loci are supposedly empty but still drawing electricity, and cross reference them with large spikes in magical usage in the last week.”

They were all still looking at him, but now with appreciation. “Have I told you lately that you’re brilliant?” David asked.

Nico smiled. “It does sometimes bear repeating.”

David returned his attention to the computer, and the screen split into several windows, each with its own activity. Nico had learned a good deal about how computers worked, and David had shown him different types of technical languages, but what the Prime was doing now was a little more complicated than Nico could grasp without serious study.

“How are you feeling, Nico?”

He looked over at Deven. “I do not think that is a fair question, my Lord.”

Miranda reached over and put her hand on his shoulder. “Is there anything we can do?”

Nico put his head in his hands for a moment, saying quietly, “Only one thing, and you are already doing all you can.”

He heard the chair creak, and then felt hands on his, drawing them away from his face so dark violet eyes could meet lavender.

“We’re going to find him,” Deven said. “I give you my word.”

“Clever of you not to specify ‘alive,’” Nico muttered, looking away. “Or ‘sane.’”

One hand took gentle hold of his chin and brought their gazes back in line. “I can’t promise the latter for certain, given what we know they might do. We didn’t bring you back sane, after all—but alive, I can promise.” His thumb brushed lightly, so very lightly, over Nico’s lower lip, and Nico couldn’t help it—he shivered. “I’ve failed you too many times. Not this time. If I have to decapitate every last one of those bastards, I’ll bring your brother home.”

They stared at each other until Nico offered a slight nod, closed his eyes, and, taking a risk, leaned his head against Deven’s shoulder. He heard a quickly indrawn breath and, after a few second’s astonished pause, felt arms slide around him.

Miranda had been pretending not to watch them, but David had been absorbed in his work and spoke again without looking up.

“All right…I’ve got it narrowed down to five likely locations.”

Deven stepped back away from the desk to turn toward the screen again. Nico fought a surprisingly forceful urge to drag him back and then wrap himself around the Prime and not let go until the world stopped running out from under him.

David went on, highlighting the places he’d found. “One in Fort Worth, one about ten miles from McAllen, another in an abandoned warehouse in Beaumont, and two here in Austin. I’ve got satellite footage of the first two—one’s a slaughterhouse, hence the large order of what turns out to be various sharp devices for hacking animals into chunks. The other is an old scout camp, which was apparently abandoned because of flooding, making the roads impassible for all practical purposes. Thermal shows twenty humans at the former, none at the latter.”

“Who the hell is doing magic at a slaughterhouse?” Miranda asked.

“I have no idea. But that cuts the list to three. Beaumont’s a good candidate—looks like it’s between owners but the lights are still on. I’m sending Lieutenant Sadh and a team from the Houston garrison to check it out. I just dispatched teams to the two Austin locations as well.” Seeing the alarm on Miranda’s face he added, “Strictly recon. No engagement. We should know something within the hour.”

Nico sat staring up at the map, listening with half attention to the others—David commanded the entire Elite to be on high alert, Miranda made sure they had a driver on standby and contacted the Hausmann to inform them there might be an emergency patient tonight.

“I can probably heal him,” he heard Deven say. “But we have no idea what to expect, and I’ve never tried it on an Elf before. And even if I can, a night of monitoring and fluids would be helpful. The less I have to do, the better I can do it.”

Nico kept his eyes on those three red dots. Kai might be in one of them. He could be there right now, suffering, wondering why Nico and the others hadn’t come to save him. So alone…he must be so afraid…even with all his bravado he had no more idea how to deal with torture and terror than Nico had. He might have already lost his mind…might be dead…might wish he were dead.

All those possibilities made Nico’s head swim, and he put his face in his hands again, holding back premature tears of grief. Whatever they had done to Kai, his life before this place would be over, and everything from now on would be the “after.” Nico knew how it felt to have life split in two like that. He’d had it happen half a dozen times in the last two years.

“Star-One,”
came a male voice.
“This is Lieutenant Sadh reporting.”

David hit some sort of directive on the computer that routed the voice out where they could all hear it. “Go ahead, Lieutenant.”

“I’m afraid this location is a bust, Sire. The warehouse is populated by squatters, not soldiers—some of them managed to patch into the city electrical grid. I had my people interview some of the locals and got confirmation. Suspicious activity for the metro PD, but not for us.”

“Well done, Lieutenant. Call back your team and return to your protocol.”

“Yes, Sire.”

David sighed, disappointed. “I suppose it’s just as well—Beaumont’s hours away.”

“Star-One, this is Second Lieutenant Mendez reporting. I think we may have something.”

They all leaned closer, though no one had any problem hearing. “Go ahead.”

Mendez sounded faintly out of breath as she said,
“At first everything seemed innocuous. There’s nothing in the building itself, just a big empty space. It’s one of the smaller warehouses in the area, and we’re in a sketchy neighborhood where people tend to look the other way. I was about to call them back when Elite 71 saw several humans clad in BDUs leaving the building.”

“Are you sure it’s not a drug cartel?” Miranda asked, leaning in farther. “The Quintana-Rios clan has been busy this year and APD busted one of their smaller operations in that neighborhood.”

“Positive, my Lady. They were wearing swords. I suspect thermal imaging will show a pretty decent-sized group underground.”

“Stand by, Second Lieutenant.” David made the map shrink to one corner of the screen and pulled up another that looked like just that individual building. “Switching to thermal scan…now.”

Suddenly dozens of lights appeared inside the building, moving around what appeared to be multiple rooms.

“Two days ago the sensor network registered a significant spike in magical energy at this address.” David’s expression became grimly determined. “I think we have a winner.”

“What do we do, then?” Miranda asked. “Attack in force? Send a stealth team?”

Deven, however, was frowning.

“What is it?” David asked.

“This isn’t right.”

“How so?”

Deven shook his head. “We already broke into an underground base of theirs once. Doesn’t it seem convenient that they’d do exactly the same thing again? If Kai is important to them, and they know we’ve found them once, wouldn’t they have taken him out of the city, or even out of Texas? These are people who’ve managed to take down half a dozen Signets —
Signets.
They’re clearly not stupid.”

“So you think it’s a trap,” Miranda concluded, deflated. “You don’t think they have Kai there at all.”

“Actually I think they do. I think they’ve had him there the whole time—and they want us to know.”

“Bait?” David asked.

“Maybe. Or maybe it’s a show of strength—I didn’t want to suggest this before, but…it’s possible they did to Kai what they’ve done to the other Signets and stole his power to do something massive. Or…” Deven looked over at Nico, took a breath, and went on, “or they’re still doing it. They might be using him as a battery for something, which is why they’d want to know what he could tolerate, so they’d know how much and how long to drain him before he gives out.”

“God,” David muttered. “What do you suggest, then?”

Nico almost missed the shift in Deven’s expression; it was there and smoothed over so quickly and with such iron control. But for just a second, his eyes went silver, his hand tightened around Ghostlight’s hilt, and something predatory and fierce came over his face.

Hatred. Long-seething, scarlet hatred twisted around rage.

He’d never doubted Deven’s power or authority, and he’d seen him angry and half-mad from grief, but this was the first time he’d ever found the Prime
terrifying
…and all the more terrifying because it was so alluring.

It was then that, after days of thinking only of Kai’s fate, Nico remembered he wasn’t the only one who had lost someone to Morningstar.

By the time Deven turned to face the others, he was as calm and collected as always, though there was something ever so slightly feral in the way he said, “I have an idea.”

*****

The endless rain had finally cleared over Austin, leaving bitter cold beneath crystalline stars. Even with the chill the sudden lack of deluge had drawn the city’s denizens outside, wide-eyed and bleary like they’d woken from hibernation.

The drastic increase in activity was worrisome to the Queen, who waited by the car while the others got out, leaning sideways so she could see down the street where the warehouse stood, the very picture of dereliction. She certainly wouldn’t have picked it out of a lineup if she had to guess which building on the block was the headquarters of a small army.

She knew that the Elite were busy cordoning off the block—not with pylons, but with their own presence. In this neighborhood human traffic was pretty low at night, due in part to the cartel she’d mentioned before. Even if the whole thing went profoundly south on them, civilian casualties were unlikely.

She still didn’t like it. It was reckless. Deven was out for blood, and though that feeling of secondhand anger drifting through her was gratifying, it didn’t leave her clear-headed, which meant it probably didn’t Deven either.

“He knows what he’s doing,” David said, coming to stand beside her. “Even without any of our inherited power he could take them all in his sleep.”

She looked over at her other two bondmates, who were wearing remarkably similar expressions at the moment. She’d never thought of Nico as looking particularly dangerous, but in a long coat with his hair short showing off both his ears and the tattoo on his face, he cut an impressive, and vampiric, figure.