Merlin's Children (The Children and the Blood) (37 page)

“Cole?” she pressed.

His mouth tightened. “A tunnel,” he surrendered. “Beneath Chaunessy. The council tried to get us out through it when my dad, um… came there.”

“How do we reach it?” Cornelius asked.

“I’m not sure.”

Her brow drew down, and Elias’ wasn’t far behind. “Then how does this help us?” the councilman demanded.

“I need to make a call,” Cole explained.

“What? Who?”

Cole’s gaze flicked to her uncomfortably. “A friend.”

Elias glanced at her.

She didn’t take her eyes off Cole.

He’d lied to her so many times. He’d wanted her killed. And if she let him direct the wizards’ strategy, she was putting the life of every person she knew squarely in his hands. But a clock was ticking in the back of her head, and she could see the same in his eyes. They’d be dead soon anyway unless they did something, and all the Merlin’s plans were also going to cost lives.

And he wanted to save Lily. Despite everything else about him, she had to hope that was something she could trust.

“Do it,” she ordered.

He drew out his phone and headed for the front door.

“You’re putting a lot of faith in him, your highness,” Elias said neutrally as he watched Cole leave. She tried not to grimace when he looked back at her.

“I know,” she answered, and then followed the boy outside.

On the sidewalk, Cole was thumbing through screens on his phone. At the sound of the door, he glanced over and his face tightened at the sight of her.

She stopped a few feet away, waiting.

He turned back to the phone and then paused as he reached the screen he needed. Drawing a deep breath, he hit a button and then raised the cell to his ear.

Her eyes slid to the horizon as the seconds crept by.

“Um, it’s Cole.”

Her gaze snapped back to him.

“Look…” he said, hesitant contrition in his tone. “I-I’ve been thinking about what you said, and I think maybe you were right. I shouldn’t have–”

He cut off sharply and she tensed.

“Uh…” Cole hedged, the theatrics melting away. He looked back to her, caution taking the place of everything else on his face. “Okay… it’s like this. My dad has Lily. He’s going to use her to kill a lot…” He studied her for a moment. “A lot of innocent people.”

Alarm moved through her at what she could have sworn was sincerity in his eyes.

“I need your help to stop him. If you could tell me–” Cutting off, he grimaced. “We don’t have a lot of time,” he tried quietly. He paused. “Okay. Thank you.”

He hung up the phone.

“Twenty minutes. Parking garage near Hillsdale and Grand, fourth level.”

Questions pressed on her, but before she could speak, his gaze went beyond her. She looked back to see Nathaniel and Elias watching them from either side of the restaurant door.

Her heart picked up speed, the questions instantly becoming a distant second on her list of priorities. “Ready?”

Elias nodded.

She made a beeline for the car.

The miles blurred in a stream of roads and lights she didn’t notice passing. On his cell, Elias conferred with wizards taking up positions around the parking garage, while silently, Nathaniel wove their speeding vehicle after Cornelius’. By the opposite window, Cole stared out at the city, lost in thoughts of his own.

“Your majesty.”

She blinked. In the front seat, Elias was looking back at her.

“Once we reach Chaunessy, you stay with Nathaniel,” he ordered. “Anything happens, get out of there and head for Joe’s. Backup to that is his house, and backup to that is the abandoned meat-seller’s shop on Fourteenth and Polson. Understand?”

At her silence, his grimace deepened.

“With all respect, your highness,” he said, each word tight. “I don’t care what the Blood king plans. We will stop him, and we will keep you safe while doing so.” His eyebrow rose pointedly. “End of discussion.”

“You know I’m not going to do that.”

“You will if you want to do Lily any good. Getting yourself killed won’t help anyone.”

She looked away, tired of an argument that he had to be aware wouldn’t change anything. “What happened at the airport last week?” she asked, and when her gaze twitched back to the front a moment later, she could see his irritation at the response.

“We got lucky,” he replied. “Minus the rather large issue of losing you and Lily. Point is, we’re not doing that again.”

“Why couldn’t I reach Katherine?”

He exhaled. “Because her phone was destroyed,” he answered sharply. “Half our people in the city were destroyed too. It was a mess, tearing Banston apart to find you while tracking the Taliesin in case they got you first. A few pieces of equipment were the least of our concerns.”

She couldn’t stop herself from glaring at his acid tone. “I would’ve called, Elias. You think I didn’t want to? I was just kind of under the impression you were all dead, so I didn’t figure there was much point in trying.”

In the driver’s seat, she could see Nathaniel glance at them both, and behind him, Cole did as well. The wind of the car’s passage along the street became the only sound.

Nathaniel cleared his throat, breaking the awkward silence. “We’re here.”

Her gaze returned to the road. Beyond the car, downtown Croftsburg surrounded them, and a block ahead, the neon sign for a parking garage protruded from high on a wall. Guiding the car after Cornelius’ around the turn, Nathaniel eased over the bump of the entrance and then slowed further as the close air of the garage enveloped them.

The cars continued upward through the tight confines of the tunnel, the sounds of their tires bouncing strangely from the ceiling and walls. At the beginning of the fourth level, Nathaniel pulled the car to a stop after Cornelius’, the others behind them doing the same.

“Where’s your friend?” Elias asked.

Cole eyed the vehicles dotting the mostly empty rows, and then shook his head. Without a word, he climbed from the car.

Before Elias could protest, she followed.

The smell of oil and wet concrete hung heavy on the air, and somewhere below, tires squealed as a vehicle descended to the street. Up ahead, a wall bearing a lit exit sign separated the garage from the elevators and stairs. As Cornelius and Gavin got out, she glanced back, seeing Spider and Bus standing by their own vehicle a few yards away, with Samson glowering behind. Katherine waited beyond them, and a host of guards took up the rear.

Footsteps echoed from behind the stairwell wall.

Harris came around the corner.

She tensed, but Nathaniel was already moving. Stepping in front of her, his magic beat hers in rising to their defense, and in response, the cripples’ guns materialized, aiming for the detective.

“Wait!” Cole cried as Harris froze. “This is–”

“We know him,” Elias snapped. “The son of a bitch put a bullet through the queen.”

Heart pounding, she kept her eyes on Harris as Cole looked back at her in alarm.

Swiftly, Gavin strode forward, a pair of guards at his back. One of them grabbed the detective, pinning him as Gavin patted him down. A scowl twisted Gavin’s face as he located a gun beneath Harris’ coat. With a dark look to the detective, he handed it off to a guard and then grabbed Harris’ shoulder, giving him a rough push toward the wizards.

Rocking from the shove, Harris eyed the man briefly and then started across the garage.

“You didn’t tell me you were working with them,” he growled to Cole as he came closer.

“I didn’t think you’d help if I did,” Cole answered.

Harris’ expression made it clear he’d been right.

“Put him in the car,” Cornelius ordered, ignoring the exchange. “We will handle him later. And call–”

“No,” she interrupted, striding past Nathaniel. “If he knows how we can get inside, then–”

“The boy is one thing, your highness,” Cornelius protested. “But this man shot–”

“How can we get in there?” Ashe demanded, turning to Harris.

The detective’s face tightened.

“You can't trust–” Elias started.

“
How
?” she snarled, flames racing up her arms.

“Whoa!” Cole broke in, rushing between them with his hands raised. “Hang on! Just…” He swallowed and then looked back at her, an insistent expression flashing across his face. “Back off.”

Trembling, she eyed Cole and then eased away, her gaze twitching from him to the detective.

“You shot her,” Cole continued to Harris. “And my dad has her little sister. So she’s pissed, alright? But she’s not what they said. And she’s not what you think. She didn’t mean to hurt Malden. It was an accident.” He glanced back at her. “And you didn’t kill him, by the way. Malden’s alive.”

She blinked, her anger faltering with confusion. “What?”

“Malden’s alive,” he repeated. “He’s in physical therapy. He’s going back to work for the department soon.”

A breath escaped her. Reeling, she looked away.

“Malden?” Elias asked.

“A… another detective,” she managed. “In Utah.”

She looked up to find Harris watching her guardedly.

“Ashe isn’t a killer, Detective,” Cole said. “Not like my dad claimed. She just wants to protect the innocent in this, same as you. So please… help us.”

For a moment, Harris didn’t speak, his eyes running over her as though he couldn’t decide whether to trust what he saw. “The man in the boathouse a few weeks ago,” he said, his tone giving nothing away. “What was that?”

She swallowed, struggling to bury every trace of her reaction that she could. “He said he’d killed my friends,” she answered, nodding toward Spider and the others.

“Cripples,” Harris said, a hint of a question in his tone.

She glanced back in time to see Spider’s eyebrow twitch coldly at the man in response.

Harris ignored the girl’s expression.

“My dad is going to kill everyone here if you don’t help us, Detective,” Cole said. “And he’s going to use Lily to do it.”

Harris’ gaze flicked to him, and she couldn’t read what was going on behind his eyes.

“Your family,” he continued to her. “What happened that night?”

She paused. “Brogan killed them.”

His mouth thinned at her response and he looked away.

“Detective,” Cole urged. “We’re running out of time.”

For a moment, the man didn’t respond. “You really think your father’s going to do that to the kid?”

“I know he is,” Cole replied.

Harris’ gaze returned to her. Slowly, he drew a breath. “What do you need?”

Cole exhaled, the tension almost visibly leaving him. “The tunnel below Chaunessy. I need to know how to reach it, what kind of defenses it has, everything.”

Harris’ brow drew down. “Tunnel?”

“Yeah.”

The man shook his head, his eyes flicking to the wizards. “I’ve never heard of any tunnel.”

“What?” Cole said incredulously. “No, the council – the Taliesin council – they had a tunnel under the building. They…” He trailed off at the blank look on the man’s face, and then turned to her helplessly.

She hesitated. “Are there other ways we can get in?” she asked Harris.

“Your highness,” Elias protested. “This man isn't–”

Her hand twitched, cutting him off, and though her gaze never left the detective, she could see Elias and Cornelius share a dark look from the corner of her eye.

Harris paused. “The wizards monitor everything. I have access codes to the doors, but they’ve got cameras and guards on each one.”

She grimaced, looking away. That was it then. They had to go and the wizards’ backup plans were the only ones left.

Even if there was no chance they wouldn’t be bloody.

“Call the others,” she said to Elias, her voice hard. “Have them get ready to–”

“Who’s Charles Brentworth?”

She glanced back to Harris.

“What?” Cole asked.

“Why?” she demanded.

Harris looked between them. “Is he connected to that council?”

She nodded carefully.

“I heard some wizards talking about him several days ago. Sounded like he was one of their prisoners, somebody important.” Harris paused. “If there really is a tunnel below Chaunessy…” He shrugged noncommittally.

She looked to Cornelius and Elias, and watched the former’s expression go stone-like, while the latter just turned away. Behind her, displeasure radiated off Nathaniel in waves.

“Do you know where the prisoners are located?” Cornelius asked tightly.

Harris eyed the wizard. “A few miles from here in an old hardware store on the edge of downtown.”

She fought back a grimace, feeling like she was being dragged farther from Lily with every second.

“And how do we get inside?” Cornelius pressed in the same tone.

“Access is restricted to just those in charge of the prisoners,” Harris answered. “And they don’t share the codes with anyone. Though…”

He paused, and she glanced back to see him studying her again.

Her brow drew down warily. “What?”

“Mud got moved to guard duty yesterday.”

Elias scoffed. “Oh, great. Him again.”

“Wait, did you say
Mud
?” Spider said, coming closer.

“You know him?” Ashe asked her.

Spider tossed a glance to Samson. “You could say that. Bastard found Sam and I when we were kids, said he’d help us, and then tried to sell us out to the first bunch of ferals he saw. Would’ve thanked him for it, if he hadn’t slipped away while we were busy trying not to die. How’d you meet him?”

“Sort of the same way,” Ashe replied dryly. She turned to Harris. “What’re you thinking?”

“You can’t trust that weasel to help us,” Spider argued, and her eyes flicked over Harris as though to include him in the epithet.

Harris met her gaze. “I’m not that stupid. I’m just going to get him outside the building and then,” he glanced across the Merlin, distaste for them all still lingering in his expression, “you ask him about getting to the prisoners. The Blood and the Taliesin never come out of the building. They use portals to travel to just outside Chaunessy. But Mud can’t do that, so he’ll know what you need to get past their security.”

“Fine,” Ashe said. “Let’s go.”

Cornelius gestured to Gavin, who jerked his head at the detective in a wordless order to get in the car. Doors opened and then slammed around her while the others did the same.