Tracking the Tempest
Page 44

Ryu flipped shut his phone and then turned toward where Anyan and I waited impatiently.
“That was Stefan. Silver's body's been found. They've got him at the bunker. In the meantime, Daoud's and Caleb's phones are shut off, so Julian and Camille are on their way to Edie's. I do think it's odd that four of my people had their phones taken out of commission when they never have their phones off. Are you sure you can trust this Terk creature, or the people he serves?”
Anyan snorted. “I've known Cap her entire life. She's like a niece to me. Don't make accusations when you have no idea what you're saying.”
I felt a weird flash of relief when Anyan said Cap was like a niece to him, but at the same time, it confirmed my own suspicions of how he saw me. I was another little girl under his care, and always would be.
I tried not to let any emotion play over my face as Anyan and Ryu argued. Ryu was accusing Anyan of keeping secrets; Anyan was accusing Ryu of being overdramatic. I was wondering whether or not I should invest in a black-and-white-striped shirt, since I spent so much time playing referee.
“Boys,” I interrupted wearily “Places to see, people to do…”
They both looked at me, confused, before sorting out my lame little joke. They both had the good sense to look sheepish for a second, before we left to visit this mysterious bunker.
* * *
The bunker wasn't really a bunker, just a big basement facility that Stefan's team used as a warehouse, lab, and morgue.
There was a blanketed form laid out on the table in the area they used for autopsies. A long, lean figure loomed above the body. The goblin was dressed in scrubs, the pale green of the material bringing out the yellow undertones in the creature's own green scales.
Ryu cleared his throat as we entered the lab.
“Ah, Investigator,” the goblin intoned, turning around only to blind us with the headlamp he wore strapped to his forehead.
We all put a hand over our eyes as he fumbled around with the straps around his head.
“Sorry, sorry… always forget about this damned thing… There,” he said as the glaring light shut off finally, leaving us blinking in the sudden darkness.
When our eyes adjusted, we moved toward the figure on the table. Ryu rested a comforting hand on the small of my back.
“Where was he found?” asked Anyan.
“Remote part of the state. He wouldn't have been found for months if it weren't for a U.S. Special Forces Combined Field Exercise Convention being held this weekend. They found the body while they were out placing dummy ‘victims' around a staged terrorist camp.” The goblin peered down at us, and I kept my eyes on his face so I didn't focus on all the person goop spattering his scrubs. “One of the troops is a nahual and a bedmate of Stefan's. He recognized Silver from seeing him taped up over there… .” The goblin pointed to a timeline thingie of photos, similar to the one we'd erected in Ryu's office, that had all of Conleth's known and suspected victims pinned up in chronological order of their deaths and/or the dates they went missing. “He stole the body before the human police could be found, and he brought it straight back here.”
“And you're sure it's Silver?” Ryu asked.
“Oh, yes,” the goblin said as he ushered us forward to the sheeted figure. “It's definitely your man,” he said as he twitched the sheet down off Silver's face.
My breath caught and my gorge rose as I caught sight of the dead man. Ryu's arms went firmly around my waist, and I went ahead and hid my face in his arm.
I'd seen death before, but not this sort of death. Not the kind of death enacted by someone who sought pain, who wanted to hear the victim scream.
Silver's poor face was ruined. One eye was gone, and the other was shut, swollen in a face deformed by bruising and what appeared to be burn scars.
For, yes, there was evidence of fire on Silver's body. But not Conleth's all-consuming, rage-induced fire. This was clever fire, used efficiently for maximum pain.
Anyan handed the goblin the file that Capitola had put together for him.
“There's an autopsy in there. A victim who might be connected to this one. See any similarities?”
The goblin coroner read the report, occasionally nodding his head.
“Yes, the two victims show nearly identical damage, including internal injuries. Some of a sexual nature,” the goblin added, averting his eyes from mine.
“Good gods,” I mumbled, my eyes filling with tears for the old man who, despite having kept Conleth a prisoner, never deserved to die in this manner.
Ryu kissed the top of my head as Anyan walked to the body to re-cover Silver's battered face.
“Thank you,” Ryu said to the goblin as he turned me toward the morgue door. “Let us know if you find anything more.”
“Wait, Investigator. I have yet to show you the best part. Come, come,” the goblin said, taking up a position by Silver's feet and waving at us to return to the body.
I clutched Ryu's hand as we all gathered around the end of the table. I wasn't sure I wanted to see what the goblin considered “the best part.” At the same time, I knew that I'd demanded to be a part of this investigation, and I didn't get to wimp out as soon as it got rough. So I commanded my stomach not to revolt and I stared forward toward the sheet.
Which the goblin flipped back to reveal something that made me gasp and made Ryu's hand convulse in mine as he swore. I looked up to see Anyan staring down at the legs, before turning to the goblin.
“Those look like—” he began to say.
“Claw marks,” the goblin finished for him. “That's how Silver was carried to the site. By the legs, in something's claws. Something like—”
“Something like a harpy,” interrupted Anyan.
I let Anyan's words sink in, watching as Ryu made the same set of connections.
He hissed suddenly, scrubbing a hand through his hair. “If it was Kaya or Kaori,” he said, “it still doesn't mean they've turned on us.”
Anyan nodded. “True. They could have tortured Silver for more information. Maybe they believed he was holding back. Neither they nor Phaedra would balk at harming a human.”
“But where are Stefan's deputies?” I asked. Both men gave me a grim look as Ryu let go of my hand and began shouting for Stefan to get Julian on the phone immediately.
After he'd barked a series of commands to Camille and Julian, we were off to find Phaedra.
And fast.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
When we finally arrived at Edie's vacation home, two and a half hours away in Brattleboro, Vermont, the place was eerily quiet. We parked on the street at the end of the long driveway, across from Ryu's car. We had Caleb's SUV, since he was with Phaedra, and Camille and Julian had been sent ahead in Ryu's BMW. The whole way to Vermont, I'd sat in the backseat staring at where Caleb's horns had ripped up the roof's upholstery, praying for their safety.
As we climbed out, Julian and Camille came to greet us.
“We just got here about twenty minutes ago,” Camille reported, her usually calm voice tense. “There was no sign of Phaedra on the way. We scouted from the outside of the house and it appears empty. But the door's been jimmied.”
“Damn it, I told you two not to engage!” Ryu snarled, his anxiety making him testy.
“I know, and we didn't go in,” Julian said, his mother putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
“All right, everyone fan out. Camille, Julian, with me. Jane…” Ryu's voice trailed off as he tried to come up with something for me to do. Probably something out of the way.
“Jane's with me,” Anyan said. “We'll take the grounds; you take the house.”
Ryu gave Anyan a hard look. “Keep her safe, Anyan Barghest,” he demanded, before turning in a flare of power that joined with that of Camille and Julian.
They stalked toward the house, where the door did, indeed, sit askew on its hinges. I prayed that Edie and Felicia weren't dead behind those broken doors.
“Shields up, Jane. Remember what we worked on yesterday,” Anyan said, his deep voice as comforting as the hand he laid on my shoulder. I did as he asked, feeling paradoxically safe out here with him, even though I knew that the shit was, once again, winding itself up to meet the fan.
As the others went inside, Anyan and I walked toward the garage that sat to the right of the house. I felt his power wrap around both of us like a protective cloak as he used his shields to raise the scissor door on the garage. The barghest had some serious abilities when it came to physically manifesting his power; he could almost use it like a second set of hands.
We both cursed when the door was finally raised and we saw that the garage did, indeed, contain a car with Massachusetts plates and a Cambridge parking sticker.
After peering around the otherwise empty garage, we made our way to the back of the house.
I could see Ryu and the others framed in various windows. No one was being attacked, and they hadn't seemed to have found anything, either. There was no shouting or excitement or screams, just silence as their figures moved from window to window.