Banshee Hunt (28 page)

“It helps me. I think you look like a goddess with your hair down!” James managed a smile, and despite her immediate reaction being to argue, he soon got one in return.

“Just as long as you remember that this goddess requires regular worshipping.”

“Sounds fair.” Then he thought for a moment. “How exactly do you want to be worshipped?”

“Shoes!”

“I'm not sure I can afford your shoes. But I think I can remember how to do a foot rub.”

“Oh, that would be nice!” And she proved it a moment later by kicking off her heels and sticking her feet in his lap.

After checking to make sure there was no one around James set to work rubbing her tired feet. By the sounds she was making as he worked he apparently remembered the skill quite well. But really he was thinking that since they had time they should probably use it. The trouble was that they couldn't really use it for what was on his mind. He was in the end exactly who she'd said he was – a horny little teenager.

“You know you really shouldn't be here.” He spoke softly as he worked. It wasn't a criticism of her. Just of the simple fact that this wasn't her bailiwick. He wasn't even sure it was his.

“Neither should you!” For once though she didn't snap at him thinking he was impugning her abilities. “You should be in bed. Others can do this. And you don't even have a good solid defensive magic. At least I can protect you a little.”

James would have retorted that he could protect himself, but he stopped himself before the words left his mouth. That was how he kept getting into trouble with her. And besides he realised, she was right. Her magic made her a powerful threat to anyone who tried to attack her with magic. He kept forgetting that. But then this wasn't his world. It was hers. So instead of arguing he kept his peace and worked on her feet.

“You want to talk about this morning?”

“I'd rather talk about it tomorrow morning when hopefully you won't be rushing off after.”

“Tomorrow morning? In bed maybe? Assuming you do want to do that again?” James wasn't sure if he was surprised or not by that. But he was happy about it. Happier than he thought he should be.

“I could be persuaded.” She smiled, her white teeth showing brightly in the moonlight. “Very easily.”

“And I would very much like to persuade you.” It was James' turn to smile. “A lot.” He'd heard what he wanted to hear. Because the truth was that while he might not know where this was going he did want to find out.

So for the next little while they sat there enjoying the moment and the promise of things to come, while they waited for the others to arrive. It was a long wait, but for once a surprisingly easy one, ruined only by occasional bursts of activity as he kept having to shoot the guards as they wandered past one by one and then drag their prone bodies back into the trees.

But every relationship had its issues!

Chapter Twenty Two

It was well past midnight when they were joined by the others and ready to move, and by then James was becoming anxious. His quarry had escaped before and he didn't want her getting away again. But he still hadn't seen any sign of anyone leaving the grounds, and he had been watching the gate carefully. As far as he knew there was no other way in or out of the facility.

Maybe his nerves were a little drug induced. One of the men had given him a potion and ordered him to drink it. James didn't know what it was, save that he claimed it was a restorative, but he had to admit that from the moment it had gone down he had felt better. It felt as though he'd just drunk a dozen full strength cups of coffee. He was still sore and things weren't working as they should but he was definitely stronger. Ready he thought, for what came next.

“You nervous?” Yasmin was beside him, crouched in the bushes, studying the facility in front of them, and he guessed a little on edge herself.

“No. Eager. And you have no need to be nervous either. You're not going to be on the front lines.”

“What?” Yasmin looked as though she was about ready to argue. No doubt she thought he was being protective of her because she was a woman.

“In stilettos? You're just not dressed for this. You hang back and cover what you can.”

“And you're not going to be on the front lines either hunter.” Mark, the one who was ultimately in charge of the twelve man team, arrived to give him the hard word in a determined whisper. “At the moment this is not a hunt, and you're in no shape for anything.”

James would have argued but he knew the man was right. So instead he simply nodded, and tried to ignore the sudden look of triumph that crossed Yasmin's face.

“Alright people. Let’s do this just like we practised.” Mark gave the order in a loud whisper, and immediately the dozen people under his command started advancing across the grounds leaving James and Yasmin behind.

When had they practised James suddenly wondered? They weren't an army. But at least they moved like a military group. And they were dressed in black combat fatigues. But the truth was that none of them were actual soldiers as far as he knew. He had a horrible feeling that the closest most of them got to such things was playing paint ball games. And none of them were armed like soldiers either. Instead they all had the magic ray guns like his. But then what else could you expect? The Illuminati wasn't a military organisation. It didn't have an army or, for that matter, much of a police force. What they had were a few people who tried to act like them. When a crisis hit they had to make do. And if he was right they were going to have to make do in Hong Kong and Macau shortly.

But if their people weren't soldiers and weren't armed like them, they did have some advantages that no other army in the world had. They had magic. He didn't know most of these people. Not well anyway. But he knew that every one of them would have some gift that would help. That was why they had been chosen.

“Now I'm nervous,” James told Yasmin. And really he thought, he might be injured but his place was still with them. He was a cop at heart, and cops always stood with their brothers and sisters.

The team advanced smoothly across the grounds without anyone raising the alarm. But then no one was outside to do so. Finally the last of the men roaming the grounds had been taken down, including the guards at the gate who had been knocked out as well and dragged back. That made about fifteen guards now lying in a small copse of trees just behind them. But at least they were unconscious, and were therefore unaware of what was happening. They wouldn't see the fireworks. And since the banshee had only had a day to twist their minds they would be quicker to deprogramme. People were already on their way to do just that. In fact they had an entire back up team of specialists on the way.

Less than a minute later the soldiers were at the clinic itself. James could see a dozen or so black shadows against the heavy stone walls of the three story tall Georgian edifice. His mouth went dry and his heart started thumping in his chest as he waited for what would come next.

When it happened though, it began very quietly. In fact at first he wasn't even sure that anything had happened at all. All he knew was that some of the doors and windows had opened. Except that as he concentrated on the building he suddenly realised that they hadn't opened at all. They'd vanished! A few of the doors and windows had actually just disappeared leaving behind holes in the building. And there had been no noise or light to tell anyone inside what had happened. Or even that anything had happened. Now that, he thought, was a trick that every armed force in the world would want.

They would want the next one too he thought. The cry of dispassion. He heard it in the distance. A strange, almost melodic cry that was at once too soft and too alien to identify. It was almost like whale song. But he knew that everyone inside the building who wasn't warded and heard it would suddenly be falling down, unable to find the will to move. The gift might not have much in the way of commercial value to its possessor, but it was an effective pacifier.

That was his cue to go in James figured, and he got to his feet, feeling a little better than he had any right to – especially after the day he'd had.

“Mark said to wait.”

“I did wait.”

James started walking toward the building, his weapon drawn, and after a couple of seconds he heard Yasmin following just behind him, cursing as her heels dug into the earth. It made him smile. She should know better. Actually she did know better. There was simply no way she was ever going to give up her high heels.

“Stop that you!” She snapped at him quietly. “This isn't funny.”

“Actually it is.” His smile grew. “Especially when you don't need them.”

“You think I'm too tall?” Her voice grew strained.

“Of course not! I just think you already have lovely, long legs. You don't need heels to show them off.” James waited for her to catch up, put an arm around her waist and escorted her across the grass, inexplicably pleased that he'd finally found something clever to say to her. It might not be the appropriate way to enter a battlefield, but it felt good. Maybe there would be more of this morning in their future? It was something he quite liked the thought of. It was a strange thought for him to have.

“You know sometimes you surprise me. You go through life as this cold, efficient almost ruthless hunting machine, and then every so often a real human being comes out. A gentleman, even a romantic.”

“This morning was pretty romantic!”

“Don't cheapen it,” she scolded him softly. “That was nice but what you just said was nicer. And I love the fact that you were standing guard over your daughter's school. Why do you think you got lucky this morning? I get the feeling that you're a good father. That even with everything else that's happened to you, the only thing that you can't get past is being shut out of your daughter's life.”

“Well, she's my daughter!” What else could he say James wondered?

“Exactly. People don't give you enough credit for that. You don't give yourself enough credit. You're a really good father and you will be again.”

“Again?” James almost stopped dead in his tracks as the word bounced around in his skull. What was she saying?

“Think about it sunshine. This morning or the other time, did anything about that strike you as safe?”

“Safe?” James didn't understand. And then a sudden thought pierced the gloom “As in sex?” James gave up walking completely as he turned to face Yasmin. He was sure all the blood was draining from his body. “Are you saying …?”

“I'm saying I don't know. Why do you think I was so upset?”

James didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to think. All he knew was that he needed to hold her. And that he needed to kick himself for not having thought about it. No wonder she'd been so upset!And now it was his turn. Dear God he was thirty eight! He couldn't have another baby now! And he couldn't tell her that either. But eventually one thing did occur to him.

“And now you tell me? Here and now?” It seemed like if there was one perfect time and place not to drop a bombshell like that on him, this was it.

“Well I thought you should know. Before … you know. Just in case.” She hummed and ahhed a little awkwardly.

“Oh dear God! You are a prize idiot, woman!” But still he pulled her close and held her tight, not knowing what to say.

“No, I just have low standards when it comes to men! Hanging out with people who only have a Masters degree!”

James groaned but didn't respond. He still didn't know quite what to say. But eventually he realised there was absolutely one thing he had to tell her.

“You need to go back where it's safe.”

“Chivalry?” Yasmin let out a small laugh. “Now?! It’s a bit late now! But one thing you can be sure of. Whether I've got a baby on board or not, I am never going to be hiding in the bushes playing it safe! So get that black and blue butt of yours moving and let’s hunt the bitch down!”

And just to make sure he got the message she goosed him, before pulling free of his embrace and heading off again, leaving James to follow and try to think of some other reason she should stay behind where it was safe.

Suddenly the sound of weapons fire intruded on the quiet of the night, and he forgot everything else. The battle had been joined which could only mean that the cry of dispassion hadn't been as effective as it should have been. But given what the banshee surely knew of their tactics it wasn't surprising. She must have prepared her people for it. Ear plugs and wards might work. He gripped his weapon tightly and hurried towards the clinic, trying to keep in front of Yasmin. But even in stilettos on grass she was faster than him just then.

Before they made it all the way things ahead grew wilder. There were flashes of light and the sound of arrows whistling through the air that he knew were the knock out spells being fired. At one point all the windows on the second floor simply blew out and then he heard howling. Obviously they had some sort of beast master among them. The question was who had the beast master? Them or the banshee's people?

More weapons were fired and more bullets flew by the time they made it to the missing front entrance and James was suddenly uncomfortably aware that he wasn't wearing his vest. Not getting it might have been a mistake. After all, his coat wasn't going to stop a bullet. And Yasmin wasn't dressed properly either. Maybe Mark had been right to tell them to stay back.

Fortunately the front room was largely empty as he discovered when he peered in. There was one man there, lying on the floor, and he wasn't one of theirs. In fact he was dressed as an orderly. The chances were that the spell of dispassion had got him. James was almost certain of that when he went to check on him. The man was alive and breathing, and his eyes even managed to follow him around a little. But he simply wasn't moving. He certainly wasn't reaching for the Glock beside him. But James appropriated it anyway.

“Is he …?” Yasmin called from the doorway.

“He's fine.”

After that James started doing a sweep through the ground floor as he'd been trained to. A room by room search. Something that was easier when the rooms were all so large. The ground floor was mainly filled with lounges, reception areas, a dining hall and kitchen. There was even an outdoor dining area leading out to a courtyard at the rear of the building. This was the communal part of the facility where the patients could wander freely and hopefully enjoy their days as they recovered.

The patients weren't there though. They were presumably in their rooms though he doubted they were sleeping any more. Instead he found at least a dozen more prone bodies, all of them dressed in the outfits of staff. Nurses and orderlies. And all of them had weapons on them which he confiscated. Even the cooks had guns. By the time he was finished picking up weapons and dropping them on the reception counter, he would have guessed that there were at least twenty hand guns and half a dozen assault rifles piled up. All of them were police issue. There was no doubt that the banshee had managed a major weapons heist among her many other crimes. She was a very dangerous woman.