God Hammer: A novel of the Demon Accords (31 page)

“Deal.  I’m considering meeting with the Macha and her circle.  If I do, maybe you could call your friend to set it up?” I asked.

“Yeah, but let’s think that through first, okay?  Now tell me about this kid and your suspicions.”

So I did.

“What can we do?” she asked when I finished explaining T.J. and his skills.

“If I get close, I think I can power through his mojo.  But I also called in some help,” I said.

“You called someone else for help?” she asked, eyes narrowed.

“No!  I called some
thing
else for help,” I said hurridly.  Then I explained.

“Holy shit, really?  It can travel like that?” she asked.

“I think so.  It seems to have changed a great deal, kinda on its own, but I’m told that’s my fault.  Sorrow says so.”

“I can’t wait to see this.  When?”

“Not sure.  Maybe in the next day or so.”

“You, my friend, are a never-ending, blue-eyed bundle of surprises,” she said, her tone admiring.

“Right now, I’m a tired, sick bundle of useless.  If it’s okay, I think I’m going to get some sleep.”

“Good idea.  Need tucking in?” she asked.  It seemed like an innocent enough question. Not like the thoughts that raced through my head.

“No, but thanks, Stacia,” I said.

“Alright.  Goodnight warlock,” she said, standing, leaning forward to present an award-winning view down her shirt as she grabbed my head and planted a kiss on top of it.

Then she was gone and I took forever to fall asleep.

“Looks like it exploded a gas main,” Arkady said, looking up from his tablet.  “Line directly under waste truck.  Precise.  Maybe bug robot poked a hole in it?”

“Ya think?  If it can explode just one portion of a gas line, then why can’t it just blow up our building or any street just outside of it?” Lydia asked.

“Declan’s spells shield the gas lines where they come in and extend out fifty yards or so in all directions.  That was his idea.  Kid knows a lot about fires and explosions.  Comes to him naturally,” Deckert said.

“How is he?” Tanya asked me.

“Doc Singh says he’s got a form of food poisoning.  Says he’s recuperating, but the good doctor is concerned.  Declan only ate in two places—Gita’s last night and our dining room today.  No one else in either place got sick.  Doc’s suspicious about that,” I said. “Stacia reported that he was napping when she left him a couple of hours ago.”

“Deliberate poisoning?” Arkady asked.

“It would be easy for a smart, college-connected person to get a sample of the germ that was used, at least according to the doctor,” I said.

“Revenge?  For the alcohol detox I asked him to make?” Tanya asked, eyebrows and temper rising in unison.

“That’s the suspicion. Most likely candidate is Simon.  He and Declan don’t like each other,” I said.

“Nika?” Tanya asked her blonde friend.

“On it,” Nika said.

“Okay, so that’s grounds for immediate termination, but aren’t we forgetting the important stuff here?  The attack in the street?” Deckert asked.

I shared a glance with Tanya.  “One, Declan is a key player in our fight against Anvil, so his health is important. He doesn’t have our defenses against germs.  Second, how would
you
react if you found out that one of your fellow workers had poisoned you?”

“Yeah, I see your point.  Potential Hansel and Gretel scenario,” Deckert said.

“Hansel and Gretel, ha.  You guys are way off.  You should be thinking of Little Red Riding Hood,” Lydia said.

“Okay, Hansel and Gretel are you two, dah?  What is Red Riding Hood?” Arkady asked after pointing at Tanya and me.

“Stacia,” Lydia said.  Both Arkady and Deckert looked slightly puzzled.

“He has a serious crush on her,” I explained.

“Oh,” Arkady said, the light dawning in his eyes.

“What happens when she dates someone else?” Deckert’s expression turned to full frown.

“I’m not at all worried about that, Mr. Deckert.  Call it woman’s intuition,” Lydia said.

“I’ll go investigate this Simon right now,” Nika said, looking worried.  She stood up and left the room.

“What else is on the agenda?” Tanya asked.

“This,” Deckert said, using a remote to turn on Tanya’s wall-mounted monitor.  The picture showed a security camera view of the outside of our building.  Lines of protestors walked up and down with signs.  Only one sign was readable from our point of view.  It read
Stop the Bloodsuckers.

“The Church of the True went ahead and fired the first salvo.  They’ve posted comments with a half dozen blogs and news sites about the cured children dying and they’re blaming the Darkkin in general and you in particular,” he said, looking at Tanya.

She studied the scene for a moment, face blank of expression.  My link told me she was furious.  “Ideas?”

“Yeah, several,” Lydia piped up.  “First, one of Darion’s investigators found this footage from a convenience store in the home town of Krysta Downes, the little girl cured of brain cancer who died of pneumonia.”  She took the remote from Deckert, fiddled with both it and her tablet and a second later, a new scene popped up.

“Right here, you see Krysta walking with her mother,” Lydia narrated, pointing out the little girl hand in hand with her mother.  “At this point, this woman bumps into her.  Note the handbag actually touching Krysta, and here you can see Krysta rubbing the impact spot on her shoulder.  Now look at this copy of the autopsy results.  See here where the medical examiner noted a bright red welt in the exact same spot on her shoulder?”

“Is update of Russian micro-pellet?” Arkady asked. “Old umbrella injector changed to handbag.”

“That’s what Darion’s people think.  My idea would be to post it as an anonymous YouTube video, referencing the woman’s identity as a paid assassin, and have our friendly reporter blog about it,” Lydia said.

“What proof do we have that she’s a paid assassin?” I asked.

“None… yet.  We’re working on it.  We think she’s from Europe,” Lydia said. “We’re hoping for some information from your asset,” she said to me.

“Well, I only just gave him the assignment,” I said.

“It could backfire.  They could try to link her to us,” Tanya said.

“We think that Brystol’s blogging will be particularly effective in convincing the public,” Lydia replied.

“Okay, what the hell.  Better than sitting on our butts, right?” Tanya asked, looking at me.  I nodded.

“She’s gonna want something in return,” Lydia said.

“What?” I asked.

“An interview with the boy witch.  She wants the inside scoop on witches and witchcraft, as no one has broken that story yet,” Lydia said. 

Arkady and Deckert’s phones buzzed simultaneously.

“We can ask him,” I said, watching the two answer their phones.

“Is Nika.  She confirmed that Simon was culprit.  Only Declan was nearby with Stacia and Nika might have said something out loud.  Now we have situation in lobby,” Arkady said.

“Maybe Stacia can contain him till we get there,” I said, jumping up and moving quickly for the elevator.

“Actually, we have a Peter and the Wolf situation.  Stacia heard Nika and
Declan
is keeping her from killing fool Simon,” Arkady said as we all rushed into the elevator.

A small group of us can input a code in the elevator to make it speed up and ignore other calls, but the ride down was still far too slow.

When the doors finally opened, the whole thing was front and center.  Stacia was holding Simon off the ground with one hand, her other hand formed into a truly nasty set of claws.  Simon looked rightfully terrified, his pants sporting a giant wet spot on the crotch.

Declan was standing just to Stacia’s side with his hand resting on her arm, the one with the claws, talking to her quietly.  His eyes didn’t even flicker our way as we
moved
over to the scene.  “Not worth it,” he was saying.

I moved around till I could see her face.  Her eyes were yellow and her jawline was slightly extended, with enlarged teeth.  Declan had one finger on her wrist ever so lightly. He looked up at me.  “Hey Chris.  Look, Stacia, Chris is here,” he said.  “Simon here played a prank on me and Stacia’s upset about it.”

“Prank?” she said, turning her glare on Declan.  Kid didn’t even flinch.  Then she glanced my way. “He poisoned Declan, Chris.  Put bacteria in his food—in his tacos.  It could have killed him!”  She was seriously pissed and possibly the only thing keeping Simon from being disemboweled was the finger on her wrist.  Her left arm didn’t even shake as she held the much-larger Simon six inches off the ground.

“Well, it’s grounds for dismissal.  In fact, he’ll have to leave or he’ll die,” I said.

“What?  Die?  That’s what we’re trying to avoid right here?” Declan asked.

“How do you think Remy will react when he finds out this idiot poisoned one of his meals and you got food poisoning from it?” I asked.

“He’ll kill him,” Stacia said, realization coming over her.  She dropped Simon and her arm and face returned to normal, if you call the evil grin on her face normal.

“Exactly.  In fact, Simon, you are fired, but we have to move you out of the city immediately or you might not survive,” I said.

“She… she almost just killed me right here.  I want to press charges, I want the police,” he babbled.

“You’re supposed to be smart, so shut up and listen up.  You are guilty of poisoning someone.  That’s at least assault.  Stacia’s response is completely defendable and you’re not even scratched,” I said looking him over to make sure I was right.  Oops, looks like his shirt had claw holes in it from her grip.  “We have awesome attorneys so you’ll sit in jail while
she
stays free.  But you contaminated the cuisine of a master chef, who is also a fairly old vampire.  No police cell in this city would keep you safe.  Remy has one passion… his cooking.  And you desecrated it and poisoned one of his favorite diners.  He
will
kill you.  Unless we get you out of the city and far from here. Now.”

“What about the project?  What about my stuff?” he asked, face white as a sheet.

“You’re off the project and bound by the confidentiality agreement you signed.  You are leaving now.  We’ll pack up your stuff and send it to you.  Your final check will be deposited to your account,” Tanya said, speaking for the first time.  She moved up and took his arm, moving him away from us, speaking rapidly and evenly about what would occur if he broke confidence.

Stacia watched them go, eyes focused like a predator losing its prey, but not moving to follow.  Declan pulled his hand from her arm and she looked down to where it had been resting, as if she just noticed it had been there.  A group of interns stood twenty feet away looking upset and scared.  Lydia and Deckert moved over to them, shooing them away.

“So I guess I would have expected
you
to be keeping
him
from killing Simon, not the other way around?” I asked Stacia.

“I heard Nika mutter something about Simon poisoning someone and knew immediately that it was Declan.  Next thing I knew, I was holding that asshole, wanting to murder him,” she said.

“Yeah, she just growled and took off across the floor.  Man, you’re fast,” Declan said to her.  “I figured it out pretty quick and then just tried to keep her from doing anything regrettable.”

“Weren’t you mad?” I asked him. 

“Oh, I would have been.  If I had heard it first, I might have done something bad, but I don’t have that wolfy hearing.  Then I was more worried about Stacia than getting back at douche canoe with the wet pants,” he said.  “Can’t have my friend sitting in jail.  I’d have to break the jail or something and that would be really bad.  But I never thought of the Remy angle.  Would he really kill Simon?”

“Yes, he
will
unless we get the idiot far, far away.  Also, Declan, you might not feel like eating yet but if
you
request something light, an omelet maybe, from Remy, it’ll buy us time,” I said.

“I can do that.  No tacos though,” he said with a shudder.

“You would break me out?” Stacia asked Declan. 

“Of course.  I mean, I’d let Darion have a go at the legal route, but if it didn’t work, I’d have to do something.  Maybe not break the whole building. Maybe something more subtle,” he said.

“Wow, you two are truly menaces to society,” Lydia said, coming up with a shamefaced Nika.

“I never mutter,” the telepath muttered.  “I’m always silent, but not this time.  Dammit!”

“No harm, no foul,” I said.  “Thought you were sleeping?” I asked Declan.

“He was.  But when I went to check on him, I found him watching TV. I thought some fresh air would perk him up, so I brought him up to the lobby for a walk outside,” Stacia said.