Grimm Awakening (24 page)

Andy said, “Oh, this is fun. Wouldn’t a smooth ride up in a cozy elevator have been a better idea?”

Siegel paused to reload his gun. “Right. Good idea. Put us in a big metal box the bad guys could freeze with the push of a button.”

“Yeah, okay, play the logic card. I’m just saying--”

But whatever else Andy had to say was obliterated by the sound of automatic weapons fire.

18.

Jack could hardly believe it. For reasons known only to Mona--if, indeed, even she knew why--he’d been left unattended for the first time since his abduction. And he was back in the big presidential suite. Facedown on the floor. He was still woozy from the furious thrashing administered by Mona after learning of her henchmen’s failure to capture Lucien and company. Jack grabbed a leg of a nearby table and pulled himself to his feet. He took a tentative step in the direction he’d last seen Mona heading and almost collapsed. He stopped and didn’t move again until he was sure he could take another step without toppling over.

Then he made his way to a door he assumed would lead him out of the suite. He gripped the doorknob and tried to turn it, but there was no give at all--it was as immovable as a mountain range. He could faintly hear Mona talking to someone somewhere beyond the door, which ruled out any attempt to kick or otherwise force it open. She would be on him in an instant and he had no desire to be pummeled again so soon after his last unpleasant encounter with her fists of fury.

He retreated from the door, scanned the vast suite again, and was gratified to find himself still alone. But it was the only thing he could see to be happy about. The only other way out was the balcony. And, of course, he had no desire to visit the dungeon again. A wider range of options would have been nice, but he didn’t have that luxury, so he made his way over to the balcony.

Glass fragments crunched beneath the soles of his feet. He stepped through the shattered sliding door and walked over to the railing. He looked down and experienced a wave of vertigo so intense it nearly made him pitch over the railing. His stomach lurched and he felt bile at the back of his throat. He recalled now what it’d been like to hang upside down over several hundred feet of empty air, the memory from his previous time on this balcony replaying in his head like a scene from a lurid late night movie.

And he remembered something else, something that sparked a flicker of hope within him.
That strange little girl
. Perhaps Raven Rainbolt was in some way responsible for the difficulties Mona’s people were experiencing tonight. Which would mean she’d decided Jack was worth saving, after all. And that she was assisting whoever was in his rescue party. It also meant a very slim chance now existed that he might actually survive this nightmarish reunion with his she-demon ex-wife.

Which was nice, but Jack knew he couldn’t just sit back and wait for the posse to show up. He considered climbing over the railing and attempting to swing onto the balcony below, but it didn’t take long to decide this just wasn’t feasible. His broken fingers--already throbbing in a way that made him want to drain a fifth of scotch or get shot up with morphine--rendered a stunt like that impossible.

“Goddammit.”

So much for playing the role of the proactive hero. He was stuck. And some of his friends were racing toward a confrontation that likely meant their doom. There was something special about Raven Rainbolt, yes, but Jack’s incipient hope began to wither as he struggled to imagine the small woman engaging successfully in combat of any sort with Mona, who was probably immune to much of the magic that had defeated her subordinates.

He heard footsteps crunching on glass and turned around.

Smiling, Mona emerged through the broken door and stood on the balcony. “Jack, you’re not thinking about jumping, are you? No matter what your problems, suicide is not the answer.” She laughed. “Besides, I wouldn’t want you to miss the big show.”

“The big show?”

Mona pressed her body against him. “Yes, Jack, the big show. Your meddling friends have so annoyed me that I’ve decided they deserve a special brand of punishment. Someone in their midst is talented at circumventing Maverick security. So much so that I could almost suspect an inside job, but I know none of my people are that stupid. They fear me too much.” She dipped her head toward him and the tip of her nose touched Jack’s nose. Her voice became huskier. “So we have a mystery. But it’s nothing I can’t handle. I’ve instructed my people to allow them passage to the Royal Suite. They’ll be harassed as they make their way here, just enough so they won’t be suspicious.”

She leaned her full weight into Jack now, pushing him up against the railing. “When they arrive, they’ll walk straight into an ambush and be captured. Then we’ll all go down to the Maverick Theatre, where you and I can watch some very annoyed lions and tigers tear your friends apart on the stage.”

Mona kissed him lightly on the mouth. “That’s the ‘big show’, baby. Just thinking about it makes me horny.”

Jack grasped at a thread.

“You want to know what the funny thing is, Mona?”

She made that sexy purring sound of hers again. “What, darling?”

Jack forced a laugh. “Really, you’re gonna want to pay attention to this. It’s worth it.”

Mona sighed and brought her mouth away from his neck. “Okay. What’s so funny?”

“I have no idea where my father is. The last time I saw him, he vanished in a flash of light. He could be in another fucking galaxy for all I know. And as for his plans, well, it’s simple. He’s going to crush the armies of hell and end forever your visions of hell on earth.”

Mona pushed away from him and stood with her arms crossed beneath her breasts. She smiled. “Silly boy. I know that’s what he
wants
to do. It’s
how
he means to do it I need to know about.”

“So you don’t buy this as the confession you’ve been seeking?”

Mona shook her head.

“See, that’s what’s funny about it. It’s true, but you can’t believe it, because you’ve got so much invested in thinking I’ve got the inside scoop.”

Mona pursed her lips. She studied Jack for a moment, but then she just shook her head again. “No, you’re lying. Theodore Grimm wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of bringing his oldest son to hell unless he meant to share extremely important information with him. What you’re saying makes no sense. Therefore it can’t be true.”

Jack laughed. “What? Are you serious? I thought you were some kind of infernal genius or something, but I’m gonna have to rethink that, Mona. Because even you should know that…wait...what was that you said about his ‘oldest’ son? I’m an only child.”

Mona smiled. “No, Jack, you’re not. Theodore Grimm kept more than one secret from you.”

“But--”

A gasping slave arrived with more news just then, preventing him from pursuing the subject further. “Mistress, they’re almost here.”

Mona clasped hands with Jack and led him back into the Royal Suite. “Relax, Jack. Soon you and I will both know the truth about everything. I’ll tell you about your brother, and, just before you die, you’ll tell me the rest of what you know about your father’s plans.”

19.

Flight after flight, Lucien followed Raven up the stairwell. He bore the weight of the yelping prostitute without much difficulty, but he knew even someone as strong as himself would begin to feel the strain before much longer. So focused was his concentration on this task that he was startled when Raven abruptly deviated from the apparent game plan.

Raven reached the twenty-first floor landing. Rather than turn and head up the next flight of stairs, she opened the door there and reentered the hotel proper. Lucien was several steps up the next flight before what had happened registered.

“What the hell?”

He whirled about and headed back to the landing, causing Madeleine to loose a terrified squeal. He dashed through the open door and looked for Raven. She was halfway down a hallway already and showed no indication of slowing any time soon. He didn’t want to lose sight of her, so he took off after her, trusting that Andy and Siegel were close enough behind them to see what was happening. Gritting his teeth, he willed himself to move faster. A middle-aged hotel guest stepped out of her room and paid the price for her bad timing--Lucien slammed into her and sent her flying. Lucien was long gone by the time she roused herself enough to utter a protest. Then she had to contend with two more crazy men swooping past her, each of them wielding handguns. The woman fainted at the sight of the guns, which was another case of bad timing, as she was about to be trampled beneath the jackbooted feet of Mona’s thugs.

Lucien slowed some as he closed the gap between himself and Raven. This proved a wise move, as the girl came to a stop in front of a door a few rooms short of the end of the hallway. She opened the door and disappeared through it. Lucien followed her into a room that looked comfortable but clearly wasn’t one of the Maverick’s pricier suites. There were two beds, a large television, a wardrobe, and a bathroom--and not much else.

Andy and Siegel skidded into the room and Siegel kicked the door shut behind them. Huffing and puffing, Andy stood bent over, with his hands on his knees. Siegel was doing the same. Lucien wasn’t breathing so hard, but a sheen of sweat covered his heavily muscled torso. “Explain yourself, Raven. I’m trusting you’ve done the right thing, but I’m not seeing how just yet.”

Still breathing hard, Andy was standing fully upright again. “Far as I can tell, all we’ve done is put ourselves in a hell of a corner. You better have a seriously impressive rabbit ready to pull out of your hat, girl.”

Madeleine hammered at Lucien’s back with her fists. “Put me down!”

Lucien obliged. “Well, Raven?”

Raven raised a hand and pointed at the ceiling. Lucien looked up. There was nothing remarkable about the smooth expanse of white at first glance, but as he peered closer, he detected a faint, square-shaped outline about half the size of an elevator car. As Lucien watched, this section of ceiling folded back and revealed an opening.

Andy frowned. “So we’re just going up to the next floor? Brilliant strategy. They’ll be waiting for us by the time we get there.”

Raven shook her head. “No.”

She held her hands above her head and shot up into the air. She disappeared through the hole. Lucien, Andy, and even Siegel exchanged puzzled glances. Then a rope ladder dropped through the hole and unfurled. The bottom end brushed the carpeted floor.

Lucien looked at Andy. “What the fucking fuck?”

Andy shrugged. “Hell. We’ve gotten this far blindly following Supergirl. Why stop now?”

Lucien seized Madeleine and hoisted her over his shoulder again.

“Oh, you bloody cock! Why is this happening to me?”

Andy said, “Because God hates you. Which pretty much makes it unanimous.”

Madeleine flipped him a middle finger in the last moment before Lucien disappeared through the hole. Something hit the hotel room door with astonishing force, making the hinges groan. Another couple blows like that--maybe just one--and the door would come crashing down. Siegel climbed the rope ladder and Andy hurried after him. By the time Mona’s soldiers gained entry to the room, the ladder and the hole in the ceiling had vanished without a trace.

So, too, had Lucien and his comrades. At least this is how it seemed to Lucien. It was immediately clear that they had not simply ascended to the room above the one they’d just departed. Lucien could move his body, but there was nothing like a solid surface anywhere beneath his feet. Which was just weird, even for a dimension-hopping renegade hellhound.

He heard Andy’s voice: “So. We seem to have followed Alice into goddamned Wonderland. Only Wonderland is as dark as the interior of Satan’s infernal arsehole. I guess this is better than being riddled with machine gun bullets, but only marginally.”

Madeleine was doing a lot of screaming.

Andy raised his voice. “I’d tell her to shut up, but she’s perfectly expressing how I feel.”

“A-hem.”

Madeleine’s screeching abruptly ceased. Indeed, the one sound from Raven announcing her presence silenced them all. Raven didn’t say much, but she was the architect of this madness, so when she did speak they were compelled to listen.

“I understand you’re all confused and frightened. But you are in a safe place. I want you to think back to when I came to your assistance in the casino. Think about your first glimpse of me. What do you remember?”

Lucien put himself back in those harrowing moments. There had been too many of Mona Faust’s assassins bearing down on them. He knew both Andy and Siegel would have fought valorously alongside him, but ultimately they would have been overcome. Instead, Raven Rainbolt had emerged--through a hole in the ceiling--and had saved them from imminent dismemberment and death.

“You came through a hole in the ceiling,” Andy said.

Madeleine elaborated: “Just like the one we passed through.”

Siegel said, “My girl always has more tricks up her sleeve. I confess, though, to being in the dark about this one.”

Andy cackled. “We’re all in the fucking dark, mate.”