Night Games (32 page)

Ally jumped into speech before Erica could decide she didn't like what Katy had said. “Why didn't you let me fall off the cliff?”

She could hear Katy suck in her breath. “You didn't tell me about falling off any cliff.”

Erica ignored her. “When Brian grabbed you, I figured he'd pull you back from the edge. Then he'd turn around, see me, and know I was the
only one close enough to have pushed you. And with so many people milling around, I couldn't take a chance on trying to push both of you over. So the only way to avoid suspicion was to play the hero.” She frowned. “You sure are hard to kill. I mean, I was sure that dumb horse would get so scared he'd run off the road, but no such luck.”

Erica shrugged. “Mercury must be in retrograde or something because my luck's been nothing but bad. I had you dead in my sights when I pushed that hunk of stone off the top of the keep.”

Erica glanced at Katy, and Ally saw cold resolve in her gaze. “Aunty has to go, too. She's seen too much.”

Ally felt the icy slide of horror at Erica's casual dismissal of Katy's life. “Someone will find us.”

“Not for a while. I'm a demolitions expert. It's what I do. I've planted enough explosives in this old keep to make sure nothing's left but a pile of rock. I gave myself plenty of time.” She took a quick glance at her watch. “I have exactly fifteen minutes. I'll leave your bodies here, replace the pallet, and walk away. I'll be on my way by the time the place implodes.”

You're crazy.
A phrase Ally had thrown around her whole life, but for the first time, it was true. And she didn't dare say it.

Ally drew a deep breath and tensed her muscles. Talk wouldn't change Erica's mind. She'd have to try to rush her. If Erica used her gun, the
sound of a shot might bring someone. But even as Ally thought it, she could hear the wind whistling and the rumble of thunder echoing from the top of the steps. The ancient drama in the great hall would be unfolding about now, masking the modern one happening so close by.

Ally drew on all her courage and focused on two goals. She wanted Katy to live, and she wanted to see Brian one more time to tell him how much she loved him. To hell with being unselfish. Life was too short, too precious to not take a shot at happiness.

She edged a little closer to Erica and felt Katy do the same.

Brian left his shelter and glanced toward the wagon. Dark. They wouldn't be asleep this early. Wind whipped around him and lightning flashed, followed by the hollow rumble of thunder. He shifted his attention toward the keep. They wouldn't be there, would they?

For the first time, he noticed the donkey cart in the shadow of the keep's wall. Brian frowned. What was Eamonn doing here? Then he remembered. The great hall would live again tonight, and Eamonn seemed drawn to the haunting.

Brian was about to wander over to speak with the old man when the sound of a car stopped him. In a sudden flash of lightning, he saw Mr. Fitzpatrick from the bed-and-breakfast in Liscannor push open his car door, hunch his shoulders
against the rising wind, and hurry toward him.

“I'm glad I found ye here, Byrne. This isn't a place I'd choose to search on a night like this.” He glanced at the darkened wagon. “I have a message for Miss O'Neill. Ye might pass it on to her. A man named Dave called. He didn't seem to know if Miss O'Neill would still be in the area, but he sounded upset, so I decided to deliver it as soon as I could. He said to tell her Erica booked a flight for Ireland. He seemed to think that was important. I don't know . . .”

Brian followed Fitzpatrick's gaze up to the keep where Eamonn still waited. He shifted his attention back to Mr. Fitzpatrick's face at the man's sharp gasp. Puzzled, Brian watched Mr. Fitzpatrick cross himself.

“It's himself.” Mr. Fitzpatrick started to back away from Brian.

“Eamonn?” It didn't take a genius to see the terror on the older man's face.

Mr. Fitzpatrick nodded. “Over three hundred years he's waited for his wife at this cursed place.” Turning, he bolted for his car.

Stunned, Brian watched the car bump and skid down the path to the main road. He looked back at Eamonn. Three hundred years? Impossible. But considering what he'd seen at the keep so far, probably not impossible at all. Determined to get to the bottom of Mr. Fitzpatrick's story, Brian headed toward the donkey cart.

He didn't get far before he saw the Old One
padding toward him. Brian waited for her to catch up.

“Something's going on, Boss. I don't know where Ally is, someone named Erica's in Ireland, and Eamonn's a little older than I first thought.” Erica. Where had he heard that name? Then he remembered. She was the new woman in Ally's ex-husband's life. Why would she be in Ireland, and why was it important?

He didn't have time to ponder his question, because he'd reached Eamonn. “Mr. Fitzpatrick says—”

“Ye must go to her.” Eamonn turned a fierce gaze toward him. “Ye must not fail her as I failed my Bridget.” He looked back at the keep. “Ye'll find her below.”

“Below? Where . . . ?”
The room beneath the keep.
The one Katy had been so set on exploring.

Eamonn's sense of urgency propelled Brian toward the keep. He didn't know what was happening, but he understood he had to find Ally.

Brian had taken only a few steps when a sound froze him in place.

A high, keening wail swept over him, surrounded him, carried on the rising wind. It went on and on, the cry of a woman, filled with sorrow and loss. It wrapped around his heart and squeezed.

And when he looked toward the place where the pallet and steps would be, he knew what he'd see.

A woman stood by the steps. Clothed in a gray
hooded cloak, she was as insubstantial as the night, as ageless as the stories told about her. Brian didn't need her mournful cries to identify her.
The banshee.

She'd come to claim an O'Neill.

Not if he could help it. He ran. He'd defy a dozen banshees, rip Ally from the arms of death itself if he had to.

Brian should have slowed down and formed a plan, but his fear for Ally drove him. He raced down the stone steps . . . and pulled up short as Claudia swung her gun to cover this new threat.

She frowned. “You know, this is the pits. Now I have to kill you, too.”

Brian's gaze searched for Ally and found her in the darkness. He moved to her, then wrapped his arms around both Ally and Katy. He faced Claudia, no
Erica.
“This won't work. You can't get away with killing three people. Dave knows you're here, and he'll go to the police.”

Erica's smile was eerily undisturbed. “Dave will believe anything I tell him. He loves me. And once Miss Perfect Wife is out of the way, he'll love me even more.”

Brian recognized evil and knew it was too late for a plan. He'd have to rely on reaction speed honed by hours of Nebula's exercises and hope for the best.

Erica sighed deeply. “Well, better get this over with before someone else wanders . . .”

Someone else wandered. The Old One padded down the stone steps and trotted, unconcerned,
behind Erica. Erica narrowed her gaze. “A person can't eliminate one ex-wife without the whole damned world showing up.”

“Something a lot scarier than the whole world is about to show up.”

Brian's whispered comment caught Ally's attention.

“What . . . ?” She turned frightened eyes up to him.

He bent down to Ally's ear. “I'll try to keep Erica talking for a few more minutes. The Boss is going to change.”

Brian straightened and stared at Erica. “What'll you do after you shoot us?”

Erica glanced at her watch. “I'll leave. I've placed explosives so that in a few minutes this place will implode. The keep will come straight down and bury this room forever.”

Hurry, Boss.
Brian cast a nervous glance behind Erica, then relaxed a little. The Old One had huffed and puffed herself up to the final moment of change.

Brian knew what to expect, but it was still a scary experience. The Old One demanded that all members of her team know her true form, so each new player went through the experience of watching her change. She probably figured it gave her an intimidation advantage at contract renewal time. Seemed to work.

“Oh my God!” Ally pressed her body against him.

His reaction exactly. Brian tightened his grip
on her. A dozen Ericas couldn't have torn his gaze from the shimmering cat form growing and flowing into something huge,
alien.
And even though Brian lived in a time when “alien” was normal, the Old One still remained
really
alien.

“That's not going to work.” Erica waved the gun at them. “I'd be crazy to look behind me.”

Katy was actually quivering beside Brian, but he didn't think it was from fear. She was finally experiencing something strange and wonderful in Ireland. Brian took an unbiased look at the Old One. Well, maybe not so wonderful.

“She sort of looks like the alien in that movie with Sigourney Weaver, only better. Saw that movie five times back in seventy-nine.” Katy ignored Erica and her threat as she cocked her head to gain a different perspective. “Maybe it's all those jaws with all those big shiny teeth. Can she talk out of all of them? Bet she has more tentacles than an octopus.” Katy paused for thought. “Good thing she isn't any bigger, or we'd need to grease her up to get her out of here.”

“Oh my God!” Ally was stuck in one-phrase mode.

“Shut up!” Erica shouted. “I'm not turning around, and all of you are going down now.” She aimed her gun.

Uh-oh. No one told the Old One to shut up. This wouldn't be pretty. Brian wished he could stick his fingers in his ears, but he was afraid a sudden move might startle Erica into a wild shot.

The Old One roared.

She sounded like one of those old dinosaur movies.

Everybody screamed. The Old One in full voice was an eardrum-shattering experience.

Erica spun around, looked up at the Old One, and fainted.

Convenient. Brian ran over and scooped up her gun. “Thanks, Boss. Great show.”

Katy raced past Brian and craned her neck to look up at the Old One. “Well, look at you. Aren't you the sneaky one? Never thought you'd look like this. Let me get my camera out and take a few shots. Then we can go with the camcorder.” Katy's gaze was worshipful. “Don't worry, no one will know you're from the future. I'll tell everyone I took these pictures next to Loch Ness.”

“Loch Ness is in Scotland.” Ally's voice was weak, but recovering fast.

Katy shrugged off that small detail.

“Let's get the hell out of here before this place blows.” Brian pushed Katy and Ally toward the steps just as Nebula raced down them.

“I am here to save you. The old man said you would need me.” She ran her gaze around the room, searching for victims in need of saving.

“She's planted explosives.” Brian nodded toward Erica. “Get her, and let's get out of here.”

In one stride, Nebula reached Erica, scooped her off the floor, and slung her across one massive shoulder. Then they all ran. Except the Old One. She slithered and scuttled.

They reached the top of the steps and kept running.

Brian yelled as they passed Jupe's shelter. Cap and Jupe joined their mad scramble down the hill and away from the keep.

They'd just reached the wagon when the keep imploded in a series of muffled explosions. For a moment the ancient building looked as though it was trying to withstand this attack, as it had so many others for hundreds of years.

It didn't.

The keep collapsed in on itself with a muted thunder that blended with the storm sweeping in from the sea. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed, a light and sound show to celebrate what the castle had once been, would be no more.

Everyone stood riveted as out of the gloom a small donkey emerged pulling a cart. A woman sat on the seat, a shawl wrapped around her shoulders, her long red hair blowing in the wind. She laughed up at the man beside her, a young man with an easy smile. His black hair whipped across his forehead as he turned to meet Brian's stare. And in the man's eyes, Brian saw the Eamonn Clancy he'd known for such a brief time.

“
Brigh gach cluiche gu dheireadh.
The essence of a game is at its end. May your game end well, Brian Byrne.” He raised his hand in farewell as the cart shimmered and disappeared.

And with Eamonn's leaving came the rain, sweeping in from the sea. Jupe, Cap, and Nebula—with
Erica still slung across her shoulder—scrambled into the wagon. The Old One wouldn't fit, so she scuttled into the bathroom.

Katy paused, staring at the spot where the cart had disappeared. She turned an awe-filled gaze toward Brian. “Was that . . . ?”

Brian nodded. “Ghosts.”

Katy's eyes shone. “That was an excellent adventure. I didn't get a picture, but it doesn't matter. I'll remember Eamonn here.” She tapped her chest.

Without another word, she hurried into the wagon to join the mob already there.

Brian stood staring at the dark pile of stone that had been his family's legacy. His hair lay heavy on his shoulders, and water ran down his face. Tears or rain? Probably rain. It was hard to cry over something he'd known so briefly.

A movement beside him signaled not everyone had run for shelter. He looked down into Ally's face. Her hair hung in wet tangles, and she'd hunched her shoulders against the torrent. Her eyes were warm with emotion, and he'd never seen a more beautiful woman.
His woman.
And in the thinking, everything became so simple.

When it was time to leave her, he'd have to make a choice. Either he'd return to 2502 and honor his contract,
his promise,
or he'd stay with the woman he loved.

“Will you use the Constructor to rebuild the keep?” Her voice was soft beside him. Calm, accepting of what he'd decide.