Baalth raised an eyebrow.
“Relax. I’m not looking to move in. I’m just looking to put a little pressure on the bastard.”
He nodded and waved Marcus and Poe over. He turned and whispered something to the mentalist as Marcus glared at me. Poe scribbled some locations down on the back of a business card and passed it to me. I pocketed it without looking.
“Anything else?” Baalth asked.
“Yeah, how about you have Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Poe give us a ride into town so we can get back to work.”
“I think we can manage that.” He turned to D’anatello. “Return Frank to wherever you found him.”
He added, “In one piece, as much as it pains me to say.”
Marcus snorted, before gesturing to the van. Abraham started to head that way when Poe reached Page 148 out and laid a restraining hand on his shoulder.
“You’ll be staying here, Mr. Solano.”
“No he won’t.” I growled, going back to retrieve him.
Marcus stuck the gun in my face. I stared into the black barrel, my anger building. One of these days…
“Abraham will remain with us, for a while,”
Baalth told me with a crooked smile. “He and I have a lot to discuss while you’re off saving the world.”
I took another step forward and felt the cold steel of the barrel bite in as Marcus pressed it against my forehead. I was willing to risk being shot if by doing so I could rescue Abraham and I think Poe realized that. He pulled another of my confiscated guns out from beneath his jacket and pressed it into Abraham’s side.
“I have nothing but respect for Mr. Solano, but I will not hesitate to end his life should you continue being uncooperative, Mr. Trigg.”
I’d never seen Poe with a weapon before, but I knew he meant every word he said. He had always been a cold fish. Even worse, he was a mind-reading cold fish. I hated the thought of leaving Abraham behind. It’s not that I was afraid of what they might do to him. I was afraid of what I knew they were gonna do. Abe waved me off. “I’ll be fine, Frank. Have Rahim mobilize DRAC as necessary and do what needs to be done to end Asmoday’s threat. You have more important things to worry about than me.”
“I’m not leaving you here, with him.” I pointed to Baalth.
“I won’t hurt him, Triggaltheron. I have more respect for him than that.” He gave a nod to Abraham, then looked back to me. “Go and find the angel before Asmoday makes a meal of him.” He shooed me away.
“I’ve prepared a surprise for our demon friend that should meet your needs sufficiently. I’ll contact you with the specifics when the time is right.”
I felt torn, but if I didn’t focus on the job at hand, it wouldn’t matter where Abraham was. We’d all be dead. “Make it fast, Baalth. We’re up against the clock here.”
“I understand our time restraints fully.” He smiled wide. “Now handle your business, Frank.”
Marcus pushed me toward the van. I went grudgingly, looking back at Abraham, fighting the urge to go back for him. I could tell he didn’t like the situation anymore than I did, but he was a trooper. He’d do whatever it took to save the world, even if it cost him his life. I just didn’t want to see it come down to that.
“If you harm him, Baalth, Asmoday will be the least of your worries,” I shouted as I was pushed into the back of the van.
Marcus closed the door behind me, making the smart choice of remaining outside. I wasn’t sure I’d have been able to restrain myself had he climbed inside with me. That would have made things messy. As it was, I’d let Abraham fall into the hands of the enemy and it didn’t get much worse than that. No, scratch that. It was gonna get worse. Even if we managed to save the world, Rahim was gonna kill me.
I rested my head on my knees as the van pulled away. I felt like shit leaving Abraham behind, but he was right. I had a job to do. The fate of the world rested on my shoulders.
Now would be a good time for a miracle.
Boiling Point
The van dropped me off at the alley where Baalth’s men had abducted us. At that point, I wasn’t so much mad as I was worried. I couldn’t get Abraham out of my head. I slammed the door to the van shut and started to storm away when the driver called out. I spun around, waiting to see what last minute BS Baalth had set into motion. My cynicism didn’t play out this time. In the driver’s hand was one of my pistols.
“Baalth thought you might need this.” He tossed it out the window to me.
I caught it and sighed, looking it over. At least they didn’t steal them both. I thanked the guy as he drove off, stuffing the gun into my waistband and pulling my shirt over it. It wouldn’t help to be seen waving a gun downtown. I didn’t need any more problems. I had far more than enough on my plate already. Feeling out of touch, and not a little bit adrift, I decided contacting DRAC would be my best bet. I went to a nearby phone booth and dug some change out of my pocket. I deposited fifty cents and called one of the dummy corporation numbers that would put me in touch with DRAC. I gave them the call signs, before hanging up. A few seconds later, I felt my head tingle, Rachelle’s wispy voice reverberating inside my head.
“What can I do for you, Frank?”
I paused for a second, not sure how to tell her what happened. I edged toward the alley and turned to face the wall. It wouldn’t do to have people think I was some lunatic carrying on a conversation with himself.
“I’ve some bad news. Baalth has kidnapped Abraham.”
I felt her concern through the connection. “Is he well?”
I tried my best to sound sincere. “I don’t think they’ll hurt him, but I’m not sure he’s okay, exactly.”
“I’ll alert Rahim and Katon. They can help retrieve him.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Abe thinks we need to stay focused on the task at hand. If we veer off to rescue him, we put the world in danger. He doesn’t want that on his conscience. Sadly, I agree.”
I hated saying that, no matter how true it might be.
“Baalth said he intends to stick to his word and go after Asmoday. He’ll pass on the specifics of what he intends before it goes down. I’ll forward them on to you as soon as I know.”
I could hear the hesitation in her voice. She understood the situation, even if she didn’t like it. “Then we will stick to the plan.” I knew leaving Abraham in Baalth’s clutches was tearing her up as much as it was me, maybe even more so. I’d always imagined the two had a thing for each other. The pain in her voice all but confirmed it. I felt like a schmuck.
I changed the subject to avoid rubbing salt in the wound. “Have there been any more magical hot spots popping up, recently?”
“The last one to occur was Asmoday’s trap.”
“What about the gates? Any traffic through them?”
“The usual travelers, but no one out of the ordinary. I’ve been keeping a close watch hoping we’ll stumble across something, but so far there’s been nothing.”
I shook my head, trying to think of a way to track Asmoday down before it was too late. A thought popped into my head, hard as that may be to believe.
“What about any dead zones? You were telling me Asmoday was using some sort of magical dampener to mask the magic he was calling up. He’d have to activate them before he actually performed anything, so that’d give us a small window of detection. Have you noticed any areas where your senses drop off, maybe?”
She took a second to think about it. “I hadn’t noticed any, but I hadn’t been looking. I’ll start another scan and see what I can find. Is there anything else?”
“Yeah. Can you please send a message to Scarlett and ask her to meet me here? I know you’re not supposed to do stuff like that, but I don’t have time to try and track her down. I need her help with this.”
Fortunately, Rachelle wasn’t a stickler for the rules when it helped the cause. “Of course.” She paused.
I figured she was just off in her own world, so I waited patiently. A few seconds later, she continued. “Be careful, but do what you must. I’m sure Abraham will be fine.” She cut the contact before I could respond. I thought I heard a quiet sob right before the connection was severed. That only made me feel worse about Abraham’s kidnapping, it being my fault and all. I am a horrible friend.