He’s super lying about all that, by the way, Maggie said. He still plans on killing you and Olivia. There was something else going on – an undertone to the conversation – but I couldn’t figure out what it was.
I grinned at Olivia. “Okay, everything is set up. We’ve got a free pass from Lord Ruthven if we deliver the blood tally. Unfortunately for him, OtherOps will get to it first. That’ll make us too hot for him to touch, and he’ll slink back to whereverthefuck.”
“Seems like a good plan.” Olivia chewed on her bottom lip. “I’ve been making cantrips, though. Little one-off spells I can use to fuck up vampires. You know, just in case.”
“Hopefully you won’t need them, but …” I removed the Glock from my endless wallet, checked to make sure it was loaded with silver bullets, then put it in an underarm holster. “I like the way you think.” We made sure our preparations were done and headed out to the truck. Eddie would have none of us leaving him alone and was on the passenger seat the moment Olivia opened the door. I tried to argue, gave up, and began to drive.
Once we were on the highway, Olivia chanted something beneath her breath, rubbing her palms together and then slowly drawing them apart. She peered at the space between them as if she was looking at the screen of a laptop. “He’s still there,” she reported. “I’m going to guess he hasn’t showered since you chased him out of that thrall halfway house the other day. His tincture has worn off and he hasn’t reapplied it yet.”
“Does that mean that Boris can also find him?”
Olivia grimaced. “That’s a possibility.” I pressed a little harder on the gas pedal. She continued, “He’s made himself a little camp under the bridge. He still has the blood tally. He’s …” Her voice changed. “He’s scared. Terrified, more like. He hasn’t eaten since yesterday.”
“Now that I know exactly what he has, I don’t blame him for being terrified.”
Olivia stared at that space between her hands for several minutes, then seemed to shake herself out of some kind of reverie. “Poor kid.”
After all this – finally – I agreed. I’d seen enough about thralldom and the world of vampires the last week to have some empathy. Maggie had been right all along. Thralls, or at least the majority of them, weren’t megalomaniacs out looking for immortality. They were young, dumb kids who wanted to feel like they belonged. It made the entire situation, and my involvement in it, even worse.
As I considered this, I could feel Maggie shifting around inside my head. She’s pretty handy. Too damned curious, but very handy.
You cooled off on her yet? I asked.
A little. I don’t like people asking questions that might tell them where I am. But I still think you should ask her out when this whole thing is done. She’s clearly DTF.
I glanced sidelong at Olivia. I might just do that. If we’re still alive. And she’ll still speak to me. I cast the entire thing out of my mind. There was chemistry there – even I wasn’t so dumb as to miss that – but I had no idea what the next couple of days had in store for us. It seemed stupid to look further than that. Things could still go very badly.
We took I-77 up into Cleveland, then hopped I-90, getting off at the McKinley Street exit and heading north along the Rocky River. It was a nice area, a pretty suburb with parks and houses built all the way down to the river, within sight of boat docks for people who liked to head out onto the lake. I found some street parking a few blocks south of the bridge, hidden from view by some trees. I checked my Glock once more, then made sure I had my handcuffs on me.
“He’s up in the girders, where the bridge meets the ground on the west side,” Olivia reported. “He’s got a little nook that he’s sleeping in. This is a pretty nice neighborhood. I bet the moment someone spots him, he’ll get kicked out.”
“Well, as soon as we get our hands on him, I’m taking him to a safe house,” I told her, getting out of the car. I had a moment of disquiet as I looked back the way we’d come, though I couldn’t quite tell why. Everything good? I asked Maggie.
I don’t sense us being followed, if that’s what you’re asking. Get me a little closer and I’ll be able to pinpoint Michael.
Will do. “Okay,” I told Olivia, “You and Eddie hold down the fort. I’m going to go around and come at his camp from the north side. If he runs, I want him to run toward the truck. You can just get out and look threatening, and it’ll probably throw him off enough that I can catch up. Careful, though. He’s a natural sprinter.”
Olivia cocked her head. “I’m a foot shorter than you and a hundred pounds lighter. How am I supposed to look threatening?”
“Wave your hands in the air and shout?”
“That works on wild animals, not people.”
“It might.” I waved goodbye and set out on foot, giving the base of the bridge a wide berth and heading several blocks west to cross the four-lane highway that went over the bridge.
I was coming around the other side when Maggie said, I’ve got him. Or at least, I’ve got his sleeping space. I don’t see him there, though.
I’m going to be really pissed if we somehow fucked this up.
Just keep going.
I followed her instructions, coming in slow, trying to act casual so none of the neighbors made a fuss about the bearded, tattooed, flack-vest-wearing stranger wandering up their street. Maggie said nothing, so I approached the spot she’d indicated up under the bridge. It was tough to see from a distance, but once I was up under there, I could see a bit of graffiti and a sleeping bag tucked out of sight from the street. The place was abandoned, but my heart began to race. There, sitting all the way at the back of the hidey-hole and half covered by the sleeping bag, was a blocky shape.
“Bingo,” I breathed. I climbed up inside, snatching the shape. It was a heavy package, tied together by a thick cord, a trash-bag wrapped around the whole thing. I tore the bag away to reveal one large tome, looking more like a family Bible than a book of contracts and records.
You’ve got the blood tally, Maggie confirmed. You know …you don’t even need Michael any more.
I need to hand him to Boris still, I said, though I hesitated at even that. If Jacques was planning on killing Boris, he wouldn’t hesitate to murder the thralls as well. Letting Michael bolt might just save his life. But to wrap all this up in a pretty bow, I needed to take Michael in and finish the job.
Found him, Maggie suddenly said. I think he was taking a shit down by the river. He’s … damn, he’s coming this way.
I hesitated, torn between doing my job and letting the poor kid go. I climbed out of his hidey-hole and scooted down the hillside back to the street. I had just turned to head toward my truck when I heard someone shout.
“Hey, that isn’t yours!”
I whirled toward the river. He was taller than I’d expected, unshaven and hair matted, but I recognized Michael from the photos I had of him. I took a deep breath. “Michael Pavlovich!”
He was striding toward me purposefully when I called his name. He froze, seemed to give me a good, hard look, and his eyes widened. He took off running before I could say another word. Holding the blood tally underneath one arm, I began to follow. I’d made my decision, it seemed. “We need to talk!” I yelled after him. “I’ve got to warn you about … damn it, slow down!”