Crimes Against Magic (15 page)

"What the hell?" I said and sat back on the chair.

"I assume that's not what happened," Holly said.

That was putting it mildly. The news stated that a man murdered his lover after an argument. Then in an attempt to hide the body tried to burn the place down, killing himself in the process. Their daughter was missing and if anyone saw her they needed to phone the number that flashed up on the bottom of the screen along with a photo of Dani.

I'd hoped that what had happened might have slowed them down. Instead, they hadn't even missed a step. "So they can doctor the news. Which basically means, they can do whatever they feel like." 

"That's all it says anywhere," Dani said. "Even the net is quiet about it. I checked the statuses of a few people I know in our building. No one else was hurt. Although, I've got a lot of messages asking where I am."

Dani's photo appeared on screen once more. "You didn't respond, did you?" 

"Of course not," she said. "And I switched my phone off."

"Well we won't be going anywhere with your picture all over the news," Holly said. "Not with you looking like that." She took Dani's hair in her hand and bunched it up at the back. "I've got hair dye, and used to cut hair when I was younger. By the time I'm done you'll look like a whole new person."

"You could always stay in," I said.

"Dani needs clothes, and we all need food. She's about my size. She can borrow some of my clothes until we get her some of her own. Besides, like you said, she needs shoes. Those high heels won't be much good if we need to move fast."

"Just be careful. Right now we have the advantage of being invisible. I'd like to keep it that way until we know what's going on."

"Are you a cop or something?" Dani asked. 

Holly's riotous laughter pretty much put stop to that idea. "He's a thief," she said once she'd calmed down.

"You're a criminal?" Dani asked, shocked. 

 "I’m a thief." I tried not to smile at the notion that Dani was more shocked that I was a criminal, than she was that I wasn’t human. "Is that going to be a problem?"

Dani shook her head. "No, I just wanted to know."

 "I'm going to see Francis," I said. "Maybe he'll have some idea as to what's going on here. And maybe he can help."

"For a
small
fee, I'm sure he’ll help," Holly snapped.

"It'll be worth it, if we can stay ahead." I passed Dani my mobile. "This is untraceable. As I seem to have acquired another, it'll be a good idea if you have this."

She nodded thanks and started playing with her new electronic toy.

Holly gave me a hug. "Take care." 

I grabbed my jacket and walked to the front door. I picked up the gun and placed it in my holster, fastening my jacket up afterwards. I caught a glimpse of Holly's worried expression. 

"Just in case," I said. "I won't use it unless I have to." Somewhere inside me a voice whispered—
but if I have to use it, I'll make sure I'll be the one walking away.

*****

The phone in my pocket began to vibrate before I'd even made it down the stairs to the front door of Holly's building. The number said 'withheld'. I answered it and a familiar female voice filled my ear. "Is she safe?"

"I'm good, thanks. Blew up my flat, got shot at. Oh, killed a man in cold blood. Been quite an eventful day. Least it's not raining though, eh?"

"Are you quite finished?"

I had more, but I thought it better to save them for a more willing audience. "Dani's fine."

"Dani." Her tone was hard to pinpoint. She sounded angry, but sad too. "Where is she?"

"At a friend's."

"I told you not to involve anyone else."

I pushed the front door to Holly's building open with more force than strictly necessary. It slammed against the fence behind it. "Yeah, well I was running out of options. Did I mention the being shot at and blowing up incident?"

"Involving others will lead to complications."

I stopped walking. "Look, I did the best I could." Anger rose inside me and I had to force myself from snapping at her any further.

"Yes, I'm sure you did." She sounded a little sorry, but maybe it was just the sleep deprivation on my part. "Where are you?"

"London, why?"

"You need to get to Tower Hill within the next hour. Is that possible?"

It would take me about twenty minutes from where I was. "No problem. Who am I looking for, you?"

"No, not me. That would be foolish. Once out of the tube, go to a nearby pub, The Friar. It's five minutes walk from the station. My advice would be to get a cab in case you're followed. You'll know your contact. Just keep... Dani safe. I'll contact you when possible."

"Whom do you work for? And what do they actually want from me?"

"See your contact. Good luck, Mister Garrett.” 

"Wait," I snapped. "Just tell me, why is Dani so important?"

"My lord is interested in having control over fate itself. With Dani's help he will ensure that happens." And she hung up.

"More cryptic shit!" I shouted at the now disconnected phone. A young woman walked past with a small yappy dog trailing after her on a bright pink lead, which matched the colour of the woman's tiny skirt. She turned and gave me a stare of disgust. "Lovely day we're having," I said tipping an imaginary hat. The woman glanced away and increased her pace, her heels clicking against the pavement.

Great, now I'm scaring members of the public,
I thought and made my way to the tube station at Bank, which as usual was full of people all vying for that little bit of extra space. Luckily it was a short ride to Liverpool Street and then an only slightly longer one from there to Tower Hill. 

Tower Hill is the closest tube station to the Tower of London. The huge and impressive building looms above everything else around it. The fact that it used to be a prison, and that more than a few people died in it, seemed to be all the reason it needed to become a massive tourist attraction. People from all over the world have congregated outside the Tower’s imposing gates, which is probably why every shop in the area charged three times more than anywhere else. 

I walked past a group consisting of a mother, father and their two children, a boy and girl, both I guessed to be younger than ten. The dad was telling the girl off in rapidly spoken Italian, which I immediately translated in my head without thinking. Apparently Italian was one of the languages I could understand, something I hadn’t been aware of beforehand. The girl didn’t want to wear the beefeater style hat she had on and the dad wasn't happy with his daughter's tantrum. To be fair, it was an ugly hat and making his child wear one probably went against the Geneva Convention. 

I left them to it and passed a few dozen middle-aged American tourists eating ice cream cones that they'd probably had to remortgage their houses to afford. A few of them wore those ridiculous union jack hats that stores sell Americans so everyone else can tell them apart.

I got into the first black cab I reached and asked the male driver to take me to The Friar. Despite the close proximity of the pub to where I was standing, I wasn't exactly shocked to discover that he was happy to oblige. 

The journey took all of two minutes and cost more than the tube ticket I'd used to travel twenty times the distance.
I'm in the wrong bloody job.
 

The pub had been built inside a beautiful old building, possibly Georgian—it was hard to tell after all the work that had been done to the exterior. Several grey-stone gargoyles hung from the roof top, peering down on those beneath them with a set indifference. 

I entered the pub and it took a second for my eyes to adjust. A large, stained-glass window down one side only allowed a small amount of light in. Low hanging lights had been placed throughout the interior, but they could only help so much. I walked to the bar and ordered a Scotch from a tall, skinny man who looked like he needed to get a bit of sun and eat a good meal. He returned with a glass containing a shot of Scotch, neat. He hadn't even asked if I wanted ice in it. I liked the place already.

I drank a measure of the golden liquid, feeling the warmth as it cascaded down my throat. The door to the pub opened and I looked up just as a familiar voice said, "Hello, Nate." 

I turned to see Jenny. And downed the rest of the Scotch. 

Chapter 17

"I'm not here to fight, Nate," Jenny said. 

That was strange, because my first impulse was to throw a giant ball of flame at her. "You shot me," I said holding back my sudden anger.

"With a tranquiliser dart."

"Oh, that's
okay
then. Wanna shoot me a few more times?"

Jenny smiled, she had a nice smile. She'd changed her hair colour to a deep purple, left loose over her shoulders. She wore a pair of blue combats, a tiny black vest with a picture of AC/DC on it and some white Nike trainers. A black rucksack hung over one slender shoulder and she had a small jacket in one hand. My mind crept back to the last time I'd seen her naked, moving on top of me. And then it went to the moment she shot me. The memory of being shot by a woman pretty much kills
any
sexual urge you have toward her. And if it doesn't, you have issues.

"I was sent to help you," Jenny said as she walked past me and took a seat in a booth, at the rear of the pub. I ordered two Cokes, alcohol was not going to be a good idea, and took them over to our table. 

"How very gentlemanly," she said.

"I just didn't want you to get me one and lace it with sedatives." 

Jenny laughed and my groin did a little happy dance.
Okay, apparently I have issues.

"So you fancy explaining why you shot me?"

"It was my job. Shoot you, take you to your hotel and leave you there for pick up. But I used a lot less tranquiliser than I was meant to. It took a little explaining about how you'd managed to wake up and escape by the time my lord's men arrived." She smiled at the memory. "Apparently, I'm very persuasive."

"So sleeping with me was part of the plan?"

Jenny's smile intensified. "Oh no, that was definitely all for
me
." 

It took a Herculean effort not to drag her somewhere secluded and have my way with her. I pushed the thought aside before it took hold. "Who do you work for?"

"My lord is the only name I have. He's not exactly personable with his staff. Sorry." Jenny rummaged through her rucksack, where I caught the glint of gun metal. She passed a red file across the table to me.

I opened it to find my name written on the first page. "What is this?"

"It's a copy of the file we have on you. And a few things my lord managed to acquire from
other sources
."

I flicked through a few more pages but Jenny's voice drew my attention back to her. "Read that later, right now there are more pressing matters." She reached back into her rucksack and removed a brown envelope, which she passed to me. I opened it, spilling the contents onto the table.

"Photos?" I asked, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. I stared at myself, caught in black and white. "What's happening here?"

"I've been ordered to do a few things at this meeting. One of them is to explain why my lord and his vast resources are currently after you. These photos help do that."

"Who ordered you? Who is the woman on the phone?"

"Nate, please look at the photos." Jenny's sharp change of tone from playful to all business was a little jarring, but I did as she asked. 

There were a dozen photos in total, all of me. I wore a dark jacket and combats, although the shading suggested they weren't the same colour. The photos could have been used as a flick book, showing the seconds pass as I entered a building and attacked its inhabitants. After the third photo, two bodies were on the floor, and a gun had appeared in my hand. 

"Nate?" Jenny said and placed her hand against mine. And my brain went nuts as I collapsed against the wall and passed out. 

*****

Ten years ago.

I entered the building, an old abandoned office block near the London docks, aware of what I would find inside. Six humans and my target. He had to be kept alive, everyone else was expendable. They were mercenaries, no one I needed to feel sorry for. They'd been paid to work for a monster like Dr Welkin. They'd witnessed the atrocities carried out at his hand. They deserved their fate.

I opened the door and faced the first of the humans. Shock crossed his face before I slammed my fist into his throat, crushing his windpipe. I spun round to face a second man who had been standing behind the door when I'd opened it. A quick elbow to his jaw snapped his head to the side before he could reach for the gun in his hip holster. I took advantage and stepped behind him, breaking his neck and dropping him to the floor.

 
I grabbed the gun from his holster and placed a round through the temple of the suffocating man, they deserved to die, but I was not in the mood to watch people suffer needlessly. 

The gunshot brought a third merc out from a nearby room, pistol at the ready. He was dead before he had the chance to fire off a single shot. The contents of his head decorated the beige wall behind him.

The mercs wore body armour, Kevlar, over normal street clothes, but nothing to protect their heads. It was an oversight they wouldn't live to regret. With three down, that left only three to remove from this world before tracking down Dr Welkin. A man I was sure would be cowering somewhere. Men like him always do. They torture and rip people apart behind the safety of bulletproof offices and drugged victims.

I ejected the magazine from the dead guard's Ruger and checked the contents – ten bullets left, although the fact that they weren't silver meant these men were only expecting human problems. I re-loaded the gun and continued through the nondescript building, checking all of the offices along the lengthy corridor and finding nothing but rats and spiders.