Crimes Against Magic (29 page)

I'd been spared the majority of the force from the explosion by creating a shield of dense air all around me, similar to the one I'd used back at the abandoned office building to cover Dani and me. Even so, I felt the blast pushing at my hands, trying to force me off my feet.

The energy soon dissipated and I lowered the shield and looked over at the smoking ruin that used to be the Nissan GTR, with Achilles somewhere in the middle of the wreckage. It was too much to ask that he'd be dead, but hopefully he'd be otherwise occupied long enough for me to finish getting everyone out.

I made it to the warehouse door just as an armed guard darted through, almost barrelling into me. I used his momentum to take him off his feet, twisting my body and dumping him on his head behind me, knocking him out cold. A second guard ran through the door like he was on fire, slamming into me before I could move aside. 

Before we hit the floor, I hooked my arms around him, locking his arms in place, and moved my body to the side. It had the desired effect. The guard lost his footing and fell face first onto the cold, hard concrete with a crunch as his nose and jaw broke. 

I pushed him away and got back to my feet, but he turned his head toward me. His face was ruined, but he still reached out one hand to a knife in his belt. He didn't get to it in time to stop me driving my boot into his face.

That was two guards down in less than ten seconds, but when I turned back to the door I came face to face with the guard who had coldly killed the fighter only minutes earlier. A gun was aimed at my head and a smile was on his face. I pointed to the building beside me, but his gaze didn't waver. For about two seconds.

There was a small noise, almost lost in the wind around us, and an unseen force struck the guard in the temple, snapping his head around and driving him to the ground. I removed an ear piece from my pocket and put it into my ear. "Took your time," I said and glanced down at the growing pool of blood beneath the guard's head. There was an entry hole the size of a penny. But the bullet didn't leave the guard's head, it wasn't designed to. It was made to shatter on impact and bounce around inside the target, creating massive internal damage.

"Sorry, had to get rid of the guard from the hut," Jerry said from on top of the empty warehouse beside me. "Looks like your plan worked."

"So far," I said. Discovering that Jerry had been a Marine changed the plan. In hindsight, that was probably for the better. "There's more inside."

"Two," he said. "I've got them on my scope. Those big windows down the side of the building make for good visibility. You want them gone?"

"If you don't mind."

The sound of breaking glass assured me that Jerry had finished what he'd started. "Both down," he said. "I'll stay here and keep an eye out for our stone friend. But from what I've heard I don't know how well I'll be able to keep him down. I didn't bring a bazooka."

"Do what you can," I said and opened the door, peering inside. Two dead guards lay by the pit. It appeared that both had been making their way outside to see if their colleagues had managed to resolve whatever was happening. "Be back soon."

I darted inside and sprinted across the main floor to the exit, going through the door at high speed with a shield of air already up in front of me just in case. 

As it turned out, I needn't have bothered. The entire way up to the O'Hara suite was utterly absent of anyone, friend or foe. One kick to the door and the lock gave way. Mark and Lyn O'Hara sat where I'd last seen them, although more dishevelled and tired in appearance. Holly and her brother were both missing and fear pinged inside me. I used air magic to create a hardened blade across my fingers, cutting through the plastic ties used to hold Mark and Lyn's hands behind their backs. "Holly?" I asked Mark as he rubbed his shoulders and winced.

"They took her upstairs," he said. 

"I'll go get her," I said. "Can you check everyone else?"

Lyn hugged her husband once and then reached under the pool table, pulling out two shotguns that had been attached to the underside. Mark had grabbed a box of shells and began loading them. 

"How many more guards are left?" Mark asked.

"Not sure, but probably one or two," I said. I wasn't concerned about leaving Mark and Lyn to deal with any stragglers. I was pretty certain they'd be human and no match for a very angry married couple with experience in killing people.

I left them to their preparations and darted out of the room, sprinting up the stairs two at a time and paused at the top, just below the next floor. I peered down the corridor and quickly moved back before the single armed guard saw me. There were only two rooms on the corridor. One was used to store medical supplies and the other was a sound proofed chamber so that those who crossed the family could have… discussions. 

I started to make my way back down the stairs, wondering if there was another route, but the next thing I knew, the guard was standing at the top of the stairs, his eyes widened in shock and his hand went for his holstered pistol. I moved quickly, covering the distance between us and slamming my open palm into the side of his knee, dislocating the joint. He tried to stop himself from falling forward, but I grabbed his jacket and pulled him toward me, twisting my hips as I moved, and launching him head first down the stairs. He hit the first stair at an awkward angle, the loud crack and sudden limpness of his body signalling that he wouldn't be getting up again.

"Nate, you there?" Jerry's voice said. I'd forgotten I was even wearing an ear bud.

"Yeah, how's things at your end?" I asked as I walked toward the room where Holly was being kept.

"I'm fine, there are police cars and ambulances turning up, someone must have heard that explosion, so I'm about to run too."

"Thanks for your help," I said.

"No problem, but your gargoyle friend ran when the sirens started. He didn't look too happy about the fact that you'd set him on fire. He's going to want payment for that."

"He can take a ticket," I said.

Jerry wished me good luck and my ear piece fell silent. I removed the little bud and slipped it into my pocket.

I opened the door to Holly's makeshift prison and what I found caused a lump of worry to grow in my throat.

The place resembled something you might see after a tornado hits town. Everything was broken, the remains thrown around the room, creating as much devastation as possible. A wooden chair protruded from a small TV, the chair cushion's stuffing hung out of the smashed glass like a mortal wound.

My gaze fell downward to a naked leg lying on the floor behind a sofa bed that had been tipped over. I rushed over, and pulled the bed free, revealing Holly beneath it. 

Blood saturated her clothes and the floor beneath her. Tightness filled my chest, and a lump stuck in my throat as I realised how badly she was hurt. There was so much blood, it was hard to know how much one person could have left. It pooled behind her, drenching her hair and turning it a deep red as it stuck together. 

I wiped her neck with the palm of my hand and searched for a pulse, but found nothing. I grabbed a nearby t-shirt and cleaned her neck more thoroughly, before trying again. "Come on Holly, can you hear me?" I pleaded as I struggled to find signs of life, eventually discovering a faint pulse.

It looked like she'd been cut repeatedly, all over her body. Each slice into her skin had bled her a little more, and they seemed to get deeper the further down her body they went. I searched to see if there was one wound that might have caused the massive blood loss and found two gouge-like wounds in her abdomen. The holes were large and had ripped the skin on both ends. The weapon had been pushed inside and then twisted. 

"Holly, please?" I said again as I pushed the t-shirt over the deep wounds, trying to stop the bleeding.

"I need you, you can't die." Tears began to fall down my cheeks, warm and stinging. "Come on, fight. I can't do this alone."

A wail sounded from the door and I spun round to find Lyn standing in the doorway. "Get an ambulance, now! And a first aid kit," I shouted. 

She nodded and fished a mobile from her jeans pocket, immediately dialling as I kept trying to stem the flow of blood. When Lyn finished she rushed off, returning a few seconds later with a large first aid box. She ripped into the bandages, passing them over to me so that I could use them to apply pressure to the worst of the wounds.

We worked like that until two paramedics arrived and pushed us aside, assuring us that they'd do the best they could. I couldn't get up from the floor as they placed her on a gurney and wheeled her out of the warehouse. My legs didn't seem capable of movement. I just sat on the floor, numb with shock, as Mark arrived and held his wife, crying together as they left to follow their daughter. 

Chapter 30

I couldn't say how long it took me to walk down to the ground floor of the warehouse where more paramedics had rushed into the building, accompanied by several human police. The paramedics checked me over, but once they'd cleaned the blood off my face and hands and discovered that none of it belonged to me, they left me alone. Instead they began looking at everyone who'd been taken captive, requesting that many of them be taken to the hospital.

The O'Hara's were already gone by the time I'd gotten outside, the ambulance too. They hadn't wasted any time in getting Holly to the hospital. 

I passed several police who were hunched over the dead bodies outside. From what I'd overheard, the detective in charge of the investigation wasn't too happy to have had all his witnesses leave at once, but there was no force on earth that would have stopped either Lyn or Mark from being with their daughter.

 After answering a few questions and being told that I'd need to make a statement, the detective offered to give me a ride to the hospital, which I accepted. 

I knew what he was trying to do, hoping that I'd divulge information that he wanted, but by the time we'd arrived, I was pretty certain I'd told him absolutely nothing of value. 

The O'Hara family were easy to find inside the hospital, as the shock of what had happened finally began to dull. We were taken down dingy corridors that wouldn't have looked out of place when Florence Nightingale was running around. I was told to wait in a small room with half a dozen chairs, none of which were occupied. A few seconds later, Mark and Lyn joined me, holding each other's hands in comfort.

"How did this happen?" Mark asked. I wasn't sure whom he was talking to, so I just remained silent. "I asked you a question," he repeated, and this time menace crept into his voice.

 "They were after me," I said without looking up. "They wanted me to do things for them. But I don't know how they found out about Holly and you."

"This is your fault," Mark roared and dove toward me, dragging me from my chair and slamming my back into the wall. "You got my daughter killed." Mark's forearm pressed into my throat, his face a mass of red rage. 

"Let go," I managed as Mark pushed harder against my throat. 

"Mark," Lyn said from behind her husband. "This isn't Nate's fault. He saved us."

Mark blinked once and the tension against my neck eased. "I want to know who did this. And why," he said. "And you will tell me."

I'd never seen Mark angry before. Sure, I'd heard the stories of what he was capable of, but seeing the rage in his eyes as he was inches from my face put a whole new slant on it. And I understood how Mark had managed to gain the reputation he had. I was grateful that Lyn had been in the room. If Mark hadn't let go, I would have had to make him. It was hardly the time to be fighting. 

"I can't," I said. "I'm not really sure why any of this is happening. All I know is that they want me and Dani."

"The girl Holly mentioned." Lyn said. "She told us that she was taking care of someone, apparently Dani was in some trouble."

"They murdered my mum," Dani said from the doorway. 

I turned to Dani, about to ask how she'd gotten to the hospital, but she continued talking before I could say anything.

"Nate saved my life, but destroyed his in the process. They're after me because I'm important to them. It's my fault that Holly got hurt." Dani began to cry and Lyn rushed to her, holding the young woman against her. 

"You're safe here," Lyn said and looked back at Mark with daggers. "And you, Mark O'Hara, will threaten no one. Our daughter is fighting for her life, and you're in here threatening the man who tried to save her. 

"Where's your son?" I asked. 

"Lee was taken down to the fighters' locker rooms," Mark said. "We saw him outside talking to the police when we left the warehouse. He said he'd escaped and managed to get outside just as the police turned up. He's dealing with them back at the warehouse, now."

"Why don't you make yourself useful and go call him, see if he's finished," Lyn said.

Any remnants of Mark's anger evaporated instantly and he left the room to do as he was told.

"You've got to give his mind something to occupy itself," Lyn said when the three of us were alone. "Otherwise he'll go mad. You okay, Nate?"

I rubbed my throat. "I'll be fine." I looked over at Dani. "How'd you get here?"

"After Jerry got back and told Francis what had happened, Francis called a police friend of his to ask for an update," she said. "I begged Jerry to bring me here. I wanted to make sure you and Holly were okay. Jerry said to give him a call if we need anything."

Lyn was about to ask something else when a doctor entered the room. She was a brunette, probably no older than thirty, and appeared to have had a very long night. 

"Your daughter is in surgery," she said to Lyn, without looking at the clipboard in her hands. "Someone will let you know her progress. But it's going to take awhile, you might want to go home and get some rest."

"Would you go home and rest if it were your child?" Lyn asked her.

The doctor's answer was immediate. "No, I'll get you some pillows and blankets."