Infernal Games (Templar Chronicles Urban Fantasy Series) (11 page)

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R
iley
and his team spent the morning interviewing the personnel at the monastery,
hoping to find that one piece of information that would tell them where their
thief was headed, but they came up empty-handed. No one, expect perhaps
Brother Samuel, had seen anything and Samuel wasn’t talking. He was too busy
fighting for his life as the edema caused by the blow to his head threatened to
shut down the blood flow to his brain.

Echo’s
commander desperately hoped this wouldn’t become a murder investigation.

After
several hours of getting nowhere, the team packed up and headed back to Paris
via helicopter. While en route Riley used his phone to contact the head of the
local commandery, giving him an update on what he had learned thus far. He did
not mention Cade’s involvement, not wanting to put his friend in the crosshairs
quite yet. There was still too much Riley didn’t know and if some knight
decided to shoot first and ask questions later, he’d have to live with that on
his conscience for the rest of his life.

That
decision prevented him from putting out a Bolo, or Be On the Look Out, warning
for Cade which meant he was likely going to be able to slip through security at
the airport in Paris and return to the States before Riley had a chance to stop
him.

If
he hadn’t flown out already.

So
be it. He wasn’t going to call out the cavalry and have every Tom, Dick, and
Harry gunning for Cade until he knew more about the situation.

The
helicopter touched down at the heliport on the south side of Charles de Gaulle
Airport and the team disembarked. Members of the local commandery were waiting
there to help unload the gear and to ensure that it was transported over to the
waiting jet in the executive terminal on the other side of the sprawling
airport complex.

With
some time to kill before they went wheels up, Riley ushered the team into the
nearest passenger terminal to grab some lunch.

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B
y
the time Cade arrived in Paris, he had come up with a plan for confronting the
Necromancer when the two of them met to hand over the relic. First, he had to
get home.

He
was still reasonably confident that the Order did not know the extent to which
he was cooperating with the Necromancer. They’d probably used the remote
tracking device attached to every Templar vehicle to learn he’d taken the
stolen Suburban back to his place in Willow Grove. He’d left the tracker in
the vehicle for that very reason. Depending upon who found the vehicle,
chances were good that they discovered the damage to his house while doing so.
That may, or may not, have raised some questions for them.

Just
how concerned they were about those questions would determine how difficult it
was going to be for him to get out of Europe with the Hand still in his
possession.

He
took a taxi to the airport, paying the driver with cash to avoid the credit
trail, and headed for men’s room as soon as he entered the terminal. He found
an empty stall and used the privacy it afforded him to affix the extra
diplomatic seals he carried to the outside of his messenger bag after removing
his passport and airline ticket from a pocket inside. Leaving the restroom, he
headed for the ticket counter and checked in for his flight without difficulty.

He
was starting to think all of his concerns had been for nothing when he looked up
and saw Riley coming down the hall toward him.

Cade
was just passing a hallway that intersected with the one he was in and he took
advantage of the opportunity, ducking right and hoping like hell he hadn’t been
seen. He moved a good ten feet down the corridor and then stood to one side of
the hall, pretending to be talking on his cell phone while surreptitiously
watching the entrance to the corridor.

If
Riley made the turn...

He
did not; Cade watched as he walked right on past, never even glancing in Cade’s
direction.

Cade
stayed where he was, watching, and seconds later saw both Manny Ortega and
Jimmy Martinez follow in Riley’s wake. That left only Simmons from Echo’s
command team unaccounted for.

Cade
waited another moment or two for the missing man to arrive, but to no avail.
Perhaps
Simmons had been walking ahead of Riley?

It
didn’t really matter one way or the other, Cade supposed. What mattered was
what they were doing here.

There’s
at least one way to find out...

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R
iley’s
phone rang.

He
dug it out of his pocket and glanced down at the display, noting that the
incoming number was blocked. Very few people had his number and those that did
would have no reason to block their incoming line. Frowning, he hit the answer
button.

“Hello?”

“I
hear you’re in Paris.”

Cade.

“Where
I am doesn’t matter. I’m more interested in where the hell you are! Do you
know how much trouble you dropped me into?”

“Sorry
about that, but I didn’t have a choice. Nor do I when I tell you to get clear
of this thing.”

Riley
frowned. “What thing? Tracking the Necromancer? Kind of hard to do at this
point, don’t you think?”

“It
doesn’t matter what I think. Trust me when I tell you that you need to stay
out of this.”

“I’m
the one who called you in on it, remember?” Riley replied.

He
slowed his pace, letting the others get a few yards ahead of him so they
wouldn’t be able to hear his end of the conversation and know that he was
talking with Cade.

“That
may be,” Cade said, “but things have changed. I need to deal with this my way
and I can’t have the Order screwing it up!”

“Deal
with what?” Riley shot back. “What are you talking about? Are you in some
kind of trouble?”

Cade
refused to answer.

“Come
on, man. Give me something. I’ve been to your house. I saw the room
upstairs. Does this have something to do with Gabrielle?”

When
Riley didn’t get an answer, he abruptly changed tact.

“You
want to know why I’m in Paris, Cade? I’m here because of the theft of a relic
that’s hundreds of years old. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that,
would you?”

More
silence.

Somehow
the silence seemed angrier this time.

Riley
was getting angry himself. “They say that that old man might not make it; seems
the blow to his head had caused some internal bleeding and pressure that they
can’t seem to stop.”

Riley
gave it a beat but when Cade didn’t respond he said, “Look, man. Johansson is
suggesting that you were involved with Logan’s escape. I’m supposed to bring
you in so we can all clear the air and get this nonsense taken care of
properly.”

That
got Cade to respond.

“Johannson’s
an asshole,” Cade said sourly.

“True,
but that doesn’t mean we can just ignore him. Whatever it is that you are
dealing with, why not come in, have your say, and then let the Order help you
deal with it?”

Cade
laughed, but there was nothing amusing in his tone as he said, “Yeah, right.
Just the way they did when we needed help rescuing Duncan from the Chiang
Shih?”

Riley
didn’t have an answer for that. Three months before, the youngest and newest
member of the Echo Team, Sergeant Sean Duncan, had been captured by a horde of
bloodsucking Chinese vampires known as the Chiang Shih. They had taken him
beyond the Curtain to the elemental plane known as the Beyond and had tortured
him for information. Duncan had survived that, only to fall into the hands of
Cade’s most fervent enemy, the Adversary. Cade had been preparing to take the
Echo Team across the Curtain to rescue him when Johannson had ordered the team
to stand down. Even worse, he’d gone straight to the Seneschal, Cade’s direct
report, to get him to forbid the team from making the attempt.

Cade
was right; he shouldn’t expect any help from the Order, especially not with the
Preceptor already gunning for him.

Reading
his silence for just what it was – agreement – Cade said, “I don’t want to see
you get hurt, Riley, but if you interfere that’s exactly what’s going to
happen. Keep your head down and stay out of my way, you hear?”

Riley
opened his mouth to respond, but before he could do so he was greeted by the
click of the phone as the connection was severed.

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A
s
he hung up the phone, Cade thought back over his conversation with Riley and
smiled in satisfaction. He’d learned what he needed to know, namely that
someone had connected the theft of the relic to what was going on with the
Necromancer. If they hadn’t, they wouldn’t have sent Riley over here.

That
didn’t bother Cade as much as how quickly it had all happened. It hadn’t even
been forty-eight hours since he’d taken the Hand; he thought he’d have another
day, possibly even two before connections would start being made.

No
matter,
he thought.
What’s done is done. I’ll have to move on to phase
two quicker than I’d planned, but so be it. I just hope Riley is up for what
comes next.

Cade
put away the phone, smiled at the Customs official in front of him and handed
over his paperwork. He answered the usual questions, collected his things and
then headed for his gate. The plane was already boarding, so Cade found his
seat and settled in. A few moments later the flight attendant came down the
aisle asking them all to store their electronic devices so that they could get
underway and Cade nodded his assent. He slipped the phone into his bag and
then stored the bag in the overhead compartment for taxi and takeoff.

He
had one other important call to make, but that one would have to wait until he
was back on solid ground.

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“I
’ve got what you asked for.”

Cade
was sitting in a car in the airport parking lot, rented with another false ID
after he’d gotten off the plan from France. He was using a pre-paid cellular phone
to call the number he’d been given, just as they’d previously arranged.

The
response, when it came, was in a voice full of gravel and broken glass. “Good.
Bring it to me.”

“Happily,”
Cade said. “Just tell me where you are.”

Simon
Logan laughed and it was not a pleasant sound. “Ever the eager one, aren’t
you, Commander? It’s so touching to see your enthusiasm.” He gave Cade a
detailed set of instructions as to where and how he was to deliver the package.

The
former Templar commander jotted them down and then said, “I want proof of
life. I’m not turning this thing over to you until I see that Gabrielle hasn’t
been harmed.”

Another
laugh. “Proof of life?” repeated the Necromancer. “Don’t you think that will
be a bit difficult, given that your wife wasn’t really alive when she came to
stay in my care, Commander?”

Cade
gritted his teeth but didn’t respond. Technically the Necromancer was right,
but the bastard knew what Cade meant and he’d be damned if he was drawn into a
conversation about semantics.

“And
as for sweet Gabrielle being ‘unharmed’, I’m afraid you ruined that possibility
the day you married her. After all, you didn’t think she brought all this
unwelcome attention onto herself, did you?”

With
that, the Necromancer hung up.

Cade
cursed, told himself that Logan was just trying to mess with his head, and did
his best to ignore what the other man said, but the notion was planted in the
back of his head and like a constantly mutating virus he found it hard to shake
off. In a way, the Necromancer was right; if Cade hadn’t entered Gabrielle’s
life then she probably would be alive and well somewhere in the world right
this very minute. Cade had caught the Adversary’s interest, for whatever
reason, and she’d been an unwitting casualty of that. In a way, he’d been the
one to...

Stop
that!
he told himself, shaking his head as if to physically clear the
notion from his mind. He was no more responsible for Gabrielle’s death than
the victim of a serial killer was responsible for their own demise. He
knew
that. It had been the Adversary who had killed Gabrielle; the Adversary and
the Adversary alone. Cade had done nothing to bring the creature’s attention
upon them and he was not responsible for what had ultimately happened. He’d
killed the bastard that had invaded their home and threatened his wife; how was
he supposed to know that a deeper, darker evil was lurking within the man’s form,
just waiting for a chance to show its face in the light?

Bottom
line? He couldn’t have.

Which
is why you need to keep that asshole out of your head and do what you came here
to do. Rescue Gabrielle.

Right.

There
was no way the Necromancer was going to come to the meeting himself. He was
far too intelligent for that. But even if he used a series of cutouts to keep
himself isolated, Cade knew that eventually those cutouts would have to lead
back to the one in charge. Link by link, Cade intended to use the information
he gained to find the Necromancer, starting with whoever was sent to meet with
him tonight.

Given
Riley’s veiled comments about being ordered to bring him in, Cade knew that his
house was most likely under surveillance. That meant he was going to have to
find somewhere else to question his “guest.” Luckily, he had a place in mind.

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T
he
Templar Order had safe houses and equipment caches in nearly every major city.
This particular one was located along the water in Stamford, a quiet residential
community about half-an-hour north of New York City along I95.

The
house was set back from the road behind some well-manicured hedges that
provided a good deal of privacy but also prevented Cade from getting a sense of
whether or not the safe house was currently in use. That left him no choice but
to bite the bullet and go see for himself.

He
pulled into the driveway and up to the terminal controlling the gates. He
keyed in a code he’d used in the past, hoping as he did so that the Order
hadn’t seen fit to refresh them in the last month. There was a moment’s
hesitation and then the gates swung slowly open, allowing him access.

Cade
drove to the end of the driveway and put the rental car in park. He hopped
out, keyed the same code he’d used on the gate into the access panel for the
garage, and waited a bit anxiously for that to go up as well. If there was
someone here, they’d most likely be waiting for him on the other side, but the
garage was empty.

Cade
breathed a sigh of relief.

He
got back in his vehicle, drove it into the garage, and then shut the garage
door behind him, sealing him off from the rest of the world for the time being.

The
safe house was well stocked and not just with arms and equipment, either. Cade
ate a hearty lunch, fueling up with the energy he knew he was going to need
later, and then headed for the cellar.

He
knew immediately that it would serve his purposes. The room was fashioned of
bare concrete, without any external doors or windows, which would help deaden
any noise the prisoner made. The ceiling was low and had exposed joists for
the floor above; that would make securing the prisoner easier. Add a drain in
the center of the floor and spigot for the hose on one wall and he could almost
imagine that the space was custom-made for what he had in mind.

He
knew the garage would hold a variety of tools, for knights in the field often
had to make repairs to their arms and equipment, and planned to take the rest
of what he needed from there. He wasn’t subtle – a hand drill worked just as
well as an electronic one and a shattered knee cap hurt no matter what you
broke it with.

Cade
didn’t care who the Necromancer sent in his stead. He was going to get some
answers, no matter what it took.

Gabrielle
deserved no less.

Nodding
with grim satisfaction, Cade headed back up the stairs to prepare for the rest
of the evening.

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T
he
meeting was scheduled to take place just after 8 pm in the parking lot of an
old elementary school that had been slated for demolition months earlier but which
the city hadn’t gotten around to actually tearing down. Cade had surveyed the
place via Google Earth prior to leaving the safe house. He memorized the
general layout of the school buildings and the surrounding neighborhood in case
something happened and he needed to make a quick getaway.

The
school stood by itself at the end of a short lane surrounded by elm trees. As
he approached, his headlights picked out a thick chain pulled taught across the
entrance to the parking lot. There was a hole in the chain link fence off to
one side that looked large enough and Cade was able to drive the rental car
through it without any difficulty. Once in the parking lot, he continued to
the far end and parked under a large elm that provided plenty of shadows for
him to hide in, facing back the way he had come.

He
rolled down the driver’s window, then got out of the car and gently closed the door
behind him. The night was quiet, with just a light breeze blowing. Cade was
wearing boots, dark jeans and a thermal shirt under a black motorcycle jacket.
He’d left the jacket partially unzipped despite the cold; he wanted easy access
to the pistol he was carrying in a shoulder holster if things went south. He
opened the trunk, took out the messenger bag that now only contained the Hand
and his blessed sword, and then closed the trunk. He set the bag atop the
trunk for a moment when he was done so that he could use both hands to buckle
the sword case across his back.

Feeling
much better now that he was properly armed, Cade settled in to wait.

Ten
minutes passed.

Fifteen.

Cade
was just starting to grow impatient when he spotted movement among the trees
off to the right of the parking lot.

He
drew his gun and flicked off the safety, but kept the weapon down along the
side of his leg where it wouldn’t easily be seen. For all he knew the newcomer
was just a local out for a stroll and he didn’t want to get anyone up in arms
unnecessarily.

As
the figure came toward him the size and build told him it was a man. He could
also see that the newcomer was moving with an odd sort of hitch in his step.

Something about that walk set Cade’s nerves
on edge. Before he knew it he found his fingers tightening on the grip of his
weapon and he could feel his heart hammering in his chest, but he really wasn’t
sure why.

Maybe the guy was injured in an accident,
he thought.
Or was born with a handicap.

But something told him that wasn’t right.

The real reason was much worse; he could feel
it in his bones.

Cade
waited until he judged that the figure had drawn close enough and then reached
inside the driver’s window and hit the headlights, bathing the newcomer in
their illumination.

Instantly
Cade understood his gut-level trepidation.

And
knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that he wasn’t getting any answers tonight.

The
man standing in front of him was dead. Two, maybe three days at most, but
definitely dead. His skin had the waxy-pallor of the newly embalmed and his
eyes had been sewn shut. He must have dug himself out of his own grave for his
fingers were caked with dirt, as was the suit he’d been buried in.

In
his hands, he carried an iPad.

It
was such an incongruous sight that for a moment Cade could only stare. The
walking dead. Carrying an iPad.

Cade
considered shooting the revenant and forcing the Necromancer to send someone
else to pick up the package. He even went so far as to raise the gun and line
up the muzzle with the revenant’s skull. One shot and the thing was out of its
misery. It was only when he realized that his enemy would simply force more
innocent people to claw their way out of their own graves to do his bidding that
Cade was able to pull his finger off the trigger.

The
revenant wasn’t bothered by the headlights shining in its face. Its eyes had
been sewn shut, after all. And yet it walked unerringly toward him with that
strange hitching gait and came to a halt less than a yard away from where Cade
stood.

“You
sonofabitch,” Cade muttered, staring at the thing in front of him. His entire
plan had just gone out the window. It made no sense to torture a dead man; he
wouldn’t feel anything. Never mind the fact that he couldn’t talk.

Cade
reached out and took the iPad from the revenant’s fingers. It made no effort
to resist. The screen was dark, but when he swiped a finger across it, the
device woke up.

A
video appeared. In it a woman lay on her back on a portable cot in a room
somewhere. The video had a grainy quality to it but it was still easy to see
that the woman was Gabrielle. She was staring at the camera, but it was clear
from the expression in her eyes that she wasn’t seeing it or anything else for
that matter. Occasionally she’d blink, which is how Cade knew she was still
alive. He scoured the image looking for something that might help him identify
where she was, but came up empty. Whoever had filmed the video had been
careful enough to keep from leaving any clues.

When
the video was over, a message appeared on the screen.

Give
the package to the revenant.

Instructions
for next acquisition to follow
.

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T
hat
was all. The message stayed on the screen for a moment and then the screen
went blank. No matter what he did he couldn’t get the tablet to come back on
again, either.

He
was getting ready to take it apart to try and salvage the hard drive, thinking
he might be able to get a tech to take a look at the video if he could download
it from the drive when there was a flash from inside the unit and the screen
began to melt from the inside out.

Cade
dropped the tablet on the ground and watched as flames quickly consumed it.

So
much for analyzing the video.

The
revenant was still standing there, waiting for its package.

Cade
picked up the bag, extended the strap and slung it over the revenant’s
outstretched arm.

No
sooner had he done so that the revenant turned and headed back the way it had
come.

Cade
watched it for a moment, considering, and then set off on foot in its wake.