Mortal Ties (39 page)

“I was resisting the urge to Change.”

“Not your clothes.”

“No.”

Another car’s headlights played over Jasper’s face, which for once wasn’t giving anything
away. But he smelled ever so faintly of fear. “Does Friar know you intend to rip his
throat out?”

“Oh, yes,” Rule breathed. “Yes, he knows.”

In the brief silence that fell, the buzz of Rule’s phone seemed very loud. He grabbed
it. That wasn’t Lily’s ringtone, and he didn’t recognize the number, but maybe she’d
gotten hold of someone else’s phone. Maybe— “Yes.”

“Rule, it’s Tony. I have failed you. I failed Lily. She’s gone, and there is one fucking
big mess here.”

T
HREE
ambulances and half-a-dozen patrol cars with their uniformed occupants were attending
the fucking big mess when Rule reached the scene. There had been no getting here in
the car; the streets near Dingos were jammed. Jasper had offered to stay with the
car so Rule’s men could go with him. Chris and Allan would follow when they could.

The reason for the stalled-out traffic was obvious. Police had cordoned off the street
where the attack took place. At least two cars had crashed when their drivers suddenly
passed out, according to Tony, but Rule couldn’t see them right away. He pushed his
way through the inevitable crowd until he could.

There were people everywhere. And bodies. No blood. EMTs, police officers, and what
Lily would call civilians were tending the fallen, some of whom were stirring…the
ones at the edges, he thought. The ones who’d been farthest from whatever magical
attack took place.

Lily would not have been knocked out by magic. Something else had happened to her.

He didn’t see Todd or Mike. Too many people blocked his view. He did, however, see
Tony, who stood a head and
more above everyone else—including the two cops with him. “I need Mike and Todd,”
Rule said. “Joe, I want up on your shoulders. Brace. Cullen, give me a stirrup.”

Joe planted his feet, Cullen cupped his hands and bent, and Rule used those cupped
hands to launch onto Joe’s shoulders. He’d needed the assist because of his shoulder,
which complained fiercely about being jostled. He ignored that. Crouched, he looked
over the crowd until he spotted Todd. He straightened so that he stood upright; Joe
automatically grabbed his feet to steady him. He put his fingers in his mouth and
whistled.

Todd turned and started loping toward them. Everyone else heard him, too. He gathered
a lot of startled looks before he jumped down.

The cops didn’t stop Todd. Sloppy. If they let one bystander leave, others would,
or already had.

“Where’s Mike?” Rule said as soon as Todd reached him.

“I woke up while Tony was talking to you. Then Mike did. Tony told us you wanted him
to find Hugo. Mike went with him. I stayed out here to look for Lily or some sign
of what happened to her. Rule, we—”

Rule chopped one hand, cutting him off. “She’s alive. I don’t know where. Tell me
what happened, but keep it short.”

Todd’s story was short and told him little. He’d passed out instantly, without warning.
When he woke up, the humans around him were all unconscious and there was no sign
of Lily. Tony, however, had been awake and, as Todd had said, talking to Rule on his
phone. Todd hadn’t found any sign of Lily—no blood, thank God—but he had found a scent.
One he couldn’t identify. He didn’t have a very good nose in this form, however.

Rule looked at Cullen. “You would recognize the scent of an elf.”

“Damn right I would.”

“Todd, take Cullen to the place you found the scent. Joe, with me. I need to see to
Tony.”

“Your shirt,” Cullen said.

He looked down. “Damn.” He’d bled freely. It didn’t show as much on the black cotton
as it would have on something else, but it showed. He should have thought of that
earlier.

“Take mine,” Todd said, already unbuttoning it. “We wear the same size.”

The delay made Rule want to howl, but he gritted his teeth and put up with it. He
disposed of the old shirt by having Cullen rip it off, then had to thread his bad
arm through the sleeve of Todd’s shirt. “No,” he said tersely when Cullen started
to replace the makeshift sling. “It’s got blood all over it, too.”

At last he strode forward—only to be stopped by the officer who’d ignored Todd leaving
the scene. “Stay back, now.” The man put a hand on Rule’s shoulder.

It
hurt.
Rule snarled.

The officer’s eyes rounded. He fell back a step, his hand dropping to the gun holstered
at his waist.

“Rule.” Cullen touched Rule’s other arm, then went on too softly for human ears. “As
soothing as it would be to rip off his arm and beat him with it, it would really slow
things down.”

True. Rule took a slow breath. Somewhere he found a smile. “Sorry, Officer. I’m worried
about my fiancée, who I believe was abducted from this scene. I’m an FBI consultant
with Unit Twelve. I’m going to reach into my pocket for my ID now.”

The cop’s eyes flickered to Rule’s hand and back to his face. “Reach nice and slow.”

“Of course.” As if he’d be more of a threat with a gun. Rule didn’t explain the officer’s
mistake, however, but slowly took out his wallet and flipped it open. The ID Ruben
had arranged for Rule to carry was not a badge. Rule wasn’t a law enforcement officer.
But it did proclaim his security clearance and his connection to the Bureau, most
notably to Unit Twelve.

It wasn’t enough for the cop to let them pass, but he did call his superior—who may
have misunderstood Rule’s
credentials slightly. Rule heard his response in the cop’s headphones: “Fucking yes,
you let him through. He’s fucking Unit Twelve. Unless the fucking terrorists have
decided it’s nicer to knock people out than blow them up, we’re ass deep in some kind
of fucking magical shit here.”

The cop directed Rule to go to a Sergeant Bellows, pointing him out—a short, bald
guy who was one of the officers with Tony. How convenient. Rule thanked him and moved
forward, carefully restraining himself to a speed that wouldn’t alarm the humans around
him. Carefully cradling his bad arm, too, because a show of strength wasn’t as important
as shepherding his strength so he would heal faster. Halfway there, he nodded at Cullen.
Cullen and Todd split off to check out the strange scent.

The sergeant turned as Rule got close. “What the fuck? You’re not a fucking FBI agent.
You’re that damn lupus guy. The prince one.”

“I’m Rule Turner, yes. I’m also a consultant with Unit Twelve of the FBI, and I’ve
reason to believe a federal agent was abducted from this scene.” Now he looked directly
at Tony, whose arms were fastened behind his back. Tony looked like a big, sleepy
bear. He smelled furious. “Why is this man in restraints?”

“Violent altercation inside the bar. He won’t talk to us. Thinks he’s a POW or something—gave
his name, then wouldn’t say one fucking word. I want to see your ID.”

Rule took it out again and handed it over. The sergeant passed it to an older officer.
“Call it in. Make sure it’s legit.”

“Romano will talk to me,” Rule said.

“Yeah? Well, he sure as shit better, or—hey!” His gaze swung to the left. “What the
fuck are you doing?” He was looking at Cullen, who was down on his hands and knees,
sniffing the sidewalk. “Goddamn loonies. Turner, get Romano talking.” He stalked off.

Rule sacrificed Cullen to the sergeant’s wrath and started for Tony, who stood a few
feet away.

“Not too close.” A much younger officer stepped in front of him. “This man is dangerous.
He’s lupus.”

“So am I.” Rule allowed himself to move quickly, tired of the way everyone kept blocking
him. He stopped about a foot from Tony—a distance too close for comfort. Challenging
distance.

“Sir, you need to move back.”

“Let him be,” the older officer said. “Sergeant’s orders.”

Rule looked up and met Tony’s eyes. “There are only three ways I can see that they
could have known where to find Lily. One, our enemies have some new magical trick
we don’t know about. Two, my men were sloppy and allowed themselves to be trailed.
But it’s the third option that seems most likely. She was set up.”

Tony still looked calm. His control was excellent…but not perfect. Rule caught the
quick spike of
seru
in his scent.

Seru
was sometimes the scent of anger, but more, it was the scent of challenge. Of dominance.
It was an olfactory
How dare you.
Tony was able to submit when he needed to. He could obey. He looked and sometimes
spoke like an oversize child. But he was a man, he was Rho, and he was dominant. He
didn’t like Rule’s stance or his implicit accusation. “I did not set her up.”

Rule continued to hold his gaze. “Will you pledge on Laban?”

After a moment Tony nodded. Rule felt it when Tony drew on his mantle. Or rather,
the mantles he carried felt it and responded in a way Rule had no words for, but recognized.
“I did not set up Lily,” Tony said slowly. “I did not know what would happen. I don’t
know what did happen. I pledge this on Laban.”

Rule stepped back. “Thank you. If not you, then Hugo. Damn, I wish I knew where Mike
was.”

“Following Hugo. He was still in Dingos when I got there, but he made a commotion
so he could get away. I distracted the humans so Mike could follow him.”

“Did you break much?”

“None of the people. Some furniture.”

“You haven’t been answering the officers’ questions.”

“I didn’t know what was okay to tell them.” He bunched
his shoulders. “I don’t like this plastic thing. Can you get them to take it off?”

“I’ll see what I can do. Officer Pearson.” He looked at the older man. “How can we
get the restraints removed?”

“You’ll have to talk to the sergeant about that.”

Who was, Rule saw, marching Cullen this way. At least that’s what the sergeant thought
he was doing. Cullen’s expression told Rule he wanted to come here anyway and was
putting up with the sergeant’s hand on his arm to speed things up.

“This bastard says he’s one of yours,” the sergeant said.

“He is. What—”

Rule got a finger jabbed in his direction. “You tell him to quit fucking with my scene.”

“Don’t fuck with the man’s scene, Cullen. What did you learn?”

“Pretty sure there are two scents. One’s definitely elf. I’d have to Change to be
sure about the other one. Lily’s scent is there, too. It stops where it meets theirs.”

“She was carried off, then.”

The sergeant scowled. “Elves? You’re fucking crazy.” Without waiting for a response
he swung to speak to the older officer. “What do they say about his fucking ID?”

“He’s legit.”

The sergeant shook his head morosely. “Elves. Shit.”

Rule had to agree. “We need to find Hugo. He may be boarding a ship about now.” Though
Rule suspected that had been part of the bait—make it look as if Hugo was about to
vanish to draw Lily out here. “What was…ah. These people should be able to help.”

Rule had called Special Agent Bergman on his way here. She’d just badged her way past
the officer at the end of the street and was headed for him, trailing two of her agents.
Rule started for her.

“What’s this about Special Agent Yu being missing?” she demanded as she drew close.

“I believe she was taken from here after her guards—and about four dozen other people—were
incapacitated
magically. Special Agent, a ship is about to depart that may have our prime suspect
aboard. I need you to stop it.”

“Yeah? Well, I need you to tell me what you were doing at Hammond Middle School tonight
that broke several windows, burned some of the bleachers, and left bloodstains on
the floor.”

Rule wanted to howl. “Let me guess. You received an anonymous tip.”

“Right now I’m talking to you, and I want a really good explanation, or you’re going
to be wearing restraints like that oversize Adonis who’s following you.”

“Lily has been
taken
and you’re playing right into—” Rule’s phone sounded. This ringtone he knew. He snatched
it from his pocket, and maybe he moved too fast, because one of Bergman’s agents drew
on him. He snarled at the man and thumbed the phone’s screen. “Yes.”

“Sorry I couldn’t call sooner,” Ruben said. “There was a bad situation in Baltimore.
People died. What’s happened?”

“Lily’s been kidnapped. I need a ship stopped.”

“All right. Which one?”

C
ONGRESS
kept talking about rescinding or lessening the strength of the emergency provisions
that gave Unit Twelve agents an unprecedented level of authority. As usual, they couldn’t
agree on how to go about it. Until they did, when the head of Unit Twelve said jump,
authorities both local and federal had to start hopping.

Ruben had the
Valkyrie
held in port so it could be searched. Odds were that Hugo wasn’t on it, but they
couldn’t afford to assume that.

Special Agent Bergman was temporarily seconded to the Unit. Ruben had no Unit agents
available for the case, and this would, he said, keep the chain of command tidy. She
took Rule’s statement about the events at Hammond Middle School, but she stopped talking
about restraints.