Muse (Descended From Myth) (15 page)

“You'd better step away and march right back to your room, little girl, before I do something you'll really regret,” he jerked the gun past me, pointing it at Claire's startled face. “You might not care what I do to
you
, but how will you feel when I splatter
her
pretty little head all over the hallway?”

My fury burned away every other concern, ate away at the little control I have over my ability and came spewing out of my mind like an erupting volcano. The elevator around me became a shower of red sparks, brilliant light and molten heat as a ball of energy burst fro
m me, engulfing Sebastian Finn.

The last thing I remember hearing as the world burned away around me was the s
ound of Claire calling my name.

The plane had barely taxied down the runway and I was out of my seat, waiting at the door. I needed to be moving! Gabriel had two cars waiting for us on the tarmac. The big decision on the way here had been where to start. One property was in an industrial area and was taxed as a storage warehouse. The other was in a more mixed commercial area, but was just labeled as a commercial building. Adam, one of the novices, found info online that seemed to indicate that both properties had residential space inside, so it was possible that they could be hiding Anna at either property, or somewhere else entirely. There had to be a way to narrow it down more. I was sure that the key was Marcus Stonebreaker; he had to fit into this somehow. I tried his cell again as I impatiently exited the plane, waiting on everyone else to catch up. There hadn't been any recent calls made from his Guardian issued phone, so we couldn't check his coordinates from his call history.

“Is there any way we could ping the GPS in Stonebreaker's phone?” I wondered aloud, hoping one of the n
ovices would have an answer.

“We can narrow it down to which cell tower it's connecting with, but that won't give us an exact location. He could be a mile away or more from there. We already know he's in Chicago, so I don't see it being much help,” one of them answered from behind the lid of the car trunk as t
hey dumped duffel bags into it.

“At least it might help us pick between the two properties. I need one of you to be listening to the police radio frequencies, too. You never know. Maybe something will be related.”

The best they could determine was that the cell tower his phone signal was locked onto was closer to the commercial building than the warehouse. It wasn't enough to satisfy me, but at least we were moving and that alone was an improvement in my book. I just needed to feel like I was doing something to get closer to Anna. We headed towards the commercial building, hoping that it was the right choice.

The building was six stories tall, and the ground floor was mostly taken up by a nightclub. The plaque inside the small lobby showed that there were various other small businesses with offices on the other floors. Unless they were awfully big offices, there was still a whole lot of space for hostage keeping up there. Stefan and I had casually wandered into the lobby to scope it out. Gabriel would stick out like a sore thumb in the club, and even with fake IDs the other four were obviously too young to go in without attracting attention. That meant I'd have to be the one to go in and look it over. So far we hadn't seen anything obviously out of place. It would have been nice to show up and find a neon sign flashing “Bad Guy Here,” so we could
just move on to the beat down.

The elevator dinged, and Stefan and I tried not to look out of place. He suddenly became very interested in the listing of office numbers and I had to tie my boot strings. Four guys who carried themselves like they were former military quick stepped out of the elevator and across the lobby, barely even glancing our way. One of them was talking excitedly on a cellphone, and I managed to catch the words “find them” and the
guy did not sound happy. Bingo.

“Come on, Stefan,” I whispered. “We're following them.” We headed to the tinted glass front doors just as Marcus Stonebreaker stumbled up to them. Reeking of hard liquor and cigarettes, his eyes were so bloodshot that the whites of his eyes were pink. I snatched hold of the lapels of his jacket to keep him upright when he swayed just trying to step out of our path. Marcus looked blankly at me, and then started flailing once it finally sunk in who he was looking at. I didn't have time to deal with him, not if we were going to have a chance keeping up with the other guys. I couldn't let him go, either. There was still a chance he might know where Anna was being held, plus he might have info
rmation about Finn's activities.

“Stefan, grab an arm. He's coming with us,” I barked.

We both grabbed an arm and shoulder and hauled Marcus, kicking and struggling, to the waiting SUV. Then we tossed him into the cargo area. Stefan climbed into the back seat to help keep him confined and I jumped into the passenger seat. A silver Audi driven by Angry Cellphone Guy peeled away from the curb across the street, and Gabriel pulled out after it. The other three novices followed us in a black sedan. The silver Audi whipped in and out of traffic like their brakes had failed. I didn't think they knew we were following, but the guy still drove like he was either suicidal or terrified. The lights of the city reflected off the silver car and its distinctive shaped taillights made it a little easier to keep track of, but in traffic as heavy as this, it was still going to take a miracle to keep up.

“Where's your Talent, Marcus?” I yelled to the back seat, trying not to concentrate on Gabriel's driving. “Where's Mina?”

“She's working. Why? What's it to you, Lyoncourt?” he slurred.

“I'm not playing games here, Marcus. This is gonna get ugly real fast if you don't start cooperating with us right now. Do you know
where Mina is?”

“She's safe, if that's what your shorts are in a bind ab
out. I left her in good hands.”

Belligerent, drunken bastard. I wasn't close enough, so I finally said, “Stefan, get him to answer the ques
tion. Do whatever you have to.”

I didn't know Chicago very well, but we seemed to be heading in the general direction of the other building. We might be able to get there faster if we stopped following the other car and just planned a different route of our own, but I didn't want to risk being
wrong.

In the back, Stefan seemed to really be relishing his new role as interrogator, but all he was getting from Marcus were drunken protests and whining. “Ask him if she's at the warehouse and if Sebastian Finn has her!” I finally demanded in exasperation, as Stefan cuffe
d Marcus upside the head again.

“Ow!” Marcus howled. “Yeah, stop it! Why didn't you just ask in the first pla
ce? Stop with all the hitting!”

“How many men does Finn usually have there?” Stefan
snarled.

Marcus just looked bewildered. “I don't know, man! I just drop her off for a few days and then collect he
r and the cash when he's done.”

Gabriel took his eyes from the road for a split second to eye Marcus in the rear view mirror. “We will be dealing with that issue shortly, and I assure you, it
will be dealt with severely.”

The silver Audi whipped across the street to park illegally in front of a wide three story brick warehouse. All four men bailed out and split up. Two headed around the side of the building and two went thro
ugh the front.

I didn't wait for Gabriel to bark orders. I just jumped out of the SUV as soon as he slowed down enough to allow it. “You two stay here with him,” I said to Stefan when he started to follow. “I'll try to see what's going on and let you kno
w if I need help.”

I heard one of the guys who'd run around the side of the building shout something, so I took off in that direction. I had an assortment of knives and other small weapons concealed on me, like usual, but today I'd tucked a Smith and Wesson into a holster at the small of my back, too. Illinois might have strict gun laws, but I doubted that would keep Finn's men from using them and I had no i
ntention of getting shot again.

I ran down the narrow alley that separated the warehouse from its closest neighbor, dodging trash and junk along the way. The two guys seemed to be yelling at someone in the alley behind the warehouse. I reached the corner and cautiously glanced around it. Both men stood at the bottom of an old staircase-style fire escape, waving their arms and yelling at a hunched figure, who sat perched about a story up, to come down. I couldn't see who it was on the platform, but I knew it wasn't Anna. The guys were so distracted by their own threats and posturing that they didn't even hear me walk up behind them until it was too late. It felt damn good to finally have someone to work out my frustrations on, even though my shoul
der burned like it was on fire.

I left the two goons unconscious in the dirt, then peered up at the girl on the fire escape. In the dim light, all I could make out was dark hair in a ponytail and a gray coat. I didn't want to risk frightening her anymore, so I took a blind guess. “Mina, is that you?” I called. “I'm Daniel Lyoncourt. I'm a Guardian. You're safe now.”

“Anna's Daniel?” came the feminine reply. That was a very, very, good sign in my book.

“Yes, I'm absolutely Anna's Daniel. I'm her Watcher. Can I help you get down?”

“I thought something happened to you? Anna thinks you're hurt or dead,” she answered suspiciously. So maybe not such a good sign after all if Anna thought I was
dead
. Hopefully, she hadn't done anything reckless.

“I keep telling her that she's not getting rid of me that easily. I got shot, but I'm fine. Or at least I will be once I get her back safely. Think you could help me with that?”

“Once I get this ladder down the rest of the way,
you
can help
me.
Oh, and I need to use your phone to call the police,” she retorted tartly.

I grilled Mina about what had happened inside while she worked on pushing down the metal ladder. Once it was about half way to the ground, I jumped up and grabbed it with my good hand, pulling it down the rest of the way. Mina clambered down the ladder like she did it all the time. I tossed her my cellphone once her feet hit the pavement. She called 911 and calmly reported that there were drugs and guns at this address, but left out any reference to Anna. I was secretly relieved, because it meant that we could potentially get away without dealing with the polic
e.

“She should have taken the elevator into the warehouse. If she's not already out, then she's probably hiding somewhere in there,” Mina huffed as we ran back up the alley. We ducked back across the street to where our vehicles were parked and I handed her off to Gabriel. Mina argued like crazy that she needed to come in with me, but I knew Gabriel wasn't about to allow a Talent to place herself in danger. She insisted that Anna and Claire were the only other Talents in the building. I had no idea who Claire was, and Gabriel looked equally clueless. Could there be a Tal
ent that we knew nothing about?

Gabriel stopped me as I turned to run into the warehouse. “Daniel, if the police are coming don't you think we should wait? I don't want you arrested with
the others.”

“I'm not waiting, Gabriel. It'll work itself out,” I said as I turned and took a step to cross the street. I was blown back by a massive wall of heat and stinging electricity. I expected to see part of the building crumbled away and flames shooting into the air, but strangely, the entire structure looked exactly the same as it had.

Gabriel stood, his hand shielding his eyes, gasping. “Dear Lord, that was bright! Daniel, you'd better hurry. That came from Anna. She's definitely inside and she just released a tremendous amount of Influence. Anything could be happening in there.”

I hadn't waited around to listen to anything else he said. All I really heard was that Anna was inside. I tore across the street, hearing the wail of sirens getting closer and broke through the door into the shadowy warehouse. The cavernous space held stacks of crates and old cars, but I didn't hear any voices. There were only a few dim security lights. The rest of the area was plunged in inky darkness. I didn't have a flashlight, but I kept going by skirting the perimeter of the space and listening. Finally I spotted a freight elevator shaft, but the elevator car wasn't there. I could see the base of it at the second floor level, though when I jammed the button, it didn't move. The only other way I could see to get to the upper level was an emergency ladder that ran parallel to the elevator shaft and up
to a trap door in the ceiling.

The bandage on my shoulder was soaked red with blood. My wound had opened back up while I was helping Mina. I didn't know if I had the strength in it to climb up twenty feet in the air and then force open the trap door, too. There was no way of knowing if that door would even open. The ladder didn't look like it had been used in the last c
entury.

I'd try for Anna. I'd try anything for her. I jabbed the elevator button again, hoping that I'd get lucky, but nothing happened. So, I started climbing. Half way up, I started feeling tingles and warmth from Anna's Influence again. It wasn't an all out inferno like earlier, more like a slow leak. I knew she was close, and that helped me grit my teeth and keep pushing forward. I could feel the blood from my shoulder seeping into the waist of my pants, my shirt was stuck to my chest and my fingers weren't closing quite as well. I forced myself to keep moving, trying to keep as much of my
weight on my feet as possible.

My right hand was numb and shaking. Hell, my entire arm was just about to limp noodle status, but I'd made it to the top. I had to figure out how to open this door, and then pull myself up using only one good arm, without plummeting to my death. “It's just like one handed pull
ups, only a little higher.” I kept telling myself that, but I didn't really believe it. I was starting to hear a muffled female voice through the trap door. I paused a moment to listen, not sure what I was about to burst into. When I heard the voice say Anna's name, I started to pound on the trap door. It was unlocked on this side, but I could barely get it to budge. If I put much more force behind it, I might lose my grip on the ladder. I pounded several times, then started hearing the voice get closer.