White Winter (The Black Year Series Book 2) (36 page)

“We have a bit of a situation here, ma’am. Two of them, really. Temperatures are dropping, and a snowstorm is about to hit the city, and we’ll lose our air support before that happens.”

“That wasn’t on the forecast,” Alice said.

“No ma’am. The specters are saying it’s magical. They’re quite upset about it, actually.”

Jonas looked at Kieran. “Rook, what’s going on with the werewolves in the city?”

“That’s the other thing, sir,” Grady said. “The Order is spreading the news we’re attacking civilians. The tracer fire is visible from Manhattan, and there are members of the community asking to be let through the roadblocks. This close to the full moon, things could deteriorate quickly.”

“They already have,” Jonas said to himself.

“Jonas, do you know something you haven’t told me?” Alice said.

“It’s the storm. Winter wolves are-”

“I got it!” Jim said. He put the drill back on his belt, opened the door and-

Boom!

The blast knocked Jim back and blew the door off its hinges, slamming it into the wall next to Jonas and Kieran.

“Hang in there, Jimmy, hang in there,” Frank said, pulling him clear.

Jim was shaking. There were bloody punctures all over his body, and several ragged, bloody gashes in his torso. His right arm was gone just above the elbow, and blood was pumping out. Frank pulled a tourniquet from his cargo pocket and tossed it to Thompson. “Put this on him!”

“Yes, sir!” Thompson said.

One of Jim’s pupils was a pinpoint; the other was so big you couldn’t see the iris. Frank had combat gauze in his hand and was pressing it one-handed onto a hole in Jim’s leg. Jim looked like he was trying to smile, to say something. His lips moved, but nothing came out.

Jonas swallowed. “Frank, what can I-?”

“Get the ward.”

“But-”

“Jonas, so help me, do not fucking argue with me right now,” Frank said.

Jonas ran to take out the ward.

It had been damaged in the explosion. The physical lines were blackened and cut, the talismans shattered. There was no linchpin for him to pull; the spell would unravel on its own, but it would take hours.

“Bravo, say status. You were cut off,” Grady said.

“Bravo is at the objective. There was an explosion. One team member severely injured,” Alice said.

Before Grady could respond, Viviane cut in. “This is Alpha. Who was it?”

“It was Jim,” Alice said. “He’s not going to make it.”

“Turn him,” Viviane said. “Use my quota.”

“I won’t do that,” Alice said. Frank looked at her. “There’s too much at stake.”

Jonas tried to focus on the ward.
I can’t break it because it’s already broken. So I need to fix it.
He dropped his backpack on the floor and pulled out a blood pack, cut the top open, and got some on his fingers. He redrew the broken lines, connecting the pattern again.

“This is Alpha Two,” Eve said. “Be advised, Alpha lead is heading to Bravo’s position.”

Alice looked at Jim, then reached for her sword.

Frank drew his pistol. “With all due respect, ma’am, I don’t know what’s going on, but you’ll have to kill me first.

Someone shouted. Billy fired. “Frank! They’ve figured it out!”

Of course they’ve figured it out,
Jonas thought.
They heard the explosion.
He kicked the broken bits of skull and wire into a corner, and fixed another broken circle on the wall. He looked up and saw a whole section of the ceiling was broken.
Oh crap.

Jim spasmed. Thompson was putting a second tourniquet on his leg. Frank was trying to hold Jim still with one hand. Carlyle leaned out to shoot and jerked back several times as Order rounds found their mark. He fell on his ass, fired, and another round punched through his helmet, laying him out.

Alice was on her feet, sword in hand. Frank couldn’t stop Jim’s bleeding and protect him at the same time.

Jonas walked up the wall and knelt on the ceiling. His carbine hung from the strap under him. He spilled half the blood in the pack before he figured out he had to hold it right side up, which was upside down, and painted the circle closed. He could feel the ward now, and how it connected to the others.

This was the master ward. The magic user who’d drawn it had started here, linking all the smaller wards to it so they could all be jump-started at once.
I can use that,
he thought.

“This is Charlie, I have Order forces coming out of Fox’s position. I think they’re in the building.”

“This is Delta. More of them coming out of the tunnels. We’re holding them back.”

“Kieran!” Jonas shouted, painting more symbols. “I need a prisoner!”

“Yes, clan leader.”

Alice stood over Jim. Frank tensed.

“Mom! I need your sword!” Jonas said, flipping back down to the floor.

“You what?” Alice said.

“The sword! I need it!” Jonas said, putting his hand out.

Alice muttered and tossed it to him. “Give me your shotgun,” she told Thompson. He gave it to her, and she joined Billy at the beginning of the hallway and fired around the corner.

Kieran twitched and jerked as round after round tore into him and he stumbled back, carrying a struggling man in a bear hug. He dumped the human at Jonas’ feet. Jonas stabbed the Order soldier in the heart with his mother’s sword.

Anima flowed into him. He willed it to the extra symbols he’d drawn on the ceiling and floor. It was the diagram he’d seen in Madoc’s book.

“This is Viper flight. I’m sorry, sir, but we can’t stay much longer.”

“Standby, Viper,” Edwards said. “Bravo, if you’re going to do something, do it now.”

A molten orb formed in the center of the room, four different sets of golden strands feeding it from the floor, ceiling, and walls. It was as big as a beach ball and radiated heat like a tiny sun. The floor beneath Jonas’ feet trembled.

“Jonas? What are you-?”

He focused on the diagram, spinning it faster and tighter until the walls shook and he couldn’t hold it anymore. Then he shoved it into the network of wards. Freezing air rushed into the room, blowing Jonas back several steps and coating the walls with frost. There was a rumble like an earthquake and all the wards fell at once.

He could see everything again. Explosions blew out windows all over the complex. Manholes shot 20 feet in the air, and part of Milton Street collapsed as the sewers filled with fire.

“Viper this is Helsing. You are cleared to engage all hostile targets.”

“This is Viper flight, I… roger.”

The four helicopters circling the complex opened fire. Forty-millimeter explosive rounds shattered glass and punched through walls as Madoc and two other Agency specters showed the pilots and their gunners where to shoot. Anyone above ground died in a hail of cannon fire, starting with the team attacking Jonas’ position. Anyone below ground had already burned or suffocated.

Viviane ran into the room and knelt by Jim’s head. He’d closed his eyes; his breath gurgled. “Billy, knife,” Viviane said.

Billy handed her one of his throwing knives.

“You said you weren’t going to turn him,” Jonas said.

“I lied,” she said, pulling her sleeve up. “You’re going to have to save the world at someone else’s expense.” She jammed the knife into her forearm and pushed it until it caught against her wrist.

♘

“Jonas! What happened?” Eve said, grabbing his arm.

“She turned Jim,” he said, shifting his grip on his helmet.

She let go. “But that means…”

“Yeah,” Jonas said. Something in him broke down when he saw her, like it was finally over and he was safe, except there were still things to do. He swallowed. “Listen, I’m going to ride back with Carlyle.”

“Right,” she said. “I’ll see you there.”

He followed the gurney to the ambulance and climbed into the back.

♘

“This was part of a synchronized, global crackdown on armed Order personnel, in coordination with national forces,” Chief Grady told the auditorium. “You may have noticed some people are missing. Local directors and the Foundation also took the opportunity to remove enemy operatives from within our midst. Don’t feel sorry for them; they were aware of the risks when they chose to side with the Order instead of honoring their oaths.

“As a result of the draw-down in rogues and because of our own casualties, the Director has authorized the opening of the quotas for all participating human soldiers. We’ve already started with troopers whose injuries could prove fatal or preclude a normal life as a human, in accordance with their advance directives. If you haven’t reviewed yours in a while, now would be the time.”

♘

“I can’t do that, ma’am,” Edwards said.

Alice leaned forward on her desk. “If you call in the military, this will only escalate. You know that.”

“They are
eating
people!” Edwards said. “People are fleeing the city. There is video and testimony of the supernatural all over the airwaves. It’s over. I’m well aware of what werewolves do when cornered, but this is already beyond your ability to contain.”

Jonas didn’t watch him go. He reached out and touched the bullet holes in his mother’s armor, on the stand. The wards shimmered and twisted beneath his fingers. He’d seen them before.

Madoc?

Yes, Jonas?

You designed this armor, didn’t you? Or at least helped?

There was a pause.
Yes. How did you-

There are flourishes in the magic; a certain artfulness, like brush strokes. You’re storing energy in your phylactery, aren’t you? Enough for a shield?

The specter didn’t answer.

You’re a good man, Madoc.

I’m nothing of the sort.

Jonas smiled.

“Vincent? I want you to set Miller loose in the city,” Alice said. Jonas looked over and saw a pale, older man with gray eyes and limp, straw-colored hair on her computer screen. “Yes, I’m aware he’s unstable around werewolves. I’m counting on it.”

♘

Thock. Thock. Thock.

Thompson was sitting on the end of the bed, bouncing a lacrosse ball against the wall when the doctor walked in. Jonas pulled his earphones out.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Thompson. You’re positive for lycanthropy.”

Thock. Thock.

“Yeah, I figured,” Thompson said, glancing at his arm. The torn flesh had knit back together in a day. All that was left was a pale scar. “What about him?” he said, nodding to Carlyle.

“Mr. Carlyle elected to become a werewolf before his injury. We’ll inject him this evening; Mr. Macready has agreed to provide the saliva.”

“Idiot,” Thompson said to Carlyle.
Thock.

“We’re going to be wolf bros!” Carlyle said, smiling.

“Yeah, Carlyle. We’re going to be wolf bros.”

Carlyle always smiled, now. A bullet had scooped out a chunk of his brain. The lycanthropy would fix that, Jonas knew, but whatever memories and motor function had been stored in that part of his mind were gone for good.

Thock.

“I’m sorry, Thompson. I really am,” Jonas said, getting up from his chair. He’d read Thompson’s file; like many of the human troops, Thompson had wanted to earn some cash, become a vampire, and live forever. He’d be lucky to see 50 as an Agency werewolf, and there was no telling what defects might be in the strain he’d caught.

“Me too, sir.”

Thock.

♘

Alice, Jonas, and Kieran met the councilor outside the lobby, just after sunset. Tarik was in wolf form, standing over six-feet-tall with short, glossy black fur, offset by a simple white, cloth shendyt around his waist and a gold belt. His four-man honor guard was similarly garbed. If not for the harnesses and weapons strapped to their backs, they would have looked like something straight out of an ancient Egyptian painting.

“You’re killing us,” he said.

Alice raised her chin. “You’ve occupied Manhattan. What am I supposed to do, make you comfortable?”

Tarik shrugged and looked away. “It was merely a statement. Things have moved beyond anyone’s control, at this point.”

A gust of wind blew snow dust down the deserted avenue. The cars were so deeply buried, only the side mirrors gave them away.

“I asked to speak with the whole council.”

“McClure is in Vermont. The others are afraid.”

“I’ll guarantee them safe passage,” she said.

“They’re not afraid of you, Mrs. Black. They’re afraid of the people. The Order spread the rumor we know how to turn people into winter wolves; any protests to the contrary have been met with accusations and violence. We are beset from all sides.”

Jonas frowned. “That’s what this is about? That’s why so many of you came here?”

Tarik clasped his hands behind his back. “Men and women do terrible things every day to live a moment longer, Jonas. How much further to gain eternity?”