Fields of Blood (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 2) Read online

  Just as I thought that, the CB unit on the doctor’s belt squawked. “Romero, I want a report.” It was Reese, his voice drifting from the speaker like a tin shadow. “Is our guest prepped for viewing tonight’s test?”

  Damn. If no one answered, he’d know something wasn’t right. I still needed more time. I grabbed the handheld, trying to decide what the clinical bastard might say in response. I’d have to hope the poor quality sound kept him from being suspicious about Romero’s ’voice.’

  Or maybe I wouldn’t. I’d used a glamour to mimic Nigel Foley and get into the New York branch of Milus Dei—his appearance and his voice. This time my appearance wouldn’t even have to pass.

  I thought about the doctor, about being him. The idea made me shudder with revulsion.

  “Romero? What’s going on down there?”

  “Affirmative,” I said out loud to make sure I sounded right. Close enough. I pushed the unit call button and said, “Affirmative. Subject is prepared.”

  The pause was long enough to worry me. Finally, Reese said, “You still need to work on your response times, Doctor. I expect answers quickly. And make sure he’s conscious and mobile, because the test is worthless if he’s not functional.”

  My lip curled as I pressed the button. “The subject will be ready.”

  A hell of a lot more ready than he expected.

  I waited another minute, but Reese seemed to be done talking. I’d take the CB unit with me just in case.

  Freedom was still a long way from here.

  CHAPTER 37

  One of the sleeping soldiers had been roughly my size. I left the lab dressed in SWAT gear and wearing glamour that looked like him. I’d stuffed the belt and pockets with all of their weapons, two scalpels, some empty syringes, and five vials of Compound 23. It wasn’t time to use that yet. The moonstone was once again safely around my neck, tucked beneath the body armor.

  Just before I’d headed out, the two monitors had flashed to life with images of the arena, one side on each screen. My heart sank when I watched them shove Taeral into view on the right-hand screen, looking sick and furious.

  At least I didn’t have to worry about finding his arm. Reese had followed through on giving it back to him.

  It was probably important for the test, or some bullshit like that.

  I wanted to bust out the people first. If I could get them out of here, make them safe, everything else would be a little easier. They were at the most risk for becoming collateral damage. Hopefully, Chester could lead them down the mountain and back to the town.

  I’d mostly avoided thinking too hard about everyone else. I had to, or I’d never have been able to get through what Romero did to me. Now I couldn’t help wondering what they’d been subjected to all this time. If they’d left them alone, or came up with more cruel ‘tests.’ Whether Sadie had recovered from the fire she’d taken in the arena.

  Whether the not-right-yet L39 they injected Chester with had screwed him forever.

  Finding Wing A was easier than I expected. I took the stairs up at the end of the lab hallway, since Reese had said ‘down there’ when he thought he was talking to Romero. The floor they led to had windows that looked out on level ground and the lighted perimeter fence around the compound. Which meant I was at the back of the research building. From here, Wing A would be forward and left, since Wing B had emptied into the right of the stadium.

  I passed two or three soldiers on the way through the building. None of them looked twice at me.

  The doors to Wing A were closed. There were no guards on this side, but I assumed there would be on the other. I’d have to move fast when I got in. As I stood there for a moment deciding how to proceed, something stirred inside me. A vague, cool sensation seeping into my blood and clearing my head. Somehow, I knew what it was.

  The moon was rising. I could feel it, even through the building.

  I drew a long breath, moved forward and knocked on the double doors. After a minute, one of them cracked open and the puzzled face of a soldier appeared. “Howard?” he said. “I didn’t think you were posted here.”

  “I’m looking for Kevin,” I said, tossing out the first name that came to mind.

  “Who?”

  “Kevin. He’s supposed to meet me here.” As I talked, I pushed the door open further and sidled past the frowning soldier. A quick look showed one more guard at this end, standing in front of the other door—looking just as confused as his buddy.

  When the door closed, the first soldier reached for his CB. “Maybe I’d better call Reese,” he said.

  “Oh, don’t bother. Kevin probably just forgot,” I said. “You know, you guys have been working too hard. You should take a nap.”

  “Wha—”

  “Beith na cohdal.”

  Both soldiers’ eyes fluttered rapidly closed, and they slumped to the floor.

  I palmed one of the scalpels—wanted to avoid gunshots for as long as possible—and made a closer assessment of the place. It was a long, narrow room like the other wing, but the layout was flipped around. And instead of individual cages, there were two large cells with a handful of exhausted, terrified people in each one. A few leaned on the bars, so they weren’t electrified. I could see two more guards on the far side of the cells.

  They must’ve figured regular people didn’t need a lot of security measures.

  I headed for the other end of the room, looking at the monitors as I passed. Taeral was still out there. They’d thrown a full werewolf against him. I could only tell that it wasn’t Sadie, and it either didn’t have or didn’t want any control—because it kept going after him hard. Taeral was bloodied, staggering, barely defending himself from the attacks.

  Bile surged into my throat. Whoever it was, he didn’t want to hurt them. And he was paying a steep price for that.

  When I got past the cells, one of the two guards turned to look at me. Mild expectation turned to confusion. “You’re supposed to be in the lab,” he said, moving toward me. “What happened?”

  I shrugged. “Change of plans.”

  “We didn’t hear anything about that.”

  “You didn’t? Well, that’s probably because I’m the one who changed them,” I said—and opened his throat, cringing as I did. Doing that wasn’t my preference. It wasn’t a pleasant way to die—but it was quiet. And unfortunately, I figured I’d need some questions answered fast if I wanted to get these people out. Which required at least one dead guy.

  Besides, I had a lot less sympathy for these bastards after my session with Romero. I’d only been using the sleep spell because I had to keep things quiet. For now.

  That was going to change soon.

  The other soldier turned. He started to speak, and I put him to sleep before he could get a word out.

  I headed for the closest cell and used magic to unlock the door. Didn’t have time to search for keys. I slid the bars aside and stepped through, scanning the people inside. Six altogether—three men, three women. “Where’s Chester?” I said.

  One of them, a man in his thirties, pointed to the other cell. “In there,” he said, his voice shaking slightly. “Go ahead. Take him.”

  I would’ve been pissed, except I realized the guy was trying to protect the other people in his cell. He stood in front of them, shielding them with his arms as they huddled on the floor. They looked half-dead.

  “Thanks,” I said, and headed to unlock the next one. “By the way, get ready to move if you can. I’m not with these assholes.”

  No one moved.

  They were probably in shock. I’d get Chester first, and then I’d worry about motivating them.

  The next cell also had six people. When I unlocked the door and took a closer look, I counted four men and two women, all of them staring at me with bated breath. Hoping they weren’t next to go out there. But Chester wasn’t among them.

  I finally spotted the lone figure huddled in the corner. He lifted his head to look as I approached—and then sh
ot to his feet, his vacant eyes wide with terror.

  My gut wrenched. “Chester, it’s me,” I said without much hope.

  “Yeah? And who the hell are you?”

  I frowned slightly. He didn’t sound insane.

  Finally, I remembered that I was wearing one of the soldiers’ faces.

  “Damn,” I said, dropping the glamour. “Sorry about that. I mean, it’s me.”

  The wide-eyed stare went on for a few more seconds, and then he squinted. “Gideon?” he said. “How…”

  “Long story. You okay?”

  He shook himself. “Pretty pissed off, but yeah. I think so.”

  “Good. I was worried that liquid werewolf stuff got to you.”

  “And drove me insane?” He smirked. “Hey, I was already crazy. Didn’t change a damned thing.”

  I actually managed to laugh, but it wore off quickly. “You have to get out of here, fast. All of you,” I said, turning to look at the rest of the captives. “Chester’s going to lead you back to town. He knows the way.”

  “I am?”

  I glanced back to see Chester frowning. “What is it?” I said.

  He looked at me like I’d just asked him to jump over the Grand Canyon on a bicycle. “Oh, nothing much,” he said. “Just a hundred or so armed soldiers, a high-voltage fence, and the only weapon I have is a shoelace.”

  I decided not to ask why he only had one shoelace, or how it was a weapon. “I’ve got at least two of those covered,” I said, unloading the extra guns and Tasers I’d brought.

  “Right. So which one isn’t covered?”

  “The fence. But I can fix that.”

  Chester grabbed two guns and followed me out of the cell, toward the back of the room. “How did you fix the other hundred soldiers?” he said.

  “They’re going to be busy while you’re leaving.” I knelt beside the guard with the slit throat and grabbed his shoulder. “Hey. Got a question for you.”

  What the—

  “How do we shut off the perimeter fence?”

  Main security building. Why did I say that? Who are you?

  “Never mind. Is there any other way to do it?”

  Terminal in the back corner. But it’s for emergencies.

  “What a coincidence,” I said. “This is an emergency.”

  What’s going on? You’re not authorized…to…who are you, anyway?

  I ignored him and looked around until I spotted a screen and keyboard on a stand across the room. “There,” I said, looking at Chester. “Can you break into that?” I didn’t want to cast a shutdown spell if I could help it, since it’d probably shut down more than just the fence and alert the rest of them that something was wrong.

  “Don’t know.” He rushed over and tapped a key. The monitor flashed to life and displayed a password box. “Think you can get this from…er, the dead guy?”

  I nodded. “What’s the password?” I said to the soldier.

  Nine-five-five-two-zero-six-eight-what the FUCK. His struggles bashed around in my head.

  I repeated the numbers to Chester. “Is what the fuck part of the password?” I said.

  No! Goddamn it, let go of me, this hurts!

  “I will when I’m done. Shut up.”

  Chester tapped on the keyboard. The password box flashed off, and the screen filled with white text on a black background. “All right, I’ve got it from here. Jesus Christ,” he muttered. “They come a million miles through space with advanced technology, and here they are, running Linux.”

  I smothered a laugh as I relieved the dead soldier of his weapons. Nothing and no one would convince Chester these assholes were just people.

  While he worked at the terminal, I collected the rest of the guns and brought them over to the cells. The captives hadn’t left their prisons. They stared at me, shrank back when I approached.

  One woman screamed and pointed at the weapons. “They’re going to make us shoot each other!”

  Before I could explain once again that I wasn’t one of them, the man who’d protected his cellmates stepped forward. “No. It’s him,” he said. “The guy who wouldn’t fight last night. Aren’t you?”

  “Yeah. Listen, you all have to get out of here, right now,” I said. “Chester’s going to lead you—”

  “Chester Rigby?”

  The angry voice was behind me. The other group had drifted out of their cell, following the lead of a big man who held one of the guns and had stuffed two Tasers in his waistband. “The guy’s a crackpot,” the big man said. “Goddamn certifiable. We’re not going anywhere with him.”

  Mutters of terrified agreement came from behind him.

  I stepped up to the loudmouth. “Really,” I said. “He’s crazy for telling you there’s a bunch of werewolves on the mountain.”

  “Well…yeah.”

  “And what’s that?” I said, pointing to the big, impossible-to-miss monitors, even while I made a point not to look directly at them. If I caught sight of Taeral out there, I’d do something really stupid. Like try to kill every one of those Milus Dei bastards at once.

  The big guy sputtered. “It’s a trick. He’s nuts, I’m telling you—”

  “Shut the hell up, Jesse.” The protector came up next to me and pinned him with a steady stare. “Can you get down the King and back to town in the dark?” he said. “Do you even know where you are?”

  He closed his mouth and backed down.

  “Chester was right the whole time,” the man said. “We’re going with him. Unless any of you want to stay here and get torn apart, like they did to Polly Novak.”

  Apparently, no one wanted to do that. There were no further arguments.

  “Thanks,” I said. “I’m Gideon, by the way.”

  He extended a hand. “Bill Ryerson.”

  “Holy shit,” I said as I shook. The sheriff had mentioned this guy’s name. “You’re the search party.”

  Bill blinked. “How did you know that?”

  “Sheriff Gormann.”

  “Oh,” he said heavily. “Regina warned me not to come up here. Guess I should’ve listened. But…”

  “Look, try not to think about that now,” I said. “You need to focus on getting these people out. I can tell you’re trying to take care of them.” I flashed a grim smirk. “Trust me, there’s always time to beat yourself up later. I do it all the time.”

  He shook himself and managed to look steadier. “Right,” he said. “In that case, I’ll take one of those guns, if you don’t mind.”

  I handed him all of them. “Pass them out. I’ve got what I need.”

  Bill gave me a strange look, and then headed back to distribute the guns.

  I left them and met Chester on the way back from the terminal. “All set?” I said.

  “Well, the fence is down. I don’t know how set we are, though.” He glanced past me at the town people. “Not sure I like leaving you here,” he said. “What about the rest of them? Those kids, and your friends.”

  “We’re taking a different way out,” I said.

  “Do I want to know about it?”

  “Not really.”

  “All right.” Chester nodded and checked the guns he’d stuck in his pockets. “I’ll get them to the sheriff. When you’re clear, you stop at my place and let me know you made it—or I’ll come looking for you. Deal?”

  I grinned. “Deal. But don’t worry…we’ll be there,” I said. “Move fast. Kill anyone in your way.”

  “That won’t be a problem,” Chester said grimly.

  I went to the double doors first and checked to make sure the coast was clear, then waited while they filed out. My next stop was the sublevel containment unit—where hopefully, I could pick up an army of my own.

  CHAPTER 38

  By the time I got the door to the containment unit open, I was feeling almost normal again. If normal meant considerable pain instead of extreme anguish, and a heightened sense of everything. Including how fast time was running out.

 
I was anticipating more guards behind the door, but apparently they weren’t needed here. This area was maximum security. Laid out like the solitary wing of a prison, with rows of cells on either side. Metal door, metal bars, metal walls and floors, and I was guessing at least some of it was silver.

  All the occupants were shackled to ringbolts in the center of the cell floors. They glared at me as I passed by, looking for Sadie. One of them I recognized from Chester’s photos as Silas, the alpha of the pack. He was badly wounded, bruised and bloodied—but he still looked like he’d tear me apart if he could get to me.

  I really hoped they’d hold off on attacking once they knew who I wasn’t.

  Sadie was in the last cell on the right. Lying on the floor with her back to the bars, dressed in bloodstained scrubs and breathing shallowly. They must’ve dressed her in those after they took her out of the arena. Werewolves tended to lose their clothes when they transformed.

  I stopped in front of her. “Sadie…”

  She stiffened for an instant, then went limp again and didn’t move.

  “Sadie, wake up. It’s time to go.”

  A visible shudder moved through her. “Gideon?” she rasped.

  “Yeah. I’m here.” I grabbed the cell door, whispered the unlock spell and went in, moving around to her front. She was trying to sit up.

  I knelt and helped her, unlocked her shackles. “You okay?”

  “No,” she said faintly—and threw her arms around me. “I thought they killed you,” she murmured in rough tones. “Oh, God. How did you get away?”

  I hugged her back and willed my limbs not to shake. “Tell you later,” I said. “We don’t have much time.”

  “Where’s Taeral?”

  I drew back. “You don’t want to know.”

  She blanched and said nothing.

  “We’re getting him out,” I said, straightening to help Sadie to her feet. “We’ll get everyone out. But I have to tell you…your brother’s the reason you’re all here.”