Uncertain Allies

35

The sky over the alley outside Yggy’s bled gray into black. Police lights flashed on Old Northern, rubberneckers pressing against crime-scene tape. Gerry Murdock leaned against a squad car, indifference in his stance though he threw the occasional glower in my direction. Meryl wrapped her arms around me inside my jacket to keep warm in the cool morning air.

Next to the entrance to the bar, another door stood open leading to the building stairwell. Heydan wouldn’t let the police in the bar and disappeared after he opened the access door. Murdock came down the alley, all pressed shirt and clean shoes. He didn’t stop to talk to his brother. He glanced at the medical-examiner staff car. “Is Janey here yet?” he asked.

“No, OCME sent someone else,” I said.

He slid his hands into his pants pockets, standing back to let a beat officer enter the building. “Looks like we have the same case again.”

“Yeah, but this time we know who the killer is,” I said.

“Vize?” he asked.

I nodded. “He knows where the stone is now. It’s only a matter of time before he finds it.”

“Can we use the vitniri to track him?” Murdock asked.

“They’re not dogs, ya know. You can’t point, and say, ‘fetch.’ They need a reason,” said Meryl.

“I wasn’t under the impression that reason and half wolves went together all that well,” Murdock said.

A tinge of red flushed across Meryl’s cheeks. “They’re still people,” she said.

Murdock smirked and nudged her. “You’re so easy sometimes.”

“Not in my experience,” I said. They both turned to look at me like I had no business interrupting. The look, in fact, reminded me that I didn’t. “I want to get ahead of Vize. We’ve been chasing him. We’ve been everywhere he’s been. Even if he had to kill Nar to get the answer, there’s a method to his search that we’re not seeing. We’re missing the pattern.”

“Old dwarves and stone,” Murdock said.

Meryl nodded in feigned amazement. “I would never have noticed that.”

Down on the avenue, a murmur ran through the crowd. People had turned their attention from the alley to the sky. Above us, three Guild agents swept across the alley and over the roofline of the building. “That’s interesting. The Guild hasn’t touched a crime scene down here in ages,” Murdock said.

“Veinseeker popped up on the alert database,” Meryl said.

“Why didn’t you tell us he was in the Guild database?” Murdock said.

She cocked an eye at him. “Um . . . because I’m not a field agent on your case, and no one asked me to? And that I picked up the alert from a security sending about a minute ago? And did I mention I’ve been in a coma?”

Amused, Murdock grunted. “That coma’s going to get a lot of mileage, isn’t it?”

With a small smile, Meryl tilted her head down. “Would you like to try one?”

More Guild agents landed at either end of the alley and began clearing everyone out. Instead of waiting to be tossed, we walked to the avenue. At the sidewalk, the Boston police were moving their crime-scene perimeter farther out, pushing the crowd back.

Murdock leaned against his car. “Why is it I’m annoyed when the Guild won’t take a case in the Weird and pissed off when they do?”

“Because it speaks to your ineffectual nature,” Meryl said. They made faces at each other.

“The Guild knows where the faith stone is. That’s why they’re here,” I said.

Meryl nodded. “Veinseeker is flagged in the system for a reason. If you guys haven’t connected him to anything else, the stone’s as good a reason as any for the Guild to watch for him.”

I gave Meryl a playful look. “Can I ask you a favor?”

She sighed. “Yes, I will hack into the system, Grey.”

I hugged her. “See? Not everything involves major interdimensional meltdowns.”

“Yet,” said Murdock. We got in his car and drove past the growing line of Guild agents. At the Boylston Street T station, Meryl remained in the car as I stood on the curb. “Do you need change for the fare?” she asked.

“You’re not coming with me?”

She poked me in the chest. “I’m allowed in the front door. If I’m going to be hacking security and someone catches me, I’m not raising questions about how I got in without my building pass registering.”

I tapped her nose. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

I entered the station and paid the fare. This early in the morning, the platform was empty and the token-booth agent half-asleep. I walked into the tunnel unseen. The glamour covering the access door to the escape tunnel had an odd resistance but let me through. I was down the stairs and through the passageway in minutes.

Meryl was at her desk before I reached her office. The room was back in some semblance of order, at least by her standards. The piles of papers and folders that had been knocked over were back in their precarious piles, the chair was unsittable with boxes, and the trashed computer components on her credenza had been replaced and reconnected. “I will get this done with less annoyance if you stop reading over my shoulder,” she said.

I perched at the far end of the credenza. “You don’t want me to see how you get in.”

She smirked. “If you can’t figure it out yourself, you don’t deserve to know.”

She sorted through screens, leaning back now and then as she waited for something to run. “Okay, here’s a problem. Veinseeker’s alert was assigned by Manny.”

“Eagan? The Guildmaster never put stuff in the system himself,” I said.

“Maybe not these days. The alert goes back decades. There are even scans of old paper memos in here that predate computers,” she said.

I read over her shoulder. “No reason given for the flag.”

Another screen popped open. “Here’s something: Veinseeker worked on the Guildhouse,” she said.

“When? As far as I know, dwarves never worked here,” I said.

She shook her head. “Not like that. He helped build the place, Grey. Looks like he used to own a quarry.”

“His brother Thekk owned the quarry,” I said.

Meryl pointed to an old contract scan. “Not according to this. They both did.”

I pointed to the screen. “This doesn’t make sense. Thekk drops out of the contract work after major construction was completed, but Nar continues as a security consultant.”

“So?” she asked.

“So, Thekk is the one that controlled the business, not Nar.”

Meryl sorted through more documents. “This might mean something. Nar helped set up the shield dome.”

“Looks like Thekk was cut out of the security contract. I think you found the falling-out between the two brothers,” I said.

Meryl peered up at me. “I must have been in the bathroom during that scene, but I’ll take your word for it.”

“I thought Eagan created the dome,” I said.

“He did. Apparently, Nar provided some kind of”—she gave me a triumphant smile—“essence booster.”

Cold realization swept over me. “It’s here, Meryl. The faith stone is in the Guildhouse.”

She looked doubtful. “If it is, no one ever told me about it.”

I stepped into the hall. The stone corridor stretched in either direction, leading to room after room of artifacts. “It makes sense—the falling-out between Thekk and Nar, Vize looking for dwarves who were here a century ago, Eagan’s alert for Veinseeker. It’s here somewhere. I can feel it.”

Meryl came up behind me and wrapped her arms around me. “Do you mean feel it like sense it or feel it like gut instinct?”

I turned in her arms. “Instinct. We have to search.”

“There are a lot rooms down here and a lot of stone wards in them,” she said.

“Brokke described it to me. We can narrow the search,” I said.

Behind us, the computer rang with an e-mail tone, then another and another until the beeping sounded like a coded message itself. Meryl’s body shield fuzzed around her as she turned off the sound. “Holy shit, Grey. Agents arrested Vize. They’re bringing him in.”

I went around her desk to see the alerts. “Bull. If Keeva and I couldn’t catch him, no one else could. He let himself be arrested. He wants to get inside. The stone’s here. We have to find it,” I said.

“The holding cells are down here, too,” she said.

I went back into the hall. “I have to convince macGoren not to let Vize down here.”

“The moment you step off the elevator, you’ll be arrested for being in the building unauthorized,” she said.

“I’ll go back around to the front door. Call Briallen. Tell her to meet me outside,” I said.

“Done,” she said.

I grabbed her by the shoulders. “Lock this place down, Meryl. Don’t let anyone in.”

She inhaled and screamed, a bloodcurdling shriek that started high and swept down into a low note. The air became electric with essence, barriers running down the hall. The grind of stone against stone echoed, and the heavy thunk of wood doors slamming. She grinned. “Sonic cantrips. Better than keys.”

I kissed the top of her head and dashed through the wall and into the escape tunnel.