Between heaven and hell.., p.16
Between Heaven and Hell 2, page 16
“I don’t see how this is good news for us.”
“Strictly speaking, it’s not,” I agreed. “But Bull wants us in there anyway. If we sweep in, take the scythe out from under the rest of the SIA, it justifies our presence in the SIA. Whoever’s running the show is going to realize that we’re their best regardless of what they tell us to do.”
Jasmine shook her head.
“This is why I left all of this behind.”
“I know,” I said. “We’re going to have to call in some favors.”
“They’ll be watching the airways,” Jasmine reminded me. “How do we even cross into America without being flagged? We’ll be up to our ears in federal agents.”
“You say that like you’ve never illegally entered a country before,” I teased.
“You and I could make it,” Jasmine allowed, “but Breeze is another story.”
“I’m sure you’ll show her the ropes,” I said. “And I think our new friends might have something to say about the situation. They won’t get Audrey as a Conduit unless we get the scythe.”
Jasmine slid out of bed and smiled.
“You really are a devious, devious man, my love,” she told me.
I watched her slip into a neat set of sports underwear and rolled out of bed to join her. We dressed quickly, packed our bags, and I made sure that the prism was still safely stashed in my pocket. I hadn’t thought about my own personal hit-squad of demons in a while.
I had a feeling I was going to need the cellmates of the War Crimes Division.
Breeze was already awake and wincing over coffee in a nearby parlor.
She tried her best to smile at us as we joined her around the parlor table.
“I regret everything,” she muttered.
“You’re hungover? At your age?” Jasmine asked.
“I’m not really a big drinker, okay? We hit it pretty hard last night.”
I spent two minutes catching Breeze up on the situation.
She stared at the two of us like we were crazy.
“Just so I know I’m hearing this right,” she said. “You want to illegally cross into the States and start hunting down the Soulscythe while the SIA has orders to shoot us on sight?”
“It’s not that drastic,” I replied.
“They know how dangerous you are,” the occultist countered. “How the hell are we even going to get back into the country?”
“Two ways,” I explained. “We use disguises and a fake run of passports. We know people in low places who could get you one. Or we take a lane through the Iron Depths and shortcut everything.”
“You say that like Bull doesn’t have tabs on every passage in and out of the States,” Breeze countered. “He’ll see us coming and have a squad waiting on the other side.”
“If he knows about it,” I agreed. “How hard would it be to open up a new one?”
“We’d need patronage from a higher-up demon who isn’t in the DIA,” Breeze said. “Their prices aren’t anything that I’d call reasonable.”
She frowned at my smile.
“What are you two smiling at?”
“You’re not saying it can’t be done,” Jasmine pointed out. “You’ve just told us that it’s possible. It’s not a question of it being possible, it’s just a matter of obstacles.”
“And we’re pretty good at bypassing them,” I added.
“Top of the morning to you!”
Breeze winced at Harrington’s cheery tone. The Greyhound pushed his way into the parlor with a shit-eating grin and a large tray piled high with bacon, eggs and toast. Audrey slunk into the room behind him. The spy immediately fixed on the circles under Breeze’s eyes and gave her a sympathetic smile.
“We’ll have you right as rain in a moment,” Audrey assured her.
“Is there angel magic in that bacon?”
“I brought my patented hangover cure,” Harrington replied.
He set down a large jug of a red liquid that reeked of herbs and spices.
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Breeze muttered.
“Don’t do it on the furniture,” Harrington warned her.
“I’m guessing you two have already been briefed?” I asked.
“Davies might have let slip that the three of you were in a bit of a bind, yeah,” Harrington said. “Fortunately, in the spirit of jolly cooperation, we have decided to take some leave of our own and decided to offer you our services.”
He poured out Breeze a large Bloody Mary and sat down on the edge of his chair.
“Drink it,” he said. “It’ll taste like arse, but you’ll feel better after.”
Breeze managed to choke down a mouthful without complaint.
We had a brisk breakfast and washed it down with less-than-ideal coffee.
Audrey stuck to tea. She’d dressed in business casual rather than her Family-sanctioned outfit and I caught myself staring at her more than once. She acknowledged it with a wry smile and pulled a folder out from a satchel on the floor at her feet.
“Before we begin,” Audrey said, “it goes without saying that all of this is unofficial. The OGI isn’t sanctioning any of our actions. If we’re captured or detained they’ll deny any involvement. The same goes for you. There’s no free lunch on this one.”
“It’s familiar territory,” I said. “I appreciate you two coming in on this.”
“I’d have to be a right ungrateful bastard to leave you lot in a bind,” Harrington said. “Although I might ask Jazz here to release me from my gambling debt once we’re done.”
Jasmine laughed.
“Done,” she said. “Five thousand pounds seems like a pittance compared to life imprisonment, but if that’s what it takes to get you involved, consider yourself absolved.”
“Excellent,” Harrington said. “Sorry, Audrey.”
The spy opened up the folder and showed us a handful of aerial photographs of a small town in the Midwest. It took me a minute to place the housing style and the names.
“Wisconsin,” Breeze noted. “Where’d you get these?”
“Ways and means,” Audrey said. “Our feeds place the Soulscythe here. There’s been reports of unusual activity in the area but the police have blown it off as drug-related hallucinations.”
“So that’s where we start,” I said. “The question is how we get in.”
“I might have something for that,” Harrington said. “Have any of you seen Macbeth?”
Chapter 19
The OGI’s helicopter dropped us off in a small town in Yorkshire.
The girls already had their bags packed. We were traveling light and unarmed without passports. Harrington gave the staring locals a friendly wave while we waited for a taxi to take us out of the village and out into the fields.
“What’s Macbeth got to do with this?” Breeze asked.
“You’ll see,” Harrington said.
“I’ve got another five thousand pounds that says you have your own occultists aligned with the Iron Depths,” Jasmine said. “It’s how you know about the SIA’s activities and their operatives.”
The Greyhound pouted.
“Now you’re just taking all the fun out of it.”
A minibus arrived to pick us up and carried us through the hedgerows and out to a remote cottage. Swathes of farmland stretched out into forested treelines around us. Breeze’s eyes flickered neon-pink when we reached the front gate of the property.
She hissed in a sudden breath.
“Oh, boy.”
“What is it?” Audrey asked.
“You’ve got enough juice here to move an army,” Breeze said.
“Juice?” the driver asked curiously.
“Warhammer,” Harrington explained. “We’re avid collectors.”
“You don’t say!” the cabbie said. “All the way out here?”
“Have you seen some of the fellers in the local stores?” Harrington countered.
“God, yes,” the guy said.
I handed him ten pounds, thanked him for his time, and the taxi left us in front of the gate. Breeze scanned the property up ahead of us and let out a low whistle.
“So you’ve got your own pet occultists after all.”
“They’re strictly here as observers,” Audrey explained. “We don’t ask them for any help when it comes to the lanes or weapons. That’s treading on the Americans’ toes, and they tend to notice when people copy their homework.”
Harrington drew a key out of his pocket, unlatched a heavy padlock of damascus steel from the front gate, and pushed it open. A sharp crack and the smell of brimstone washed up around us.
It almost felt like home.
I’d spent far too much time around the angelic lately.
The five of us paced through the gate and up a winding track through green slopes of grass divided with ancient stone fences. Old barns and sheds peppered the fields in the distance. The subtle smell of brimstone hung in the air around us. The watch around my wrist started to hum steadily against my skin.
We reached an old cottage overgrown with vines and flowers.
It looked like something straight out of a children’s fairy tale.
A gnarled old woman stubbed out a cigarette when she saw us.
She greeted us with a flash of pearly whites.
“Well, well, well,” the geriatric said. “Look who it is.”
Audrey surprised me with a neat little curtsy.
“Morning, Adeline,” she said. “We need a favor.”
“Oh, poppet. You’ve grown up so much since I saw you last.”
“You don’t look a day over fifty,” Audrey replied.
“Flatterer,” the witch said with a giggle. “And you brought friends?”
“Pleasure to meet you,” Jasmine said.
Adeline peered at Breeze with sudden interest.
“Not just any friends, either. Hello, Brianna.”
Breeze gulped.
“What kind of favor do you need?” Adeline asked.
“Reverse-colonization,” Harrington said.
“Ah. You need a ride to the States.” The old lady fixed me with a curious look. “Gods below, Harry. I know you said you were in a rush, but I didn’t realize you were looking to start a bloody war.”
Harrington frowned.
“Quick trip, two way, in and out,” Harrington said. “Who said anything about a war?”
Adeline let out a cackling laugh.
“Come in, then. I’ve got tea.”
She pushed the front door of the cottage open. I noted the flowers in the garden bed as we followed her inside. My job usually involved lead poisoning more than anything else but I recognised some of the more lethal plants easily enough.
The watch around my wrist buzzed harder when I ducked inside.
Plants and herbs hung from the ceiling and the walls. The foliage was thick enough to stock an entire florist shop. Two other equally-ancient old women glanced up from newspapers around a circular table. A kettle bubbled over a wood-fired stove in the corner of the room. Adeline limped over to it and used a poker to push more fuel into the coals underneath it.
“Ladies, we have company,” Adeline said.
“We can see that,” another complained. “I thought you said it was only two of them.”
“Harry’s being cheeky,” the third said. “At least his friends are interesting this time.”
Breeze stayed well away from the table as the old women shuffled up to their feet.
“They want a trip over to America,” Adeline explained.
“Did they bring payment, at least?” the second old woman asked.
The third slapped her wrist. “Don’t be rude, Trixie.”
“It’s only fair,” Trixie retorted.
Audrey pulled a leather pouch from her satchel and tossed it onto the table.
A rattle of metal clunked through the small cottage.
“That should be enough for a two-way ticket in and out, surely,” Audrey said.
Trixie bent over the mokeskin pouch and pulled out a nugget of silver the size of a quarter. She held it up to the light of the fire and gave it an experimental lick.
A shudder ran through her body.
“Oh, they’re serious,” Trixie said. “Very well.”
Jasmine and Breeze stayed close to my side and didn’t make any move to sit down. The witches stumped around the cottage, wove expertly around their plants, and lit small censers at the corners of the house.
I’d seen some strange things in the supernatural world.
This was up there with some of the weirder shit.
“Where do you want to go?” Adeline asked.
She poured boiling water into a pot of tea and brought it to the main table. The incense in the air moved in strange arcane patterns at the corners of the cottage. The smell of brimstone and molten metal sharpened.
I wasn’t an occultist.
But the sheer amount of infernal energy in the air made my spine tingle.
“Arkdale, Wisconsin,” Audrey said.
“You’ve got lanes open out that way?” Breeze asked.
Adeline beamed at her. “You’re precious.”
The occultist flushed.
“Lanes are highways, dearie,” Trixie said. “Well-traveled, well-worn, and usually full of tolls. I’ll give the SIA credit—they’re devious in their little Contracts—but they’re very short-sighted. You don’t need an official lane to travel the Iron Depths.”
Breeze, Jasmine and I stared at her in shock.
“How?” Breeze asked.
“Old age and treachery,” Trixie said with a giggle.
“I’m serious,” Breeze said. “How did you manage that? I know we’re probably standing on some kind of leyline right now, but you should be up to your ears in demons if you’re trying to travel without a Contract.”
The old women laughed.
“Oh, she is precious,” the third crone said. “Up to our ears. I’d love to see them try.”
My gut twisted in sudden panic. I didn’t know who we were dealing with here, but the fact that they had knowledge that completely outclassed Breeze’s training. A Conduit in Paris had mentioned something to me about an older collective of occultists from before the SIA before.
Maybe Adeline and her friends were part of that.
“We’ve been doing this a long time, love,” Trixie said. “You live long enough, and you learn some things. You made this sound urgent, and I know you’re in a hurry. Tell you what. If you ever find yourself back here, we can have tea and a chat.”
Harrington and Audrey both went still at that.
“Oh, don’t look so shocked,” the third witch said. “Us girls need to stick together.”
“You might even want to pay us a visit, Audrey,” Trixie added. “If you survive.”
“Tea,” Adeline interrupted.. “Drink up.”
She poured out five doses of fragrant leaf-water into well-worn china. Audrey and Harrington drained theirs as quickly as they could. Jasmine hesitated for a moment, and I couldn’t blame her. The OGI’s infernal contacts seemed completely insane.
And they had power far beyond anything I’d seen at the SIA.
We needed to get to Wisconsin. That was all that mattered.
I scooped up a mug and drained it. The tea burned its way past my throat, and the taste was bitter enough to make me instantly nauseous. I fought off the urge to puke, set down the mug, and stepped away from the table. Jasmine and Breeze followed my lead.
“There,” Adeline said. “All done.”
“What is this stuff?” Breeze asked.
“Don’t ask,” Harrington warned her.
“It’ll keep the scaries away from you,” Trixie said. “I wouldn’t linger if I were you, though. Make a run for the spire and don’t stop until you reach it.”
The other witches nodded.
“Michael, darling,” Adeline said.
I met her depthless, milky-white eyes.
“Yes, ma’am?”
She giggled at my manners.
“Always nice to meet a young man with civility. You’re tangled up in all kinds of webs. Khadija tried to talk to you about it, but you wouldn’t hear her.”
A cold thrill ran through my body at her words.
She knew about Khadija. The conversation we’d had.
These weren’t regular occultists. Not by a country mile.
“Just remember this,” Adeline said. “They fear you.”
“Who’s they?” Jasmine asked.
“All of them,” Trixie said. “He knows what we’re talking about.”
“I don’t,” I protested. “What are you talking about?”
“Outside, dears,” Adeline said. “You’re about to pass through. You’ll make a frightful mess if you’re inside when you do. Remember the spire. Run.”
Harrington and Audrey hustled out of the cottage. The girls darted after them.
I stared at the three old crones. They knew things. They knew my place in all of this.
“I need to know more,” I said.
“We know,” Trixie said.
Sympathy colored her tone.
“We can only say so much,” the third crone said. “Outside, quick!”
Her tone cracked at me like a whip. I moved after the others, hefted my bag over my shoulder, and made it to the garden. Blinding-purple runes shimmered into a circle around my feet. The same circles appeared around the feet of the rest of the team.
“Bloody hell,” Harrington muttered. “Never done this.”
“What do you mean you’ve never done this-?” Breeze began.
Violet light blazed over my vision. A thunderous crack echoed through my ears.
Something metal crunched under my boots a second later. The green fields vanished in favor of a hellscape straight out of Paradise Lost. Boiling heat washed over my skin. The smell of blood and metal filled my nose.
We’d teleported straight into a volcanic plain in the Iron Depths.
Jagged red lightning sparked in a purple sky above our heads.
Rivers of molten metals cut through the ground around us. It took me a minute to realize that the stones and sand weren’t stone at all. Fine metal filings washed around our feet. The ground was uneven. Harrington’s face went white, and Audrey bit back a cry.
