Circle of death, p.4
Circle of Death, page 4
When Jessica and Bando head off down the hall, I ask Maddy to follow me into the library. “Maddy, you’re right. I should have brought you into this earlier. I should have told you who was coming, and why they’re here.”
“Well, now that I know who,” she says. “Tell me why.”
I stop and look her in the eye. Might as well get right to the point. “There’s a new threat in the world, Maddy. Very serious. It hasn’t touched us yet, but it will.”
Maddy shakes her head. “What could be more threatening than Shiwan Khan? He was planning to poison the whole damn world before we stopped him! Remember? A year ago. We all almost died in the process!”
“I know. You don’t need to remind me. But Khan’s threat was to the underclass. He wanted to eliminate the poor to make the world safe for the rich and powerful. The evil I’m talking about is a threat to everybody. Rich, poor, and in between. Around the world.”
I can see Maddy is still irked. “And why is this something the Shadow has to deal with?” she says. “What about governments? What about armies? Why does it always have to be you?”
“This cabal is playing governments and ethnic groups against one another. Nobody trusts anybody else to take charge. And nobody understands how bad this can get.”
“So these experts—Jericho, Moe, Burbank—you brought them here to help you?”
“That’s right. I need them for the same reason I needed their ancestors. They’re people with specific skills. People I can depend on no matter what. People who are loyal only to me.”
Maddy sits down on the sofa. “Okay. So who’s running this evil cabal? Who are you up against?”
“Not sure who he really is. Right now, all we know is that people call him the Destroyer of Worlds.” Just saying it, I realize how unreal it sounds. Maddy stares back at me with her mouth in a little curl.
“Destroyer of Worlds. Really? That seems a little… over the top.”
That’s enough. I’m used to Maddy’s moodiness, but I’m in no mood for teenage sass. Not today. I reach down and pull her off the sofa. “Come here.” I lead her over to the video player in the corner and press Play.
“What’s this?” she asks.
“You’ll see.”
I watch her face as the images flicker by. After about thirty seconds, she turns pale. After a few seconds more, she turns her head away. I stop the video. “What would you call him?”
“I’m sorry,” says Maddy softly. “I get it.”
I’m not quite sure how to bring up the next topic. Because it involves Maddy directly. And I already know she’ll fight it. But before I can start to explain, the room starts to vibrate. A shimmer appears in the corner near the fireplace. Maddy turns, her eyes wide. She glances over at me.
Dammit. Bad timing. My guest is a little early.
CHAPTER 12
THE SLIGHTLY BUILT man materializes next to the fireplace and rests one hand gently on the back of a chair. Amazing! It’s been a very long time, but he’s just the way I remember him. Old. And timeless. Small boned, gaunt cheeks, big eyes. Wearing a burgundy robe with saffron-yellow trim. He looks totally at ease.
Maddy does not. She spins around, clearly baffled. “Who the hell is this?”
I take a deep breath and try to serve it up gently. “Maddy, this… is Dache. He’s a Kagyu high priest from Mongolia.”
Maddy shifts her feet anxiously, hands at the ready. “He’s not dangerous?”
“No. He’s a friend. From a long time ago. Ten thousand years.”
Maddy blinks. I know she still hasn’t adjusted to my true age. Or the fact that I learned my basic skills many centuries ago. It throws her at times—like now.
Dache steps forward and gives Maddy a silent bow.
“Why is he here?” she asks.
I look at Dache, then back at Maddy. “He’s your new teacher.”
Maddy reacts exactly like I expected. She waves her hands, like she’s trying to erase the whole scene. “Nope. No way. I already have teachers. Lots of them.” She looks at me. “I’m in college, remember? Full course load.” Dache stands still and alert, just watching her.
“Dache is worlds beyond that,” I tell her. “What he knows, your teachers can’t teach. Dache taught me.”
“Lamont was a superior student,” says Dache. “I’m honored that he summoned me to help you.”
Maddy is backing away now. I can tell she wants no part of this. “Sorry. No. I’m good.” She looks over at Dache. “I apologize for the misunderstanding. Crossed wires, apparently.” She flicks her fingers at him. “You can go back to Mongolia now.”
Dache nods. His body and clothes begin to shimmer. Then he’s gone. I can see relief wash over Maddy’s face. She starts to walk out of the room, back toward the kitchen. I call out to her. “Maddy, please…”
Suddenly, Dache is standing in front of her, blocking her path. She takes a step back. “What’s going on?” she asks. “Why are you still here?”
Dache’s voice is calm and pleasant. “I returned to Mongolia, as you asked. Now I’m back.” He leans toward her. “Please. Trust me. You have much to learn.”
Maddy shakes her head. “Not happening.”
Dache tucks his hands into the arms of his robe and smiles. “You’re strong, Madeline. I respect that.”
Maddy is flushed. I can see the blood rushing to her face and neck. She jabs a finger at Dache. “Here’s a lesson for you,” she says. “My name is not Madeline! Now please leave! Go! I don’t need this right now!”
“As you say,” says Dache. He disappears again. His physical form is totally gone. Then his voice comes out of thin air.
“Training starts tomorrow. Madeline.”
CHAPTER 13
AT DINNERTIME, I can see that Maddy is still furious. She’s silent and sullen, and she hasn’t spoken to me all afternoon. I worry that this whole arrangement with Dache got off to a very bad start. Probably my fault. I could have prepped her better. But I’ve had a lot on my mind. Tonight, I’m hoping that an extended family dinner—with Jericho, Moe, and Burbank included—will improve her mood. I put a lot of faith in Jessica’s home cooking.
As everybody sits down around the huge table in the main dining room, I decide to break the ice with a little local drama.
“You know, it happened right here—exactly where we’re sitting.”
“What did?” asks Moe. He’s already helping himself to the wine.
“This is the room—around this same table—where Khan and his ministers made the plan to murder millions of people. The entire lower level of society. Wipe them out entirely all over the world. That was the scheme.”
Moe takes another gulp of his merlot. I can see he’s not impressed by my history lesson. “Yeah? Well, I guess it didn’t work. Khan is gone and we’re here. So that’s that.”
“Should we perform an exorcism?” Jericho jokes. “You know? Erase the bad mojo?”
“My lasagna will take care of that,” says Jessica.
She’s not kidding. Jessica’s lasagna is magical stuff. Meaty, cheesy, and unbelievably delicious. Best I’ve ever tasted. Bando has already stationed himself under my chair, hoping for some scraps.
Jessica passes the platter. Moe spoons himself a healthy plateful and digs in. With one bite, his face transforms into a vision of pure bliss. “Jesus, that’s amazing!”
After a few quick mouthfuls, he looks over at Jessica.
“Okay,” he says, “anybody who cooks food this good has to be an honest person. So, Jessica—let me ask you, on the level. What’s the deal with this family? Is it all true? The frozen body stuff and everything?”
I feel the need to make a correction. “Cryogenic suspension. We weren’t actually frozen.”
“Lamont and Margo’s body processes were slowed, not stopped entirely,” says Jessica. “That’s how Margo was able to carry a child to term.”
“I still cannot get my head around that,” says Jericho, piling lasagna onto his plate.
Neither can I. The fact that Margo bore a child—our child—without knowing it, still seems outrageous. And crushingly sad. It was one of the biggest events in either of our lives. And we missed it. Never even knew it happened. Until Maddy found us in that lab and brought us back to life.
Burbank looks across the table at Margo. “You don’t remember anything about giving birth?”
“Nothing,” says Margo. “Lamont and I were both in deep chemical comas until Maddy found us. The first time I realized I’d delivered a child was when Maddy uncovered my medical records, five generations later. Bit of a shock.”
She says it in a matter-of-fact way, but I know it hurts her, too. The lost memory. The missing years. The hollow space in her life. The child she’d never known.
“But Maddy and I couldn’t ask for nicer ancestors,” says Jessica with a smile.
Jericho takes a deep sip of wine. “That’s beautiful,” he says. “A little messed up. But beautiful.”
For the whole time, Maddy has been quiet, just pushing food around on her plate. I wonder what the hell she’s thinking. I see her look up.
“What’s messed up about it?” she says. “Is it really any stranger than other stuff that happened back in the 1930s? Can we talk about the Wasp? Or the Black Falcon? Or the Silver Skull? Your ancestors dealt with all of them. Why is our family history any stranger?”
“She’s right,” says Burbank. “We’ve all got plenty of weirdness lurking in our pasts.”
Moe looks at Maddy. “How do you know all those names? You’re just a kid.”
Maddy puts down her fork and leans forward. “Because I’m the biggest Shadow fan who ever lived. Been that way since I was little. I know all the stories, all the radio shows. I know every Shadow enemy who ever lived. Every case the Shadow ever worked on. Every partner he ever had. I probably know your ancestors better than you do. And I knew it all long before I found Lamont and Margo.”
Margo nods. “It’s true. Sometimes she comes up with things that I’d forgotten.”
Moe dabs his chin with a napkin. “So I guess it was meant to be. All of us here together after all this time. One big crazy family—reunited.” He lifts his glass to Maddy. “And here’s to the girl who knows more about the Shadow… than the Shadow!”
All of a sudden, Bando shoots out from under my chair and starts barking at the window.
When I look up, a huge explosion rocks the room.
CHAPTER 14
A BALL OF fire blasts against the windows, right above where Bando is standing. I grab Margo and Maddy and pull them off their chairs onto the floor. “Everybody under the table!”
Another blast hits the window on the other end of the room. My mouth goes dry and my heart is pounding. I was right about this house making us a target! The walls tremble and I can hear the chandelier crystals shaking above us. I do a quick check to make sure we’re all accounted for. Jessica is huddled between Burbank and Moe, and Jericho has flattened himself on the floor.
“Stay down, everybody!” I shout. “Stay down!”
Before I can stop him, Jericho starts belly-crawling across the room. Another salvo hits. He huddles under the nearest windowsill. He pops his head up for a second to look outside. The explosions just keep coming.
“Attack drones!” he shouts above the noise. “Dozens of ’em!”
I push Maddy and Margo together. “Don’t move! Either of you!”
I crawl over to the window, right next to Jericho. I look up. The night sky is filled with tiny red navigation lights, like a fleet of evil fireflies. They’re not predator drones—the high-altitude, silent type. They’re smaller, about two feet across, designed to operate close to the ground. They’re meant to stir panic and terror. I need to get outside. I need to do something. Need to fight back!
Jericho pulls me down just before another strike hits the walls. Bando is running back and forth along the baseboard, barking like crazy. “Bando! Come!” yells Jessica. Bando whimpers and runs under the table.
Sparks and flames bounce off outside walls as blast after blast hits the granite.
The noise is deafening.
Then it all just… stops.
I wait a few seconds, then peek outside. The drones are gone. Like they were never there. I look around the room. Everybody’s intact. The whole place is filled with stone dust, and some of the plaster from the walls has been shaken loose. But that’s it. The structure held.
Moe lifts his head. “What the hell was that?”
“I’d say somebody knows we’re here,” says Jericho.
Burbank emerges from under the table and helps Jessica to her feet. He walks slowly to the window and runs his fingers over the cracked, blackened glass. “I don’t get it. This is a twentieth-century mansion, not a bomb shelter. How are we not dead?”
“Thank Shiwan Khan,” says Margo. She’s standing with Maddy on the far side of the table, brushing dust from her dress.
I rest my palm on one of the damaged panes, still hot to the touch. “Margo’s right. Khan fortified the whole structure when he lived here. Windows. Walls. Roof. That’s what saved us.”
“Saved by Khan?” says Moe. “Now that’s a goddamn first.”
CHAPTER 15
IT’S BEEN A long night. I pull the bedroom curtains shut to cover the spidery bullet cracks on the glass. Three hours after the attack, everybody in the house is still on edge, including me. I’m glad the house held up against the assault, but I need to find out who’s behind it. I know they’ll come back again, stronger next time.
Down the hall, Maddy tucked herself into bed with Bando at her feet. Burbank and Moe decided to bunk together in an inside room—one with no windows. Jericho is sitting outside on the kitchen terrace smoking a cigar and holding one of my twelve-gauge shotguns, keeping watch. I couldn’t ask for a more reliable sentry.
Margo is sitting up in bed with a pillow propped behind her. She’s being very quiet. I thought she’d want to talk more about what happened. About all the evil we’re up against. But she has something else on her mind.
“I hear Maddy has a new teacher,” she says.
There’s a little edge in her voice. I know that edge. She’s reminding me that I made an important family decision without consulting her.
I climb into bed on my side. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I should have told you he was coming.”
Margo is a lot like Maddy. She gets irritated when people pop up out of nowhere. “So how are they getting along?” she asks. “Maddy and Dache.”
“Work in progress. She’s not sold yet. But Dache has infinite patience. He did with me.”
“Maddy said she’s trying to get rid of him.”
“Wishful thinking. Dache isn’t going anywhere.”
Margo slides down and snuggles her head into the pillow. She turns toward me.
“All these new people! I remember those times back in the 1930s, when it was just you and me against the world.”
I prop myself up on my elbow. “I do, too. And then that damned radio show started publicizing us. Exposing us. That’s why we needed all the extra help. More undercover operatives. More eyes and ears on the street. The Shadow and Margo Lane couldn’t do everything.”
“Your friend and companion,” says Margo. “That’s what they called me on the radio show.”
“I guess they were trying to be discreet.”
“Made me sound like a pet dog.”
Margo flicks off the light on the night table. I reach over and push her hair back from her face. That beautiful face.
“They had no idea,” I tell her. “They should have said friend, companion, comrade in arms, esteemed business partner…”
She slides herself closer. “Don’t forget incredibly sensuous lover.”
“I was about to say that.”
She slides her bare foot up along my bare leg and pulls the covers over us. “I’ll bet you were.”
CHAPTER 16
THE NEXT MORNING. Very early.
Maddy is standing across from Dache on the front lawn of the mansion. Words cannot express how annoyed she is. For one thing, it’s barely dawn. Also, Dache appeared in her bedroom to wake her up.
“I could have been naked, you know.”
“That would be meaningless to me,” says Dache.
With everything that happened last night, Maddy’s in no mood for a lesson from a placid monk. “You know we were attacked during dinner, right? Killer drones.”
“Yes,” says Dache. “And clearly, you survived.”
“Just curious,” says Maddy. “How come you weren’t there to protect us?”
“I’m a teacher,” says Dache, “not a fighter.”
“Okay. But you see everything. You know everything. Who sent the drones? Tell me!”
“Not my purpose this morning,” says Dache. “Let’s begin.”
Maddy is in bare feet, and the dewy grass tickles her ankles. Dache is standing next to a large marble sphere, about three feet across. It’s not clear where it came from. Maddy’s never seen it. But it must weigh a couple hundred pounds. Dache stretches his arms out toward it. As Maddy watches, the giant ball starts to roll back and forth on the grass.
“This is your purpose?” says Maddy. “Showing me magic tricks?”
Dache says nothing. He looks totally at peace. He shifts his hands, and the heavy sphere rises slowly up off the grass. It hovers in midair, rotating slowly a few feet off the ground.
Maddy perks up. Okay. This is kind of cool. She takes a few steps forward. “How long did it take you to learn that?”
“Longer than you can imagine,” says Dache. With a slow turn of his wrists, he lowers the ball gently back to the ground. “Anything worth learning takes time.”
“Too bad,” says Maddy. “I have a short attention span.”
“So the record shows.”
Maddy cocks her head. “What record?”
“Second grade, age seven,” Dache recites. “Demonstrates impulsive behavior at play. Difficulty in focusing. Fourth grade, age nine. Intelligent, but scattered. Sometimes fails to complete assigned tasks. Fifth grade, age ten…”
