Kelvin #5: MM Fated Mates (Tangled Tentacles), page 11
Magnus, who’d not brought his personal computer with his files on it, went and sat next to Todd who was working his magic to open Magnus’s computer remotely to access everything. The file notes were what Magnus was after.
“How are you getting on?” Magnus asked looking over Todd’s shoulder.
Kelvin recognized the look Todd cast at Magnus. “Your computer needs a security update, that was piss easy man. You should be ashamed.”
Magnus blushed, and Kelvin was about to explain his brother was joking when Magnus’s laughter boomed out. “Then I’m in the right place for you to fix it.”
Todd nudged Magnus with his shoulder, pushing up his glasses. “It’s a good job I like you.”
Kelvin chuckled and turned his attention back to his own computer when Lucas gave him a pointed stare. They were going through the files Todd had on shifter history, to see what, if anything, popped out. They’d used them before to find the dragon egg patterns of theft which went back centuries.
There was something niggling in the back of Kelvin’s brain, and he wasn’t sure what it was, so he was following his instincts and hoping that he wasn’t going down a path that was leading him in the wrong direction.
Chapter Eighteen
Magnus
It was three days later. Kelvin, Todd, and Azim had been following money trails, scanning piles and piles of printouts while Cassius, Danik and Magnus worked on tracing who owned the properties Marvin had identified. Information was sketchy. Ownership buried in trust companies, shell companies and offshore companies with names so obscure they barely rated a company office listing. Finally, Cassius’s stoic exterior crumbled. “We have to go and see for ourselves,” he’d yelled the day before, scrunching up the papers in his hand.
Magnus knew what he was talking about. Ever since Marvin had let on he knew where Riley had been held, Cassius had wanted to go and see the place with his own eyes. It was clear in everything he said and did. Magnus could assume the only reason he’d held out for the three days was because Markov was pregnant and wouldn’t be able to go. Well, he wanted to go, but Cassius didn’t want him to and there’d been a few heated arguments about that outside of Riley’s hearing.
In the end, it was Riley who convinced Markov to stay behind. Apparently, the poor kid felt he had more chance of Cassius coming back to him if Markov was with him – a simple stark statement that had Magnus feeling that damn lump in his throat and having to excuse himself. Only the gods knew how long it would take for that plucky six year old to get over his separation anxiety.
Marvin was keen. He got to travel on a plane again and he greeted the cabin steward with a beaming smile, thrilled she didn’t recognize him with his new look. Magnus and Kelvin both slept on the plane. Between working on chasing leads, and ‘cementing their bonds’ through the night, both men were running low on energy. Victor had also come with them, after securing a promise from Azim he wouldn’t leave the compound.
And now they were on the ground, about a mile from the address Marvin remembered. “You don’t take the road,” Marvin whispered, looking around the area where they had parked their seven-seater SUV. It was similar to where Magnus and Kelvin had parked when they were supposed to be camping in the Ozarks with the parking area unable to be seen from the road, but ringed in trees so a person could easily get lost.
“You have to go through the woods. And be quiet.” Slinking towards the tree line Marvin disappeared. Literally. One moment he could be seen, the next he couldn’t.
Cassius gasped. “What the fuck? Where did he go?”
“I told you.” Magnus grabbed his backpack, sliding it on and making sure it was secure. “Marvin has some wicked skills.” He checked Kelvin’s was equally secure before closing the vehicle side door. Cassius and Victor were already kitted up with enough weapons to start a war, as well as energy bars and bottles of water. Magnus had insisted on taking a medical kit too, although his instincts told him they weren’t going to find anyone at the address they were checking out.
“Are you coming?” Marvin’s head popped back from around a tree, much like he had done when they had first met. Magnus grinned at the memory.
“You have to take it slow for these military types,” he told Marvin. “They don’t know how to blend like you do.”
“You all have to be quiet. Shush.” Marvin put his finger up to his lips. “You too, shark man. No matter what we find you be quiet.”
Cassius grunted, but Magnus could tell the man was hiding his amusement. Marvin was behaving like a toy general, which was endearing, but also necessary.
It wasn’t easy following Marvin. His haircut and well-fitting clothes didn’t detract from his ability to blend into his surroundings, which was fascinating to see. The krakens had the ability to find him with their tentacles, of course, but Magnus’s leopard, who had relied on scent his entire life, could only pick up traces of Marvin’s scent in the air. If Marvin was masking his presence, it had to be subconsciously, and Magnus wondered again at the experiments Marvin had been subject to.
After half an hour, Marvin stopped by a dense patch of bush and put up his hand. Then he waved the others closer. Cassius pushed forward, his gun in hand already. “Put that away,” Marvin hissed. “No one is here. Can’t you tell? We have to go over the wall.”
Magnus looked around. He could see nothing but trees. “What wall?”
“This one.” Marvin put his finger to his lips again, and with the other hand he parted long running vines. Sure enough, there was a wall, made of some kind of smooth hard surface. It was black, and touching it, it felt like metal, but not a metal Magnus recognized through scent. “I’ll climb. You follow. You’ll need your floppy bits.”
“Well, that’s a shit.” Magnus looked at the wall again. Turning to Kelvin, who already had tentacles and was wearing a smirk, he asked, “When you get up it, can you tell me how high it is, or where the top is?”
“We can take you.” Kelvin’s tentacles came towards him, but Magnus stepped back.
“I can jump if you tell me how high it is.”
Kelvin clearly didn’t believe him, but Magnus watched as Marvin shook off his sneakers, and flexed his hands. He can partially shift! Sure enough, Marvin’s hands and feet were now apelike. What’s happens to his wolf then?
Questions for another day. Marvin skipped up the wall quite literally like an ape going up a tree. Using their tentacles, Victor, Kelvin, and even Cassius managed to climb up too, disappearing into the foliage. Seconds later, Kelvin’s head popped out about twenty feet above Magnus’s head. “It’s this high,” he hissed, “and there’s a narrow ledge on top about a foot wide. Now will you let me pull you up?”
“You don’t know a lot about leopards, do you.” Magnus shook his head. Judging the distance, he backed up two steps and then took those two steps forward again, gathering the energy in his hips and thighs as he leaped straight up in the air. Reaching out with his hands next to where Kelvin was crouching, his feet landed firmly on the foot wide ledge. “Impressed?”
“You know I am.” Reaching forward, Kelvin cupped him around the neck, his lips plundering Magnus’s, showing just how impressed he was. Knowing he wouldn’t fall, Magnus gave as good as he got, only pulling back after hearing Cassius huff, and Marvin chuckle.
“You’re like spider man,” Marvin said, excitement lighting up his eyes. “But come on. We can’t linger here long. This place has bad vibes now.”
Jumping down the other side of the wall, Magnus pulled out his gun, the hair on the back of his neck rising. His friends and mate with him, they made their way across a vast concrete area that was completely barren of rocks, trees, or any form of plant life except the occasional brave weed that managed to grow up between the fence and the concrete edge.
“Remember what Riley said in his story,” Cassius murmured, the gun in his hand looking like a natural extension of it. “The house I lived in was big and tall and didn’t have any grass at all. What is this place?”
“A special purpose-built facility, I would say at a guess.” It was Kelvin who answered. “Was Riley the only kid here?”
Magnus looked at Marvin who was looking from one side of him to the other. He didn’t seem at all comfortable, the closer they got to the building. “I only saw Riley,” Marvin whispered. “I was following a man. A bad man but one that was like me. He came here, and there was yelling. I hid in the trees.” He pointed back to where they’d come from, “And then I saw the little boy. He was sitting huddled by the wall, all curled up. I had to see if he was okay.”
“You are Riley’s friend,” Cassius said firmly. “You cared about him when others didn’t. He told us that, and I will always be your friend because you looked out for him.”
“You and Markov?” The wariness disappeared as Marvin danced across the concrete, seemingly uncaring he was barefoot.
“Me and Markov,” Cassius agreed. “He’s looking forward to your help with the babies.”
“Babies. Yay!” Another dance, but then, just as they were going to move around the side of the house, suddenly Marvin froze. Magnus immediately did the same, although he didn’t know what had spooked their Bigfoot.
“Marvin, what’s wrong?” Victor was looking – hell, they all were, but Magnus couldn’t see that anything had changed.
“We can’t walk on this bit. We have to go around.” Marvin indicated a large rectangular shaped piece of concrete that was ever so slightly a different color to the rest.
“Is it like a booby trap, Marvin?” Magnus crouched down, pressing lightly on the concrete with the tips of his fingers. It didn’t feel any different to the rest.
“I don’t know what a booby is,” Marvin’s mouth drooped. “But there are people under that bit.”
“People?” Magnus moved back. “Like living in a tunnel or something, or buried?”
“Dead. Buried. That bad man like me is buried under here.”
“This happened when Riley was living here?” Cassius asked, horrified.
Marvin nodded, but then he added quickly. “Riley never saw. Hand on heart. He never. This,” he indicated the area, “there were big partitions here, screening it off. Three times I saw those screens.”
“So at least three bodies.” Victor looked grim. “We can worry about that after. They aren’t going anywhere. We need to get into the house.”
Chapter Nineteen
Magnus
There was nothing of note in the empty house, not that Magnus expected there to be. It’d been weeks since Riley had been returned to his father. It made sense, if he was the only child kept there, that the place would close up as soon as he was gone. The people who’d kept him clearly realized what kind of man Cassius was and would never have been silly enough to think Cassius would let the kidnapping of his son and the murder of his wife go so easily.
The place was huge, yet only a couple of the rooms showed any signs that people lived in the space. There was what looked like a sitting room, with an open fire still sooty from the last time it had been used. Cassius had snarled when they’d found what appeared to be a small bedroom, the frame of the bed left behind. Riley’s scent was evident in the room, and in one corner, the scrap of a photo had been discarded.
There was a well-used kitchen, a family bathroom, and a second bedroom that looked as though it had housed a double bed, from the marks on the floor. A school room, complete with blackboard was at the end of that corridor. Magnus followed a set of narrow stairs that went down the back of the house and led to a solid door, which gave access out to the concrete garden. Everything was painted in a sterile pale blue, with white trims around the window frames and doors.
Unfortunately, the living areas were just a small part of a large house. Other rooms had clearly been used as offices, although the desks and cabinets were completely empty. On another floor, there was a large meeting room. What was unusual about that one was that someone had bleached out the entire room. Magnus put his hand over his mouth and nose as the smell burned his nose hairs. It was that strong. No one lingered in that room, not even Cassius.
Magnus glanced at the big man as they made their way to basement level. Beyond his growling in Riley’s room, Cassius hadn’t said anything else at all. But as the smell of medical chemicals and the faint scent of shifters reached out to them from the basement, Cassius’s tentacles – the ones from the kraken on his back – flew out, stopping the others in their tracks.
“Watch your step,” he warned.
“What are you sensing?” Victor made to get past. “What are we watching out for? There’s nothing here.”
“It smells like the stuff you guys took from Andromeda’s ship,” Kelvin said, his tone bleak. “It’s faint. Really faint. But I recognize it from the stuff you brought me in the bag.”
“You’re talking black magic shit, right?” Magnus huffed out a long breath. He could smell it now it’d been identified. Faint. Menacing. Marvin was already halfway back up the stairs, his eyes wide with fear.
“Worse than black magic. Death magic.” Swirling around Cassius punched into the wall nearest to him, plaster dust and chunks falling on the floor. “My son lived above this horror. He slept here.”
Catching Kelvin’s eye, Magnus indicated the stairs. I think you need to get Cassius and Marvin out of here. I’ll check all the rooms, but I think we already know I won’t find anything. There’s no need for all of us to do it.
Kelvin wasn’t keen, Magnus could tell. But with a curt nod, and a head shake at Victor, the two krakens surrounded Cassius and led him back up the stairs. Magnus waited until they were out of sight, before covering his nose, and hefting his gun. Not that a gun would do a lot of good against ghosts, and as Magnus checked first one room and then the next, it was clear that was all that was left. Ghosts.
The basement was a medical facility, that much was obvious. Stainless steel benches everywhere, sinks, and drains in the floor. In one ominous room there was nothing but cages big enough to take a large shifter, and in another the room was completely tiled, with nothing but a huge drain in the middle of the floor. Magnus leaned close to the drain and then pulled back. Forensics could have a field day with that.
But as expected, there was nothing they could use. Sure, Magnus could call the FBI in and have them investigate the place, but for what reason? They were only going to find evidence of those who died in that basement. People who were likely buried under the concrete. But it wasn’t going to bring Magnus and his new friends any closer to finding out who was running the facility in the first place.
Making his way back upstairs, Magnus could see Victor and Kelvin were still huddled with an angry Cassius. Marvin was sitting on the steps, so Magnus went and joined him instead, sitting down on the cool concrete.
“You did real good bringing us here today, Marvin,” he said softly. “It was a very brave thing you did.”
“Shark man’s upset.” Marvin sniffed. “I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
“He’s not upset with you,” Magnus said patiently. “He’s upset, thinking of all that time he couldn’t be with his son. Cassius thought Riley was dead. He killed the man who claimed to have killed Riley. None of this is your fault.”
“Will they still be my friend? Riley, Cassius, and Markov?”
“We are all your friends, Marvin.” Magnus draped his arm over Marvin’s shoulder. “You’re family, remember.” He noticed Marvin was flicking what looked like a card through his fingers. “What’s that you’re playing with?”
“Oh, I found it. On the edge of the steps before going down into that horrible basement.” Marvin held it out to him, and Magnus took it, checking both sides.
It was an identity card. It looked like someone had tried to use it to force open a lock or something, as the edge was definitely chipped. The name on the card meant nothing to Magnus, but the logo definitely did.
Magnus checked again. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “You are sure you picked this up inside this house?”
“Yes,” Marvin nodded frantically. “Wasn’t I supposed to take it? I can put it back.”
“No. No. You did the right thing.” Magnus jumped up, pulling Marvin up with him and giving him a huge hug. “You did it. You found our clue. You’re freaking amazing. Kelvin. Victor. Cassius. Come look at what Marvin found for us. Is he just the most amazing new family member you guys have ever had?”
The three men came over, looking at the card Magnus held out. “Marvin found this, inside on the edge of the steps going down to the basement.” He turned the card one way, and then the other, showing off the one thing he knew they would all recognize, just as he had.
The shifter council logo.
Chapter Twenty
Kelvin
Back at the plane, Kelvin tried not to jump the gun and presume anything, yet someone from the shifter council had been inside that house. There was no way, whoever that shifter was, they would not have been aware of the smells coming from the basement. The odor in the bottom of the house was unmistakable - death.
Going in, of all the things he considered finding, Kelvin would have put anything connected to the shifter council last on his list. Fuck, it wouldn’t have even been on there. But there it was, like a damn red X blazoned on his mind, impossible to ignore.
“What do you think it means?” Kelvin asked aloud when the hostess disappeared.
Magnus ran a hand through his hair, his gaze on the hand holding the identity card. “That we need to do a search of names. The shifter council has, what, twenty-one ruling members from different species. That does not take into account the lower-level minions that work for the council to protect shifters. Those are global.” He rubbed his thumb over the name on the card. “Ryujin Urt. It’s not a name I’ve ever come across before or heard mentioned.”
