The Last Raven: An Urban Fantasy Noir (Riftborn Book 1), page 11
“How’d you know that we were coming here asking for information on these people?” I asked, tentatively. “You had this prepared.”
“Isaac called and gave me a heads-up,” Booker said. “We started looking into it soon after, and I wanted to make sure you weren’t in a public place with anything breakable when you saw this.”
“Probably wise,” I agreed. “I guess we need to figure out how to get into Sky-High, and then how to get information on whatever they’re doing there. I’m going to have to talk to Mason.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you angry,” Booker said.
“The medallions mean something,” I said. “They’re not for rich assholes to buy from other rich assholes.”
Booker stared at me for several seconds. “You were there that night, yes?” he asked, his tone tentative, unsure how I was going to react.
I nodded, remembering the cries, the screams, the smell of blood and burning flesh. “I’ll tell you everything; that was the deal. But not today.”
The pair of us went back up to Booker’s office.
“Are you okay?” Hannah asked, seeing my face.
I nodded. “Mason Barnes has a Raven Guild medallion.”
“Oh, shit,” Gabriel whispered. “You’re not going to do anything . . .” He left the last word unsaid.
“Stupid,” Booker finished.
“No,” I said. “But those medallions don’t belong to people like Mason or Callie Mitchell; they belong to the Guild.”
“And you’re the last member,” Booker said.
I nodded. “They belong to me, then.”
“Why?” Zita asked.
“If there’s a death in the Guild,” I said, “the remaining members have to pass the medallions on to new people, to keep the Guild safe and strong. I guess, seeing how I’m the last member, that’s up to me. I couldn’t do that as all the Raven’s medallions were taken the night they were slaughtered. So, I’d really like to know how the medallion was found, and I guess Mason is the person to ask that.”
“Do not go directly to Mason Barnes,” Hannah said.
“I agree with Hannah,” Zita said. “It’s not clever and he is not a man to cross without good reason.”
“And right now, he might be the suspect in the murders of several FBI and RCU agents,” Gabriel said.
“Yeah, let’s not piss on that particular investigation,” Hannah agreed.
“There’s a better way to get access to Mason and his dealings,” Booker said. “Stick to the plan.”
“I’m not going to jeopardise anything,” I assured them all, although Gabriel still looked dubious. Probably because he knew me best.
“Do you have everything you need?” Zita asked.
I nodded. “We have names of two people who work for Mason; that’s a start. We just need a way in.”
“Come to the fight night tomorrow,” Booker said. “Nadia will be there. She’s always there.”
“I’ll introduce you,” Zita said. “I know she works for assholes, but I don’t get the feeling she’s a bad person herself. She seems to be there because she’s waiting for something to happen.”
Chained revenants could see their own future or at least one thread of a possible future. Being linked to the rift all the time was not something that was known to be good for your long-term mental health.
We thanked Booker and Zita for their help and went back to the car, where we sat in silence for several minutes.
“You doing okay?” Gabriel asked me, placing a hand on my shoulder.
I patted his hand. “Yeah. There’s a lot that doesn’t make sense. Why would Mason Barnes risk his company to kill a few FBI and RCU agents? He’s rich, powerful, his family have political connections.”
“Rich and powerful people are never rich or powerful enough, though,” Hannah said.
It was a valid point.
“So,” Hannah said after several seconds of everyone remaining silent. “Nadia looks like the best way in to finding out what Mason actually knows.”
I started the engine. “Tomorrow night, we come back here and see where we can go from there.”
“I’ll inform Emily,” Gabriel said. “Isaac, too. They’ll want to know.”
“Can we do this without the FBI?” Hannah asked.
“We can but we shouldn’t,” Gabriel told her. “Not just because we’re trying to work together, or that they’ve lost people too, but because we’re stronger as a unified force.”
Hannah let out a snort of derision, and the drive back to Gabriel’s church was done with a solemn cloud over the three of us.
I dropped Gabriel off at his church and followed Hannah in her car back to her house. I pulled up and stopped the car outside her three-bedroom detached house outside of the city. A literal white picket fence circled a snow-covered lawn and flower beds.
“It’s beautiful in the spring and summer,” Hannah said. “You want to come in?”
I nodded. “Sure, do I get to meet the husband?”
“If Jonas is in, yes,” Hannah said.
It was only seven p.m., but it was already dark, and while it wasn’t snowing again, the cold air bit hard.
The front door opened as we reached it.
“Hannah,” a man said, kissing her.
“Jonas, this is Lucas,” Hannah said, pointing to me. “We used to work together.”
Jonas offered me a fist-bump, which I was happy to reciprocate. “I don’t shake hands,” he said.
“Probably wise,” I told him.
Jonas was taller than me, with a lean build and long, messy hair. He had tattoos all over his arms, a variety of images interspersed with one another, although his right arm looked like the skin was torn, showing the clockwork robot working underneath. It was impressive work.
“Come on in,” Jonas said, stepping aside.
“Nice house.”
“Thank you,” Jonas said, taking my coat. “We got very lucky with the place.”
The living room was tastefully decorated, with several paintings on the wall depicting various periods of time in history. “Ji-hyun,” I said, pointing to one of Apollo 11’s take-off.
“You know her?” Jonas asked.
I nodded. “We’ve been friends a long time. I have a few in my apartment, too.”
“Jonas is a teacher,” Hannah said, walking back into the room with three cups and a pot of coffee.
“I teach high-school science,” Jonas said, thanking Hannah for the coffee.
I took a seat on one long corner leather sofa, while Hannah placed the drinks on a glass coffee table, and they took their seats on the other end of the sofa.
“You okay?” Jonas asked Hannah.
“It’s not been the best day ever,” Hannah said. “On the plus side, I got to see Lucas for the first time in years.”
I smiled. “Not for the best reason, unfortunately.”
“I’m sorry about your friends in hospital,” Jonas said before pouring three cups of coffee. “So, what is it you do, Lucas?”
“Not much,” I told him. “I live in Brooklyn. I used to work with Hannah.”
“You were RCU?” he asked me.
“He only ever worked for us in an advisory capacity,” Hannah said for me.
“Sounds exciting,” Jonas said.
“He used to help us hunt fiends,” Hannah said. “He has a talent for it.”
“My parents taught me as a child,” I said.
“You a revenant too?” Jonas asked. “That’s not rude to ask, right?”
Hannah laughed.
“No, it’s fine,” I said. “No, riftborn, but currently . . . not sure.”
“You going to be around long?” Jonas asked, taking a drink of his black coffee, while I added some milk and sugar into mine.
“I hope so,” I said. “It’s been a long time, and I think I didn’t realise just how much I missed everyone and this part of my life. Shame it took something awful for me to realise that.”
“Sometimes, you don’t know what you had until you take time away from it,” Jonas said, and Hannah kissed him on the cheek.
The three of us chatted for a few hours until I made my excuses to meet up with Meredith, who would be waiting at my hotel. I didn’t want her to be the last person who knew what I used to be. She’d been a good friend to me over the years, and it felt wrong to let her live in ignorance.
“Good luck with Meredith,” Hannah said as she saw me out.
“Pleasure to meet you,” Jonas said as I stood on the doorstep. “Don’t be a stranger.”
“I won’t,” I said with a smile.
“Thank you for coming,” Hannah said. “I’ve wanted you to meet Jonas for years. I always thought of you as some kind of big brother. And while I am a strong, independent woman and do not need your approval, I still wanted it.”
I hugged her goodbye. “I missed you, Hannah. I’m glad you’re happy; I’m glad you’ve found someone nice. The next few days are probably going to be extra special shitty, so go enjoy your moments of calm.”
“I know,” Hannah said. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
I made the motion of the cross over my heart and walked back to the car, getting in and starting the engine but taking a moment to decompress from the last few hours’ events before I set off.
It wasn’t a long drive to the Grand Hotel, but it did leave me with some time to myself to think through the events of the day and call Meredith to let her know I’d meet her in the hotel bar. I wondered just how bad it was going to get before those behind the murders were stopped. It seemed like Sky-High Security was clearly up to its neck in criminal activity; it was now a matter of finding enough evidence that they could be nailed to the wall with.
I stopped the BMW in the hotel car park and got out. It was nearly ten p.m. and the last day had felt like years. I made the short walk to the hotel, nodding to the doorman as I entered the hotel lobby and continuing through to the bar at the far end, which was empty except for a man and woman talking in one of the five booths down one side of the room. I sat in a booth with a good view of the entrance and ordered a glass of ice-cold lemonade. I didn’t want to drink alcohol right now, especially with the current mess going on, if I was needed to drive somewhere.
Meredith entered the bar ten minutes later, ordered a glass of wine, and sat opposite me. “How are you?” she asked.
“Tired,” I told her. “You?”
“Well, today I saw something that wasn’t meant to exist, and I watched it dissolve into a puddle. It was pretty horrible. I’ve been asked to help out human organisations before with crimes related to the rift-fused, but not usually when the RCU is already involved. Although I guess I’m done now.”
“You’re done?” I asked, a little surprised.
“Emily didn’t know whether to trust the RCU or not,” she said. “Didn’t know if this was all a big conspiracy, or if they just messed up. Called me in to help check. I did my job. I only know of one person who has shown any interest in a human-fiend hybrid.”
“Callie Mitchell,” I suggested.
“Exactly her,” Meredith said. “You’re not human, are you?”
“Technically, I think I am at the moment,” I said.
“When we first met, you were asking for help with a problem about a riftborn who couldn’t access his embers,” Meredith said.
“Yep,” I confirmed.
“That you?” she asked, taking a drink of wine.
I nodded.
“I thought you were just another human with an interest in their world,” she said.
“Sorry for misleading you,” I told her. “Technically, I’m human right now. I needed help, didn’t want anyone who might take advantage of that fact coming after me. Or anyone else. We became friends, and I wasn’t entirely sure how to tell you everything. I wasn’t even sure if there was any point, considering I wasn’t the man I was.”
“I understand,” Meredith said. “You found a safe place and wanted to keep it safe. But now that safe place is gone, and you’re back in your old world without your power. How are you dealing with that?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know yet. Give me a few days and I’ll probably have a different answer.”
“Well, you’ll have to tell someone else, as I’m going back to Manhattan.”
“You’re leaving?” I asked, a little surprised.
“Emily feels she can trust the RCU, or Isaac at least. I have work to do, and you guys don’t actually need my help. I can study the information about the fiend-hybrids back in my lab. I don’t need to be on the ground here.”
The TV in the bar lit up with news of the attack and how the FBI members were killed. The bar staff turned it up, and everyone stopped what they were doing and listened in.
“Breaking news,” the immaculate-looking male news anchor on the TV said. “And we’re going to pass to Mia on scene for an update. Mia.”
“Thanks very much, Bryce,” a female reporter said. She wore a thick cream-coloured coat and gloves, although her head was uncovered as snow continued to fall. I imagined she would be freezing. She was stood in the parking area where I’d been with Isaac not that long before.
I took a long drink of lemonade and tried to pay attention.
“I’m here in Gosnell Big Woods Preserve near Rochester with an update to the horrific attack that took place in the early hours of this morning,” Mia said. “We can now reveal that several members of the FBI and RCU were attacked here by two fiends, resulting in multiple casualties. The families of the attack have been notified, and the investigation as to what happened is ongoing.”
“That’s horrible, a tragic turn of events, Mia,” Bryce said solemnly as they switched back to the studio, with Mia’s picture in the corner of the screen. “Can you update on the status of the fiends responsible?”
“The fiends were killed,” Mia said. “We’ve been told that the area is safe for public use, although there will be a heightened law-enforcement presence here while the investigation continues.”
I picked up my phone and texted Isaac: You get the details about the dog walker who found the fiends?
He texted a few seconds later: William Stone. 47yr old male. Single.
A photo accompanied the picture, and I let out a long breath. “Holy shit,” I said.
“You okay?” Meredith asked me.
“Meredith, I’m so sorry to do this, but I think I’ve just figured out how to get at those responsible for this. I need to go see someone. Can I please take a rain cheque on the explanation? The drink and any food is on me; just add them to my room. Well, technically, it’s on the RCU, but we won’t quibble about that.”
“Sure,” Meredith said. “Are you okay?”
I stared down at the face of the man I recognised. “Yeah, when we’re done here, we’ll get together over pizza and a beer. I’ll tell you everything. Promise.”
“Take care, Lucas,” Meredith said, giving me a hug as I got up.
“You too,” I said, and rushed out, got into my car, and sped away as anxiety built up in my chest.
After an hour’s drive, I reached a twenty-storey building in the centre of Rochester that sat in a cluster of six much larger buildings all looking down on it. There were no markings outside to say who worked inside or even what they did. I stopped the car in a large car park on the side of the building and got out.
I looked up at the building that housed Sky-High Security and the area around it. There was a large park between the six buildings, and directly opposite where I stood was Barnes Pharmaceutical in a forty-storey monstrosity. After discovering the business card in the backpack of one of the human-fiend hybrids, I’d done a little research, and according to the Sky-High Security website, the building had been unveiled a few years earlier as the largest building in Rochester. Multiple articles suggested that the Barnes family were the darlings of the city. The head of the family, Dominic, was apparently a self-made billionaire—as far as that was actually possible—who had taken over a million-dollar company, and turned it into a multi-trillion-dollar industry that spanned the globe. Of the six skyscrapers, three of them belonged to Barnes Pharmaceutical and one to Sky-High Security, which, according to various websites, was a gift to Mason.
“I wondered how long you’d be,” Emily said as she walked over toward me. She wore jeans, boots, and a warm-looking black jacket.
“How’d you know I’d be here?” I asked.
“Hannah called Isaac to say you might do something stupid,” Emily said. “Isaac called me and asked if I’d wait here for a few hours. Apparently, you left Meredith with concerns too, because she called me. You can’t be here.”
“I just wanted to ask Mason something,” I said.
“And that was?” Emily asked.
I removed my phone from my pocket and showed Emily the photo.
“Yes, he found the bodies,” Emily said. “His name is William Stone.”
“Four years ago, he worked for Dr Callie Mitchell,” I told her. “He was a guard at an asylum for rift-fused who were experimented on, abused, and tortured.”
“You sure?” Emily asked.
“He knocked me out with the butt of an AR-15,” I told her. “Yes, I’m sure.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Okay,” Emily said. “So, what does it have to do with Sky-High Security?”
“Meredith told me that Dr Callie Mitchell asked her to help with her work,” I said. “She said that Callie was working for a security consultancy firm.”
“You sure it’s Sky-High?” Emily asked.
“No,” I said.
“Well, you can’t just walk into Mason Barnes’ place of employment and ask questions.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because his lawyers have lawyers,” Emily said.
“You’ve dealt with him before?” I asked, leaning up against the BMW’s door.
Emily nodded. “More than once, unfortunately. You remember the witness who was killed?”
“Yes,” I said.
“I was working the case,” Emily said. “Witness dies, evidence goes missing, Mason Barnes smells like roses.”
“He has friends in high places,” I said.
