The Last Raven: An Urban Fantasy Noir (Riftborn Book 1), page 12
“He has friends in all of the high places,” Emily told me. “I get that this looks bad for him, but we need conclusive proof before we walk through those doors. We can’t just go accusing him.”
“I wasn’t going to accuse him of anything,” I said. “I wasn’t even going to go inside.”
“Why come here, then?” Emily asked.
“I wanted to see the place,” I told her.
“You wanted to scout out the area,” Emily said with a sigh.
“That too,” I admitted.
“You were going to break in?” She asked me.
“Not tonight,” I told her. “I was going to just look around, maybe go inside and feign being lost. When I was done, I was going to go see Dan in hospital, see how he was doing. Also see if he recognised this William guy. But while you’re here, why were the FBI involved in the first place? Who were the two hikers?”
Emily sighed. “This goes no further,” she said.
“Not a peep,” I promised.
“Two whistle-blowers,” she told me. “They worked for Sky-High. Wanted immunity for intel on the kind of things Mason is doing in there. It’s no secret that he wants to create a security service for high-value targets using only rift-fused. Well, apparently, he’s preparing the way by having some of his people take part in some shady shit abroad as well as here. They had information regarding the death of the previous witness as well as using rift-fused members of staff to intimidate and, in at least one case, kill people who got too close to him.”
“So, Mason had the two killed,” I said.
“That’s my theory, yes,” Emily said. “Although I have no idea why he would then have more FBI agents killed. The victims were headed there to talk to an FBI agent about actionable intel.”
“Which agent?” I asked.
“Me,” Emily said.
“I think we have company,” I said as a large man walked toward us. He wore a dark suit and clearly had a gun under his jacket.
“Mr Barnes would like to speak to you both,” the man said.
“Mr Barnes can kiss my ass,” I told him.
“Special Agent West,” the man said with a slight nod of his head, completely ignoring me, “Mr Barnes has instructed me to tell you that it would only be a few moments of your time so you do not freeze out here. He might be able to answer some of your questions.”
“Mason isn’t going to answer anything,” Emily said.
“You know what,” I said, sounding gleeful. “I’ve changed my mind. Let’s go see Mason.”
The guard motioned for Emily and me to walk toward the large tower and followed behind us.
“Do not piss him off,” Emily said.
“No promises,” I replied.
We were led through automatic doors into the huge glass-encapsulated foyer of the Sky-High Security building. The floor was made of grey stone tiles which gleamed. The reception area was a piece of twenty-foot-long granite with a glass top.
We were taken through the foyer to a set of four lifts at the far end of the room. One of the guards swiped a key card over a reader beside them, and the lift doors opened.
The inside of the lift was similar to the foyer: clean, crisp, with dark grey floor and mirrors on the walls. The guard who entered the lift first pressed the button for the top floor, and the lift set off.
The journey wasn’t long, and soon the doors opened, revealing another reception area, with a young blonde woman sat behind it. She was talking to a man in a black security uniform.
Something felt wrong. I was playing a game where no one had told me the rules. I put on my best fake smile before we walked through the first set of large double doors into an office that was roughly the same size as my apartment.
There were large windows along one side of the room, and several glass cabinets on the others. Each of the cabinets contained various pieces of armour and weaponry, most of which appeared to be quite old.
As one of the guards closed the door, I noticed the number of rifles that adorned the walls on either side, and the stuffed head of a bear sat above it.
“I killed that myself,” Mason said, gaining my attention.
I turned, remembering to smile, and the guards motioned for Emily and me to move. We walked toward Mason, who remained seated behind his desk at the far end of the room. The carpet was red, and the symbolism of it wasn’t lost on me. Mr Barnes liked to think of himself as a star.
He stood and walked around his mahogany desk to greet us both. He was a few inches taller than me, with short brown hair. He was clean-shaven like he’d been in the photo I’d seen, with green eyes that held a hint of hostility. He wore a dark blue-and-white checked suit that I was pretty certain cost a fortune. The cufflinks had diamonds in them, and he wore a Rolex Daytona that had a light blue face.
“You like?” he asked, noticing me looking at the watch as we shook hands.
“Rolex Daytona,” I said. “Platinum?”
Mason nodded. “Cosmograph Daytona ice-blue. Cost me two hundred grand,” he said. “It’s a good everyday watch. Nothing too special. I have a few pieces in my collection that put this to shame, but I don’t like to be flashy when I have to work.”
I caught him looking at my own watch.
“Longines,” he said, and I knew he wanted to chuckle. “Maybe one day you’ll be able to buy one of these and join the big-boy watch owners.” He flashed me his Rolex again and winked.
I wanted to punch him in the mouth.
“You like weaponry and armour, too,” I said.
Mason nodded. He clearly liked to be centre of attention and talk about himself. “It’s my other passion, apart from watches and cars. What do you drive?”
“BMW M5,” I said.
“Nice,” Mason said, although he didn’t sound like he meant it. “I had one when I was a kid. I have a Bentley Continental GT now. When you own a company that makes as much as this, you’re expected own something special.”
I bet every time he had sex, he looked at himself in the mirror and winked.
“Special Agent Emily West,” Mason said as if greeting an old friend. “When my security told me you were out there, in the cold, I just had to give you the opportunity to come in and say hello. It’s been so long. How are you?”
“Why are we here?” she asked.
“I saw on the news about the dreadful loss of life,” Mason said. “I know we’ve had our differences, but I just wanted to tell you that I feel deeply for your loss. If I can help with your investigation in any way, please do ask.”
“Can I ask a question?” I said. “Do you know a man by the name of William Stone?”
“Can’t say I do,” Mason said a little too quickly. “Does he work for the FBI?”
I shook my head. “No idea who he works for. He found the fiends after the attack.”
“He’s a hero, then,” Mason said.
“Sure,” I said. “I mean, they were already dead, and were staged to look like they were responsible for the attack, but finding them was hard.”
“Staged?” Mason asked, with a truly terrible bit of acting shocked. “You’re saying this attack wasn’t random?”
“No, Mason, it wasn’t,” I said.
“Can I ask you a question, Mr Rurik?” Mason said, looking a little smug. “Have you ever heard of the Guilds?”
“Sure,” I said.
“Six Guilds: Falcon, Owl, Eagle, Hawk, Vulture, and Kite. Each one with between ten to fifteen members, and each of them are created to hunt the most powerful fiends, revenants, and riftborn. To bring to an end the most powerful of their kind. And the only thing keeping them in check is each other.”
“Yes, I know,” I said, looking over at Emily when Mason turned around and opened a nearby set of doors.
“Come, I want to show you something,” he said.
I wondered whether or not it was some kind of elaborate trap, but when he walked through first, flicking on a light switch, I followed suit.
The room was full of antiques and weapons, all of which were kept inside glass cases, and all of which appeared to be rift-touched. The purple glow on the daggers as I walked in made me wary of what was going to happen next.
“All of these are weapons and armour used by the Guilds,” Mason said. “Weapons that can kill the rift-fused where simple knives and bullets can’t. And Guilds kept them from humans, not allowing us to defend ourselves.”
I stopped next to an old Viking helmet that had a faint purple glow around the eye holes. “This is quite spectacular,” I said, meaning every word as I continued on past a suit of green-and-red samurai armour that had a similar glow.
“Isn’t it just,” Mason said, with genuine enthusiasm. “Did you know that a Guild was wiped out seven years ago? Its members killed?”
It took a lot of effort to nod.
“Terrible tragedy,” Mason said with no sincerity whatsoever, “but the Guilds report to the Ancients—they’re all rift-fused-led. They have no interest in helping in human conflicts, and every day, thousands of us are dying. I want to create Sky-High to be its own Guild,” Mason said. “One with loyal soldiers that can be deployed around the world as needed. To help fight human wars. We’ve only known the rift-fused existed for a few decades, but you could have helped us stop war. You could have helped us stop death.”
“The Guilds’ job isn’t to stop humans from killing each other,” I said. “Their job is to make sure that humans and rift-fused live peacefully.”
“And how about moving forward?” Mason asked me. “Why shouldn’t humans expect their help? The rift-fused want to live on this planet, they want to be a part of this world, they can’t then say no when something happens that steps outside of their comfort zone. The rift-fused need to stand beside us, and if they won’t do that, we’ll create our own rift-fused army who will. It won’t be a Guild that sits by and does nothing, that is wiped out because of their own inertia.”
Mason stepped out of the way, revealing a glass case. Inside was a medallion: a shield with hammer and sword crossed over the front, and a raven sat atop it. My mouth went dry, my hands started to sweat.
“Where’d you get it?” I asked, not daring to take a step closer.
“Auction,” Mason said. “Cost me a million dollars. There were meant to be fourteen of these, but legend has it that there are only four known about. Including this one. Callie was incensed when she’d heard I got it.” Mason laughed to himself.
“Dr Callie Mitchell?” Emily asked as I stared at the medallion, knowing I should look away before it appeared suspicious.
“That’s right; you know her?” Mason asked.
“By reputation,” I told him, finally able to drag my gaze away from the Raven medallion.
Mason’s phone chimed, and he removed it from his jacket pocket, reading something before replacing it. “Ah,” Mason said, motioning for Emily and me to leave the room. “Work calls.”
We did as we were asked, but the second we did and I saw the man and woman seated on the other side of the desk, I knew that things were going to go downhill fast.
“Alexis and Nadia,” Mason said as he shut and locked the door.
“A chained revenant,” Emily whispered.
“I can hear you,” Nadia said with a smile. She got down from sitting cross-legged in a chair that didn’t appear to be designed for it, and walked over to us, her movements jerky, her bare feet slapping against the floor. Her long black dress billowed around her, her chains twitching, flicking around her like a snake’s tongue.
She stopped in front of Emily and smiled before walking over to me. She looked up at me, and a single tear left her eye, running down her cheek. “Humans,” she said softly.
“Excellent,” Mason said. “I needed to check, considering how much the RCU has taken you into the investigation, Lucas.”
I glanced over at Mason before looking back at Nadia.
“Smoke,” Nadia whispered. “The smoke is coming.”
I was pretty sure my eyes were wide with shock.
“Not the smoke thing again,” Alexis said.
“What smoke?” Emily asked, her voice more than a little concerned.
“She sees the future,” Alexis said. “But it’s clouded in smoke. She says the smoke is angry. She’s been talking about it for years.”
“Thank you both,” Mason said, with more than a touch of irritation. “You may leave.”
No one said anything as Alexis and Nadia left Mason’s office, with Nadia occasionally glancing back at me. As she reached the door, I made out one word that she mouthed: Sorry.
“Just wanted to check,” Mason said when we were alone.
“That we were human?” I asked.
“You can never be too sure,” Mason told me. “I believe that your investigation turned up intel about my company. I don’t expect you to tell me what it is, but this was the one time you got to see me without you having a warrant.”
“So, you’re involved, then,” I said.
Mason smiled. “I have no involvement in the horrific acts that were perpetrated. I hear that two RCU agents survived, both in hospital. I do hope that they pull through and give you all the information you need to put those responsible in jail. It must be awful to lose so many colleagues, Emily.”
Emily said nothing.
“And for you to consult on such an awful case,” Mason said to me.
“Well, when I find the person who is responsible, the RCU will make sure they’re dealt with by the rule of rift-fused law,” I said. “The Ancients take a dim view of people murdering their officers. I don’t think it would be a pleasant death, but it will be a long one.”
Mason smiled. “I’m terribly sorry for cutting our meeting short. I do so wish we could have spoken longer about your investigation, but needs must.”
“Does Dr Mitchell work for you?” I asked him as the doors opened.
“I think we’re done here for today,” Mason said.
“One last thing,” I said, to Mason’s clear irritation. “I just wanted to give my own condolences.”
“For what?” He asked.
“The two members of your staff who were murdered in the same park a few days earlier,” I said. “I hear they were hiking. Probably blowing whistles and disturbing the fiends.”
“They probably thought they were safe,” Mason said, darkly. “It’s an easy mistake for the inexperienced to make. Goodbye, Mr Rurik.”
Emily and I were marched out by the same guard who had brought us into the building in the first place, and we were left alone once we were back outside in the cold night air.
“That was eye-opening,” I said as Emily and I walked back to the car park.
“He threatened us,” Emily said. “He knew your name; he knew you were helping.”
“I heard,” I said, using the key fob to unlock the car. “It was a fishing expedition. He wanted us to be surprised he knew I was working there; he wanted you to know he was keeping tabs on the investigation. I’m heading to the hospital.”
“It’s a bit late for visiting,” Emily said.
“Mason mentioned the hospital; he mentioned hoping that Annie and Dan pull through,” I said. “If he really helped send two monsters after the FBI and RCU, he won’t think twice about killing a bunch of nurses.”
“The order went for the FBI to stand down from protection,” Emily said. “They were to wait until released by RCU agents, who, according to my people, arrived about an hour ago. Dan and Annie should be safe, but I get you wanting to check it out yourself. You want me to come with you?”
“That’s okay; go home and chill out,” I said.
“You’re not a consultant, are you?” Emily asked as I opened the car door.
I looked back at her. “I promise you I am,” I told her.
“You’re a terrible liar, Lucas,” Emily said.
I got into the car and set off to the hospital. It was another hour-long drive, and I pulled into the car park and entered the practically deserted hospital, nodding to the RCU agent sat in a chair by the reception area.
I took the lift up but found Dan’s room to be empty. There were a dozen RCU agents on the floor, and I asked a nurse on shift where Dan had gone and was told that he’d gone to the roof.
It was only a short few flights of stairs to the roof, and the door was ajar, so I stepped out to find Dan sat on a chair, looking over the town of Hamble. He looked back at me, and his eyes went wide.
“Hey,” I said.
“What are you doing here?” he asked me.
“Nice to see you too,” I said.
“Sorry, I’ve just been poked and prodded all day and needed some time off,” Dan said. “I only brought one chair.”
“I’ll stand,” I said.
Dan had on a large coat and thick boots, along with a pair of black combat trousers. A thick blue blanket covered him. He looked warm even in the cold night air. “It was meant to snow tonight,” he said. “Snow at night is always pretty.”
I nodded. “I went to see Mason Barnes.”
“How’d that go?”
I shrugged. “I didn’t kill him, so about as well as could be expected. There’s something I want to tell you.”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“I’m human,” I said. “Been human for years. Can’t access my embers; can’t access my power.”
“Oh, damn,” Dan said. “That’s awful. So, what happens if . . .”
“I can’t heal quickly anymore,” I said. “And if I get seriously hurt, I can’t get into my embers to heal there. Short answer, I have no idea.”
“That really sucks,” Dan said. “I’m sorry.” He paused for a moment. “You know, I still can’t remember what happened,” Dan said. “Been trying to. It’s just out of sight. So, are you here because Mason threatened me?”
“Something like that,” I said.
“He won’t do anything,” Dan said. “I’ve met his kind before. Money and power but no actual balls.”
I laughed. “He could be dangerous.”
“His family have connections,” Dan said. “They’re not people I’d want to cross. You think he’s involved in the murders?”
“I think he had two informants killed with a pair of fiends,” I said. “The fiends were killed and deposited to make it look like they’d attacked your group and died in the fight. But we found the two responsible. Human-fiend hybrids, one of whom had a card for Sky-High Security. I don’t know why Mason had the FBI and RCU killed, but I know he did. Maybe you were too close to the investigation into the dead whistle-blowers.”
