Infernal Games (Templar Chronicles Urban Fantasy Series) (16 page)

E
ver
since the day he had returned from the Isle of Sorrows, Cade had kept the
feather he believed had come from the wings of the fallen angel Ashareal in the
safe inside his workshop. The feather had served its purpose; it had led him
across the Sea of Lamentations and to his confrontation with the Adversary, the
thing Ashareal had become after centuries of corruption. With the help of
Riley and Sergeant Sean Duncan, Cade had been able to destroy the Adversary’s
physical form and send it back to whatever plane of Hell it had managed to
crawl out of in the first place.

Now
it seemed that the feather was needed once more.

It
took Cade almost two hours to make the drive from Newport to Willow Grove,
during which he had plenty of time to plan out his next move. He assumed his
house was being watched; he knew he would have put it under surveillance if he
had been in Riley’s shoes, so he couldn’t just pull into the driveway and park.

Cade
had gotten into the habit of walking in the woods behind his home while
Gabrielle napped in the afternoon and during one of those walks he’d discovered
a trail that led him to the shore of a small pond on public conservation land
about a quarter mile away from his home. Rather than heading for home, he made
his way to that property instead, parking along the street nearby when he found
the road leading to the pond to be blocked by a narrow chain to prevent the
local teenagers from using the place as a make-out spot after dark.

He
set off on foot and by the time he managed to navigate his way through the trees
the sun had sunk below the horizon and it had grown full dark. He stopped at
the edge of the tree line at the rear of his property and watched the house and
workshop for a time.

The
lights were off; no one seemed to be there.

Cade
knew they were there, though. He could feel their presence, an invasion in the
otherwise familiar vibe of his home.

Under
the cover of darkness he stepped out of the trees made his way directly over to
the rear wall of his workshop. He knew this place intimately, had built every
square inch of it with his own hands, so it didn’t take any effort at all for
him to locate the back door, unlock it with his keys, and slip inside.

Cade
went straight to the old-fashioned cast iron floor safe under his workbench.
Using the illumination from his phone as a miniature light, he spun the
combination dial and opened the lock. He took out the case in which he stored
the feather, checked to be certain it was still inside, and then slipped the
case into the inside pocket of his jacket.

He
closed the safe door, spun the dial to lock it again, and moved back across the
room to the door. He was halfway across the backyard when he heard a racing
engine and watched as headlights splashed across the tree trunks between him
and the driveway.

Someone’s
in a big hurry.

Cade’s
curiosity got the better of him. As he slipped back into the cover of the
trees, he moved through them in a wide arc until he found a spot from which he
could watch the front of the house.

He
was just in time.

No
sooner had he settled into place that a dark-colored Suburban came up the
drive, its headlight illuminating a similar vehicle parked in front of it. As
he watched the driver’s door was thrown open and Riley hopped out and headed
for Cade’s front door.

He
didn’t make it halfway up the walk before the door opened and another Templar
Cade didn’t recognize stepped out to greet him.

Gotcha!
he thought. He’d been right; there were watchers in the house.

To
his surprise Riley didn’t go in the house but called to the other man to join
him and both of them walked around the side of the house, most likely headed
for the workshop in back.

Cade
glanced at the SUV Riley had arrived in and back again at the house. He’d been
out here in the cold and dark long enough, he decided.

A
mischievous smile spread across his face as he headed for the SUV.

––––––––

R
iley
entered the workshop, flipped on the lights, and headed for the library of
books that lined one entire wall of the structure. Cade had one of the best
occult libraries outside of the Vatican, a result of his unrelenting search for
the Adversary. Somewhere in one of these books he was certain he would find a
ritual that utilized the items that Cade had been collecting for the last
several days. He had four people from the tech division on the way with a van
full of scanning equipment and he intended to scan every page and let the
computer search through all the data to find what he wanted. It might take a
while to find it, but when he did Riley was certain that it would give him some
new insight into where the Necromancer might be hiding and how, exactly, he
intended to pull off what Riley suspected he was trying to do.

Before
he could get started, however, he heard an engine revving in the parking lot
and then the sound of squealing tires. He and Thompson, one of the two men
he’d assigned to watch the property for Cade’s return, looked at each other and
then ran for the door, drawing their weapons as they went.

They
raced around the side of the house just in time to see Riley’s black Suburban
race off down the road. For an instant Riley thought he’d glimpsed Cade at the
wheel, but then the vehicle was past and rapidly accelerating down the road
away from them.

Thompson
got off a single shot, which actually managed to smash the rear window of the
vehicle, but that was all. After that there were too many trees between them
and the vehicle for shooting to do any good.

“Come
on!” Riley shouted and ran for the vehicle that had brought Thompson and his
partner, Lidell, here for their shift.

“Keys,
keys!” Riley shouted, snapping his fingers at the other man to punctuate his
request as they ran. Liddel flipped them over to him underhanded just as they
reached the vehicle.

Snatching
them out of the air, Riley reached for the driver’s door...and skidded to a
halt.

His
gaze flicked from the front tire to the rear and back again.

From
the other side, he heard Thompson say, “Uh...Captain?”

Riley
didn’t need to hear what the other man was going to say. He could figure it
out for himself.

The
two tires on his side of the vehicle were flat. He knew without looking that
the two on the other side were as well.

Cade
had outsmarted him again.

––––––––

O
nce
Cade was certain that Riley hadn’t managed to muster up some pursuit, he pulled
over to the side of the road and popped the hood. Using the flashlight app on
his cell phone, he hunted around until he found the GPS transmitter that was
installed on every Templar vehicle. He followed the wire that led back to the
truck’s battery and disconnected it, cutting off power to the device.

Somewhere
back at the commandery, a red light winked out on a technician’s monitor.

Satisfied
he could cover his tracks for the next few hours while he prepared for his
confrontation with the Necromancer, Cade got back in the truck and restarted
the engine. Rather than pulling back onto the road, however, he took out his
cell phone and dialed the number he’d been given to make contact once he had
the feather in his possession.

Logan
answered on the eighth ring.

Cade
didn’t say anything for a moment, just listened to the open line. In the
background, he thought he heard a long whistle. A train, maybe? A boat? He
wasn’t sure.

“All
right, Logan, let’s get this over with,” he said.

“You
have the feather?”

Cade
didn’t say anything. Let the fool figure it out himself.

After
a moment the Necromancer said, “I see you are tiring of our little game. Don’t
worry, Commander, it will all be over soon.”

“Cut
the bullshit, Logan, and tell me where to bring this to you.”

“A
locker has been arranged...”

Cade
cut him off. “Not a fucking chance, asshole. If you want the feather, you can
damn well take it from my hand. You get the feather, I get my wife. That was
the deal.”

Silence
fell. Cade knew the Necromancer was still on the other end for he could hear
the man’s labored breathing.

Finally,
“All right, Commander. We will do it your way. Warehouse 486 in the Red Hook
Container Terminal. 8 pm.”

The
Necromancer laughed and then the line went dead.

I’m
coming for you, you bastard
, Cade thought.
You’d best be ready because
I’m coming and it ends tonight.

––––––––

T
he
Necromancer hit the end call button and then tossed the phone aside. He wasn’t
going to need it any longer; it had served its purpose. Williams was on his
way.

He
crossed the room to where two of his acolytes were waiting. It hadn’t taken them
long to find him after his escape from the Templar holding facility.

Like
called to like, apparently.

These
two were the most talented out of those who had made their way here to his
current sanctuary. He explained what he wanted done and waited to be certain
that they understood. When he was confident that they did, he sent them out to
the water’s edge to carry out his request. If they proved useful when the
Knight Commander made his inevitable appearance, he would consider bringing
them with him when he moved on from here. He needed to begin reassembling his
Circle and these two might just prove to be satisfactory candidates. He would
wait and watch and decide their fate later that evening.

Logan
looked out across the room, watched as three more of his acolytes secured the
woman’s body to a metal frame much like the one he’d used during the ritual in
Bridgeport. An iron ring went around her forehead, holding her head upright as
the upper most point of the pentacle that her body was forming; her arms and
legs were extended to either side to form the other four points. By making the
vessel itself a living, breathing part of the symbol at the very core of the
ritual, he hoped to make the passage across the Veil easier for the target of
his summons.

To
be helped along, of course, by the sacrifice of her lover and husband.

It
was perfection itself.

––––––––

T
he
Red Hook Container Terminal was a maritime facility located in Brooklyn that
serviced container ships and handled bulk cargo destined for New York, New
jersey and points north into New England. It had six active container cranes
operating along more than two thousand feet of berth, with two major
bulk-handling yards and almost 500,000 square feet of warehouse space. If the
Necromancer hadn’t specified which warehouse to meet in, it would have taken
Cade an entire week to search them all.

There
was no one at the gate when Cade arrived just before 8 pm that evening. He
wasn’t surprised; he suspected that there were very few living things left
inside the terminal at that point, if the Necromancer had claimed it for his
own. Cade got out of the truck, pushed the crossing barrier up out of the way,
and then drove into the facility, fully prepared to get Gabrielle back or die
in the attempt.

Not
wanting to advertise his presence by driving up to the door of the warehouse,
Cade took out his cell phone and used the Terminal’s interactive mobile site to
locate the correct warehouse. Then he parked the truck in the shadows of
another building and got out.

His
armor and weapons were in the back seat, so he spent several minutes suiting
up. The ceramic body armor went on first, over which he pulled a
military-style jumpsuit made from black, flame-retardant material. He strapped
his pistol to his leg in a quick draw holster and added four extra magazines to
the equipment belt he slung around his waist. A combat knife was secured to
the underside of his left wrist and his sword case went over his back in its
usual place. Last, but not least, he picked up his HK MP5/10 submachine gun.
With its trademark double magazine he had sixty rounds of available ammunition
before he had to reload the weapon and he stashed an extra magazine for that in
his belt as well.

Satisfied
that he was armed well enough for bear, Cade had one more task to perform. He
opened the hood and replaced the wire powering the locating device. He waited
for the LED indicator to turn read, then nodded once, satisfied, before closing
the hood again.

Weapons
in hand, he set out for his meeting with the Necromancer.

––––––––

A
fter
learning that Riley had missed another chance at bringing the Heretic, as Cade
had once been known, in for questioning, the Preceptor had taken the case away
from him. Command over the hunt for both the Necromancer and the Heretic passed
to Delta and Riley and his team had been ordered to stand down at the
commandery for debriefing at a later time. Riley argued against the move, but was
summarily dismissed, his suggestions ignored.

That
didn’t stop him from continuing the search himself. He was sitting in the ops
center, paging through scans of some of the material collected from Cade’s
workshop, when from behind him McGreevy said, “That’s weird.”

Something
about her tone made Riley look up.

“What’s
weird?”

“The
transponder just came back on.”

Riley
frowned; he didn’t have any idea what she was talking about. “I’m sorry?”

McGreevy
began tapping keys on the keyboard in front of her, her attention on the
monitor as she said, “The transponder in your SUV? The one Commander
Williams...um...borrowed?”

“What
about it?”

“It
just came back on again.”

Riley
scrambled out of his chair and moved to her side. It seemed Cade had made
another mistake.

“Where
is it?” he asked.

“Hang
on, I’m working on that.”

He
watched the computer begin narrowing the search, the screen switching from a
map of the eastern seaboard to one of the states of Connecticut and New York to
one of New York City. Moment by moment the computer was triangulating on the
transponder’s location and throwing that information up on the screen for them
to see.

That’s
when it hit him.

Cade
was making mistakes.

Intentional mistakes.

He
hadn’t accidentally looked at the camera before going into the reliquary. He’d
done it one purpose. Just like he’d let Riley see him as he stole the SUV at
his house and how the transponder in that same SUV had suddenly turned itself on
again. Cade hadn’t needed to steal the SUV at all; they’d found the one he’d
taken from the commandery about half a mile away on the other side of the
property that backed up to his own. He could have easily made his way back
through the woods and driven away without Riley or anyone else being the wiser.

Instead,
he’d made a spectacle of himself and increased the chances that he might be
caught, just to get Riley’s attention.

Cade
was leaving a trail for him to follow.

He’d just been too blind to see it.

“Come
on, come on!” he said impatiently as McGreevy worked the data.

A
red dot appeared on the map in the middle of the screen.

“Where
the hell is that?” Riley asked.

McGreevy
consulted the oracle, otherwise known as the Google Maps database.

“The
Red Hook Container Terminal, Brooklyn,” she said.

Riley’s
finger jabbed at the screen.

“That’s
it! That’s where they are!” He headed for the door at a run. “Suit up and be
ready to roll in five!” he shouted to the others as he headed for his quarters
and the gear he’d left there.