Raven's Peak (13 page)

The demon thrashed and screamed, but Abigail rolled behind it and put it in a headlock. She clamped down on the neck, cutting off the demon’s air supply. They struggled for a few more seconds before the demon finally fell limp.

Abigail laid back, panting and trying to catch her breath. She heard rushing footsteps in the hall and drew her gun, aiming at the door.

A second later Haatim rounded the corner, wild-eyed. She relaxed, lowering the gun, and let out a chuckle.

“Glad you could make it.”

“What the hell is going on?” the old man asked, standing up slowly from the couch. His back creaked, and he looked more confused than angry.

“We’re police,” Abigail explained, climbing to her feet. She presented a badge from her pocket, flashing it to the man and his wife. “We were in the process of apprehending this woman when she tried to flee. Sorry for the disturbance.”

The man turned and eyed Haatim for a long minute before nodding. “OK,” he said.

“More officers will be here in a few minutes, and the state will assess the damage to your apartment for the cost of repairs.”

This perked the man up, and he nodded again.

“Here,” Abigail said, gesturing to Haatim and sliding the ID away. “Come help me get her out of here. We’ll take her back to the precinct.”

Haatim hesitated for a second and then went over. They picked the nurse up and started carrying her back out of the apartment. A lot of people were in the hallway now, leaning out of doorways to watch. Down the hall, the dog was still barking.

They carried the limp woman over to the elevator and inside. Once the door had slid shut he heard Abigail let out a sigh of relief. She pushed the lobby button and leaned against the wall.

“Police badge?” he asked.

“It’s fake,” she said. “And a bad one at that. We need to hurry. The real police will be here soon.”

“What are we doing with her?”

“
I’m
going to take her somewhere safe,” Abigail said, giving him a look.

“Then what am I going to do?”

“You’re going to go home.”

“What?” he asked, feeling a sudden tightness in his chest. “Home? What if they are still searching for me?”

“They aren’t,” Abigail said.

“How do you know?”

“Because we eliminated this cell. No one is left in the city to come after you.”

“Cell?”

“This local group,” she explained. “The organization is decentralized. No head of the snake to cut off, or I would have finished it years ago.”

“You hunt them?”

“Yep,” she said.

“Why?”

She looked at him but didn’t answer. The elevator reached the ground floor and opened. Together they grabbed the woman and carried her out the front of the apartment building.

“I don’t want to go home,” Haatim said.

“You have to.”

“After what happened? I just…”

Abigail looked at him, frowning. “One problem at a time. Stay with her,” Abigail said, gesturing at the nurse.

She ran back down the street toward the warehouse and disappeared around the corner. Haatim let the body slump to the ground and drew in a few calming breaths. His hands were still shaking but he was starting to feel like his old self again.

A minute later a car pulled up next to Haatim.

His car.

“That’s mine,” he said as Abigail climbed out of the passenger seat.

“I’m borrowing it,” she replied.

“Then I’m coming with you.”

“Like hell you are,” she said. She circled around the vehicle and opened the backseat, then they carried the nurse over. “You aren’t coming with me.”

“I’m not going home,” he said. Then, quieter, he added: “I can’t.”

“Then where do you want me to drop you off? Do you have any family in the area?”

He shook his head.

“Any close friends you can stay with?”

“No,” he said.

“No family
or
friends,” she said with a sigh.

“None,” he replied. “My parents don’t even live in the US.”

She hesitated, and he saw a curious expression on her face. She opened her mouth, but it was a long minute before she said anything. “You were going to tell me earlier what your father’s name was,” she said. “Back in your apartment.”

“Aram Malhotra.”

He saw her tense up and frown. She said, “OK.”

“What? Why does his name matter?”

“It doesn’t,” she lied. “Get in.”

Haatim thought to ask her why her demeanor had changed when he told her his father’s name but decided against it. Right now he just didn’t want to be alone.

“All right,” he said, climbing into the passenger seat.

“You can come with me,” she said, turning the car on. “But you do exactly what I say when I say it. Got it?”

“Got it.”

Abigail drove out of the city and north on the highway, thoroughly exhausted from the day’s ordeal but not yet able to relax. Haatim sat in the passenger seat, a blank expression on his face as he tried to process everything that was happening to him.

It wasn’t easy, she knew. His eyes had been opened to a world he hadn’t even known existed, and it wasn’t exactly a slow and simple integration. Abigail had the benefit of being introduced to this life at an early age. When Arthur had rescued her she had been a child, and she already knew that there were some things in this world that didn’t make any sense.

And most of them were trying to kill her.

“Where are we going?” Haatim asked.

“Somewhere safe,” she replied. “You should get some sleep. Your body is going to need some time to recover.”

“What happened to your hand?” he asked.

She glanced down at it. It was covered in scars and swelling in the joints, but she hadn’t wrapped it or worn a brace in weeks. It looked hideous and hurt like hell, but she couldn’t really remember a time when it hadn’t during these last few months.

The swelling was new, and she realized she’d probably damaged it in the fight.

“I broke it,” she said. “A few months ago. Still swells up from time to time. I’m not supposed to put any pressure on it.”

“Looks like you broke it pretty bad.”

“I was in a cast for four months.”

“Ouch,” Haatim said. “What happened?”

Abigail was silent for a long minute. “You should get some sleep. We have a long way to go.”

He reclined the passenger seat and let out a sigh. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to sleep again.”

Naturally, he was out in only a few minutes. Abigail tapped him a couple of times, just to make sure he was totally gone, and then she pulled out her phone. There were three missed calls, all from Frieda, and a series of text messages telling her to respond immediately.

She clicked Frieda’s number and waited for it to connect. Frieda answered on the first click.

“Hello?” Abigail said, yawning and making it sound like she just woke up.

“Abi? Where are you?”

“My hotel room,” she lied.

“Are you still in Arizona?”

“What? No, I left last night. I’m in Arkansas. Almost to Raven’s Peak like you said.”

“I’ve been calling all night.”

“I was sleeping, had my phone turned off.”

“Were you at Rochester and Bixby last night?”

“No. Why?”

“No reason,” Frieda said.

“Did something happen?”

“Don’t play dumb, Abigail.”

“I’m not,” Abigail said. “I left about midnight.”

“What about your tail? You said someone was following you?”

“Yeah, I dealt with it. Deleted the photos and sent him on his way.”

“Did you get his name?”

“I think he said it was Robert. He was nobody.”

Frieda was silent for a long moment, and Abigail wasn’t sure if she bought the lie or not.

“OK,” Frieda said finally. Abigail fought the urge to let out a relieved sigh. That was, at least, until Frieda continued: “Honestly, even if you did have him, I would rather not know just yet.”

“Have who?”

“Haatim. If I knew that he was with you, I would be obligated to report that information to the Council. I don’t want to cross that bridge until I can look into a few things on my end. I would hope you wouldn’t tell me you had him if he was safe. And I definitely would hope you didn’t tell anyone else. Do you know what I mean?”

Abigail was silent for a long minute, cursing Frieda in her mind. The silence grew awkward, and she decided to change the subject:

“OK. Anyway, I should be at Raven’s Peak before too long and I’ll let you know what I find out.”

“OK, sounds good. Thanks, Abigail.”

“No problem,” she said. She hung up the phone and bit her lip. “Sometimes that woman really pisses me off.”

It was annoying that Frieda knew she had Haatim, but she was curious what game Frieda was playing at. She didn’t want the Council to know where Haatim was, which was crazy. Frieda had always been fiercely loyal to the Council. Maybe there was dysfunction in the ranks. Abigail couldn’t decide whether she cared.

Still, she could honor Frieda’s unspoken request and hang on to Haatim for a while. Whatever Frieda was doing, it was probably important, and having Frieda owe her a favor could be a huge benefit in the long run.

But, first things first: she glanced in the rearview mirror at the unconscious shape in the backseat of the car. Delaphene, a lesser demon notorious for being an information broker. Abigail hadn’t even known Delaphene was in the city or a part of that cell and could hardly believe her good fortune at finding her.

This demon might know something about where Arthur was, and how she could bring him back. Fate, it seemed, had dropped a new avenue of pursuit into her lap.

Haatim woke up to a tapping on his arm. He yawned and glanced around. The clock on the dashboard said it was early in the afternoon, and he was still thoroughly exhausted.

“Are we there?”

“Not yet,” she said. “Just a gas and restroom break. We have a long way to go before we stop again, so if you need to stretch your legs you better do it now.”

Haatim nodded and climbed out of the car. He yawned again and stretched his arms. “Do you need anything?”

“Get me a coke,” she said, climbing out and opening the gas hatch on the side. “And some beef jerky.”

He nodded and headed into the gas station. His first stop was to the restroom to relieve his bladder, and then he headed out and purchased drinks and snacks. When he got back to the car Abigail was closing up the gas tank.

“My turn,” she said, disappearing into the store. Haatim climbed into the passenger seat and leaned back, hoping to fall asleep again.

He heard a muffled buzzing sound as his pocket started to vibrate. He slid his phone out and looked at it curiously. He’d forgotten he still had it with everything that was going on.

Abigail had wanted to take it from him and destroy it, but she’d never gotten the chance. He looked curiously at the number and let out a groan. He clicked accept:

“Crap, Mom, I know I promised to call you back I’ve just been—”

“Haatim! Thank God!” she interrupted. Her voice sounded thick, like she’d been crying. “Thank God you’re all right.”

“Yeah,” he said awkwardly. “I’m fine.”

“Your father and I were so worried when we heard about the attack at your apartment.”

Haatim sighed. If there was anything his mom was really good at, it was worrying.

“No, Mom, I’m fine,” he said. “I wasn’t even home when it happened.”

“Where are you?”

“Don’t worry. I’m fine. The police got me a hotel room and everything is OK,” he lied. He didn’t want his mom to be concerned about him, especially since he wasn’t exactly sure what was going on or what he was going to do next.

“Do you need us to send you anything? Where is the hotel at?”

“No, Mom. I’m good for now.”

“Give me the address and I will—”

“I’m fine, Mom,” he said, cutting her off. “I am safe and healthy, and you don’t need to worry about me. I promise.”

“All right, Haatim,” she said. He could tell she wasn’t convinced, but she didn’t push the issue.

“I need to go, but I promise I’ll call you back soon.”

“OK. I love you.”

“I love you, too, Mom,” Haatim said. He hung up the phone and turned it off. The battery was nearly empty, and he didn’t know when he would be able to charge it. He slipped it into his pocket and leaned back in his seat.

A few minutes later Abigail returned to the car, slipping into the driver’s seat. He glanced over at her and yawned. “How much farther?”

“Not too far,” she replied. “A few more hours, maybe less.”

She started the engine and pulled out of the gas station. She merged back onto the highway and Haatim stared out the window, watching the countryside roll past.

“Why did you agree to take me with you?” he asked finally.

“Like you said: you have nowhere else to go,” she replied.

“You only agreed after I told you my father’s name,” he argued. “Do you know him?”

She was silent for a long moment. “Why did you stop believing in God?”

“I asked you first.”

“I know
of
your father,” Abigail said. “Never met him, I just know the name. Your turn.”

Haatim had to think about how to answer her question. He’d never really given himself time to think about it himself: “My father is an Acharya,” he explained. “A spiritual leader. He was someone looked up to in his community. Growing up, I thought I was going to follow in his footsteps. I studied Theology and learned about world religions.”

“And then you stopped believing in God?” Abigail said.

“I never stopped believing God existed,” Haatim said. “I stopped believing God was good.”

“What happened?”

“My sister died,” Haatim explained. “She wasn’t even seventeen when cancer took her. It was horrible during the last few months, watching her suffer and being unable to help.”

“So you lost your faith?”

“How can I have faith in something like that? It’s almost worse if God
does
exist because then it means everything wrong about our world is intentional.”

“You don’t believe in free will and that people can make their own decisions? If we mess up, it’s our own fault.”