The Killing Season (24 page)

I spun the dial on the radio until the frequency matched the channel I wanted. I didn’t have much time. I cleared my throat and pressed the button on the handheld. The static went quiet.

“Luke?” I cringed at the sound of my voice. I sounded weak and small, like I was calling out from the bottom of a well. “Luke. It’s Ollie. Please answer.” I released the button and waited.

I didn’t have to wait long.

The static cleared and Luke’s voice crackled through the speakers. “Ollie? It’s Luke. Did you get our message? Over.”

I pressed the button. “We got it. Are you okay?”

“We’re fin—” A fizzle of static cut through Luke’s voice, drowning out the rest of his sentence. When it cleared, I made out, “—you’re thinking, but don’t try to come for us. I mean it, Ollie. We’re okay for the night.”

When I was certain he’d finished and the static filled the speakers again, I said, “Did Coldcrow make contact earlier?”

“No. You’re the first we’ve spoken to. Is everything okay?” His voice crackled in and out, but I heard everything plainly.

My thumb hovered over the button as my thoughts raced. Coldcrow hadn’t made contact with the safehouse like he’d said he would, but he’d clearly been in Killian’s office right before me and spread these files out across the desk for me to see. So why hadn’t he tried to call Luke?

“Ollie? Ollie, you there?”

And Abigail. Someone had laid her on that bed of poison. Or had she done it herself? Suicide or murder? Killian had killed Sin. Or at least I thought he had. Technically, he hadn’t really admitted to it. He’d only said people who disappointed him lost their heads. But Killian wasn’t here to hurt his wife. It was only me, Sunny, Nyny, and Coldcrow.

Coldcrow.

“Fuck,” I hissed. I pressed the button and said to Luke, “Are you alone? Can anyone hear you?”

I’d barely let up on the button when Luke’s voice practically barked across the airwaves. “No one can hear. What the hell is going on? Are you safe? Did something happen?”

I took a deep breath. “I found your mom. She’d been poisoned with wolf’s bane. Sunny is with her now. She’s alive, but we don’t know how long she was in contact with the flower.” A long pause this time. Too long. I pushed the button again. “Luke, is your mom suicidal?”

For a moment, I heard nothing but the soft static of the radio and the wind lashing against the side of the base. I counted the seconds ticking by from the slow thud of my heart. Multiple times I found myself glancing over my shoulder, checking the dark hall beyond the office’s door. I’d never noticed the odd sounds the base made at night, sounds just like footsteps coming to a stop. I shuddered and forced myself to look away from the door.

Finally, Luke’s voice came across the radio. “Ollie, I want you to get everyone and lock yourselves in a room somewhere with a gun. Don’t come out until I get there. I’m on my way.”

The static erupting through the room made me jump. “Luke! Wait!”

“I mean it, Ollie. Go now. We’ll be there soon.”

“Dammit, just hang on,” I practically shouted into the microphone. “Would your mom have done this to herself?”

“No, Ollie. She might be a little crazy, but she’s not suicidal. That’s why you need to hide somewhere. You’re not safe.”

I gripped the handheld tighter, leaning forward in the chair. Glancing over my shoulder, I checked the door. The hall outside was dark and quiet. “Luke,” I whispered. “I think it’s Coldcrow. But he doesn’t know we found your mom yet. I could distract him then take him down. He’s an old man. I can do it then we can help your mom. I won’t let her die, okay?”

“No, Ollie!” His voice was lost again to the static, but I made out some severe curse words then, “—not Coldcrow.”

I frowned. “It has to be. Killian isn’t here. Coldcrow was probably the killer from the beginning.”

Luke must have pressed his button early, because I heard a crash in the background followed by Hatter’s voice yelling out words I couldn’t make out. Then Luke’s voice filled the speakers. “Listen to me! My father isn’t with us!”

Static blared over the speakers. I cringed away. “Luke? What? How?”

“He said he wasn’t feeling well! He left the hunt early.” Background shouting and crashing came over the speaker. Luke yelled to someone, “Get that damn thing started!”

I didn’t wait around for Luke to say anything else. I’d left Sunny and Abigail alone upstairs with Killian on the loose. Launching myself out of the chair, I skirted the edge of the desk. In my panicked haste, I knocked the lamp off the desk, sending it crashing to the floor and shattering the bulb. The office fell into complete darkness right as my hand closed around the switchblade in my boot. As I hurtled out of the door, I heard Luke say one last thing over the radio.

“He’s there, Ollie. He’s there with you.”

F I F T E E N

Ollie

I
had to think. I needed a plan.

Briefly, I thought about the sting whip I’d left in a pile on Luke’s bedroom floor, but there was no point in yelling at myself for that now. A sting whip was most effective on a ’swang anyway, and I’d been too rattled from my experience with Max yesterday to tuck it under my shirt this morning.

I slipped down the hall, keeping to the shadows and moving as quietly and quickly as possible. My first mission was to make it to the lab and get Nyny. She was a scientist and familiar with the bane; she’d know what to grab from the infirmary. She’d need a weapon too, though. My mind clicked through the thoughts like an old projector’s slides flashing onto a blank wall. Lab. Nyny. Back up to Sunny. Put them in lockdown. Secure the fourth floor. Then clear each floor down from there.

Kill anyone who tried to kill me.

The state of Killian’s office worried me. He might have interrupted Coldcrow going through those files and trying to contact Luke, which meant Coldcrow was either on the run right now or already dead. Either way, I had to move, stay alert, and keep us all alive until help came.

I swept through the entry, keeping to the edges of the large, open room, eyes searching the levels above me through the curving banisters. Nothing moved aside from the flickering colors dancing across the floor from the stained-glass window. I steered clear of those, ears straining for any sound, and slipped down the hall toward Nyny’s lab.

She was exactly where I’d left her, headphones perched on her ears, eyes trained to the camera feeds. Occasionally, she sipped from a jumbo cup of coffee, a large bendy straw positioned against the rim. I scanned the room then entered, footsteps silent.

I came up behind Nyny and put my hand on her shoulder.

She screamed.

I cut the sound off midway by slapping my hand across her mouth. “Calm down!” I hissed. “It’s just me.”

“Are you fucking crazy? Do you even know how caffeinated I am?” she demanded when I’d removed my hand from her mouth. “I could have eviscerated you with my fingernail.”

I crouched beside her chair, keeping my eyes trained on the door. “Listen closely,” I whispered. “Abigail was poisoned.”

Nyny snapped to attention. Her hyper-intelligence and logical mind quickly processed the blade in my hands, my stance, my lowered voice. When she met my eyes, I knew she’d already caught herself up to speed. “Bane?”

I nodded. “I need you to get a weapon and go to the infirmary. Get the antidote, a rechargeable something, and a hemo. . .”

“Charcoal hemoperfusion machine. Sunny needs it to clean her blood,” Nyny supplied for me, her voice quiet like mine.

“Right. Get that. Take it to the fourth floor. She’s in the greenhouse. I’m going there right now to warn her, but the floors aren’t cleared yet. Move quietly but go fast. If you hear something just run. I’ll be on my way down and I’ll deal with it.”

“Killian or Coldcrow?”

“Killian. If you see Coldcrow, warn him.” The old man didn’t stand a chance against Killian, and Peg had already lost so much. I couldn’t let her lose her uncle too. Unless I was already too late.

“Got it.” Nyny stood and I straightened with her. She gave me a nod, and, for the first time since I’d met her, I saw approval in her eyes. She picked up a bat from beside her desk and left, turning toward the infirmary.

I followed after her, watching her back until she’d disappeared around the corner. When she was out of sight, I retraced my steps back to the entry. The stairs would be the worst part. They were the only way leading up or down. If Killian was on the move, he’d have to use the stairs, which meant if I was going to run into him, it would be there.

I flipped the knife in my hand, turning the blade down, the motion reminding me of the alley with Hex and his pack. I shook the thought from my mind. Now wasn’t the time. Even with the few hours Sunny and I had trained together, my barely healed injuries from Fields made me weak and slow. My nerves jumped with every sound, my eyes snagging on every shadow.

I started up the stairs to the second floor, keeping to the outer rim to see around the sharp corner of the banister. I made quick work of the set of stairs and hit the landing for the second floor. Briefly, I debated checking Luke’s room for extra weapons and supplies. Killian could be anywhere right now, but the need to search Luke’s room for useful weapons and supplies drove down my panic and cleared my head. I hurried down the hall, eyes watchful, ears straining, until I reached his room. I slipped inside, grabbing my whip first and coiling it around my waist before checking the closet. Inside I found a backpack full of supplies used mostly for hunting outside–things like flashlights, food packs, and an extra vest—but they would work in this situation, especially for Sunny.

My stomach twisted with fear for my friend as I slipped back out of Luke’s room and down the hall. I hurried past the landing and onto the next set of stairs. I cursed myself for not having Sunny move somewhere safer in the greenhouse until I came back. Forcing myself to move faster, I allowed the echo of my footsteps to ring up and down the grand stairwell. I darted through the shadows and pools of sickly colored light from the window at my back. By the time I hit the fourth floor, my legs ached from crouching and climbing so quietly, and my lungs burned from holding my breath almost the entire way. I rushed to the greenhouse door, checking the shadows briefly as I went, but focusing mainly on getting to Sunny as fast as possible.

If anything had happened to her . . . The thought made me want to vomit.

I shoved the door closed behind me, its bottom scraping across the tiled floor and booming my entrance across the entire base. I raced up the aisle and straight to the center of the greenhouse.

There, Sunny worked over Abigail. When I stopped a few feet away, I bent over and caught my breath. Relief at seeing her safe nearly made me pass out.

“Did you bring the machines?” Sunny asked, standing and stretching out her back. “What took you so long?”

I looked up at her. “Sunny—”

“What happened?”

“Killian is here with us. He did this. I came to warn you.” I crossed over to her, my eyes searching through the flowers, their sickly sweet smell burning my nose. How had I ever thought them beautiful?

Sunny gasped. “What?”

“I talked to Luke. That’s what took me so long. Nyny is on her way with what you need. When she gets here, I want you to lock the greenhouse door and stay put until I come back. Don’t let anyone else in.”

Her eyes flashed wide, and she grabbed my arm. “Where are you going?”

I set my jaw. “I’m going to find him.”

Sunny was already shaking her head before I could finish. “Oh, hell no! You’re staying here. With us. We can defend the greenhouse or something like that. You’ll, uh, have the strategic advantage being on the top floor.”

“No, Sunny. We’ll be trapped,” I said, prying her fingers off my arm to free myself. “We’ll have nowhere to run. Luke and Hatter are on their way, but you’ll be safe up here. This glass can’t be broken, remember? And we can barricade the door.”

“What about Coldcrow?”

“I’m going to find him. I’m worried Killian caught him in the office, but I didn’t see any blood. Hopefully he’s still alive.”

Sunny ran a hand over her face. Finally, she nodded. “Okay.”

“Here.” I handed her the backpack I’d grabbed from Luke’s room. “Use these. Do you have your knives on you?” At my question, Sunny nodded and showed me the belt of throwing knives strapped around her waist. “Good. If you hear anything, and I mean anything, attack, okay? Don’t hesitate.”

“Okay.”

The door scraped open, the sound shattering the silence between our whispered exchange. I spun around, pulling Sunny behind me. Through the bane, Nyny hurried forward, her form materializing in the mist and scant fluorescent lighting. Sunny let out a relieved breath behind me.

“Did you hear anything on your way up?” I asked as Nyny crossed over to us, a stuffed backpack weighing her down.

“Third floor,” she said, glancing at me before pulling off her pack. Sunny crouched beside her and together they removed the contents. “Someone was going into a room. I heard a door shut. Coldcrow’s quarters are on that floor, down the left hall. Maybe it was him and he’s safe.”

Or Killian was going inside to kill him. “I’m sure he’s fine,” I said instead. “Nyny, can you lock the greenhouse door from inside here?” I asked.