An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed (The Gods' Executioner Series) Page 5

  “Well, let’s hope he’s trying to be inconspicuous. Here, take these to my room; I’ll go catch Ravindu.” I say while pulling off my jacket and pouch before handing them to her; wearing a leather jacket when it’s this fucking hot will definitely stand out and I can’t conceal my guns without it.

  “You won’t be able to catch up to him before he enters the hotel.” Pavithra responds while taking my jacket and holster.

  “We’ll see about that.” I reply with a smirk and touch my left shoulder blade.

  Chapter 5: Bond… Feros Bond

  [December 20th]

  I port to the alleyway across from the entrance of the Torarica and scope the place out. I see quite a few people coming and going, but no one that looks like Ravindu. Did he already get here? Ten minutes pass by and I’m about to give up when I spot Ravindu stepping out of a taxi. If you think you might be pursued, getting into a taxi away from the place that you’re fleeing is a smart choice.

  I walk across the street and follow him into the lobby before taking a seat as he approaches the desk. I sit in a chair that faces away from the desk and listen in.

  “Welke ruimte is Damien Reynolds een verblijf in?” Ravindu asks. Fuck me, they aren’t speaking English.

  “Slechts een ogenblik,” The receptionist responds and I hear typing. “Hij is in de kamer twee nul negen.”

  “Dank u.” Ravindu replies and I hear him walking away.

  I’m pretty sure dank u is Dutch for thank you, but I got nothing else out of that conversation besides the name Damien Reynolds. Ravindu was most likely asking for Damien Reynolds’s room number and I know that nul is zero in quite a few languages, like French, making twee and negen the other two numbers… I’ve still got nothing so I should probably just follow him. I stand up and turn around in time to see him boarding the elevator. Shit! It’s not like I can follow him on board. If I watch for what floor the elevator stops on, I might get lucky… The elevator stops on three and I head for the stairs.

  (It’s a feint)

  “What?”

  (Twee nul negen is two zero nine in Dutch. Damien Reynolds is in room 209 and Ravindu is trying to throw anyone off his trail by riding the elevator past the floor)

  “If he was trying to throw people off of his trail, wouldn’t it make more sense to ask for the room number of a person who isn’t his contact? Anyone who knows Dutch would know where the room is.”

  (Yes, but the majority of people wouldn’t have been able to hear him… Go to the third floor and search for him; if he’s not there, then we know where he’ll be)

  I enter the stairwell and sprint up to the third floor when the coast is clear. After peering through the window of the third floor stairwell door and seeing that no one is in the hallway, I head to the second floor. I see Ravindu knocking on a door from the window in the stairwell. I wait until Ravindu enters the room before leaving the stairwell and heading down the hall.

  “What happened!?” a man angrily asks from room 209; Damien, I’m guessing.

  “I don’t know! I heard gunfire coming from the beach, looked out the window, saw them coming, and looked away for a second. When I looked back, they were all gone!” Ravindu exclaims.

  “Shit… my superior is running the campaign in Australia; they are not going to be happy about requesting reinforcements to take out this embassy. Dammit! This was supposed to be a simple plan! Snatch up the Duchess or the Princess and ransom the Queen into submission; now it’s all fucked up!” Damien exclaims angrily. I walk up and knock on the door.

  “Who is it?” Damien asks.

  “Mr. Reynolds? The front desk received a complaint about noise coming from this room, saying that it sounded like someone was being beaten. Can you open the door please? I’m required to verify your safety before I’m allowed to leave.” I reply as I unwrap the bandage from my left hand.

  “You weren’t followed, right?” Damien whispers.

  “No, I took precautions.” Ravindu replies.

  I step closer to the door so that the peephole should only have a view of my face as my hand flushes black and the purple lightning bolt surfaces on the back of my palm. I listen as Damien walks across the room to answer the door. A change in the amount of light through the peephole occurs.

  “Well, he looks and smells human.” Damien mutters to himself and opens the door.

  I quickly bring my left hand up to his neck and zap him while continuing into the room, closing the door behind me with my foot.

  “Why, hello Ravindu! What are you doing here!?” I ask as I drag Damien’s unconscious body across the room and toss him on the bed.

  “So it sounds like you betrayed the azeman and were trying to take Alice from me…” I say with a malicious smile while slowly walking towards him.

  “I’m not giving you shit.” Ravindu replies. I engage my helmet and start chuckling at him as horror and recognition mark his face.

  “You realize who I am now, don’t you? I don’t need you to give me anything; I’ll simply take it.” I respond and cover his mouth with my left hand, siphoning my blood down his throat.

  “Airi, can you handle this one without me?”

  (Yes, Master. I’ll search for any relevant information)

  Ravindu slumps in the chair as I move over and funnel some of my blood down Damien throat. Damien wakes up partway through, most likely due to his bronze aura, and I knock him out with my blood.

  (Scan complete. There are no other traitors at the embassy. No other relevant information discovered)

  “Thanks, Airi. Now for Damien.”

  (I’m already in the process of scanning him, Mr. Treyfair)

  “Way to show initiative, Airi! I see a promotion in your future! Perhaps to mistress instead of sexy secretary?”

  (It sounds like I’d still be having sex with you behind your wife’s back so how would that be a promotion?)

  “Well, as my mistress I’d buy you jewelry or a car or a house or whatever is required for a man to buy his mistress to keep her from telling his wife.”

  (I would never tell your wife! I actually find the sex to be quite enjoyable, even if I am twenty years younger than you)

  “Wait, so I’ve been banging a five year old this whole time? How did you even get this job?”

  (I’ve always assumed that you were in your forties or fifties in this scenario, tired of your haggard wife and looking for satisfaction in my hot, nubile, young body)

  “Um, sure… let’s go with that… wait, why would a twenty year old be banging a guy in his forties if not for money?”

  (Because you remind me of my dad)

  “…You just had to go and ruin this for me, didn’t you?”

  (Scan complete. Damien seems to only know about this operation. It seems that the whole thing was originally a stealth assault on the embassy, but then Ravindu heard about your visit and plans changed. The whole campaign seems like it might be sub-managed to prevent the leaking of information; this has Loki written all over it)

  “I agree. Let’s get them back to the embassy.”

  I grab Damien and drag him off the bed before I realize that I have a dilemma: I can’t port two unconscious people at the same time because I need to touch the triskele and I only have two hands.

  (You realize that you don’t have to touch the triskele to port, right?)

  “What? I’ve always had to touch the triskele or the Haglaz rune.”

  (Those are more like keys to a car: you don’t need to touch the keys after the car is on, do you?)

  “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

  (It wasn’t necessary information before. You also wouldn’t have been able to port without touching the triskele when you first got it, as it provided the focus you needed)

  I grab Damien and Ravindu, and focus on being in the foyer of the embassy. We appear in the foyer and I’m slightly surprised that it worked.

  “Cole, how did things go?” Jason asks as he, Reyna, Alice, Pavithra, and Demi walk in
to the foyer.

  “Well, Ravindu is a traitor and made a plan with this guy, Damien Reynolds, to kidnap Reyna and/ or Alice to ransom Maria into submission, presumably killing the rest of us in the process. You guys should go pack because I have a report that I need to make to Maria. Lady Demi, feel free to do what you wish with these two; part of me is for keeping Damien as a prisoner of war for trading, and the other part is telling me to brutally kill them both as an example to everyone, so I leave it up to you. Oh, and from the information I got out of these two, there aren’t any other traitors at this embassy.” I inform them.

  Jason, Reyna, Alice, and I head upstairs to our rooms, pack our things, and bring our bags downstairs to the foyer.

  “Thank you for accommodating us, Lady Demi.” Reyna says.

  “It was my pleasure, Duchess Reyna, and I apologize for the transgressions of one of the members of this embassy.” Lady Demi replies.

  “Don’t worry about it; you didn’t have any choice in the matter.” Reyna responds as she grabs my hand after picking Alice up.

  “Goodbye.” I say and focus on the four of us being in Jason and Reyna’s house.

  We appear in the house and I realize that it’s so much easier to just touch my Haglaz rune or triskele when I have a free hand.

  “Alright, I’m going to make my report to Maria.” I announce.

  “I want to go see grandma…” Alice quietly mentions.

  “Do you want to come with me to visit Grandma Maria, sweetie?” I ask and Alice nods. I look to Reyna and Jason for confirmation.

  “Okay… but I want her home by ten… And no drinking! And Honey, if you’re going to put out, make sure to use protection.” Jason says and I stifle my laughter as Alice looks at her father with a confused expression.

  Reyna lightly smacks Jason and says, “It’s fine if you take Alice to visit my mother, Cole.”

  “Alright, we’ll be back soon.” I reply while picking up Alice and Dynamite.

  I touch my Haglaz rune and port us to the front door of Maria’s Tuscan-styled mansion in Mictlan, where I ring the doorbell.

  “Hello Cole and Princess Alice.” Babette greets.

  “Hello Babette. I have some information for Maria and Alice wants to see her grandmother.” I reply.

  “I assumed that was why you are here. This way.” Babette says and walks into the house.

  I carry Alice down the hall, following Babette as she walks past the sitting room and exits out into the central courtyard with its garden/ pool. She continues around the right side of the patio to the rear wing of the house. Babette takes a right and knocks on the double doors that lead to the room where Cheza and I rescued Maria from an assassination attempt four years ago.

  “Come in.” Maria answers to the knock and Babette opens the door. Maria is sitting at a desk that is covered in documents and has two servants assisting her.

  “Grandma!” Alice exclaims and squirms as I set her down. She runs over to Maria as I follow behind her.

  “Hello nieta. Did you have fun on your trip, even if it was shorter than expected?” Maria asks.

  “I got to play in the ocean with Uncle Cole for a little while and that was fun, but I didn’t like all the people…” Alice quietly replies.

  “She was a little shy.” I add.

  “Why was the trip cut so short?” Maria inquires.

  “There was an attack and I discovered a traitor that was in the embassy so I took care of that. It seemed their original plan was a stealth attack by boat, but the plan changed to a kidnapping of Reyna and/ or Alice to ransom you into submitting. I wasn’t able to get much from the two guys I scanned so I left them with Lady Demi at the embassy. I was able to discern that Loki is involved in all of this; one of the guys that I scanned had a bronze aura. They only seemed to be given information that was absolutely necessary to their part of the operation so the only thing I learned, past the information about the plot I’d already thwarted, was that the traitor’s vampire contact has a superior who is running the Australian campaign.” I inform Maria.

  “Hmm…” Maria says while mulling the information over, then she looks at me and smiles.

  “No.” I answer before she asks.

  “I need you to go there, Cole.” Maria replies.

  “No, I’m not going to Australia!” I reiterate.

  “You’re the best person for the job.” Maria says.

  “No one is ever getting me to go to Australia!” I exclaim.

  “Cole, I was just reassigned. Apparently the vampire rebellion has affected Australia and the Australian United Supernatural Special Investigations and Enforcement, or AUSSIE, has requested help from The Agency so Carla is sending me and Natasha.” Cheza informs me through our connection.

  My expression must be giving something away because Maria just smiles satisfactorily at me.

  Dammit…

  Chapter 6: The Place of Nightmares

  “AHHH!” I scream as I pull my 10mm auto from the holster behind my back and fire.

  “Cole, are you feeling alright? That’s the third time you’ve discharged your weapon and we’ve been here for less than thirty minutes.” Natasha says.

  “He’s terrified of Australia and is convinced everything is trying to kill him.” Cheza explains with a tone of tired disbelief; like the family member of someone who constantly claims they were abducted by aliens.

  “Oh, right!” Natasha exclaims while I’m in the process of replying to Cheza.

  “Because everything is trying to kill me!” I exclaim; especially now that the sun has set and all the critters are out looking for food!

  “Of course it is.” Cheza says like she’s talking to a child while rubbing my back.

  “So why are we meeting this contact of yours in the middle of nowhere?” I ask Natasha once I’ve calmed down thanks to Cheza, as the wind picks up and whips dust around us.

  After returning Alice to her home, I ported to Houston to pick up Cheza, and then I ported us to Arizona to pick up Natasha. Natasha showed me a satellite image of the coordinates where we needed to be, so I ported the three of us here: to the fringe of the desert/ Outback part of Australia.

  “Because all of the Australian United Supernatural Special Investigations and Enforcement… wow that is really a mouthful… I’m just going to say AUSSIE; anyway, all of AUSSIE has retreated to a secret location.” Natasha replies.

  “Why?” I inquire.

  “It seems the vampires are trying to take over Australia, and I don’t mean just from the azeman.” Natasha answers.

  “That’s insane! It will reveal the existence of the supernatural to humans!” which is something that would be beneficial for Loki. If you were trying to destroy a world, wouldn’t it be easiest to start a war and have the citizens of that world destroy each other before you come in to clean up whoever survives?

  “They’re late.” Natasha comments.

  “And I’m thirsty. Did you two bring anything to drink?” I ask, feeling that it’s a bit hot to be wearing my armored jacket and jeans; I suppose it is summertime in Australia though. Both of the girls shake their heads in response.

  “I know! I’ll just use Neptune’s power over water.” I say and move the bandages on my left hand until I can see my silver palm.

  My left hand turns black and I hold my palm up to my mouth. After invoking my control over water, I not only blast about a liter of water into my mouth, but salt water at that. Cheza and Natasha laugh at me as I sputter the sea water back up; I really should have thought this through.

  “Here,” Cheza says, grabs my left hand, and holds it out with the palm up. About ten seconds later, three ice cubes form in my hand, the salt having been stripped from the water due to the freezing process.

  “Thanks, Cheza.” I reply with a smile and pop the ice cubes into my mouth as I see a red Jeep Wrangler approaching in the distance. The Jeep pulls to a stop in a cloud of dust as the driver’s window rolls down.

  “Sorry I’m lat
e; getting the fourby here took a bit longer than expected.” A bulky blonde man in his thirties says with an Australian accent as he pats the exterior of the door through the open window.

  “No problem. I’m Natasha Holmstrom; this is Chezarei Vaele, top class operator; and this is Cole Vaele, consultant for The Agency and the Azeman Queen, as well as Chezarei’s husband.” Natasha introduces.

  “Nice to meet you; I’m Agent Simmons. We have quite the drive ahead of us.” Simmons says and we pile into the Jeep with me sitting shotgun.

  After buckling in and noting that he is a few inches taller than me, I scan Simmons and see an unfamiliar aura that looks like a pile of tan scales.

  “So, Simmons… What are you?” I blatantly inquire.

  “What do you mean?” Simmons asks.

  “I’m pretty sure you’re a Were of some sort; something to do with tan scales.” I reply.

  “How do you know that?” Simmons questions.

  “I can see things that most people can’t.” I tell him.

  “I’m a werecroc. Saltwater croc if you want to get specific.” Simmons answers.

  “Nice. So where are we headed?” I inquire as we pull onto a dirt road that is only slightly smoother terrain than before.

  “A secure facility just outside of Adelaide.” Simmons replies.

  “I’m not familiar with the geography of Australia.” I respond.

  “Well, we’re right on the border of the state of New South Wales, where Sydney is. We’re about to cross into the state of Southern Australia, where Adelaide is.” Simmons says.

  “I see.” I reply, even though I still have no conception of the distance.

  “It’s about four hours once we reach Wentworth, which will be in twenty minutes.” Simmons adds as we turn right onto a paved road.

  “Okay, now I got it.” I say.

  “So you guys have probably been pretty busy with vampires and everything, huh?” I ask.

  “AUSSIE has been flat out like a lizard drinking since the vamps showed up.” Simmons replies and I shut up because I have no fucking idea what he just said.