“Well, if he’s keeping Waters in an oubliette, I’d say that’s pretty traditional,” Demon pointed out.
“Possibly. But oubliettes would be an effective prison, traditional or not,” Steel argued. “One way in, one way out. Very little security needed. Probably only one man at the entrance.”
“We’re getting ahead of ourselves,” God said. “What about the other man, Daleyza? Do you recognize him at all?”
“No. I’ve never seen him. Or if I have, I don’t remember him.”
“All right. Midas, are you still online?”
“I’m here,” he replied.
“Add our new mystery man to your visual surveillance.”
“You got it.”
“Also, go back into whatever archives you can find and see what official events would have occurred in the weeks and months around Daleyza’squinceañera. Maybe we can narrow down which event Howard might have attended.”
“What is Howard doing now?” Steel asked.
“He’s leaving via the cable car.”
“Is he alone?”
“No. He’s still with our mystery guy. Gem and I are going to follow. We’ll be two cars behind them.”
“Stay in touch,” God ordered. “Don’t do anything rash.”
Gem snorted. “No. Not Nemo.”
“Hey. Sarcasm is very unbecoming in a lady,” Nemo quipped.
“Where do you see a lady?” Gem pushed back.
“Both of you. Be serious, for once.”
There was a double snort over the line before it went quiet.
“I swear, it’s like herding cats who are herding goldfish,” God muttered. “All right, people. We need information before we can proceed. In your travel groups, I want everyone to journey back to the hotel, not all at the same time, please. When Midas has some information, we’ll regroup and go from there.”
TB and Demon left first while God and Loki paid the bill for the table, then they followed. Gilgamesh left several moments later.Meanwhile, she and Ildefanso sat, their gazes drawn back to the mountains.
“This man. He’s involved in all of this?” she asked.
“Directly involved. It’s hard to explain, but I’ll try. A long time ago, before the time of Christ, a man named himself Salieri. He selected seven of his most trusted companions, and he named them the Worthy. He then sent each of them to a different continent, armed with a bible, of sorts, with rules he thought would make a great society. The organization at large refers to itself as the Salieri, as if it’s a living extension of the man. A hive mind, of sorts.
“Throughout time, those men have followed particular policies and breeding practices, which have allowed them to increase their numbers into the tens of thousands. In recent years, they’ve resorted to sex trafficking to meet their needs. Last April, we captured one of the direct descendants of the Worthy. Unfortunately, General Howard, a man named Zion Norton, and a boy named Andres Deschamps escaped. Since then, we managed to track down and eliminate Zion, but Howard and the boy are still in the wind.”
Air felt trapped in her lungs. “I know that name.”
“Zion Norton?”
“Yes. Tall, thin. Almost cruel-looking. British accent.” She shivered. “I don’t scare easy, but he frightened me.”
He tapped a button on his watch, and God’s voice filled their ears again.
“What is it, Steel?”
“Daleyza knows of Zion Norton as well.”
