“He was quite useful,” Findo said, a small, pleased smile crossing his face as he glanced across at Hoel’s body.
“And you recruited Russet Welliver to work for you?” Hallie asked.
The human made a sound, the first noise she’d heard from him since he’d been dragged into the room by thehochlenpair. She looked across at him and saw a slender piece of metal circling his throat. She caught sight of a small plastic box on one side of the man’s neck. Some kind of shock or explosive device, she guessed. Sickness rose and she had to swallow, hard. Findo had used shock collars on fighters before now, and had used one to kill an old man that Hallie had been very fond of. The guilt and grief over Devin’s death was never far away.
“Russet has been a great asset,” Findo said, another unpleasant smile on his face. “I don’t think there’s anyone else in the world who would have been able to take down that ridiculous waterfall and turn it into a river. Not one person. But he did.”
“It was impressive,” Hallie said, words heavy in her dry mouth. “And you rigged the doors in here as well, didn’t you? Just in case anyone survived the river.”
“I will miss you, my dear,” Findo said. He came down the remaining two steps to stand face to face with her. He was a head shorter than she was, but he didn’t care and she knew it didn’t matter. He was far more powerful than she would ever be. “You understand me so well.”
“You’re a monster,” Hallie said, unable to help herself.
He smiled, and there was an awful joy in it. “Like I said, you understand me. It really is such a shame I will have to kill you. And you, too.” His attention had moved past Hallie and onto Emmet, who was still sitting on the stairs. “I have never seen one of your kind before.”
“There are very few of us left,” Emmet answered. He gathered himself and rose, turning to face Findo. Hallie remembered herfirst meeting with thesinisir, when he had been gravely ill but still defiant. There were echoes of that first meeting now. Emmet had been brought back from death and it showed.
Now, Hallie thought. While Findo’s attention was on Emmet.
She moved. There was no time to draw her gun, or reach behind her for the tranquillisers. Instead, she charged at Findo, her momentum sending him off balance enough that the two of them fell down the stairs, sliding onto the next step down. She landed on him, kicking out at the sword still in his hand. It fell with a satisfying clatter. He lashed out with a fist and she whipped her body away, out of range, slipping on the step and falling to the next one, landing awkwardly on her hip, the one where thezauberhad been. No time for her to get up. Findo was already on his feet and moving towards her.
Still on her back, she twisted and kicked out, forced him to take a step sideways. Mirroring her movement, he kicked out towards her and she tried to turn away. Too slow. The hard toe of his boot connected with her back, protected by the body armour. The blow sent her sliding along the marble surface of the step. She came to a stop next to the sword and grabbed for it, swinging it like a club as Findo came for her, the weight of it surprising her, adding more force to her movement. She smacked him with the flat of the sword across his reaching arm, the sword twisting as it swung so the edge of the blade slid through the fabric of his shirt, leaving a long, thin cut on his forearm. He yelled in fury, eyes burning red as he took a step back, balanced on the balls of his feet.
Hallie scrabbled upright, dimly aware of fresh bruises and aches across her body, breathing hard and fast, sword held in front of her, and Findo charged her again. She stepped out of his way. He’d expected that. He pivoted. She was tracking his movement with the sword, and his eyes were on the blade so when she kicked out, underneath the blade, it took him bysurprise, her boot striking the side of Findo’s knee. He yelled in pain and anger and shock. His leg crumpled under him, sending him to the ground again. He fell onto his side, eyes glittering black and red as he glared at her, gathering himself to get up again. Hallie didn’t wait, didn’t hesitate, plunged forward with the sword. The blade sunk in under his ribs, and she shoved it as far as she could, all the way into his torso. Missed his heart, she knew at once, as he was still glaring at her. It would slow him down, even as it made him even angrier. But she had a chance to stop him now. And she wasn’t working alone anymore.
“Tranquilliser,” she yelled over her shoulder, hoping that Girard had the gun ready. “At least six rounds.” She was breathing hard, sweat coating her body, trembling with the effort of the brutal fight.
Flat, dull shots rang out and a collection of black darts appeared along Findo’s arm and leg. Theveondkenroared in fury, trying to crawl out of the way, held back by Hallie’s weight on the sword and the drugs beginning to pump through his system. Hallie moved with him, not letting go, watching as the tranquilliser began to work.
At length he went still, limp on the ground. Panting with effort, Hallie slumped to her knees, reaching to the small of her back for the flexi-cuffs she was used to carrying. When her fingers met nothing, she made a low sound of annoyance and looked around, seeking Girard.
He was already next to her and holding out a set of cuffs.
“Nicely done,” he told her.
“Thank you.” She got the cuff around one wrist and had to get to her feet, needing the leverage of her body weight, to pull Findo’s other arm straight to add the second cuff. The sword was still embedded in his rib cage. With his hands bound, he couldn’t reach it. She left the blade where it was. Pulling it out would gift Findo Trask a painful death. Hallie remembered Zurine sayingthat the best punishment for him was a long life in captivity. Hallie agreed. “You are under arrest,” she told the unconsciousveondken. “Again.” She sent a frowning glance over her shoulder at Girard. “He’d better stay detained this time.”
Girard grinned. “He will. We’ll make sure of it.” Then his eyes travelled past Hallie and Findo, further away to where the twohochlenwere still standing, one still holding Russet’s arm.
“The one holding Russet Welliver has magic,” Hallie warned, her breathing gradually slowing down.
“Understood,” Girard said, and glanced across to Accalon. The young investigator was standing ready, his gun pointed steadily at the pair of blondhochlen.
“Stay where you are,” Girard told thehochlen. “Your masters are all gone. If you want to live, lay down your weapons and surrender.”
To Hallie’s surprise, they did.
Accalon and Girard moved up the steps and collected the two blondhochlen’sweapons, giving them each a quick and thorough search which turned up some more weapons and a small, black device that Girard identified as a master fob for the flexi-cuffs. Thehochlenwere then cuffed together and sat on the edge of one of the steps. Hallie stayed where she was, not wanting to go too far from Findo. He should stay unconscious for a while, but she wasn’t going to relax until he was in detention again.
The moment Russet was released, he scrambled away from thehochlenand collapsed onto the nearest bench, huddled over, fingers going to the collar on his neck. There were tears on his face.
“Can you get me out of this thing?” he asked, gaze travelling between Hallie and Girard. “Findo had the trigger.”
“I am sure we can,” Hallie said, moving to stand next to Girard, “but only when you’ve told us where to find the rest of the explosives you’ve set and how to disarm them.”
“And disable the jammers as well,” Girard said. “So we can communicate with each other and with the outside.”
Russet glanced at Girard and then met her eyes across the room. She judged that, however clever he was with explosives, he wasn’t used to up-close and personal violence. She wasn’t sure what he saw in her face but he dipped his chin once, in agreement. “I can do that.”
