He could hardly do that sitting in the sterile white room, bound in a straitjacket reinforced with Lucifer’s Gold. They weren’t going to keep him in there for long. Ferro would dispatch him at the earliest convenience.
Kade thought of his father, who must have come here to visit the prisoner. Now Kade knew in the depths of his gut that his father hadn’t gone crazy. He had clearly suspected truth in whatever the woman told him. Someone with a corrupt plan had wanted to eliminate a complication, just like Ferro wanted with Violet.
Stewart Kavanaugh had put everything on the line in that most important mission—and failed. For the first time in twenty years, Kade felt pride in his father’s actions. He knew him in a much deeper way. At least he had that. But now Kade was going to fail in the same way.
The door opened and an orderly came in, eyeing him warily. Kade had seen the guy around but couldn’t bring a name to mind. No nametag in sight. The Argus jail staff rarely mingled with Vegas or even Arguses. By design, for this very reason.
The man closed the door and assessed Kade’s jacket. Then he approached, testing the straps. “Got to be too much, eh?” he said, opening a metal case mounted on the wall and pulling out a clipboard. “You guys think you’re so tough and important, but when you fall, you fall hard.” But he wasn’t really talking to Kade as he filled out something, just making lame conversation.
“How many Vegas go nuts?” Kade asked, and he could tell the man was surprised at how sane he sounded.
“I’ve been working the psych ward for thirty years, seen…” He looked up and counted off with his fingers. “Twelve, maybe, go completely insane. Others just need some forced downtime.”
Kade latched onto the first number. “You were here when my father tried to break out the prisoner twenty years ago. Stewart Kavanaugh.”
“Yeah, heard you’re his son. You think crazy runs in the genes?”
“I’m not crazy.”
He chuckled. “Heard that before.”
“Is that what the woman my father tried to break out said?”
He shook his head. “She had an elaborate story, that one of the Concilium members was kidnapping kids and sucking out their essence. Said her name was…Willow, I think, though she didn’t remember her last name. She claimed she’d been kidnapped as a young child and this Concilium member had kept her all those years.”
“Who was the member?”
“Can’t repeat that kind of hearsay.”
“Who would I tell? I’m going to be killed in here.”
“Well, you did try to kill him. Those guys don’t like that, you know.” The orderly was used to dealing with insane people. He spoke softly and evenly.
“He tried to have me killed first. I didn’t like it either. He wants me eliminated to shut me up. Did anyone ever check into her story? Just to make sure?”
The guard shrugged and hung up the clipboard. “I heard she was homeless, a wreck of a Crescent. She was better off dead. You shoulda seen her, banging herself against the walls, screaming. Thing was, she started out just telling her story over and over, but she went downhill fast.” He tilted his head. “What’s your story?”
Kade laughed, shaking his head. He would sound just as crazy. “Ferro’s trying to incite clan wars down in the Fringe. He’s killing Dragons in Miami, too, Breathing them for their power.”
The man gave a slow shake of his head. “You people concoct the nuttiest stories…”
“What if the stories are true? You think the Guard is immune to corruption? What happens if someone figures it out? They get brought here. Labeled insane. Dispatched.”
The man met his gaze dead on. “I follow orders. I don’t question. I do what I’m told and then go home at the end of the day. I spend time with my kids and husband. And I stay alive.” He left, making sure the door locked properly. After one last glance through the large window, he left.
Hell.
Ferro appeared in the window a few minutes later, unlocking the door. The man with him was an old Deuce. Kade couldn’t place his name.
Ferro gestured for the man to precede him into the room, following and locking the door behind him. The stranger held an ornate box—a spell box. This couldn’t be good. Kade had heard of them, possessed by those who practiced Shadow Magick. The man handed the box to Ferro and waved his hand over the window. He produced an illusion spell so anyone walking past would see only what the conjurer wanted him to see. Which would not be Kade getting whatever was in that box.
The man took the box back. Something was moving inside it, bumping against the sides.
Triple hell. He skipped right past double.
Ferro approached Kade, kneeling down to his level. “This is a harsh lesson in the evils of insubordination. I do not enjoy this. Despite your reckless past, you’ve been a good officer. You chose the wrong mission to abort, I’m afraid. And for that, you must go away.”
“That’s a nice way of putting being executed.”
