Page 35 of Mystic Justice (The Other Detective #2)
Chapter Thirty-Three
I pounded the pavement, my heart hammering. As I rounded the corner, I could see Ji-ho’s van – and the sliding side door was wide open. Shit!
He’d parked his van the next street over so it was unobtrusive, but that had also meant that there were no eyes on it.
I ran to it, praying he was just listening to K-pop at full volume and drumming the rhythm on the desk, that he’d simply missed the check-in.
Maybe he’d opened the sliding door because he was hot.
Yeah, yeah, I was BS-ing myself, but I clung to that faint hope all the same.
I sprinted to the van and looked inside. Empty. Fuck!
I hit the comms. ‘Ji-ho is missing!’ As I slammed the van door closed, I spotted the claw marks around the door seal and my stomach sank.
Not just missing: he’d been taken. Harbinger had wrenched open the van door.
Claw marks meant he was in his griffin form and that meant wings; he’d probably snatched Ji-ho and was airborne, flying him to his death.
Their destination had to be the Chester Grove or at least somewhere in Grosvenor Park. ‘Loki!’ I yelled and my bird flew to me, his eyes solemn. ‘Fly to Grosvenor Park. I need aerial sweeps. Any sign of them, you come and find me. We’ll be right behind you.’
‘I see fuckers!’ Loki promised and took to the air. Somehow between one beat of his wings and the next, he disappeared. Could my avian friend teleport? Was that even a thing? But I had no time to wonder about Loki because Ji-ho’s life was on the line.
The others had arrived, panting, fear in their eyes.
We all liked Ji-ho – it would have been hard not to because he was friendly, warm and damned good at his job.
He made our lives easier and I wished I’d told him that just once.
Even if Mei’s parents looked down their noses at his job, we didn’t. He was valued, essential. Missing.
‘Grosvenor Park,’ I snarled. ‘They’ll be taking him there.
At least I hope so, because if not we’ve got no idea where he is.
Everyone head to the park – Elvira go to the north, Bland south, Channing east and McCaffrey west. McCaffrey, on your way contact the dryad grove.
Ask them to check in with their trees and tell me if any of them sense a disturbance nearby.
I’ll hit the centre. Comms on and stay in touch. Let’s move!’
We sprinted off to our respective vehicles. ‘Grosvenor Park!’ I barked to Krieg as we slid into the vehicle. He started the engine and I was surprised when it let out a loud roar.
He smiled. ‘Appearances can be deceptive, Inspector. It’s beat-up on the outside but souped-up on the inside.’ The car careened through the Liverpool streets.
Anxiety was crawling in my gut and I felt sick for Ji-ho, for what he was going through. We’d get to him in time – we had to. I tried to shove my emotions down because they were a weakness, a distraction. I needed to concentrate, to think, not get lost in my own dark memories.
‘You’re not going to love this,’ Krieg murmured, ‘but check the glove compartment.’
I opened it and blinked. He was right: I didn’t love it.
There was a police light in there. I didn’t grouse, just grabbed it and turned it on.
Blue light flashing, I lowered the window and stuck it on the roof of the car.
Krieg hit a button on his dashboard and a siren began to shriek.
‘We’ll talk about this later,’ I muttered.
‘Over dinner?’ he offered. ‘With a glass of wine?’
I appreciated his attempt at levity. ‘Deal.’
Impatience gnawed at me as we zoomed towards Chester.
It would take us forty-five minutes – perhaps thirty-five the way Krieg was driving – and Ji-ho had last checked in fifteen minutes ago.
The worst-case scenario was that Harbinger was already fifteen minutes ahead of us; best case, only mere moments.
Griffins could fly fast but he was being weighed down by the victim he was carrying in his claws.
We could catch up – but could we find them in time?
I put a grade-one alert on SPEL: ONE OF OUR OWN TAKEN BY A GRIFFIN. ASSISTANCE REQUESTED FROM ANY AND ALL TO GROSVENOR PARK. I prayed we had another Inspector close by who could answer my desperate plea.
I was taken aback when none other than Detective Chief Superintendent Faraday replied to the grade one. En route. ETA 25. Moments later, not to be outdone, Thackeray responded too. En route. ETA 30.
Bloody hell, the brass were coming and both of them would be there before us. That had to be something. I messaged back: Start near Chester Grove.
Grosvenor Park was huge, more than twenty acres, but my gut said Jane would stay true to her pattern because she wanted to give Jingo the extra ‘fuck-you’.
I rang both Jingo and Reed but neither of them answered.
As we tore around the streets, I silently prayed for Ji-ho.
Krieg pulled up fast, tyres screeching in protest as we skidded to a halt outside the park’s east gate. I was out before the car stopped rocking, sprinting past the ornate ironwork and onto the gravel path, heading towards the centre of the green expanse.
The trees loomed ahead, dark silhouettes against the light of the full moon. Huge and round, it was washing the ground with its light and I didn’t need a torch to see where I was going. ‘Loki!’ I called as I ran.
Nothing.
‘He’s coming,’ Krieg murmured as we ran. ‘I can feel him nearby.’
‘The birds!’ I blurted, stopping abruptly. I lowered my voice. ‘Can you do your thing? Pipe the birds? Ask what they can see?’
‘I can, but it’ll take a few minutes and I’ll need you to guard me,’ he admitted. ‘I can’t see the world around me when I’m looking through their eyes.’
I nodded. ‘Of course. I’ve got your back. Do it!’
He trusted me to guard him and for some reason that meant a whole lot to me. As his grey eyes lost focus, I gathered my magic and held it ready to blast any intruders. I also pulled out my PR-60, ready to take a swing if I needed to. I’d protect Krieg with magic and might and anything else I had.
It was hard to stand and wait as Krieg winnowed though various avian thoughts to try and get us a clue; it felt like too long while Ji-ho’s life hung in the balance.
The rest of the team checked-in, including Faraday and Thackeray who had also mic-ed up. Everyone was spread apart: if one of us did find the killers, we’d have to call for back-up. This was a cluster fuck.
‘Heading central,’ I murmured when it was my turn to update. ‘No signs yet. Comms silent for fifteen unless there’s a development.’ The comms fell silent and I switched to listen-only.
‘I here!’ Loki huffed as he flew towards me. ‘Birds scared. Going away.’
‘Going away from where?’
Krieg’s eyes snapped to me. ‘The Elder Tree,’ he said grimly. ‘They’re at the Elder Tree.’
‘That’s what I say!’ Loki huffed, annoyed at being upstaged.
I flipped the comms on. ‘Everyone to the Elder Tree!’ I barked.
We were the closest, significantly so. The dryad’s Elder Tree wasn’t within the grove but set back in its own clearing.
I knew the way because I’d met the dryad elders there on a couple of occasions so I bolted west through the maze of winding paths, my shoes thudding a frantic rhythm against the gravel path.
My lungs were burning but I didn’t slow.
Branches snagged at my sleeves and the moonlight dimmed the deeper I went.
The trees were old here, vast oaks and whispering beeches, their roots breaking the path like bones beneath skin, like Ji-ho’s bones might be being broken. Calder needed fear and pain; if Ji-ho wasn’t scared enough, what steps would they take?
The Elder Tree wasn’t far now.
I slowed my approach. I needed the element of surprise and I’d lose it if I ploughed in like a drunken satyr at a party. I turned to check on Krieg; he wasn’t behind me but by my side. He gave me a firm nod and I found I was inordinately grateful. I had backup, even if it wasn’t a fellow Inspector.
An eerie quiet had fallen: the birds had either flown away or fallen silent.
Either way, it was a bad sign for what we were about to encounter.
Krieg and I crept forward, moving slowly, cautiously, silent predators stalking our prey.
Our sloth-like speed chafed but a blunder now could mean Ji-ho’s death.
A glint of red in the moonlight made me swallow. Blood. I crouched by the smear and examined the base of the tree. Claw marks, fresh, deep. Bark had been peeled back like torn parchment. Harbinger had landed here. And Ji-ho was bleeding.
Time was running out.