Page 18 of Relics of the Wolf (Magnetic Magic #2)

18

No longer accepting input from Duncan, the Tesla took us to a property surrounded by fields, with a stone-paver driveway wider than many streets. Mounted among artfully placed boulders forming a pond and waterfall, a plaque read TBL Luxury Perfumes and Potions. Spotlights shone upon it, and many more lights lined the long driveway as it meandered through a tidy lawn. It ended at a fountain in front of a blocky adobe building—or maybe that qualified as a mansion —that brought to mind architectural styles of the Southwest rather than Washington State. Up here, quality homes were, of course, made from logs.

Signs pointed to a gift shop and offices, so maybe it wasn’t a mansion but the company building, though balconies and glass doors on the second story made me think at least part of it might be living quarters.

Before reaching the turnaround, the Tesla signaled and headed onto a side driveway that led toward a large corrugated-metal building, a garage with multiple tall roll-up doors. Beside and beyond it lay fields of low shrubs that I thought might be lavender. Those fields were dark, obscuring the details. Most of the area the car was heading to was dark, save for a few lights by the doors. A high stone wall appeared to enclose more buildings, maybe an entire compound, between the garage and the adobe structure, but we couldn’t see over it to guess what was inside.

As the Tesla approached, one of the roll-up doors opened.

“What are the odds that it’s taking us right to your stolen artifacts?” Duncan asked.

“Low. Everyone knows you don’t store valuable magical items in garages.”

“Your wolf case was in a heat duct under the floor.”

“Only because my ex is an idiot. Had I known it was in the apartment, I would have found a more appropriate hiding place.”

“I watched you put it in your sock drawer under your tube of, uhm, female cream.”

“Estradiol. I figured you were thinking of coming back for it, so I put it there to dissuade you.”

“It almost worked. When I snuck in, I had to poke gingerly all through that drawer looking for it. Little did I know you’d moved it.”

“Yup. I knew you were sus from the beginning.”

“Sadly true.” Duncan looked curiously at me as the car rolled silently into the dark garage. Something about that silence, the lack of engine noise, was disconcerting. “Where were you keeping it, anyway? Before the thugs got it.”

I debated whether to tell him. That hiding spot wasn’t being used anymore, and I didn’t think he still had plans to retrieve the case and ship it to Chad, but…

“Your intern had it when the mugger came and stole it,” Duncan reasoned. “Was he keeping it somewhere?”

“He and his dad were studying it.”

“Because of the druidic connection?”

“Yes, and because who wouldn’t want to study a magical wolf case?”

“I can’t imagine not wanting that hobby. Were they the ones to translate the writing on the bottom? About the bite of the werewolf?”

“Yes.”

“That’s useful,” Duncan said. “I’ve read and researched a lot over the years for my various treasure-hunting adventures, but I’m not a linguaphile.”

“From the conversations I overheard between you and Chad, it sounded like he knew a little more about it.”

“Do you want me to call him back?”

“No. We can ask whoever is trying to capture me when we meet him.” I waved to the garage around us as the Tesla parked. “Presumably, he knows why he’s interested in it and other werewolf artifacts.”

“One would hope.”

The door rolled down behind us. No lights, save for the screen inside the car, were on anywhere. If whoever worked here had expected allies to return, wouldn’t they have left a light on?

“They might have figured out that the wrong people are in their car.” I glanced at the phone lying in the back seat. During the call, Mr. Raspy hadn’t given any indication that he’d been suspicious of Duncan’s voice, but… that didn’t mean he hadn’t figured out our ruse.

“It’s possible. We’d better get out while we can.” Duncan pressed the button that opened the door, that usually opened the door. Nothing happened.

“We may have to break the windows.” I pressed the button that should have rolled mine down and wasn’t surprised when it didn’t budge.

“I think these cars have manual overrides for the door.” Duncan patted around the armrest. “In case the electrical goes out.”

“Or the car goes into servant-of-an-evil-overlord mode and won’t release you?”

“Exactly.” He dug into the cubby under the armrest. A thunk sounded, his door releasing. “There we go. It’s in there.” He pointed at my door, then stepped out.

I’d no sooner found it than a man door near the roll-up door opened. Two big thugs stood silhouetted there, one with a rifle gripped at his side. The other held what might have been a handgun or knife.

My senses picked up magic, both from them and the weapons. I darted around the car to use it for cover.

One man flipped a switch, and blinding light filled the cavernous garage. Duncan also ducked behind the car, but it was too late. They’d spotted us.

“Radomir was right,” one barked, raising a rifle. “That’s not Ballinger.”

They lunged behind stout metal support posts, as if we might have firearms too. If only.

“Now could be the time for grenades,” I whispered to Duncan.

“We might want to catch one of them to question,” he replied softly.

I winced. That hadn’t gone well before. But since I didn’t have a reason to feel protective of my territory or tenants under my watch here, maybe I could refrain from turning into a wolf. If I wasn’t a wolf, however, I wouldn’t have a way to fight armed men amped up on potions.

“Come out from behind the car, you two.” The rifleman stood behind the post but leaned out enough to point his firearm in our direction.

I didn’t see the knifeman but sensed that he was on the move. The garage was filled with crates, rolling drawer-cabinets, machinery, a tractor, and a big auto that looked like a mix of a tank and an SUV. The man followed the wall, staying behind those items to try to circle behind us.

“If you lower your gun, we’ll be happy to come out for a chat,” Duncan said.

“That’s not how it works, buddy.”

“That’s the girl Radomir wants,” the man circling to get behind us called.

Who was Radomir? The boss? Mr. Raspy from the phone call?

“I don’t think they’re armed,” he added.

“That’s what you think,” Duncan muttered, then stepped out and threw something at the gunman.

Assuming it was the grenade, I ducked lower and wrapped my arms around my head.

The rifle fired three times as Duncan leaped back behind the car. Leaving silvery trails in the air, the bullets zipped across the warehouse and clanged off whatever they hit.

The rifleman cursed as a clunk sounded. I lowered my arms enough to eye Duncan. He crouched with his back to the car and was pulling in twine. Was that attached to the lemon-sized magnet we’d discussed?

Footsteps thudded on the other side of the car. Duncan pulled faster. Whatever he’d snagged on the magnet caught on the rear tire. He lunged to grab it and bring it back behind cover. The man’s rifle was stuck to his magnet.

By the time its owner sprang around the car, a dagger in his hand, Duncan rose to one knee and aimed the rifle at him.

“Drop the knife,” he said.

The guy froze and raised his hands above his head, but he didn’t drop the blade.

“To your right,” I whispered, glimpsing the second man near the tractor.

He leaned out, gripping a handgun and aiming at us.

Duncan whipped the rifle toward him and fired. So did his target, but Duncan ducked in time. I flattened myself to the cement floor.

The bullet pierced the rear car window that Duncan had been crouching in front of, and a spiderweb of cracks appeared. The closer man took advantage of the distraction and leaped toward Duncan.

Using the butt of the rifle, Duncan struck him in the chin. I ran toward the man who’d fired at us, not sure if Duncan’s bullet had caught him. He’d disappeared behind the tractor.

I spotted the handgun on the floor, along with spatters of blood, and plucked it up. I lacked experience with firearms, but I gripped it in both hands as I stepped around the tractor.

Face scrunched in pain, the man leaned against one of the giant wheels and held his bloody hand to his chest. He cursed when he saw me and kicked toward my wrist, trying to knock the gun away. His speed startled me, but I managed to leap back and avoid his boot.

“Stop.” I pointed the gun at his chest and reminded myself that these men had more speed and strength than typical.

A loud thud-crunch came from Duncan’s fight. Someone being slammed into the car? Hard enough to dent it?

My foe didn’t obey my order to stop. He inched forward in a crouch, his arms spread as if he would tackle me, and I could see the calculation in his eyes as he debated whether he could spring upon me before I could shoot him. Or maybe he was debating if I would shoot him.

“Where are the artifacts you stole being held?” I didn’t know if he’d had anything to do with the thefts, but, by now, I believed they were on this property. Or at least that they had been at one point.

He lunged in, slapping toward my gun hand. Again, I avoided his attempt to knock the weapon away, but frustration simmered inside of me, and my skin tingled with a hint of magic. Duncan might be right. I might have the power to change again tonight.

Trying to sound as calm and cold as possible, I said, “If you won’t tell me, I’ve no reason to keep you alive.”

“You barely know which end to point at me,” he said.

From Duncan’s fight came the sound of a fist connecting with flesh, then another thud. Something heavy toppled and clattered to the cement.

“And yet, I took care of the guys who were originally driving that car,” I said.

For the first time, a hint of uncertainty darkened his eyes.

“Where are the wolf artifacts?” I asked.

“I have no idea.”

“Who’s your boss? Do you have any idea about that? About who signs your paychecks?” I squinted at him. “And forces you to drink those potions that make you limp and give you the runs?”

A grunt of pain came from the fight—it didn’t sound like Duncan. Another crash followed.

Maybe thinking he was out of time, the guy in front of me leaned to the side, as if he would run to the left to escape me. I shifted the gun to track him, but he lunged back in and dove for my midsection.

Cursing, I fired.

The bullet took him in the top of the shoulder, but he still rushed in close, barreling into me with one arm wrapping around my torso. He took me down, but he thrashed at the pain of the shot and cried out in my ear. I drove my knee up into his groin, cracked him in the head with the handgun, and managed to squirm away from his grip.

As I rose to my knees, ready to shoot again if needed, Duncan sprang into view behind my attacker. Fury burned in his brown eyes. He had to be on the verge of changing too.

But it was with human hands that he grabbed my foe under the armpits and threw him into the tractor with stunning force. These men weren’t the only magically enhanced people here.

Duncan leaped after him, slamming the heel of his palm into our enemy’s jaw. His head jerked back, cracking the metal frame of the tractor. The man slumped, the fight going out of him, but Duncan grabbed him again and threw him past me and into stacked barrels. When he struck them, they tumbled, and he collapsed with them falling on top of him. He didn’t move.

I pushed myself to my feet. “I was trying to question him.”

“Did I get in the way of that?” Duncan looked me up and down for wounds, but the blood on the floor was theirs.

“Him being a turd and attacking me got in the way of it.”

“I had a similar experience with the other bloke.” Duncan led me back to the car and picked up his magnet, rolling up the twine to tuck it back into his pocket.

The man he’d been fighting lay bloody and not moving. I didn’t ask if he was dead.

Duncan also picked up the rifle. “That was noisier than I would have preferred. Whoever runs the security at this place is going to know we’re here.”

A blinking red light in the shadowy corner of the ceiling caught my eye, and I pointed to what had to be a camera. “I think they already know we’re here.”

Duncan grunted in agreement. “They probably did before we arrived. When the car took over.”

“Yeah.”

He looked around the garage, pointed at a man door in the back, and led the way toward it. By now, there might be more armed people heading to the garage from the front.

“Let’s see what we can find in that direction,” Duncan said.

“Before the rest of the security detail catches up with us?”

“Exactly.” He paused with his hand on the door and tilted his head.

Somewhere nearby, a wolf howled. A young wolf.

The voice didn’t sound familiar, not like the wolf who’d called when I’d been walking around Seattle with Duncan. This wasn’t one of my pack; I was fairly certain.

“We won’t have much time before reinforcements arrive,” I said when Duncan didn’t stir for a long moment.

A hard-to-read expression had crossed his face—maybe he recognized or was trying to place that howl?—but he only nodded and pushed open the door.