Working for the Devil

CHAPTER 48

"Holy motherfucking shit," Gabe whistled out tunelessly. "Would you look at that."

"What about the radiation scans?" I asked.

"Flatline. They can't see us," Jace said, leaning over Gabe's shoulder, buckling his rig. "Ogoun…" he breathed. "Damn."

"Impressive," Gabe giggled. It was a carefree, girlish sound, but it set my teeth on edge. "Looks like a bad holovid villain's hideaway."

Below us, the icy sea broke foaming against sheer cliffs. The island was a hunk of rock rising from icefloes, and the castle crouched atop it, spires of stone rearing up from darkness, decked with tiny yellow and blue points of light. It looked like something out of a Gothic fairytale, spire upon spire, screaming gargoyle shapes torn out of the stone.

"Get me a laseprint of that," I said, and Jace's fingers danced over a keyboard. The computers hummed. A laseprinter droned into life. "Are you sure we're invisible?"

Eddie tore the paper free. "Looks like antiaircraft batteries here, here, here, and here," he said, smacking the printout down on a small foldout table. "If they knew we were here, they'd blast us out of the sky."

I passed my palm over the smooth paper. We'd done our final equipment checks. All that remained was to actually drop out the side hatch and start causing trouble. "Jace, get me a couple of different views. Gabe, keep us going slow. Magscan shielding is no good unless we drift a bit."

"I know, Mom," Gabe sneered. "Let me fucking drive, okay?"

"They are unaware," Japhrimel said. "Dante, this place is heavily guarded."

"Good," I said. "The more confusion, the better."

Jace laid another two printouts down. "More?" he asked, and my eyes met his. It was a moment of complete accord, the kind we used to have while we were working together.

"Can you penetrate the shielding?" I asked.

"That is no trouble," the demon answered, his eyes never leaving me. "Santino has no demon shielding; if he did, Lucifer could track him. He is naked here, depending on secrecy."

"Good." I spread my hands over the printouts. "Japhrimel, make sure I don't bleed through," I said.

He nodded. "Of course."

I focused, looking for the link I'd followed before. It was weak—the child wasn't Doreen, and she wasn't human. But then again, neither was I. Not anymore.

I followed the thread-thin cable stretched tautly over the roiling sea below. Reaching. Reaching.

Contact.

— who are you—

The voice was neither male nor female, but it was familiar, as familiar to me as my own. A wave of heat sparking up my arms, into my bones, my heart pounding, mouth full of copper.

Disengage, ripping free, link open, too open, salt against raw wound, Doreen, the memory of Doreen tilting her head back, her hands full of blue-white fire, her blood everywhere—

— who are you—

The contact stretched. My mental «fingers» froze, unable to let go, as whoever it was—the kid? But no kid can be this strong—examined me like a fly caught in a glass.

I stumbled back. Japhrimel caught my shoulders, steadied me, absorbed the backlash of Power. He rested his chin on top of my head. "Dante?"

"Fine." I said. My fingertip glued itself to a space on the printout. Whatever that is, it's not a kid. It looks like a kid, but it's not a kid. But it's Doreen's, and I promised. "She's here. We'll hit here hardest and extract her."

"Sounds good," Gabe said. "I'll put ol' Betsy here on autopilot."

I looked up at Eddie. The shaggy blond Skinlin bitched his leather coat higher on his shoulders, then checked his guns for the umpteenth time. "Maybe you should stay here, Gabe," I suggested.

"Fuck that," she returned equably, her fingers tapping an AI pilot deck. Coordinates entered, she slid out of the captain's chair and picked up her rig, buckling herself into it. Projectile guns, plasguns, knives, and triggers for various spells settled into their accustomed places. Even in a rig she looked impossibly elegant. "I'm not about to stay in here while you go have all the fun."

"You can pilot this thing; we need a getaway driver."

"Quit fussing, Mom." Gabe rolled her eyes, shoved a pin through her braided hair. "Why don't you stay up here and cover us?"

"That's Jace's job," I returned. Then I looked down at the printouts. My finger rested over one of the yellow points of light, low down on the south side of the castle, in one of the most difficult-to-access parts. "Japhrimel, can you… umm, fly?"

"I can get you into that window, Dante," he replied. "I can't carry more than one, though."

"Don't worry about us," Gabe piped up. "We brought slicboards."

"I don't suppose I can talk you out of this." I rolled my head back; Japhrimel's lips met my temple. Jace glanced down at the printouts. I tore my finger away from the table with some difficulty, shook my hand out. My heartbeat took on the usual prejob pace—too quick to be resting, too slow to be pounding, adrenaline flooding my bloodstream.

"Wait a minute," Jace said. "I'm not staying here. You need backup."

"I've got Japhrimel," I said, without thinking about it.

There, it was out. Jace's mouth twisted down at the corners. Japhrimel's arms tightened slightly. The mark on my left shoulder flushed with velvet heat.

"We're too small a group to leave someone topside," Eddie said. "We need everyone we've got down there making trouble."

I hunched my shoulders. "You're all fucking crazy." I put my hand out, palm-down, over the table. "All right. We all go in together."

Gabe placed her hand over mine. "All together, and the gods help us."

Eddie covered our hands with his hairy paw. "Fuck 'em all," he growled.

Jace, then. "I won't be left behind," he said. "Not on something like this."

Japhrimel paused, and then slid to the side. He laid his hand over ours. "May your gods and mine protect us," he added judiciously.

"I didn't know demons had gods." Gabe grinned. It was her combat grin, light and fierce.

We broke as if at a prearranged signal, and I looked up at Japhrimel. "Be careful, okay?" I rubbed my katana's hilt with my thumb.

His face was as grim and murderous as I'd ever seen it. The eerie green glow from the instruments bathed him in a radioactive aura. "Do not worry over me, Dante. I have fought many battles in my time."

I looked down at the printouts, my mouth dry. The place was massive, and I had no clue where Santino would be hiding.

Jace opened the side hatch as the hover drifted. "Dat-bands?" he yelled over the sudden roar of wind, water, and pressurized airseals. The commlinks in everyone's ears crackled into life. I shook my head—I hated commlinks, but I couldn't spare the concentration keeping a telepathic five-way link open would cost me.

I held mine up, Gabe and Eddie copying me. We were all three keyed into the hover's intranet, which meant we could track each other with our datbands. Gabe extracted a long NeoSho slicboard from a crate in the pile of supplies. I checked my plasgun for the fiftieth time. Eddie took the NeoSho and Jace pulled out his Chervoyg. The hum of powering-up antigrav filled the air.

Gabe grinned. "See ya in the funny papers," she yelled, and ran for the door. Eddie followed, coasting his slicboard out into the Jetstream and leaping, the green-yellow glow of Skinlin sorcery limning him. He's triggered the golem'ai to start the distraction, I thought, and shivered. The mudlike creatures gave me the willies. "Japhrimel," I yelled over the noise, "just cause as much damage as you can once we've grabbed the kid. Level the whole place, if you can."

He nodded curtly, his coat beginning to stream and flap, separating in front. I swallowed hard. Jace dropped out the hatch, two plasguns already in his hands, his sword tucked through his belt. I took a deep breath. "Catch me?" I yelled, and Japhrimel nodded.

I didn't wait for more, simply ran for the hatch and launched myself into the night. Before I could lose my nerve.