Gameboard of the Gods

CHAPTER 32 DESPERATE TIMES AND ALL THAT

“Something important” was kind of an understatement.

Justin never would’ve believed Mae’s genetic past and subsequent fight with a shape-shifting woman could be trumped by anything. Apparently, it was one of the rare times he was wrong. Equally incredible was listening to Tessa put together facts in the interview with the old man. Justin had known she was smart, but even he was amazed at her ability to ask the right questions. She’d had no idea how it all worked together, but her gut had told her to just keep gathering information.

Even prodigies needed sleep, however, and in the middle of her video’s third viewing, he saw that Tessa was exhausted. He sent her off to bed while he and Mae held a war council in his room, both of them pointedly not sitting on the bed. Exerzol had given Justin a second wind, though he was so wired by the flood of data tonight that he couldn’t have slept anyway. Mae, although not technically tired, had a weary look on her face, the expression of someone who was mentally drained.

Justin paced the room. “It’s here, Mae. There’s always a pattern, and we’ve almost got it.”

“I feel like we just kind of have a mess.”

“That too. But look. There are genetically superior patricians being engineered—magically or otherwise—with the assistance of some religious group. Said group sacrifices a plebeian to do it and demands a hefty price tag, as well as devotion from the designer baby.” He thought back to his conversation with Callista and how she’d mused that a god might like “perfect” followers, though she hadn’t understood why that god would kill said creations off. Now he knew. “But if they aren’t loyal, they’re sacrificed too and ‘returned’ to their goddess. Ilias Sandberg openly refused. None of the other victims mentioned being approached, but they were all antireligion, which suggests they weren’t on board with some war or death goddess—hence they had to be dealt with.”

“The video is real, then,” she said. He could tell it took her a lot of effort to admit that. “We were seeing some supernatural assassin.”

“It would appear so. Mae…” For a few moments, he couldn’t go forward. Studying her and all those lovely features, he desperately wished he didn’t have to bring up a subject that would only worsen their troubled relationship. But too much was on the line. “Please hear me out. Let me finish what I’m about to say.”

The wary look on her face said she knew what was coming. “Okay.”

“We know now that you were engineered too. You’re the right age and have the right score. You have some ‘dark’ goddess following and possessing you, one that usually shows up when you’re fighting. I’m not exactly saying that’s a direct link to war and death, but it’s pretty close. You have to see that.”

To his relief, she didn’t blow up at him. She simply clung to her safety blanket. “I’m not a match.”

“I know, but is there anything else you can tell me about this goddess that seizes you? The ravens only get impressions off her. They aren’t all-knowing, no matter how much they like to put on airs. You’re the most direct connection we have. Please. Is there any other attribute you can think of to help us find these people before the next murder?”

Part of him wanted to go back and interrogate Astrid Koskinen. She had to know more about this cult than she’d let on. And yet…she’d been so convincing when she denied any knowledge.

She could just be better than you, Horatio said.

I know. I could easily bring her in as a person of interest, but that’d unearth a lot about Mae, not to mention implicate her mother in illegal activity.

They didn’t really seem to get along, the raven reminded him.

It was true, but if there was some other way he could get what he needed to know, he’d try that first—if there was enough time. An internal struggle obviously raged through Mae. She was probably starting to accept that there were too many coincidences surrounding her life, but getting on board with this still had to be a shock to her system. She swallowed.

“There might be. There’s this man who—”

Justin’s ego rang. Irritated at the interruption, he started to silence the call when he saw the display showing a blocked number in Mexico. “Send call to the screen,” he told it. He answered and found Callista Xie glaring at Mae and him.

“Where,” she demanded, “did you get it?”

“Get what?” asked Mae. Seeing Callista snapped her out of her malaise and put her back in tough prætorian mode.

Justin already knew what Callista was referring to. Before his ill-fated trip to the casino, he’d sent the picture of Mae’s necklace off to the authorities in the respective castes. On impulse, he’d also sent a copy to Callista.

“A couple of my genetically perfect castals had it,” he said, leaving Mae’s name out of this for now. “Does it mean anything to you?”

“It’s the symbol of the servants of the Morrigan.”

Immediately, Justin sifted through his mental files of gods and mythology. “Celtic,” he said. He felt a sinking sensation in his stomach. “She fights with warriors in battle and appears to people before death….”

Mae gave him an incredulous look. “You knew there was a goddess like that and didn’t make the connection?”

“That applies to a hundred gods around the world,” he shot back. “I didn’t know which one it was. Death and battle are pervasive themes in the human experience.” He turned back to a scowling Callista. “She’s tied to other things too.”

“Silver and moonlight?” suggested Mae wryly. “And crows?”

“Yes,” he admitted. “And cows too, weirdly. Some also theorized she was a triple goddess and would’ve possessed other attributes through her different aspects.”

“Not in the beliefs of her recent followers,” said Callista. “They were—are—focused on her darker parts. They prefer power over enlightenment.”

“How do you know so much?” asked Mae suspiciously.

“Because Amarantha is a warrior goddess, and I make it my business to know about rivals.”

“I thought Amarantha was a goddess of magic.”

“She’s both.” Impatient, Callista fixed her dark gaze on Justin. “You have to stop the Morrigan. Her people will kill again.”

“I know they will! What do you think I’m trying to do here?” he asked. “If you know so much, where are they?”

Callista looked sheepish. “I don’t know. On a Celtic grant probably.”

“Very helpful,” he grumbled.

One thing that made plebeians scornful of patricians was that at times it was really hard to define a genetic profile for an ethnic group. Sometimes the genes were telling. Often, castes went by phenotype, which could make things messy when a nationality could have any number of features. The Celtic castes were all over the place on their true ancestral appearances. Some argued for a light-haired, fair-skinned presence while others insisted the Celtic people had migrated from Iberia and had darker looks. The competing Irish castes—the Erinians and Hibernians—were particularly dysfunctional. Half the time, the traits a caste selected for seemed arbitrary. The Welsh caste had split the difference in accepted Celtic traits, and most citizens had pale skin, black hair, and dark blue or brown eyes. There were also two “meta” Celtic castes, which embraced multiple nationalities, much as the Nordics allowed all the Scandinavian regions and Finland.

The bottom line was that there were any number of Celtic grants this cult could be hiding in. Picking up his ego, Justin told it to bring up any servitor records of the Morrigan. It pulled up an investigation and subsequent license denial from twenty-six years ago—which made sense if that was when the genetically engineered castals had stopped being created. Their last location had been a plebeian city, which only complicated things.

“They didn’t stay shut down,” Callista told him. “They disappeared from my people too, but we get enough hints now and then to know they’re still practicing.”

“Yeah, it’s been a little more extensive than ‘hints.’ We can probably assume it’s a light-haired caste, based on the description of the guy who visited the victims.” Inspiration suddenly struck Justin. “Hang on,” he told Callista. He issued a series of commands to the screen.

It divided into two images, one of which was Callista’s face. The other half displayed a map of the land grants in the Great Plains region of the country. Red dots in each grant marked the patrician victims, while green dots displayed the other living eights and nines in their respective castes. Yellow dots outside the borders indicated the plebeian deaths.

“You’ve got a lot more plebeians there than patricians,” Callista observed. “Even counting the living ones.”

“Because we’re only looking at these five grants,” he said. “The Morrigan’s people probably worked on other castes. They just haven’t had any deaths to catch our attention. I bet there’s a perfect patrician for every plebeian there. And statistically, you’d expect some plebeian deaths to occur for nonsacrificial reasons.”

Mae suddenly stood up. “There’s a pattern.”

“There’s always a pattern.”

“No, look.” She pointed. “All the plebeian and patrician deaths make a circle around this grant. Is that the Pan-Celts?”

“Yes,” said Justin, excitement racing through him. “One of the metas. Light haired, just like our guy.”

“A lot of area for a group to hide out,” said Callista with obvious dismay.

Justin shook his head in bitter amusement. “It’d be nice if your interest in stopping them was out of altruism for those poor victims, but something tells me you’re more concerned with getting rid of a threat to your group.”

“She should be,” said Mae unexpectedly. “Because they want to kill her.”

Both Justin and Callista stared. “How do you know that?” he asked.

“Because he asked me to. The, uh, guy who visited the others. He’s come to me a couple of times.”

Justin couldn’t formulate any words right away. “What? And you only just now thought to mention it?”

“Don’t take that tone,” she snapped. “I didn’t make the connection, any more than you did with a goddess who apparently fits all the criteria we’ve got! I thought he was trying to extort me for the Swedish mafia.”

“What’s going on?” asked Callista, angry at being left out.

“Oh, I must have forgotten to mention that the uncontrollable force that follows Mae is the Morrigan.” Seeing Callista’s mouth drop in shock, Justin quickly preempted any protests. “Don’t question or make accusations. We’re dealing with it.” He turned to Mae. “He seriously asked you to kill her?”

Mae nodded. “Wasn’t specific on the means. No mention of a silver dagger.”

A troubling thought occurred to Justin. “Did he threaten you?” Even when he’d first suspected Mae might have a connection, he’d never considered she might be in real danger. After all, she wasn’t like the others. She was unstoppable…right?

“What he said isn’t important,” Mae said.

“It is if your life’s on the line!”

“It’s not. No shadow creature’s coming after me. Worry about these other patricians.”

“And worry about the fact that they’re eliminating their rivals too.” Callista’s face darkened with outrage. “Now do you see that they need to be stopped? For me, for her, for the others! They need to be disbanded and destroyed!”

Justin was growing frustrated, still shaken by the idea of something happening to Mae. “Yes, yes, I know! But we can’t do anything until we find them.”

She fixed him with a cold look. “Then I suggest you start looking. And you…” She turned to Mae. “You start taking this seriously if you don’t want to be next. I told you before. If you want to be free, you need to break them. You could save yourself and the others. I…might be able to help you.”

“I don’t need your help,” said Mae.

“Yeah, you’re doing great on your own,” said Callista dryly. “Fix this. Immediately.” She disconnected.

Mae glared at the screen. “I really don’t like her.”

“Yeah, well, she helped us out with the name. We know a lot about the group now. We know a lot about you, whether you like it or not.” He raked a hand through his hair with a sigh. The Exerzol was crashing down on him. “Everything except where they are. I wish you’d told me about that guy.”

“So you could nobly throw yourself in front of me?” A glint in those eyes told him the ramifications of his earlier refusal weren’t going away any time soon. “It was my business, not yours. And I certainly never could’ve guessed the bigger picture. I thought he was blackmailing me about my niece.” She gave him a brief rundown of her encounters with Emil. It left Justin reeling.

“Well, at least it’s still—” His ego rang again. “Fuck, doesn’t anyone sleep?” It was still synched to the screen, which identified the caller as Leo. At least he had the excuse of an earlier time zone.

Leo appeared when Justin answered, not looking tired in the least. In fact, there was a light in his face that Justin knew well: the light of a breakthrough.

“I’ve got it,” he said. “I know how your video could’ve been faked.”

It was a blow to Justin’s finely tuned theories. He’d grown comfortable with the idea of the shadowy assassin being some supernatural manifestation. If the video was proven to be a fake, then that meant the murderers had resorted to practical means, which still didn’t rule out the Morrigan’s involvement. It just meant they were using smoke and mirrors to scare others.

Still, Justin was anxious enough to find out the results that he changed their travel plans to go straight to Portland from the Nordic grant. He considered bringing Tessa but ended up sending her home on the original flight. She’d already been involved in too much.

When he and Mae stepped into Leo’s house, they found a makeshift movie studio. Cameras and equipment Justin couldn’t identify had been arranged around the living room, and a transparent plastic screen sat near one of the walls. He stared around in amazement.

“What’s all this?”

“Your answer,” said Leo excitedly. His worse half came strolling in, looking as unpleasant as usual.

“Saw a news story about a shooting on the Nordic land grant,” Dominic remarked casually. “They say a prætorian was involved.”

“Must have been a lucky break for them,” Mae replied evenly. “Having one on hand.”

Meanwhile, Leo could barely contain himself. “Let’s do this.” He put on a skintight black suit and hood, similar to what scuba divers wore, except shinier. He flipped on some of the equipment and shifted the clear screen so that it was between him and them. And then, just like that, his form became translucent and smoky and shot across the living room. He took off his head covering and grinned, looking at all of them expectantly.

“It’s not fast enough,” said Mae, speaking at last.

“And there’s no way someone could set all this up without the victim noticing,” added Justin. He didn’t know if he should be relieved or disappointed that they hadn’t proven the fraud. “It’s a good effort, Leo. Really. But I don’t think it’s a match.”

“Good effort?” Leo’s eyes bugged. “Do you know how long it took me to set this up? To get ahold of this kind of light-refraction equipment? I’ve looked at that video’s code a million times! It wasn’t tampered with. Whatever we’re seeing was done on site, and this is a match. If it’s not this, then it really is some kind of mystical apparition!”

Justin and Mae exchanged glances. “That’s becoming more and more of a possibility,” he muttered. “I’m sorry, but this isn’t it.”

Leo still looked a little put out that his brilliance wasn’t being lauded, but he made no more protests. “I can keep trying.”

“I don’t know that it’s needed,” said Justin. “What we really need is to find an unlicensed cult serving a Celtic death goddess.”

“Isn’t that what you do all the time?” asked Dominic, a challenge in his voice.

“A little harder when they’re not licensed,” Justin retorted.

Leo didn’t seem so sure. “Didn’t you used to be tight with some groups in the underground?”

“Very tight,” murmured Mae.

“My best source couldn’t help,” Justin said.

She suddenly frowned. “What about your other one? Geraki?”

“I—no.” The suggestion momentarily stunned Justin, then he shook his head adamantly. “No. Definitely not. He’s not a source. He’s a stalker at best.”

“I don’t like him either, but he’s wired into that stuff, right? And he claims he wants to help you. He even did kind of help you.”

“He’s crazy,” Justin told her. That, and Geraki wasn’t like Callista. Superficially, they shared a lot of the same traits. Both were cunning and charismatic. Both were smart enough to command others without calling attention to it. But there was something about Geraki that made Justin’s skin crawl.

Because you’re connected, said Magnus. And he knows things about you.

He could help if you’d give him a chance, added Horatio. Probably with this. Most certainly with your calling. You need to start learning the craft.

“Justin?” Mae leaned toward him, eyes concerned. He realized he’d spaced out. With a feeling of dread, he made his decision. He had only a few days left. Desperate times and all that.

He sighed. “Excuse me a moment.”

He went outside, leaving the rest of them looking confused. “Call Demetrius Devereaux,” he told his ego. “Voice only.”

“Justin,” boomed Geraki when he answered. “Look at that. And here I thought I was going to have a boring day.” Even without seeing him, Justin could imagine the smug look.

“You claimed you wanted to help me last time. Is that still true?”

“No small talk, huh? What kind of help could a megalomaniac like me offer?”

Justin gritted his teeth. “I’d like to know if there’s an unlicensed religion in the Pan-Celt grant. One serving the Morrigan.”

“Haven’t heard that name in a while. Why would I know anything about unlicensed religions? You’ve made some mistake—a rarity, I know.”

“Goddamn it! We all know you’re lying. I’m not asking you to give up anything on yourself and whatever nonsense you’re running.” Justin paused to take a deep breath. “I won’t say anything to SCI. But I need to know about this group. They’re killing innocents, and even if you’re crazy, I don’t think you want death on your hands.”

“‘Crazy’ is an arbitrary term. And someone like you isn’t in a position to judge sanity.” But Geraki didn’t outright refuse. “If I could do this—and I’m not saying I can—what would you give me in return?”

“What do you want? And don’t ask for something illegal.”

“All I want is for you to do what I asked the last time we met.”

“You asked for a lot of things. Most of which I didn’t understand. Because they made no sense.”

“You understood what I meant by yielding your stars and flowers.” Geraki’s voice was low and dangerous. “That doesn’t sound too bad to me. A good bargain for information about a group you claim is killing people. If I can even find out such things, of course.”

Something in Justin’s chest tightened as Geraki’s previous words rang in his head. Yield your stars and flowers and accept the clever compromise.

“I know what the stars and flowers mean but not the rest. I can’t do what I don’t understand.”

“I’m sure our master will make it clear. When he does, promise you’ll do it.”

“Fine,” said Justin, wondering just how much he’d regret this. “I’ll do it—if you can even find out anything.”

“Swear you’ll do it,” said Geraki. “And that this isn’t being used as entrapment.”

“I swear it,” said Justin promptly.

“What do you swear by?”

“Does it matter?”

He could tell Geraki was smiling. “No. Your word will hold you, so don’t try to break it. Hang on, and I’ll call you back.”

The call disconnected, and Justin wondered exactly how long he was supposed to “hang on.”

He got his answer a few minutes later, one that was surprisingly detailed, if slightly ridiculous. But Justin made note of all the information Geraki gave him, promised to make good on the enigmatic deal, and then returned to his friends inside.

“Well,” he declared. “I may have our hit. Turns out there’s a grain warehouse in the Pan-Celt grant we might be interested in.”

“Classy. Are you going to call in a raid?” asked Leo.

“I don’t know.” Justin leaned against the wall and passed his ego from hand to hand. “I could, but if nothing shows up, I’m going to face a lot of heat for sending military to a grant based on circumstantial evidence—especially if I really do keep Geraki out of it. I had a pissed-off voice mail this morning from Cornelia about what happened last night with the Nordics. Public shootings don’t go over well. If I do something else spectacular that doesn’t pan out, I could be in a lot of trouble.”

Mae met his eyes, knowing what was on the line, despite how angry she was with him. “What if we did a preliminary visit?” she asked. “Unofficial. It can’t be that hard getting into a warehouse. We look, and if you get your proof, then you go in for the kill. If nothing’s there, we quietly leave.”

Leo gave a harsh laugh. “Bold, but how exactly do you plan on breaking in? Do you have some technical expertise we don’t know about, prætorian? Even a grain warehouse has a security system.”

“One that’d be easy for a technical genius like yourself to crack,” said Justin. It was a crazy plan, no question, but they’d passed the point of sanity a long time ago.

“You and I have different definitions of ‘easy,’” said Leo.

“Leo…” Justin’s voice cracked a little. “I don’t want to sound melodramatic, but getting to the bottom of this might be essen—beneficial to my job. I wouldn’t be suggesting something this drastic otherwise.”

“She suggested it.” But everyone could tell Leo was considering it.

Dominic nearly choked. “You’re all crazy! Do you hear what you’re saying?”

“We’re saying we potentially have the chance to crack open this case and bust a cult that’s killing people and conducting illegal genetic procedures.” Justin shifted into sales mode. “All we need is one hint of that. Hell, if we just find evidence of an unlicensed religion, it’ll be a good day’s work. That video becomes irrelevant. We’ll see what schematics we can get in advance about the place. It should give you an idea of what we need to get in, Leo.”

Dominic still looked dumbfounded. “If you’re going, then I’m going. Not that you should be going.”

He and his husband locked eyes for several tense seconds. “Okay,” said Leo at last. “We’ll take a car. Dom doesn’t like public transportation.”

All of Justin’s dislike for Dominic returned. “A car will take forever!”

“Just twenty-four hours,” said Leo. “We’ll sleep along the way.”

Justin tried to size Dominic up. “What do you have to offer in this zany adventure? Drinks for the road?”

“Dom’s a good person to have your back. Let Mae do the heavy lifting, and keep him around just in case.” Leo smiled, but there was a nervous edge to it. “Besides, I’d like the company.”

Once the fateful decision was made, the four of them huddled together to hash out plans. They spent the rest of the day analyzing what satellite and land records they could get ahold of on short notice, as well as planning the logistics of such a feat. When evening fell, they had as solid a plan as they were going to get. Unfortunately, it was going to take Leo nearly two days to get some necessary equipment—putting them in the grant the day before the full moon.

Cutting it close, said Horatio as Justin and Mae rode the train back to Vancouver.

Nothing to be done but wait and see how it unfolds, Justin told him.

You’re the one who’ll be waiting, said Magnus. She’s going to be doing all the work. She’s risking herself for you.

Justin glanced at Mae out of the corner of his eye. She sat next to him, reading on her ego, her hair hanging around her face in a golden wave.

“Mae…” She glanced up too quickly, making him think she hadn’t been reading. “Thank you for this. I know what a big risk you’re taking for me.”

Her face was carved of marble. “It’s for my country.” She looked back down again, and his stomach sank.

I guess I have to take what I can get, he thought.

You can help her, said Horatio.

How? I’m no prætorian. I’m not even a tank like Dominic.

You have the potential for power beyond physical strength, said Magnus. If you’d just open yourself to it.

I’m not interested in your mystical training. I’m not serving any god.

What harm is one spell? Horatio paused for impact. One that could keep her safe.

The only way she’d be safe is if she stayed at home. But Justin was intrigued, and he dared another covert look at her. What would I have to do?

He could feel the ravens’ excitement. Close your eyes, said Magnus. And concentrate on the symbol we’re about to show you….