Quincey Morris, Supernatural Investigation: Evil Ways Part 30

"This year, the party's going to break up early," Morris said.

Someone from the back asked, "How are we gonna get there, anyway?"

"I rented three Ford Econoline vans. We leave at eight sharp, so please be ready, with all the gear you think you'll need."

A Latino woman grinned at him. "Gear? How do you know we call it that?"

"One of your Sisters is a good friend of mine." There was something in his voice that told some of the more discerning Sisters just how worried for Libby Chastain he was.

"Three vans, Quincey?" Ellie Robb asked. "Not my business, but I'm pretty sure we could all fit in two, if they're the big ones."

"I'm sure you could," Morris told her. "But with three, if one of them has mechanical trouble or a flat tire on the way, we can just stop the caravan and transfer its pa.s.sengers to the other two vans. We won't lose much time, that way."

Ellie pursed her lips, then nodded slowly. "Not bad. Not bad, at all. I begin to see why Libby speaks so highly of you."

"Thanks," Morris said. "And if everything goes just right tonight, maybe she'll have the chance to do it again."

Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

2:40pm

Libby Chastain, shackled hand and foot to the metal bed frame, used meditation techniques to quell the incipient panic within her. She had relied on the same disciplines to slow her metabolic rate, and was thus able to avoid the discomfort, not to mention the odor, of voiding her bladder or bowels. Periodically, she tensed and released her major muscle groups, one after another, to keep her body from growing stiff in its confinement.

She had not been greatly worried about Pardee's threat to have her raped, whether by humans or demons. The only one Pardee wanted hurting Libby Chastain was Pardee himself. And he intended to hurt her very badly, indeed.

If she had been wrong about the rape, Libby could have used some other techniques the Sisterhood had taught her, to lose consciousness at will, and thus avoid at least the immediate horrors of s.e.xual a.s.sault. But rape would have caused her another problem that could not be overcome through meditation and self-hypnosis, so Libby was doubly glad that her estimate of Pardee's character had proved accurate.

The shackles securing her had been made far too strong, first by the manufacturer and then by Pardee's magic, for Libby to have any realistic hope of freeing herself. Her only chance, slim though it was, would come when she was on the altar of sacrifice, in the seconds between when Pardee removed her clothing (to humiliate her and make her disembowelment easier) and pulled off her gag (to hear her pleas for mercy, followed by her screams when mercy was not forthcoming) before plunging his blade into her body. Libby made herself visualize the scene, Pardee's likely behavior, and her own desperate actions, which could be varied depending on the specifics of the situation.

When the time came, Libby would have to be very quick. But if she managed somehow to be just quick enough...

Chapter 24.

Spokane, Was.h.i.+ngton

4:41pm

The knock on Morris's door came as he was sharing a hastily ordered meal from room service. He hadn't been especially hungry, but was concerned that low blood sugar later in the evening could make him slow and stupid just when he needed to be quick and smart.

He opened the door to admit Eleanor Robb. "Sorry to be late," she said, "but I thought a bit of a pep talk might... Oh. Am I interrupting?"

"Not at all. We were just having some pre-operational chow," Morris said. "Ellie, meet Hannah Widmark. Hannah, Ellie Robb, who I've told you about."

The woman in black had stood, and Ellie approached her slowly. "Hannah Widmark," she said. "If half the stories I've heard are true, you must be a remarkable woman."

"Oh, I am," Hannah said, deadpan. "Absolutely." She extended her hand.

"You know," Ellie said, "as a member of a sect that embraces life and opposes violence, I cannot say that I approve of you."

Hannah said nothing, but lowered her hand.

"But as someone who has seen the evil wrought in this world by those whom you hunt, I cannot say I disapprove, either." She smiled and extended her own hand. "Pleased to meet you, Hannah."

Once they were all seated, Morris offered Ellie something to eat. She declined, but did accept a cup of coffee.

"As I started to say, I just finished spending a few minutes with each of the Sisters," Ellie said as she added Sweet 'n Low to her coffee. "They are brave women, or they would not have come-I did not lie to them about the dangers involved. But still, they fear for their safety, even if none of them have said so aloud."

"Hannah and I were just talking about that," Morris said. "Certainly, once Grobius or his people realize what your Sisters are doing, he'll try to stop them. Will he have Pardee use magic, do you think?"

"I doubt he'll have any to spare," Ellie said. "What they are trying to accomplish"-she shook her head at the sheer insanity of it-"will require all the magical power that can be brought to bear. Even then, it may not be enough, but we can't count on that, of course."

"Hannah and I had thoughts along the same line," Morris said. "But Grobius has security people, and we know they have weapons. There are licenses on file for his corporation's purchase of rifles, pistols, and shotguns. Whether their a.r.s.enal includes anything illegal, like automatic weapons or grenades, I'm afraid we're only going to find out the hard way."

"You must do what you can to protect my Sisters, Quincey," Ellie said. "They know they are risking their lives, bless them, but I will not have those lives just thrown away, no matter how great the cause."

"They won't be," Hannah said. "The ones throwing away their lives will be those who try to harm your Sisters."

Ellie Robb looked at her, then back at Morris. "This is one of those matters that I would prefer not to ask about," she said. "But in this instance, I'm afraid I must."

"We'll explain it all," Morris said. "But there are two other people who should be joining us shortly. Their plane landed about twenty minutes ago, and they called me from the Avis counter at the airport. They'll be here pretty soon, and we'll all work out the details of the plan that Hannah's come up with."

"It's a simple plan, really," Hannah told her.

"She's right," Morris said. "But then, a broken neck can be described as a simple fracture. Are you sure you wouldn't like some salad, or something, Ellie?"

They were almost done with the remains of the coffee when someone knocked at the door of Morris's room. He opened it to welcome an African-American man and a white woman. Ellie rose-to meet the man, and to embrace her Sister, Colleen O'Donnell.

Spokane, Was.h.i.+ngton

5:03pm

Morris had the aerial photos of Grobius's compound spread out on the low table where the five of them sat. "As you can see, the walls form a rectangle," Morris said. "Four sides, four gates. These circles I've drawn around the outside represent the approximate positions that the white witches will take, to conduct their own rituals."

"Why those particular positions?" Fenton asked.

"They give the lines of power the best angles to intersect," Ellie said. "This kind of magic, where you have a number of pract.i.tioners working toward the same goal, takes advantage of what management theorists call 'the a.s.sembly effect'-a group of people working together will produce something greater than the total of their individual efforts."

"I didn't think magic used the language of management theory," Fenton said, smiling a little.

"It doesn't, but I do," Ellie told him. "Just for explanatory purposes. And keep in mind that those... others... inside the compound are attempting the same thing. The Sisters must work together if we're to have any hope of offsetting their magic."

"It only stands to reason that someone inside the compound, probably Pardee, will realize what's going on outside and try to stop it," Morris said. "Ellie says he won't be able to spare any magical resources to do that-"

"Yes, she's right about that," Colleen said. "They can't afford to break their circle, once it's been formed."

"I hear you," Morris said. "So what Pardee's got left are Grobius's security people. We don't know how many for sure will be on s.h.i.+ft tonight. Maybe all of them, and the three s.h.i.+fts total thirty-six people. And they're armed."

"What with?" Fenton asked. "Handguns?"

"Rifles and shotguns, too, for certain," Morris told him. "And I wouldn't be surprised if Grobius has circ.u.mvented the federal firearms laws and bought those fellas some automatic weapons to play with, as well."

"Yeah, rich f.u.c.ks like that always figure the law doesn't apply to them," Fenton said, then looked up. "Pardon my language, ladies."

Ellie smiled at him. "I've been known to use the work f.u.c.k myself once in a while, Agent Fenton," she said.

"Yeah, don't f.u.c.kin' worry about it," Hannah said. She didn't smile, but there was a touch of levity in her voice.

"f.u.c.kin' A," Colleen said.

"Of course, what applies to those inside the compound is also true for us," Ellie said. "Once the Sisters are engaged in their rituals, they won't be able to use their magic to protect themselves against any attack-whether by people with guns, or anything else."

"That leaves it up to us," Hannah said. "Excuse me a moment."

She stood up and went to Morris's closet. Pus.h.i.+ng aside the sliding door, she removed, one at a time, four long, heavy boxes made of some s.h.i.+ny, dimpled metal. Each had a carrying handle and several locks.

Hannah laid the boxes out on the floor, and produced a set of keys. Ellie Robb watched in obvious fascination. The others appeared interested, but not especially curious. They had all seen rifle cases before.

Fenton shook his head once and muttered, "Knew it was going to come down to something like this."

"You wouldn't believe what it cost me to have these s.h.i.+pped as cargo in each plane that Quincey and I took to get here," she said, while unlocking the cases. "We had to change planes twice, and my biggest worry was that some baggage handler would get careless and send them to Pittsburgh, or someplace, by mistake." She opened the cases, one by one. "I could have bought replacements locally, but nothing nearly as good, and no time at all to zero them in."

The weapons that Hannah had revealed were not identical, but they had several features in common. Each had a telescopic sight attached, a light coating of oil, and the appearance of uncompromising lethality. These all looked exactly like what they were: extremely well-made killing machines.

Hannah rested her hand on one of the cases and looked at Fenton. "You should recognize this one, Agent Fenton. You went through the USMC Scout Sniper School, didn't you?"

Fenton nodded glumly. "I won't even ask how you know that," he said. "And you may as well call me Dale. I'm sure as s.h.i.+t not here in any official capacity."

"Okay, Dale," she said. "Well, this one's yours, for obvious reasons. It's zeroed in for five hundred meters, but I'm pretty sure we'll be closer than that, so you'll have to adjust your point of aim accordingly."

Hannah looked at Morris. "I remember you telling me, years ago, that you once did the Austin SWAT team's sniper course, Quincey."

Morris nodded. "Yeah, a cop buddy of mine cleared it with his boss, so I could take the course. I never thought I'd be using it to save the world, though. Just shows you."

"All right, then," Hannah said. "That just leaves you, Colleen. You ever work with a long gun before?"

"My family's full of hunters, me included," Colleen said. "Sometimes we'd go up to Montana, after Bighorn Sheep. We used rifles something like these here. It's been a while, but..."

"You ever hit any of those wild sheep?" Hannah asked.

"Stop down to the family home sometime," Colleen said. "All our trophy heads are still mounted on the wall. Eight of them have my name underneath."

Hannah looked at her for a few seconds, then nodded. "I guess you'll do."

"At the risk of seeming stupid, I need to ask just what you plan to do with these guns," Ellie said.

"Each of us will set up in range of one of the four gates to Grobius's compound," Morris said. "If the guards come out, and they probably will, they've gotta come through there. So when they do-"...

"We kill them," Hannah said.

"Hold up a second there, lady," Fenton said.

"I'm not a lady, Dale," Hannah said, matter-of-factly. "I haven't been for quite some time."

"Whatever," Fenton said. "My point is, we can try to wound them. It'll serve the same purpose, protecting the women."

Hannah looked at him. "Dale, have you ever tried to 'shoot to wound' with a weapon like this, at three hundred meters or more, and at night, besides?"

Fenton looked at her, but said nothing.

"You know as well as I do, there's only one thing you can do," Hannah said. "You put the crosshairs on the center of body ma.s.s, and you service the target."

"You sound very professional, Hannah," Ellie said.

"That's because I am," Hannah said. "And so is Dale, I bet, once he gets past all that FBI 'Come out with your hands up' bulls.h.i.+t. They didn't teach you to 'shoot to wound' in the Corps, Dale."

"That was in a war," Fenton said. His face had gone tight.