The Long Way Down (Daniel Faust #1)(73)

“Like a giant bar fight,” I said. “Right now it’s just a bunch of mean drunks poking at each other, but nobody wants to throw the first real punch. As soon as Sitri and Belephaia get into it, everyone with a hunger for power will jump in, and pretty soon it’s…”

“Armageddon,” Caitlin said. “Nobody is ready for that. We are not ready for that. Oh, we’ll take this planet, Daniel, but on our schedule.”

“It’s a long con. It’s brilliant, is what it is.”

She arched her eyebrow at me. “Hrm?”

I buttoned my shirt, sketching out the scam in my mind. The pieces fell together in perfect symmetry. Everything fit. I just couldn’t see it before now.

“The smoke-faced men. They set Lauren up. Juiced her up somehow, gave her magic and a messiah complex to go with it. Her entire plan is centered around building the Enclave. No idea what she’s trying to do with it or why, some part of her mission to save the world, but that’s the thing: the faceless men don’t give a damn. The Enclave was never going to be built. It’s the bait, the mission they made up to string her along. As far as Lauren’s concerned, opening the box is just going to put a couple of ancient demons under her control. Another tool, more resources, more power. The faceless men gave her twenty years to study, to practice, to gather cash and influence and the will to use it.

“Now the timing is perfect and Lauren has a little cult of followers who are just as driven as she is, guaranteeing the job will get done right. The Box suddenly pops up in the Middle East, off the radar for centuries, but somehow both Lauren’s agents and a tomb raider like Spengler catch wind of it in the same week? I’d bet hard cash they weren’t the only people who heard the news. They were just the first to get there. Spengler only won the race by dumb luck. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“The faceless men planted it and spread rumors to make sure it’d be found,” Caitlin said, nodding. “They dropped it right in Lauren’s path when they felt she was ready to pay the price to unlock it. After two decades of slow corruption, she’d be eating right out of their hands.”

I nodded. “Damn right. Not just anybody could murder their families in the name of power and still think they were on the side of the just. That takes some hardcore mental dissonance. All this time they’ve been grooming Lauren and her pals for the big show.”

“My prince,” Caitlin sighed. “That lock has his fingerprints all over it, one of his black jokes. People have come up with all kinds of fantasies about what’s in the Box, but they’d never get near it. Only the ones who knew what was really inside could lay hands on the thing, and the only people who would want to free an angel from its chains are the very sort of people who could never slaughter their loved ones and pluck out their souls for a sacrifice. It’s ingenious. He just didn’t account for it falling in the hands of the manipulated and misguided.”

“Guess he’s not as smart as you think,” I said, then immediately regretted it. I waved a hand, backing off under the weight of her glare. “So who are the smoke-headed nutjobs pulling the strings? They don’t work for hell, so what’s their angle?”

Caitlin shook her head. “There are other forces in the universe. The question will keep. For now, I want you to fly back without me. I need to talk to my prince, to warn him and assess our options.”

“Don’t you want me to stay with you?”

“No, the car won’t even arrive for another three hours at least, and you wouldn’t be welcome where they’re taking me.”

“Um, what about the, uh…” I gestured at her phone.

“What?”

“The, uh, you know. What you said on the phone? The car has to be here in an hour or you’ll make them eat their own skin?”

“Oh!” she said, blinking with surprise. “Oh, no, I only punish willful disobedience. Still, if I didn’t make the threat, they wouldn’t grasp the urgency. It’s a cultural thing.”

? ? ?

I felt strange sitting next to an empty seat, waiting for my plane to take off. I hadn’t been far from Caitlin’s side since last night. The sensation of our first kiss was still ripe in my imagination. I missed her already.

It was crazy, the idea of me and her, but sometimes life goes better with a little craziness. The future came with its own pile of worries, but for now I’d play it like I had a fat stack of chips on the table and Lady Luck blessing my hand: let it ride.

Of course, that assumed there would be a future to share with her.

With ten minutes to takeoff, I took out my phone. I had an idea. It was a long shot, but I had to try.

“Carmichael-Sterling Nevada, how may I direct your call?”

“Lauren Carmichael please,” I said.

“I’m sorry, she’s in meetings all day and can’t be disturbed. Can I take a message?”

“Tell her it’s Daniel Faust on the line. She’ll want to talk to me.”

Their hold music was soft jazz. I stared out the window at the tarmac, feeling the seconds slip away.

“You’re not dead,” Lauren said. From her tone I couldn’t tell if she was disappointed or impressed.

“Can’t say the same for your boy Tony Vance.”

She hesitated. “That was you? I assumed he committed suicide.”