The Long Way Down (Daniel Faust #1)(80)

Corman nodded firmly. “Been a long time since I was the best, kiddo, but I’ve still got the juice where it counts. I’m in.”

“I’ll translate for Cormie,” Bentley said. “He doesn’t have much breath when he’s in a trance state. You wear an earpiece, and I’ll relay everything he says over the telephone.”

I turned to Margaux. “Mama, I’m expecting heavy wards. Keep-out-or-die kinda stuff. I seem to recall your spirit buddies are good at dismantling those.”

“Good? Hah! Those wards will crack like eggshells in a blender. Give me a couple hours, maybe three, to make the sacrifices and butter them up. My spirits’ll dance with you, Danny boy. No barrier built by mortal hands will stand in your way.”

“And for everything else,” Jennifer said, “you got me. Oh, I am going in with you. You know me, I’m a hands-on kinda witch, and I don’t mind the rough stuff.”

Caitlin cleared her throat. “I’ll be in communication with…my people. Preparing for the worst, in the event that they open the Box and my prince is summoned forth.”

I studied the napkin sketch. No way to tell what we’d face once we got inside. On astral overwatch, Corman’s disembodied eyes should be able to scout ahead and offer a few seconds of warning, but that was all the help we’d get. Once we hit the door, it’d be a twelve-floor sprint through everything they could throw at us.

“They’ll anticipate someone jimmying the door at the service entrance,” I said. “Good place for a nasty trap. I’d love to get in through the loading bay instead, but I’m not sure how. Any suggestions?”

“Boom-boom. Clump of C-4 the size of a butter stick,” Jennifer said.

“Loud,” Bentley said, “but they’ll almost certainly be alerted to your presence as soon as the assault begins, no matter how you go in. Loud and disorienting might be to our advantage.”

“Wait,” I said, “plastic explosives? You can get that?”

“Darlin’, I deal in mass quantities of recreational substances for a living. Outlaw bikers are some of my best customers. When I say I can get some boom-boom, I mean I can get some boom-boom. Lemme make some calls, I’ll have it by tonight.”

It made sense. Nicky had said he could keep the cops at bay, at least for a little while, and hopefully the back lot was secluded enough that the blast would sound more like fireworks or a backfiring car to the crowds a block away.

“I think we’re ready.” I pushed back my chair, offering my hand to Caitlin. “Let’s meet up at eight tonight. We’ll get the job done.”

It wasn’t much of a speech. I felt like I should say something to rally the troops, considering what was on the line, but then again I didn’t need to. Looking around the table at the resolve in their eyes, I could see that everybody knew the stakes. They’d follow me into hell if they had to.

I hoped that saying didn’t turn literal.

“One thing,” Jennifer said, handing me the long flower box. I took it in my hands, surprised by its weight. “I saved that for you, from the locust job we pulled on Spengler’s house. I think he’d want you to have it. Don’t open it here.”

Bentley held up a finger. “Daniel? A word?”

I nodded and walked with him to the opposite edge of the patio deck. He fumbled for words, and I waited patiently while he found them. I already knew what he was going to say.

“I’m not okay with this,” he said.

“I know.”

“No, please, hear me out. When Cormie and I found you, you were…a ruin. What that cult did to you, what those demons did inside of you, was unspeakable. Your spirit was in tatters, scarred, torn. Most people would have died from that kind of abuse, but you survived. You survived and grew into a vibrant, strong man who we are so very, very proud of.”

“You think it’s going to happen again. Is that it? You think Caitlin’s going to hurt me?”

Bentley shook his head, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes tightening.

“She’s a demon, Daniel. I’m not convinced she’s capable of not hurting you. I know what she is, and it scares me to death. But then…I saw how she looked at you.”

I nodded, holding my silence.

“It’s the way Cormie looked at me, when we were young. That’s what he whispered to me, when you sat down together. That the two of you reminded him of us.”

“This isn’t going to be easy,” I told him. “Not for any of us. I just need to know you’ve got my back.”

He pulled me into a hug, his bottom lip quivering. His shoulders felt frail in my arms, like a bird’s bones.

“Always, son,” he whispered. “Always.”





Forty



Caitlin and I didn’t say much on our walk back to the parking garage. She settled into the passenger seat while I put the flower box in the trunk. When I got in, she looked over at me, an unspoken word on her parted lips.

“You okay?” I asked.

“I’m processing,” she said. “This is all very new for me. They…they seem nice.”

She was looking for something. I could see it in her eyes, a strange uncertainty, a hunger she didn’t know how to deal with. I wasn’t certain what it was, but I had a hunch.