A Glimmer of Hope (The Avalon Chronicles #1)(97)

“Mum wants you to get to him first?” Kasey asked as she entered the room to Tommy’s obvious irritation. “What? I assumed this was a free-for-all meeting.”

Chloe and Jared entered behind Kasey, with Harry in tow.

“We don’t know where Elias is,” Tommy continued, as if he hadn’t been interrupted. “But then no one else seems to either. And if they do, they’re not sharing that information. But it won’t be long before Nergal contacts his allies in Avalon and either has Elias removed from circulation and brought back to him, or removed on a more permanent basis. We need to find Elias before anyone else. The one good thing is that redcaps do not tell people where their original home is. We’d hoped that Shane might be able to tell us, but he doesn’t know.”

“So, torturing him was for nothing?” Layla said with a touch of anger in her voice.

“Torture doesn’t work on everyone, and it certainly wasn’t going to work on Shane. Masako just spoke to him and got nowhere. She’s a scary lady.”

“We have another good thing,” Harry said. “Elias wants Chloe dead.”

“Seriously?” Chloe asked. “That’s a good thing?”

“Sure,” Harry said without an ounce of irony. “He seems like the kind of person who doesn’t let things go easily. I’ve been reading up about him, and frankly he’s insane, but he also lives by his own moral code. And you killed someone he cares about. He won’t quit until he’s dead, or Chloe is.”

“You want to use me as bait?”

Harry shook his head. “How did you get that from what I said? Seriously, you need to go on holiday or something. You’ve been around crazy people too long.”

“Today, Harry,” Tommy said.

“My point is, Elias isn’t just going to pick up sticks and leave, not while Chloe is still alive, and not while Layla is still free. He’s been hired to do a job, and he’ll complete it or die trying.”

“And you know this how?” Diana asked.

Harry brandished a USB drive. “I downloaded everything you have on him and went through it. It’s not like I had anything else to do, so I figured why not. Anyway, his past crimes show that he doesn’t like to leave things unfinished. He once hung around in a country for a month after the job was done, simply to remove someone who had been a witness. He risked his life to do it. He’s not going anywhere.”

“Okay, so that’s sort of good news,” Jared said. “But where is he?”

Harry raised his hand.

“You don’t need to do that,” Tommy explained.

“Oh, okay, great. I know where he is. Or at least, I know where he might be.”

“Might be?” Jared asked.

“It’s better than no bloody clue,” Chloe said.

“Fair point,” Jared conceded. “Where do you think he is?”

“Can you all come with me into the second dining room? It would be easier to show you.”

Everyone left, with Layla, Jared, and Chloe the last out of Tommy’s office.

“There’s a second dining room?” Layla asked.

“I know, right?” Jared said. “There’s like five reception rooms, and I don’t think anyone has ever used one of them.”

They followed the rest of the group through the house, saying hello to several agents on the way. Layla noticed that everyone looked busy; if nothing else, Tommy made sure that people always had work to do. Except for her. No, she had been left to her own devices. She wasn’t sure if that was his way of allowing her time to deal with everything, or if he wasn’t sure how to act with her. Either way she appreciated it, but now she wanted to feel like she was contributing, and not just in a “brought all of this to their attention” kind of way. Right now, she felt like a bit of a third wheel.

They reached the second dining room, which, as it turned out, was identical to the first—a room Layla had been in exactly once, and that was because she’d got lost.

A long table sat in the middle of the room, with a dozen chairs around it. They were made of a dark wood that matched the two cabinets and three chests of drawers that stood around the edge of the room.

A projection screen had been assembled at one end, and a laptop was at the far side of the table, six or seven feet away from the screen.

“Did you do this?” Tommy asked Harry, sounding impressed.

“I’ve been bored. I’m not exactly good at hunting monsters or demons, and while I can fight pretty well, fighting ogres is a bit out of my weight class. So I did this.”

“You set up a movie theater?” Remy asked. “Needs some beanbag chairs, along with the smell of cannabis and lost hope, but it’s almost there.”

“It’s not a movie theater,” Harry said. “Okay, it is a little bit, but that’s not why you’re here. Look.”

He clicked a few things on the laptop, while Layla grabbed a chair and moved it slightly so that Remy beside her could see. He thanked her with a thumbs-up. Layla smiled, and when she turned back to the screen, there was a picture of Elias.

“Okay, this is Elias. I know you all know that, but here he is anyway. Now, I’ve read everything you have on this guy.”

“You said earlier, but really, everything?” Tommy asked.