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With a snarl, she took the spell and a pebble from him, then read the spell. She, too, disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing on the other side of the room. She, at least, was vertical, though she looked a little fried. With a death glare at Roger, she bent to check on the other harpy.
“Ah, excellent,” Roger said, rubbing his hands together. “That should work. I’ll just send a few shock troops through first to soften the barriers before going through with the valuable people. Thank you,” he said to the scientist.
“Here’s the modified spell. You have the mates to the beacon?” the scientist said, looking a little less nervous.
“Yes, I have plenty.” He reached into his breast pocket, pulled out a wad of cash, and peeled off a few bills to hand to the scientist. “Good work, even if it was a little slow.”
The scientist went back to one of his devices, and I felt the magic ebb as he brought down the wards they were testing. Roger walked over to the harpies and threw a few bills at them. “This should cover your time, and this activity falls under your retainer,” he said. I was relieved to see that the first harpy was starting to stir, then realized how odd that feeling was when I was used to thinking of them as an enemy.
“We said we would fight for you. We did not agree to be test subjects,” the vertical harpy snarled.
“You’re working for me to do whatever I need you to do,” he replied. “And I’ll need all of you this afternoon. We’ll meet at the usual place at four thirty. Come along, Katie.”
When we were back in the car, he fixed me with a stern glare and said, “In the future, you are not to contradict me in front of other people. When I ask for your input, I want you to be candid, but when I don’t ask for it, I don’t want to hear it.”
I was only able to say a humble, “Yes, sir,” because I knew that this was all going to be over with very soon.
All smiles once again, he settled back in his seat and said, “That went well, in spite of your ex’s lack of cooperation.”
“Ex-excuse me?” I stammered.
“I thought I might as well go to the source in figuring out how to break through the new wards, but he wasn’t very helpful. I suppose that was to be expected. On the bright side, you won’t have to worry about him anymore.”
“I wasn’t worried about him,” I said, trying to sound carefree, even as my stomach went into freefall. “I haven’t even thought about him in ages.”
His smile slipped ever so slightly. “Oh? Well, you’ll have to think about him even less now. I took care of him for you. Well, really, mostly for me, since I needed him out of my way, but I thought you’d also be pleased.”
“What did you do to him?” I asked, trying to sound only mildly interested rather than panic-stricken. I couldn’t believe that I was actually praying he meant the frog pond and not something worse. He’d mentioned Owen refusing to cooperate. What torture had he used?
“Don’t worry, he’s comfortable. Let’s just say that he’s found a new pad.”
I vowed to myself that I’d save Owen if I had to kiss every frog in the city.
Seventeen
It took every ounce of will I had, but I made myself follow Roger back to our offices. I didn’t care what it took; that man was going down today.
But for that to happen, the MSI gang needed to attack before Roger went to meet up with his evil army. I didn’t know if the MSI team was still planning whatever they were going to do with Owen missing, but they needed to do it—and soon.
I just wished I had a way to warn them. How could I get a message out when I was cut off from the outside world?
The beacon, I realized. They had to be able to see where it was, and if it moved, maybe they’d see that as a signal. I gathered up the pages I’d transcribed so far that day and took them to Roger’s office. On my way out, I “accidentally” dropped my pen, and when I bent to pick it up, I snagged the beacon from the potted plant and put it in my pocket.
I wondered where the portal that took me to London was. I had a feeling it was somewhere in the hallway between the entrance and the suite of offices around Roger. I headed down the hallway to the break room for coffee, then farther down the hall to find Trish.
“You’re right, something’s fishy,” I whispered to her. “I may need you later.” Out loud, I said, “Have you checked ou
t the spa downstairs? I was thinking about a spa day later this afternoon. My nails are a mess, and I could use a back massage.”
She nodded and gave me a thumbs-up. “Ooh, sounds wonderful. I bet I can get away a little early today.”
I returned to my office. I figured by now I’d got the attention of anyone who was watching the beacon. Just in case, I paced the perimeter of my office, drawing a circle. I didn’t know how high the resolution was, but it was the only way I could think of to convey urgency.
Satisfied that I’d done what I could do, I picked up a sheet of transcription that I’d deliberately left behind and headed back to Roger’s office. On my way in, I dropped the beacon back in the potted plant. “Sorry, I forgot this page,” I said, placing it on his desk.
“Thank you,” he said, so graciously that it was hard to reconcile him with the man I’d watched earlier that day be willing to send innocent kids to their deaths just to test a spell. “Why don’t you take off early today? I’ve got some stuff going on, and I won’t need you.”
“I was just thinking about booking some spa time,” I said. “All this bending over an old book is killing my back.”
