AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah, snake bites don’t really scream sun god,” Wesley added thoughtfully.
“Unless it’s an Egyptian sun god,” Jack mused.
Wesley looked at him. “Ra? But he adores her.”
Jack shook his head. “Don’t you remember back in Paris when we were there in the 1800s? There was that weirdo group, the one that thought she was the devil? I’m sure they had a snake as their symbol and something to do with the sun. Gold snake... Serpent...”
“Golden Dawn,” I supplied.
“That was it,” Jack said, and Wesley nodded.
“I remember them, but they were just a small, weird cult. They had nothing to do with the actual gods.”
“Well, they might not have then, but maybe they have reformed and learned some things they shouldn’t have knowledge of. Wesley, can you look into them and see if they’re around anymore? It’s a tenuous lead, but at the moment, it’s the only one we’ve got.”
A commotion broke out at the front of the house, and we all moved towards the emergency vehicles. A cheer went up as a fire officer appeared at the front door, helping a tall figure stumble through the wreckage. I closed my eyes, silently thanking Ra.
“Dad!” Tory’s voice cut into my heart, relief and sorrow in her tone as she slipped out of the ambulance and ran up to him. He didn’t seem to be badly hurt either. He had a few burns and scratches, but nothing major, and I smiled as he took her into his arms. He hugged her close, and I swallowed hard when I saw the tears streaming down her face.
A man in his late thirties approached. His dark blazer slightly torn in places, and his shirt collar dark with dust. He held his hand out to me, and I shook it, gripping it firmly.
“Dawson, good to see you’re not injured. Any leads on the device? Location? Components?”
“West, glad you got here okay. I’ve been talking to the bomb squad, and they’re not giving many details, but the general idea is that the device was situated in one of the bedrooms in the east wing, near the stairs. They think it was a mobile phone trigger, but they can’t be certain. I’ve scanned the CCTV footage from the last few days and found this.”
He held out his smartphone to me, a video paused on the screen. I took it from him, turning so Jack and Zayn could watch. Along part of the estate boundary wall, where thick trees and bushes grew, a person walked out of the leaf covering pushing a motorbike. The bike model didn’t seem particularly clear, and the plates were covered. The figure was clad in black leather and wearing a helmet with the visor pulled down. I watched the video a few moments longer until the figure pulled away, then I handed the phone back.
“Can you forward me a copy?”
Dawson nodded and pocketed the phone. “I need to go fill the earl in on what we know so far, but I’ll send you copies of whatever I receive.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
“Oh, before I go...” He reached into his blazer pocket and pulled out a few strange lumps of metal. They glinted in his palm as he held them out to me. I held out my hand, and he tipped a couple into it. “Any idea what these might be? They look like coins, but there are no engravings on them or markings of any kind that I can tell.”
I turned the metal shapes over in my hand. They did look as though they had been disc shaped once, though most of them were twisted and melted from the blast and the fire. What was strange was their colour. They were an odd reddish metallic shade. I looked up at Dawson. “No idea. Where did you find them?”
“They were scattered throughout the blast radius. The bomb squad thinks they might have been intended as shrapnel, and I believe her ladyship has been struck and injured by a couple, but they’re light and not sharp at all. Something tells me they aren’t meant for that.”
I nodded. “Can I keep these?” I asked.
“Sure, there are hundreds of the damn things. Catch up with you later.”
I watched Dawson walk over to where Tory and her father stood next to the ambulance holding her mother. I turned to Wesley and held out my hand. He took one, and I pocketed the other.
“See if you can find out anything about these. I’ll get mine tested and see what it’s made of.”
Wesley nodded.
“Zayn, why don’t you take the car and get Wes somewhere to clean up? Then you can start looking into it and the other stuff. Now that we know everyone is okay, Jack and I will escort Lady Victoria to the hospital and check in with you later.”
As they left, I turned to Jack. “The video... Did you see it?”
He nodded. “Yup. He was putting his boots back on.”
“That’s what I thought. Why hide the bike if it was untraceable? Why hide where you climbed over the wall?”
Jack smiled grimly. “Unless you didn’t want people to see you climb the wall or see what you were wearing, or rather, weren’t wearing.”
