They went back to the hotel.
It seemed as though the whole town was running in the direction of the town centre—to find out what had happened no doubt. The blast had been loud and Canterbury was built in a tight pattern with all the houses close to each other. The narrow alleys and streets had amplified the sound of the bomb. The smoke was another dead giveaway.
Gideon and Anadi stumbled towards the Miller’s Arms, occasionally getting strange looks due to all the blood on Anadi’s clothes. One person offered help, but they refused, thanking him and pointing the Good Samaritan in the direction of the chaos where he could help.
When they finally arrived at the pub there was no one there other than Paul—the owner. He glanced at them as they pushed through the door that connected the pub to the hotel. Paul locked the door behind them and went to get the first aid kit.
In her room, Anadi fell back on to the bed. Gideon closed the curtains and turned on the lights. He grabbed towels and some new clothes just as Paul come in the room.
‘What the hell happened?’ he asked Gideon, looking at the bloody figure on the bed.
‘Azazel was here, he’s got Panat.’
‘And the blast?’ Paul was carefully stripping Anadi of her jacket and shirt.
‘One of his Acolytes probably. He had a bomb.’
‘Obviously. How close was she?’ he indicated Anadi.
‘Not close.’ She answered herself, taking over. Paul knew that they were fellow Watchers. But he was ignorant to the fact that she was one of the forces. She wanted to keep it that way, at least for now.
‘I’m ok.’ She said. ‘Just off balance because of the blast.’ He wasn’t buying it. ‘The blood is not mine. Someone else fell on to me—he was dead. Bled out. I guess his body protected me from the brunt of the damage.’ To prove that she wasn’t wounded, she sat up. It took a lot of effort, but she got there. Pushing the pillows behind her back, Paul turned his attention to Gideon, he had some bruises and a bit of caked blood on his forehead.
‘You ok too?’ he asked.
‘Nothing a few aspirins and some antiseptic won’t heal.’ Gideon smiled. He was used to scrapes and bruises. Nothing new there.
‘Ok’ Paul said reluctantly. ‘Now what?’
‘Now we contact Joseph.’ Anadi said. ‘But first I need a bath.’
Soaking in the steaming hot water, I replayed what I could remember of the past hour.
So it was Sarah.
Next time I would trust my instincts.
No use berating myself now. Getting Panat back in one piece and alive was all that matters now. Azazel had been one step ahead of us all the way. The ambush we thought we had sprung, was his. He’d turned the tables on us in a major way. And now he had an enormous advantage. He had Panat.
Panat knew so much more than Sarah. He was privy to the inner council’s meetings and decisions. And now Azazel would be.
One part of me was itching to get after him. Run him down. Go out into the open if that was what it took. I would hunt Aze down and kill the bastard. The other, more realistic part, cautioned me not to act impulsively. That was probably what Aze was counting on. That the Primal side would win. Well it was close, but caution prevailed. After all, it wasn’t just me. There were more involved here and the fall out was potentially enormous. If I went berserk then God help the world. Besides I was still reeling from the effect that I had experienced in the alley. The paralysing feeling, not being able to do anything. It scared me. Was that Azazel? Or was it something else? And what would happen next time I saw him.
The aspirins didn’t help as much as the triple whisky that Paul brought up. But slowly, aided by the bath and some clear thinking, I started to feel better physically. Mentally I’m was in turmoil.
First things first though. We needed reinforcements, or at least intel, and that meant Joseph.
I dried myself off, dressed in clean clothes, put my hair in a band and opened the bathroom door. We were in the room that Sarah and I had shared, and Gideon had been going through her things while I soaked, just in case there were any clues as to where they might have taken Panat.
We knew that Aze had gone underground a few days ago. And now we knew why. He had been planning this.
Gideon handed me his phone. It was already on speed dial with Hans’s number. I took it and hit the call button.
The phone rang, once, twice, three times, and I hung up. After that I rang again and repeated the procedure. This was the simple code we had agreed on before we left Holland. This particular sequence meant that there was trouble and we needed to speak to Joseph.
Sure enough, five minutes later the phone rang. It was Joseph.
‘He has Panat.’ I told Joseph. The dark man was silent. I could feel the tension over the line.
‘Shit.’ He finally said. ‘That changes everything. We have to find him. Panat knows too much, Azazel will read his mind.’
I was astounded. What about Panat himself?
Joseph noticed my sharp intake of breath and changed his demeanour. ‘We need to rescue Panat. That’s the main thing. We need him back safely, quick. He must have felt that I’m wasn’t really buying his change of attitude. ‘And we need to change our plans. Azazel will not kill him. He needs him for now.’
‘We need intel?’ I said.
‘Yes, but I have the feeling that Azazel will take the first step. We will hear from him very quickly. Now tell me, what happened.’
I filled him in on the situation here, gauging his reaction. I still didn’t trust him. And after being proven right with Sarah my suspicions were all the more prevalent. But I needed his help. Gideon was the only one aware of the whole picture, he was helpful, but he had his limits. I needed to find out where Aze was. And Panat. For that I needed the technical backing of the Watchers systems. Their ears and eyes.
‘He’s coming here.’ I told Gideon once I hung up. The call had been short. ‘He’ll be here as soon as possible.’
Joseph had told me to leave the hotel because Azazel would know where we were. I had argued that the location was moot. Azazel knew where we were all along. He had gone after Panat, not me. Moving wouldn’t make any difference, so we stayed put.
Gideon nodded and continued to search through Sarah’s belongings.