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There was an eerie familiarity to the voice, but I couldn’t place where I’d heard it before.
“I don’t skulk. I just prefer to exercise an ample degree of caution,” I said, hoping the banter would buy me some time.
The owner of the voice hadn’t made any demands, so I turned slowly. We were surrounded, our backs against the stone wall.
The voice belonged to a man in a heavy leather coat. He had a thick mop of black hair, a five-o’clock shadow, and a pair of wire-rimmed glasses that sat high on his nose. In his right hand he held three small stones that clinked together as he fidgeted with them.
“Hello, Thomas.”
It felt like a lifetime since he and his Seekers had cornered us in The Run. We’d escaped in no small part due to the intervention of Edward Knight’s bodyguard, Tan, who had managed to get his knife to Thomas’s throat. Like most people I had met in The Run, I had hoped never to see him again.
Thomas and his band of followers professed to bring hidden truths to light, but what they sought from me was the identity of the Brotherhood, a truth that was likely to get them all killed. They seemed to be plotting a collision course with Andrew Lynch and the Brotherhood and if they succeeded in outing the Brotherhood’s existence, that likelihood would become a certainty.
My own interactions with the Brotherhood had him convinced I was the link he needed to find out more about the shadowy organization.
“We just keep meeting like this.” Thomas smiled. “Though I must admit, we were here for something else. We’ll just have to consider you a bonus.”
Lara’s hand rested on her MP5, and while Dizzy hadn’t gone for her bow, I suspected she was already planning the pain she intended to unleash. Murdoch had dropped his duffel, but his automatic shotgun still hung from a shoulder harness and rested on his chest. One wrong move and this was going to turn into a firefight that could get us all killed.
Thomas had at least eight others with him, including his redheaded companion from The Run, but I suspected others lingered in the darkness in case we tried to make a move.
“Yes, Thomas,” I said. “You have a tendency to stick your nose in my business and while I’ve been patient with you, I will confess my patience is starting to run its course.”
Thomas laughed. “Your business? The Grail, if it’s real, belongs to all mankind. It shouldn’t be hoarded by the privileged elite.”
“On that we agree,” I replied, not wanting to tip my hand or get him offside. “How did you even find out about the Grail?”
“The same way as everyone else,” Thomas replied. “The leaked identities, and all the activity that seemed to be converging here at Glastonbury.”
The Seekers certainly seemed to be well informed, I had to give them that.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how do you expect to contain and deal with the Inquisition? You must know we are both outnumbered and outgunned.”
“Speak for yourself.” Thomas laughed. “There are only four of you, and more than two hundred of them. If we are outnumbered, then yours is a lost cause.”
“Yeah.” I shrugged, peering into the darkness to try and get an idea how many of the Seekers we were up against. “But then again, I’m always a lost cause, so we’re on familiar ground.”
One of Thomas’s followers had an assault rifle, but the others held an eclectic collection of machine pistols and handguns. They shifted, the way people often did when they didn’t get the reaction they were expecting. We were outnumbered and surrounded. We should have been begging for our lives.
“Now, Thomas, the last time we met, you attacked us unprovoked,” I said. “I am going to give you a pass, on account of the fact you didn’t know any better. But if you don’t walk away this time, I won’t be held accountable for what happens to you all.”
“Happens to us?” Thomas’s face contorted. “You’re horrifically outnumbered.”
“Yes,” I replied, “by idealists and bored college students. You have no idea what you’re up against here, let alone out there.”
I pointed at the fields of Glastonbury Abbey.
The stones clinked together in his hand as Thomas took a step forward. “You arrogant son of a—“
“Now, Thomas,” I interrupted. “Before you get all indignant on me, let me fill in the blanks for you. The Inquisition are a fringe group who will think nothing of killing you, me, or anyone else who gets in their way.
“The last time I dealt with them, they summoned a demon, Thomas, and while you may think you are resolved to do what must be done, you have no idea the measure of theirs.”
“But...” Thomas faltered.
“No buts.” I held up my hand. “You seek the truth, right? Let me give it to you. The force in the Abbot’s Kitchen is the personal guard of Ares, the god of war. They are here either at his behest or that of Edward Knight, one of the world’s most notorious criminals. I’m not sure which of those options bothers me more. But the fact that they appear to be in league with each other ought to terrify you. It was Knight’s man that had you at knife point the last time we spoke, and but for the fact he was trying to curry favor with me, I suspect he would have killed you.”
“We’re not children—we can handle ourselves.” The redheaded woman on his right spoke up.
“Oh, I’m sure you’d fight very bravely and die very quickly,” I replied. “The truth is, you are out of your depth. You’re not even sure you can take us, otherwise I doubt we’d be having this conversation. You had us dead to rights and still didn’t take your shot.”
“You have answers I want,” Thomas said. “Killing you gets me nothing.”
“Probably one of the few things we agree on,” I replied. “And because perhaps you realized that last time we met, I had them spare your lives. Tonight, we’re taking no chances. If you throw down here, you will all die.”
“You’re bluffing.” Thomas laughed. “There are four of you.”
“True.” I nodded at my friends. “But I have the most dangerous shifter I have ever met, a CIA operative, and one very pissed-off man with an automatic shotgun.”
Thomas’s eyes roved across the four of us, and he seemed to weigh his options before he settled on Murdoch.
Thomas gasped. “You’re a member of the Circle.” His attention floated back to me. “But you were together in The Run weeks ago. Before the list was even published. How could you have known?”
I could see how it looked to him. Somehow, once more, I’d had inside information on something the rest of the world was only just discovering. Telling him that I’d been completely oblivious to my friend’s hidden identity wasn’t going to serve our purposes. So I let him believe what he wanted.
“It doesn’t really matter, Thomas. We’re here to protect the Grail. So you need to decide which side of history you want to be on: giving the Grail to the ruthless murderers at the Inquisition, or being part of keeping it safe from those who would abuse it.”
“Safe?” Thomas laughed. “If you get it, you’ll give it to your overlords. That’s all we need—the power brokers of the world having eternal life. We would never be free of them.”
“I don’t have any overlords, Thomas, though I suspect I know who you’re referring to. I wouldn’t give them the Grail if my life depended on it.”
“But they saved your life,” he said. “We’ve read the transcripts. You were about to be shot down leaving New York and they interceded. Then they wiped all trace of the bulletin that had been issued only an hour earlier. You’re in league with them.”
The Seekers’ information network was clearly more expansive than the eight individuals standing before me. The Brotherhood would have cleaned up after themselves. The only way the Seekers would have the transcripts was if they had someone in the chain of command witnessing events as they unfolded.
“They spared me only because it suited their agenda,” I replied. “You know who I am. My father is one of the wealthiest men in the world. They were happy to shoot me down when they thought I was a petty thief. When they realized who I was, they knew they couldn’t just sweep it under the rug. You think I’m their pawn, but in reality, I’m just a thorn in their side. A persistent, irritating thorn.”
“You’re certainly irritating, I’ll give you that.” The stones clinked against each other as Thomas gripped his hand tight around them. “Just how much do you know about their organization?”
I scratched an itch behind my ear, as I stared down the eight anxious Seekers pointing their weapons at us. “I guess that depends, Thomas.”
“On what?” He looked left and right to try and determine what I was searching for.
“On whether you’re interrogating us or negotiating with us.”
“And if we are interrogating?” Thomas raised his palm, and the stones drifted into the air above it.
He was a gifted kinetomancer. I could barely detect the effort of will he’d used to levitate them. In his hands, the seemingly innocuous stones were dangerous weapons.
I shrugged. “Then we take our chances and throw down here and now. Understanding that when we met in The Run, I told my crew to spare your life. Here the stakes are too high. It’s not just you and me. The fate of the world hangs in the balance.”
His redheaded companion tightened her finger on the trigger of her pistol, but the gun wasn’t pointed at me; it was pointed at Dizzy.
My stomach twisted in knots at the implied threat.
The surge of power flowing through Dizzy was not subtle.
“One bullet is not going to be nearly enough,” Dizzy hissed. “And if you pull that trigger, you die first.”
Murdoch raised the automatic shotgun at Thomas. “You’ll be second. Everyone else, we’ll consider on a case-by-case basis.”
I let the threats linger as an awkward silence settled in.
“I’m not going to call them off, Thomas. You have to learn when to cut a deal before you get yourselves killed.”
Thomas glanced sideways at his companion, sighed, and then motioned for them to lower their weapons.
The fiery redhead was the last to comply, glaring daggers at Dizzy as she lowered her pistol.
“And what if we’re negotiating?” Thomas asked.
I knew better than to volunteer anything. “I guess it depends what you want from us.”
Thomas didn’t hesitate. “I want to know about the organization behind it all, the one pulling the strings. How does it work? Who are they? What are they trying to accomplish?”
I had suspected as much. The Seekers might have made a detour for the Holy Grail, but they still had a bone to pick with the Brotherhood.
“In The Run, I refused to tell you because it could get you killed. Nothing has changed, Thomas. If I tell you, and you go after them, they will kill you all. It’s a certainty, not a possibility.”
“That’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Thomas answered. “My parents worked for the FBI. They must have seen something they shouldn’t have. I heard them arguing about a clandestine organization with enormous reach and power. They were arguing about what they should do about it. I was sixteen. I didn’t want to listen to them bicker, so I ran to my friend’s house and stayed the night. When I went back the next morning, they were both dead. A home invasion gone wrong, the police said.”
The pain in his voice was tangible and I felt for him. Two more lives the Brotherhood decided were outweighed by a greater good, whatever that might have been. Two more lives Andrew Lynch was responsible for ending.
Just how many lives had he written off during his tenure as chairman? What part had my family’s wealth played in enabling him?
“You can see the danger then,” I whispered. “They won’t hesitate to do the same to you; all of you.”
“We get it,” Thomas said, his voice softer. “We all do, and it’s a price we are willing to pay. Will you help us?”
The last thing I wanted was their lives on my conscience. Andrew Lynch would think nothing of killing them too.
“I’ll tell you what you want to know, but you need to be smarter about how you use it. If you go after them, guns blazing, they will crush you and everything you hold dear. They will do it the second they perceive you’re a threat.”
“I understand,” he replied, the stones drifting back onto his palm, before he closed his fist around them and stuck them back in his pocket.
I shook my head. “You’ve seen a taste of what they are capable of, but you haven’t seen the full picture. These men run governments, militaries, and corporations that control the world. Their influence is limitless and if you expose them and threaten their power, they will retaliate with everything at their disposal.”
“We will do what we must.” Thomas rested his hands on his hips.
“Very well. Here’s my deal then, Thomas. I tell you what you want to know, and you walk away. You leave the abbey and you never return. You forget everything you know about the Grail, my friend here, and any of his associates. If you lift a hand against them or go back on your word, I will come for you. Understood?”
“But the Grail?” Thomas muttered.
“I will come for you, and for good measure I will disclose everything I know about you to the organization you are hunting. They will ensure your utter extinction. Am I understood?”
“Thomas,” his companion whispered, “we could take them and the Grail.”
Thomas laughed. “Look around, Sasha. I love that you’re willing to try, but we’re not going to get the Grail with this much competition. We can at least trade our chance for something better. We can get what we’ve been looking for.”
“How do you know he’s telling the truth?”
“I only ever tell the truth,” I replied. “And I have nothing to gain from deceiving you.”
“Okay, Seth.” Thomas stretched out his hand. “You have a deal.”
I rose from the ground and shook his hand.
“The organization you’re looking for is known as the Brotherhood,” I began.
“Seth,” Dizzy hissed a warning. “They will kill you too.”
I held out my hand to reassure her, though we both knew there was truth to her fears. If Andrew Lynch learned I had betrayed him, it would put us all in jeopardy. But there was also a part of me that hoped the Seekers could free me of my obligations to Lynch and the organization my forefather had founded.
“The Brotherhood control massive swathes of the world’s finances and are made up of the most powerful men in the world. I can’t tell you how many are in their ranks, but I can tell you that their inner circle is comprised of between fifteen and twenty individuals at any given time. They are hand-picked based on their loyalty and the resources they have at their disposal. Collectively, the inner circle controls more resources than many countries.”
“I need more,” Thomas replied. “I need names, not boogeymen.”
“If I tell you,” I replied, “I’m putting my own life in your hands and trusting you’ll be discerning with how you use what I’m considering sharing with you. You can’t speak of my involvement to another soul.”
“I won’t.” Thomas shook his head. “I’m not a rat.”
“He will squeal like a pig when they interrogate him,” Dizzy said. “You know it, and I know it. They will make him talk. It is inevitable.”
“She’s right, Thomas. If they take you alive, you are in for an excruciating death. If you don’t succeed, you’re better off dead. Do you understand me?”
“I do,” Thomas replied.
“They will throw you in a hole and torture you until they’ve wrung everything from you. Your pain will know no reprieve.”
Thomas swallowed. “We will not let them take us alive. Victory or death.”
The Seekers might have been a pain in my ass, but I felt for them and marveled at their resilience and courage. They deserved every chance, and I decided to give it to them.
“I only have one name for you, but he’s the chairman of the inner circle. Everything the Brotherhood does starts and ends with him.”
“Who is he?” Thomas asked, unable to contain his enthusiasm now that he was so close to his goal.
“His name is Andrew Lynch. He’s the current Director of Clandestine Operations for the United States government. He is one of the most powerful and connected men in the entire world.”
The muscles in Thomas’s face sagged, betraying his disappointment. He’d learned the truth but at the same time discovered the futility of his position. Going after Lynch would be like trying to kill the President. It was an almost impossible task.
“But the organization is bigger than Lynch. If you truly want to damage them, you will have to take your time, learn who else Lynch deals with, identify the other members of the inner circle, and take them all out. Otherwise, one of them will simply replace Lynch when he dies. You must be patient, not reckless.”
“How do we do that?” Thomas asked. “If you only have the one name, how are we meant to find the rest?”
I put my hand on his shoulder. “The Brotherhood has existed in secret for four hundred years. Their biggest defense is the fact that no one believes they exist. Rumors might circulate about the Illuminati and other imagined power brokers, but the Brotherhood is the true hand that guides the world’s development. They were responsible for England’s ascension, then when it suited them, they brought the United States to prominence.
“There are untold skeletons in their closet. If people knew what they had done in pursuit of their objectives, the world would turn against them. You’ve all felt the price of being considered expendable. Show that pain to the world.”
Thomas brooded.
“That’s all I can do for you, Thomas. Now get out of here. Head north and put as much distance between yourselves and this place as you can. And for your own good, think very carefully before you make your next move.”
“We’ll do that,” Thomas replied. “Try not to get yourselves killed. Who knows, one day we might be allies.”
I had no intention of going toe-to-toe with the Brotherhood. “I’d settle for not being ambushed by you the next time we meet.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Thomas laughed as he turned to his companions. “Let’s go.”
The Seekers vanished back into the trees.
“You’re going to get them all killed,” Dizzy whispered. “Us too when they sell you out to Lynch.”
“If they go through with it, perhaps,” I replied. “But better they do it there, fighting against Lynch, than shooting it out with us here, now. If they’d pulled the trigger, we could have all died.”
“Lynch is going to be pissed,” Dizzy replied.
“Given he wants the Grail, I figure that’s inevitable. At least now he has another problem to contend with. Let’s hope the Seekers can at least distract him. In the meantime, we need to move.”
Content that our backs were safe, we turned to face the Abbey House. It was well lit, with all its lights on, but the curtains were drawn, obscuring any view of what, if anything, was going on inside.
“Have you heard anything from Lucius yet?” I asked.
Murdoch drew his phone from his pocket. “Nothing since this morning.”
“Then we’ll need to sweep the house. The fourth gateway is inside, isn’t it?”
“In the basement,” Murdoch replied. “And Lucius holds the key. He won’t have gone far. He knows we need to secure the Grail.”
We stalked around the exterior of the Abbey House. We peered through windows for any sign of life, but even at this distance, the curtains obscured everything within.
Finding the side entrance, I pressed my ear against it. Nothing at all came from within, which made it all the more unsettling. The other gateways had all been hives of activity.
Why was no one here?
When I tried the door, it clicked, but didn’t move. Locked.
Passing my left hand over it, I unleashed an effort of will. The lock clicked and the handle turned, the timber door swinging inward.
The walls inside the Abbey House were painted in two colors. The bottom half was a worn lime green, the top a creamy beige. Both seemed a little at odds with the elegant plasterwork and period furniture dating back two hundred years.
The bottom floor was comprised of a lengthy hallway and a series of function rooms, as well as a kitchen and other amenities.
With weapons at the ready, we advanced through the house, checking room by room as we swept the ground floor.
At the end of the hall stood a lounge room. In the middle of it, a man with receding hair sat chained to a timber chair. A thick wrought-iron chain wrapped around his entire body, binding him to the seat. His mouth was agape and had a thick towel wedged in it, gagging him. Blood ran down his cheek from a cut on his forehead.
“Lucius,” Murdoch whispered. He raced to the man’s side.
Lucius sagged heavily in the chair. His white shirt, open at the collar, was stained with blood, but around his neck was a silver chain, and hanging from that chain was an iron key. It had to be eight inches long, the end of it hidden beneath the bloodstained shirt.
Murdoch pulled the gag out of Lucius’s mouth.
Could that really be the key? Who had done this?
The questions flooded my mind. Had the Seekers done this? Bound and beaten an old man in an effort to find the gateway?
“You shouldn’t have come,” Lucius said between gasps.
A thick cloud of arcane power surged within the Abbey House. It wasn’t mine, and it felt all wrong, sickening. It reeked of the Forbidden.
“It’s a trap,” I shouted, pointing at the key. “The only reason it would still be here is if someone wanted to use it as bait.”
And we were the prey.
A monotone chanting filled the Abbey House. The language was alien but I could feel the intent in my soul. The magic made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
There was only one room we hadn’t checked: whatever lay at the end of the hall. A set of sliding timber doors separated us from it, but the chanting carried through them.
Murdoch whirled to face the doors and raised his automatic shotgun.
He squeezed the trigger. Round after round punched through the timber doors, blasting them apart and hopefully taking out anything unfortunate enough to be standing behind them.
When the ammunition drum clicked empty, and the dust and debris settled, a red haze came into focus.
The chanting continued unabated. The red haze wasn’t a haze at all; it was a round shield, rising from a chalk circle on the floor. Inside it was the form of a short man sitting cross-legged on the floor of the kitchen.
He was dressed in a black trench-coat and beanie. Before him was a second circle, drawn in chalk. The perimeter glowed white and then faded to an inky blackness. The tiles within the circle vanished and a gaping pit of darkness yawned open in the middle of the kitchen floor. The ominous void was utterly bereft of light.
A clawed arm reached out of the void and scratched at the kitchen tiles. Finding its hold, the creature pulled itself out of the summoning circle and into our reality.
The creature had oily black skin, a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, and lanky arms and legs. Each limb ended with long raking talons that could strip the flesh from bones.
“It’s not possible,” I whispered. I had seen all this before, in the Arena of Hades, Lord of the Underworld.
Somehow, Drewitt had survived being marooned beyond the Veil.
Part of me hoped he didn’t hold a grudge, but the tide of demons streaming out of the circle and into the kitchen told a different story.