them down.”
“Four of us storming the battlements.” Maggie holstered a 9 mm and picked up a Tec-9. “I love it.”
Cain frowned. “Not to impugn your knowledge of all things Sicarii, but are you certain that is wise?”
I shook my head. “There are only two access points to the upper stories-a heavily defended private elevator that they can shut down in an instant and an equally well-defended stairwell. Then let’s consider the innocents staying in the hotel who could be killed or hurt by stray bullets.”
Alan piped up. “So what do we all do? I’m no frontal assault guy, no soldier. I’m just a realtor.”
Not just a realtor. Not with three Words. “We parachute down to the roof and take the access stairs to the suite levels.”
“How many Sicarii guards will there be,” asked Maggie, curling her braid around the top of her head and covering it with a black wool cap.
“At least two dozen.”
The two apprentices stopped what they were doing and tried to pick their jaws off the floor. “Two dozen highly trained assassins?” Maggie squeaked. It was off-putting to see a woman so big squeak like a mouse.
“At least two dozen.”
Cain grunted. “Then the need for a two pronged attack is paramount. One to provide a much needed diversion, the other to strike at the heart of the enemy.”
“How are we going to manage that, boss?”
“It comes to me that we must seek aid elsewhere,” Cain declared. “Perhaps a conversation with our employer would prove beneficial.”
The alleyway between warehouses was dark enough to hide in, but there was enough light to see the elemental that had joined us.
Both Cain and I had used the Language of Earth to summon this creature, a being formed of concrete and brick that had a strange, plastic quality to it, allowing it to move without cracking or powdering. Normally it takes a while for Earth to answer a summons, but when we called, the elemental had come quickly.
“Shortly we will attack the Sicarii stronghold and retrieve First Water,” I answered, tasting the smell of the Language on my tongue. “We need to you to shake the ground beneath the building they hide in.”
A blobby head swung my way. “Shake? You wish to tear down one of your human-made earth structures?”
“No. We want you to move the earth around the building just enough to create a distraction. The building must still stand when you are done.”
“When?”
It was Alan who answered.
“This will help secure the First Water?”
I nodded.
“Call. Earth will come. Then tell me which dwelling to … shake.”
Back inside the warehouse, Cain made some calls while the rest of us readied our gear.
Maggie gave me an inquiring look. “Why would the Sicarii worry about evacuating the hotel, handsome?”
I smiled, hefting a pair of half-inch ball bearings. “While the Sicarii are powerful, the hotel is filled with those they do business with, including former dictators, captains of industry, drug lords, etc. They can’t afford to let any harm come to their guests. No, after the first few tremors, the hotel will be evacuated for safety’s sake and the normal staff sent home. They will lock the place up tight as a security precaution.” I put the bearings into a pocket on my left arm.
“Then why attack? We’ll get slaughtered.”
“That’s the beauty of it. They might prep for it, but they really don’t think anyone would be so foolish as to try an assault. Julian has no idea that I’ve recruited Cain for this; he thinks I’m all by my lonesome, and that has made him complacent. They’ll be ripe for a surprise attack.”
I felt the heat of her as she came close. She smelled of female musk and lemons. “I love the way your devious little mind works, handsome.”
My grin was predatory. “The rest of me works pretty well, too.”
Her eyes grew wide and her voice husky. “Promises, promises,” she said.
Alan held up a disk of whitish putty, the size of an American silver dollar. Mounted in the center was a small, flat black box with a small metal ring set on the side. “If y’all could stop the foreplay and tone down the pheromone levels, I’d appreciate knowing what this is.”
I had no clue and Maggie just shook her head.
“That, my dear apprentices and colleague, is what most would affectionately call a ‘door buster.’ ” Cain stepped in to the light of the lamp, a cell phone glowing softly in one hand. “A disk of Plastique with a timed detonator. Simply attach the explosive near the lock plate of whatever point of egress you wish to harm, pull the pin and in five seconds any locking mechanism will yield.”
“When he talks, he gives me a headache,” I whispered to Maggie.
“I know. I’d consider giving him a shag if he could keep his words to one or two syllables.”
“If you children are quite done with your sophomoric rantings, we have other pressing concerns. Alan, has our shipment of re-enforcements arrived?”
“While you were out earlier, boss.”
Cain nodded and pulled a small stack of three by five cards out of the pocket of his red flannel shirt. “Good. I think it is time for my fine friends to receive compensation.” To each of us he handed a card.
Maggie and Alan snatched at theirs eagerly, while I took a more cautious approach.
My eyes found the Word written there and it slid into my mind like a lover into an embrace, warm and gentle. Things shifted in my mind and I felt some part of me, part of my memory, evaporate like ice under the hot sun. I didn’t know what it could have been. The Word, however, stuck fast.
“Create. This is Create,” I breathed. A thirteenth Word! I immediately knew what I could do with this Word, the capability of making artifacts and wards. I knew that when I used it, it would smell like the ocean.
“Peace, you gave me Peace!” Maggie nearly screamed, outraged. She flung the card onto the table.
Peace? I immediately felt a near-overwhelming desire to snatch her card and add the word to my Vocabulary.
Cain simply smiled and said, “If you did not have the facility for it, my dear, the Word would not have taken root in your mind. While the Word might not have any offensive capabilities, never underestimate the power of a Word properly used.”
I gave Maggie speculative look.
She threw it right back at me. “What?”
My grin was sheepish. “Never met a female magus before, man; it’s such a new experience. Sorry.”
Smiling, she picked up the axe and whirled it around her body. Slowly at first, then faster and faster, the axe humming, a steel blur with a sharp edge. Alan and I backed up before we could suffer an amateur tracheotomy. After a few seconds she slowed then stopped, setting the axe gently on the table. “When it comes to me, buster, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.” Her grin was toothy and savage.
“Damn,” I breathed, curiously aroused. “That’s for sure, Blondie.”
“Can’t read this one,” Alan said morosely, holding up his Word card. “Sorry, boss.”
“Not a bother,” Cain replied, unfazed by the Maggie’s demonstration. He handed another card to the stricken apprentice. “The magus’s inner landscape and talent determine the amount and type of Words that can be accessed.”
Alan took the card and read. A few moments passed before a beatific smile spread across his face and dimples appeared at the corners of his mouth matching the one on his chin. “Grace … it’s Grace.”
Cain flashed teeth and gathered the cards from both apprentices. “Excellent.” He turned to me, noting the look of longing on my face. “Come, I have need of your newfound Word.” With that, he walked into the dark and I followed.
Maybe his eyewear was a form of night vision, or maybe his blue-white eyes could see in the dark, but I was
