Page 51 of Soothsayer

“Actually, I can know that. I’m a motherfucking soothsayer,” I snapped at him. “I can know a lot of things you’ve got no clue about, and that includes the fate of the occupants in that building. I also know that if by some terrible coincidence youhaveactually managed to take out either of the people I care about who live there, the Irish mob is going to come after you. You’re currently living in Chicago. It’s no Boston, but there is absolutely no shortage of people I can go to with this information who wouldn’t love to have an excuse to end you. So. Try again.”

Jakob smiled, actuallysmiled. Asshole. “Very clever, Mr. Kelly. Let me add that the fire wasn’t my idea. I greatly dislike collateral damage, but my brother couldn’t be gainsaid after your little stunt in St. Louis. He’s very, very angry at you.”

“Good thing I’m not negotiating with him then.”

“It is.” Jakob took his phone back. “You’re much better off with me, although not necessarily safer. I’m something of a scholar, Mr. Kelly. I do like my research. You wouldn’t believe how hardit was to research you, but as you can see—” He waggled the picture of the fire. “I did manage to come up with a few gems. There isn’t much official information about you, but unofficially there’s awealthof it. Not so much you individually, but—well, I had no idea your mother was such a desirable commodity.”

Oh boy. He went there. And he wasn’t finished. “You talk a good game about the Irish mob, but I’ve got to tell you I would be very surprised if you actually went to them with anything, either information or demands. They seem to have their own connections to a group called the Draoithe, although their name has been bastardized by English to be the Adroit. And they’re desperately interested in the whereabouts of your mother, Kelly. Funny, that you took her name for yours. Very respectful, but not very bright.”

“You don’t know where my mother is.” They couldn’t; there was no way, none. On the other hand, we couldn’t see into our own futures, and my mother preferred to be alone. If they’d found her…

“You think not?” He turned his phone to me again, and all it took was a glance before I realized that the map he’d pulled up had a dot on it, a dot that centered squarely on the little nowhere town my mother had taken refuge in. “My brothers, Mr. Kelly, they’re hunters. They track down their prey. They strive to understand its movements and anticipate what it will do next so they can stay one step ahead of it. Me, though? I’m a fisherman. I make it so that my prey comes to me, and I catch it by having just the right lure at just the right time.” He set his phone down. “You’ll tell me next that we haven’t actually found your mother yet, and you’re right. But we have found her home, and we are in contact with a member of the Adroit. You won’t end your deal with my brother for your adoptive mother, but will you for your own flesh and blood?”

He leaned forward. “She escaped their clutches once, with you in tow as a child. Do you think she could do it again? Do you think she’s strong enough now?”

I was frozen for a moment, utterly dumbstruck. Fear beat a frantic pattern inside my heart, and the urge to scream bloody murder and shoot Jakob right through his smug face was intense. I couldn’t back down, though. I knew I couldn’t, not now. Not even for my mother, who—if she was watching out for me, and she always was, then she’d seen signs of this possibility. I had to trust that she knew to take care of herself, and I had to respond before Jakob was emboldened enough to think he could stop talking and start taking. Not to mention Sören sat stiff at my side now, wondering if I was going to fold like a paper fan. No. I couldn’t do it, and moreover, I was no one’s bitch.

I leaned forward, just far enough to catch the glimmer I was looking for. “Okay then. You want to press where it hurts? Let’s press where it hurts. You have two children.” Jakob started to sit back, but I reached out and grabbed his knee. “Don’t you fucking move,” I hissed at him. “And don’t think that this is the time for your guys to go for their guns, because it isn’t. This, right here? This is a conversation you need to listen to, and listen good, because it might save your life. Are you paying attention?” He didn’t say anything, but that was as good as a yes as far as I was concerned.

“You’ve got two children. Astrid is the youngest. She’s five, and she looks just like your beautiful wife. She’s your little darling, but it’s your son Michael who’s the apple of your eye. He’s ten, and you’re starting to worry because he’s having problems at school. He doesn’t have any friends, and his teachers say he has rage issues. This geas you guys carry, it doesn’t skip generations, but it does hit some more strongly, and right now you’re seeing it go after your son.

“Or you were, before you gave your brother away. Sören was always your favorite, and it hurt, didn’t it, to watch him sink into the black lake and get this thing back, thiscreaturethat you don’t understand and don’t want to. You’d rather have nothing to do with him, nothing to remind you of your guilt.

“Too bad you ignored him, though, because now he’s with me, and you’re prepared to fight for him to keep your children safe, but youknow, you know in your heart that it’s not that easy. You can threaten me, but you’re just as vulnerable because your wife doesn’t know the truth. You’ve never told her what’s at stake, and she’s in London with your children right now, and your father—” I laughed. “He doesn’t give a shit, does he? Not about your family. All he cares about is himself.”

I let go of Jakob and sat back. “Think about that balance of power for a moment, and then think about what you’re trying to do to me. Do you really feel like you’ve picked the winning side?” His future was muddled, too mixed with mine to see clearly, but there was a chance I’d be able to bend him my way, and I had to take it.

Jakob stared hard at me for a long moment before clearing his throat. “Peter, go,” he murmured, and one of the men nodded and went outside. I could see his outline through the glass, taking something out of the SUV.

“I have been instructed,” Jakob said very clearly, very distinctly, “to inform you that we will stop at nothing to get Sören back. You had your opportunity to negotiate.” He pushed a button on his phone. “Your mother’s location is forfeit. I hope you had a chance to say good-bye to her.” And a second later, Peter the Henchman, gas can in hand, set the Elektra on fire.

I knew it was going to happen, but that didn’t make me any happier. Andre was going to murder me, and I deserved it.

Sören seemed more upset by it than I was, actually.

“Ilikedthat car!” he snapped. The front desk guy was already calling the cops, his voice a little panicked as he looked between the four of us and the growing conflagration outside. “It was comfortable and protective!”

“You can have a dozen such cars with us once you’re safely returned,” Jakob said. “Now, Mr. Kelly. Do you have anything else to try to surprise me with before I resort to measures that would make even Art?r turn his face away?”

“Actually, yes.” And oh, Roger’s timing was perfect. I hadn’t expected to see him in a freaking armored, military Humvee, complete with a turreted machine gun, but there he was, and it was a beautiful thing. I watched Peter stagger away from the Elektra, and then smirked as all three of Egilsson’s people watched while Roger got out of the armored car, saluted with his jaunty cowboy hat, and then threw something into their SUV. Five seconds after that, all the windows blew out, and the car rocked on its wheels while smoke billowed from its engine.

By the time Jakob and his second were looking at me again, I had my gun out and pointed at him. “Time to call it quits. Better luck with your negotiations next time.” I stood up and grabbed my duffel bag from behind the couch we were sitting on, and Sören joined me a moment later. “You guys have a nice night.” I headed for the exit.

“Mr. Kelly.” Jakob sounded utterly serious. “I hope, for your sake, that you truly understand the moves you’re making. You have no second to speak for you if things go badly.”

“I know what I’m doing.”Mostly. “Enjoy Santa Rosa.”

“There they are!” Roger crowed as we came outside. Peter was nowhere to be seen, probably a smart move on his part. “Hell, I came dressed for a ball, and you gave me a middle-school dance instead, Cillian! One little grenade was all it took to keep ’em quiet.”

“Better to have the extra firepower and not need it than the other way around,” I said, and Roger smiled and smacked me on the back. “Nice car.”

“Thanks, it’s my wife’s! It fit well inside the cargo plane, and she wasn’t using it, so she let me borrow it.”

Holy shit, what kind of woman was he married to? Apparently the kind who put stars in his eyes and had fully equipped war machines at hand. I looked forward to meeting her.

“Let’s get out of here.”

“You got it, boys.”

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