A Flight of Ravens by John Conroe (thriller books to read TXT) 📗

nor will you attempt to direct his treatment.  If you have questions, you may write them down and we will present them.  You will be blindfolded and hooded with earplugs when we take you to him.  You will carry no weapons or items of any kind, including jewelry.  Any attempt at smuggling a Finder’s stone and we will send you back to Slinch as unacceptable,” I said.

She studied me for a moment, a slight smile flickering across her face.  I ignored it.  Fontina was too skilled an agent for me to allow myself to attempt to read her expressions.  Anything I picked up was something she deliberately showed me.  I had no doubt she was a deadly killer, but her real danger was in the icy mind that lurked behind her rich brown eyes.

Other Ravens might attempt to bluster or intimidate me.  She knew better.  She simply nodded once.  Without taking my eyes off her, I nodded back at her—once.  Immediately, Jella and Soshi appeared on either side of her, one popping earplugs into each ear, the other winding a thick, tight-knit blindfold over her eyes.  Cort took the black hood that Hemppe handed him and pulled it over her head while the two women expertly searched her for weapons or artifacts.

Only then, when she was blindfolded with ears plugged, did the rest of the patrons stand and look my way.  Game on. I looked first at Trell’s table.  His companion, Kassa, gave me a silent nod.  Kassa’s signal indicated that she couldn’t detect any interested parties within her personal range and that Fontina wasn’t herself an eslling.  My own people were keeping a strict watch across our section of the city for strangers as well.

I ran my gaze over the people in the room:  Hemppe, Cort, Jella, Soshi, Trell, Kassa, and a suddenly sober-looking Kisen.  I still didn’t speak, but my hand rose and spoke volumes to my people.  Shadow sign language for Perfect game, danger close with an index finger point to Fontina.  I got silent nods of understanding all around.

Okay. Game on.

Chapter 13

As I stood, Jella and Soshi grabbed Fontina and bodily lifted her off the ground.  Drodacians are far stronger than their lean frames look and Soshi would never have graduated Despair without serious muscle, which she still worked hard to keep and even improve.

They hustled the Raven out of the Knife and Needle and right into the open door of a shuttered carriage that Drew was driving.  I joined the three of them inside the vehicle and we took off at breakneck speed.  Immediately, Jella lit a stick of incense and positioned it near Fontina’s nose to block any and all scents that a highly trained operative might use to guess their location.  While she did, I used my own abilities to see if I could pick up on a Finder’s stone secreted about her person.  I got nothing but since those energized objects are usually extremely personalized by a single Finder, I couldn’t be sure she was absolutely clean.

The next forty minutes were spent driving all over the city with two actual vehicle and driver switches and one fake switch to throw off any observers.  We hit every portion of Haven at least once and most of them twice, including the grounds of the castle itself.  When our final driver, Urso, brought our last ride to a halt, we were inside the tiny courtyard of a private residence with the gate closed behind us.  Urso picked up the small Raven in his arms, spun in place three times, and carried her into the rear door of the home.  In the kitchen, he turned into the open root cellar door and proceeded down the stairs into the cold storage cellar, which was currently warm due to multiple torches lining the walls.  At the rear of the cellar was an opening in the wall and he took her through and into the tunnel beyond.  At every new room or entrance, he performed a new spin to throw off her internal sense of direction.

We turned at multiple intersections in the labyrinth of tunnels before we arrived in a large, open room.

I, myself, removed her hood and blindfold, allowing her to remove the earplugs.  Her composure was intact, but I was fairly certain her sense of direction was fooled.  We have practiced that routine before, using Jella as our victim, and even her superior senses were jumbled.

“Thorough,” she said, meeting my eyes.  Giving her nothing, I turned to face the reason we were here and the reason we went through all that effort.

“Hey, Ash,” I said.  He was standing on the other side of the room, a barrier of metal bars that cost a small fortune dividing his half from ours.  Massive, clawed, and gnarled hands gripped the bars as he looked at me and then Fontina.

“You remember Raven Fontina?” I asked.  “The king insisted we have a watcher from Neil’s people.”

“You believe he understands you?” Fontina said.

“That’s mark one,” I said whipping around. “Two marks and we send you packing, so by all means… do it again.”

Her hard, dark eyes met mine, neither of us flinching or looking away.  A rumbling hack came from Ash’s side of the room.  I allowed myself to look his way.  His red eyes were locked on Fontina and he was… laughing… at her.

“That seems like a clear answer,” Urso said.

“Alright, let’s get down to business,” I said.  “Ready to answer some questions?”

Now his scarlet gaze was locked on me.  He squeezed the bars and his black claws scratched the metal.

“Well, what exactly did you expect?” I asked.  “There’s always a debrief after a mission and evaluation is always a part of it.  You come back to us like this and the eval takes on a whole new level of importance, don’t you think?”

His eyes still bored into me, but he blinked once, slowly.  Standard signaling.  Once of anything meant yes, and twice meant no.

“After all, I can’t very well