An Uncommon Truth of Dying (Broken Veil Book 2) Read online

  “The ones we saw had naru pistols,” Maeve said.

  The troll turned back to them. “Your FBI doesn’t carry those.” He motioned to the back seat. “Move over a bit if you would, and follow exactly where I say.”

  Maeve slid behind Caradoc and the troll came in. One advantage of these massive SUVs, all species fit in them. Even if his head was brushing the roof. “I’m Reginald, most people just call me Reg. On a bit of a travel about from home, visiting some of the other outposts.”

  “I’m Maeve, from London.”

  “Nice to meet you, Maeve. I’m from just outside of Hebden Bridge, but I do love London.” He laughed. “Aye, a troll loving one of the largest cities in the world. But the energy is intoxicating. Can’t stay for more than a day or so—both for me and it makes others nervous.”

  “That’s wonderful,” Caradoc said. “But where do we go? Those cars have to be right behind us. I’m Caradoc by the way, and that’s my sister Aisling.”

  “Nice to meet you both.” Reg glanced behind them. “I wouldn’t worry about those others though; they’re dealing with a few larger problems. I wasn’t the only one out walking today. Still, might be a good idea to move along.” He held up his club, pressed the smaller end, and the tree barricade vanished.

  “Where to? That ravine doesn’t look crossable.” Caradoc had calmed down a bit.

  “Appearances can be deceiving. Just drive forward.”

  Aisling would have asked a few more questions, but Caradoc hit the gas. Having Reg in the car with them lowered the risk of it being a trap. She still hung onto the dash tightly.

  As soon as the front of the car hit what looked to be the edge of the ravine the wheels sounded like they were grating on metal. Aisling looked down and saw the slight outline of a heavy metal grid.

  “Nice! I’m still not picking it up on my sensors.” From the tone of his voice, Caradoc was going to be bugging some trolls for secrets once they were safe.

  “It’s meant to fool everything.” Reg tapped his earpiece as the scowl came back. “Hold them as long as you can, but don’t risk our people.”

  “How many cars?” Aisling knew who he was talking about.

  “Six. All looking like this one. Well, plus the one dead in the road. Whatever you did was good, it’s still not moving, but they did carry their unconscious people away.”

  They reached the end of the ravine and the tire sound returned to dirt.

  “Stay to the left. Damn it.” Reg kept swearing. There was a barricade here too, but it was clear that it was real. He tapped his earpiece. “What happened on grid five? Trees and rocks are down.” He listened for a bit, then spoke to Caradoc. “Back we go. Turn right here. We’ll get a closer look at your friends than I wanted, but nothing can be done about that right now.”

  Caradoc muttered under his breath, but they went back through the woods. There was a bridge here too, but it was visible.

  “We normally never let guests use this one.” Trolls weren’t fond of trespassers.

  They had just cleared the bridge when gunshots rang out.

  Chapter Four

  “I’m engaging the shield on the car, but where in the hell is it coming from?” Caradoc was watching the road and everything else.

  Aisling looked around, but the woods were so dense that nothing could be seen beyond trees.

  “I’d say it’s whoever is engaging your friends. My people said two more cars, also plain black SUVs, have shown up but don’t appear to be with the first batch. I have to ask; do you people use anything other than black SUVs? Very dramatic on their own, but a pack of them on multiple sides is a bit ridiculous.”

  Caradoc snorted. “I’ll be changing my primary vehicle once we get out of this.”

  A loudspeaker crackled through the air. “Halt or we will use a rocket launcher and make you halt.”

  Aisling frowned at the voice more than the words. “Is that who I think it is?” The speaker distorted the voice, but it was annoyingly familiar.

  “Stop your car and come out with your hands up.” The loudspeaker confirmed her suspicions.

  “Charge and hope they are bluffing or listen to the familiar voice?” Caradoc sounded like he was good either way.

  “Stop the car. I don’t care if you know him or not, no one threatens anyone with a rocket launcher while I’m in the forest.” Reg waited until the car almost stopped then jumped out and raised his club.

  Aisling did spare a thought that maybe he could bat the rocket out of the air—he stood like he thought he could.

  “I’m Reginald Larksong of the Larksong trolls of the U.K.. Who the hell are you and why are you threatening me?” He added a very impressive growl to the end of his words.

  Aisling didn’t want to ruin his thunder, but she knew who was on the other side of that speaker. She got out of the car, leaving her gun on the seat. “Do we have to put our hands up? What’s the matter, Reece, we didn’t stay home as you wanted, so you sent goons after us?”

  Caradoc and Maeve got out on their side of the car. A quick glance showed neither had their hands up, but they left their weapons in the car.

  “Damn it, Aisling. And Caradoc and Maeve. You ruined an op.” Reece turned off the loudspeaker and came tromping through the trees. He was dressed in a black suit and a black dress shirt and had three people flanking him dressed the same. He looked good. Pissed, but good. Yup, one of the elven women with him had a rocket launcher sitting on her shoulder. That Reece didn’t seem completely surprised at Aisling’s appearance, and that he still had someone ready to blow up the car she was in, didn’t make her happy to see him no matter how good he looked.

  “I don’t care who knows who.” Reg strode forward and blocked Reece. “These woods are troll land.”

  “They are, and we apologize for this. I’m Agent Larkin with the FBI, and we were setting up a sting to catch a gang pretending to be FBI when your friends there got in the way.”

  Reg gave Reece a slow, appraising, and ultimately dismissive glance then turned to Aisling. “Is he for real? I know Stella and Grundog have had dealings with an Agent Reece Larkin, but this wasn’t who I’d envisioned.” More shapes were moving through the forest, but unless Area 42 had recently managed to recruit a tribe of trolls, they weren’t with Reece and his people.

  “He’s that person.” Aisling couldn’t look at Reece. Yes, Caradoc said he fought to get her and Maeve to be part of the investigation, but that said nothing about their personal interaction. Or lack thereof.

  Reg sighed and held up his right fist. The movement of the dark shapes around them stopped. He used his earpiece. “Did someone find Grundog? More of her friends have shown up.” He paused as his call changed. “Hey Grunnie, some people are out here in extremely questionable circumstances and throwing your name around. Reece Larkin, a pair of elves called Caradoc and Aisling, and a Brit named Maeve.” He listened for a bit then started laughing. “Thanks.”

  “She knows us?” Reece sounded almost nervous about that. Considering that if Stella had been cut off from the investigations, so had Grundog, he might have cause. Even civilized trolls weren’t always as civilized as they could be when they were pissed.

  “Yup, but she likes the other three better than you right now. My people will back down if you and yours take the rest of the black SUV gang and leave our forest.” The entire forest didn’t belong to the trolls, but this far back, they were clearly on troll land.

  “I need to debrief those three, they interfered in a federal investigation.” The words were there, but there wasn’t much force behind them.

  “Yeah, no.” Aisling took a step closer to him. She noticed the people with him all dropped their hands to their sidearms. She didn’t know them and at this point, she didn’t care. “We were going about our business and your friends went after us. Not our problem.” She folded her arms and glared. She found that she could stare at him much easier when pissed.

  “You destroyed an operation we’d been worki
ng on for months. You looked like one of our contacts and the people we were after took the bait. You need to come with us.” The female elf was pissed and looked like she wanted to shoot Aisling.

  Aisling shrugged her off but watched the other two. Both reminded her of Jones with their silent stillness. A sting that had been in place for a few months? One that Reece hadn’t been a part of at that time since he was focusing on Nix and the iron death killings.

  Aisling smiled at the woman. “Just because you got replaced as head of this operation, and it blew up spectacularly, is not a reason we need to come with you. All three of us are civilians on troll land. We’re not going anywhere.” The snarl on the woman’s face and a wince and glance away by Reece told her she was right. This type of job was below Reece’s level. Most likely his defending her and Maeve hadn’t gone well, and he’d been bumped down to replace the woman elf on an FBI case.

  “As long as you stay beyond our borders and don’t harass or hinder our guests in any way, you’re welcome to do what you want. Providing you put down that rocket launcher.” Reg nodded then turned to Caradoc. “I can guide you in. Grundog is looking forward to seeing you again. All of you.” They all got back into Caradoc’s car.

  Reece kept looking down, but it looked to Aisling like he was hiding a smile. He quickly looked up as they started to drive away and gave her a tight nod.

  Reg caught the movement. “He’s not really FBI either, is he? What about the ones with him?”

  “It’s complicated.” Even though Aisling was still pissed at Area 42 and Reece, she didn’t want to compromise them. And the others could have been real FBI, it would depend on how much Reece annoyed his actual superiors. He often did work under the FBI badge, but given the severity of the current Area 42 situation, if he got bumped to an FBI case, he was on someone’s shit list.

  Reg grinned. “Not to worry, I know Stella has some interesting friends.”

  “Is she here, by chance?”

  “No, she’s back at her diner. She was here for a few days, so mad I thought she was going to break someone. Whoever this Garran person is, he’d better hope she’s calmed down.”

  “Good, he deserves it.” Maeve folded her arms and glared.

  “Thanks for the save, but we were actually trying to get to Stella’s diner.” Caradoc was driving slower than normal, even in a forest. Most likely looking for a way to turn around.

  “You know Reece will be waiting. He knows us too well. He might not know why we were out here, but he’ll be waiting.” Aisling wasn’t sure how she felt about Reece right now. She’d been fully pissed for the last week but seeing him had changed something. That, and his standing up for them even if it meant he got bumped off the missing building case raised her opinion a bit. She was still annoyed, but both of them had times they couldn’t tell anyone what they were doing.

  “You might want to call Harlie, let him know it’ll be a while,” Maeve said.

  “Good idea.” Aisling dialed, waited until it rang through, hung up, dialed again, hung up again, then dialed and let it keep ringing.

  “What was that about? The call not go through?” Caradoc picked up a bit of speed once it was clear they weren’t getting out quickly.

  “He’s asked for a code when we’re out and about. He didn’t tell you?”

  “I guess he figures my line is more secure.”

  Harlie picked up on the fourth ring. “Where are you all? I’m getting some odd feelings from you.” He was a precog, but like most, they couldn’t always control what they picked up.

  “Caradoc took a detour. Then we got into some trouble.”

  “In the woods? Why are you all in the woods? Stella is looking forward to seeing you.”

  “Tell her we’re visiting Grundog first, then we will be by.”

  “I’m going to keep eating without you.” He hung up.

  “He wasn’t concerned enough to not eat, so that’s good.”

  The troll town looked like a small rustic village somewhere in the alps. They didn’t get a lot of snow here, but the sharply peaked roofs were more traditional than a necessity. Most trolls lived in colder areas.

  Grundog was waiting as they drove up. She was almost willowy compared to most troll maidens, being as she was a troll/minotaur mix. But she refrained from picking any of them up in a hug. “Good to see you. Reece there as well?” Like most local trolls, Grundog usually spoke with a heavier pidgin accent. The fact she was toning it down while watching Reg out of the corner of her eye explained why she wasn’t hugging.

  “Good to see you too. Reece is still on the bad side, he wanted to take us in,” Aisling said.

  “He shouldn’t be.” She frowned.

  “Since you’re here, let’s give you a tour.” Reg and Grundog gave a quick tour of their town. Aisling had lived in the far north for a while in her youth and aside from the lack of ice, this reminded her of the troll towns up there. Minus the excessive brawling.

  Caradoc vanished partway through the tour and they found him taking apart the bumper of his car. And swearing.

  “What happened?” Aisling looked over the pieces he had next to him, but she couldn’t see any bullet holes or other obvious damage.

  “It wasn’t just by chance those fake FBI people were following us.” He held up a handful of tiny metal bugs. Literally. They were shaped like flies, but the light glinting off them said they were metal.

  “Those are all trackers?” Maeve came out to join them as well, but she dropped down next to him and poked through the things in his hand.

  “Yes. And while I’d bet they came from the same creator, they aren’t a design that I recognize. Mind you, they probably were added by different people. Or different groups at least. There are slight modifications between them.”

  Aisling took one. “Great craftsmanship—they even have tiny legs and wings.” She flicked it and it started moving its legs. “They’re still active?” She dropped it back to the pile he’d put on the ground. The one she dropped kicked its legs a few more times, then went still.

  “I sprayed them with a neutralizer as I took them off the car, so that was just an automatic reaction. But who put them there?”

  “And how did more than one group have the same supplier?” Maeve got back to her feet and dusted her hands off.

  “That is disturbing too. Obviously Reece and his new crew put some on. But I’d guess that the fake FBI did as well.”

  “Which means they weren’t following us because they thought we were someone else. They were following us for us.” Aisling went back to thinking bad thoughts about Reece. “Reece probably knew that.”

  “Which meant he was trying to bring us in for something else?”

  “Or making a good show for the real FBI agents he was working with. He might not be as removed from Area 42 as it appeared.” She kept her voice down. Reg and Grundog had gone back to check on the status of the black SUVs lingering in their forest, but still better to not be flinging around that name.

  A nearby door opened and Reg came out. “Your friends have left. Between the scouts I left behind and the electronic sensors, you’re clear to the freeway.” He shrugged. “Beyond that, you’re on your own.”

  Grundog came out as well with a packet. “Give to Stella? It’s something she was asking about.” She was still fighting to keep her pidgin out, but it was slipping. Reg and his British accent were rubbing off on her. Or she was trying to lose it for him. She handed Aisling the large envelope. “Please make sure she gets it.” The look on her face was serious.

  Aisling almost asked what it was, then just took it instead. It felt like there were a few disks in there along with a lot of paper. “I’ll make sure it gets to her.” She held out her hand to Reg. “Thanks for helping us get out of our situation. Or both situations.”

  Reg shook her hand and grinned. “It was a pleasure. I’m sure we’ll be seeing all of you around.”

  Caradoc had the bumper put back together and the bugs in a steel-
lined case. He still didn’t look happy as they got in the car. “I know we were going to see Stella, but I want to figure out where those damn bugs came from.”

  “I need to get this to Stella. Something in here had Grundog upset. Besides, if we can get into Reece’s secret lab you can check out the bugs there.”

  “I know, but there’s something about this entire thing that is odd. I have a sensor alert, none of these damn bugs should have been able to function on my car. When I removed them, all were live.” The tone in his voice boded badly for whoever was behind the bugs.

  “Someone out-geeked the tech king.” Maeve was making light of it, but she sounded like she shared the same concern. Caradoc was one of the best, yet just in the past few hours his tech had been thwarted repeatedly.

  “I wonder if Reece’s bosses knew and that’s why they cut you loose.” Aisling was more muttering to herself than them. But both had excellent hearing.

  “That’s a weird connection. You think Area 42 was testing Caradoc?” Maeve asked.

  “Why not? Yeah, they weren’t able to find any connection to our mother through him, but they might have also been testing his tech skills. When you take apart those trackers, can you tell how long they were on the car?” At this point, she didn’t trust Area 42 about anything.

  Caradoc was focused on the road and driving quicker than they’d come in. It took him a moment to shake himself free from wherever his thoughts had gone. “Yes, I should be able to. Damn it, if Area 42 was tracking me, then who else was?”

  “That’s what you get to find out.” Aisling wasn’t a huge fan of freeways, anyone who lived in L.A. got through them as quickly as possible. But she was extremely happy to see the onramp to the 5 freeway right now. She’d wanted to be doing something about the case, but being chased through the woods by unknown assailants wasn’t it.

  They were all silent as he drove to the exit for Stella’s diner, but Aisling noticed that Maeve rode most of the way looking behind them.