Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 57143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 286(@200wpm)___ 229(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Augustine had zeroed in on Woodward quickly, but despite MII’s best efforts, he failed to obtain conclusive proof. It ate at him, but at the time he could do nothing about it.
Then, Woodward popped up again, a year later, when Rogan, the Baylors, and the Harrisons united to take down Alexander Sturm, one of the most dangerous members of the Conspiracy, at his fortress-like compound. A compound that had been guarded by constructs.
Augustine hadn’t been there. His role had been different. While they stormed Sturm’s house, he was dismantling Sturm’s allies. But he had watched a recording of that assault.
Augustine’s memory served up the video of a monstrous mechanical horse with crocodile jaws charging at the camera, full speed, like a runaway train lit from within by a magical blue glow. Its mouth hung open, displaying two-foot-long steel teeth. A grenade hurtled toward it and exploded against the construct’s chest, ripping a hole in the metal. Debris went flying. The construct stumbled, and then the jettisoned parts streamed back into it, reforming its body.
Sturm was a weather mage. Augustine had sunk hours and a lot of his resources into trying to tie Woodward to Sturm, and again, he’d failed. He knew Woodward was involved, he felt it with an intuition honed by years of experience. But he couldn't prove it.
Woodward had escaped all consequences of that investigation. He had always been a recluse, but since the Sturm affair, he practically vanished from the public eye. Yet here he was now, attacking the Harrisons.
“Why?” The word came out almost on its own, an extension of his thoughts.
Somehow, she understood him. “Kitty is an arcane creature born on Earth, one of a kind. He wants to take her apart. He wants to dissect her and use her body as a model for his next mechanical atrocity. He tried to buy Zeus years ago. We turned him down. He kept upping the price.”
“How much did he offer?”
“Two-hundred and fifty million if Cornelius would keep Zeus calm and alive as long as possible during the vivisection.”
Augustine recoiled.
Her eyes were terrible, frantic and brimming with pain. He hated it. He wanted to take that pain away from her, to reassure her, but he couldn’t. Platitudes would only make things worse.
“Why Zeus? Woodward worked with the Conspiracy. He had access to Harcourt, who had summoned Zeus. Why not just hire a summoner to get another specimen?”
“Because no summoner could keep a living animal calm while it was cut apart. And because Zeus was a bonded animal. No animal mage had been able to bond with a summon. Woodward thought that Zeus was unique. He wanted to study the bond and his body.”
Revulsion cut through him, angry and cold.
“I should have known,” she said, her voice defeated.
“How could you?”
They finally reached the townhouse parking lot. His phone vibrated. He glanced at it. Adrian Woodward owned three houses, one in California, one in Colorado, and this one, in Canyon Lake. He had boarded a private plane to Austin out of Denver International half an hour ago.
Augustine opened the file attachments. He found a series of images of Woodward’s compound, a veritable fortress hiding behind a concrete wall. The house sat atop a hill overlooking a lake, with the nearest neighbor half a mile away.
“There is no time,” she said, her voice hollow. “There’s no time for backup. He will kill her tonight. She’s still alive. I can still feel the bond with Celeste, a tiny sliver of it, and she would know if her cub had died. She would grieve and I would feel it, and if Kitty dies, I will lose them both.”
The last traces of lust melted. He was back to his normal self, and he coldly calculated their options. None of them were good.
The legal system acknowledged its limitations when it came to Primes. When Houses came into conflict, they filed for official permission to engage in House warfare. Woodward hired someone to steal from House Harrison, and House Harrison’s employees died as a result. They had more than enough for a Verona Exception, and with the right wording, he was certain their application for a feud would get approved, but that would take time. They didn’t have any.
Storming the Woodward compound with MII without the proper permits was out of the question. It would expose his House and his company to sanctions and possible criminal liability. At a very basic level, it was illegal. And again, mobilizing an appropriate force would take time.
Their only option was a surgical strike. Right now, no money had exchanged hands. The only proof tying House Harrison and MII was sitting in his files, the contract Diana signed. He could delete it at any time. Only a handful of people knew where they were, and he trusted all of them. Even so, only he and Diana had the complete picture.