Dark Debt (Chicagoland Vampires #11)(70)
Author: Chloe Neill

Morgan glanced at the horizon, then back at me. “You’re not seriously going to park this thing at Navy Pier.”

“It’s a pier, isn’t it? And a navy pier at that. It’s in the damn name. If they didn’t want boats parking there, they should have called it something else.”

“You’re getting loopy.”

“My adrenaline has run its course,” I admitted. “I’m going to crash really, really hard later.”

I pulled the boat up to the end of the pier where a ladder dropped down into the water, grimaced as fiberglass groaned against concrete.

“Grab the ladder!” I told him, then switched off the engine and ran around the chair, flipping the buoys over the side of the boat to provide some protection against the waves that already lifted it. Morgan tied off the boat, climbed up the ladder, and gave me a boost. When I’d followed him up, we stood on solid concrete, but I could still feel the phantom movements of the water beneath my feet.

“They’re going to be pissed,” Morgan said, eyes on the water.

I looked down at the boat, which looked ridiculously small bobbing in the waves against the dock, its significantly larger brothers and sisters—a yacht for dinner cruises, a three-masted schooner for the historical experience, a bevy of tour boats—parked along the dock in front of it.

“Probably so. But all things considered, this is just a drop in the bucket.”

Morgan sighed, ran his hands through his hair. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. And that little guy got us halfway across Lake Michigan, so we should be grateful for that.” He looked at me, and for a moment I saw Morgan in there, not just the Master he was trying to be. “You did good.”

“So did you. Nice job with those throwing stars. You got any more of those?”

“Maybe one or two. I’ll set you up.”

“Cool.”

We looked up at the sound of footsteps, caught the silhouettes of people running toward us. Ethan, Luc, Mallory, and Catcher emerged from darkness, my grandfather and Detective Jacobs behind them.

Sentinel? Ethan asked silently.

I’m fine, I said, glanced at Mallory, and held up my bracelet. “You tracked me?”

She nodded. “Glad it worked, since the earbuds crapped out. And I’m glad you’re okay.”

“The helicopter was just about to lift off when you started across the lake. Mallory guessed you’d taken a boat.”

Luc stared down at the water, then back at me with amazement. “And the Circle’s boat, at that.”

“Only after they tried to take their payment out in our hides.” A series of large waves rolled in, nudging the boat against the pier with a grinding sound that didn’t really speak well of its future seaworthiness. Or lakeworthiness.

“They’re on Torrance Island,” I said when Jacobs reached us. “Former mobster hangout. There were at least six men there. I don’t think they’ve really opened the house for spring yet. There’s a helipad, but no longer a boat.” I gestured toward the water.

“Negotiations?” my grandfather asked.

“They want King, decided they’d take me as a hostage to get his location.”

“He’s important to them.”

“Apparently, but we didn’t get a reason out of them. Either Maguire knew and wasn’t telling—which seems unlikely, because he was pretty talkative—or he just didn’t know. He played like he was leading the organization, but eventually threw out a ‘we.’ And besides, he’s muscle. Maybe well-connected muscle, but just muscle. No one else looked familiar, and there was no sign of Balthasar. But Maguire basically acknowledged they knew who he was, and that he’s crazy.”

“Well done, Sentinel,” Luc said approvingly, and my grandfather nodded.

“We’ve gotten the location of their hole, or one of them, anyway, and the boat. We’ll investigate the jurisdictional issue, send boats and a chopper to bring them in if we can, and keep you posted.”

“This boat may not make it through the night,” Morgan said, eyes on the water as another wave surged toward it, even the water in the harbor rough tonight.

“Can we go home?” I asked. “It’s been a long night.”

“One moment,” Ethan said pleasantly, then gave Morgan a right cross to the face.

Morgan staggered back, eyes wide. When he found his footing again, he put a hand to his jaw, wiggled it. “What the fuck, Sullivan?”

“That was our unfinished business. Now we’re even.” Ethan’s eyes slitted. “Think carefully before you decide to use my people as ballast again.” With that, he put his hand at my back, turned me toward the gate.

Morgan cursed. “Anybody ever tell you you’re an asshole, Sullivan?”

Beside me, Ethan grinned, but kept his gaze on the boardwalk in front of us. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

*   *   *

My grandfather and Detective Jacobs stayed behind to oversee the boat’s forensic processing, with Jeff and Catcher promising to assist with research.

Morgan, Luc, Ethan, and I drove back to Cadogan House. Ethan sprang for hot beefs on the way home, and I finished mine in the car before we’d left downtown. The fight, the anticipation, my acting as a battery for Mallory’s ward, put my hunger on overdrive.

Morgan excused himself to check on his vampires, ensure that they were still safe. We found Kelley and Malik waiting in Ethan’s office, their expressions grim.

“What’s happened?”

“It’s Balthasar, or at least it seems like Balthasar. Downstairs,” she said, and we followed her down to the Ops Room.

Once again, the screen was on, tuned to a news broadcast, the ticker at the bottom of the screen chilling: HOSPITALIZED WOMAN CLAIMS ASSAULT BY VAMPIRE IN DREAM.

“Jesus,” Ethan said. “Can we have ten minutes without a crisis?”

“What about Juliet?” I asked Luc. “I thought they had him. I thought they found his condo.”

“They sat on the building for two hours, didn’t see him, so they checked with security. Turns out, security heard him contact the account manager in the lobby about something or other, and the account manager spilled that we’d checked in on him.”

I had choice words for humans that I decided not to verbalize. “So he’s gone again?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” He gestured toward the screen. “I’d presume he’s pissed we’re keeping him away from his penthouse. So this attack could be punishment for that. But if the Circle and Balthasar are connected, and the Circle’s pissed at us, it could be punishment from their direction, too. I doubt the Circle would have condoned it—it doesn’t seem like their kind of play—but it wouldn’t the first time Balthasar did something violent.”