Tainted: Book Three - Enslaved

44. Guess What?

Kerry

"Travis found information on Christopher Remington!"

Excitement hummed in Tara's voice.

"He's into real estate and finance," she said through my phone's speaker. "Like Wall Street stuff. I didn't understand it all, and Travis could explain it better, but we can't get him out of the library and the biblios are strict about talking in there, so he wrote out the main facts for us."

"Slow down." I felt like bees were buzzing in my head.

"Okay. The main offices of Remington's business interests are in New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and he owns houses all over the world. He's single, likes to throw elaborate parties, and is worth a fortune."

"And he went to Columbia with Hubler?" Rome asked.

"Yes. Travis is digging into Columbia's records, trying to find something that ties him and Hubler to the other two Alchemists."

"Or you can just find Remington," John broke in, "and have Kerry beat the names out of him."

"That would be my very great pleasure." I nodded. "Any idea where Remington is right now?"

"Working on it. But guess what? Ms. Chapman helped us get in the Vault and we found the book Zoe Becerra had glamored. It was an old textbook, believe it or not. The Keeper was shocked. Well, we told a curator about it first, but he didn't believe us. Insisted it was impossible. When we discovered it was a textbook, I thought Ms. Chapman was going to fry him with lightning for not listening to us!"

"Was it a guy named Anthony?" One of my hands fisted up and my shoulder muscles tensed.

"How did you know?"

"I almost killed him that day the gargoyle got loose. He's a mother—

"Anyway," Tara interrupted, "we went straight to the Keeper after that. And guess what? She called for an immediate and thorough inventory of the Vault. Of course, they tried to push us out of their investigation, but Ms. Chapman— Let me just tell you guys, that woman is fierce! She out-argued the Keeper and we were allowed to help the curators!"

"You must have seen some amazing things." Jax slipped an arm around Gigi's waist. "I'm a little jealous."

"I know, right?" Yeah, Tara was wound up today. "But I'm telling you this because one of the items we inventoried was this sword. And guess? According to its label and information tag, it was supposed to be a soul-sucker, but it was a sword of destruction. We found its maker's mark and the Keeper let Kyo Yumi do his voodoo on it. Guess what?"

"Stop saying guess what, Garden Girl." Jax laughed. "It's making Kerry's eye twitch."

"Oh. Sorry. So this sword, Maledetto, was part of a dragon's horde stored at the Sanctuary in Nepal. I'm pretty sure it's the same one that Zick Black told you about."

"And what does that matter?" I was having trouble connecting the dots.

"How did it get in the Vault?" she asked. "There is no record of it being seized or logged in the inventory. And what happened to the soul-sucking sword? Its name is Carcer, by the way, and it was logged in by Clem two hundred years ago. When we asked, he told us he brought it back from the mission he was on when Amanda was petrified."

"And it does just what you think it does," John cut in. "Sucks the soul out of anyone it cuts and absorbs it. Forever."

"So a sword that shouldn't have been there was there, and a sword that should have been there wasn't." Gigi frowned and met my eyes. "And the should-have-been-there sword is connected to Amanda's petrification."

"Just that it was the relic Clem brought back from that mission." Jax shrugged. "That's not much of a connection."

"Way too many variables." Rome shook his head. "Keep gathering data. The connections will make themselves once we know more."

"Find out more about Clem's mission if you can. The one when Amanda was petrified." I narrowed my eyes as I thought. "And see if you can dig up anything more on either sword."

"Sure thing," Tara said. "Take care of yourselves, and keep us updated. We're worried about Gemma, too."

"Thanks. We will." I ended the call.

"What are we going to do with Lilas and Hinge?" Jax wanted to know. "When they call back with a location, I assume we'll be leaving. Are we taking them along with us?"

"Why haven't Hank and Gina returned yet?" Gigi asked. "Or contacted any of us to explain the delay?"

"I dunno." I shrugged.

I didn't care, either, but I kept that to myself. I was outta there as soon as I heard where I could find Christopher Remington, kids or no kids, wardens or no wardens.

"Is there anyone in the city you would trust to watch them?" Rome asked. "You had the sheba guard your bike. You must have trusted them at least a little for that."
"I trusted the value of the gold I gave them to do so," I snorted. "But we could ask Josef to squirrel them away in St. Pat's."

"St. Pat's?" Jax stared at me. "The cathedral where we went the other day?"

"Yeah. It's about the safest place I know. Has a portal to the Sanctuary in case of emergency, too."

"Do we want to trust their lives to other hands?" Mira looked from me to Rome.

"That's a hard call." Rome frowned. "If they weren't kids, I'd say bring them along, but they are kids, and neither has an offense, let alone a defense. It would be reckless to take them into what could become a battle, but if we leave them behind and something happens, their blood's on our hands."

This is why I don't work well with others.

I had a name, soon I'd have a location, and I would be ready to take off. But, no, I had to deal with this first. Plus, in a minute, Rome was gonna remind me to call Chance and Spin and let them know where we were going and why.

Ditch them all. Before they slow you down any further.

I shoved that voice back into its black hole, but it was getting harder and harder to ignore.

"Gigi and I'll take care of it, Kerry." Jax pulled out his phone and motioned to Gigi. "You focus on the next step. Leave this to us."

I scowled. I knew he couldn't read minds, but sometimes, I felt like he lived inside my head.

As the two disappeared into the girls' bedroom, Mira came over and smirked at me.

"What?" I demanded.

"Everything you were feeling scrolled across your face. Impatience. Frustration. Then the monster peeked out of your eyes for a split second." Her lips widened into a grin. "Don't ever play poker, my friend."

"Go away, Boots," I grumbled.

In the end, Jax got a hold of Josef, who agreed to harbor the kids until something else could be arranged. At Josef's request, Gigi 'ported over to the cathedral to see the room where she could take the kids directly rather than drop them in front of the pieta she'd visited earlier. She took Jax with her because she didn't want to go alone.

And, because my luck was garbage, as soon as they 'ported out, Gina 'ported in with Hank.