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Henry tugged the zipper up the back of the man’s head and yanked off the mask.
“NOOO!!!” the man screamed in terror, so Henry bounced him hard against the floor then flipped him over.
Henry frowned as he recognized him from somewhere. Then it popped into his head. He was one of the morning anchors from a major network channel. Chet, no, Chuck Darnell, the big, jolly goof who did the light-hearted, feel-good stories for the show. Seeing him here was so far out of context. His nose was broken from the impact against the floor.
“Keys,” Henry demanded, and the man’s eyes widened in panic.
“I-I-I don’t have them! I don’t run the place! I’m just a client!” the man babbled in fear.
Henry wanted to hurt this man, but he didn’t want to waste time. If he’d had a permanent sharpie marker, he’d write his crimes on his face-
A memory rose in Henry’s mind, a spell of Baba’s. Almost before he was aware of what he was doing, he was writing with a fingertip across the man’s forehead as he spoke words he couldn’t hear. The man’s eyes widened, and tears of shame formed as he struggled to take a breath.
Henry stood and looked down at him in disgust. “Leave.”
The heavy man’s crimes were written on his face, and he wouldn’t be able to hide them from his family, friends, or coworkers. There was no ink or even scratches on the pale skin of his forehead, but the compulsion to confess his sins had been deeply imprinted in the man’s mind.
Frantic to escape, he rolled over onto his hands and knees, scrambled towards the door, and then got to his feet and ran. The moment he was out the door, Henry moved to Kali’s restraints and used his strength to break the links between the cuffs. He’d need a key to remove them from her wrists, but he could get her home for now. He eased her down, and she whimpered.
He heard the sound of running, so he sprinted across the room and touched the door as he cast the Magic Door spell. Seconds later, the outer hall sounds became muffled. He cautiously opened the door and saw Kali’s room.
Smiling to himself, he walked back to Kali and carefully lifted her in his arms. He carried her across the room and into her bedroom. He gently set her down on her bed.
“Mahati. Can you come in, please?”
The older sister immediately entered and cried in dismay when she saw her sister. She rushed next to the bed and touched her sister’s face gently.
“Do you have the number for General Crane?” he asked her.
Mahati looked at him in confusion. “What?”
“General Crane. I need to speak to him.”
“Now?” she asserted.
“Yes, unless you’re fine with the monsters who did this to Kali getting away,” he said firmly.
She pursed her lips and rushed out of the room to return with her cell. She dialed and handed it to him.
Henry walked over to the window as he listened to the phone ring. On the fourth, he heard someone answer. “Ms. Chandra? What can I do for you?”
“Hi, General Crane. This is Henry Gable. I’m at Mahati’s place, and I asked her to call you for me.”
“Oh, is everything all right, Mr. Gable?” he said, sounding a little uncomfortable.
“I need some assistance from the squad of Silver Soldiers you have watching me,” Henry said frankly.
Crane was quiet for a second, then cleared his throat. “Why do you think I assigned my squad to such a duty?”
“Because I spent several days telling US congresspeople a bunch of stuff that made most of them very nervous about the security of their way of life. Of course, they asked to have a squad of soldiers to keep track of me. From the few demonstrations I made of my new means of travel, they wouldn’t have asked regular soldiers. Besides, I can feel their energy close by.” Henry looked back at Mahati.
She turned her head to look at him incredulously, and he shook his head as he shrugged.
Crane exhaled in a gust. “Dammit! How are we supposed to do our jobs if we don’t have complete intel!” the General cursed.
Henry smiled. “So, can I get their help?”
Crane sighed. “What are you asking for?”
Henry turned to look out the window again and spoke softly. “A friend of mine was kidnapped, likely around the time of the Skyfall. She’s been held prisoner in some kind of torture club.”
“You need help extracting her?” Gordon asked.
“No. I got her out, but there could be others, and there may be a client list for this club and information on the operators. I need help freeing the rest and collecting the information so we can shut these monsters down permanently.”
“Where is the club? I can have the team raid it and call in the local authorities to collect the operators and customers,” the General suggested.
“I just caught Chuck Darnell of the very popular breakfast show, New York Morning Express, whipping my friend with a bullwhip while dressed in some leather fetish wear. We aren’t going in the club’s front door as the cockroaches would just escape out the back ways. I have a door already opened in the dungeon. They’re aware of my presence but probably think I’m trapped in the room. They’ll have a team of security goons trying to bust in to get me as we speak. We break in from the inside, secure the staff and customers, rescue the tortured, then depending on who we find and what data I can retrieve, we either blow the lid on the operation or bury these bastards in an unmarked grave. That decision is yours, but we gotta do it fast.”
“Shit. Okay, I can have the team to your location in two minutes.”
“Thanks!” Henry hung up. He looked to Mahati. “Sorry, we’ll need to use Kali’s closet door to enter the club, but once we’re in, I’ll release the door, and we’ll leave another way.”
He knelt down next to the bed, and Kali’s eyes tracked him. “I’ll come back to heal you once we catch the bad guys, okay?”
“Thank you,” she whispered, her voice cracking.
He nodded and walked to the condo’s front door so she couldn’t see his rage building. Opening the door, he saw several Silver Soldiers exit the stairwell into the hallway and look in his direction. He waved, and they zipped up to the doorway.
Henry recognized the one in the lead, Sergeant Michelle Tennison. She smiled at him, and he returned it. He noted that she and the other soldiers were all wearing vests make from tough black nylon straps. Affixed to these straps were insignia and some pockets for carrying essentials.
“Good to see you again, Sergeant,” Henry addressed her with a smile.
“We thought this would be a covert surveillance assignment, then the General told us our cover was blown because you sensed our energy,” she replied.
Henry grinned. “Yeah, please apologize to the General for me. That was a complete bluff. I can’t sense your energy at all, but I knew you guys had to have been assigned to watch me for suspicious activity.”
The soldier next to Michelle burst into braying laughter. “Oh man, the General is gonna be pissed when he hears he fell for that!”
“Shut it, Yablonski!” Michelle sighed wearily. She looked to Henry. “I understand time is of the essence?”
Henry nodded and gestured for them to follow him. He went inside and turned to see there were ten soldiers. He faced them in Mahati’s living room. “We’ll go through the bedroom and into the closet door, which leads to a dungeon room in the club. I’ll release the magic, and the security goons will probably bust through the door. We tie them up, then tie up any customers in the act of torturing another being.”
“What if it’s just two people getting their freak on?” Yablonski asked.Content is © 2024 NôvelDrama.Org.
Henry blinked in surprise at the soldier as Michelle scowled at him.
“Every time you say shit like that, it makes me wonder why Endale sacrificed himself to save you,” the Sergeant growled.
Henry shook his head. “It’s likely the person being tortured will not look Human. It may be one of those clubs. Stop the customers from hurting them. We also need to capture the people running the place and stop them from accessing the computers. There’s data we need to get from them. Any questions?” He saw there were none. “Let’s go.”
He guided them through the bedroom and through the closet door. He immediately closed the door behind himself, stood to the side looking at the prepared Silver Soldiers, and touched the door to release it. The two men slamming their shoulders against the wooden door crashed through to fall onto the floor and were zip-tied together in a flash. Michelle and Yablonski tied up the two waiting in the hall.
Henry watched the silver streaks zip away in pursuit of the baddies in the rest of the building as he went from room to room, checking on the ones chained to the wall. For the three customers he found zip-tied, he spelled their sins on their foreheads as they stared up at him in fear and shame.
He was breaking the cuffs for a female Fae in the last room when she muttered something to him.
“Demn…”
Henry leaned closer. “What?”
“Club… owner… demon.”
Henry cursed under his breath. “Thank you for the warning.”
He rushed back to the door and closed it. Then he pictured Sigrid’s bedroom door in his mind and touched the dungeon door as he launched the spell. He thumped on it so she’d know it wasn’t Meixiu.
Light poured out around the door as it slowly opened. She was in her armor. “Henry?” she called out.
“Sorry for suddenly showing up unannounced, but we have a Demon issue,” he said as he opened the door the rest of the way, holding up an arm across his eyes.
“Where is this?” she asked.
“It’s some kind of torture club. I found Kali here, and I arranged to have General Crane’s Silver Soldiers assist with its shutdown,” he explained.
“They aren’t equipped to take on a Demon!” Sigrid exclaimed.