Quiver of Cobras Read online

  Morgan watched me for a long moment, his expression shadowed by the darkness around us. ‘You’re not fooling anyone, least of all me.’

  ‘I’m an evil bitch, Morgan. My motives are very simple.’

  ‘If you’re an evil bitch, why are going to such lengths to stop Rubus?’ he asked.

  I shrugged. ‘What can I tell you? I thought that if I helped you prevent an apocalypse, you’d let me have wild, abandoned sex with you. You know, for old times’ sake.’

  ‘Sure,’ he said quietly. ‘Whatever you say.’

  ‘I’m just being honest,’ I told him. ‘We did decide that was the best policy, after all.’ I couldn’t quite meet his eyes. Silence stretched out between us. Gasbudlikins, this was awkward.

  Morgan heaved in a deep breath. ‘Well, Madrona,’ he said finally, ‘in the interests of honesty, you look hot as hell in that outfit.’ He smiled at me.

  My stomach did a little flip-flop. I ran my hands over the leather corset. ‘I know.’ I grinned back, suddenly feeling I was on surer ground. Then, because it seemed like the perfect opportunity and I didn’t want any further questions about my true motivation, I reached for him and drew him close, wrapping my arms round his neck. ‘Go on,’ I said. ‘This is your chance to push me away.’

  His emerald eyes held mine. ‘No can do.’ A heartbeat later, his mouth was on mine.

  I groaned, initially out of surprise and then because of a sudden flash of deep-seated lust that started at my toes and rose upwards like a flame. The dull ache that had settled deep in my chest seemed to vanish. Everything seemed to vanish. I could feel Morgan’s heart beating through his ribcage. He tasted of spice and wine, and the heat of his body pressing against mine was almost searing.

  ‘Maddy,’ he whispered, his breath hot against my cheek.

  I closed my eyes. His stubble scraped my skin but it only inflamed me further. His hands reached for my hips, curving tightly at my waist as if he couldn’t bear to let me go. His teeth nipped gently at my bottom lip – then he pulled back, breathing hard.

  ‘Don’t go back to Rubus tonight,’ he said. ‘Come home with me.’

  This time, I couldn’t argue. I gave a brief nod and smoothed my hands down my body as if to readjust my clothing. My fingers were shaking.

  ‘We should catch up with Finn,’ I said, reluctant to move.

  ‘Yeah,’ Morgan said. ‘We should.’ He bent his head down and pressed one more brief, hard kiss onto my lips. Then he gave me a dazzling smile.

  I swallowed, not sure if my legs were still strong enough to carry me up the hill to the golf course and the clubhouse. We had to go now, however; if we didn’t, I’d be tempted to tie him to the nearest tree so I could continue this at my own pleasure and in my own time.

  With my heart still hammering, I turned. I reached for Morgan’s hand and held it until the very edge of the treeline.

  ***

  I wondered if returning to the original scene of the crime was going to dislodge some memories. Alas, my forgetfulness remained as strong as Finn was stupid. I stared round at the area in the front of the clubhouse. I could remember leaving but I couldn’t remember arriving.

  ‘Look!’ I chirped to the Redcap, who was waiting sullenly as if he knew exactly why Morgan and I had taken so long to catch up to him. ‘Finn, that’s the phone box you destroyed with a bullet. If I’d not moved back at the right time, my head would have been blasted to smithereens.’ I sighed. ‘Good times.’

  Morgan’s green eyes flashed and he stalked over to inspect it. ‘They’ve not wasted any time in repairing it.’

  ‘We did that,’ Finn said sourly. ‘Or Winn did anyway. He repaired it. Stayed up half the night to do it, as well. We couldn’t afford to have the golf-course management inform the police about vandalism. We could dispose of Charrie the Bogle’s body but we’re not miracle workers. We couldn’t get rid of every trace of DNA and we couldn’t risk raising human suspicion. Redcaps don’t usually get much credit but we prepare for every eventuality in order to achieve success. It’s why we managed to fly under the radar with Rubus for so long.’

  ‘You didn’t coat the bullets with rowan,’ I pointed out.

  He glared. ‘There wasn’t time for that. It was either follow you or prepare the weapons.’

  I nodded as if taking him seriously. ‘You didn’t prepare for me beating you all and escaping with your cash either.’

  Finn’s jaw clenched.

  ‘You didn’t prepare for the possibility of CCTV cameras filming our every move.’

  Before he could attack me again, Morgan interrupted. ‘Enough, children! We’re here for one reason and one reason only and that’s to get hold of the CCTV footage from the night in question before Rubus does. There’s no point squabbling over its existence – it’s there and we have to get hold of it. We might not get another chance, so stop fannying around.’

  Finn and I glanced at each other. ‘Fannying?’ I enquired. ‘I’m not fannying.’

  ‘I’m not fannying either,’ Finn agreed. ‘If the Madhatter isn’t fannying and I’m not fannying then the only fanny remaining is … you.’

  I stifled a giggle. Okay. Finn wasn’t all bad.

  Morgan sighed. ‘Gods preserve me,’ he said. He allowed himself one heated glance in my direction, which promised even more than I dared imagine, then shook himself and pointed at the main door to the clubhouse. ‘Come on, you two.’

  We walked up to the dark, silent and closed doors. I scanned round, checking the exterior walls. I couldn’t see any cameras. Maybe, I thought hopefully, this golf course didn’t possess any CCTV cameras. It was high time some luck landed in our direction.

  Morgan beckoned me forward. ‘I take it you don’t remember how to deal with locked doors?’

  ‘Kick them in?’ I suggested.

  ‘I rather think,’ he said drily, ‘that it would be a good idea if no one discovered our intrusion. There are other ways of gaining access.’ He smiled. ‘Faery ways.’

  I rubbed my palms together. Excellent. I still wasn’t sure what powers I possessed so I was more than willing to let Morgan play the role of professor. Come to think of it, he’d actually look rather sexy in tweed… Whatever he wore, I’d still tie him to a tree so I could have my wicked way with him.

  ‘Raise both your hands,’ he instructed. ‘And focus on the lock. You need to visualise the mechanism inside. We don’t want to damage it because we don’t want anyone to know that we were here. You just need to see the lock turning in your mind’s eye and…’

  There was a click. I let out a crow of delight. ‘And we will gain access.’ My eyes gleamed. ‘We should do this more often. There’s a bank not too far from Rubus’s current place. I can sneak inside. I’m sure there will be loads of cash lying around, just there for the taking.’

  ‘We’re not bank robbers, Madrona.’

  I pouted. ‘You’re no fun.’

  Finn, apparently bored by this exchange, muscled past us. He turned the door knob and entered the silent building. I shrugged at Morgan and followed him in.

  The darkened reception area of the clubhouse greeted us. There was a solid wooden desk with nothing on top other than a blank computer screen and a glass bowl of boiled sweets. Photographs of golfing prowess adorned the walls, along with a large board proclaiming the winners of the local tournament for the last seventy-odd years.

  I reached over, grabbed a sweet and unwrapped it. The sound of the wrapper filled the small space and Finn and Morgan glared. ‘What?’ I asked. ‘It’s not like anyone is here to hear us.’ I popped the sweet into my mouth then immediately spat it out again. Yuck. Aniseed flavour.

  ‘Pick that up,’ Finn hissed.

  ‘I’m not surprised this place is always deserted if this is the quality of their freebies,’ I said, bending down to scoop up the offending sweet and drop it in the bin.

  ‘It’s a bit hard to play golf in the middle of the night,’ Finn pointed out.

  I considered t
his. ‘I don’t feel that the possibilities for that have been fully explored. You could have LED golf balls and glow-in-the-dark flags. Maybe some rave music to add to the ambience.’ I beamed.

  ‘Let’s just get a move on, shall we?’

  ‘You’re just jealous that you didn’t think of the idea first.’

  Finn sighed. Obviously deciding that talking to me further would only highlight his own creative inefficiencies, he turned away and stomped behind the reception desk. He opened the door marked Staff Only and walked inside.

  Morgan strode ahead, his head swinging from left to right. I grabbed another sweet. Maybe they weren’t all aniseed. Nope. I spat it out again. It hit the marbled floor and rolled. I shrugged. Maybe I’d leave it there just to confuse whoever was here in the morning.

  It didn’t take long for my two boys to find the room we were looking for. Finn was about to leave the reception area when Morgan called out in a hushed voice and beckoned us over. Behind an ugly rubber plant was a door with the word ‘Security’ emblazoned on it. We went inside.

  Whoever owned the golf course didn’t give much consideration to their security guards. The room was little more than a cupboard. Yellow high-vis jackets hung on the coat rack along one wall. There were various blinking red lights and a computer on a desk on the other.

  Finn sat down and turned on the computer screen. Almost immediately, several grainy black-and-white images flickered into view. I leaned down to get a closer look, drawing in a sharp breath when I saw some of the live images.

  ‘That’s the eighteenth hole,’ I said grimly. ‘That’s where I woke up.’

  Finn tapped a couple of keys on the keyboard. ‘There are bloody cameras everywhere.’

  Morgan pointed to an old newspaper article pinned to a board on our right. ‘There’s been a lot of vandalism to the green,’ he said. ‘They must have installed the cameras after the last incident.’

  ‘Arsebadgers,’ I muttered.

  ‘The vandals?’ he enquired. ‘Or the golf-course managers?’

  ‘Both.’ I sniffed. ‘Can you access the old footage, Finn?’

  ‘Hang on.’ He tapped a few more keys. It figured that he was an IT whizz; he had that pale look of someone who never saw the sun, coupled with the sort of deep-held angst that only comes from spending your masturbatory hours with a computer screen.

  A list of files appeared on the left-hand side of the screen, each one labelled with a date. The dates were in descending order. ‘The whole system is automated,’ Finn said. ‘Unless a problem’s reported, there would be no reason for anyone to search for any footage. That makes us very lucky. No matter what is on those videos, the Madhatter will get away with murder because no one will have bothered to watch them.’

  ‘Hey!’ I protested. ‘No one has proved that I killed that bogle! The evidence is purely circumstantial.’

  ‘Until now,’ Finn said. He clicked on the file marked twenty-first of September. ‘We’re about to discover what really happened that night.’

  I held my breath. I really didn’t want to discover that I was a cold-blooded murderer. All the same, I couldn’t rip my eyes away from the screen. ‘Eighteen,’ I whispered, scanning the named videos. ‘Play Eighteen.’ Almost without realising, I reached out and took Morgan’s hand. He squeezed reassuringly.

  ‘We’ll deal with whatever’s there, alright?’ he murmured. ‘Let’s not jump to conclusions.’

  I licked my lips nervously. ‘Sure, yeah. Right.’

  Finn grinned. ‘Hang on to your checked trousers, boys and girls.’ He clicked.

  The video started. I stared. So did Morgan and Finn. Our odd trio leaned forward, watching the flickering screen.

  Finn punched the keyboard. ‘It’s corrupted,’ he said. ‘The damned file is corrupted.’ He was right. There was nothing to see but fuzz.

  ‘Try a different file,’ Morgan said, tension tracing every word.

  Finn did as instructed, opening up the video entitled ‘Car Park’.

  ‘It’s corrupted too,’ he said. He tried another and another. ‘Every damn video from that night is worthless. There’s nothing to be seen.’

  I clapped my hands. ‘That’s fantastic! I was worrying about nothing. This was a long way to come to put our minds at rest but now there’s nothing to worry about. Even if Rubus finds this place, he won’t find any evidence of me or the sphere. All’s well that ends well.’

  Neither Morgan nor Finn reacted. ‘Try another date,’ Morgan said.

  Finn opened up the files for the day after. Every single video was fine. We watched for a few moments then he located another file. Still fine. The only corrupted videos were the ones that would incriminate me.

  ‘Maybe it’s just a coincidence,’ I hedged.

  ‘Yeah.’ Finn didn’t appear convinced.

  ‘It could happen.’

  ‘Mmm-hmm.’ He scratched his head for a moment then tapped again on the keyboard.

  ‘What is it?’ Morgan asked, leaning forward.

  Finn’s shoulders sagged. ‘What I was afraid of.’ He pointed at the screen. ‘Three hours ago, someone downloaded the files we were looking for. No doubt they then added a bug to corrupt the originals. We’re too late. Someone got here before us.’

  Gasbudlikins. ‘Rubus,’ I whispered. ‘That arsebadger. That fucking tosser. That…’

  Morgan squeezed my hand tighter. ‘You need to leave him for good now,’ he said. ‘Not just for the night but forever. It’s too dangerous for you to return to him.’

  I desperately wanted to argue. We needed a route into the inner workings of Rubus’s mind so that we could stop him from doing evil. Real evil, not just Madrona evil. If I walked away now, we’d be handing him the opportunity to do whatever the hell he wanted. I was still no closer to learning more about what Plan B was. What if it was even more dastardly and evil than Plan A? And there were twenty-four more letters in the alphabet to go. There was a lot of thwarting to do if we were to win the day.

  ‘Much as I hate to admit it,’ Finn said, ‘Morganus is right. We don’t know exactly what’s on those videos but we do know that you took the sphere from Charrie. Once Rubus has proof of that, all bets are off.’

  I flattened my mouth into a grim line. I wasn’t prepared to give up, not yet. ‘What about the CCTV from tonight?’ I asked. ‘Whoever waltzed in here and messed with those files must have been captured on camera three hours ago.’

  ‘Does it matter?’ Finn questioned. ‘It’ll be one of Rubus’s dust slaves, no doubt. He’s probably already handed them over. There’s no way Rubus is still at Chen’s place.’

  I held my ground. ‘It’s still worth checking.’

  He shrugged, returning to the first screen and rewinding the video. We watched it anxiously. ‘There!’ I jabbed my finger at the screen.

  ‘It’s just a shadow.’

  ‘A shadow of a person.’

  ‘But not the actual person. He or she knew where the cameras were and avoided them. Clever.’ Finn fast-forwarded. ‘See? There’s no sign of anyone until we come into view.’ Footage of us arriving out the front appeared, Finn looking morose, me looking nervous – and Morgan looking at me.

  Morgan sighed. ‘Can you delete us?’

  The Redcap nodded. ‘Piece of cake. It’ll only take a moment. You two should—’

  He was interrupted by a loud thud followed by a pained yelp from outside our little room. All three of us froze. We weren’t alone after all.

  Chapter Nine

  I sprang for the door. I didn’t have any particular goal in mind, other than getting hold of whoever was out there. It had to be the same arsebadger who’d already messed with the CCTV footage. I’d wrest the footage from them and stop them handing it over to Rubus. Somehow.

  Morgan pulled me back. ‘You can’t just leap out there, all guns blazing,’ he whispered. ‘It could be anyone.’

  I scowled and shook him off. All the same, I slowed down and opened the door carefully, pulli
ng it ajar just enough to see who had made that godawful noise. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust but, when they did, I realised with some satisfaction that the night prowler must have skidded on the sweet I’d spat out. That was why he’d fallen. There was something to be said for aniseed foulness after all then.

  I watched as the lump on the floor straightened up. A glimmer of moonlight landed on his face as he turned and illuminated his features. I immediately recognised him. Well, well, well. It was the old bugger who’d been tracking me across the rooftops earlier. He wasn’t going to escape my villainous clutches a second time.

  I motioned to Morgan to remain where he was. If the elderly arsebadger thought I was alone, I might be able to gain the upper hand. I’d lull him into a false sense of security. Even if he were a faery, which seemed unlikely because his superior hearing would have alerted him to our presence, we had Finn with us. Finn was not bound by the truce and he’d be more than capable of hurting the sneaky, white-haired bastard. I squared my shoulders and stepped out as quietly as I could.

  I managed three paces before he noticed me. Baleful, shadowed eyes lifted in my direction then widened in horror. Without missing a beat, he spun round toward the door, skidding on the marble floor in his haste to get away. Not this time, buddy.

  I darted after him.

  He had his hands on the door handle and was scrabbling to open it when I reached him. Feeling my breath on the back of his neck, he dropped his arms and slowly turned.

  Now we were face to face, I was rather unimpressed. He didn’t look like much at all. He might have the ability to sprint away at unnatural speeds, as well as rooftop-crawling skills to match Spiderman’s, but he was as weedy as me.

  I checked his irises. Coal-black. This was no faery.

  ‘Hand over the video,’ I ordered.

  ‘I … I … don’t know what you’re talking about.’ His voice was high-pitched and squeaky, as if he’d never quite made it past puberty.