The children were down in the basement in a big, L-shaped recreation room containing an old Lionel train setup, a jukebox and bar, a game table and dartboard, and some couches and chairs situated around a television. There was only one way in or out, down a stairway leading from the back of the house, so it was easy to keep an eye on them.
Nevertheless, he sent the ur'droch down to stand watch without their seeing it. Twitch and Penny were too scary and more likely to do something of which he didn't approve. The ur'droch would just stay hidden.
When the phone rang, he was surprised. No one should be calling. He picked up the receiver guardedly. "Yes?"
"Mr. Robinson?"
It was that sheriff's deputy, what's-his-name Spence. Findo Gask suppressed a grimace. "What can I do for you?"
"We need to talk. The sooner, the better."
"Go ahead, Deputy Sheriff. Talk."
"No, not on the phone. In person. I just need to clarify a few things. About what's going on with John Ross and this drug business. I'm worried about those kids. I want to make sure they're safe. Where can we meet?"
Findo Gask shook his head. Gask could tell by the way Spence spoke. He had been checking, and he had found out that no one knew anything about an FBI assignment in Hopewell or an agent named Robinson. Spence was scared. On Robinson's instructions, he had opened a bedroom window in the Freemark home so that the children could be removed for safekeeping while a sting operation was implemented to collar the dangerous Mr. Ross. Spence was afraid he had facilitated the kidnapping of two children, aiding and abetting the commission of a felony, and he could see his entire career slipping away.
What to do?
"I'm going to give you an address, Deputy Sheriff." Gask looked at Twitch, slumped on the sofa in front of the television, huge and vacant-eyed. "I've been thinking that the children might be better off with the local authorities. If you could pick them up, I would be grateful. We can talk then."
"Yeah, sure, that would be fine." Spence sounded relieved.
Gask gave the deputy sheriff their address. He wasn't worried about Spence descending on him with an army of law enforcement officers; the deputy sheriff would be looking for a way to protect himself from any fallout in this business. If he could get the children back unharmed, things would be fine. That's the way he would look at it. He would come alone.
Findo Gask hung up the receiver. A picture of how this business would end took shape. Newspaper headlines and television trailers scrolled through his mind. A family tragedy was sparked by jealousy and misunderstanding. Two men and a woman were involved, the latter a well-known athlete. Multiple killings of adults and children ensued. Murder and suicide made an unwelcome appearance in tiny Hopewell.
It would make for good reading in other cities.
"What are we going to do, John?" Nest repeated, a hint of desperation creeping into her voice.
Ross limped to the kitchen counter with the aid of his staff and leaned his backside against the lower cabinets, crossing his arms over his chest, embracing the staff possessively. His lean face was lined with fatigue, but his eyes were fierce.
"There's something I haven't told you," he said after a moment's reflection. "Not because I was trying to keep it from you or didn't trust you, but because it didn't have anything to do with you. Except that now it does. I told you that a dream led me to the gypsy morph. But I didn't tell you what the dream was about. In the dream, a Knight of the Word was hung from a cross. Demons and once-men had crucified him. He was dying. Just before I woke, I saw his face. It was my own."
He held up one hand to cut short her startled exclamation. "I wasn't sure at first if the Knight on the cross was me or if I was just supposed to see myself in him. I was hoping I would learn the answer from the Lady when she summoned me to Wales two months ago. I didn't, but I learned something more important. I learned that if I was successful in protecting the gypsy morph through its final transformation, I would be released forever from my commitment to the Word."
"John!" she breathed.
He nodded.i"I know. I fought so hard for it ten years ago when it wasn't permitted, and then it's offered to me without my even having asked. I want it, Nest. I'll admit that. I've seen too much, living in both the present and the future. I'm tired of death and chaos and destruction. I'm tired of fighting to stay alive. Hell, I'm just plain tired. I've been a Knight of the Word for twenty-five years. Half my life. It's all I can remember anymore. It seems like the only existence I've ever known. I need to give it up. I need to rest."
"But you can do that now!" she exclaimed quickly. "You've done what was asked of you. The morph hasn't changed in days. Its time is almost up, and it's still a little boy. It's finished changing, isn't it?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. I'm not sure. It hasn't bonded with you the way I expected. It seems to be looking for something. I don't know what, but the way it responded to you last night when Wraith came out suggests it's still waiting for something to happen. It might be another change."
She studied him a moment. "All right. So what do we do?"
"We let Findo Gask call us back and set up the exchange. We meet with him. We find a way to separate Harper from the demons. Your job is to get her safely out of there. Mine is to do what I can to save the morph."
She walked to the kitchen window and looked out into the night. It was snowing heavily again, thick flakes drifting out of the clouded skies, a fresh blanket of white gathering over the earth. "They'll be expecting something like that," she said quietly.
"I know."
"You'll lose the morph anyway. And your life as well."
"Maybe."
"We'll have accomplished nothing."
"We'll have saved Harper."
She thought about it some more. Gask would pick a place for the exchange that would favor the demons. He would have his companions hidden all about them. He would make certain she and Ross were rendered helpless in the event they tried to surprise him. Her mind spun out possible scenarios, all bleak and hopeless. Nothing she envisioned had a happy ending.
Then a dark realization swept over her. She wasn't seeing this right. There wouldn't be any trade. There wasn't any reason for one. Why would Findo Gask leave any of them alive when he didn't have to? It made perfect sense, in demon terms, not to let them go, but to kill them.
Don't underestimate him!
She had to find a way to get one step ahead of him. Where was he now? Where was he hiding Harper and Little John? If she only knew that—
She caught herself. But she did know. She had known all along, even without realizing it. She knew exactly where they were.
The phone rang, interrupting her train of thought. She walked over and snatched it up. "Hello?"
"Nest, it's Robert. I just heard about Bennett Scott." He sounded shaken. "I'm really sorry."
She put her hand over her eyes wearily. "Thanks, Robert."
"I'm sorry about her dying, and I'm sorry for all the things I've said about her. And about John Ross. You didn't need to hear that kind of junk from me. I wish I'd never said any of it, but I did, and it's too late to take it back. That's been a problem for me all my life."
"It's okay, Robert."
"I know things must be tough over there, especially for the little ones. Amy and I want you to think about coming over here Christmas Day. All of you, Ross included. You don't have to come for the whole day, just as much of it as you want. But it would be good for the kids to have other kids to play with. It would be good for all of you to be with other people."