Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28

T he elite safe house was a three-story building sparsely furnished except for the lounge and kitchen, where I assumed all the interactions happened. The cupboards were stocked with tinned and non-perishable food. Orix showed me the basement where they'd stored enough equipment to take them through an apocalypse, and there was also a tunnel exit with a triple secure lock on it.

Just in case.

I'd asked why they kept this place, and he'd shrugged and said that the world was a perilous, uncertain place at the best of times, and apparently, this wasn't the only safe house the elites had acquired. There were several across the rims—places for guardians to send not just goyles but humans if the shit hit the fan.

We stayed at the back of the house in the kitchen, door closed so the light didn't escape into the hallway. We didn't want Ulrickson being alerted that there might be other people inside when Adaline brought him over. But the atmosphere was tense as we waited.

Orix made tea while Taz found a spot by the back door and curled up to sleep.

"The key is under the mat?" Lionel asked Orix for the third time.

"Yes," Orix said with a sigh. "Levi made sure to tell his mother where it was," he added before Lionel could ask him that again too.

"How are we going to stop him from bolting when he realizes what's going on?" Shar asked.

"By force," Serath said simply.

"I assume that's the plan too," Orix said.

"I brought these." Lionel drew a pair of handcuffs from his coat pocket. They were slender cuffs of a brassy color. "We hold him and slap these on so he can't shift or use any form of magic."

"You think he might have something on him?" Curi asked.

"It's a possibility. This is Ulrickson we're talking about."

"Let me take the lead on this," Levi said. "He'll listen to me. There won't be any need for force."

Serath and Orix looked skeptical, and Levi's jaw tightened in annoyance.

"I agree with Levi." I smiled across at my friend. "But you best talk fast."

Levi nodded curtly.

"Listen!" Shar cocked her head. "They're here."

Fuck. Orix flipped the light off, and he and Serath melted into the shadows on either side of the door. Lionel retreated out of view by the pantry.

"This way to the kitchen," Adaline said, her tone bright and chirpy, and a little too loud, obviously for our benefit.

I tensed in my seat, forcing my face into a neutral expression. Opposite me, Curi and Shar seemed to be frozen. Levi stood slightly in front of the table so he'd be the first person Ulrickson saw on entering the kitchen.

The door opened, and Adaline hurried into the room. Her eyes widened as they fell on Levi, and she quickly moved aside to allow Ulrickson to enter.

He stepped inside and stopped at the sight of Levi, before his gaze flicked to the table, sweeping over me, Curi, and Shar.

"All right," he said. "What is this about?" He sounded unruffled, and he didn't flinch when Orix closed the door and the two goyles came to flank him.

"We need your help," Levi said to his father. "We know about the faction, and we know that you work for them."

His brows flicked up slightly, the only indication that he was surprised by this comment. "And who is this faction you speak of?"

Okay, so he was going to deny it.

"Please, Dad," Levi said. "We have evidence. But I know you wouldn't turn on the council, on the guardian duty unless you had no choice. I know they're blackmailing you. Help us to stop them. They don't have to know. You can be free."

He dropped his gaze. "What evidence?"

Lionel stepped out from the shadows, Sela's father's book in hand. "Written accounts by another goyle they have in their web."

Ulrickson straightened, his nostrils flaring. "I should have guessed you were behind this."

"I have no love for you either, Ulrickson, but this isn't about whether you and I can be friends. This is about whether you and I have a common enemy that we can work together to destroy."

Ulrickson lifted his chin. "This faction…"

"That's what they call themselves."

His eye twitched. "You got all this from that book?"

"No," Serath said. "We got all this from the graynites who saved us from them."

Ulrickson exhaled sharply, his shoulders sagging. "I knew it. I knew…Dammit."

"Help us," Levi said. "Please."

Ulrickson closed his eyes and exhaled through his nose. "I'm assuming this is a secure location."

"It is," Lionel said. "But we don't have much time."

"I guess I better start talking, then."

No need for aggression. No need for the cuffs. Ulrickson shrugged off his calf-length coat and took a seat at the table.

"I had a feeling something was up when you called me, Adaline. You never call me."

She looked guiltily away. "I'm sorry."

"No, you're not, and I don't blame you. Although I wasn't expecting…this…" He glanced across at Lionel.

"Tell us what you know about the faction?" Levi asked.

"They approached me a long time ago after I failed the initiate trials. It was an invite to talk over the phone. They offered me a favor in turn for a favor to be returned at a later date. I turned them down. Tried to trace the call. Failed. Forgot about it until a few years later.

"I was working in administration at the HQ. Connecting calls, managing the guardian team rotas, and sending backup where it was needed. I was sick of it. Of seeing my brother thrive as an elite." He glanced at Serath. "Of desperately wishing it had been me." Serath's jaw tensed, but he didn't say a word, and Ulrickson continued. "And I got a call from them. Again. Once more they promised me a favor in exchange for a favor to be returned. In hindsight, I should have told them to go fuck themselves, but instead…Instead I told them I wanted what my brother had. Power. Prestige. Status. I remember being so angry that day. I'd been reprimanded over something inconsequential, and I was still seething. I told them to give me what I wanted, to prove themselves and then we'd talk." He tucked in his chin. "Two nights later, my brother was dead."

"Bullshit!" Serath said. "You're saying they killed my parents, that it was their fault?"

"Calm the fuck down," Levi snapped.

Serath bristled, but I placed a hand on his arm. "Let him finish."

Serath breathed in and out through his nose to calm himself. "Go on with your story ."

The way he said story made it clear that he didn't believe a word of it.

But the depth of sorrow in Ulrickson's eyes seemed a little too sincere for me to disregard.

The councilman continued. "I was supposed to be on duty that night. I went into the lounge to make coffee, like I always did. My job was tedious at the best of times, but that shift was a dead one. No one ever called in, not unless it was Dani from Outpost Seven wanting to play chess.

"I killed some time with the bulletin board and drank my coffee, then…I woke up hours later in the storage closet with no memory of how I'd gotten there. I ran back to my post to find the monitors dead. I managed to get the system running again and checked the logs to find a series of messages and calls for backup from what I knew to be my brother's com. I also found a dispatch notice sent to him from my station while I'd been unconscious. Someone had used my access codes. Obviously, I panicked. I tried to contact my brother, but there was no response, and then the phone rang. It was them. This faction. They told me they'd done their part. My brother was dead and would no longer be overshadowing me. They told me…They said everything was handled, and I'd soon be elevated just like I'd wanted. I screamed and cried, but it didn't matter. It was done. They made it clear that if I said differently, then evidence that I'd maliciously caused my brother's death would be circulated, and I'd lose everything."

"So you went along with it," Serath said. "You kept your mouth shut."

Ulrickson took a shaky breath. "I did. I did what they wanted. They had me."

I believed him, but Serath looked less than convinced. "And what about me? Did they tell you to abandon me too?"

He shook his head. "No. That was all me. After what happened, I was afraid. For you…for anyone connected to me. And…honestly, I couldn't bear to look at you. To see my brother in your face. The guilt…"

"So you sent me to an orphanage?"

"It was supposed to be a good place. A happy place for you to grow up."

Serath's lip curled. "Yeah? And who told you that?"

"I was wrong. I realized that when I sent Farnell in to check on you."

Serath stilled. "You… you sent Farnell?"

"Yes, and when he reported the conditions they were keeping you in, we agreed that he would adopt you."

Serath had gone still, his eyes narrow slits as he processed this. It was an easy enough thing to check on with Farnell, which meant that Ulrickson was telling the truth. Serath's shoulders relaxed slightly, telling me that he'd deduced the same.

"I'm sorry," Ulrickson said. "Sorry for the distance. For the loss. For everything. I've lived under a shadow since that day. Waiting for them to call. To demand their favor. I kept my son at bay all these years, afraid he'd be drawn into the web." His mouth turned down. "But I miscalculated letting you join the elites. I didn't realize their plan…I didn't know they'd try to kill you. I've never been able to figure out what their final agenda is."

"I believe you," Levi said.

"They haven't asked anything of you?" Lionel asked.

"Not yet, but I get a call every now and then reminding me of my obligation. Reminding me that I haven't risen high enough not to be pulled back down."

"You're not the kind of man to sit back helplessly all these years," Lionel said. "You must have done some digging."

The corner of Ulrickson's mouth tipped up. "Oh, yes. I did. And I was successful in tracking a couple of the calls several years back. I have coordinates."

"You think it's coordinates to their base?" Levi said.

"I don't know," Ulrickson admitted. "I never investigated further. I was afraid of what they might do if they discovered I was attempting to find them out. All these years, they've been faceless entities, shadows hanging over me. They could be anyone. Anywhere. I've had no choice but to keep my peace."

"We'll need those coordinates," Serath said. "The time for sitting back and doing nothing is over. We have to act now. Before they achieve their goal."

"And what is their goal?" Ulrickson asked.

"They want to open the rift."

"What?"

"I'll tell you everything we know," Levi said. "It's a lot. But you need to give us all the intel you've gathered over the years. Everything. Not just the coordinates."

Ulrickson sighed and nodded. "All right. The coordinates are to what I'm certain is one of their abandoned facilities. I don't know what the inside is like, but there may be some information that can help you."

"So you did scope it out?" Orix said.

"I used a cloaked drone." He looked across at Lionel. "I've checked the area several times since and found no movement. No heat signatures."

"It's a place to start," Orix said.

"Then we better get planning," Lionel said.

We had a tangible clue; now all we could do was hope it would lead us to more.