39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39

I gritted my teeth. I would not give up hope and resign myself to this fate. Danny, Harry, George and Sergeant Marks were still free, and none of the enemy knew that I had fire magic. I needed to think my way out of this; I had time as long as I kept a level head and didn’t panic.

Lieutenant Fischer was hissing angrily at Thorsen; he was trying to keep his voice down, so naturally I strained my ears to hear what he was saying. I only snatched a word or two, but it seemed like Thorsen was arguing with him. Was my earlier mesmerising still making him sympathetic to supernaturals?

Hope blossomed in my heart – then rapidly died as I heard more of their argument because they were arguing about injecting me. Thorsen was all for it but the lieutenant wasn’t. They had four more people to bring in and only two more doses of somnum. Since I was already tied up, there was no need to waste another valuable dose on me. But it was good to know that I’d rattled Thorsen’s cage enough for him to be afraid of me.

Predictably, the lieutenant won the discussion; this was Fischer’s territory so he won the pissing contest and several of the MIB soldiers went off with the two remaining syringes to bring back the four missing supernats.

I tested the cuffs again: they were tight. The tensile strength of these suckers was more than 180 kilos. I might have been able to break them if I’d had some leverage but I had none.

The remaining MIB group ignored me, except Thorsen who sent me a couple of anxious glances. If my hands had been free, I’d totally have finger waved to get more under his skin.

I was trying to get a plan together that didn’t involve setting myself on fire as well as them until I heard a squeaky little meow. My heart stopped. Shadow? Another wave of fear hit me and I felt nauseous. Had Fischer’s men got him too, or had he slunk down here all alone to create carnage?

There were no shouts or comments about a damned cat, so the chances were good that Shadow was down here of his own volition. How the hell had he gotten out of the truck? Suddenly I realised: the back window. I’d opened it to speak to the others and I’d forgotten to close it when we’d left the truck with the lynx kitten sleeping inside the cab.

No one noticed my little guy; with his smoky fur, he merged into the shadows whose name he bore. Even so, fear juddered through me. He was my little fur baby, not a highly trained police dog or a valuable supernat. To these guys, he’d be a varmint , something to shoot at. Plus Shadow must have used up his strength earlier so I doubted he could defend himself with his freaky shadow powers. He’d be limited to teeth and claws, and he was still only half grown.

I couldn’t signal him to tell him to go away in case the men saw me – and anyway, Shadow was a cat so he’d probably ignore me. I looked at my friends but they were still unconscious, and Fluffy was tied up elsewhere. There was only me, an army of one.

I needed to melt the cuffs that were binding me. I thought about my mum’s comment that really powerful witches could make small flames, while mid-range fire witches could only make big ones. Well, if Mum could do it, so could I. The only problem was that I’d never learned how to do something that precise.

Shadow walked into the room and made a beeline for me. I glanced around desperately to see if anyone had noticed but he’d gone under the pipes and no one had reacted. I had to work fast.

I let the frustration and anger build the heat that lived in my centre then forced the fire down my arms. The trick was to stop it at my wrists and temper it from an inferno to a small, butane-torch level. Probably. I pictured a small, high-temperature flame in my head, so hot it was blue, and directed it at a spot on my wrist.

Heat poured out of me. Sweat ran down my face, dripped into my eyes, pooled in the small of my back. It was already warm in the basement and I’d raised the temperature of the room by several degrees more. I glanced up to see if the men had noticed. One of them was absent-mindedly wiping away a bead of sweat from his brow but none of them were looking at me. More fool them.

I concentrated: small flame, small flame, I thought.

I had no idea if it was working until suddenly the nylon cuffs melted and hot liquid dripped on my skin. The burn was excruciating but I muffled my gasp before it could escape. I couldn’t let them have any warning before I attacked. My chances were already slim and the best I could hope for was the element of surprise.

It was time to go out swinging.