Page 93 of Elven Lies

Rebecca rounded the vehicle to get her own good look at what had shocked her operatives.

When she stopped beside Tig and peered into the dark rear of the van, she couldn’t think of anything to say, either.

Almost two dozen pairs of eyes stared back at her, glowing in an array of colors. The light from the pumping station illuminated far more inside the back of the van than she’d ever wanted to see. Nearly two dozen abducted magicals crammed into a single vehicle, their clothes stained and torn, hair matted, faces smudged with grime. Several of those cheeks were streaked from where their own tears had washed away the filth, over and over again.

They all huddled together, clutching at each other and failing to choke back a sob or another trembling whimper. The younger ones hid their faces.

The cost of Kordus Harkennr’s brilliant advancements in magical technology.

“Somebody give me a confirmation,” Maxwell called out.

“Yeah, they’re—” Ben cleared his throat. “They’re back here, all right.”

“You should check that asshole’s story again, Hannigan,” Rebecca added, unable to look away from the awful sight in front of her. “I think he’s redefiningjust a few.”

Maxwell must have borne down again with even more pressure before the driver under his boot yelped and put up a struggle.

Rebecca was too focused on the terrified faces still gaping at her to be sure. She leaned forward toward the rear of the van and tried to smile. “Everything’s okay now. We’re here to help.”

Then she stepped aside to nod at Tig and Ben. “Get them out of there.”

She didn’t stop to make sure they did their jobs but rounded the van again to join Maxwell with his foot still squarely planted in the center of the half-changeling’s back.

Whether he could already feel her roiling outrage or had seen it on her face, Maxwell didn’t intervene when Rebecca loweredherself into a squat beside the driver’s head to have her own little chat with him first.

The half-changeling panted beneath Maxwell’s boot, but that didn’t stop him from trying to laugh in her face when she reached his field of vision.

“You lied to us the first time,” she said. “We asked how many people you crammed into the back of your van, and that didn’t turn out well for any of us. I’m going to give you one more chance to give us a real answer. How does that sound?”

The half-changeling’s sputtering, gasping laugh with a shifter’s heavy foot bearing increasingly more weight down on his back made the guy sound insane.

“Where were you taking them tonight?” Rebecca asked.

The driver laughed again and tried to tilt his head despite it being smashed into the asphalt.

“Where did they come from?”

It was a poor line of questioning without any other interrogation methods to fall back on, as the teams had all agreed at the start of this operation, but she figured there was always a chance one of Harkennr’s people might start squealing with just the right amount of pressure that didn’t permanently shut them up.

The half-changeling huffed out more quick, choking laughter before he broke into a wide, toothy grin that made his split lip crack open farther to bleed freely down the side of his chin. “You’re dead, bitch. You know that? You’re fuckingdead!”

“Is that so?” she asked.

“You have no idea what you just started tonight.” Foamy spit dribbled through his teeth with every word, his breath increasingly more labored by the second. “Whatever you’re trying to do, you better kiss it all goodbye. You’re all fucking dead.”

“Maybe.” Rebecca tilted her head and leaned in closer so she could look into both his eyes at once. “ButI’mnot the one lying bloody on the ground.”

This asshole wouldn’t give them anything. She could see it in his face even as he leered at her with foamy, blood-specked drool glinting on his lips as he cackled all over again.

She recognized that look in his eyes, the sanity-defying laughter and the blood-flecked foam dribbling from the corner of his mouth. She’d seen that before too. One of Harkennr’s favorites.

Rebecca pushed herself to her feet and met Maxwell’s gaze. “He won’t talk.”

“Maybe not now, but once I get him back to the compound and start up the Needle—”

“I believe you,” she said, “but it’s too late for that now.”

The shifter frowned at her, and Rebecca stepped back before nodding toward the half-changeling beneath his boot. It only took Maxwell two seconds to put the pieces together before he removed his boot, stepped to the side, and hunkered down to inspect the first of Harkennr’s captured forces tonight.

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