Page 64 of Just Dare Me
There’s a deep rumble as the doors to the elevator slide shut, crashing together with a clap of thunder.
“One express elevator to hell, going down,” I announce. “Please keep heads, hands, and arms inside the car, and remain seated at all times.”
After a deafening clang, the elevator shudders, then lurches down a few inches. For a terrifying instant, I’m just sure we’ll plummet a thousand feet to our death. But the elevator car settles with a rattle of chains, and then we begin a slow, steady descent.
Swallowing my heart back down into my chest, I say, “You know what, you got it, Elle. Next time, B-team takes the elevator.”
Right outside my window, Nora pushes the visor up on her motorcycle helmet. “Okay, Shayne, all-knowing tour guide of Detroit. What’ve you got for us?”
“You mean, about the salt mine? What’s there to know? It’s full of salt.”
“Don’t play dumb. I know you got all kinds of facts you’re just dying to share with us.”
“What, like how this elevator shaft has been here since 1922, and goes down twelve hundred feet, which is almost the exact height of the Empire State Building? Or how this mine is called ‘The Salt City’ because it’s spread out over fifteen hundred acres, which means you could drive at freeway speeds for anhourand still not cover all the roads down there?”
On the other side of Jay’s window, Russo pushes his helmet visor up. “That’s a lot of salt. And we didn’t bring a single steak to put it on?”
“You hungry, Danny? Should we take the breakfast order now? Our reservation’s not for another few hours. I wanted to make sure we had time to go home and shower all the blood off first.”
Russo claps his hands with a laugh. “Thinking of every little detail, boss. Loving that.”
The elevator’s dim lights flicker as our descent stretches on and on. The air seems to get thicker, warming up a few degrees for every hundred feet we drop.
Jay starts gearing up, strapping on a bulletproof vest. Pulling on leather gloves with links of steel sewn into the knuckles, perfect for “tenderizing” anybody who gets in his way.
“Getting warm down here,” Russo says. “Is this likeJourney to the Center of the Earth?Are there dinosaurs?”
“Just Ilren,” I answer.
The fey assassin scoffs. “I’ll have you know, I’m still a wee babe compared to others of my ilk.”
“Whoah, hey, you know how I feel about that word. We talked about this.”
Nora laughs. “What, ilk?”
My body is rattled by an involuntary shudder. “Stop!” I roll down my window and try to slap her wrist, but she dodges.
“Good news, Shayne. The notification came in,” Elle says. “My parents just left the house, headed for the Agency.”
“Perfect. We’re right on schedule.”
This morning, the entire Detroit underworld is watching and waiting to see what happens at the Agency, where Madison West is meeting with a dozen powerful sorcerers. She wanted the reason for the meeting to be a secret, but I convinced her to let my team “accidentally” leak the truth—that she was bringing these sorcerers in to be interrogated by Adrian York as part of his witch hunt.
The response was even more dramatic than we had hoped. The sorcerer community was incensed, especially those lucky ones—like Elle’s parents—who were handpicked by Director West to be the first group.It’s an outrage, they all cried in their Alfred accents.An act of betrayal by one of our own, they said. Tensions are so high right now, everyone has to assume the Agency will be crawling with extra security for the meeting. East Side will never expect us to be here instead. Kicking down their front door.
“All right, I know this is the part where I’m supposed to give a motivational speech, or to remind you that this needs to go smooth and by-the-numbers, just how we practiced. But hey, this is me, so screw that shit. Just go crazy and shoot as many faces as you can.
“But let’s all remember who’s got dibs, right? You see Tabitha Durran, you do not engage. You call it out to Special Agent Hillerman. Anyone spots that blinged-out Cleveland vampire master, Theo Coltrane, you let Lady Dominique handle him. And for heaven’s sake, if any of you catch sight of the golden boy revenant with the Hollywood mustache, please donotfind yourself between him and Jay. That is, if you enjoy the current configuration of your bones and organs.”
The lights in the elevator switch to a moody purple, signaling that we’re now in the final stretch of our ride. Nolan and Darby rise to their feet and stretch their legs. Nora and Russo lower their helmet visors.
Time for last words. “And that concludes our final descent. I’ve been your captain, and on behalf of the Federal Underworld Agency, I want to thank you for choosing Double-D. Go ahead and fasten those seat belts while I make one last check-in before we arrive at the gate. Surface team, Terrance and Parker, what do you say?”
“Green light,” Parker answers.
“B-team, Elle, Oliver, and Her Royal Darkness?”
“Super green,” Elle chirps.
