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They waited all of thirty minutes before anyone said a word. Harmiston kept the shield up for longer than that after he reentered the crowded apartment.
“That will not happen.” Nadia was the first to break the silence after they had all waited, standing around in that room.
“But the plan,” Harmiston said. “We need time.”
“We have until they want to haul you away to drain your blood. Tell us what to do to speed things up. What do you need?”
Harmiston looked around with a frown.
“Hey,” one of the Ghosts said. “I’m not saying I’ve gotten used to all the talking or anything, but we need you to set off that bomb.”
“All right,” Harmiston said. “I would need those ingredients. Magnesium and silver nitrate. Lots. Separately, mind you.” He looked at Nadia then. “And lots of gas masks. Even for those of us who can stand silver. It will burn anyone’s throat.” He nodded to himself. “Yes, noble bodyguards. I think we better stoop to stealing some more.”
“And maybe alert the Queen,” Nadia added, knowing the Wraiths would not be happy about the new and sudden change of the timeline.
Chapter 11
“Isuppose your list for recipients of monetary reimbursements from the royal purse for goods expropriated by the Ghosts has gotten a lot longer,” Harmiston said.
Nadia didn’t draw her attention away from keeping watch, but she smiled at him. “That’s a mouthful.”
“I think all we do gets more complicated.” Harmiston looked over at the Palace which loomed in the distance of the dark night. Over half the lights in there, weren’t on. There weren’t enough people living in there at the moment, and those who did had excellent night vision. Harmiston’s attention was on something other than the inside of the Palace at the moment, though. He couldn’t see the other side, the forecourt, and the main entrance, where two trucks were pulling up, filled with the day’s blood donors.
“I see the guilt on your face,” she told Harmiston. She knew he didn’t want to be there, but he didn’t seem to signal any sign of relief at being forced to do this instead.
“And I see the anger on yours.”
He had her there. It was a chore sometimes not being the one in charge, and once all the Ghosts had been alerted to the new plan, they had decided to use the blood drive as a diversion when infiltrating the Palace. Harmiston was right. It didn’t sit well with Nadia, to the point that she’d wanted to raise her voice when she’d been told about it. It wasn’t any easier to do nothing about it now than it had been when Kary and the other Ghosts had ordered her to stand back when they’d seen the donors being led inside Nightworth a few weeks back.
“Where are they?” Harmiston said and looked everywhere.
“All around you, Harm. If you don’t see them, then that’s a good thing.”
He snorted but the corner of his mouth refused to stay down. The Ghosts were there to go inside with Harmiston and the bomb. They had spread out to scout the area and assess any nearby threats. Nadia and Harmiston waited just outside the Palace Garden, gas masks fastened to their belts, the bomb placed under a blanket there on the ground. Several containers stood lined up next to his feet, a few full of gas masks, the rest containing the materials he needed for his toxic concoction. Toxic for werewolves and vampires at least. The Ghosts had swept through the city last night, acquiring the materials from every chemist, apothecary, and witch’s shop that carried any of it. The only good thing about there not being a functioning police force in Agartha these days was that there was nowhere to report the thefts. Even Kassemyr’s people would figure out something was amiss when so much silver nitrate had gone missing in such a short time, but it was unlikely that any citizen would report thefts to the hybrids.
“Are you sure about this?” she asked him. He had been a body of stiff and sore muscles after their crawl to the surface but seemed better now after some rest and food. He wore unassuming gray clothes, and his blond hair was combed down and tidy.
“I honestly think I’d be safer volunteering my blood,” he said with a lopsided smile. “And I wish I’d had some time to test this thing,” he touched the empty bomb with the toe of his boot, “but yes, I’m sure.” He frowned when he looked her in the eyes.
“How do you do this, Nadia?”
“Depends on what you’re alluding to.”
He sighed. “Going into a situation all the time where you don’t know if you, or the people you know and care about, will come back alive.”
She thought about it for a moment. It wasn’t something she reflected much upon anymore. “When we were Bolts, we were told that we might not come back from an assignment. At some point, that is usually the case for all of us. One case will be the last. Often when you least expect it.”
“Sounds like a cheerful thing to tell children.”
Nadia smiled. “It’s about the cause. Are you willing to sacrifice for it? Are you happy if everyone else is safe because you did what you had to?”
“I’m not sure it will be worth it if you don’t come back safe,” Harmiston said without thinking.
Nadia was about to expound further but stopped herself. “Likewise,” she uttered and pressed her lips together, thinking it through and noticing the approaching footsteps of someone who wanted to be heard by her. “But it will be worth it to so many others. That would make me content.”
“I suppose you’re right. That is something.”
“Hey,” Ayd said from behind them, walking fast. “It’s now or never.”
