CHAPTER 44

After the Childes set off in their cars, with Eddie and Adrian surreptitiously on their heels, Jim and Isaac stayed behind in the house of a thousand secret passages—all of which Jim had been shown, thanks to Captain Childe.

In the wake of the departures, the house was dark, inside and out, and he and Isaac stood at the ready.

It was the old times back again, Jim thought.

Especially as he put his phone up to his ear and waited for Matthias to answer the call. Although . . . if it really was back in the day, the bastard would fucking pick up.

At this point, he was desperate for a way to reach the guy before he arrived with all guns blazing—

His former boss’s voice shot into his ear. “Isaac.”

“No.” Jim trod carefully, because God knew there were loose ends hanging all over the place. “Not Isaac.”

There was a moment of pause which was filled by a subtle whir in the background. Car? Plane? Hard to be sure, but probably a car.

“Jim? Is that you.” The voice was robotic, deader than dead. Obviously, even a hi-how’re-ya from the grave wasn’t enough to shake the guy, but it seemed in this instance not to be a case of the great mastermind being unflappable. More like the man was numbed out.

Jim carefully chose his words. “I’m more interested in how you are. That and I’d like to talk about the picture you received.”

“Do you. Well, I got other things on my mind—like how you are on my phone. You’re dead.”

“Not really.”

“Funny, I had a dream about you. I tried to shoot you and you didn’t die.”

Shit, straddling the two worlds was complicated. “Yeah, I know.”

“Do you.”

“I’m calling about your number two. Isaac didn’t kill him.”

“Oh. Really.”

“I did.” Liar, liar, pants on fire. Good thing he’d never had a problem with that kind of shit.

“And again, I say to you, I thought you were dead.”

“Not that dead.”

“Clearly.” Long pause. “So if you are alive and well, why’d you go and do that to my number two, Jim?”

“I told you I wouldn’t let anyone get near my boy Isaac. In that dream. I know you heard me.”

“You saying I should start calling you Lazarus instead of Zacharias?”

“You can call me anything you want.”

“Well, whatever the fuck your name is, you just put a bullet in your ‘boy’s’ head. Congratulations. Because Isaac’s the one I’m going to settle the debt with—and you know me. I’ll do it my own special way.”

Shit. Grier Childe. How much you want to bet, Jim thought. “That’s not logical.”