Reign of Evil

Yank narrowed his eyes. “The Smithsonian?”

“Did your mother drop you as a child? Not the Smithsonian. That’s in America. We’re in England, McFly.” Laws shook his head but kept his ever-present smile plastered on his mug. He turned to Ian. “I saw a special about the basement storage rooms at your National History Museum and how they’re discovering things that were right under their nose.”

“Spinops,” Preeti said. “They discovered a new species of dinosaur they’d had for a hundred years.”

“That’s it. The museum is perfect. It’s a public place, built like a castle, and the logical place for us to store something like a golem head.”

Holmes stared at Sassy. “Think they’d go for it?”

“Who they? The Grove or the Hunt?” Walker asked.

Holmes shrugged. “Does it matter?”

The witch nodded slowly. “At the very least, it would get their attention. If I were them, I’d be concerned that their Sidhe has returned to England. It’s much more powerful here. If loosed, it might just make it a point to do something to the Red Grove for keeping it away for so long.”

“Perhaps we can use the Sidhe, then,” Ian said.

Holmes nodded. “Perhaps. But for now, we’re going to see if we can’t get one of the grove members to pop their heads up so we can play Whac-A-Mole. Everyone get their gear ready. Ian and I are going to plan this.”

The teams began to move, but Preeti made them pause. “One thing that’s been bothering me.” Everyone stopped to stare at her and she blushed. She pressed a few keys to show the pictures from Blackpool. “These aren’t digital. They’re scans. See these edges?” She pointed to a white border around the images that was larger at the bottom than at the top. “These have to be Polaroids. Who uses Polaroids anymore?”

Laws and Holmes stared at each other. “No one,” they said simultaneously.

“So if no one uses them, then how is it that someone was using one at the scene of the last attack?” Preeti shrugged. “An attack that disrupted all the electronic image-capturing devices. Just asking.”

Ian put a hand on her shoulder. “Smart girl. You caught what everyone else missed. It could be nothing; then again she could have been put there to get pictures.”

Laws nodded slowly. “CCTV broadcasts were disrupted, but not still photography. Then again, no one really uses still photography anymore. It’s all digital. From our cell phones to top-of-the-line Nikons. That’s something to remember.”

“So if she was placed there, then she must be a part of the Red Grove.” Yank grinned as he looked at Laws. “Not bad for Marty McFly.”

Holmes held out his hand. “Everyone slow your roll. We’re piling on supposition and calling it fact because it’s so thick. Let’s work on the hypothesis that this was just a girl with a Polaroid camera until we can prove it.”

“You’re right, of course,” Ian said. “Preeti, see what you can come up with. She had to have signed a release or something for the pictures to be put online.”

CHAPTER 27

CHICKSANDS RAF, ENGLAND. NIGHT.

Preeti knew what she was going to do even before she sat down at her workstation. She’d waited until the team left, assisting them where she could. She provided the SEALs with digital schematics of the museum and basement. Their integrated electronics suites were incredible. It was a testament both to how well-funded the American military machine was and to how impoverished Britain’s had become.

They left her alone with only the tall Navy man to keep her company. Of course, he was really there to guard the prisoner, but she’d at least been able to pry a little out of him about his past. The cultural and emotional makeup of military men interested her no end. Before she’d met Trevor, she’d had her own ideas, shared by most of the public, that the people who ended up in the military were those who couldn’t do anything else.

Trevor had joined because his family had a tradition of service going back hundreds of years. Walker had joined to be like his brother.

Genaro Stewart, she now learned, had joined because it was the only way he’d be able to afford college. His intention was to stay in long enough to have his loans paid off, then get out, but he’d ended up liking the service more than any possibility higher education could unleash.

They all had reasons for serving. She’d originally joined to help out Trevor, to show her appreciation for what he’d done for her and her brother. But that had quickly changed as she came to learn that she enjoyed doing something that made an impact greater than she could alone. What she was doing had an effect on everyone in her beloved country. And to think she never would have discovered any of this had the hooligans not decided to target her and her brother.