He pursed his lips. "It's not good news, unfortunately."
"Of course it isn't. Good news would be boring," I said with a sigh. "Right, hit me with it."
Derek stared at me for a moment, the look on his face saying he was upset to relay such bad news. I waved at him with both hands to get on with it, and he spun around in his seat and faced his monitor. A few clicks later, he brought up an image, and I said, "This is not good."
"What's not good?" asked Joshua from behind me. Seemed the team had gotten restless too and followed me down here. I turned to see the whole gang waiting for me to answer.
"It's the Shard," I said, my face dark.
"What's a shard?" asked Edrik, looking around from face to face.
"It's a building in London," said Derek. "They are holding McClellan's family at the Shangri-La Hotel in the Shard." As he spoke, he turned the monitor so the gathered group could see it. As one they spoke.
"Crap."
"You have got to be kidding me."
"That's a building?"
"How does that not fall down when the wind blows?"
"We have to climb that?"
I laughed, thoroughly tickled by their responses. "Could you guys pipe down?" I moved my hands up and down like a conductor lowering the volume on their voices. "We don't have to scale the building. One of us has wings."
"Two of us," piped Siri, narrowing her eyes at me in mock fury.
"Yes." I pointed at her. "Two of us have wings and we can both use glamour, so nobody would ever see us coming."
"That's a bloody brilliant plan, I say." Iain drew closer, taking off his glasses as he came to a stop. He rubbed the bridge of his nose a little, then returned his spectacles to his face. He squinched his nose to adjust them before he was finally satisfied. "Right. Bryn, have you ever used a circular glass cutter?" he asked as if he were asking if I'd ever used a spade. Just something one does on the weekend.
I shook my head slowly. "I can't say that I have. But I do see where you're going. We fly to the room window, hover outside, cut a hole in the window, and fly them out."
"Sounds easy enough," said Siri, her voice soft and musical after the old man's ragged baritone.
"Well, it would be easy if it weren't for the wind speeds at that height," said Iain.
How had I known there would be several serious hurdles to overcome? Nothing was ever easy with this job, was it?
Derek cleared his throat. "The Shard is over a thousand feet in height. Wind factors up at that height are sometimes hurricane force." He shifted in his seat to meet my gaze, and over his shoulder, I noticed a few heads rising around the room, a few eyes popping up. So there was life at London HQ after all. "Have you flown in hurricane force wind?" Derek asked, his tone suggesting he already suspected I wouldn't have.
"No. I haven't."
"Okay, Derek, we will just have to pace ourselves and figure it out as we go." I looked over at Siri. "What about you? Can you handle high winds?"
"I'm not sure, Bryn. I've flown pretty high, but I've never been in a situation where I was forced to fight against a strong wind." From the look on her face, I could see she was feeling out of her depth. As was I. So many things we could let MI6 or Interpol deal with, or maybe even more experienced agents at the London office, but these were things I couldn't allow anyone else to do. Not when it came to Loki.
He was my responsibility.
"It's fine. We'll figure it out," I said, taking note that there were many ears paying close attention to our conversation. I turned to Derek. "What floor are they on?"
"The thirty-seventh floor. The Westminster Suite."
Somewhere in the room, someone whistled, and I assumed the reaction was to the expense of the suite. "Okay, thirty-seven floors up is still a long way to go. Is there another building close by that Siri can wait on, so she doesn't spend too long hovering in the wind and wasting her energy?" I asked.
Derek spun and tapped and then said, "My suggestion would be she fly to the top of the building and hold on tight. That way she's within reach fast. I'd assume she'd be able to navigate winds faster if she were flying down as opposed to flying upward. That would be harder, right?" He glanced at Siri, who nodded.
"Okay, then, the dragon waits on the top of the tower and I fly in near the window. Do we know how well the room is guarded?"
"From our agents on the inside, there's a Jotunn outside their room door and one at the elevator, watching the entrance to the room. Looks like they've stuck them in a room where they obviously have nowhere else to go. Smart. One way in, one way out. Minimal security required."
"And we're about to shake things up a bit," I said, my lips curving into a satisfied smirk. "So I'm guessing we have to get in and out as fast as possible. As soon as we penetrate that glass, the wind will rush into the room and the guard outside the door will know immediately that something is wrong." I paused for a moment, then asked, "How many people?"
"Lady McClellan, daughter Ellen, and son Byron."
"I can manage the kid," I said, then looked at Siri, who seemed eager to play her part. "Once the glass is cut, you need to move down to us fast. You need to be there as soon as I get the family to the window." Siri's expression was serious. I guessed she was realizing for the first time how big a responsibility this was. "And remember these people have no idea dragons and Valkyries exist, so we will be dealing with a fair amount of shock and denial. They may make their own rescue harder."
"Do we need something to subdue them?" asked Siri. Everyone's gazed snapped to her, seemingly in shock at her implication. But I knew what she meant. I turned to Derek. "We would probably need something to calm anyone who did get hysterical. Remember, you and I are comfortable with flying creatures. The breadth of these people's exposure would be television. That's it. Even books don't cut it."
"And what about the frost giants that are guarding them. Surely the family has seen them in their true form by now?" asked Aidan, his face implacable. For the first time, I wondered if this grandson of Loki had any kind of shape-shifting or glamor ability. I would assume Aidan had never even considered the possibility.
I shook my head. "We have to expect that Loki wants to make a clean getaway, no mess, no fuss. Killing the family is messy. So is revealing the true nature of the guards. He'd want to allow McClellan to think he'd been hoodwinked by some super mysterious and powerful man, not a god or any kind of fantastical creature. I think we can rest assured that the family will display the expected amount of shock and horror when we enter the building."
There were nods all round.
"So when do we leave?" I looked over at Iain.
"As soon as you re ready," he said. "By now, Loki will be aware that you might have an idea of where he is. Hopefully McClellan knows what's good for him and keeps his mouth shut about his conversation with you. Whatever the case is, you need to be on high alert. Study the room and the inhabitants first before you start cutting. There is also the likelihood that Loki will use a decoy family just as a precaution. You can sense the glamor, but you may be a little off your game, considering you will be battered by winds five hundred feet in the air and struggling to maintain your balance, let alone having to stare through a window and study the occupants for telltale signs of Jotunn glamor." He'd hit it on the head. This was not going to be an easy rescue.
I glanced at the file on Derek's desk, a copy of my own that was dog-eared and worn by numerous readings.
The file had photographs of the family, and Iain reached for them. He scanned them for a second, then passed them to me. I studied the smiling faces, white teeth and freckles, red hair and blond. Mischief and elegance.
I inhaled and held the breath for a moment. When I let it out, I said, "I'm ready. Let's do this."
Joshua snorted. "Why do the girls have all the fun?"
"Tell me about it," said Aidan, looking as glum as Joshua.
Poor guys. I just shook my head and laughed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Iain arranged a ride for Siri, myself, and Derek. There was no time or presence of mind to appreciate the luxury of air-conditioning, leather seats, and a wet bar. We left in two cars, the additional one provided for the family should we succeed in rescuing them. Nobody on this mission was assuming success. We had no idea what we were about to face, and I suspected most of us were crossing our fingers behind our back.
The drivers parked up the road from the Shard, leaving Derek busy in the backseat, surrounded by monitors and other unidentifiable equipment. We hurried toward the building, already well kitted out with earwigs and microphones and video contact lenses. I'd strapped Gungnir to my back and added two short blades to the sides of my thighs. I had a feeling I'd be needing extra weapons, so I just went with my gut. In my right hand, I held the glass cutter as if it were a sword or a bow. The strangest weapon I'd ever held, that was sure.
Only when we got to the base of the structure did we gauge how gigantic it really was. We craned our heads and gazed up at the glass building. At this time of night, the lights made the place look all the more otherworldly. I was in awes of the mastermind who'd come up with the design. What had he been thinking when he'd thrown up an edifice that resembled a broken piece of glass.