* * *
BEKA SAW THE man collapse, be caught in strong arms, then slung carelessly into the boat. There was a flash of moonlight on silver, and the canisters went in after him. A throaty roar of a motor, and their quarry was on his way. The glaring headlights of the abandoned Mercedes lit an empty dock.
“What the hell happened?” she asked no one in particular. “Did that guy faint?”
“Sure,” Alexei said, grabbing her hand and dragging her rapidly down the slope to where their own transport awaited. “Right after he was stabbed. Being killed will do that to you.”
Gregori lifted her gracefully into the boat and set off after the other vessel with the ease of one who had spent centuries handling every different type of transportation there was. Beka noticed with a numb sort of gratitude that her spell seemed to be working just fine; the boat they were in moved swiftly and silently, like a ghost upon the ocean.
“Killed,” she repeated.
“I’m afraid so,” Gregori said, steering through the night like a hunter unerringly tracking his prey.
Gregori looked at her, something like pity in his dark eyes, shining under the cold gaze of the moon. “So, was that your friend Kesh?”
Beka swallowed hard. Nodded. There had been no mistaking him, his proud carriage, the narrow arch of his nose, the shape of his sleek head. Once he’d walked into the beam of the headlights, she knew him instantly. “Yes. It was Kesh. Not my friend, apparently.”
“Do not worry, my little Baba,” Alexei said, sounding unusually grim. “I will tear him limb from limb for you. By the time I am done, there will be nothing left but scraps for the rats to feast on.”
As much as she appreciated the sentiment, the imagery that came with it, coupled with the movement of the boat on the waves, didn’t do anything good for Beka’s already roiling stomach.
“I think we’d better keep him in one piece to give to the Queen,” she said. “But if he happens to acquire a couple of bruises along the way, I won’t complain.”
Gregori flashed her a bloodthirsty edge of a smile, slowing the boat to a crawl, and then to a halt as they spotted Kesh’s boat ahead, its streamlined shape a dark blot against an only slightly less dark sky.
“Baba? A little light would help, if you would,” said Gregori.
Oh, right. Magic. Duh. Beka focused on what she needed and gestured with both hands, creating a clear-seeing bubble around her and the two Riders. It enabled them to see out across the water as if someone had turned on a low-glowing lamp, but wouldn’t be visible from the outside. By, say, a murderous Selkie prince.
They all looked out across the expanse of restless waves, Beka hiding her shaking hands between her knees so the others couldn’t see how much even that relatively simple magical act had taken out of her. Made more difficult by the ocean that surrounded them, but still, it shouldn’t have taken that much energy. She peered around, trying to figure out where they were. They’d come from a different direction than the one she usually took on the Wily Serpent, but based on the distance from shore and the shape of the distant city lights, she thought they weren’t too far off from where she’d been diving all those days. What were the odds?
“Is something wrong, Baba?” Alexei asked.
She gave a short chuckle, decidedly lacking in humor. “You mean besides discovering that the man I’ve been having dinner with almost every night is a cold-blooded killer who is apparently leading some kind of paranormal guerrilla war against Humans and threatening the safety of all the water-dwelling magical creatures, not to mention my job?”
“Yes,” Alexei said perfectly seriously. “Besides that.”
“Well, it just occurred to me that my two problems might not be as unrelated as I thought.”
Gregori lifted an eyebrow.
Beka pointed out toward Kesh’s boat, where a dark figure was poised at the port side, slowly lowering the two canisters and what looked like a bulky, rolled-up sail into the water. Once they’d disappeared beneath the surface, Kesh dived in after them, his Human-shaped body cleaving the water neatly with barely a splash. After a moment, a sleek seal head bobbed into view then vanished under the waves with a flash of a ruffled tail.
“So?” Gregori said. “He is dumping the body and whatever is in those containers.”
“Yes, but it is where he is dumping them that makes me think he might be involved with whatever is destroying the Selkies’ and Merpeople’s home waters, and making their people ill,” she said. “I can’t be certain, of course, but I am fairly sure that we are right above the trench where the contamination began.”