Downfall - The Incorruptibles #1 (COMPLETE NOVEL)

Chapter 17: Mission

I unblocked Cain's number and tried a tentative phone call during the night, terrified he might answer. It went straight through to his message service, just like they'd said. Maybe his phone battery was flat and he had no way to charge it? Or he had no signal? Or perhaps he'd lost it. I called Jude instead.

"Frankie. Have you thought about it?"

"Yes." I took a breath. "I'll come back. For tonight."

"Thank you!" Jude's voice was full of relief.

I cut him short. "Jude, I'm not doing this to help you get Cain back. I am only coming back to see if I can help with putting together the visions Nadine and Liz are seeing. And if I can't I'm outta there."

Hearing my tension escalate, Jude agreed hastily. "Okay. See you tonight then?"

"Yes, see you tonight," I sighed.

Before I left home I told Albion the truth about where I was going.

"He won't be there," I said as the disbelief hit his face. "It's like closure. I'm going just once, and then it will all be over."

"No way!" he exclaimed. "No fucking way! I'm calling Vanessa."

He continued to protest while I put my shoes on, texting Vanessa frantically, and even tried hiding the car keys. When I found them and went to get in the car he threw his hands in the air and stormed back into the house, shouting as he went. "All those weeks we protected you, what a total fucking waste of time!"

Everyone was already there when I arrived at Gaunt House. Nadine's scowl showed me how much she hated me. All she saw in me was an unwelcome intruder and an astronomical blunder on Jude's part so her hatred made perfect sense. Jude gave me a beer and we got straight down to business. Liz had the ledger ready when he spoke into the uncomfortable silence.

"Nadine, tell us what you saw today."

"I saw an old pickup full of teenagers driving on a beach. There must've been at least six people in the tray. It was yellow, an older model. Rusty."

"Did you recognise the beach?" Owen asked.

"No. Never seen it before. But it looked like there was an island out in the water, quite close to shore. Rocky with scrubby plants on it. The beach was clear and protected, like a swimming beach."

Liz wrote it all down as usual. I watched her bleakly but soon became aware of the other three eyeing me.

"What?"

Jude spoke. "Does any of it sound familiar to you?"

"You don't expect much, do you?" I snapped. "No. I can't solve this little mystery, Jude."

Liz cut in hastily, trying to smooth over Jude's premature question. "I saw the farmer again. He had a sheepdog and he was working on a fence. There was a blue water trough nearby. He was wearing a button down shirt and a hat. Like a ... leather hat."

"Skin." My voice was sullen.

Liz gave a grateful nod. "He looked up across the field," she went on. "He was frowning, as if something had caught his attention that bothered him."

Nadine wrote it down as Liz spoke and there was some discussion of the position of the sun in the sky, trees, landmarks, and lumps of rough, mossy limestone in the field. I started to feel hopeless. I could see them glancing at me from time to time, hoping I would interject with one of my epiphanies about their visions.

"I saw another two things," Nadine said. "One was an eagle circling and landing in some grass. It hopped along for a bit, and then cocked its head to look at the ground. There was a sandshoe with a red logo lying there." She kept her gaze on Liz. "I think the eagle was one of those huge brown ones you see soaring sometimes. A western russet eagle, I think they're called?" Owen nodded. "The other thing I saw was a guy in an old telephone box. He had his back to me and was wearing a pale t-shirt, maybe white. He had dark hair." She paused. "I thought it might be Cain," she added defiantly, making everyone draw in a collective breath. "He had Cain's ... stature. He was holding something red in his hand, something small and red. He was turning it over in his hand and had the phone to his ear."