BloodWise

BloodWise Chapter 8

Winston woke just before dawn, and Reyna was already gone. She was a cool customer that way, rising before dusk, not saying goodbye, and not afraid to slip into Fitzgerald's well-tinted black Continental and drive against the stinging ferocity of the setting sun.  He nearly fell to the floor when he forgot about his slashed calf. he recovered and hobbled to his walk in closet and found a sword cane he'd purchased in Haiti. It wasn't built to be a proper walking aid, but it was better than the stick he'd found in the Prestons' woods. He hurried through his preparations and drove to the edge of the Pine Knoll Fairground where Ivan and Noah were waiting with two more of Fitzgerald's enforcers, Isiah and Boyle.

"You're late, chief," Noah said. "We were wondering if you weren't going to make it."

"I was entertaining last night," Winston mumbled.

"Nice cane." Ivan hoisted two black suitcases the trunk of his car and the men armed themselves with various handguns and blades.

Noah grabbed his Assegai. "Let's go."

It was a week before the opening of the county fair, an the landscape was dominated by a few permanent structures, military-style sheet metal halls, small banks of trees, trailer homes, and a number of small canvas tents. A few flood lights mounted on tall wooden posts and the moon gave the landscape a dim glow complemented by long shadows.  They came within a hundred yards of a crew of mortal workers who were lounging and having a few beers outside one of the long, metal halls, and Winston noticed with some concern that Noah was making no effort to hide the assegai. They had made their way almost halfway across the extensive fairground and were approaching a large yellow barn before the Longknifes showed themselves. They were a scraggly looking crew, men and women alike dressed in flannels, jeans and boots.

"Stay calm now," Winston warned. "We don't need an incident."

Winston recognized Marlo from a description he'd got a while back. He was exceptionally tall, almost seven feet with a scraggly gray beard and glasses. Neither he nor any of the other Longknifes appeared to be armed, although Winston knew from experience that that meant little when dealing with soucouyants. "You boy have a lost look about you," Marlo said.

"We go where we like," Noah said instantly.

"Really? And do you care to explain your interest in my patch of woods?"

Winston spoke up quickly so that Noah wouldn't have time to toss another insult in Marlo's direction. "My lord, we are investigating an attack."

"You don't have to call me "lord". Just Marlo is fine."

"Thank you Marlo. My name is Winston Solomon and these are my associates. We represent the House of Fitzgerald."

"Yeah. I recognized you all from the spear." He pointed at Noah's assegai. "You still failed to answer my first question."

"Someone bombed one of Lord Fitzgerald's holdings yesterday night. We were wondering if you had heard anything about the event."

Marlo's eyebrows knit for a moment and he exhaled through both nostrils. A sure sign of confusion based on Winston's study of FACS. "We don't know anything about any bombing."

"Really?" Noah pulled out the letter "What about this?" It took Winston a moment to realize that it was the letter that Fitzgerald had shown him the night before, and now it was Winston's turn to feel confusion. Why in God's name had Fitzgerald given Noah of all people the letter?

"Hold on,"Winston said, but it was too late. Noah had already handed the letter over to Marlo who glared at it.

"That's your hand writing, isn't it?" Noah asked.