Page 7 of Wicked Enemy

“Leakingfalseinformation,” I said, leveling a hard stare on him.

Fear blew across his thin features. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t know that it was a setup.”

The one who had been duped the most was me, not him, but I still kept him squirming in his seat for another few seconds just because it made me feel better. Made it feel as though I wasn’t the one who had screwed up so completely that I had gotten my own people captured by the fucking white boots.

Once I had satisfied my petty need, I flicked my wrist dismissively. “I know. Otherwise, I would’ve killed you the moment you opened the door.”

His swallow was audible in the tense silence.

“Tell me about my people,” I demanded before he could offer more useless apologies.

“They’re being held in the Underground.”

“Shit.”

Leaning back on the couch, I drew a hand across my face. The Underground was what we called the prison located underneath the constable force’s building. Usually, prisoners were kept in the barracks across the courtyard from that building. But sometimes, when they wanted to make sure that their captivesreallycouldn’t escape, they used the cells below the headquarters instead.

I raked my fingers through my hair before letting my hand drop back down again. Ben flinched when I met his gaze, as if he was worried that I might take out my displeasure on him. To be fair, I was tempted.

But I smothered the impulse and instead asked the other question that I desperately needed an answer to. “And Eve Sterling?”

“She was demoted to Junior Constable and stripped of pay for the next three months.”

Pain surged up inside me at the mere thought of Eve, so I quickly decided to change the topic. “The Underground. All of them?”

For a few seconds, Ben just looked back at me as if he was trying to frantically pick up the threads of the conversation. Then a light went on behind his eyes as he finally figured out what I wanted to know.

“Yes,” he replied. “All of your people are being held in the same place.”

I nodded.

Well, there was that, at least. If they had been spread out between the Underground and the regular prisons, it would’ve been much more difficult to get them all out.

“We need to find a way to free them,” I declared. “And fast.”

“I’ll see what I can do. I might be able to make up some kind of excuse to go down there and then… I don’t know. Find a way to free them?”

Ben worked as one of the administrative clerks inside the building, which meant that practically all information passed through him or one of his colleagues. Unfortunately, though, being a clerk meant that he didn’t have access to things like the jail cells. But if we were going to get my people out, we would have to figure out a way for him to get there anyway.

“What do you need in order to make that happen?” I asked.

He scratched the back of his neck while considering in silence for a while. “A distraction, probably. Preferably a big one that draws out most of the constables and captains. Then I could probably steal a set of keys and slip down to the Underground to release your people.” Uncertainty drifted across his face. “It’s just…”

“What?”

“Even if this works, it will probably blow my cover.”

“If you can get my people out, I will set you up with a fucking mansion on the south side, Ben. You won’t have to work another day in your life. I swear it.”

His eyes widened. Ben knew that I always upheld my end of a bargain, no matter what. After all, it was why I had been able to turn him in the first place.

“Thank you, Mr. Arden,” he at last managed to press out.

“Just get my people out.”

He nodded. “I’ll sneak around the building tomorrow and make a plan. How will I contact you, now that Tyler is…” Trailing off somewhat awkwardly, he cleared his throat and then instead continued with, “Will you come here again tomorrow?”

“Can’t risk it. I’ll send a man called Shinji. He’s a fire mage. Black hair, dark brown eyes, short and lean. He’ll tell you that the Black Rose is open for business. And you’ll reply that your mother already knows. That’s how you’ll both know that you have the right person.”