Cold Days (The Dresden Files 14)

My dog, Mouse, is a temple dog of Tibet, a Foo dog of a powerful supernatural bloodline, though he could have passed for an exceptionally large Tibetan mastiff. Mouse can take on demons and monsters without batting an eye, and he checks in at about two fifty. He knocked me down as easily as a bowling ball does the first pin. And, superdog though he may be, he's still a dog. Once I was down, he planted his front paws on either side of my head and proceeded to give me slobbery dog kisses on the face and neck and chin, making happy little sounds the whole time.

"Ack!" I said, as I always did. "My lips touched dog lips! Get me some mouthwash! Get me some iodine!" I shoved at his chest, grinning, and managed to lever myself out from underneath him and stand.

That didn't diminish Mouse's enthusiasm in the least. He cut loose with a series of joyous barks so loud that they set off a car alarm on a vehicle a hundred feet away. Then he sprinted in a tight circle, came back to my feet, and barked some more. He did that over and over for about a minute, his tail wagging so hard that it sounded like a helicopter might have been passing in the distance, whup-whup-whup-whup-whup.

"All right," I said. "Enough. Come on, it's not like I died or anything, boy."

He quieted, his jaws parted in a canine grin, tail still wagging so hard that it pulled his hindquarters left and right with it. I knelt down and put my arms around him. If I'd been an inch or two shorter, I doubt I could have done it. Damn pooch is huge, and built like a barrel. He laid his chin on my shoulder and panted happily as I hugged him.

"Yeah," I said quietly. "I missed you, too, buddy." I nodded toward the house. "Anyone home?"

He tilted his head to one side slightly, one ear cocked at a slightly different angle from the other.

"He says no," Molly said.

I blinked at her. "First Sherlock, now Dolittle?"

She blushed slightly and looked embarrassed. "It's just something I picked up. A dog's thoughts and emotions are a lot more direct and less conflicted than a human's. It's easier to listen for them. It isn't a big deal."

Mouse came over to greet Molly by walking back and forth against her legs, nearly knocking her down. He stopped and looked fondly up at her, tail wagging, and made a little woofing sound.

"You're welcome," she said, and scratched his ears.

"I need your help, boy," I said. "Bad guys took Butters, Andi, and Justine."

Mouse shook his head vigorously and half sneezed.

"Mouse thinks Andi should be locked in the garage at night, until she learns not to get abducted."

"Once we get her back, we'll start calling her Danger-prone Daphne," I promised him. "She's even got the hair for it. You in, Scoob?"

In answer, Mouse hurried to the street, looked both ways, then crossed it to sit down at the back door of the Munstermobile. Then he looked at me, as if asking me why I wasn't opening it for him.

"Of course he's in," Molly translated, smiling.

"Good thing you're here," I said. "He's tough to read."

Chapter Thirty-seven

We used the spinning needle in the bowl of water like a compass, driving north to south first, to let us triangulate on our friends' location. As tracking spells went, this one was a little clumsier than most. We had to pull over the Munstermobile and let the water settle to use it-but hey, nothing's perfect.

We tracked our friends, and presumably the Redcap and company, to the waterfront. The sun was setting behind us, and had briefly appeared from behind the clouds. The city's skyline cast deep, cold shadows over us.

"Harry," Molly said. "You know that this-"

"Is a trap," I said. "Yep. The Redcap knew exactly what I would do with those bits of hair."

Molly looked a little relieved. "Okay. Then what's the plan?"

"Once we are sure where they are," I said, "I'm going to go in the front door."

"That's the plan?"

"I'm going to be very, very noisy," I said. "Meanwhile, you and Supermutt are going to sneak in the back, all sneaky-like, neutralize any guards that aren't watching me, and get our crew out."

"Oh," Molly said. "Are you sure you don't want me to be the distraction?"

It was a fair question. Molly's One-woman Rave spell could get more attention than a crash at an airshow. "The Sidhe know all about veils," I said. "Mine aren't good enough to get anywhere near them. Yours are. It's that simple."

"Right," she said, and swallowed. "So we're . . . going to depend on me for the important part. Saving people."

"You've been playing Batman for a while now, kid," I said. "I think you've got this."

"Mostly I was the only one in danger if I screwed up," Molly said. "Are you sure this is the right plan?"

"If you think you can handle it," I said. "Or if you don't."

"Oh."

I put a hand on her shoulder. "We don't have time to dance around on this one. So we go dirt simple. When it starts, if someone gets in your way, I want you to hit them with everything you've got, right in the face. Mouse will be with you as muscle."

"Shouldn't he be with you? I mean, if you're going to fight . . ."

"I'm not going to fight," I said. "No time to prepare, no plan, I'd lose a fight. I'm going to be a big noisy distraction."

"But what if you get in trouble?"

"That's my part. You do your part. Keep focused on your objective. Get in, get them, get out, signal. Then we all run away. Got it?"

She nodded tightly. "Got it."

"Woof," said Mouse.

* * *

"Huh," I said a few moments later. We had triangulated with the tracking spell and narrowed down their location to one building, and we now lurked in an alley across the street. "I've actually been in there before."

"You have?"

"Yeah," I said. "Client had lost a kid or something to some half-assed wannabe warlock. He had the cheesy dialogue and everything, was gonna sacrifice the kid with this big cheap, spiky knife."

"How did it turn out?"

"If I remember it right, I got beat up," I said. "Didn't make much money on it, either. The bad guy ran away, and the client walked out threatening a lawsuit. Except she left the kid. Turns out, she wasn't even his mom, and his real parents tried to have me arrested. Never heard from her again. No clue what it was about. Chalk."

Molly reached into her bag and came out with a stick of chalk, which she passed to me. I crouched and quickly sketched a diagram of the rectangular warehouse. "Here's the front door. Office door. Back door. There're some windows up high, but you'd have to be a bird to get there. The rear of the warehouse actually protrudes over the water, but there's a wooden deck around the back. That's where you'll go in, at the back door. Watch for trip wires. Mouse can help with that. Trust him. We're basically blind and deaf by comparison."