Devilish Game (Shadow Guild: The Rebel 4)

“Ah.” Understanding dawned in his eyes. “That job.” He shrugged. “I do not know.”

“Yes, you do,” Carrow snapped.

Anton’s gaze moved to her, irritation flickering in his eyes, the faint fog disappearing from the irises.

“Anton, look here.” I imbued my voice with my magic, drawing his attention to me.

He turned back, his eyes foggy once more. I shot Carrow a quick look and shook my head. It needed to be my voice asking the questions, otherwise he might fall out from under my spell. She scowled but nodded.

I turned to Anton. “You’re saying that someone hired you to kidnap those people?”

Anton nodded. “Indeed.”

“Who?”

He shrugged, bored. “No idea.”

“You don’t care where the money came from?”

“Of course not. It all spends the same.”

He was right about that, and I often felt the same. Unfortunately, it didn’t help me at all here. I focused on the biggest questions. “Are the victims alive?”

Disinterest gleamed in Anton’s eyes, along with confusion. He was fighting the pull of my voice, though ineffectively. He shrugged. “The orders were to bring them alive and unharmed, so I assume so.”

“Where to?”

“That, I also do not know. My men are given transport charms with a specific end destination that they do not know. Once they have the target and deliver them using the charm, their memory is wiped. None of the four can remember a thing.”

Carrow’s foot nudged mine under the table, and I looked at her in time to see her mouth the word four?

I turned to Anton. “You’ve abducted four? All from Guild City?”

“Yes. All in the last three days.”

Why hadn’t Carrow or I heard about the first two? Perhaps they had no friends or contacts, but still . . .

“You truly know nothing about the one who has ordered these jobs? How do you communicate?” I asked.

“Through the network, of course.”

Damn. I’d been worried about that. The network was a magical system of communications between members of the criminal underworld. It was comprised primarily of mercenaries and kingpins who would do any job for hire, and anonymity was guaranteed. Most people didn’t want to be known for their criminal activity, and the network made it possible for politicians and other upstanding citizens to hire the services of those who worked outside of the law.

Essentially, anyone could be behind this.

“The messages appeared on my desk, as you well know,” Anton said. “No signature, just a job and the down payment, along with the transport charms for my men.”

“How do you choose who to kidnap?” I asked.

“The request is always for a supernatural with a particular talent, but it doesn’t matter who exactly.”

“But why from Guild City?”

Anton shrugged. “It’s convenient for me. Full of all kinds of Magica, and I have a contact there who finds me what I need. I tell him what magical talent the client requires—he finds the person and gives me a name. Then my man retrieves the target.”

“Like a talent scout for evil,” Carrow muttered.

It was so neat and tidy. “Who is your contact in Guild City?”