Nightside 06 - Sharper Than a Serpents Tooth

up to you, isn't it? I regret to inform you that the people entrusted with this kidnapping bear you a considerable amount of ill will. The longer you take to come to a decision, the more likely it is they'll vent their spleen on her. And much as I might regret that… the situation is out of my hands. I have my orders, and my duty. Whatever happens…"
    I hung up on him. He had nothing else to say worth listening to. He was only keeping the conversation going in the hope his people would be able to track my location through my phone. I explained the situation to Suzie and Alex.
    "I can't turn myself in," I said. "I have to be free to operate if I'm going to stop Lilith. The whole Nightside's at risk, and maybe the world, too. But I won't, I can't, abandon Cathy."
    "Of course not," said Suzie. "She's your secretary."
    "Your friend," said Alex.
    "My daughter," I said. "In every way that matters."
    "Then we must go and get her," said Suzie. "We can't give in to threats like this. If people thought we could be pressured into doing things, they'd take advantage. So go on, Taylor. Do your thing."
    I raised my gift, my single supernatural inheritance from my inhuman mother, and opened up my Sight. And through my third eye, my private eye, I looked out over the Nightside, searching for Cathy. I can find anyone, or anything, if I look hard enough. I don't like to use my gift too often, because when I do I blaze so brightly in the dark that I am easy to see. And then my Enemies send agents to kill me. But for the moment, I was too mad to care.
    The Nightside spread out below me, naked to my Sight, and I looked down upon it like an angry god. Streets and squares and places within places, with people and things not at all people coming and going. Bars and clubs and more private establishments flashed past beneath my searching inner eye, houses and warehouses and lock-ups and dungeons, and no sign of Cathy anywhere. The Fae sparked briefly in the shadows, and the Awful Folk moved unhurriedly on their unguessable missions, invisible to the material world. I could feel Cathy's presence now, all alone somewhere in the night, but I couldn't seem to pin her down. I concentrated till my head ached, but finally I was forced to settle for a general location. Something or someone was blocking my gift, obscuring my Sight, and that was a new thing to me. I shut down my gift, and carefully re-established my mental shields. You can't have an open mind in the Nightside. You never know what might walk in.
    "She's somewhere near the Necropolis," I said. "But I can't be more specific than that."
    Suzie raised an eyebrow. "That's… unusual."
    I nodded shortly. "Stands to reason Walker wouldn't chose just anybody to hide Cathy from me."
    "But Walker knows about your gift," said Alex. "He must know you'll come looking for her. It has to be a trap."
    "Of course it's a trap," I said. "But I've been walking in and out of traps all my life. So, first Suzie and I will rescue Cathy, after making it clear to her kidnappers that getting involved in my business was a really bad idea, then… I will go walking up and down in the Nightside, and raise an army big enough to give even Walker nightmares."
    "One thing first," said Suzie.
    "Yes?" I said.
    "Do up your flies, Taylor."

Two
    And Dead Men Rise Up Never

    G etting out of Strangefellows wasn't going to be easy. Knowing Walker, it was a safe bet that all of the bar's known and suspected exits were being watched by his people, heavily armed with guns, bombs, and spells of mass destruction. It was what I would have done. I said as much to Alex Morrisey, and he scowled even more fiercely than usual.
    "I know I'm going to regret this," he said heavily, "but there is one way out of this bar I can guarantee Walker doesn't know about. Because no-one does, except me. My family have run this place for generations, and given the weird shit and appalling trouble Strangefellows tends to attract, we've always appreciated the need for a swift, sudden, and surreptitious exit. So we've carefully maintained a centuries-old hidden exit, for use by us in the direst of emergencies, when it's all gone to Hell in a handcart. Understand me, Taylor—the only reason I'm prepared to reveal it to you now is because I don't want Walker's people crashing back in here looking for you, wrecking the place again. The quicker you're out of here, the sooner we can all breathe easily."
    "Understood, Alex," I said. "This isn't about