Rutherford told his man to release Gramps into my custody, and Hatchet stepped back into the shadows.
“So glad you were successful in finding the coin,” Rutherford said to me. “Of course we’ll be seeing you again, very soon I expect. Mr. Ammon has mentioned that he would like to invite you to participate in the final ceremony. It will be quite the occasion. Very festive.”
Lucky me. I led Gramps out of the house to my car, where Diesel was waiting behind the wheel. I buckled Gramps into the backseat and jumped in beside Diesel, and he took off.
“That didn’t take long,” Diesel said.
“Rutherford got what he wanted. I got what I wanted. End of story.”
“Not exactly,” Diesel said. “I don’t have what I want.”
“The stone.”
“Yes. We’re going to hand Gramps over to Clara, and then we’re going back for the stone.”
“The diamond was humming, so I’m pretty sure the stone is there, but that place is a fortress guarded by a bunch of armed men in suits. It’s not going to be easy to get in and get the stone out. Plus, I’m guessing the stone is with Ammon. I didn’t see him, but Rutherford said he was on the grounds.”
“Maybe he’s walking the dog,” Gramps said. “What kind of hotel lets a dog howl all night long? I couldn’t get a wink of sleep.”
I looked over at Diesel and caught him smiling. “It’s not funny,” I said. “The poor man still thinks he’s a dog!”
“It could be worse,” Diesel said. “He could think he’s Mammon.”
I texted Clara that we had Gramps. I told her we were going to bring him back to his house, but we wanted everyone to remain underground for a while longer.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Look at this,” Gramps said. “Everyone’s here in my rumpus room. Is it my birthday?”
“I don’t know how much longer I can stay down here,” Glo said. “Broom is getting twitchy.”
“Where’s my cake?” Gramps asked. “And the ice cream? I want vanilla.”
Josh gave him a muffin and sang “Happy Birthday” to him.
“That’s lame,” Gramps said, “but I appreciate the effort.”
“We need to go back to get the stone,” I said. “Hopefully this will all be over soon.”
“Rumpus room living is getting old,” Clara said. “And I don’t see Gramps sleeping on the floor tonight.”
“If we don’t resolve this by the end of the day, we’ll find a better place to stash you,” Diesel said.
Minutes later we were in Diesel’s Porsche, on our way back to New Hampshire.
“Exactly how are you going to pull this off?” I asked Diesel.
“No clue.”
I was thinking I should have taken some of Gramps’s medicine. My blood pressure was probably in the red zone. I know Diesel’s a big, strong sort of smart guy with special abilities, but I didn’t know what abilities we were going to need. For instance, I know it would be hard to kill Diesel but not impossible. I know he can open locks and give me an orgasm. I know with some assistance he can pop in and out of places like Captain Kirk on Star Trek. Beyond that, it’s uncharted territory.
“I can’t help but notice we’re all alone without military assistance,” I said to Diesel. “The men in suits had assault rifles.”
“Yeah, but I have my charming personality.”
Oh boy.
The sun was low in the sky when we got to Ammon’s driveway. Diesel drove out of the dark woods and into the sunlit field and stopped. The guardhouse was empty, and in the distance, where the monstrous mansion once stood, was a huge pile of smoking rubble.
“Looks like Wulf’s been here,” Diesel said.
“Seriously?”
“Once when he was a kid he got so mad he self-combusted, and we had to throw water on him.”
We moved closer and approached a small group of dazed women and men in gray and white uniforms.
“What happened?” Diesel asked.
“It exploded,” one of the men said. “This vampire-looking guy showed up and asked for Hatchet. We said he wasn’t here, that he helicoptered out with Rutherford and Ammon. I guess that was the wrong answer because the vampire guy got real still, and I swear there was some smoke curling out of his head, and the whole house started to shake. And he told us we had three minutes to get everyone out of the house.”
“Did he have fangs?” I asked.
“No,” the guy said. “But he was real white, and had long black hair, and he was dressed all in black.”
“Did everyone get out of the house in time?” Diesel asked.
“Yes. I think so. The security people left when Rutherford and Ammon left. What you see here is the household staff, but I guess we’re all out of a job since there’s no house.”
“Do you know where Ammon is now?”
“No. They just took off. They didn’t say.”
We made a U-turn and Diesel sped down the driveway. We were on paved road when the first of the police cars and fire trucks passed us, heading for Ammon’s property.