Balance of Power: An Alastair Stone Urban Fantasy Novel (Alastair Stone Chronicles Book 25)

by R. L. King

  At first he thought that was odd, but then he realized it might not be. Between the walk back to the car, the drive home, and the ritual preparation, it had been nearly an hour since the buzz had gone off. Certainly, the thief hadn’t spent that much time inside—too much chance of someone coming home and catching him. If he had searched the house and found nothing, he might have gone off to have a drink afterward.

  This might be a good chance to catch the guy off guard.

  He threw on his coat, put out a hasty plate of food for the still-annoyed Raider, and hurried back to the car.

  Castro Street in Mountain View was a bustling collection of bars, eateries, and shops. It was busy this time of day, as people got off work and headed there to have a few drinks or an early dinner with friends. As usual, the parking situation wasn’t pretty, but Stone got lucky and managed to be in the right place when someone pulled out of a space in the lot behind the bar he was looking for.

  He forced himself to walk normally, so he wouldn’t catch anyone’s attention. This was a bit of a long shot—even with the specially prepared tracker, he couldn’t be certain he’d zeroed in on the correct location. He could only hope the guy would stay put long enough for him to look around. At least the arcane “glitter” would show up like a beacon to magical sight, so that might make things a little easier.

  His phone buzzed as he stepped out of the walkway that led through to Castro Street from the parking lot. He considered letting it go, but he supposed it could be important. Impatiently, he pulled it out and glanced at it.

  It was a text from Eddie. Found something you might be very interested in. Ring me when convenient.

  Huh. It was two a.m. in England, so Eddie was either burning the midnight oil again or he’d had a sudden insight similar to the ones Stone got sometimes. Damn. He wanted to call his friend back now, but he couldn’t risk letting the thief get away.

  He dashed off a quick text: Busy now, call soon, and then shoved the phone back in his pocket. He melded into the crowd meandering along on Castro, and ducked into the bar.

  He wasn’t familiar with this one, but it was only a few doors down from one of the venues where The Cardinal Sin, the band he and three fellow professors played in, had performed a couple years ago. The second time you should have died but didn’t, he thought idly, pushing open the door.

  The place was more of a brewhouse/restaurant than a bar, with crowded tables and booths spread throughout a larger space than Stone had expected. The bar itself was along the right-side wall, its every stool occupied. Bouncy, jangly pop music played through hidden speakers, and several TVs showed mostly sports. A busy, cheerful place, and a perfect one to lose oneself after a spot of unsuccessful B and E.

  “How many in your party, sir?”

  The voice startled Stone from his thoughts. A woman stood in front of him, holding a tablet and eyeing him expectantly. “Oh. Er…no, I’m not looking for a table. I’m trying to find some friends. All right if I look around?”

  “Sure, no problem.”

  Stone quickly headed further in as the woman moved to the next person who’d entered.

  This wasn’t going to be as easy as he’d hoped. The place included a lot of secluded booths and alcoves that would make it harder to spot even the telltale glow of magic. Also, the walkways were narrow and people were always pushing past. There was no way he could stand still long enough to do a full sweep. He’d have to settle for staying mobile and switching to magical sight every few seconds for quick scans. Even more problematically, the place had two levels, the second one accessible by a wooden staircase in the middle of the bar. A look up revealed more tables arranged around the railing overlooking the lower level.

  So far, none of his scans revealed any hint of magic. It was hard to see through the overlapping auras anyway, which didn’t help. Eddie had showed him what to look for—a silvery haze that hovered wherever the “glitter” had covered the target—but among the greens, reds, blues, yellows, and other colorful hues of happy auras, it was like trying to spot a single flashlight glow in the middle of a bunch of lighters at a concert.

  Damn. What if I got it wrong? What if he’s not even in this bar?

  Mindful of the time ticking away before the tracker’s glow faded entirely, he pushed further into the restaurant, risking leaving magical sight up longer as he pretended to be looking for his group of friends.

  “Hey, Dr. Stone!”

  Stone jerked his head up. Oh, bugger. What now? Did he see me?

  But the voice hadn’t come from the thief—not unless the thief was one of his intro Occult Studies students, seated at a booth with three other grinning young people directly in front of him. Their auras blazed with good cheer, blending with each other into a pleasant, brilliant haze. They were obviously having a good time.

  He whipped his gaze desperately around, but he couldn’t ignore his student without looking highly suspicious—not when the guy was three feet away. “Er—good evening.”

  “Didn’t think I’d see you here.” The young man’s wide smile was more than a bit tipsy, the beer in front of him almost empty. “It’s so weird, you know, seeing your professors out in public.”

  “Totally,” said his female companion, whom Stone didn’t recognize, and the other two laughed.

  “Er. Yes. I suppose it is.”

  “Join us if you want,” the young man said, waving him into the booth, apparently forgetting that it was full.

  “Thank you, that’s very kind.” Stone spoke fast, once again mindful of the time slipping away. “Sorry, though—can’t stay now. I’m trying to find some friends. I—”

  He happened to glance up to the second level with magical sight still up.

  There, amid the bouncing colors, was a small puff of glittery silver.

  Bloody hell, he’s up there.

  “Excuse me,” he said hastily. “Must go. Cheers.”

  He hurried toward the stairs before any of them could say anything else. He didn’t think the man had seen him—and in any case, what difference would it make if he had? It wasn’t as if he expected Stone to be following him. Still, he pulled a disregarding spell around him on his way up the stairs. Invisibility wouldn’t be practical here with all these people, but this spell should be sufficient to keep him concealed long enough to get close.

  When he reached the top of the stairs, he paused for another look. The silvery glow was still where he’d left it, at a table along the railing at the back of the restaurant. Stone couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked like the man was alone. His aura, a vibrant orange, didn’t appear agitated, but neither did it look as carefree and easygoing as most of the other customers. It was the aura of a man who was deep in thought about something.

  Stone approached closer, careful not to draw attention to himself. If this man was the thief from the storeroom, he was almost certainly a mage. Stone didn’t see any sign of illusion or other concealment around him, though. Probably because the man didn’t expect anyone to be looking for him here.

  He was about to move closer again when several thoughts occurred to him. The first was that perhaps he should call the police. This man was a thief, after all—and worse than that, an attempted murderer. Stone shuddered a little as he once again considered how easy it would have been for the outcome with Greene to turn out so much more tragically, if the thief had hit him a little harder or in a different spot.

  But what could he do? What would he say? “Er…yes, I’ve cornered the man who tried to kill Brandon Greene. He’s in a bar in downtown Mountain View. How do I know it’s him? Er—yes. Well, he’s got glitter you can’t see all over him from a magical trap I illegally set at a fellow professor’s house. You’ve just got to trust me.”

  Yes. That would go over well.

  His second thought was to wonder how he even planned to apprehend the thief. He couldn’t exactly walk up to his table and take him out with a spell. He was good with illusions, but not that good. He supposed he coul
d wait until the man left, but he had no idea how long that would be. Was he expecting friends? Planning to sit here nursing his beer until the place closed? There were too many variables to make that a viable plan.

  He wished now that he’d brought someone else with him—Jason, maybe, or Verity, or Amber, or ideally all three. They could stake out the exits, and even a mage would have trouble evading Amber’s nose or Verity’s magical tracking.

  But he hadn’t done that. It hadn’t been practical even if he’d wanted to. So here he was on his own, and he’d better get on with doing something.

  He moved a little closer, and as some of the other auras dropped away, it became obvious the man was talking to someone on his phone. He had the characteristic hunched posture of someone trying to hear in a loud environment, with his opposite-side finger stuck in his ear to block out the din.

  That gave Stone an idea. Using an illusion to make it look like he’d pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his nose, he raised his own phone and snapped several photos of the man. They wouldn’t be great in the dimness and at this distance, but they were better than nothing. Perhaps he could get better ones if he could get closer.

  At that exact moment, the man looked up, almost like a deer at a watering hole who suddenly sensed a nearby predator hiding in the tall grass.

  His gaze went unfocused, and then his eyes locked with Stone’s.

  He looked startled, then smiled—and disappeared.

  Stone hesitated for a second, confused. The man couldn’t have turned invisible—invisible people and objects, unless the mage was very good, still showed up to magical sight. But one second he was there, and the next he was gone.

  Stone pushed past a group of laughing engineers on their way toward the stairs, picking up his pace and striding swiftly toward the table where the man had been.

  He wasn’t there anymore—just a faint hint of the magical glitter on the edge of the table where he’d pressed against it.

  Damn.

  Sharpening his sight, he looked swiftly around. There weren’t that many places the guy could have gone. The stairs were the most obvious avenue of exit, but all he saw there were two groups of women, one going up and the other coming down.

  Had he jumped over the railing? Levitated toward the door? That would have shown up too, though. He—

  Elevator!

  There had to be one here somewhere. Heart pounding, he hurried toward the restrooms and found it at the back of the hallway. The light next to the button was lit, indicating it was in use.

  Stone growled in frustration. If the thief had taken the elevator and he waited for it now, the man would be long gone by the time he reached the ground floor. Forcing himself not to run and draw all sorts of unwelcome attention to himself, he jog-walked around the railing to the stairs and plunged down. Elevators in places like this tended to be slow—perhaps if he was lucky, he could make it downstairs before it opened.

  “Hey! Watch where you’re going, dude!”

  Stone skidded to a stop, twisting his body to avoid running into a young man in a black vest, carrying a full tray of drinks. The tray teetered alarmingly, hovering between regaining its balance and crashing to the floor.

  “Sorry!” Stone used a little nudge of magic to hold the tray steady until the waiter had regained control over it, then shoved past him and hurried on his way. Behind him, the young man muttered something that probably would lose him a tip if Stone had been his customer.

  Stone reached the elevator as it opened. Shifting to magical sight, he stood in front of it, blocking the way so anyone coming out would have to pause before exiting. His heart pounded harder in anticipation.

  The doors slid open, revealing an empty cubicle.

  “What…?” Stone glared into the small space, confused. Where had the man gone?

  Had he even been in here at all? Had he used the elevator as a diversion and ducked out another way?

  He scanned harder, but spotted no sign of the glittery material inside. Either the thief hadn’t been in here or the mix’s potency was already fading. If the latter were true, Eddie had been off about how long he’d have, but he didn’t blame his friend for that. It was what happened when you were testing new tech, magical or otherwise.

  “Excuse me.”

  Stone spun to see two women, one of them with her lower leg in a walking cast, looking at him with veiled impatience. “Oh. Er…terribly sorry.” He stepped aside with a sigh.

  Damn!

  He could look around, of course, but it was pointless. The guy had seen him, knew he was a mage—possibly even knew who he was—and had booked it out of there. If he’d been ready to do that, he obviously had an escape plan.

  And now he knew somebody was after him.

  Stone sighed. It was useless to return home and try another tracking ritual. The stuff was already losing its potency, and would probably fade completely before he could finish. Even if it didn’t, the man had definitely realized something was up and would discover and neutralize the glitter.

  Well. That was a bust.

  He scanned the crowd with magical sight again as he left the bar, and did the same thing a few times on his way to the car, both to check for signs of the thief and to make sure nobody was waiting to ambush him. Neither happened, though. He made it back to his car without seeing anyone except a few couples and small groups heading toward Castro from the lot.

  He slammed the car door closed in frustration and gripped the steering wheel hard. He wanted to pause here, to check out the photos he’d taken and get back to Eddie, but he allowed common sense to prevail. If the thief did know who he was, he might have accomplices. Better not to tempt them to try something they’d all regret.

  12

  The photos weren’t great, but they were better than Stone had hoped. When he’d lost his phone the previous year, he’d replaced it with the most state-of-the-art one he could find, and that included an impressive camera. Even though he’d been standing at least twenty feet away in a dimly lit space, zooming in on a couple of the photos revealed a still-fuzzy but possibly identifiable face. The man looked to be in his thirties, with short, dark hair and an angular profile. Stone uploaded the photos to his laptop and examined them.

  Then he called Jason.

  “Are you home?” he asked when his friend answered. “Or still at work?”

  “Home. Amber and I were about to settle down and watch some TV after dinner. Why?”

  “Because I’ve got some photos of the thief who broke into the storeroom, and I’m not sure what to do with them.”

  “What the hell?” Jason sounded startled, and Stone heard a muffled sound as he readjusted the phone. “How did you get those? Hang on, mind if I put you on speaker so Amber can hear too?”

  “No, that’s fine.”

  More muffled sounds, then Amber’s voice: “How did you get photos of the thief? And if you were close enough to take pictures, why didn’t you catch him?”

  “Long story, and I’m not very proud of it.” He told them about Eddie and Ward’s trackers, and how he’d traced the man to the Mountain View bar. “I tried to get close to him, but he noticed me and disappeared. Literally. He must have had some idea someone might be looking for him.”

  “That sucks,” Jason said. “And now you’re not sure what to do with the photos because you’d have to explain how you got them.”

  “Exactly. Do you think if I sent them to you, Gina could do whatever computer magic she does and figure out who he might be?”

  “Not too likely, I’m afraid. That kind of facial-recognition stuff is harder. She’d probably have to look for help from other people, and I didn’t think you wanted this getting out.”

  Stone sighed. “No, probably not. But I certainly don’t recognize the man. I mean, the photos aren’t perfect, but if I knew him, they’re good enough I’d recognize him.”

  There was a pause, and then Amber spoke. “I have a suggestion, but you’re not going to like it.”

/>   “At this point, I haven’t got a lot of choices. Let’s hear it.”

  “Call Leo Blum. Send them to him.”

  “Blum? This isn’t anywhere near his jurisdiction.”

  “True, but if you tell him why you’re sending them, maybe he can turn something up. You know, act like it’s part of another case or something. It’s either that or tell the cops in charge of the investigation down here, but I wouldn’t advise that.”

  “No—I can picture trying to explain to Detective Bertola how I managed to work out who the thief was without being somehow involved in the whole mess.”

  He sighed again. He’d been sighing a lot lately. “Fine. I’ll do that. I suppose it can’t hurt.”

  “Oh—Al?” Jason again.

  “Yes?”

  “Before you do that, send me a copy of the photos. I’ll have Gina scrub any of the identifying material off them.”

  “Identifying material? What are you talking about?”

  Jason chuckled. “You know, I’m not gonna lie—I’m kinda loving that there’s finally something I know about that seems like magic to you. But yeah, any time you take a pic with a phone or a digital camera or whatever, it gets tagged with all kinds of information you can’t see unless you look for it. So if you send those photos to Blum without scrubbing it off, somebody could trace them back to you.”

  A little chill ran down Stone’s back. “Bloody hell. You’re right—this modern-technology stuff does seem like magic to me. You mundanes have made some fairly impressive strides.”

  “Hey, we gotta do something to keep up with you spell-slingers. Anyway, send ’em on and I’ll have Gina fix ’em up for you and stick ’em out on an anonymous server. You can point Blum at that.”

  “Thank you, Jason. You might have saved me from a dangerous blunder.”