There was absolute silence. Czar moved first, studying the drawing again through the monocle and then the frame. “Your father was an astronomer, Zyah?”
“It’s not possible,” Zyah denied in a whisper, pulling her hand away from Player’s. She rubbed her palm on her thigh as if removing his touch. “They wouldn’t do this. And if Mama Anat knew, she would have destroyed it. It isn’t possible.”
“Even if it is possible that she knew, she might not destroy the drawing because it came from her husband,” Maestro said. “Who is this man and how would he know, after all these years, about it? Why would he have waited this long to find the drawing if he did know? It isn’t like Anat would have been that difficult to find. She didn’t come to the United States under a different name.”
“All good questions and ones I think we need Anat to answer,” Czar said. “I’m going to ask Destroyer to see if Anat would be willing to travel here or if she would prefer us to go there. I’m reluctant to have this drawing anywhere near your home, Zyah.”
“I feel the same,” Player said.
Zyah shook her head. “I don’t like any of this. Do you honestly believe that my father built some portal so a bomb could be sent to an enemy? How would they know his exact location? There are too many variables, not to mention it’s all too sci-fi.”
“You connect with me through the earth, Zyah. Ships found their way guided by stars. Are you telling me that you really think it would be impossible for your father to find a location he needed using the stars?”
“Maybe the location, but not the person on the other end. The stars would give him a wide view, not a narrow one, Player. You’re talking about a specific location. Something would have to narrow that down, like GPS does. It would have to be even more precise.” Zyah frowned, turning it over in her mind. “If it was even possible,” she mused aloud.
“I think it is possible and your grandfather and father figured out how to do it,” Player said. “Admittedly, there are pieces I can’t figure out. The why of it. If your grandmother knew, she might be able to fill that in. And this man. Why would he suddenly be aware of us? Why didn’t he come looking before?”
Again, there was silence in the shed while they all thought it over. “Suppose this man thought the drawing had been destroyed,” Ink said. “There would have been no reason to come looking for Anat. In all this time there was no indication of bombs or portals. Nothing like this cropped up anywhere on the black market. No one attempted to sell it. He had no reason to think such a weapon existed.”
“Okay, I’ll go along with that reasoning,” Player said. “So then my brain gets fucked up and I start seeing the White Rabbit and I’m building my bombs.”
Czar nodded. “Every day you’re in the room with this drawing and you’re seeing the schematics for the bomb. You actually see it without the device, and your mind fixates on it.”
Player had been in bed every night for five straight weeks staring at that drawing while his head was pounding out of his skull. “My head hurt like a mother. I couldn’t escape the nightmares that triggered some of the worst migraines. My brain felt like it was coming apart. The bombs I normally built to try to counteract the pain weren’t working, so my brain turned to one much more complicated and intriguing.” He knew that was exactly what happened.
“This is making sense,” Mechanic said.
“The pain was excruciating. At first I could barely lay out the various parts. Just moving made me sick. I know if it hadn’t been for Steele and Zyah, I wouldn’t have survived.”
A murmur went around the shed, and all heads turned toward Czar for confirmation.
Czar nodded. “I was told, but there was nothing anyone could do. Steele did his best. Either he was going to be able to save him or he wasn’t.”
“Steele performed a miracle,” Zyah said. “I watched him. I don’t think anyone else could have saved him. He came twice a day for a couple of weeks after that and then once a day. He healed his brain injury, which was very severe, but the migraines persisted. Neither of us could understand why.”
“We might have liked to have been with him,” Ink said.
“A lot of visitors weren’t going to help,” Czar said.
“We could have taken shifts with Maestro and Savage in the house,” Ink pointed out.
“We didn’t want to upset Anat. She’s very intelligent, and no one was letting on how grave his injury actually was,” Czar said. “I understand you’re all upset, and with good reason. I didn’t go in other than once myself. Let’s just get this done. He’s alive and well, and he’s got Zyah. Keep going, Player.”
“Eventually, I could concentrate a little more, but then the nightmares grew worse. That brought the White Rabbit. The White Rabbit brought Sorbacov. That became a vicious circle. I got faster at laying out the parts and then beginning to understand and put them together. Each time I got further along.”
“You didn’t have this going on every single night?” Czar asked.
“Not after the fourth week. The bomb was becoming too real. Zyah realized it before I did. The first two weeks I was pretty out of it and nothing could take away the pain. By that third week she was staying in the room, sitting up all night in a chair. By the fourth week she was stopping the nightmare almost before it began. We could both hear the ticking of a clock. Maestro heard it a few times. That was alarming. I knew then that my illusions, the White Rabbit and Sorbacov, were beginning to blur into the alternate reality of the bomb. That was scary being in Anat’s house.”
“We both felt that someone had been watching us at times,” Zyah said. “We couldn’t see anyone, but a couple of times when Player was making the bomb, I thought I could see something murky over Sorbacov’s shoulder. It gave me the creeps. I thought it was someone from Player’s past, like Sorbacov.”
“They came to me,” Czar said. “I told them to write down separately what they saw and felt the next time it happened.”
Player indicated the drawing. “I knew the plans for the bomb were in the drawing. I had no idea about the portal.”
“Who would?” Savage muttered. “That’s insane.”
“It was insane to see those eyes staring at us,” Zyah said. “It was the creepiest thing ever, and I’m not altogether sure I can sleep in my bedroom ever again.”
“I thought Czar might recognize him from my past, but he didn’t,” Player added.
“And you believe this man was actually somewhere else,” Mechanic said, coming to stand beside Player to stare into the middle of the drawing, “looking through a portal at you? Because if that’s so, was he summoned? How did he get there? How did you summon him?”
Player turned that over in his mind. It was a good question, and there was only one answer. “There has to be a portal on his side. It’s possible he’s connected to the bomb.”
Czar nodded. “That’s the only answer. He would have to be drawn to the bomb, and there has to be another portal. Zyah said she started noticing a shadowy figure behind Sorbacov in the dreams Player was having in his mind. Those became illusions and then alternate reality. It went White Rabbit, which was illusion, and then Sorbacov, which used to be the alternate reality. Is that correct, Player?”
Player nodded. “They both had a pocket watch on a chain. We all remember that fucking pocket watch of Sorbacov’s. When I was building a bomb, he’d take it out and time me, acting like if I wasn’t fast enough, he was going to punish me. I was never fast enough to suit him, but I could block him out most of the time by focusing on the bomb if it was new enough. Sometimes he brought a friend with him, and that’s what threw Zyah off. She thought this man in the background was the friend Sorbacov kept bringing.”
“Sorbacov is dead now, so it’s impossible for him to be the alternate reality,” Czar mused. “So is his ‘friend.’ The new man isn’t dead. He’s where the illusion crossed over. The
bomb started ticking, and Maestro heard it.”
“I think Anat said she heard it as well,” Maestro said.
“We all did the day Jonas was there,” Savage said. “But Zyah kissed you and it stopped.”
“I was building the bomb in my head. I’d spent part of the day sitting on the bed, staring at that drawing. Before, I’d been in the bed staring at it. Just after Zyah got home, my head hurt so fucking bad I thought my brains were leaking out. I just needed the pain to stop for a few minutes. I went up the stairs and sat on the end of the bed, hoping it would stop before I had to go back downstairs and face the cops. I was staring at the drawing again. I couldn’t look away. Sometimes I felt like it mesmerized me. It made my head hurt worse, and I began building the bomb to try to stop it.”
Czar drummed his fingers on the wall. “Suppose the drawing triggered migraines in you, Player. You stared at the picture for hours. Your mind saw the plans for the bomb and put it all together. The longer you looked at it, the more your head hurt.”
“It’s possible,” Player agreed. “I was out of it when I went downstairs and Jonas was there with Jackson. All I had was building that bomb or I was going to keel over.”
“I think Zyah kissing you stopped it,” Maestro said. “She brought the temperature up in that room by about a thousand degrees.” He sent her a quick grin.
“He can kiss, what can I say,” Zyah defended, but she didn’t smile.
Player could see she was trying. He sank down on the bench beside her and slipped his arm around her shoulder. “Baby, I know this is hard. We aren’t certain of anything yet. We don’t know anyone’s motives, and until we do, we can’t judge anyone. I told you what Czar drilled into us when we were kids. There isn’t any use worrying about something until we know the facts. We’re figuring things out. That’s all we’re doing. Help us do that. I’ve spent time with Anat; so have Maestro and Savage. No way do any of us think she’s capable of what this drawing would imply, so something else is at play here. We have to figure out what’s going on to make certain everyone is safe and then decide what to do.”
“Player,” Czar said. “Look at the frame.”
All of them immediately looked at the drawing spotlighted under the blazing lights. The etchings had once again subtly changed, moving to resemble an actual long scroll.
“Every time the two of you connect, the etchings change to that position,” Czar said. “I’ve watched it do so over and over. When you move apart, it fades back to the original frame.”
Zyah suddenly surged to her feet, pulling away from Player. “Remember when I said the stars would give a wide view for the portal? Well, if somehow it took both Mama Anat and Grandfather Horus to open the portal together, like we did, not that I know how we did it, and the portal gave the wide view of where the target was located, through her connection with the earth, Mama Anat would have been able to pinpoint the exact location.” She looked at Player with pain-filled eyes. “You and I could do the same thing together. We have that same connection.”
“She would never do it,” Player said. “I’m telling you, baby, she wouldn’t. You know she wouldn’t. I don’t care what the evidence says. She wouldn’t do it.”
Czar looked down at his cell phone. “Destroyer said Anat insisted on coming here. It’s taken a while to get one of the vehicles for her to ride in that can transport her comfortably here. She’ll be here soon.”
Player went to Zyah, ignoring the way she tried to push him away. He wrapped her up in his arms. “Baby, I’m telling you, it’s all going to be fine.”
“I just hate this so much.”
Savage took the monocle to the bench where the little box and wrapping paper were. Carefully wrapping it back the way Zyah had it, he put the device in the box. “I’m going to put this in your purse, Zyah, so nothing happens to it. I know it means a lot to Anat. If we have to destroy the drawing, I want her to have something she loves of her husband’s.”
“Thanks, Savage.” Zyah sounded close to tears.
Czar stood in front of the drawing. “Kiss her, Player. Kiss Zyah.”
Player frowned. Zyah ducked her head against his chest. “What are you thinking?”
“I think the portal is ready to be opened, and kissing her will open it. I mean really kissing her. Turn her around so he can’t see her. You face this way. We’ll spread out. Let him face us. He wants a confrontation.”
“No,” Zyah protested. “Wait for Mama Anat. She might know who he is. If she does, she can tell us how to handle him. If we say or do the wrong thing, it might put more people in jeopardy. All of you are so used to handling things on your own that you don’t consider that it might be prudent to wait. You don’t even know who this man is. We need information.”
Player liked that she had included herself with them.
Czar nodded. “You’re right, Zyah. I wanted to see the portal work, and I’d like to see this man, but without real information, a name, a place, I can’t put Code on tracking him. Once we know who he is, we can find him and eliminate any threat to Anat and you, but until we have that information, we’re dead in the water. My curiosity got the better of me for once. Thanks for reining me in.”
Player glanced at him. That was so unlike Czar, Player didn’t believe a word of it. He’d deliberately forced Zyah to stop him. She had been the voice of reason for all of them. In doing so, she’d put faith in her grandmother’s ability to sort everything out.
Savage handed Zyah her purse. “Put that somewhere safe. I have a feeling Anat’s going to want to destroy this thing.”
“If you wouldn’t mind, Zyah, I’d like to take photos of the drawing,” Player said. “It really is a masterpiece. It would be a shame to have it completely disappear. I’d get rid of the photographs eventually.” He glanced at Ink.
Zyah frowned. “What would you do with them?”
“I thought I’d have the drawing tattooed on me. I think it would go pretty nicely over the loom scars on my chest. If it would freak you out, I wouldn’t do it, but you love the drawing. I know your grandmother’s explanation is going to vindicate your family. She will ask to destroy the drawing, and it will most likely be safer to do so.”
“Take the photos, but if this all goes wrong, get rid of them immediately.” She tucked the purse up on a shelf out of the way, just in case things got out of hand when they opened the portal after her grandmother got there.
Player knew, no matter what, Czar was going to have them open it. All of them were curious. He couldn’t blame them. He would have been. They had no idea how very creepy it was. His main concern was the bomb. Did anyone else have the schematics for that bomb that could slip through the portal? If so, were there more portals and bombs? Could this man suddenly appear and slide a bomb into the shed where they were? It was difficult to believe someone else had the plans for the bomb because in all the years Anat had been in the United States, it would have shown up somewhere. At least, that was Player’s hope.
“They’re here,” Czar announced.
Zyah dragged in air and reached for Player’s hand, her eyes meeting his. Maestro hastily opened the door and waved to the others to move aside to give Destroyer plenty of room to roll Anat’s chair into the shed.
TWENTY
“Mama Anat,” Zyah greeted, sounding as if she might burst into tears.
Anat looked around at all of them and then at the drawing under the powerful lights. “I was afraid of this.” She gave a little sigh and looked at Player. “You have gifts, don’t you? Who would have ever thought this could happen? I never even considered it. I thought my secret was safe.”
She rolled her chair straight to the drawing and stared up at it. “Horus and Ken were both so brilliant, and their minds refused to rest. They were always dreaming up what-ifs. Could this be done? Nothing to them was impossible. They would talk about things until all hours of the night. I
loved to hear them talk. So did your mother, Zyah. We’d sit around together and just imagine the improbable, the impossible, and how it could be done.”
Her voice had taken on a dreamy quality. Loving. Sad. “I miss those times so much. They really were so far ahead of their time. So beyond brilliant. We laughed so much together. Dreamt up so many crazy ideas. This one”—she gestured toward the drawing—“was in response to several things. The ban on belly dancing. Horus and Ken loved us belly dancing for them. Of course, in the privacy of our home, we continued to dance for them, but they were still very upset that something they considered beautiful was thought to be dirty. And the officials were always coming around with veiled threats. If Horus didn’t go back to work for them building the bombs they wanted, there would be dire consequences. He had quit years earlier and they never let him rest.”
“What did Horus do after he quit?” Czar prompted.
“He was independently wealthy,” Anat said. “Which was a good thing. He was extremely interested in the force of gravity and properties of atom formation. He developed various theories and models to help explain it. He continually studied the very fundamental properties of atoms and molecules. He had so many interests, but he always came back to the evolution of the universe and atoms, molecules and gravity. He did present at the universities at times, but mostly, he experimented in his own laboratories. When Ken came along, they were so like-minded.”
Player frowned, shaking his head, trying to understand what she was saying. “This wasn’t a project for the government? Or for some splinter faction protesting the government?”
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