Manny made a call to his manager, the head of security for Wizard Hall, and explained the updated situation. After listening to and acknowledging whatever his manager was saying, he hung up.
“We expected that might happen. I hear you’re not allowed in the market,” he said.
Annie nodded.
“They’re going to choke you out of every place you would go,” Manny said.
Annie nodded again. Her stomach roiled, and she took another sip of peppermint tea and hoped it could settle the nausea in her gut.
“How do we stop them from getting in?” she asked.
“Show me your badge,” he commanded.
She took out her wallet and handed him her Wizard Guard shield and ID.
“You and the rest of the wizard guards use this. Everyone else just has the ID.”
Annie waited for him to say more; she already knew this.
Manny pulled her ID out and showed her the back. There was a square, gray chip at the bottom left corner. “Just like a credit card, this is a chip with a specific magical spell loaded inside.”
Annie nodded. It was something else she knew.
“We are using this now on all visitor passes that have been vetted by both the Wizard Guard and the telecommunication departments. The Middle Eastern wizard guards are due to arrive at 1:00 p.m. They will be given these. The Fraternitatem, unless they steal it from someone, can’t get into the building. They can, however, get into the courtyard,” Manny explained.
“Who’s guarding the courtyard?” Annie asked. She took another sip, her hands still shaking.
“I get why you’re scared. We have a few security officers in the courtyard. They rotate between the doors. I know it’s not ideal, but if we block off teleportation into the courtyard, we can have issues getting anyone in.”
Annie put the mug down on the desk. “Sorry. It’s not that I don’t trust you.”
Manny chuckled and waved her away. “Let me figure out a way to get you into the building safely. Just remember, you’ve got mad skills and powerful magic.”
“Thanks for that. I need to get moving.” Annie stood, nodded once, and smiled as she left the security office for the fifth floor.
*
Annie knocked on Cham’s cubicle. He glanced up and his smile faltered.
“What’s up?” he asked as she sat across from him.
“I stopped by to see Mortimer about the coordinates Sturtagaard left for me. He gave me this sack and a tome inside.”
“What is it?”
“The Fraternitatem is watching me. They’re staking out the Snake Head Letters. I heard them coming for me as I teleported from Mortimer’s apartment. He told me to do that and gave me the book beforehand.”
“They’re controlling you,” Cham said.
“Yes.”
Cham texted a group and put his phone down. Within a few minutes, Spencer, Shiff, and Brite piled into his cubicle. Annie explained her morning to them.
“I’ll find new ways for you to get from home to work and back again,” Spencer said.
“And Manny is sure they can’t get in?” Shiff asked.
“Yes. The meeting with Avraham, Sari, and Michael is today, and he says they’ve all been vetted and will receive special visitor passes that will allow them inside the building. After the meeting, I’ll need someone to get me home,” Annie said.
“I’ll take you home. Shiff and I will stay,” Brite offered.
“Thanks.”
For the near future, Annie would be tied to Spencer as they worked their last case together. While he joined her in her cubicle, the rest of the team resumed their own work.
“Taking out their spies forced them to speed up their plan,” Spencer pointed out.
Annie nodded and placed the tome from Mortimer on the desk. There was a sticky note with her name on the cover. “He gave me this to help me get out of the store with an item and then he routed me to his apartment.”
“Okay. He’s got a soft spot for you. What’s in it?”
Annie shrugged. She opened the book and read the word Magiks again. “It seems very bland,” she said as she scanned the pages quickly. Eventually, she came to a hollowed out middle, a square cut out of the pages. Several white quartz crystals were hidden at the center. She summoned her own crystal and ran it over the ones hidden. There was no magic. She removed them from the hiding spot.
“They’re quartz. Nothing interesting about them,” Spencer said.
Annie placed them on her desk and pulled out a handwritten note. The writing was shaky, with drag marks in ink.
She read the note:
Girl,
If you’re reading this, I am either dead or will be soon. Not sure why I’m even gonna help you but I am, because you need it. Don’t go to the Cave of Ages. Make them come to you. Not the market either. Stay out in the open. They’re dangerous. Melichi doesn’t run the market, Harrison Plank does. He’s a mean bastard and he hired those that are tailing you.
Just remember. You have the magic.
Archibald Mortimer.
Annie’s hands shook as she reread the message.
Someone entered the store!
She pushed the note to Spencer and looked at her hands. The magic began again to rise from her palms. Her skin itched unbearably.
He could be dead now!
“You said more than one person was tailing you?”
Annie shook her head.
“They probably snatched him.” Spencer sounded worried.
Annie struggled to breathe normally as she processed what happened. She shot a spell to try and relieve some of her magic buildup. It flew upward and knocked a ceiling tile off of the grid.
“Damn, it’s really strong,” Spencer said in awe.
“I’m worried. It keeps building up,” Annie said.
Spencer eyed her for a moment in apparent concern and then took out his phone. “We’ll send someone to check on Mortimer.”
Annie raised her eyebrows as Spencer texted the department scheduler. He watched the phone until he received a response.
“Lial and Eddy will go,” he finally said.
Chapter 29
Annie paced along the window of the conference room, feeling much like a caged animal at the zoo. She was sequestered, hidden, and trapped by the Fraternitatem after their first attempt at her.
She shook as she waited for Cham to return with the Middle Eastern wizard guards. She thought of the group she met nearly a year ago when the original black market fell. While they had worked out of Israel, the small group was taxed with the entire Middle East region. She wondered how useful they could be in this final battle—but then again, she herself was trapped in a conference room, unable to leave without protection. Absently, she glanced at her phone for any word about Archibald Mortimer. Spencer watched her patiently.
His phone beeped and he scrolled through the message. “Eddy and Lial said the store was in shambles and Mortimer wasn’t there. It didn’t appear like a struggle happened. They also said he left you a note, demanding that you examine the entire tome.”
Annie glanced at Spencer, confused by the cryptic message. “The one he just gave me?” She summoned the book, opened it to the compartment cut from the pages and removed the contents Mortimer had left. When the book was empty, she flipped through the pages.
Eddy, Lial, and Isaak entered the conference room. “You understood that?” Lial asked. Annie nodded as she continued through the pages, stopping when she found an additional envelope in Mortimer’s handwriting.
“I guess this is what he meant. Did you scry for him?” Annie asked as she opened the envelope.
“We did. If the Fraternitatem has him, they’ve hidden him well. My guess is, he had an escape plan. What’s in the envelope?” Lial asked.
Annie pulled out a document, written on the letterhead of a lawyer named William Beeker.
August 1, 2019
I, Archibald Mortimer, leave the Snake Head Letters buil
ding on Howard Street and all of its contents to Anne Elizabeth Pearce, effective immediately.
Signed.
Archibald Sigmund Mortimer
“What the hell?” Annie asked. She passed the note to Spencer. He read it, frowned, and handed it to Lial.
“That’s the question. Why the hell did he leave you the store?” Spencer asked.
Annie shrugged. “I guess I’ll call the lawyer and find out.”
Lial passed her back the note. She stared at it again and placed it back in the envelope, hiding it inside the book.
In a few moments, Avraham, Sari, and Michael entered with Cham. They each took a seat around the large table.
“Annie, Spencer, Lial, good to see you. It’s been some time,” Avraham said.
“Glad to see you. Sorry it’s such a difficult situation,” Annie said and introduced Eddy and Isaak.
Annie hid her confusion and anxiety, smiling as Cham took his place at the head of the table and waved his palm to summon several folders. She distributed the files for the team.
“In these files, you’ll find relevant names, places, dates. Emily King-Solomon gave up the most recent information. Arden Blakely also gave what she knew, though her information is considerably older.” Cham let the Middle East wizard guards peruse the notes.
Avraham looked up. “This is thorough. This is everything we had hoped to get and couldn’t. I understand you have several agents in your prison?”
Cham looked at Annie. She said, “That’s correct. They were here to spy on me, to draw me out and get me away from any protection I might have had. The idea was to kill me and steal the power I received.” Annie took in a deep breath. “Emily King-Solomon is my mother, who until three months ago I believed to be dead.”
Sari, Michael, and Avraham glanced at her. “She’s your mother?” Michael asked.
Annie nodded. “We think she was brainwashed and trained to kill me. Their plan was to have her come here, gain my trust, and trick me away. I have a feeling she’s still going to try.”
Cham, Lial, and Spencer stared at her. “Why?” Spencer asked.
“She’s trying hard to gain my trust and get me to call her mom. But, she’s been gone for twenty years and was brainwashed. I just keep thinking they expected we’d go after her before she came after me. I can’t shake the idea that there might be a trigger, something that will get her to do what she was trained to do,” Annie said.
“Like a word or sound?” Michael asked.
“Or an action or a scenario. Something that might happen to make her act.”
“Not if we keep her in Tartarus,” Cham said.
“She was trained by them. If a trigger word was said, I have a feeling she’d have a way to get out of there. Or find a way to get me there.”
Cham stood and dialed his phone, leaving the conference room to make a call.
“What do you need from us?” Avraham asked.
“It’s time to put a plan in place. It’s your jurisdiction, so we need permission, based on our size versus yours, however, we’d like to lead the takedown.” She glanced at Avraham, who led the Middle Eastern department. He nodded.
“As you remember, we have a disadvantage. If we walk up the cliff, they can see us. Instead, we can try and go through this back entrance.” Annie showed them the location on the map.
“There is another way in. We always wondered about that,” Michael said.
Annie pointed to the spiral staircase. “If we take this to them, we’ll be sitting ducks on the way up. We will have to draw them out, to this area here.” She next pointed to the land outside of the hidden entrance, which was flat with a scattering of large boulders.
“How do you suppose we draw them out?” Sari asked.
“My first thought is; we have three of the four portals to the main black market. We have someone trying to find the fourth right now. If we can find that, I think we need to shut three of the four portals down. That will squeeze their access to the market.” Annie showed them the pictures of the portals and a map that showed their locations.
“Four quadrants on Earth. One portal in each quadrant. Very organized,” Avraham said.
“And if we don’t find the other portal?” Michael asked.
“Then we need to find a way to keep the Fraternitatem from leaving the desert. I don’t want them entering the market; they could then use the portals to escape or hide.”
“Okay. Let’s say we find it. That doesn’t tell me how we’re going to draw them out,” Avraham pressed.
Annie pulled out a map of the cliff. “My question is, how do they pump clean air in and stale air out? We could use smoke and stink bombs as well as spells to draw them out.”
“Air ducts, vents of some kind.” Avraham smiled. “Yes. That could work. I suggest we do surveillance. Examine the top and side of the cliff.” He pulled the map toward him. “Maybe these lines up here.”
“What about the main entrance?” Sari asked.
“We’ll have to get someone inside to put a magical spell around the opening to block it off,” Annie said.
“And who would do that?” Michael asked.
Cham entered. “The spells around Levi are enhanced. There’s a camera on Emily at all times. No one except the Wizard Guard is allowed in to see them. If your thought is correct, you’re not going back there. She could very well be trapping you. You said she was nice and encouraging last time you were there. You’re going to have to find a way to not astral project there,” he said.
The Middle Eastern team glanced at Annie with that revelation.
“You astral project?” Sari asked.
Annie nodded. “Not on purpose. It just seems to be one of those powers I’ve been told I have.”
“No wonder they want your power. So, we block the portals to the new market and then what?” Avraham asked.
Cham sighed. “You know the area better than us. You’ve studied them. Can we set up some sort of protection in the area for us to hide?”
Avraham pointed to the map. “This outcropping of rocks should hide us. We’ll get the lay of the land, see how we can keep them inside this area.” He pointed to the transcripts provided. “There are so many names. I wonder how many are still members. If this is accurate, they outnumber all wizard guards on the planet.”
It wasn’t a comforting thought to Annie.
“We’ll set up a video conference with all of the wizard guard units across the planet,” Cham said. “Those without the technology will be on a phone call. I do have an issue. One of my guards is a mole for the Fraternitatem. We have her off on a case away from here and I have someone trailing her now. She’s doing what she’s supposed to be doing for us, and it looks like she’s being followed by the Fraternitatem. Just make sure you can trust whoever you bring into this. I don’t know how many units have moles.”
“We haven’t had a new guard in two years and there aren’t many of us,” said Avraham. “I have with me those I trust the most. We’ll take your lead and I’ll pay attention to your concerns. We’ll do early reconnaissance and verify if there are air vents on the cliff. If there are you should be able to toss bombs through those and not send someone on the inside. Either way, we’ll send you pictures.”
Cham turned and pulled up satellite images on the television behind him. “We have to assume they’re watching you too. We do have these,” he admitted.
“I appreciate your concern. But we are wizard guards, too. We need eyes on the ground. And we should be watching them,” Avraham argued.
“Fair enough,” Cham said. Once a wizard guard, always a wizard guard—they would want to control what they could.
Annie listened to the exchange. It was no longer about her and only her. It was about the Fraternitatem using her to get to the rest of them.
*
Lial sat beside Spencer in Annie’s cubicle. “It’s a mess there. It’s hard to tell for sure, but I think it was tossed for effect, not because they were looking for som
ething.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Annie said as she held up the book from Rathbone. “I’ve been going through this book I found in Rathbone’s cell. I took this one because it had the word ‘Fraternitatem’ in the margins and several letters were circled. I’ve gone through the entire book and discovered the words ‘September 1,’ ‘Snake Head Letters,’ and ‘portal.’”
Spencer and Lial looked at her with curiosity. “A coincidence?” Spencer asked.
Annie grimaced as she held up a scroll. “Since we don’t believe in them, no. And there’s more. Sturtagaard left me his collection of books with a note quoting the book Julius Caesar. So I pulled that book and guess what I found?” She passed the scroll to Lial.
“Coordinates?”
“To the Snake Head Letters.”
“Uh…” Lial’s mouth dropped. “What the hell. You think there’s a portal in that store? Where? I’ve never felt anything portal like.”
Annie tapped her fingers on her desk, releasing nervous energy. “There’s so much shit in that store. Who knows where one could be hidden. But based on Rathbone, Sturtagaard, and Mortimer leading me there, I can’t help but think there’s a portal there somewhere.”
They all sat with their thoughts for a moment. Then Lial said, “While it would be convenient for Mortimer to have direct access to market, that doesn’t fly with the theory of there being four portals across the earth.”
Annie grimaced. “You have a point. But still, they want me to know there’s something in that store. On another note, do either of you know a Harrison Plank?” She handed them the note from Mortimer.
“Not me,” Lial said.
Spencer shook his head.
“Awesome.” Annie texted Bucky and then dialed the lawyer, William Beeker.
“Hello, William Beeker’s office,” a female voice said.
Annie introduced herself and was immediately put on hold. A gentleman’s voice came on.
“Ms. Pearce. I assume you found the letter from Mr. Mortimer,” he said.
“Yes, I did. Do you know why he left me the store?” she asked.
“I do not know that. I tried to persuade him to leave it to someone… more suitable to its nature, but he insisted it be you,” the lawyer said.
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