Theft of Light

by N. A. K. Baldron

  “Why?” She sat up facing away from him.

  “Because,” he said. “If it comes down to one of us dying to kill him, we have to make that sacrifice.”

  “We’re not going to die. If it goes that bad, we’ll retreat.”

  “It doesn’t work like that," he said. "Slava and I have orders. I either have to kill the mayor, or die trying. I’ll protect you the best I can, but you can’t get so attached that you’ll try to save me at the risk of letting the mayor live. There are too many lives at stake.”

  “You said y’all work alone.”

  “We do," he said "But there is a council made up of the older families, and they set the rules. It’s why we haven't told them about you, or you about them.”

  “Why not?”

  “They would demand to meet you so they could test you," he said. "After the tests you have the choice of service, or complete exile.”

  “So, fuck’em.”

  “It’s not that simple," he said. "Without the council, we’d never be able to move around. We’d quickly be arrested by police, or thrown into a psych ward. We need their power, and in return, we have to carry out missions from time to time.”

  “So, you’re a slave.”

  “It’s more complicated than that," he said. "I can explain more after we’re done with the mayor.”

  “No, I'm sick of that answer. For once, explain it now, not later.”

  “After we kill the mayor," he said. "Slava and I will have to report you. We have to give a detailed report on how we pulled off the mission. They’ll protect you, even if it goes sideways. But if you refuse to meet them, you’ll be exiled, and we’ll never see each other again.”

  Lance let a brief silence settle before continuing. “When we’re done, you have to make the choice to meet the council or not. There’s no point in explaining anything now. The less you know, the better it will go anyways.”

  For the first time, Kandice regretted meeting Lance. She couldn’t have expected there to be a secret council, or a conspiracy to cover up Aether Walkers on a global scale. That was in spy movies - not that anything about her life was normal.

  “Can we go?” she asked. “I need to go home.” It was impossible to deal with him at that moment. Too much had changed, and her mind needed to process everything.

  Lance stood up and offered his hand to Kandice. She grabbed it, and he pulled her up.

  They took a minute to clean up the area they’d sparred in, so it wouldn’t look like a huge pack of wolves had been fighting. There was fur all around the ground and broken branches everywhere.

  On the drive back to Lance’s house they listened to bad radio songs, and the worst commercials, but never said a word to each other. Kandice noticed Lance stealing a glance at her from time to time. It didn’t bother her; she welcomed the silence. The prospect of having to be a slave to some secret government, or risk going to jail was bullshit.

  Before today, there had been no notable consequence of killing the mayor. He was a killer, and an Aether Walker. Killing him was the right and moral thing to do, and it didn't bother her. But now, it seemed like being involved in his death would be more of a burden than a blessing.

  Her life would be over. She’d never be able to avoid the police without Lance’s help, and, that came at the cost of serving the council, or worse, having to cut ties with the only other person she’d met who can fight Aether Walkers.

  By the time they pulled into Lance’s driveway, her mind was mush.

  Kandice followed Lance inside, intending on getting her helmet and leaving.

  Slava greeted them as they walked through the front door. “How did the training go? Is she progressing?”

  “She’s doing great,” Lance said. “She was able to get my seal off twice. Better than I did against you.”

  Slava laughed a deep laugh that reverberated in Kandice’s gut. The threat of small talk brought on a headache. It was past time for her to be at home.

  What if killing the mayor wasn’t the right move for her to make? Her mind raced; she wanted to get her helmet and leave without being rude.

  “Come, it is time to add the charcoal.” Slava pointed the way to the garage.

  Lance looked at Kandice after he moved, and she stood still.

  “I’m just going to go home,” she said.

  “This will only take a minute,” Lance said.

  “Okay, fine,” she sighed following Lance into the garage.

  Slava had the thickest gloves on Kandice had ever seen. Next to him, was a massive bag of charcoal. He poured charcoal into a large pot and handed Lance a hammer.

  Lance banged away at the charcoal until it was dust.

  Slava poured the dust into the chemical mixture and stirred it slow. Twice clockwise, and once counterclockwise, over and over. Lance poured more charcoal into the pot and hammered it down to dust.

  They worked together in silence, until all the charcoal was dust, and stirred into the chemical mixture. Kandice noticed that the color had changed to solid black, but when Slava stirred, the ripples had a golden shine.

  “Now, we heat it,” Slava said.

  In the kitchen, Slava turned the oven to broil, and placed the container on the bottom rack. He had to remove the top rack to make it fit, and without a spare inch.

  “How long do you bake it?” Kandice asked.

  “It depends,” Slava said. “Each batch takes as long as it takes. Once the color is golden, we freeze it for days, and the chemicals do the work.”

  Part of her hadn’t believed it would work, but it was an impressive process. She had only read of alchemy in the dark ages in fairy tales.

  “So, you can just make gold whenever you need money? Just like that.” She snapped her fingers.

  “Not exactly,” Slava said.

  “We’re under the council’s rule,” Lance said. “We’re allowed to make gold twice a year. The rest of the time we have to find other ways to make money. Slava is one of a handful of people who knows how to make gold. The council keeps a close eye on it because a massive influx of gold onto the market will cause suspicion.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah, It’s not as simple as snapping your fingers to get money, but it helps. At least we don’t have to get jobs.” He laughed, and they chatted about the impossibility of real jobs given their lives.

  After a while, Kandice said goodbye and refused several offers from Slava to stay for dinner. It was impressive to see the process completed, but she still needed to get home.

  Lance walked her to her moped. “Call me when you’re ready.”

  “I will.”

  And with that, she backed her moped into the street and drove off without looking back.

  Chapter Five

  Sunday, September 25th

  Just after 11:00 AM on Sunday, Kandice got out of the shower to the sound of her phone ringing. The missed-call notification popped up and told her it was Lance.

  A couple seconds later, a text came in.

  Lance: It’s done. Come over when you get this.

  Her excitement level neared that of learning to change. It was time to see if they could actually make gold, and how much the batch created.

  Although excited, she took her time picking out her clothes. It wasn't that big of a rush for her to get over there. Thirty minutes later, with jeans and a shirt on, her hair in a ponytail, she finished applying her lip-gloss.

  When she stepped outside her front door, her upstairs neighbor was on the stairwell. He said hi. Kandice locked her door and said hi without glancing at him. It annoyed her that her neighbors were so friendly.

  Was it too much to ask to live in peace and not talk to those around her?

  After only a few days, it was clear her next place would need to be a house. Now that she knew meeting the council was in her immediate future, it left her extended future more confusing. Moving around all the time like Lance and Slava wasn’t appealing, but deep down, she knew it would end up happening.


  Her neighbor followed her into the parking lot, making her nervous. Kandice started her moped and sped away before he would have time to approach. He may not have done it with her in mind, but regardless, it made her uncomfortable. She knew she could take him in a fight, but the last thing she wanted was to draw attention to herself.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  When she got to Lance’s, he wasted no time showing her to the garage. Slava was hammering away at what looked like a giant chunk of gold. The ringing sound bounced off the garage walls, amplifying itself. Sparks flew in the air, and the lump kept rolling into itself. Kandice’s mouth fell open.

  “Is-” she started, still in shock. “Is that all gold?”

  “No,” Lance laughed a little at her reaction. “The outside looks like gold, but it’s only the core that’s pure. Most of it is random metals, tinted a gold color.”

  “Oh,” The disappointment lingered in her tone.

  “Take over.” Slava handed Lance the hammer.

  Lance used the back end of the hammer to pry open a crack in the chunk of metal. He then put a screwdriver into the crack and whacked it with all his might. The plastic handle broke off, but the metal split apart, revealing the gold core. Kandice could tell the difference as the inside was a deeper color. There were ripples in the outside metal that made it appear water like.

  Lance used the metal part of the screwdriver, the last part left, to start hammering out chunks of gold with care.

  “It’s very soft,” he said. “It’s like cutting butter straight out of the fridge.”

  Kandice laughed at the thought. “How much is there?”

  “Not sure yet. At least a Kilo.”

  Kandice tried to do the math in her head. “So about two-and-a-half pounds?”

  “Something like that,” he said. “Regardless, it’s more than enough to get you a car, and pay the hackers.”

  “Let me call Blake.”

  “Ok. See if he can help sell this, too. We all need to sell it at different places.”

  Kandice dialed Blake’s number. It went to voicemail, so she left a message. “Blake, call me when you get this. We’re ready to-” She stopped talking because Lance was waving his hands, telling her to stop.

  “Just call me,” she said, and hung up.

  “Don’t talk about gold on the phone. Ever!”

  “Why?”

  “It’s one of those keywords that will cause people to look into us. Gold is used as currency by drug dealers and gun runners. So, it’s best not to talk about it.”

  “Oh, Okay.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  It was around 5:00 PM when Blake got to Lance’s. He’d woken up late, but called Kandice first thing. Lance and Slava had finished digging out the pure gold from the giant chunk of metals. It weighed in at just under three pounds. Lance mentioned it was one of their better batches.

  Slava divided up the gold into one ounce segments and used a leather seal that morphed them to look like a coin he kept on him. The front had a royal lion with a pronged tail, and the back had a two-headed eagle, with a sword in its talons.

  When Blake sat down in the living room, Slava divided up the coins. They each got eleven, except for Slava, who kept twelve.

  “The plan is to sell these at pawn shops and cash-for-gold places,” Lance said. “We have to spread out and hit all surrounding cities. Only two shops per city and two coins per shop. This will prevent raising too much suspicion.”

  Kandice and Blake both nodded in agreement.

  “Slava will sell north, I’ll go way south,” he said. “Blake, you go west, and Kandice east. The key is to be confident. Tell them they’re coins from your parents, or grandparent’s collection, and that you need the money for school. You want to sell, not pawn. You should accept nothing less than $1,250 a coin. That’s well under value. Any questions?”

  “When do we sell them?” Blake asked.

  “Tomorrow,” Lance said. “We should all meet back here before dinner. I’ll take the cash and convert it into prepaid credit cards. I’ll give you what you need for your Bitcoins, Blake.”

  “Can I keep one?” Blake asked. "They’re really awesome looking.”

  Kandice could tell Lance was thinking about it. “Sure," he said. "We can spare one. But that would cover your finder’s fee.”

  “Damn,” Blake said. “Well, that’s fair.”

  They hung out for a few more hours, talking about how they were getting close to taking down the mayor. Lance and Slava made their best dinner yet. Between the four of them, they finished a bottle of vodka, though Blake and Kandice both paced themselves. Kandice never got drunk, and Blake seemed only a little buzzed. His speech never became sloppy.

  It was well past 10:00 PM when they called it a night. A good night's sleep would be important for tomorrow. Blake said he would try to nap, but regardless, he’d get his coins sold.

  Chapter Six

  Monday, September 26th

  Kandice’s alarm sounded at 7:45 AM. She laid out her one Sunday church outfit that still fit and then got into the shower.

  When she was locking up her front door, her upstairs neighbor was on the stairs again.

  “We’ve got to quit meeting like this,” he said.

  Kandice locked her door and turned around to face him on the stairs so he could see her roll her eyes. “Yeah.”

  She walked into the parking lot, keeping an eye on him as he followed. “Where are you headed?”

  Kandice turned around and faced him dead-on, dropping her leg back into a fight stance out of instinct. “I’m not interested, you need to leave me alone.”

  “I’m just trying to be nice.” He kept walking towards her.

  Kandice regretted wearing heels even if they were short ones. She dropped her tone into the most forceful octave possible. “You need to back off, or I’m going to hurt you.”

  “I’m not trying to hurt you. I’ve just seen you around, and I wanted to see if you wanted to get lunch sometime.”

  “No,” Kandice said, keeping to her leave me alone tone.

  He reached out to grab her. On instinct, she grabbed hold of his wrist with both hands, pivoted her body weight, and tossed him over her shoulder. In a fraction of a second she had his cheek pressed to the pavement while she used her heel to apply pressure to his armpit. He screamed in pain, and she could see blood from where the pavement had scraped the skin on his cheek.

  “I don’t know who the fuck you think you are. But when a woman says no, it means no.” She kicked him with all her might in the ribs.

  “If you ever try to touch me again, I’ll put you in the hospital. This is Texas. No jury will convict me. Now, fuck off.”

  She applied pressure on his wrist, right up the point where it would break, then let go. He rolled himself into a ball and cried in pain. She didn’t look back, just got on her moped and drove away.

  Technically it was a crime to attack him, but he was in the wrong. No jury would convict, so it didn’t matter. The pervert deserved it. The average man in Texas would think the guy was lucky they weren’t there, and women would congratulate her for standing up for herself.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  When she arrived at Lance’s house in the evening, Blake’s moped was already there, but not Lance’s SUV. Slava opened the door to greet her before she got to the front step.

  “Come in,” he said. “Lance and Blake are out buying credit cards.”

  Kandice followed him into the living room. “How long have they been gone?”

  “About an hour,” he said. “Lance wanted to buy the cards from several locations. He figured if Blake helped, they could cut the time in half.”

  Slava opened a new bottle of vodka and offered Kandice a drink. She only took a small sip.

  “When did you get back?”

  “Maybe two hours ago,” he said. “I left early. I drove up to Waco and worked my way back down.”

  They drank in silence for a few minutes until Slava spoke
. “Do you feel ready to infiltrate the mayor’s compound?”

  “I think so,” she said. “I’m stronger than Lance, but he still wins most of our sparring matches.”

  “He has years of experience. You should be proud that you can win any of your matches.”

  “Yeah. He pushed me to my limit last time. I about passed out.”

  “Did he tell you about when I trained him?”

  “Not really.”

  “Lance was stubborn. He was much faster than me, but I was always a move ahead of him. It took almost six months before he beat me the first time. My abilities allowed me to know where he would be before he got there. He had to learn how to fake his intentions. If you learn how your opponent thinks, you can know what they will do. Then you will never lose.”

  Kandice already knew that from Master Monroe drilling it into her, but it didn’t work with Lance. She couldn’t figure out what he planned to do. The few times she did, Lance was too quick, and would change mid attack.

  About thirty minutes later, Lance and Blake came back.

  “I’ve never seen so much money,” Blake said.

  “I still have my cash,” she said. “I got $14,000. It made me nervous carrying around so much.”

  “I know what you mean,” Blake said. “When I finished selling the gold, I sat down with the cash and just looked at it. I only got $12,000 though.”

  “Use the cards to pay your hackers,” Lance said. “We’ve got enough cash left to buy you the car, Kandice.”

  Lance handed Slava a stack of cards, along with a large stack of cash. “That should be enough for a few months. We’ll need to get money orders for rent.”

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Blake clicked away on his computer, and after about twenty minutes, he got the other’s attention. “I’ve paid the guy his Bitcoins. He said it will take him a few days. He’ll send me a message when he’s done.”

  “Excellent,” Lance said. “Let’s celebrate. Tomorrow, we’ll buy your car, Kandice.”