Rath fell in love the moment they entered the comic book art gallery. The walls held oversized pages, and the space was arranged in a labyrinth to create the most available wall surfaces for them. Each corridor displayed a single story, with covers and back material at the start and finish. The first contained a superhero book, and he was clearly interested but not necessarily excited. The second and third shared tales of samurai and Shaolin monks.
The samurai called to the troll, judging by the way he bounced up and down to get a better view of the panels. The monks, though, entranced him. Rath stared without moving for long stretches. The only sign of consciousness was the occasional swivel of his head and a sidestep to a new panel. He studied the panels with the intensity of one determined to memorize every detail.
By the time they reached the end, his posture subtly imitated some of the positions the monks had used in the comic’s combat scenes. Diana guessed the troll was so wrapped up in the experience that he didn’t even notice. The final corridor showed a tale of espionage drawn in the noir style. While the content clearly failed to engage him as much, he admitted to liking the drawing when she asked.
Diana’s heart swelled to see him so happy. “I guess we’ll have to spend more money at the comic book store, huh, Rath?”
He nodded. “Take out my paycheck.”
She immediately laughed, one echoed by the other humans in the little group. “Will do, Rath.”
It had been an almost perfect evening, she mused as she emerged onto the street a step behind the others. Her phone buzzed, and she raised it to see a text from Bryant that contained only three words and a link.
Check the news.
Dread seeped into her as she clicked the link. After a short delay, a video from one of the local stations appeared. It showed a tall man with thin hawkish features and perfectly groomed hair. The banner at the bottom proclaimed him to be a lawyer named Stuart Young. His angry words assailed her ears a moment later.
“The officials of the city of Pittsburgh have not been honest with us. We didn’t want the first prison, so they hid the construction of the second. Worse, the new prison is not a regular Ultramax. It’s for magicals as well. They have already begun to send the worst of the worst here, which makes the city less safe. Less safe for our workers, less safe for our students, less safe for our senior citizens, and most concerning, less safe for our children. I call upon the community to join me in protest.”
She sighed.
Dammit. There goes the neighborhood.
Chapter Eighteen
Diana stared out at the river from a private office on the fifth floor when Bryant arrived. She turned and waved him toward the conference room. The coffeemaker had already done its thing, and he prepared two mugs while she sat at the table with a sigh. He slid one across as he lowered himself into the chair opposite her. “So, how about that news?”
She chuckled darkly. “You are a serious buzzkill, do you know that? I had a really great night before you got involved. You owe me.”
“It ruined my evening, too. I’ve set up alerts for all our potential offices, and that one popped up as a story everywhere there’s an Ultramax. I wouldn’t be surprised to see national coverage today.”
Diana shook her head. “It seems like it would take a leak from the inside to have that much information.”
Bryant took a sip, then returned his mug to the table. “I asked the warden about that.” All traces of mirth had left his face. “She says one of the guards is missing. Surveillance showed him going into his house and never coming out. When he missed a shift and they went to check, the place was empty.”
“So, magic?”
“It seems like it. Or some fancy technology that defeated both the drones and the interior security system.”
Diana drummed her fingers in irritation. “Is there anything we can do about it?”
He shrugged. “I’ve told Warden Murphy she has my full support, whatever she needs. She says it’s under control. Her history suggests betting against her isn’t usually a great choice.”
She rose and crossed to stare out at the water again. The sense of escalating danger wouldn’t allow her to stay still.
I should schedule training. The rest of the team might feel the same way.
“Have we discovered what they were after at the museum?”
Bryant joined her with his coffee mug in hand and stared off into the distance. “Nope. The curator found several artifacts missing from a shipment they had just received—a new tomb unearthed in Egypt, he said. They hadn’t identified any of the items as magic, but they also don’t have a permanent magical on staff.” Diana turned with a questioning look, and he shrugged. “Budget problems, same as everyone. They have a wizard on retainer, but he’s abroad at the moment. He was scheduled to come in next week after they’d done the initial cataloging to prepare for it.”
Her words emerged in a growl. “Our enemies seem very well informed.”
“No argument, there. Secrecy is a difficult thing with all the technologies and magics that have risen to threaten it. At some point, you have to quit worrying about whether every buzzing noise is one of those techno-magic surveillance insects and merely live your life.”
She turned to face him and leaned against the window. “Did we manage to ID the three who escaped?”
He shook his head. “They destroyed the security room on their way down, so there are no recordings. But even if there were, there’s no guarantee they’re in the system. They seem too sophisticated to have been caught before. We identified a number of the others, but nothing’s led anywhere useful yet.”
Diana thought back to the interview at the Cube. “But we think it's the Remembrance, right?”
“It’s the smartest move to assume so. Since we know the group is active here and interested in acquiring magical artifacts—like the followers of Rhazdon before them—it seems likely.”
She returned to the table, sat on its edge, and took a slow sip of her coffee. “So, I’ve been a little too busy to study as hard as I should. Do you want to give me a refresher on Rhazdon?”
Bryant leaned his back against the metal frame of the floor-to-ceiling windows and coughed to clear his throat. “Rhazdon is a figure out of Oriceran history who popped up a couple of different times to cause trouble. The first time, all the records said he was male, and those in charge basically had to fight a war to shut him and his followers down. The second spilled over onto Earth, and we discovered Rhazdon was female.”
Her skepticism slipped her grasp and burst into reality on her face. “That’s a significant mistake.”
“The royal family apparently likes to keep their secrets close. Anyway, she came around at the end to fight with the forces of good, but the damage had already been done. Her legacy lived on and apparently, is still alive today.”
“And what’s that all about?”
Bryant shrugged. “It’s not an atypical story. She and her followers believed that those in charge looked down upon them and that the group's members didn’t have enough power—or, at least, didn’t have the amount of power they deserved.”
“So, your average everyday oppressed revolutionaries?”
“Far from average, but yeah. Their beliefs weren’t entirely without merit, given the centralization of political authority that comes with hereditary monarchies, but still, they took it solidly to heart.”
Diana sighed. “It’s very easy to see oneself as being repressed. That message will resonate with a lot of people, both on Earth and Oriceran, I would imagine.”
He grimaced and nodded agreement. “But what we don’t know is what the ultimate goal is this time around. It seemed clear the other two times—a major power grab, with an understanding that magical ability was the primary determinant of a person’s value. Now, with this particular branch’s use of mundane humans, and inept ones at that, it seems a little different. Unless they're willing to simply use the non-magicals and plan to cut them out at the e
nd of the plan. That’s always a possibility.”
She set her empty mug on the table. “Were you aware of this group when you chose Pittsburgh?”
Bryant frowned. “We weren’t, which is essentially a problem in itself. Our intelligence should be better than that. No Agency had a line on them, not even the PDA.”
Diana paused while she considered whether she had more to say on the topic, then changed the subject. “Well, I guess it’ll be what it’ll be. Did you get my team’s post-Christmas list?”
He laughed. “Yeah, I did. It made for some entertaining reading. I’ve already argued that headquarters needs to allocate more money and manpower in your direction, so there should be at least a little help forthcoming. But your best route will probably still be to manage it yourself.”
She scowled. “That’s no way to run a railroad, BC.”
“We told you it wouldn't be an easy gig. Didn’t you believe us?”
“Yeah, but I thought the problem would be humans and dragons, not dollars and dimes.”
“Welcome to the big leagues, Sheen. We’ll make a bureaucrat out of you yet.”
She barked a laugh. “No way that’s gonna happen. My place is in the field.”
Bryant nodded. “So’s mine. And look at me now.”
Diana took a moment to do exactly that. His wardrobe had improved since he’d taken the regional SAC job, and if she didn’t miss her guess, tailored suits had replaced the off-the-rack outfits he’d worn in DC. It was a fine outfit with charcoal pinstripes and a deep purple tie atop an eggshell shirt. Her mind wandered, and she pictured the two of them talking like normal people instead of federal agents engaged in life or death situations. She couldn’t help the tug pulling at her mouth as a smile formed on her lips.
Her phone’s vibration jarred her from her thoughts and made Bryant cross the space between them and stand beside her. She looked down, and her eyes widened. Wordlessly, she showed it to him, and he read it out loud.
“The lady requests that you come to the fountain at your earliest convenience.”
She took it back and verified her initial impression that it had been sent from an unknown number, then raised her eyebrow in an unspoken question.
Bryant shrugged. “I suppose we should have expected this, given the news. The only person in town whom I know of who’s referred to as ‘the lady’ is the leader of the Kemana.”
Diana looked at her jeans and T-shirt, which were a poor match for his sartorial splendor, and said, “Give me five to change.”
They pushed through the main doors of the lobby six minutes later and turned left toward the park. The green space nestled in the triangle where the rivers narrowed the city’s land to a point. A tall fountain stood on the spot, which had just been restarted after its long winter break. She had her doubts about the decision to run it so early in the Spring, but she didn’t control the city, so she let it drop. Besides, there were more important matters to attend to.
They walked briskly along the path. She kept an eye on her side of the park while Bryant’s experienced gaze roved the other. She kept her voice low so it wouldn’t carry.
“Is there anything I need to know?”
“Think of it as a magical version of the city. All the things you see up here, expect to find similar versions down there, minus our ubiquitous technology.”
“It’s underground?”
Bryant nodded. “It is. We’re not sure how far. We tried to check a few times in different places, but nothing we used would detect them. The Kemanas were built on magically active sites so those who wished to do magic on Earth would have a place to draw power from.”
She’d known that much, at least. “Why Pittsburgh?”
He shrugged as they made their way under the raised highway access ramp that separated the front and back sections of the park. “There must’ve been a reservoir of energy here that they found useful. Maybe it’s tied to the rivers—some magical version of hydroelectricity. I have no idea, and the leaders of the various Kemanas haven’t seen fit to share that information with us.”
They abandoned the meandering walkways and cut across the grass toward the fountain. Aside from a few wanderers walking near the river, the area was deserted. The clouds diffused the late afternoon sun to impart a vague sense of sameness to the atmosphere. The water jetted straight up, seemed almost to hang in midair, then crashed down as if the flow were driven by currents, rather than streams.
When they stepped onto the pavement that surrounded the basin, her bracelet grew cold against her skin. She looked at Bryant, and he nodded. They slowed and drifted their hands toward their holsters. Hers was at her lower back and his rode under his left arm. She flicked her boot to verify the comforting weight of the Ruger holstered inside.
Casually, she swiveled her head to provide her glasses with a good view of the area, but they didn’t identify anything on the initial pass. After several moments of slow walking, though, they identified strange deflections in the falling water and sketched the pattern on her visual field. It revealed a rough cone shape, similar to an umbrella. She turned toward it, and a being stepped free from its illusion. The liquid continued to flow around him but not touch him. His hands were held at a forty-five-degree angle to each side as an indication of his peaceful intentions.
As if you need a weapon in your hand to be dangerous.
Neither agent altered the position of their own hands as they vectored to intersect with him. He was midway between their heights, with straight brown hair pulled back from his face and gracefully pointed ears. When they reached speaking distance, he spoke in a cultured voice with an Elven accent.
“I did not wish to alarm you, but nor did I wish to be seen by a casual passerby.” He waved at the couple that disappeared from view along the closer of the two river walks. “I am the lady’s emissary, and I am sent to inform you that she will grant you an audience at noon tomorrow.”
Bryant inclined his chin toward Diana, and she turned to face the elf. “Please tell the lady we are happy to attend.”
The elf nodded. “Seek the hourglass for entry. Your friend will know the place.” With his message delivered, he vanished as seamlessly as he’d appeared, and the illusion of water droplets danced yet again. Diana turned to Bryant, who shook his head and made the sign for silence, followed by the one for surveillance. They walked back without speaking. Despite the persistent feeling that events conspired to limit her options in every direction, a contrary part of her mind refused to be discouraged. That tiny voice of wonder and adventure sang ever so softly.
We’re off to see the wizard….
Chapter Nineteen
Diana had decided, and Bryant agreed, that she should be the contact person for the Kemana. Only she, Tony, and Cara descended the stairs from the main street level to the parking lot that ran along the river. The nearby wharf was now open and housed an assortment of poorly parked cars filling every available space—one more reason to appreciate their personal underground garage.
Tony looked uncertainly at his boss. “Where’s Rath?”
She pulled her coat a little tighter around her neck against the chill breeze coming off the river. “I thought bringing him might not be the best first impression, and I’m hesitant about the reception we’ll find. I feel better having him safe at home.”
Cara grinned. “Of course, safe at home is a questionable description with him, isn’t it?”
“Hopefully, he and Max aren’t getting into too much trouble.” She chuckled as she led the way to a darkened section of the wharf. “He told me there’s someone at the University who wants to talk to him. I’m sure nothing can go wrong there.” She rolled her eyes, and her teammates laughed.
They stopped at a metal gate that led into a small alcove. Its purpose was unexplained, and she wondered what others thought of it. Spray-painted icons surrounded it. Her bracelet felt chilled but not freezing, which suggested the presence of an illusion but not a particularly powerful one.<
br />
She whispered, “What is hidden, let it be found,” and a clearer set of etched runes appeared, looking for all the world like those around Tolkien’s Doors of Durin.
Diana touched the image that resembled an hourglass made of triangles, and the gate glowed briefly before it opened far more smoothly than its appearance would suggest was possible. She checked to ensure they hadn’t been noticed, then motioned the others inside and pulled it shut behind them. The area behind the gates was difficult to make out and seemed to be somehow diminished. Given the fact it was beyond an illusion designed to protect this entrance, it made a certain amount of sense.
Ahead, the brick wall that had been the back of the alcove had vanished to reveal a large staircase leading downward. Cara and Tony both stood aside to let her lead, and her lips twisted in a smirk. “Cowards.”
“Privilege of rank,” he replied.
“And age,” the marshal finished.
“You are both insufferably rude.” She raised her chin and descended. After what felt like three or four flights of stairs, they reached a heavy wooden door. A panel slightly higher than Diana’s eye level—why am I surprised?—opened, and a Kilomea lowered his head to peer at her. The guard didn’t speak and opted instead to wait patiently.
“We come at the invitation of the lady,” Diana said with as much formality as she could muster.
The massive being spoke in an unexpectedly soft and cultured voice. “Names.” She gave herself a mental smack for assuming it would be otherwise.
If anyone knows not to stereotype, it’s you, shorty.
“I am Diana Sheen. With me are my two subordinates and escorts Cara Binot and Tony Ryan.”
The Kilomea nodded and the panel slid shut. The door opened with a low creak to reveal more of the tunnel and additional stairs. He sounded almost warm as he intoned what struck her as a formal greeting.
“Be welcome in the Kemana of Stonesreach. Do no harm, and no harm will be done to you, by the word of Lady Alayne You will find the lady in the palace.”
Federal Agents of Magic Boxed Set Page 36