The Crucible: A Lawson Vampire Novel (The Lawson Vampire Series)

by Jon F. Merz

  “We know it’s supposed to render the wearer invisible.”

  “True, but how long does that last? Is there a certain amount of times you can use ti before the magic is exhausted? I don’t know. And frankly, we’re going to need the Cloak a whole lot more when we find Talya. If we waste it now, then it will all have been for nothing.”

  Jack sighed. “I hate it when you’re right.”

  “Me, too.”

  “So, what about filling up with gas? Did you think to bring any Tibetan currency?”

  “I don’t know if they use Tibetan or Chinese,” I said. “But the answer is no.”

  “Awesome,” said Jack. “And just how are you planning to fill the car up then?”

  I glanced at the packs in the back seat. “We may not have any other option than to use the Cloak after all.”

  Jack nodded. “I’ll find a gas station. Leave it to me.”

  Nagqu lay on a flat plain and the buildings that sprung out of it looked square and unremarkable save for the bright colors that decorated their walls. As we drove into the town proper, I noticed very few lights on. Perhaps the Chinese had imposed some sort of mandatory curfew. Or it could have simply been too late for most people to be up and driving about. I just hoped we could make a gas station materialize soon, because the fuel gauge was perilously close to empty.

  “Got it,” said Jack. “Turn right at the next intersection.”

  “You sure?”

  “You don’t have time to second guess me, Lawson. This car is running on fumes.”

  He was right. I turned down the next road and saw a bright neon sign in the distance.

  “Says they’re open twenty four hours.”

  “I slowed the car. “And just how are you going to pull this off? I can’t very well roll the car in there and not pay. Every soldier within a thousand miles will be looking for us.”

  Jack rummaged around in the back seat and pulled out the Cloak. “Let me off here, pull the car down to the next block and wait for me. I won’t be long. And I don’t need much gas. We’ve got maybe sixty miles to the border and we’re ditching the car there, right?”

  “Yeah, we’re hopping on a train once we’re over the border.”

  Jack eyed me. “I’m not even going to ask how you intend to get us on board a train without any visas.”

  “Good, because I haven’t figured that out yet, either.” I pointed at the Cloak. “You’re forgetting that we haven’t activated it yet.”

  Jack sighed. “Dammit. Forgot about that. Call Wirek then.”

  I used my iPhone to place the call, hoping that the Chinese couldn’t triangulate our position quickly. Wirek picked up after three rings.

  “Yeah?”

  “It’s me. Be quick and tell me how to activate the Cloak.”

  “It’s an old incantation. I doubt you’d pronounce it properly. Ideally, it should be spoken by someone familiar with magic.”

  I glanced at Jack. “Hang on, I’m going to put him on. Tell him what to do.”

  I handed the phone to Jack and he listened to Wirek’s instructions. After thirty seconds, he hung up.

  “All set?”

  Jack shrugged. “I guess we’ll see.”

  “Good luck.”

  Jack eased himself out of the car and I didn’t wait. I rolled on and checked my rearview mirror, but Jack had already vanished. I wondered if it was the Cloak or the deep shadows that surrounded us. But either way, my companion was gone.

  I slid the car down the block and pulled in beside a dumpster just as the engine died. Awesome. I’d obviously driven the car to the last possible moment and I thanked my lucky stars that it hadn’t quit while I was on the main road.

  Swallowed up by the shadows of the building and the dumpster, I cracked the window and felt a biting wind sting my face. I heard an engine far off approaching and felt butterflies take flight in my stomach. From my position, I could see into the gas station.

  Which is when the Chinese military jeep pulled in. Full of soldiers, they spilled out, but didn’t seem to be too fussed about anything. I could hear them laughing as they took the opportunity to smoke while the low man pulled one of the gas nozzles out and stuck it in the jeep’s gas tank. He started the fill-up and then walked away from the jeep to join his comrades in a smoke.

  I cracked a huge grin as I saw the pump float away from the jeep’s tank and toward two red plastic gas containers. The disembodied pump took a minute to fill both containers and then the pump floated back to the jeep’s tank. I looked back at the red containers, but they had disappeared.

  That was interesting. I wondered if the Cloak’s powers extended to anything that you made contact with while wearing it. That sort of information could come in handy later on, as I had previously doubted if Jack and I would both be covered by its protection.

  The soldiers finished their cigarettes and roared off in the jeep. A moment later, the passenger door opened and I nearly jumped out of my seat as Jack materialized out of the gloom.

  “Pop the tank, would you?”

  I reached down and pulled the release. Two minutes more and Jack was back inside. “We’re good.”

  I cranked the engine and the car sprang back to life. I breathed a sigh of relief and eased out of my hidden spot. “Any problems?”

  “I found the containers pretty easy. But I knew I’d have to wait for someone else to come into the station before I could just help myself to the gas.”

  “Good plan.”

  “Yeah, but I wasn’t expecting the Chinese army to show up.”

  “Neither was I. But it all worked out.”

  “For us. Not so sure about the private who filled the tank. They’re gonna run out of gas a lot sooner than they probably think.”

  I smiled. “Sucks to be him.” I steered the car back onto the main drag. The fuel gauge showed we had just over half a tank of gas now. That would be more than enough to get us where we needed to go.

  “Give any more thought to how we’re getting on that train?”

  Another set of headlights swept past us as we approached the outskirts of Nagqu. I shook my head. “It’ll come to me.”

  “It had better, pal. I’m willing to bet that train will be crawling with military types. Not to mention that there will be stops along the way where they check visas. If we don’t pull this off, we’re cooked.”

  “You’re not helping the situation, you know?”

  Jack smiled. “Just telling it like it is.”

  “I know how it is.”

  He frowned. “You always go into operations like this?”

  “Like what?”

  “Like…no plan. Like, flying by the seat of your pants. You know…ass backward.”

  “I didn’t exactly have a whole lot of time to plan out a rescue operation. Plus, this is strictly off-the-books. So I’ve got no resources to count on, except for you. And that’s not saying much.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I’m joking. You’ve been great so far. But just let me concentrate on getting us to the border. I’ll come up with something on the drive up, don’t worry.”

  “Easier said than done,” said Jack. “But okay.”

  He rested his head on the glass and in a few seconds, he was fast asleep. I kept the car pointed north and we rolled out of the Nagqu. The road before us slimmed to two lanes only. In the distance, I could see more mountains, but they were nowhere near as mammoth as the ones behind us. Flat ground fell away from the car on both sides of the road. It may as well have been some alien landscape.

  I sighed. Jack was right, of course. I should have planned things better. But time was a luxury I didn’t have, so all the planning was me making it up as I went along. Not the preferred method, to be sure, but I’d done more with less and I was confident I could handle things.

  For now, I just had to get us to the border and then ditch the car. I had to make sure it wouldn’t be found for some time, otherwise, it wouldn’t take a rocket scientist
to figure out that we’d headed north using the rail line.

  Overhead, the stars pockmarked the sky and I yawned. We’d been on the go for a long time and I needed some sleep.

  But not yet.

  Qinghai lay ahead of us. And beyond that, Talya.

  I could sleep once she was safe.

  11

  The first bits of dawn lightened the sky to the east as we descended into the Tibetan plateau. I say descended, but the reality was we were still over 9,000 feet above sea level. But at least the ground flattened out somewhat. As I drove us further north, Jack stirred.

  “How you feeling?”

  He shrugged. “I could stand with a bit of blood. I feel really lethargic.”

  “Get some then. I could do with a hit myself.”

  Jack reached into the back seat and rummaged through the packs until he came out with our supplies. We couldn’t afford to pack much, but the bit we had would sustain us for a while yet. I watched as he unscrewed the lid of a thermos and put it to his lips. He took a long drag and then pulled away with a smile on his face.

  “Oh wow, that’s good.”

  I winced. Drinking blood wasn’t something I’d ever gotten used to. I took the thermos and gulped down a few mouthfuls as fast as I could stand. The coppery warmth flowed down my throat and I nearly gagged. I usually drink blood that’s been chilled or mixed into some other sort of drink so I can get past the taste of it.

  When the energy hit me a moment later, I forgot about the taste and relished the surge coursing through my system.

  Jack chuckled. “I know you hate drinking it, but you’ve got to admit, it’s good when that energy hits you.”

  I took a breath. “It is. I’ve been running on empty while you got your beauty sleep.”

  “Hey, I offered to drive.”

  “Yeah, but it let me do some thinking.”

  Jack eyed me. “Like about how we’re gonna get on that train?”

  “We’ve got to ditch the car first,” I said. “Once we stow it, we can walk to the train station.”

  “Just walk?”

  “Well, we’ll have to use the Cloak to get close enough.”

  “And then?”

  “We sneak aboard. Stay hidden for the duration that we need to be on it and then hop off at the closest station.”

  “So you do know where we’re going.” Jack breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good because I was wondering how you’d tracked him down.”

  I smirked. “Uh…I haven’t exactly done that.”“Say what?”

  “That’s where you come in, pal.”

  Jack sighed. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “Not even close. I know one of your skills is backtracking a spirit projection to its source.”

  “Yeah, when it happens. But that was days ago. And it’s not exactly fresh.”

  I tapped the side of my head. “It is in here.”

  “Great, and how does that help me in the slightest?”

  “You could access my memories, re-project it and then trace it back.”

  Jack shook his head. “Okay, one: that’s nuts. And two: you’re crazy.”

  “Redundant insults. I like it.”

  Jack stared out of the window as I drove. “Even if I could do that, the chances of it working are slim to none.”

  “So, you’re saying there’s a chance?”

  He glanced at me. “I’m starting to not like you, Lawson.”

  “Join the club, pal. The waiting list is long.”

  “I’m not sure it’s even been attempted before.” Jack’s frown deepened. “How do you manage to think this stuff up, anyway?”

  “I’m a Fixer. I think outside the box.”

  Jack shook his head. “I don’t know that there’s ever been a box in your life before.”

  “Boxes are for sheep. Boxes make life easy and predictable. But that’s never been a definition of life in my opinion. I wasn’t born to think in neat, tidy ways like most of the population.” The road curved slightly and I eased the wheel around. “If it’s unorthodox, I can embrace that far more easily than what people think of as being ‘normal.’”

  “I get it,” said Jack. “So when did you want to try this crazy idea of yours?”

  “As soon as we get over the border. I’m thinking it might be easier for you if we’re in about the same geographical locale as Xuan Xiang was when he projected himself back to that condo.”

  Jack sighed. “I suppose there might be a chance it would help. But listen to me, Lawson: we’re going into seriously uncharted territory here. This isn’t something I was trained to do. I don’t know if any other Invoker has ever even tried this before.”

  I nodded. “I understand. But if it works…”

  “If it works,” said Jack. “Then I will be the first. And I’ll be the one who teaches it to other Invokers. But there is no guarantee it will work.”

  “No guarantees in life except death.”

  “And taxes.”

  “Only if you pay them,” I said. “Fixers are exempt.”

  Jack nodded. “I knew there had to be perks.”

  “We don’t usually have the luxury of time, so the Service arranges for someone else to take care of it. Technically, we are paying taxes, but then again, not really.”

  “Whatever you say,” said Jack.

  Ahead of us, the plain dipped and I saw a drainage ditch running down into a stream. The side of the road angled outward and then curved around. Tall grass grew in abundance around it. I slowed the car.

  Jack perked up. “What’s up? Why are we slowing down?”

  I pointed. “Time to let the car go.”

  “Really? And how are we getting to the border?”

  “Walking.”

  “But we’re still ten miles or so away.”

  I looked at him. “Weren’t you telling me all about all the endurance training you’ve been doing lately?”

  “Well, yeah, but-“

  “Well, here’s your chance to stretch your legs.”

  He frowned. “I guess.”

  “Look, we can’t go rolling up on a border checkpoint like what we’ll find ahead. We have to get over the border and then make our way to the train station. And that means we need to lose this car. Like, now.”

  I stopped the car and Jack got out before me. He reached into the back seat and grabbed our gear.

  I slid the car into neutral and then hopped out. “Give me a hand.”

  Together we rolled it into the ditch. The car naturally turned as it rolled down. At the bottom, it splashed into the stream and then lay still. From the road, you couldn’t even see it. “Perfect.”

  Jack crawled out and handed me my ruck, a black GR1 I’d purchased from the fine folks at GORUCK a few years back. I’d been through some serious crap with it, and so far, nothing seemed to be able to wreck it. It was weathered in all the right places and still held all my kit. Sliding it on felt good; the straps were padded enough to make the load bearable and it felt natural nestled on my back the way it was.

  “You ready?”

  Jack looked up and down the highway. “We’re kind of sticking out like sore thumbs here, aren’t we?”

  I pointed northwest. “We’re not staying on the road. We’re going cross-country.”

  “Of course we are,” said Jack. “Can’t take the easy route after all.”

  “Cry on the inside like a winner, wouldja?” I smiled at him. “The sooner we get going, the better. It’s just after 0500 now. If we set a good pace, we should make the border by 9 or 10. The train station after that should only be about another hour.”

  “And when are we going to try that little experiment of yours?”

  “Once we get across the border. We’ll find a place to lay up for a bit and do it there. Plus, we can grab a quick rest if need be.”

  “I might need some if this thing taxes me the way it might.”

  I nodded. “You haven’t been driving all night. The only thing keep
ing me awake right now is the hit of juice you gave me a little bit ago. Without that, I’d be the walking dead.”

  Jack hefted his pack and set off across the road with me. We dipped down into the tall grass almost immediately and I took a deep breath. A stiff wind blew across the plain and hit us hard, forcing me back a step. I had to remind myself that we were at elevation and the wind was going to be much harsher here than it would be elsewhere. After all, we were surrounded by mountains. The plain we hiked across acted as a natural funnel for any bad weather coming off of the peaks. The faster we got across the border, the better.

  For the most part, the ground was level and not tainted by any gullies. We sloped ever upward and the grass fell away. I felt horribly exposed, but so far, there had been no other traffic on the road.

  “Keep that cloak close,” I said to Jack.

  “It’s in my hand, actually,” said Jack. “If anything comes down that road, I suggest we drop and get under it.”

  “Agreed.” I glanced back over my shoulder at the road. We’d traveled maybe three miles, but it was still visible in the distance. I had no way of knowing what we looked like from back there. It was possible we couldn’t be seen, but then again, I couldn’t bank on that and act like we were invisible. Sooner or later, another car was going to come down that road.

  “I don’t like this,” said Jack suddenly.

  “Like what?”

  “This, dude. We’re hiking across an open plain. We’re completely exposed. It just feels tactically wrong.”

  “It is tactically wrong. But we’re also doing it because we don’t have much of a choice. And we don’t have any support. So, when you have nothing to rely on, you do the best you can with what you have at hand. This isn’t anywhere near perfect, but it’s what we’ve got. Just be grateful we have the Cloak with us and can use that if need be.”

  “Oh, I’m grateful,” said Jack. “I just hope it lives up to its reputation.”

  “Seemed to last night at the gas station.”

  “True. But that was at night in the dark. This is daylight. And we’re in the open. Not much around here that will offer us cover.”

  I shrugged. “We can’t worry about that. We just have to keep moving. That is tactically smart. If we sit down here and weep about our lack of resources, then something bad will happen.”