by Pam Uphoff
"How long did it take him to do the foundations?"
"Oh . . . " The man consulted his equipment. "We got here at eight. Princess Rael said that he'd already gotten rid of the nasty old carpeting in the whole house and said he was evaluating the foundation. Then the dump trucks came, with the gravel and sand. It sort of poured down holes in the ground. A very interesting levitation trick . . . he said he was firming up the sediments below the house. He used about half of each pile, and he says he's using it here and there for other things."
"Maybe you ought to put a camera out there, watching the piles?" Izzo turned his head at movement . . . a stream of sand rippled through the air and up the stairs. He tocked his tongue on the roof of his mouth, and followed it.
People were standing or sitting on various fixtures while the sand flattened and became one with the floor.
"Concrete floor?" Izzo, standing outside the door, eyed the gray beneath his feet.
Xiat nodded. "Cheap post war construction. Typical."
"I think it's already gone way beyond typical." He watched the floor develop a faint grid of depressed lines, pretending to be tiles. The tan sand was streaked with a paler shade that shifted so it didn't match up across the grid lines, then glistened and glowed . . . the glow faded, the shiny surface was crystallized. Izzo felt it. A bit warm, but not hot enough to have come close to melting.
"No. Typical is definitely the wrong word." He eyed the window. It ran from chin high to the ceiling, the length of the small room. Is that "microscopic?" Surely he didn't enlarge a window? I mean, layering on colors and sand is one thing . . . but if he can fix a foundation crack . . .
Nothing else seemed to be happening. The observers dismounted from sink and throne and headed downstairs.
Izzo watched Rael, as Ohse turned toward her.
"So. Why did you kill Agni?"
Her head snapped around. "Kill . . . Agni's dead? What happened, when?" A snap in her voice, at the end. She stopped and gave her head a little shake. "Wait. You think I killed him? Or Xen?" Her eyes narrowed in thought. "And if I'm a suspect . . . you can't suspect the president. Or . . . did he have an unfortunate accident, or maybe a heart attack?"
Ohse eyed her. No doubt he'd felt the genuine surprise. And the way her glow had switched from an emotional hodgepodge of irritation and astonishment as she stared at the floor, to that flick of shock, and then instant professionalism. Deep opaque thoughts. "When did you last see him?"
She wrinkled her nose. "Two days ago. He did three rounds of sarcasm with Urfa, then came back to Government House for a dinner party. Heh. As an attempt to ease relations among the political parties, it was a complete flop. I . . . think Efge said something to him about dropping by . . . I presume Agni coming to Internal, not Efge to External, since Agni isn't the director any more." Her eyes slid toward Izzo. "Did something happen at the Directorate yesterday? Or did he die after the party? We'll have security records, we can track every bite he ate. See who he left with."
Ohse glowered. "Records that you have access to. What are you wearing, under those coveralls?"
She raised an eyebrow. "Not a stitch. I really ought not have invited the university people to watch Xen in action. It's going to be hard to get them to go away and give us a little privacy."
Ohse refrained from asking her to prove she wasn't concealing a short tight black skirt and professional white blouse.
Doesn't want to tell her the attack was so recent she might not have had time to dispose of her generic businesswoman's outfit.
"Indeed. Now, Mr. Wolfson . . . prior to his arrival this morning, when did you see him last?"
"Seven days ago. I went to Embassy to tell him all about my new house." She stepped out of the bathtub and frowned down at the floor. Wiggled her toes.
"And you didn't want to just phone him?"
Rael's glow flipped suddenly to its usual joyous effervescence. Her laugher sputtered as she tried to subdue it. "Phone sex just doesn't do it for me. I really am naked under the jumpsuit. Did the murder happen so recently you think you can catch the killer still in blood soaked clothing? Not to criticize an expert in crime, but as an expert in women's clothing, I assure you that taking it all off can be a whole bunch faster than putting it all on."
Ohse blinked. "Er, and the next time you saw Mr. Wolfson?"
"I phoned him at six, when I got here this morning. He groused about it being two in the morning on Embassy and he said he was going to buy me a clock for a housewarming present. Set for Embassy time. So I told him to go back to sleep, I certainly didn't want to give him an opportunity to show off his superior carpentry skills. Then he said he'd be here in an hour, give or take a hassle from the gate guards." Her glow was subsiding back toward professional. "The time delay in the conversation was right for the laser relay through the gate. But you can check the call."
"And the gate guards." Ohse was watching her closely.
She shrugged one shoulder. "Eh . . . he set up Comet Fall's spy network. He only uses the gate at our embassy to remind us of the treaty terms. And his illusions are so good I'm not sure anyone seeing him should be considered proof of where he was, when." Her nose wrinkled. "May I watch when you question him?"
Ohse hesitated, then shook his head. "No. I want to talk to him alone. Wait here for a moment."
"Right. Umm, be a little careful. When he's deep into the magic he's in a sort of dream state and not really . . . safe. And snapping him out of it too quickly, well, he's a soldier. He often reacts like one."
"Are you afraid of him?"
"Not nearly as much as I probably ought to be. But then I'm not a man, not armed, and don't have an aggressive aura unless I really work at it."
Izzo caught Xiat's eye. She nodded.
As Izzo slipped away, he could hear them start talking.
"So, think the Master of the Multiverse would kill Agni?"
Rael laughed. "And start a war? Get more people killed? No. But I'm really glad I never had to find out what he'd have done if we'd started the war. Once he switches over to warrior mode he's just flat deadly."
"Yeah, I noticed. I can't believe you trust him . . . are you really naked under that ridiculous garment?"
The swish of a long fastener . . .
"Glitter? Rael! Honestly!"
Izzo stopped at the head of the stairs and watched Ohse approach Xen.
"Excuse me, Mr. Wolfson."
"Just a sec, I'm working over the pipes." His tone was dreamy and absent minded, his aura a soft glow, faint and everywhere.
Subtle. I wonder what he's doing to the pipes?
Ohse frowned at him. And clearly decided to take the hard line. "No. I think you are going to answer questions right now." He reached down and grabbed the most powerful magician in several worlds by the upper arm and yanked.
Xen snapped out of his meditation state, out of his cross-legged seat and into action. Ohse lost his grip as Xen rotated his left arm, and twined around Ohse's arm to grip his elbow . . . brought the right around for a strike . . . multiple complex magical fields filled the room in a flash of power . . . Xen halted the strike centimeters from the Senior Investigator's throat. Took a quick look around and released the grip. The mental glow of whatever that field was, disappeared. And every other bit of glow as well.
Totally shielded.
"Sorry about that, nasty reflexes." Xen looked over at the stunned observers. "Any of your stuff with batteries, you'll have to recharge or replace." He looked back at Ohse, who was working to conceal his shock. "Your laser powerpack, too."
"You are under arrest for assaulting . . . "
"No I'm not. I have diplomatic immunity, as you ought to know. Sheesh. Don't you lot have enough powerful magicians to know not to physically interfere with someone working with that much power in his hands? I'm a little surprised I didn't accidentally kill you."
Ohse showed his teeth. "Did you accidentally kill Agni?"
Xen raised his eyebrows. "He's dead? How .
. . interesting. No, I didn't kill him. Accidentally or otherwise. Mind you, I won't shed any tears over never having to deal with him again."
"Did you act against him in any way?"
"Other than double checking every request he ever made of Disco to see where the trap lay? No. I mourn my lost friends, I don't seek to add to the total. And I no longer act for the Kingdom of the West."
"But you would."
"If I was recalled from Disco, yes."
"I've always wondered what exactly you were doing here."
Izzo bit his lip. Ohse, grab your temper and corral it. He started down the stairs.
"More or less what an Info Team does. We knew practically nothing about these odd violent perverts who'd attacked us. Fortunately the people here, as a whole, are nothing like the Action Teams that were raping and murdering everywhere they went on my world. So we just picked up enough information that we would have been able to end the war as soon as you actually made a move. And then I acted to undermine all the pro-war political figures I could, to prevent the war altogether."
"You can't kill whole armies." Ohse flexed his arm.
"No need to. Picture a corridor—have you been through the Paris to Gate City corridor? Yes? Picture a corridor aimed at the side of those supercooled magnets all around your gate mechanism, aimed side on at the rotating rings. Now picture the other end of that corridor opening up on the tracks right in front of a high speed train."
Oh. Izzo felt faint. Dear One. We didn't have a chance. How do you guard an absolute choke point against teleporting, dimensionally able magicians? And back then we didn't realize we even needed to try.
"You would have been isolated as soon as tanks moved toward your gate mechanism. There would have been no war."
Ohse boggled. Snapped his mouth shut. "So you claim to have nothing to do with Agni's murder?"
"Having not the faintest idea how he was killed, I really cannot say. I was, as an agent of my government, quite active in setting up a number of . . . umm access points all through Gate City. One of them may have been used by the killer, if he or she was from Comet Fall."
"He or she? Why do you think it could have been a women?"
"Are you familiar with our response to your invasion? We had a couple hundred mounted troops a dozen kilometers away. Totally vulnerable to your weaponry. We had to scramble up magicians to hold shields against both lasers and bullets, and field some wizards who were trained in power pack drainage all the while my sister and I rushed in to try to close the gate." He raised his eyebrows, and got a minimal nod from Ohse. He was starting to glow again, showing a combination of anger and anguish.
"The shield magicians were mostly witches. Your troops killed three of them. Two teenaged girls and a grandmother. Their families . . . are not best pleased that the people who ordered the invasion and murdered their sisters, their daughters, their mother, their grandmother, have never been punished. If you wish to question them, apply through the Comet Fall Embassy."
Not a happy man. He probably knew all three witches.
Ohse glowered. "Don't leave the region until our investigation is complete."
Xen sniffed. "Diplomatic immunity. However, I'll stick around for a few days. Give me your number and I'll let you know what hotel I'm staying in."
"Not going to stay with your girlfriend?"
"No furniture. And now, under these circumstances, I doubt I'll be allowed into the Versalle barracks." Xen glanced up the stairs, and raised his voice. "Izzo, warn whoever is in charge of the previous President Orde to be on their toes. I understand General Akja and the Minister of War are both deceased? The Prime Councilor could be a target as well. Rael? Tell Urfa to wrap up the current President Orde too. God knows I didn't realize there were two of them until I'd had my nose rubbed in it."
Izzo glanced over his shoulder. Rael was nodding, Xiat looked grim.
Izzo walked downstairs. "Will we find you here?"
"Most of the time. I haven't finished showing off yet." He slanted a grin past Izzo, at Rael. "Before I start up again, we ought to have a little talk about colors and styles, now that you have some idea of my version of remodeling."
Rael snorted. "There aren't any more bathrooms."
"There's a kitchen. And the floors in the rest of the house. The walls, inside and out."
"Oh . . . One. Don't make me regret ever telling you I bought a house."
"Ceilings." He glanced up. "And the roof. It leaks. I'll take care of that tomorrow. If, of course, I have the energy. How about feeding me?"
Ohse growled under his breath. "Don't you care about Agni?"
Xen shook his head. "Not a bit. He was one of the people instrumental in attacking my home, and killing sixty-seven of my fellow soldiers. He came close to killing my sister. He killed my sixteen year old cousin. I hope he's rotting in hell." He took Rael's elbow and steered her around the fuming Ohse. "Any good restaurants around here?"
"I don't know." She looked over her shoulder. "I need to lock up, the science types have all their equipment . . . "
"Which is their problem. There's nothing else to steal, and I'm starving."
"I do have some clothes . . . " Rael followed him out of sight.
"I'll eat fast. We'll be back about the same time the cops finish searching."
Ohse looked ready to scream.
Izzo looked at Xiat. "How about you and I follow them, while Ohse summons the crime scene people?"
"Good plan." Xiat pulled out her comm. "Assuming the Investigator can find a comm with a charge left in it."
Izzo's car battery was dead as well.
Xiat gnawed a knuckle. "Let's ask the neighbors, and see just how far that man drained batteries. I need to call Urfa."
***
"Close to a quarter of a kilometer." Izzo informed the Presidential Director. "And did Xiat tell you what Xen said about how they would have fought the war?"
"Yes." Urfa rubbed his face. "And we haven't any way to tell if they already have corridors in place. I've talked to Director Ujmw and he's sending people to look for illusions over open corridors. One bloody hell. We're going to have to build armored reinforced bunkers around them."
Xiat snorted. "That man is so infuriating. I'm willing to bet he dropped that information because he knew there'd been a bit more belligerence floating around, the last few weeks."
"Which was mostly driven by the idea of an Agni presidency." Urfa shrugged. "That's water under the bridge . . . No?"
Izzo spread his hands. "We have no idea whether the man is alive or dead. The security recordings make it look like he was enveloped in some sort of . . . Bag of the Prophets. The Fort Rangpur survivors were inside two of those bags for over a thousand years. Agni? I doubt we'll see him until after his personal life and finances have been dissected in public." He eyed Urfa. "Which of course makes you one of our suspects."
Xiat whipped around and glared. Opened her mouth. Shut it, turned and frowned at the Director.
His shoulders were shaking with silent laughter. "Oh, Xiat, the look on your face." He wiped his eyes. "Heh. No. I didn't do it, order anyone to do it, hint or wish or in fact know anything about it until it hit the news an hour ago." He chuckled, cleared his throat. "I actually hope the stubborn old son-of-a-bitch is alive. And with that in mind as a strong possibility, I'm going to sit back and enjoy the circus."
"I don't suppose you could order Rael . . . "
Urfa shook his head. "I don't think she'd do it for Xen. I didn't order her to do anything involving Agni. So if she did it, it was for the One. And that means she won't be truthful to me or anyone else. It's one of the hazards of employing a former dancer. They're never really former. And Xen . . . why would he be here openly, at a critical time? When he could just teleport in, invisibly. Kill or capture anyone, and leave. No. Someone set up a spectacle, deliberately."
Izzo gave in and hunted down a toothpick. "Yes, and it rather looks like it was timed to implicate Xen. Certainly the Rael look-
alike must be a deliberate attempt to make us look at Rael, on her first day off after closing on her house. When Xen might be expected to show up. Except . . . When Ohse asked her why she'd killed Agni, she was genuinely shocked to hear he was dead. But, you know, her reaction was a bit off . . . I don't think she was surprised about it being Agni. I think she knew something was going to happen to him."
Xiat frowned. "But Endi, sorry, Xen, was at the house and under observation at the time of the . . . kidnapping."
"Those scientists kept running off to see what he'd done. And, well, as a set up to establish an alibi, it's nice. A bit obvious but, from the vids, the redheaded woman was in sight less than three minutes. Can we match it to a gap when Rael was out of video cam range? Ohse'll have his people looking at their recordings and figure out when and for how long he or Rael were out of everyone's sight and out of the vid cams' field of view. Dress, disguise, teleport, three minutes to kidnap Agni, teleport, undress, remove disguise . . . " Izzo shrugged. "A suspect who can teleport at least thirty kilometers makes investigating alibis a bit tough."
Urfa nodded. "And of course, Ohse will be looking through Agni's records and finances. Which might well be the reason for his disappearance. One. Maybe we can keep it a bit low key."
Chapter Three
17 Shawwal 1401 yp
"You lot need to learn to cook, not just how to push buttons on an autokitchen." Xen stretched and mentally scanned the room. The only electronic signatures he picked up looked legitimate, but that just meant the police hadn't put things in action quickly enough. The odds of there being a vibration pickup on the window were high. If not now, any minute.
"Savage." Rael wrapped her arms around him, snuggled up to his back. "Native. Eating poor little dead animals instead of nutritionally balanced genetically engineered yeast. If it was that bad, why did you eat so much of it?"