by Elsa, Sandra
“I knew I just had to get past the tough shell to find an amazing woman. Trouble was, I had no idea how to do that. Made a fool of myself more often than I care to remember.”
“I’m glad you’re persistent.” I turned my head to him.
He brushed my lips lightly, a touch, with a promise. “I’m glad you don’t really shoot people just for pissing you off.” He turned to his friend. “She threatened me at least three times a day for the first couple of days. Until she started teaching me to shoot, I had no more idea than anybody else in that room that a pistol came with a safety.”
“I guess watching the two of you together there’s little wonder why you married her so quickly. Rumors are flying though. Lot of people figure you’re about to become parents.”
Harrison laughed. “Even if that were true, it wouldn’t have happened before the day we got married.” He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight for a moment before turning back to the sandwiches toasting on the stove. “I married a virgin.”
Greg’s mouth opened and closed. Complete silence once again flooded the living room, even though I was pretty sure Ralston was still taking statements. I set the bowls of soup on the table and grinned at Harrison, then got out a plate for him to flip the sandwiches onto. Ralston’s voice rose in the living room asking somebody named Dennis for his version of the evening’s entertainment and whispers turned back into conversations as Harrison and I sat down to eat.
Harrison gestured at an extra chair and Greg seated himself. “I had the feeling there was history with the watch sergeant that was here.”
“History doesn’t necessarily include sex,” Harrison said. “They almost dated. They’re friends.”
“How do you almost date someone?”
I took a bite of my sandwich and spoke with my mouth full. “President Drover left me to crawl down a hill with a broken leg the day Wally got up the nerve to ask me out. Harrison was at my house and I didn’t think he wanted to be there when his father decided to break my wards, so I called him and told him to come down to the hospital. Harboring someone hiding from the president sorta put dating on the back burner.”
“Which hospital would that be?”
I stayed quiet taking another bite of sandwich and a spoonful of soup giving myself time to control natural instincts. “I begin to suspect the motive of people that want too many answers.” I stared at Greg and he closed his mouth. “It’s a matter of record where they pieced my leg back together. Where we went after that isn’t the least bit important to anybody.” I finished the first half of my sandwich while he contemplated his response.
As I started in on my soup, Greg said, “My apologies,” he averted his eyes, glancing down at the table. “We tend to be a rather insensitive bunch and we need to know everything.”
I picked up the second half of my sandwich. “That’s pretty funny coming from a Sevener. Because in truth, the only things you know are your own District. You’re in such an isolated world you couldn’t begin to know everything.”
“Probably true,” he grudgingly agreed.
Harrison finished his sandwich and picked up his soupspoon. “No probably about it, Greg. I was so blissfully ignorant, I didn’t know anything about the world outside Seven. I quickly discovered that what I didn’t know could get me killed.”
“And he’s pretty sharp,” I said with a grin.
“Sharp enough to know I needed help.” He twined his foot around mine and pulled himself closer.
“I’m going to let you two finish your supper, but you’ll come out and mingle when you’re through?”
Harrison looked over at me. I shrugged, “As long as they don’t think I’m going to shoot them. I do have one question though, how many of these people can see magic?”
“Frankie…my Dad knows what you are, what difference who else knows?”
“First, if it had been mentioned in front of Girlo, a whole bunch of people we’d rather didn’t know, would be clued in. Second, what I was getting at was, does a camo spell hide a magical aura? Jerry sees talent without having to look for it. Why didn’t he notice Girlo?”
Harrison and Greg exchanged glances. “Care to answer that, since you’re in the same suspect pool as Jerry?”
“The only excuse I have is too many mages in too small a fishbowl. One aura blends into another and they become rather dizzying. You teach yourself to tune them out or you go crazy. If you didn’t know that the camo spell doesn’t disguise an aura that’s obviously not how you knew he was there. What clued you in?”
“He was sitting there plain as could be. Magic doesn’t baffle my vision.” I didn’t bother to tell him I could see magic; just hadn’t looked since I could see him plain as day.
“Curiouser and curiouser. If I stay to talk, do I get to know what she is?”
“That’s entirely up to her.”
“So will you come out when you’re done eating, or do you plan to sneak off to the bedroom?”
“We’ll be out,” I said.
Greg nodded and took that as his cue. Trooper Ralston accosted him as he left the dining room.
We finished eating and took our turn answering Ralston’s questions, many ears listened for our responses. Once he finished, Ralston said, “Mister Sorenson is outside. We’ll be taking our leave now.”
When he said ‘we’ll’ I glanced around and noticed Trooper Gerrill standing near the door. I waved at him and he smiled in return. “Have a good night,” I said to the pair of them.
They nodded, “You too, Frankie,” Trooper Gerrill said. “So how many of these folks you going to take to the range tomorrow?”
“I’ll let you know if life returns to normal enough to get back to teaching Harrison and Jerry. The rest of these will be heading back to Seven shortly.” I hope, I added silently.
“All right, Frankie. See you later.” I went to sit down in the rocking chair nobody else had claimed. I searched for beetles and felt under the edges for electronic bugs but found nothing. Of course there was no telling, he’d been in my house for quite some time, they could be hidden anywhere. I opened myself to the house, there were no magical devices.
Harrison pulled a footstool over and sat down beside me. “Want me to check for electronics?”
“We’ll do it when there are fewer people around. There are too many ears right now attached to heads for anything to be said we don’t want heard.” I ran my fingers through his hair. “You go talk to your friends.”
He leaned his head into my fingertips. “I don’t have to go anywhere. They’re curious enough they’ll be over here crowding you, in a minute.” He turned and kissed my wrist then nodded to a young blond man making his way tentatively across the room. “I see Ned is the sacrificial goat, as usual. If you don’t shoot him, or rebuff him, the rest will follow shortly.”
“So you’re saying I have to be good?”
“Not at all. I’m only saying if you want them to worship the ground you walk on you’ll allow them to grovel at your feet.”
The temptation to lay my pistol in my lap was great, but I resisted the urge. “Just as long as you don’t expect me to be sociable.”
“Didn’t I just say I don’t want you to change? You’ll be as sociable or as unsociable as you wish and you’ll be perfect.”
Harrison looked up at Ned as he came to a mincing halt before us. “Good evening, Ned.”
I touched Harrison’s shoulder. “I’ll be right back.”
“You don’t have to run off.”
“No, I meant it, I’ll be right back. Feel a little guilty about Sorenson. Let me see if he wants to come in.”
I stepped out the door, pausing at the edge of the halo of porch light, with my back to the house to allow my eyes time to adjust to the dark. As shapes solidified I saw two vehicles down by the road, spaced far enough apart that the drivers could see the north and south sides of the house as well as the door on the east side. Streetlights silhouetted the drivers. Both men currently watched
me. The man in the rear vehicle was slighter of build than Sorenson. The front vehicle’s driver was too broad of shoulder. That would be the sandy-brown haired man I hadn’t got a name for, he was short and squat, every ounce muscle.
Sheer instinct took me to the ground. My leg swept out to my right and brought my unseen foe to the ground with a grunt. I rolled away, snatching my pistol out and flicking the safety off. My assailant dove for cover but I managed to prevent the final squeeze on the trigger that would have probably killed him. “Jesus Christ, Sorenson. Do you have a death wish?”
“I was wondering the same about you.”
“You don’t need to worry about me.”
“It’s my job. You’ve already made me look like an idiot once tonight.”
“That was not our intent. And would it make you look any less of an idiot if I shot you? Damn. I was feeling bad about leaving you high and dry, figured I’d come invite you inside. Didn’t realize you’d have all this company.” I nodded at the men in the cars.
“It would seem I’m not to be trusted by myself.”
“Well, I’ve always relied on me. I really didn’t run off to get you in trouble. I’m not used to considering other people, except for how to avoid them, and I’m sorry but your employer is not my friend.”
“Why did you run off? And why use the images of Harrison’s Aunts.”
“If I explain myself to you, it rather defeats the purpose of ditching you, now doesn’t it.”
If he thought we were trying to do something unseen, it was far less likely they’d go to check the room and find Jeffrey Drover in his depleted condition. There was obviously no love lost between brothers.
“If I’d meant to kill you just now, I could have. You need us.”
“As soon as President Drover takes his circus home we’ll be fading into the background and perfectly safe.”
“You could never fade into the background. A woman like you is far too noticeable.”
“I lived in the background for thirty-two years.”
“And then you married the president’s son. You’ve been noticed. Rather like that car of yours; nobody paid attention until they knew what they were looking for.”
“You’d be surprised at what a new coat of paint can do. He inventoried all my weapons, I’m sure he ransacked my--”
“Everything we inventoried was left precisely as it was found, the only one who ransacked your home, was Harrison.”
“You still went through all my personal belongings. At least he had an excuse.”
“What excuse was that?”
“He didn’t want the world to know he had a blond moment and got himself trapped by a siphon. Or more precisely he didn’t want his father to know.”
“And do you know why that was?”
“Probably because at thirty-three years old the only thing in his life was his father, and his father’s plans. And that’s just wrong. He’s a smart good-looking man. He should have his own life.”
“So now he lives to fulfill your plans, which are the same as his father’s plans.”
“They aren’t my plans. They never were my plans. If Drover’s convinced you of that, there’s no point to discussing anything. Did you know Harrison is a talented biogeneticist?”
“Certainly. His father was counting on his assistance to regrow lost lifeforms.”
“Anybody can do that. Hell I can probably do that. Insert DNA from lifeform A into machine B sit back and watch lifeform grow. And for the record we don’t plan to have one man rule the world. And don’t think I haven’t noticed that you are very good at extracting information. I know when I’m being led around, so at this point, I’m going to go back inside and meet my husband’s friends. If you feel you can do your job inside you’re welcome to join us. If you feel that is terribly unsecure, stay here. Anyway, I apologize if our actions caused you any trouble.” I spun to the door, surprised when he actually followed me inside.
“Not against your code?”
“My task is to get close to you. If you invite me in, I’ll follow. As you’ve noted there are others out here.”
“And just like that you tell me it’s your job to get close to me?”
“Deception isn’t likely to work.”
“Just so you know, I’m not buying into it. You’re not my friend. You’re not Harrison’s friend. Anything you hear in this roomful of people isn’t going to be anything worth reporting back.”
“You don’t think it will be good for the president to know which of his son’s friends you seem most at ease with? Which of them get invited to remain behind for a couple of days?”
“So you’re saying I should just leave you outside?”
“Your prerogative.”
The SOB was challenging me. I liked his style. I held the door open for him to walk in in front of me. A path cleared to the rocking chair where Harrison held court with his friends, still sitting on the glider ottoman. I sat beside him in the rocker.
On my way down he reached over and brushed at my thigh. With a grin he said, “You have to twist his arm?”
“Thought he could sneak up on me. Almost got himself killed on top of reprimanded today.”
Sorenson’s face remained impassive. He took up a position behind my chair. I looked up at him, “Didn’t invite you in to stand over me. Jerry’s got snacks over on the coffee table and there’re drinks in the cooler. Not sure what, since I haven’t looked, but help yourself.”
“I’m on duty.”
“Well if there’s nothing without alcohol in the cooler, I’m sure there’s soda in the fridge. Or even water. Loosen up, Sorenson, it’s going to be a long night.”
“I go off duty in three hours, Ma’am.”
“Call me Ma’am again and I might finish what you started outside. If you can’t handle Frankie, Mrs. Kendrel works for me.” I looked toward the table with the snacks on it, “And eat. If you’re not into snacking, we can see what’s in the kitchen. I’m sure you spent your dinner break getting cussed out.”
“Thank you, M—Frankie.” He made his way to the table and picked up an apple.
I was actually rather impressed at the collection on the table. Bunch of guys had a healthy array of snacks--mostly fruit—then I remembered the fact that District Seven didn’t have a Little Gobble restaurant. They probably did everything healthy. “Grab me an orange.”
“Yes, Ma—I’m sorry, Frankie. Training takes precedence in a strange situation.”
I grinned at him as he handed me my orange. “Glad to know you find this to be a strange situation. I sure as hell couldn’t tell by looking at you. OK Harrison, introduce me.” I addressed the room and said, “if we were introduced yesterday forgive me, I’m bad with names. I pointed to a man three people back and said I do know that you’d be Blondie, or BCI since you’re a building code inspector, then swung my finger to a man two people over, and you are P&R because you work parks and recreation, taking care of the sailboats on the source. But names aren’t my thing, so please don’t be offended. Introduce yourself now. I may remember, but don’t be upset if I don’t, you’re not alone. Hell even after I found Harrison on the net and knew his name I didn’t remember it half the time until he broke into my house.” I hiked a thumb over my shoulder. “This one was Dark-hair until about an hour ago.”
“What was Harrison before his name stuck for you?” Greg seemed a little bolder than the rest of them.
I grinned at Harrison. “Had a lot of names for him. The damned Sevener. A couple we won’t go into, but ask anybody in District Three, when I was trying to figure out who he was, he was my Movie-Star.”
His friends chuckled. “So how did you meet him?”
“Told you, he broke into my house, and we’ll leave that alone.”
“Why would you break into her house?” They turned their attention on Harrison.
After a moment’s hesitation he said, “She had something I wanted.” His hand wrapped around my thigh and he purred, “Something
I wanted very badly. Figured if I could only introduce myself…”
Chapter 22
Harrison’s friends laughed, a couple of them whistled. From the back of the crowd, someone asked, “Is it true you killed more than thirty people just last week, Frankie?”
“Nope. I only accounted for twenty-three of them. Over a dozen were Harrison’s kills.”
After a moment of shocked silence, the questions began flying fast and furious. I made them slow down and introduce themselves every time one of them spoke. Gradually I learned names. It was three o’clock in the morning when I finally started yawning, turned to Harrison, and said, “I’m going to bed. Wake me up when you come in.” I turned to the rest of them and said, “Nice meeting all of you. Sorenson, thought you were off duty an hour ago.”
“Decided to stay.”
“I’m sure you can catch a ride back with any of these guys. Or you’re welcome to crash on the couch unless it’s already spoken for.”
“My car’s parked just down the block.”
“All right then, good-night.” A chorus of good-night’s followed me down the short hallway to the bedroom.
I hadn’t even finished showering before Harrison appeared. He got undressed and stepped in beside me. Wrapping his arms around my waist and bending to kiss me as he said, “That went well.”
“I do know how to be civilized. Were you afraid for your friends?”
“No.” He pulled me up against himself. “I think I was afraid of them. I’ve changed so much these last three months, I wasn’t sure I’d have anything in common with them anymore. Several of them want you to teach them how to shoot a pistol and see if you can find an offensive or defensive use for their talent.”
“The only ones I’ll teach are those that are with us. I’m not sending a bunch of mages off half-cocked and ready to take on the world. That’ll only get them killed.”
He nodded. “Guess I didn’t think of it that way. It’s extremely liberating to know I stand a fair chance of surviving without assistance.”
He released me and poured some soap between his palms. After rubbing them together to create a thick lather he started scrubbing me down. I wasn’t about to tell him I’d already washed.