Letting him sleep was the best thing I could do. Besides, what could I say? Asking him if he was okay was a stupid question, and how do you ask someone how bad off they are?
Luck was on my side, so I was able to slip out of the room undetected. I wandered the dim, silent halls, feeling better for moving around after such a long time in bed. A few dull banging sounds became louder the closer I came to the end of one of the halls.
My good fortune led me to a refuge in the one place that no one would think to look. I found Neil's lab.
"Get the f—" Neil started, turning around. "Oh, it's you." He turned back to the table.
The smell of pot was stale in the air.
Neil picked up a small hammer and hit a piece of metal, flattening it more with each strike. "Taylor's going to be ticked you're in here. Or out of bed at all." He dropped the hammer and moved to one of the many computers that littered the room.
I moved to a chair close enough to see what Neil was doing. "I won’t tell if you won't."
We sat in silence for a while, and Neil worked on whatever it was he was working on. Computers and machines whirred. Neil clicked the keyboard and mouse every now and again. It was relaxing in a way. I didn't have anyone looking over me, worried about what might happen or what I might do.
"Want to see something cool?" Neil asked.
"Sure," I said.
Neil moved away from the computer screen, and I took a look. There was a map on the screen. "Watch here." There was a glowing spot on the screen. In a few seconds, it grew brighter and brighter until it was almost blinding to see. Then it went back to a dimly glowing spot.
"What was that?" I asked.
"Portal." Neil sat back in his office chair and watched the screen. "A permanent portal to be precise."
"That looks pretty close to a populated area. I didn't know there were any permanent portals around there."
"I don't think anyone's supposed to know. I mean," he picked up a joint, then changed his mind and sat it back down, "the area is cordoned off. It's like the government is keeping this one secret."
"The government keeps all the portals secret. Does AIR know about it?"
Neil lit a cigarette. "It's in their system, but they don't monitor it. It's like they purposefully keep it off their radar even."
"How come your system sees it?"
"My system sees the unseeable. I built it from the ground up, and it goes everywhere and sees everything."
"That's impressive." More than impressive really, it was a good thing he's on our side. "You know what they're doing with the portal?"
"There's nada in the system. Paper trail only."
We sat in silence for a while longer.
"Sorry about the drugs, man, at the party I mean," Neil said.
"It was probably for the best," I said.
"What happened with Indian Dude was messed up."
"It was."
"You coping?"
"Getting there, I guess. Going back to work will help."
Neil turned to his computer. "Almost time to face the world again." He stared at the little dot for a while, then powered down the screen.
"Almost." I wasn't quite ready to face the day.
Neil smoked another cigarette, and we sat in silence for a while.
"I see you're forgoing the hard stuff today." I indicated the cigarette.
"Don't tell Taylor. He'll like, try to make a big deal of it, and it's not like I'm turning all straight laced or anything. I've taken enough stuff tonight to keep my brain pretty mellow without checking out."
"Finding a balance?" I asked.
"I see what I see, and then people want it explained to them. Sometimes there's not even words to cover the jumps my brain makes. By the time people finally understand, if they ever do, I'm so ticked off I can hardly stand it. Taylor gets it, though. He knows it's hard."
"Everything seems hard lately." I sighed and got to my feet.
"I'm getting that," Neil said.
We reentered the world together, Neil showing me the way since I hadn’t paid too much attention as I roamed the halls. Although the halls were empty, all the lights were on, which I guess meant the day had begun.
Neil and I turned a corner and saw Logan and Vincent talking. They both looked up. Vincent took a step towards us, stopped, and then spoke with Logan again.
"What do you think?" I asked Neil. "Do they look upset?"
"Nah, you've got a free pass with them."
"I could use one of those. You're the smart one. How do I get them to hold my free pass until I really screw up."
"If I could figure that out, Taylor and I wouldn't fight so much."
"Maybe. As much as you all may fight, I can tell it comes from a good place. Maybe one day you won't clash so much."
"Maybe," Neil said.
Deciding it was best to get over my reluctance to talk to Vincent, I walked up to them.
Logan smiled. "Morning. We're getting together in the conference room to plan our next moves. I think Taylor wanted to see you, but we'll wait to get started when everyone's together."
Neil slouched around behind me while Logan talked.
"Sure," I said. "I'll see you all soon."
Neil kept me between him and the others, but he stayed nearby to show me the way back to my room. It's sad when you start thinking of a hospital room as your room.
Taylor looked up when I entered. He looked at me for a few seconds before turning back to the computer. "I'd like to go over a few things with you this morning. Did you sleep well?"
"Dude," Neil said in a low voice, "if that had been me that disappeared, his face would be all red. And there's this vein on his forehead that pops out."
"Neil," Taylor said, raising his voice, "can wait for us outside."
Neil closed the door on his way out, and I took a chair near Taylor, deciding that I wasn't getting back in the bed.
"Is it me, or did Neil look sober?" Taylor asked.
"Trust me, any time he is sober, don't make a big deal about it. At least not right now."
"Did he talk to you?" Taylor asked.
I shrugged noncommittally.
Taylor's eyes looked brighter. "Having a friend that isn't an addict or a dealer will be good for him. I'd like to go over a few things this morning."
There were really only a few things. He took the usual vitals and did the same pressure test on my skin he did the day before. Except for around the injection site, nothing hurt. Even the muscle aches were fading.
"Physically, I think you're good to go," Taylor said, "and when you're ready to talk to someone-"
"No." It came out with more force than necessary, so I backed off. "At least for now. I want to focus on work right now."
"I understand, but don't keep it bottled up too long. Let's get to the conference room."
"Thanks."
Down the hall, Rider and Logan were already in the conference room. Vincent wasn't far behind us. I noticed Neil appeared to duck behind Taylor when Vincent entered the room, and after Vincent sat down next to me, Neil chose a spot that positioned himself as far away from Vincent as he could at the table.
Taylor started us off. "Sable's out on one of the farms. One of our tenants had a problem with a neighbor." The air around the table became uneasy, and it wasn't lost on Taylor. "It's nothing she can't handle. She's not alone, and no one is hurt."
"We're all worried we're going to find the next person hit. It's time we figured out our next move," Logan said. "We have more information, but we don't know what Jin knew."
"But we know what Vincent knows." Rider looked past me to Vincent.
I cleared my throat. "I'm not sure I'm up to date on everything."
Vincent blinked a few times slowly, then, through a mask of stone, he turned over what he knew. "As soon as I returned, I reached out to a friend in the West Coast office. She told me about rumors of a new drug floating around the Mid-West. It was a little too close to home for me."
&nb
sp; My stomach quivered. Vincent had called a woman from his old office but never contacted us. What did that mean? Before I could get too worked up over it, I rolled the thought to the corner of my mind. That corner was getting a little crowded, but I'd worry about it after the case.
"They put me to work, undercover. I uh." He stumbled over his words. "I thought it better not to contact the Mid-West office, and my office, my old office. They were going to take care of that part for me. So I stepped into a new life and worked my way up through the ranks. I discovered Jin was selling something that wasn't a drug, but worked like a drug. When I first started working for Jin, he was expanding out. He called it a designer drug and sold it to the highest bidders. He began to trust me and kept me around more often. That's when I discovered there were actually two different products. The good stuff that didn't burn out went to friends and family, and the rest went to anyone willing to pay cash, but they didn't last."
"So the most potent stuff is the stuff he didn't sell?" Taylor asked.
"I didn't get the impression he gave it away. He charged everyone. He trusted me enough to include me more. I was going to meet the one who made it all possible and learn more about the process, but uh..." Vincent trailed off.
"But I showed up," I continued for him.
There was a hint of a flinch. "I should have called. I wanted to, but I thought this way was better."
I held a hand, stopping that conversation. "The case."
Vincent's surprise couldn't be hidden from me. He knew the old me, but he didn't know the woman that stayed up reviewing case files and was always early to work, even when she had to drag a tired elf along behind her. Vincent didn't know me now.
"Dude, you discovered more working for Indian Dude," Neil said. "You said, even if I'm not the one doing this, it doesn't mean I'm not to blame. That doesn't add up with what you've told us so far."
Vincent stared at Neil long enough to make Neil slump down in his seat, looking uncomfortable.
"Before I ran into Cassie, I discovered what the drug was. I'd seen its effect on come people. Souls had been taken out and anchored into objects. Some objects only held traces, which were sold to those who could afford them. Others held together longer, and those were sold to family. It was Walker work." Vincent's thoughts seemed to turn inward. "Last fall, I reached out to Walkers that I knew. I tried to figure out how to work through what I had done to Cassie. That sparked the idea for someone."
"Good call, Neil." Logan crossed his arms and watched Vincent carefully. "So we have a Walker pulling out souls of the Lost. Any ideas about who this could be?"
"I know three people with the ability, but I haven't tracked them down," Vincent said. "It takes time."
"How much time?" Taylor asked.
"It could take months," Vincent said. "They may not even be in this world."
"We don't have that kind of time," Logan said. "Too many lives are at stake. And whoever is doing this is here."
I leaned forward and rested my arms on the table. "I have an idea of where I'd like to start. Right now, I have a lot of luck on my side, and I need to give it back to the leprechauns. They had to have seen him."
"Dude." Neil's eyes went wide. "I'm not sure that's the best idea. You may need that luck."
I shook my head. "I know, but it's not mine to keep. Besides, I saw what it did to Jin when it caught up with him. It wasn't a pretty sight."
Neil snorted. "Indian Dude had that coming."
Vincent and Rider nodded in agreement which helped Neil's confidence. He sat up straighter anyway.
"Cassie's right," Logan said, "giving it back is the right thing to do. She'll have to use a little luck to return it, but maybe they'll help us."
"We also need to find every friend and family member that has one of Jin's little trinkets." It gave me the creeps even saying his name, but it couldn't be avoided.
"You don't think they'll run down on their own?" Logan asked.
"No, not if they're like Jin's. Most of them hold that little shard of soul. It doesn't have anything keeping it together, so it dies away." I shuddered at the thought, but took a steady breath and moved forward. "What Jin has isn't a larger chunk, it's the whole thing. One solid soul. Who could say how long that would last?"
Chapter 28
Neil, doing more calculations and analysis than any one person should ever be able to manage, found a likely place for me to find a leprechaun. As far as AIR was concerned, we were running down a lead, which was true overall. AIR and MyTH were working together to hunt down anyone who Jin might have sold souls too. Although they weren't sure why we wanted them, the police and DEA were collecting anything that might resemble what we were looking for.
It felt good knowing so many people were working on this. Hopefully, that meant that none of the jewelry fell through the cracks.
My two partners turned into three now that Vincent had joined us. MyTH helped us gear up for hiking and camping in rugged terrain, and we were off to find the leprechauns.
For the first three hours of our journey, I used the tablet to update our case file. It caused me to run into a few difficult decisions on what should go on permanent record. In the end, I skipped around, telling the parts I was willing to think about and ignoring the rest. I wanted to ask Logan what I should say about Jin, but he held up a finger for me to wait, and then pointed to the eye of the device.
Logan was becoming more and more concerned, or dare I say it, paranoid, about what the office might be tracking. Or maybe he was only more vocal about it, now that we had been partners in the field for a year. As my mentor, Logan could be trying to get me to pay more attention to everything that went on around us.
I caught up with Gran and let her know I missed her. She told me that I needed to take Vincent to the Palm Reader. Also, that I was to ignore the old coot in the woods. It was the first time I had truly smiled in days.
Logan hummed, although sometimes he moved back and forth between humming and singing. I asked him if he wanted me to turn on the radio, but he declined.
The track of land Neil sent us to was in the Ozarks. The countryside was beautiful, but I was already dreading the hills. Logan left the paved road and roamed down a gravel one, which turned to dirt before he parked the truck.
We were unloading our gear and my phone rang. Ethan's name appeared on the screen.
"I'm going to take this." I walked away from the truck. "In private."
"Hi," I said, walking down the road, "I'm glad you called."
"That's a positive start," Ethan said. "I've seen some stuff cross my desk in the past few hours that put me in mind of you."
"The jewelry?"
"Yeah. We'll be on the lookout. Does this mean that your case is winding down?"
"We're getting ready to talk to a witness. If they saw anything that we can use, we should be able to wrap things up before long."
"That's good to hear, I was hoping we'd have the chance to get together again, soon."
"I wish I could say yes." Going out with Ethan, forgetting about work, Vincent, and everything in between, sounded wonderful. "Unfortunately, I am getting ready to walk into the wilderness, and it's possible I might not walk back out for a few days."
Ethan's cheerful mood came through his voice. "I never pictured you as a camper."
I laughed and the muscles in my chest loosened up. "Neither did I, but we do what we have to for the job."
"That's the truth."
"If you want, I can call in a few days, once I've reached civilization again."
"I'm already looking forward to it. Good luck catching your bad guy."
"Thanks."
Walking back to the truck, I saw that the team was huddled around a map. Unless it was GPS, with a little blinking dot on a trail, I'm pretty sure I wasn't going to be much help. When I came up beside them, Logan insisted that he show me where our starting point was, and which direction we were traveling.
We grabbed our gear and with Logan in the
lead, we walked into the forest.
And we kept walking. Logan and Rider were good for updates on pace and how far we'd walked. After the third mile, the terrain became more difficult to navigate. It didn't help that I suggested a different direction, but since it came from the extra soul I was carrying around, we figured we were going the right way.
"It's getting dark," Vincent said about a mile later.
I wasn't about to complain. There was enough light to see by, but I was done for the day. Logan began putting our camp together while Rider checked the surrounding area.
Vincent was surprisingly adept at camping. We decided on no fire for the night, but they sent me out for wood in case we needed it, and as many twigs as I could manage for the cook stove.
I didn't have high hopes of twigs being able to cook anything, even if I brought a tree's worth back to camp, but I took their word for it and went into the woods.
Our team really didn't feel like a team anymore. All evening, everyone went about helping with the camp, but much like the drive here, and the hike, there wasn't any discussion. You'd think, sitting around the stick-fueled cookstove (which worked better than I ever expected) that a team would talk. There would be stories, and someone would say, “Remember when” and everyone would chime in with their own memories.
Everyone acted as if they were afraid to say anything, although it could be that I was the only one that felt that way. Maybe this was what things were supposed to be like when you were trekking through the wilderness.
Or maybe I was hoping for an instant reunion.
The night closed in when I went to find the hammock Logan had set up for me. It was a tight line, about chest level between two trees. After staring at it for at least a minute, I attempted to get in, and probably looked ridiculous, but there was no way I was going to ask how to jump into one. Once I managed it, though, it was more comfortable than I thought. I slipped into the sleeping bag, without falling out, and fell asleep listening to the sounds of the woods at night.
***
Broken Paths (AIR Book 2) Page 23