by Hiatt, Bill
“The pants stay on, though,” pointed out Dan quickly.
“We’ll need to get you an outfit for the Halloween party that’s loose enough to accommodate either of your forms,” said Nurse Florence, practical as always. You need to be able to move easily to fight properly.
“For the moment, let me help out,” said Shar, tapping Stan on the arm with Zom. There was a little green flash, and suddenly Stan was back to normal.
“Hey!” yelped Stan.
“It figures,” said Shar. “Zom’s touch must break the spell on you.” Stan recited the inscription again and bulked up immediately. Then Shar broke the spell yet again.
“Well, now we know,” said Nurse Florence. “One other caution. Since Tal is the only one who can conceal his own blade, I have magicked all the rest of them to not be noticeable, unless you choose to work out with them in some public venue, in which case they will appear to be fencing foils. But I can’t prevent them from showing up on security cameras or metal detectors, so keep in mind where you go when you carry them. Also, though humans won’t notice them, those with the Sight, in other words spell casters and magical creatures, will always be able to see them for what they truly are. That means pick costumes for the Halloween party that camouflage them as much as possible. Carrie Winn might not be alarmed by Tal carrying White Hilt, though she pretty much told him not to last time, but any of the rest of you could easily tip her off.”
We had a little more practice, and then Nurse Florence piled us back into the van for a much more direct route home than last time.
On the trip back Stan reminded me that tomorrow was the day he would be working on the website for Winn Development Company.
“You probably shouldn’t wear the sword of David,” said Nurse Florence quickly. “Carrie Winn might be there and see it—and it would be pretty hard to explain.”
“I think he should wear it,” I interrupted. “How can he protect himself if there is a problem?”
“I admit there is some cause for concern, but I can’t imagine Carrie Winn is going to do something to him downtown in the middle of the business day. You can hang out discretely somewhere nearby. There is a used bookstore across the street from the office. You could browse there inconspicuously, and if Stan has to stay longer, you can buy something. There are benches on the sidewalk in that part of the business district, one under each tree. Just sit outside and read. Again, not too conspicuous, unless someone is actually expecting you to show up.”
“I want to come too!” said Gordy forcefully. “If Stan needs protection…”
“I thought the whole idea was for Stan to get in and out inconspicuously,” replied Nurse Florence. “The more of you there are lurking around, the more likely someone will notice.”
“I’ll be all right,” Stan said, trying to reassure Gordy and me. “I’ll be in and out before anyone knows the difference.” Gordy looked profoundly dissatisfied, and I had to say, I was liking this part of the plan less and less, but if I told Stan not to do it, I was sure he’d think I was doubting him again, and then his male ego would make him all the more stubborn. Besides, I really wanted him to know I had faith in him, so I held my tongue—with great difficulty.
By the time we got home, I had convinced myself not to worry. I had a trick or two up my sleeve to keep Stan safe, and in general my little strike force seemed to be getting more powerful by the day. Aside from having Nurse Florence on hand as a healer, we each had a magic sword, which collectively looked like they could wreak havoc with Winn’s security. Nurse Florence had other members of her order flying in. Who could Carrie Winn possibly be to resist all that fire power?
The problem with questions like that is that sooner or later the universe decides to answer them.
CHAPTER 17: COMPUTER HACKING
The following day Stan and I skipped working out with the team and took the bus to downtown Santa Brígida, such as it was. Winn Development’s office was impressive enough, I suppose, like most Winn buildings deviating a bit from the Spanish colonial revival style and looking more glass and chrome modern corporate. The other businesses on both sides of Main Street were comparatively uninteresting in general, though I did actually like the used book store, shadowy and sweet with the smell of old books. I settled in there, and Stan walked through the front door of Winn’s office, obviously happy at getting to help the cause without either me or Gordy treating him as if he would break if we looked away for a second.
I hadn’t bothered to tell him I was going to be watching through his eyes and hearing through his ears.
I had practiced enough to be able to manage that trick without too much effort. The range was limited, but Stan was after all only across the street, so the connection was strong, the view perfect.
The receptionist recognized Stan immediately and escorted him to the server room in the back of the building. She did catch Stan trying to sneak a peek down the front of her blouse, but she seemed more flattered than offended. She got him into the server room with a card key, brought him a coke, and then left him to his business.
Stan sat down at the server and set himself up for a little “bait and switch.” If some of you are our age, you’ve probably done the same thing in your school computer lab. You have a relevant page open that you can quickly switch to when the teacher walks by, and then there is the page that you are actually viewing. In much the same way, Stan opened the website he was supposed to be updating and went into administrator mode on it. He quickly made a few of the changes on his list, then miniaturized that window and started feeding the server command line routines until he managed to get himself recognized as an admin for the whole network. I couldn’t really understand most of what I was seeing, but Stan was sure clicking away on the keyboard like mad. It is a good thing for society that he was too moral to actually be a hacker, because if he had chosen that path, I suspected he would be very, very good at it.
As nervous as I had been, the whole operation seemed to be flowing along smoothly. I still couldn’t figure out exactly what Stan was doing, but he was moving very rapidly. Never once did he hit any obvious obstacle. In fact, he had started humming to himself.
By this time I had in fact bought a book—medieval Welsh poetry—and sat down on the bench right outside the bookstore. While I could do a sort of split screen, see both through Stan’s eyes and through mine, it was difficult to maintain this mode, so I sat down with the book open in my lap and switched my entire view to Stan.
It was just luck that I heard the car pull up. Fortunately, the server room was quiet except for Stan’s humming and keyboarding, and I was hearing through both his ears and mine. I don’t know what prompted me to look up and switch to my own eyes—instinct, perhaps—but there was a Winn limo in front of the office, and getting out of it, Carrie Winn herself. Yeah, the same Carrie Winn who supposedly never came to the office. There were also two of the ubiquitous security men, but thankfully they positioned themselves in front of the office rather than actually going in with her.
I switched back to Stan mode and tried to broadcast a message.
Stan, she’s coming. How fast can you finish?
Stan was clearly startled, but he had been through stranger things, after all.
“Got what we need. I just need to finish the website edits,” he muttered under this breath. Damn, he knew I was listening.
I didn’t know how long the remaining edits would take, so I wasn’t sure whether to try to stall Ms. Winn or not. I figured suddenly popping up and starting a conversation might look suspicious, and doing something really spectacular like using White Hilt to ignite the tree in front of her office would definitely set off alarms. Yeah, for one crazy moment I did think about doing just that.
Just having to sit and wait in this kind of situation was the worst!
I stayed in Stan mode. He was still working on the website, but I had never seen someone work so fast, and he hadn’t really been in the office that long, so even if he wasn’t done
and Ms. Winn checked on him, hopefully his progress wouldn’t look suspiciously meager.
The server room was quiet, but I didn’t think the door behind him was completely closed, so I strained to try to hear footsteps or anything. No, nothing but Stan pounding away on the keys. Wait, I thought I could hear very distant voices. Winn and the receptionist I thought, but I couldn’t be sure.
Then, so close behind that Stan jumped, Ms. Winn asked, “How are you getting along, Stanford? Any questions?”
Damn, the woman had somehow been able to move without audible footsteps! That was one trick I had never seen her use before.
In an effort to fake calm, Stan turned slowly in the desk chair, then stood politely. “I’m doing just fine, Ms. Winn. I’m almost done, in fact.”
I studied her face through Stan’s eyes and tried to decide whether or not she knew anything. She seemed, as always, perfectly poised, and her friendly tone would have sounded genuine if I had not known better.
“How’s it going?” I jumped. Gordy had sat down next to me without my even being aware of it.
“Shhh! I’m concentrating on what’s happening inside!” I snapped. He wasn’t supposed to be here. He must have left football practice very early to be here now. Still, this might not be a total disaster. Just sitting with me across the street wouldn’t necessarily attract attention, and Gordy had obeyed my order for quiet.
Stan made direct eye contact with Winn, and at first I didn’t understand why her eyes were widening with surprise.
Oh, God! She could somehow see me, she could see me looking out through Stan’s eyes.
“What’s wrong, Ms. Winn?” asked Stan. She was already recovering her composure.
“Oh, don’t worry, dear—nothing that can’t be fixed,” she said with a smile, placing her hand on his shoulder.
I wasn’t sure, but I don’t think Stan felt anything. I, on the other hand, felt as if someone had just plunged a blazing hot battle axe right into my forehead, chopping right through the connection I had with Stan. I grabbed my forehead and would have fallen off the bench if Gordy hadn’t grabbed me.
“What’s happening?” he demanded urgently. My mouth twitched, but no words came out. I felt no further assault against me, but the initial one, which had to have come from Winn, had almost knocked me unconscious and rendered me incapable of doing much of anything.
I was dimly aware of Gordy jumping up and running across the street. Damn, Gordy coming to the rescue would certainly look suspicious.
I was too shaky to get up from the bench, and reaching out to Gordy’s mind made me yelp with pain, but through some miracle I managed to connect and started seeing through his eyes.
The receptionist naturally looked up when Gordy came crashing through the door, but much to my surprise, instead of drawing his sword and demanding Stan’s release, which I had been half expecting, he yelled, “Call 911! My friend is having some kind of seizure.” He pointed out the window in my direction. I slumped over at that point to back up his story, and the receptionist at once started to dial 911. With her distracted, in fact looking genuinely alarmed, Gordy headed for the door leading to the back parts of the office—and ran straight into Ms. Winn.
“Young man, what are you doing?” she asked in a very commanding tone, but not apparently commanding enough to unnerve Gordy.
“I’m sorry, ma'am, but my friend is having some kind of attack. I’m looking for my other friend, Stan. He’ll want to go with us to the emergency room.” Winn immediately adopted a more sympathetic look and stepped aside to allow Stan to move past her.
“I’m right here, Gordy. What’s happening?”
“It’s Tal, Stan. He just practically fell off the bench. He can’t even talk.”
“Tal?” said Ms. Winn, either genuinely surprised or doing an Oscar-worthy job of faking it. “Taliesin is here?”
“He was keeping me company on the bus ride,” said Stan quickly. “Let’s go, Gordy.”
“Carol,” said Ms. Winn to the receptionist in a peremptory tone, “cancel that paramedic call. I can deal with this.”
Carol looked up from the phone in shock. “But Ms. Winn, we don’t even know…”
“Do what I tell you,” snapped Winn. Carol picked up the phone again. Stan and Gordy got out the door first, but Winn was close behind.
As I disconnected from Gordy, I wondered what she intended to do to me. Canceling the paramedics did not seem like a good sign. Not that I really needed them. The pain was already beginning to subside, and I doubted there was anything physical wrong with me. Still, Winn was the one who did this to me in the first place, and I couldn’t escape the cold dread that she was coming to finish the job in person. With a great effort, I managed to stand.
“Taliesin! What’s wrong?” asked Winn, her voice oozing concern. “Should you be standing?”
“I’m sorry to have bothered you, Ms. Winn,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. “I think it’s just a migraine. I have had them once or twice before. I’ve got medication at home. Gordy and Stan will see that I get home okay.”
“You can get there more comfortably in my limo,” said Winn quickly. “Boys, go across the street and wait by the car. I just want to make sure Taliesin is all right, and then he’ll be joining you.” Gordy and Stan both looked displeased by that idea, but they had no obvious reason to refuse, and I guess they assumed Winn couldn’t do much to me on a crowded street in broad daylight. Of course, she had just practically split my brain wide open, but there was no way to mention that now, and in any case, it was true that she couldn’t exactly kill me here and now. Having called off the paramedics, she would look really, really bad if something did happen to me.
I nodded to Gordy and Stan, and they went very slowly back across the street.
Winn took my hand so unexpectedly that I flinched and almost pulled away.
“Why are you so jumpy, Taliesin? Just sit still for a minute.” Much to my surprise, I started feeling better almost immediately. By the time Winn let go of my hand, I was feeling pretty much like my old self.
“I’m sorry about that,” said Winn, again sounding perfectly sincere. “When I saw someone besides Stanford looking at me through his eyes, I thought he had been possessed, so I took action…vigorous action, I’m afraid. I had no idea I was dealing with you. Why on earth would you have been connected to him that way?”
Good thing I could think again. “Stan has been attacked more than once. I keep a pretty close eye on him now. Literally.”
“Surely you didn’t expect an attack in my office?”
“I wouldn’t have worried if I had known you were going to be here, but otherwise I have no idea what kind of threats your staff is equipped to deal with.”
“Actually, this isn’t a high security location, it’s true,” she conceded. “Still, if you had concerns, you could have asked me to have security watch Stan.”
“He’s more comfortable with me than he would be with someone he doesn’t know. Anyway, I’m really sorry for the misunderstanding.”
“Think nothing of it,” said Ms. Winn, with a gracious sweep of her hand. “However,” she added, and suddenly her voice had an edge to it, “I do want to know how that other young man could possibly be carrying a faerie sword—a new one, by the look of it. I haven’t seen a sword like that in human hands in ages. Where could he possibly have gotten it?” Naturally Winn could see through the aura of inconspicuousness around Gordy’s weapon; I had forgotten that point in the confusion.
“I haven’t had a chance to tell you this yet, but Stan was attacked yesterday. We drove off the assailants, and one of them dropped the sword trying to make good his escape. I already had a magic sword, as you know, so I gave that one to Gordy.”
“This Gordy knows?” said Winn with even more edge.
“He was standing right there when the attack started. I suppose I could have erased his memory, but the idea of having someone else who could watch Stan’s back appeals to me.”
“Very unwise!” replied Winn, sternly. “The more people who know who you really are, the greater the chance of an enemy gaining information through them. You should make sure he forgets everything at the first opportunity. Actually, if you would rather not do it yourself, I can take a few minutes and do it myself right now.”
“No!” I said, a trifle too loudly. Quite aside from the fact that I needed Gordy, I did not intend to have Ms. Winn messing around in head and discovering the presence of the tynged on him. “He is my man, and I must be the one to deal with him.” Winn nodded at my invocation of medieval relationships.
“Well, then so be it…but don’t wait too long. I can see your friends are getting anxious, so I’ll let you get back to them.”
She shook my hand, I thanked her, and then I got across the street as fast as I could.
“Just small talk in the limo,” I muttered, mostly for Gordy’s benefit. In fact, we had very little conversation on the way back, though Gordy, who had seldom been in a limo before, had a number of curiosity questions about them that Stan or I answered.
The limo dropped us at my house. Stan was, after all, just a few doors down, and Gordy was just a couple blocks over, though it did seem a little strange to me that the otherwise very accommodating driver didn’t even ask Gordy where he lived, much less drop him off.
“Well, we got through that,” observed Stan.
“Yeah, barely. Gordy, you weren’t even supposed to be there.”
“I couldn’t help it,” said Gordy apologetically. “All I could think about was Stan going into danger. And you might have needed me. Ms. Winn wasn’t supposed to be there, but she showed up.” He had me there, although the notion of Gordy brandishing his faerie sword in a showdown with Carrie Winn made me want to giggle.
At that moment our conversation was interrupted by the most soul-rending howl I had ever heard. All three of us spun around, and there, blocking the front door of our house, was a Gwyllgi, a black hound of destiny. I knew his appearance could only bring more problems, not only because his presence was a bad omen but also because he shouldn’t have been appearing on my front porch in broad daylight. Gwyllgis were always nocturnal, normally appearing at deserted crossroads or other isolated locations.