Nine of Wands

by Mark Hayden

  ‘Fae. Doesn’t matter. Had you seen him before?’

  ‘Her. No. That Tuesday was the first and last time.’

  ‘How did Eilidh explain shooting Eggers?’

  ‘The oath. Tell no secrets. She said you’d torture him until he told you everything, then you’d hunt us down and kill us and our families.’

  ‘So why did you run and start shouting my name?’

  ‘Eilidh didn’t say nothing about there being magickal police. She never mentioned you or the King’s Watch until after the business at the dock. It was a big shock, I’ll tell you, when you started talking about arresting people.’

  ‘How did she explain that? I’ve read your files. None of you are career criminals, so breaking the law doesn’t come naturally.’

  ‘She said you were witchfinders and that you wanted to suppress all magick. When Eve said that didn’t stack up with what you said, she claimed it was all a conspiracy against women. That got Eve and Marissa on her side again. You see, Eve had her nose put out of joint when Eggers was put in charge.’

  ‘How did Owen feel about all this, and what changed your mind?’

  ‘Owen thought whatever Eggers told him to think. After Eggers was gone, Eilidh flirted so much with Owen that he was like her little puppy. I’d had enough at that point, especially when the missus posted on Facebook that she was pregnant. Eildh had used your last name, and that Gnome used your first name, so I looked you up. We were allowed on the internet. A bit. I looked you up, and it said you were RAF, so I thought I might be able to trust you. The way that Gnome stood by you, he obviously trusted you as well.’

  He shifted slightly in the bed and took a drink of water. ‘You were the only wizard whose name I knew. I reckoned if I could get to you before they caught up with me, I’d have a chance.’

  ‘Go back to the ambush,’ said Ruth. ‘What happened after that?’

  ‘We were in two Range Rovers. Irina and Eilidh drove us down to a service station on the M40 and made us all get in one of them. They did the magick thing again, and the next thing I knew, we was at the cottage.’

  ‘That was weeks ago. What have you been doing?’

  ‘Going mad. We didn’t leave the house for three days, then Irina and the other two wizards showed up. The South African bloke and Jane Jones. I told you about them.’

  ‘You did. What difference did they make?’

  The door opened and an important looking doctor came in, followed by three younger doctors who all looked like they wanted to be just as important as him one day. The ward sister brought up the rear.

  ‘Consultant,’ said Chandler. ‘Saved my life.’

  ‘And my knee,’ added Richmond.

  ‘Out. All of you,’ said the consultant. ‘You can come back in an hour if you want.’

  It was a week since I’d bonded permanently with Scout. He can spend longer spells away from me without suffering, and I’d thought about leaving him at home. Perhaps next time. I collected him and a can of cold Diet Pepsi from the car park and went for a walk up to the helipad before I called the Boss.

  ‘What’s Ruth doing?’ was her first question after I’d filled her in.

  ‘She’s sending the West Midlands counter-terrorism unit to pick up Mrs Chandler. If Chandler’s wife hands over the details of that bank account, she’ll be allowed to visit her husband in hospital.’

  ‘Good. Do you believe him?’

  ‘So far, yes, and Ruth agrees. She called it confession syndrome.’

  ‘Ah. Yes. The tricky part is working out what they’re not saying. Good work. How’s Dom?’

  ‘Frustrated. Guilty. Bored.’

  ‘I know all that. How is he medically?’

  ‘We’ll find out when the consultant’s finished with them.’

  ‘Keep me posted.’

  Even Scout was running out of energy. I drank my Pepsi and sent a few texts. Mina had told me only to call her in an emergency because she had to get back to her work for the Cloister Court. Vicky found time to reply. She and Saffron were having a great time, apparently. I finished my break and headed back to the ward.

  Dominic Richmond had some good news for us when Ruth and I got back to the ward. ‘We’ve both been passed fit to be moved from a high dependency ward. Can I suggest that we be transferred to a private hospital. The police can pay for him, the Watch can pay for me. That way, the armed guard can be stood down and I’ll keep an eye on him until the crisis is over.’

  Chandler himself wasn’t there to argue. He was on his way back from an MRI scan, and a couple of phone calls sorted out the principle. When they wheeled him in, I let Richmond break the news. Chandler seemed quite pleased with that, and pathetically grateful for the proper cup of tea I’d bought him from a concession downstairs.

  While Richmond was speaking, I’d taken a closer look at Chandler. He had a sort of ratty beard that covered some healing acne. Of course. Why didn’t I think of that before?

  ‘When did Eilidh cut off your supply of steroids?’ I said.

  He went bright red. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

  ‘Yes you do. It takes a long time for the effects to fade, Mr Chandler. Who was the dealer at the gym? Don’t lie to me, because I’ll be following this up.’

  ‘It was Marissa. She could get hold of them dead easy in Spain. She was starting to build up a network all across the west midlands.’

  ‘How did Eilidh deal with the withdrawal, Chandler?’

  ‘That’s why she brought the South African guy up. He gave me something for it. Helped a bit. And it was about then that she made the golden triangles to go with our magick shields. They helped, too.’

  Saffron had tried – and failed – to analyse the effects of the Artefact we’d taken from Chandler. I’d told her not to take any risks, because they could easily be booby-trapped. We might need to get Auntie Heidi on to that.

  ‘Tell me about the South African and Jane Jones.’

  ‘Johnno, we called him. We were in the cottage for a couple of days under lock and key, pretty much. I was starting to get itchy, you know? Then those two turned up and Eilidh let us off the leash a bit. We did training on the common above the village, and later we went into Banbury. That’s how I worked out the escape route. Johnno wasn’t about much, but Jane moved in more or less full time.’

  This was all very interesting, but it didn’t tell me anything about them as Mages. Or even as people. Ruth showed him the photograph of Willem van der Westhuesen, and he confirmed that this was “Johnno.”

  ‘Describe Jane Jones to me.’

  ‘In her forties, maybe a bit older. Savage temper. Long brown hair. Sour face. Posh voice, a bit like yours. It was when they arrived that Eilidh told us about the gold. Jane brought some with her. You could feel the magick coming off it. She said that if we did a couple more jobs, we could walk away set up for life. We started proper training after that. She said we were going to be part of a raid on somewhere called the First Mine.’

  I shivered inside. If Eilidh and her gang had joined the assault, I’d be dead. And so would Saffron, Lloyd and Mina. No wonder Hannah banned her from active operations: we’d escaped with the skin of our teeth on that one.

  I breathed out slowly. ‘But you didn’t, did you? Why not?’

  ‘Those three Gnomes turned up. There was a huge row that we could hear upstairs. We had to have the windows open because it was so hot. The Gnomes wouldn’t let Eilidh come with them when they tried to get the gold. Eilidh told us not to worry, because we’d have ’em when they came out. Then she got a phone call while we were out training. She went ballistic and called Irina all the names under the sun, because Irina was supposed to tip us off about the raid.’

  ‘That was the end of June. Two weeks ago. What were you up to after that?’

  ‘We didn’t find out until two days after you killed all the Gnomes. I can remember what happened when Eilidh finished on the phone: Eve Maguire and Jane Jones both looked at her and said, “The
y’ll be coming for us next.”’

  ‘And how did Eilidh react to that?’

  ‘She said, “There’s one place left. We go for the vault.”’

  I could feel Ruth tense up across the bed. Even Richmond sat up a bit straighter.

  ‘Tell us about this vault.’

  ‘Nothing to tell. I got out before she started the detailed planning. She said she needed to go and do some work at the forge. That was the first time it was mentioned.’

  ‘What work?’

  He looked guilty again. ‘You remember that spear that Eve used?’

  I fixed him with a stare. ‘The one with the toxic coating. The one that would have killed me with a single nick. Yes, you could say that I remember it.’

  ‘She said it takes a hell of a lot of work to make those, which is why we only had the one with us. She wanted to make more, but that meant going away, and that’s why she brought Jane Jones in.’

  ‘Did she ever make any short trips to the forge? If so, how long was she away?’

  ‘Hard to say. She went to loads of places. About an hour was the shortest, I reckon.’

  We were running out of things to ask. I had one last question. ‘You were with her a long time. What’s Eilidh like as a person? What floats her boat? Give us a general impression.’

  ‘You know what, she’d have fitted right in at the Temple Gym. Driven, she is. Whatever it takes. We lads used to talk a bit. Eggers, me and Owen. Eve and Marissa were always more on their own. After we lost Eggers, me and Owen used to wonder what it was like to be one of you wizards, and whether we could join. Owen said, “Not if it means turning into Eilidh.” All she does is tinker with bits of magick and run. She and Marissa used to go out every day. At least once.’

  He was flagging again. I looked at Ruth, and she shook her head, as did Richmond. Chandler was nearly asleep when we got up and thanked him for his time. I paused on the way out to tell the ward sister that he’d confessed to steroid addiction. She frowned and muttered something to herself. ‘Thank you for telling me. No wonder some of his results were odd. I’ll make sure it gets addressed.’

  ‘Where now?’ said Ruth.

  ‘Call an Uber. We can meet Vicky and Saffron for lunch.’

  ‘I don’t mind lunch. You call the Uber.’

  I showed her my phone. ‘I’ll call your twin. You call the Uber.’

  I do like the Inspector Morse bits of Oxford. We visited a lot when Rachael was a student and I was based in the UK for a short while. On a day like today, it was full of coach parties. I mean really full. It seems to be a rite of passage for Italian high school students, and don’t get me started on the Chinese. Vicky said that they were on the Broad, outside Balliol College. It was so crowded that the only way of finding them was to say, ‘Scout, find Saff. Find her.’ It took him a while, because they were actually on the other side of the road.

  When I pointed this out to Vicky, she said, ‘Howay, man, it’s way too sunny and way too crowded over there. I saw you coming from miles off. I was gonna text you, but you put the bloodhound on the job.’

  ‘You were going to text me from the other side of the road?’

  ‘Aye.’

  I shook my head. ‘You’ve been away from me too long already. I pity Xavi.’

  Ruth shook her head. ‘And I pity Hannah. It’s like a school outing being round you lot. Can we eat? The grown-up is hungry.’

  ‘This way,’ said Saffron.

  I should have known what to expect when she led us down a back alley off Pusey Lane. There were only three buildings down there, and one of them was the Worcester Roost. ‘Don’t tell me. A cousin.’

  ‘Once. She sold it ages ago. It’s in mundane hands now, but most of the Mages in Oxford still come here. I bet you’ll see Dom Richmond’s name in the book somewhere.’

  ‘And this is my treat,’ said Vicky. ‘I’ve had a great morning.’

  ‘I’m glad someone’s happy,’ said Ruth. ‘I didn’t know there was quite so much sight-seeing and entertaining in the Watch.’

  ‘It helps take our minds off the near-death experiences and trauma,’ I replied. ‘After you.’

  We filed in to the hallway of an old private house, where a smiling woman welcomed us. Some of us. ‘I’m sorry, we only allow assistance dogs,’ she said.

  ‘And Familiars,’ said Saffron. ‘It’s in your lease. I checked. If you give us the private room, no one else will know.’

  At that point, Scout wagged his tail and did the little moan that usually gets him attention. The woman’s smile disappeared and she grabbed some menus with an aggressive jab into the holder. She must be a cat person. Shame.

  Lunch was delicious (and very expensive). It also relaxed us enough to toss round ideas without getting het up, which was how the breakthrough came about. We were about to throw in the towel when I said, ‘I’m surprised that Chandler didn’t have a complete psychotic episode locked up with two mad runners and coming down from steroid abuse.’

  Saffron had read all the notes, and knew that Marissa was a triathlete. ‘Who’s the other runner, and what’s wrong with running?’

  ‘Eilidh herself, and I’ve always found it a bit pointless. Runners can get a bit obsessive. Unlike cricketers.’

  ‘What! Cricket’s even worse than running. All those bloody statist…’ I could almost see the lightbulb come on over her head. ‘Of course!’ She picked up her fork to emphasise what she was about to say. ‘When Eilidh went off the grid, she had to get a complete new identity, including a new phone and new email. If she’s a fanatical runner, I’ll bet she kept her running app. Losing all that data would break her heart. It’ll have her routes, her dates and times. If we could hack that, we’d have her on toast.’

  I was half way out of my seat. I’d made everyone leave their phones on the side-table. On the way over, I held up my hand to high-five my partner. ‘Saffron, I could kiss you.’

  She high-fived back and said, ‘Please don’t. Where are you going?’

  I grabbed my phone and called the Earth Master, aka my Mage friend Chris Kelly. ‘Chris, did you ever go running with Eilidh Haigh and if so, what app did she use? Oh, and sorry I haven’t been in touch about that dinner invitation. I’ll explain.’ He told me, and I disconnected.

  Saffron was staring at me. ‘You’re having dinner with Baldy Kelly? On his own, I hope.’

  ‘No, with his wife. And Mina, of course. Why is that a problem?’

  Vicky and Ruth were fiddling with their empty plates. ‘Oh, no reason,’ said Saffron. ‘What did he say.’

  ‘He never went running with her, but they did talk about it in the common room. She uses something called Laufstrasse. Run-street. Two more calls and we’re home.’

  ‘I bet I know who he calls first,’ said Vicky.

  ‘The Boss,’ said Saffron.

  ‘I agree,’ said Ruth.

  ‘Nah. I bet he calls his mother.’

  ‘Correct, Vic,’ I said, thumbing the contact.

  While I waited for the connection, Vicky said, ‘She used to work for GCHQ. She knows who to call next.’

  23 — Second Nature

  Of course, it wasn’t that simple. How do I know? Because the man from GCHQ said, ‘It’s not that simple.’

  There had been more than two phone calls. At least twelve that I know of, and plenty of emails, too, before the Cloister Court granted a warrant and the man from GCHQ suggested that we meet in the Inkwell because his quiz team often came there. All I knew about him was that he wasn’t part of the world of magick.

  He’d nodded to the landlord’s husband (another GCHQ toiler) and accepted a half of Inkwell Bitter before we adjourned to a shady corner and he gave me the bad news.

  Dealing with the security services is always a matter of negotiation, so I smiled at him and said, ‘According to Mother, you can get pretty much everywhere on the net.’

  ‘It’s technically not difficult,’ he said dismissively. ‘We could be in like a shot if ther
e was something important at stake.’

  ‘Such as?’

  ‘“Is the home secretary’s mistress having an affair?” Something like that.’ He slurped his beer. ‘This is nice.’

  ‘And you’re a wind-up merchant.’

  ‘Not really. I just try not to get too po-faced about these things. Let me explain.’

  ‘Please do.’

  ‘Laufstrasse is 100% German. If we were to hack their servers and get found out, there would be an almighty stink. You’ve got authority for our help, but not that much authority.’ He held up a hand to forestall any complaints. ‘I didn’t say it was impossible, I just said that it wasn’t simple. What I can’t do is get your target’s data. What I can do is get you access to her account.’

  ‘What’s the difference?’

  ‘We did a bit of data sniffing, and your target is still using her old email address as the UserID. Now, she hasn’t used that email account or the original phone in over a year, so we’ve cloned both of them for you. You’ve definitely got authority for that.’

  ‘Good to know.’

  ‘What you do is this: send a request to re-set the password. Laufstrasse will respond to the request, you re-set the password and you’re in business. With any luck, your target will just think it’s a blip when she can’t access the app with her old password.’

  I shook my head. ‘She’ll know. She’ll know exactly what’s going on.’

  ‘That’s the best I can do, I’m afraid.’

  ‘I’ll take it.’

  He finished his beer and grinned. ‘Give my regards to your mother.’

  We shook hands and he left me to finish my pint. I’d hoped for a lot more and feared a lot worse. I could work with this.

  I took my drink outside and found an empty table. Somehow, despite the heat, Scout managed to scamper over and jump up at me. I don’t know why Duracell chose a bunny to front their ad campaign: nothing has more pointless energy than a young border collie. He’d been very good today, so I let him win at stick-wrestling. I looked over the meadow towards Wales. There was definitely a warm, wet front approaching. About time.