"Um, yeah," said Wyatt. "Where is the compartment you're talking about?"
Piper's fingers were flying across her keyboard. The wall of monitors were lighting up with the seriously illegal programs she would be using to create our IDs. As a computer nerd I was fascinated by the display of computing power.
Piper kept typing away as she answered Wyatt. "The drawers work like a combination lock. Pull the top drawer out to the max, middle drawer a quarter of the way out, bottom drawer three quarters of the way out."
Wyatt did as instructed and I heard a soft click as the top of the cabinet popped up to reveal a smaller recessed drawer. It was stuffed with blanks for multiple types of IDs.
"This is sooo cool," said Wyatt. "I feel just like Jason Bourne."
Elyse tapped my foot with hers. I turned and she nodded toward the door. I raised my eyebrows in question. Elyse nodded toward the door again, a small frown on her face.
"I think your girlfriend wants to talk to you in private," said Piper.
I wasn't sure how she knew. Her focus had never left the screens in front of her. It was a neat trick, and I wondered if she'd ever taught school, because it was a total teacher move.
"It's fine," said Piper. "I understand that trust is earned. This room is EMP proof, sound proof, and protected by a layer of steel-reinforced concrete. Once you shut the door, none of us magically enhanced individuals will be able to hear what you talk about. But before you step out I need your pictures. Orson, you first. That blank spot of wall over there has a piece of tape on the floor in front of it, put your toes on it and look straight ahead."
I followed Pipers instructions and a small digital camera swung down from the ceiling on an articulated robotic arm. Piper counted down from three, and snap, my photo appeared on one of the screens.
"Elyse, you're up," said Piper.
"Maddie, Lucy?" said Elyse, pulling at her hair. "Do either of you have lip-gloss or anything?"
"Nope," said Lucy.
Maddie shook her head. "Sorry."
Piper sighed and said, "Top left drawer of the desk."
Elyse opened the drawer and smiled. I peered over her shoulder. There was a hair brush and some very basic make-up accessories.
"Hey," I said. "Can I retake my picture? I'd like to at least brush my hair."
Piper winked at me. "Nope, but don't worry, you're gorgeous."
Maddie and Elyse quickly inventoried the items and within minutes looked like they had just stepped out of a salon.
"Dang," said Wyatt. "I'd never guess you guys spent the night fighting trolls, getting blasted by magic wards, and running through the hills."
Wyatt was rewarded with a peck on the cheek from both women. His face broke into the widest, self-satisfied grin I'd ever seen.
"Relax, Romeo," said Morgan, teasing.
Wyatt blushed, hard, but the grin didn't disappear.
I was shocked when Lucy walked over to the desk and poked through the items. She was a hardened battle-mage, and her usual look was spartan—short-cropped hair, zero make-up, zero jewelry. Wyatt's mouth dropped open, and he stared as Lucy scrutinized a tube of lipstick.
"Kid," whispered Morgan. "I wouldn't, trust me."
Lucy, whose magically enhanced hearing was almost as good as the shifters in the room, pointedly ignored Morgan's advice to Wyatt. Maddie and Elyse joined Lucy, pointing out some of the different make-up items that would look best with her coloring. The three of us dudes watched dumbfounded as they went full girl-mode and within minutes had Lucy looking like she had stepped off the cover of Vogue.
Piper cleared her throat. "If everyone's ready, it's picture time. So Elyse, if you please," she said, gesturing to the taped mark on the floor. Piper's desire for quick efficiency was no match for Elyse, who with Maddie as back-up made it perfectly clear that they reserved the right of final approval on their pictures.
"And that goes for Lucy also," Maddie told Piper.
“Yeah, okay, whatever, just step up to the damned tape.”
While Elyse and Maddie continued to frustrate Piper, Morgan moved over so he could stand next to Lucy. The two of them looked everywhere but at each other—the floor, the ceiling, their shoes—seriously, they looked like a couple of junior high school kids at their first school dance.
Morgan finally broke the silence. "With the . . . stuff.” He gestured to his face. "It's like looking into the past. You look just as amazing as you always did."
Lucy ran her fingers through the short hair on the side of her head. "Except my hair was a lot longer," she said nervously.
"Yeah," said Morgan, but then hastily added, "But you look great. Really, the short hair suits you."
Elyse, finally satisfied with her picture, took my hand and led me out of the room. "We'll be right back," she called over her shoulder. I pulled the door closed behind us and the second it sealed all sound from the room faded.
I ran my hand over the doorframe. "This is impressive," I said. "We should start a business that sells and installs sound proof rooms and target our advertising to Society members and shifters. We'd make a killing."
"Are you sure we can trust Piper?" Elyse asked, ignoring my brilliant money-making idea. "I've never heard of a shifter binding ceremony. My parents have never mentioned it, and no one at the compound while I was growing up ever said anything. And I've met some old shifters, old even in comparison to my parents, and I'm telling you shifters don't have that kind of magic."
"But maybe at some time in the past they did?" I said. "If it's an Ollphiest thing, and I'm pretty sure it is, it would be lost to legend like everything else I can do. And it was me—I mean, the way it felt. It was my aura, my energy doing the binding."
Elyse looked away.
"Hey, it's like Piper said," I assured her. "It's not romantic or anything like that. I'm not sure how to explain it."
"She's still bound to you, Orson. She shares something with you that nobody else does, including me."
I turned her around to face me. "And that's because I don't need magic to know that I can trust you, that I can trust Wyatt and Maddie, and Lucy and even Morgan. None of you would ever need to perform a binding ceremony, because I already know you have my back, as I have yours. But other shifters, people like the Cranes—I don't know, having their life bound to mine may make it easier to trust them."
"Daniel and Roxanne are good people."
"I'm not saying they're not, but can I really trust them not only with my life, but also yours? And the lives of the other people inside that room? What if the Cabal is able to compromise them somehow? Like threaten their family?"
"What you're saying is you would willingly strip them of their free will? To protect yourself?"
"What?" I was shocked. "I would never do that."
"Think about it, Orson. If somebody put a gun, so to speak, to one of the Crane children's heads insisting Daniel or Roxanne betray you, would you have them choose loyalty to you over the life of their kid? If they were bound to you, the only choice they would have is death."
Elyse was right. Piper chose to bind herself to me, and I didn't even know it was happening until it was done. But the idea of forcing somebody to perform the ceremony to ensure his or her allegiance would basically be a type of enslavement and I was not okay with that.
You're a fool.
Don't start, not now.
The Sealing Ceremony is how it has always been done. It is how you will build your army.
First of all I never agreed to build an army. And as for your argument that this is the way 'it has always been done', I'd like to point out that you and those like you were hunted into extinction.
Silence.
What? No snappy comeback?
"Hey," Elyse said, pulling me out the internal debate. "Where did you go?"
"It's him," I said, tapping my head. "I'm starting to understand why the Ollphiest scared the crap out of our ancestors. He thinks a slave army is a swell idea."
"Really?"
"Pretty much, yeah."
"So then, you agree with me?"
I nodded. "Of course, but I would be very surprised if there was an unbinding ceremony. I think Piper's stuck."
"She should have thought about that before she started chanting," said Elyse with a shrug. "But we agree, you won't let anyone else do it or ask anyone to do it, right?"
"Absolutely, one hundred percent. That's not me." I pulled her in tight, breathing in her scent. "Thank you for keeping me thinking straight."
"Always," she said, giving me a quick kiss.
When we walked back into the room Wyatt was jumping around. The excitement coming off the kid was obvious.
Wyatt waved a driver's license at Elyse and me. "My new official ID stating to the world that I am twenty-one years of age, thank you very much."
"Does Piper have an aging ray-gun that we don't know about?" I teased. "Because you still look like an extra from Riverdale."
"Ha-ha, very funny. You're only three years older than me, you overgrown teddy bear," said Wyatt.
I held up my hands in defeat and Wyatt continued his victory dance. Maddie pulled Elyse over to help her pick the best photo for her new ID.
Lucy's voice cut through Wyatt's exuberant exclamations. She was discussing something with Piper. "You can do that?"
"With the click of a mouse, yes," said Piper.
"What's up?" I asked.
Morgan blew out a breath. "Piper can clean out the remaining funds from all of Marcus' accounts."
"Seriously? Like, all of his money?"
Piper nodded. "All of the accounts I can access are fair game. Of course, knowing Marcus, I'm sure he's got cash squirreled away in places I don't know about."
I realized the room had gone silent. The talk of stealing Marcus' money had grabbed everybody's attention.
Wyatt slid up to stand behind Piper. "How much are we talking about?"
Piper typed and clicked for a half a minute before answering. "Just north of two hundred million."
"Dollars?" Wyatt was beside himself.
Piper laughed at the kid's excitement. "Yes, dollars."
Maddie whistled. Both Morgan and Lucy had the same look on their faces. I imagined it was the same look a pride of lions had before taking down a herd of gazelles.
"Are we going to take it?" Elyse asked.
"Damn straight we are," said Morgan, grinning.
"Oh yeah," agreed Lucy.
"Okay.” Piper was all business. "I will run it through multiple dummy corporations and park it in several offshore accounts that each of us will have access to. I'll set up credit and ATM cards that correspond to the new identities I just provided you."
"This is the best day of my life," said Wyatt, reverently.
"You know you can't spend all of that on comic books, right?" asked Maddie.
"Of course not," said Wyatt. "Just a small portion, like, say a hundred grand or so. I feel that's a reasonable and responsible amount."
Maddie giggled at the look of rapture on Wyatt's face.
Piper cleared her throat and spoke directly to Morgan and Lucy. "We'll have to set very specific rules for spending the money." She looked pointedly at Wyatt. "So we don't draw undue attention to ourselves."
"Agreed," Morgan and Lucy answered in unison.
"So, what are we going to buy first?" asked Elyse.
"Lots of guns and things that go boom," said Morgan. "I know you guys are the equivalent of three army battalions, but us mere mortals still need help when it comes to making the bad guys dead."
"And now that we have the proper funding, I can arrange a private, untraceable ride to Mexico," said Piper. "Morgan, if you give me a list of what you want, I can have it waiting for you when we arrive."
"Sorry Piper, but you're not coming," I said.
Piper spun in her chair, her anger flaring. "Of course I am."
I shook my head. "It's beyond clear that your computer skills are what the team needs most. We need you here on the keyboard doing your thing. We don't know what we're going to run into down there, and I'll feel much better knowing we have a fairy godmother in the digital cloud watching our backs."
Morgan nodded. “Orson's right, we need you on ops.”
Piper didn't look happy about it, but simply said, "I will do whatever you think best. Thank you for trusting me to have your back."
Wyatt smacked his hands together. "What are we waiting for? Let's go kick some Marcus ass."
"Yes, please," said Lucy.
Chapter Fourteen
The logistics of our trip took some time to set up. Purchasing state-of-the-art, military grade weaponry, while scarily easy, didn't happen in an instant. Piper had to navigate through her contacts on the dark web until a location-specific arms dealer was finally suggested. After the formal introductions were over the dealer assured Piper and Morgan that he could have the requested ordinance waiting at the secluded airfield we would be landing at the following evening.
"I still don't understand why we can't go now," said Lucy, for the umpteenth time.
With amazing patience Morgan repeated the same answer. "Lucy, we need to make a night incursion. It's 3:00 a.m. now, and by the time we fly down to Mexico the sun will be coming up and we'd just have to wait at that end. It's safer and more comfortable here."
Wyatt, Maddie and Elyse walked in with trays overflowing with grilled steak, chicken and multiple side dishes. The three of them had been cooking up a storm for the past hour and my stomach was grumbling in anticipation.
"Morgan's right," I said, piling a plate with some of everything. "Now eat. We all need to be in top fighting condition."
"Trust me, Lucy," said Piper. "Marcus isn't going anywhere. I'm sure he's been alerted to all of his money going poof, and is currently losing his mind. He will know it was us and will be planning all the different ways he's going to kill us."
Wyatt choked on a mouthful of food and said in-between sobs for air, "Exactly how many ways are there to kill a person?"
"You'd be surprised," said Morgan.
"Yes," said Piper. "And you don't want me to explain them in detail while you're eating."
Wyatt swallowed his food. He continued to eat, just not with as much enthusiasm.
"Piper, can you set up an anonymous connection for me?" asked Morgan. "I'd like to check on something."
"Sure thing," said Piper. "Phone or digital?"
"Phone, if you got it."
Piper typed a few commands and then pointed to the desk. "There's a handset you can use in the second drawer. Just plug it into that jack on the wall.
Morgan grabbed the phone and after plugging it in dialed a really long number. I looked at Lucy, who shrugged. I listened in as a robot voice instructed Morgan to enter a code, and after a few beeps Morgan was in what sounded like a voicemail system. The robot voice said he had one unread message. Morgan pressed the appropriate button. A man’s voice began speaking.
"Hey buddy, I'm not sure what you're into, but an all-points has been put out on you and a bunch of people I've never heard of—do you know a Lucy, Orson, Wyatt, Maddie or Elyse? Because they've been designated as domestic terrorists. The top brass here at the agency is hot to find them and don't care who gets burned in the process. If you can, keep your head down, amigo, and you never heard this from me."
Click.
The robot voice returned informing Morgan that the recording had been deleted and scrubbed. Morgan hung the phone up, his movements slow and deliberate. I knew Elyse, Piper and Lucy had all heard the message as clear as I had, and I decided to let Lucy take point on the questioning.
"Hey.” Lucy moved to take the phone from Morgan. "What was that about?"
Morgan looked up. "You could hear that?"
Lucy nodded. "Magic, remember."
"Right, I keep forgetting," said Morgan, rubbing his head. "Do you know why the CIA would target you all as terrorists?"
Wyatt perked up, putting the pieces together. "The C
IA thinks we're terrorists? That's great, just friggin' great."
Morgan shook his head. "It's not just the CIA. It's everybody, including my organization."
"You said that your group investigated weird activity," said Lucy. "After what went down at your house, they're probably spearheading the pursuit for us. And I'm still guessing that they're an arm of the Society, utilizing all the mundane . . ."
Morgan frowned.
Oops.
Lucy winced. "I don't mean that you're mundane, it's a term the magic community uses to differentiate who it is we're talking about."
Morgan didn't look convinced. "Right. The superheroes," he gestured to all of us. "Versus the rest of us a-holes."
"It's not like that.”
I coughed and gave Lucy a look.
"Well, it's not like that for me," said Lucy. "Or any of us in this room. The Paragon Society is old and steeped in antiquated, outdated traditions. Anyway, the people you work for are probably Society members, at least some of them. That's why they're looking for us and have enlisted everyone else in the hunt."
"Do you think they sent those troll things to attack my house?"
"No," Lucy said. "The Society would never utilize . . . those kinds of creatures, especially in that way. We haven't had a lot of time for explanations, but there's a separatist group—we call them the Cabal. We believe this group has successfully penetrated the Society’s governing councils, and they would have no problem sending trolls."
"So, while we're hunting Marcus, the Society and this Cabal are hunting us?" said Morgan.
"Yes. I know it's a lot to process."
"Yeah," said Morgan. "Hey, your Society wouldn't be involved in experiments on regular people would they?"
"No, that's forbidden by magical law. But the Cabal, I wouldn't put it past them."
"The Cabal," repeated Morgan. "I think you and I are after the same people, only I call them the Cartel."
"Say what?" I said.
Morgan smiled at me. "Oh yeah, I didn't know what else to call them, but word on the street is they're dealing in bio-hacking, meaning crazy, sci-fi-sounding enhancements. Selling them to the highest bidder. What if what they're selling is magical enhancements?"
Cabal Page 14