Authors: Katharine Kerr
Water to Burn (44 page)
“If he’s smart he’ll be miles away by now. Let me see if I can pick him up.”
I set the laptop bag down next to me on the bed, then ran an SM:P. I received a strong, clear impression. Brother Belial must have been off recovering rather than helping Caleb hide.
“He’s watching TV in a motel room somewhere,” I told Ari. “But I’ve got no idea where or which one. It looks like a pretty cheap room, though.”
“Donovan told me over the phone that Sumner had withdrawn a lot of cash from the credit card account he’d given him. He can probably travel for some days on that amount. Donovan doesn’t know how much money from other sources Sumner has at his disposal. He must have other cards, too.”
“Probably under assumed names, yeah. Say, was everything all right back at the flats?”
“Yes.” He hesitated. “Except for one odd detail. The security system picked up some sort of energy discharge in the lower flat. According to the log, though, it happened just before we left to join Jack at the restaurant.”
“Weird.” I remembered the transparent woman I’d seen at that moment. She might have been some sort of manifestation rather than an IOI. “I’ll investigate that once they let me out of here.”
“Good, but for now, please rest.” Ari glanced at his watch. “I’d better go, but I’ll be back this evening.”
“Okay. Just don’t go too near the ocean.”
“Does it matter? After all, the ocean came to you.”
“Yeah, but let’s not make it easy for the bastard. I doubt if he’s got enough Qi left to pull that stunt again.” Not right away, anyway, but I kept that thought to myself.
Ari kissed me, then walked to the door, where he paused and looked back.
“One last thing I’ve been meaning to ask you.” He kept a perfectly straight face. “Is this what the Roadrunner does? Manipulate Qi?”
I laughed, and he grinned at me. “Yeah,” I said, “that must be it.”
After he left, Enderby unhooked me from the monitors, though the IV in my hand stayed, dripping assorted electrolytes into my bloodstream. Aunt Eileen returned, bringing big paper cups of coffee, one for me as well as for herself, bless her.
“This is the first chance we’ve had to actually talk,” Eileen said. “Michael gave me that letter. Do you really think it’s from Flann?”
“I do, yeah. The man who brought it to our world was a rabbi, and he was dying when I talked with him. He wouldn’t have lied. Besides, there’s the handwriting.”
“Yes, seeing it gave Jim and me both quite a shock.” She sipped her coffee and gazed out the window across the room. “I’m glad he’s alive, but I really don’t understand why he’s in prison.”
“I don’t know, either. I think it’s got something to do with world-walking. It must be illegal wherever he is.”
“That’s what Michael said, too.” Aunt Eileen looked at me. “Michael’s determined to find him.”
“So am I, eventually. I have a couple of cases on hand here, though. I can’t just drop everything and run off.”
“I hope Michael realizes that.” Eileen sighed with a shake of her head. “Honestly, Nola, I used to think, when you children were all little, that it was going to be such a blessing once you were all grown up and out on your own and all. Instead, I really think things have gotten—well, I won’t say worse, just more complicated.”
“Yeah. I have to agree.” I realized that we were talking around the biggest problem the letter had brought us. “What about Mother?”
“I haven’t told Deirdre yet. I
was
thinking about asking Sean. He’s the one who calls her all the time, but I decided to ask Keith instead.”
was
thinking about asking Sean. He’s the one who calls her all the time, but I decided to ask Keith instead.”
“I think that’s the best.”
“Thank you. I was feeling like a coward, but there you are, no one wants to tackle Deirdre in one of her moods. Keith can always think of it as a spiritual trial and get something out of it that way.”
Enderby returned at this point in the conversation to tell me that I was through with the humiliating tests. She also plugged my laptop’s transformer for the power supply into a nearby outlet, so I didn’t have to worry about running down the battery. After Aunt Eileen left to go home and start dinner for the family, I managed to type a report to TranceWeb despite the tube in my hand. I sent Y an e-mail stating that I was assessing the situation and would communicate further when I got my strength back.
Ari returned shortly after with the news that the blackmail charges against Caleb Sumner had been filed and processed. The police had put out a state-wide alert and notified the FBI as well.
“It sounds like they’ll get him sooner or later,” I said, “unless he leaves the country or something.” As soon as I finished speaking, I realized that Caleb was going to do nothing so sensible. “But he won’t. It’s the treasure. It’s his obsession.”
“Good. Then we have a chance at him.”
At dinnertime, Enderby came in with a tray full of awfullooking food. I managed to choke down about half of it with Ari badgering me to keep eating. When I was done, he went down to the coffee shop for a meal that, he told me when he returned, wasn’t much better. Not long after Father Keith arrived. He told us that Aunt Eileen had shown him the letter from Dad.
“I’ll tell your mother,” he said to me. “The blessed Francis always preached that tribulation is good for the soul.”
“She won’t believe you,” I said. “Why tell her at all?”
“Get thee behind me, Satan. She deserves to know that Flann’s still alive.”
With the matter in such good hands, I could rest. Nothing troubled my sleep but the usual noises of a big hospital. An hour before dawn, in fact, I woke up to the sound of hollow metal things bouncing and clanging out in the hall. Trays? Equipment? Garbage cans? I never did find out.
Ari had managed to get himself next to me on the single bed by lying precariously on his side with his suit jacket thrown over him for a blanket. He slept, snoring, right through the clanging of the metal things. Even though I had the comfortable pillows and most of the bed, I couldn’t get back to sleep.
Someone or something tugged at my consciousness. For a moment I froze, terrified, before I recognized the familiar touch of Y’s mind on mine. I realized that back in Washington the sun had already come up. I let myself fall into trance and saw his image as if he were standing beside the bed. Everything and everyone else in the room turned misty and pale.
“I’m surprised to see you,” I said. “It’s Sunday.”
“Something prompted me to log on,” Y said. “So I read your report and e-mail. I take it you nearly drowned.”
“I didn’t, exactly, just got soaking wet. After he drenched me, I was so cold and shaky that it hampered my ability to fight. He damn near drained all of my Qi.”
Y’s image shuddered. “Do you want me to fly out?” he said. “Do you need reinforcements?”
At first I was shocked that he’d offer. Second, however, I felt shamed, that he’d think I needed help. “My bureau can handle this.”
“Really?”
Common sense took over. “Okay, I don’t know if I can or not,” I said. “At the moment I’m in no shape to decide.”
“Aha, the truth stands revealed in all her glory. Very well. Contact me as soon as you’ve made up your mind. When do they let you out of the hospital?”
“It better be today. I’ll make sure of it.”
Y smiled and disappeared. I woke myself up. I felt entirely too tired, considering I’d only been in a simple trance state.
When Doctor Poulis came in, I announced that I was going home. She made no objection, but she did warn Ari to make sure I took things easy. Thanks to that, he insisted on driving. Being in a car with Ari at the wheel was the opposite of taking things easy, but we managed to get back home alive, unmangled, and reasonably anxiety free.
As we drove up to our flats, I saw a sprawling blot of graffiti on the outside of the stairwell, the symbol of Chaos magic once again. Another tagger had sprayed over it in red: NorXV. Oddly enough, the black Chaos magic symbol, stenciled as it was, looked precise and tidy, while the gang marker was smeared and sloppy.
“Again?” I said. “These kids don’t give up easily, do they?”
“Apparently not,” Ari said. “I’ll carry you upstairs and then wash it off.”
“I don’t need carrying. What is this, your secret Tarzan Complex?”
“Do you have to see psychology everywhere?” He glanced my way in annoyance and nearly drove into the apartment house next door.
I shrieked. He swore and straightened the wheel just in time. We managed to reach the garage safely; I got out of the car before he drove in, however, just in case he went right through the back wall.
By the time we walked back to the front of the building, I felt ridiculously tired. I just had enough energy to throw a couple of Chaos wards at that unbalanced arrow symbol. It hissed and died on my second attempt. I was so exhausted by then that sweat broke out on my forehead. The one-anda-half flights of stairs ahead of me loomed like a small mountain.
Ari paused, looked me over, and picked me up before I could complain. To be honest, I didn’t want to complain. He carried me up the outside steps, set me down to open the door, then carried me up to our flat. He put me down on the couch.
“I’ll be right back,” Ari said. “I just want to get rid of that sodding graffiti.”
“Please and thank you,” I said.
Ari took off his suit jacket and tossed it over one of the burgundy leather chairs. He also unstrapped his shoulder holster and took it off before he went outside.
“No use in frightening the neighbors,” he said.
While he worked, I dozed, recovering from the ride home, I figured. The sound of my cell phone buzzing woke me. When I answered, it was Aunt Eileen, who called to tell me that Aunt Rose and her husband Wally had arrived.
“They’re going over to see your mother tonight,” Eileen said. “I thought we’d have a barbeque tomorrow, if it doesn’t rain. Dinner in any case. Are you well enough—”
“Yes,” I snapped.
“All right, dear. Four o’clock.”
“We’ll be there. I’m looking forward to it.”
I clicked off, then put the phone down on the coffee table. I could hear the hose running as Ari worked outside, a trickle of water that sounded like human voices, talking softly in another room. I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. I remembered Belial’s attack and shivered. Water to burn, water to chill, water to drown a victim—like Bill Evers, I thought to myself. Now that I’d felt Belial’s malice, I was convinced that he’d murdered Evers with Caleb’s help. What to do about it still eluded me.
I heard the front door open and someone’s footsteps on the stairs. Even though I knew it was Ari, for a brief moment I thought I was going to see a stranger arrive. Ari walked in, unbuttoning his wet shirt.
“What’s wrong?” he said. “You look worried.”
“I see Belial everywhere,” I said. “Why are you so wet?”
“The sodding hose leaked.” He took off the shirt. “I’ll hang this over the shower rail.”
Even though he’d stopped running the water, the voices continued their murmured conversation. I heard Ari go into the bedroom and begin rustling around in the closet. I felt like yelling at him to be quiet, but even if he had, the voices still would have been incomprehensible. I knew that from prior experience. Ari returned wearing his jeans and a dark green shirt.
“Did the graffiti wash off?” I said.
“Easily, except for the leak in the hose.” Ari sat down next to me on the couch. “I wonder if Caleb painted that symbol, the Chaotic magic thing. It still looks like a roundabout to me.”
“I can see why, but—” I stopped in mid-sentence. “Interchange.”
“That’s what a roundabout amounts to, yes,” Ari went on. “Though on the big motorways—”
“Yeah, I know.” I held up a hand and interrupted. “Something just hit me. The deviant world level that Mike discovered. What if it’s an interchange between a lot of worlds?” I remembered the cartoon image of Swiss cheese. “Full of holes that lead to somewhere else.”
Ari was staring at me. Words continued to rise into my consciousness. “Twelve gates to the city, but there are only seven arrows on that circle, so the symbol’s incomplete. So is that deviant level, incomplete, I mean.”
“The way your mind works,” Ari said, “never fails to amaze me.”
“I find it kind of surprising, myself.”
“Your theory might explain the radiation. None of this makes sense, precisely, but I do see a logical thread of some sort here.”
“So do I. Jumping around between worlds might let loose a lot of weird radiation. I don’t understand the science involved.”
“Obviously.”
“But doesn’t it seem plausible? About the interchange.”
“Plausible enough to get on with. I suppose then that those Chaos lights could be bursts of energy from the interchange itself.”
“It could be, yeah. Huh, I don’t know who’s doing the stenciling, but I bet he’s not doing it to give us useful clues.”
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