Rachel went to Derek’s office as soon
as Nick came out. She regarded him with
a calm, professional gaze.
“I won’t be so dumb as to ask you if you’ve
ever heard the saying ‘burning the candle at both ends’,” she began. Her voice was light, not in the least
threatening. “I know you have an’ I
know you do. I can understand why you
do, so I’m not going to lecture you.
However – ”
Derek smiled. “I believe I know what you’re going to say.”
“Then you’ll also understand why I’m
going to say it. Derek, we’ve all been
there. Feeling the pressure, knowing
lives depend on the result. In those
circumstances, burning the candle at both ends .. sure. It’s necessary. We all do it because we know we’ll be able to catch up on sleep,
food, a healthy lifestyle. But, right
now, ask yourself these questions – is this one of those situations? Is it out of control, beyond our immediate
ability to rescue it? Are we letting
things slide, taking our time, not bothering to resolve it? Is there anything more we could do, anyone we can confront? Right now?
If the answer is yes to that last one then you have my full permission
to carry on as you are. But, if it’s no
.. take a few hours an’ get some sleep.
Your body has been thru an ordeal.
It needs time to recover. Your
mind could use a break as well. William
has two protectors. Alex, Nick an’ I
are on the case. To be honest, you’re
not doing any good here, not for us, not for yourself. Use the time wisely, Derek, or, when we do
track down that woman, you won’t be in a fit state to do anything about it.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Derek
agreed, rising slowing and stiffly. “A
few hours’ sleep is a wonderful idea, one I’m more than happy to accommodate.”
“Thank you,” she accepted.
“William is not to leave the
house. Tigris and Profelis can see
him. Make sure they stay alert. Rachel, I cannot stress how important that
is. He asked for my help. I promised it to him. He can rant and stamp his feet as much as he
wants but he is not to go outside the seals.
Too much is at stake.”
She nodded, her eyes somber.
“After all,” Derek murmured as he drew
near, “the last thing any of us want is for William Sloan to return from the
dead. We’d never hear the end of it.”
Rachel smiled quickly. “I’ll keep him inside.”
“And tell Andrew no visitors are to be
admitted without Tigris or Profelis vetting them. Our security must be seamless.”
“I will.”
“Wake me in three hours,” he
requested.
“Three and one half. That’s extra time for you to get to your
bedroom.”
“Very well.” He left his office and proceeded like an elderly man into the
control room. “Has any progress been
made?”
Alex looked round. “I came up with no Salome Macintosh in the
Bay area, New York City, the five boroughs, New York State, or New
England. It’s a big country, Derek, and
no guarantee that she’s in any of the states.
She could be dead. Right now,
I’m running a check for Selene Macintosh.”
“I’m checking the rest of the US for
Salome,” Nick added. “One thing in our
favor, it’s an unusual name. So is
Selene. Narrows it down some.”
“Rachel has reminded me that I was
recently in an airplane crash and that I need to rest,” Derek said.
“Sweet dreams,” Alex urged.
“We’re on it. Take your time,” Nick grinned quickly.
“I will. Thank you.”
Derek trusted his team. He’d worked with them for many years now
and, while they may keep things from him from time to time, while they occasionally
went behind his back or over his head, they always did it thru concern and the
right motives. And, since Paul Emery
had taken over the leadership, those times of subterfuge, white lies and
studied ignorance were a fading memory.
He knew they’d wake him if they had to.
He had faith in them and knew it was returned. Derek began the journey to his bed in a comforted frame of mind.
*****
“Oh, crap,” Merlin muttered. “An inch farther, she would’ve split her
head wide open on the edge of the coffee table.”
She pulled Patricia upright and leaned
her back against the sofa’s thickly padded cushions. She went to get a glass of water. Then she sat rubbing one of Patricia’s stone cold hands.
Patricia moaned softly.
“I think she’s coming round … ”
Patricia’s eyes moved under the closed
lids.
“Hey .. c’mon. You’re okay. No damage done,” Merlin soothed.
“C’mon, Mrs Sloan … ”
With a faint whimper, Patricia opened
her eyes. “What happened?” she
whispered.
“You passed out. I don’t blame you.”
Patricia blinked, frowning, then her
eyes widened. “Did you say .. someone
was trying to ..?”
“Yeah, I did. Don’t faint again, please!”
“Why would anyone want to bring
William back?” Patricia gasped.
“We’re wondering the same thing,”
Merlin replied, her voice level with not one hint of irony.
“Don’t misunderstand … I would love it if he were here, if he were
alive .. if he hadn’t died. But he
did. I miss him so much. I know he could be a total bastard when he
wanted but he was my husband. I love
him and I miss him. But I would not
want him back from the dead. It’s .. a
travesty.”
“So you’ll be prepared to help us stop
it happening, right?”
“Yes.
Of course. Anything I can do,”
she said faintly.
“Here. I got you some water.”
Her hands shaking, Patricia accepted
the glass and sipped at the contents.
Slowly, color crept back into her cheeks again and the tremors
passed. Merlin waited patiently until
the other woman was ready. Pushing too
far or too fast wouldn’t get them any closer to the answers. It would just antagonize her. Learning that William was on his way back
had been a shock. Merlin had to tread
delicately along this path.
“Feel better now?”
“Much,” Patricia nodded. “I was about to fix supper. Will you stay?”
“Sure but I don’t need to eat. I’m not hungry, I mean. I’ll help you though.” She assisted Patricia to her feet.
“How did you know?” Patricia asked.
“Know ..?”
“That someone is – ”
“Oh.
Oh .. a dream. One of those
precognizant dreams. Warning. William appeared to Derek Rayne and told
him. Asked for his help to stop it.”
Patricia sighed wistfully.
“He told Derek a lot of things,”
Merlin went on. “How much he misses you
an’ loves you. He said he’s earned his rest
an’ that he has a nice house, roses in the garden. He’s learned to slow down, take it easy. An’ that’s why he doesn’t want to come
back. He says he did the right thing
saving Derek. It was a noble
gesture. A sacrifice. He wishes he could have spoken with you
before the end because you parted in anger.
He regrets that. He didn’t know,
at the time, that he would die. But now
he’s over the other side, he really likes it there.”
She nodded, smiling thru her tears.
“In the dream, Derek promised to help
William,” Merlin went on. “William gave
him some clues to work on an’, when he woke up, he got the team on it. I was in this area so he asked me to call by
an’ ask some questions.”
Patricia nodded again as she opened
the icebox and began to sort thru supper choices. “Well, as I said, anything I can do. He really prefers being dead?”
“Yeah. He said that .. it isn’t at all as he thought it might be, but a
lot of people say that. His house is
like the one in Surrey. Very similar,
an’ the weather is a lot more reliable.”
Patricia laughed.
Merlin sat at the counter. “He said he was tired, Patricia. Without the Legacy, he felt that .. he’d
lost a part of himself. He was sad at
leaving you but he was also relieved that the fight was over. He was at peace, working in his garden,
reading books, doing all the things he’d always wanted to do but never had the
time .. an’ then he felt he was being pulled back. We have to find out who’s doing it an’ stop them before they
succeed.”
“I won’t ask if it’s possible,
obviously it is. I never knew much
about the Legacy, I didn’t want to know.
I knew just enough, an’ even that scared me.” She paused. “When he died
.. I was so angry. Angry with him, that
he’d let it happen, that .. that he could be so stupid. All those years an’ nothing, then this.”
“You never knew where he’d been when
he went missing?”
“He never told me. I assumed he’d been in prison
somewhere. He was so thin when he came
back.”
“He’d been in Hell.”
“I know some prisons can treat you
badly – ”
“No.
He’d been in Hell.”
Patricia turned, her face growing
white again.
“He was rescued,” Merlin related. “He was lucky.”
“H-Hell?”
Merlin nodded. “Another noble gesture. You’re right, he could be a total bastard
but, when backed into a corner, he always did the right thing. He should’ve resigned when he got back. He didn’t.
It was a mistake. Eventually, he
was .. asked to resign.”
Patricia shook her head. “Why didn’t he tell me?”
“Because it’s the Legacy. A big secret. And the little you knew scared you. Why add to it?”
“Who rescued him?”
“A friend. A person who doesn’t know any better.”
“A dumb idiot!” Patricia flared. “Who would willingly go into a place like
that? Even for a friend?”
“I guess someone who doesn’t fear the
dark places,” Merlin replied.
Patricia broke down, her shoulders
heaving as huge, raw sobs erupted from her throat. Merlin went to her, holding her until the sobs faded into soft
weeping and even that dwindled away into a drear silence.
“He can’t come back,” Merlin
said. “We can’t allow it.”
“No.
It isn’t right. He’s earned his
rest.”
“Let me fix your supper. You sit down. Get your breath.”
Patricia Sloan sank onto a chair, her
shoulders drooping. For several
minutes, she said nothing but then drew in a ragged breath.
“I thought .. I’d accepted it. Come to terms, isn’t that what they
say? I can tell people I’m a widow and
it doesn’t really get to me. It’s
because .. in my heart I don’t believe it.
I keep on expecting him to walk in the door and smile at me and tell me
he’s .. just going to his study to make some calls and he’ll be out again in a
while so could I hold supper for a half hour.
But he never does. And he never
will. All this .. it’s a façade. I haven’t accepted anything. I watched his casket put into the mausoleum
.. but I never believed he was inside it.”
She laughed quickly, on the edge of tears again. “Now I know he is .. and I know I really am
a widow and that he won’t be coming home for supper.”
Don’t count your chickens just yet,
Merlin thought as she sliced and diced.
Patricia gave a shuddering sigh. “Denial can be wonderful but it doesn’t last
forever. Someone like you always
happens along to rip away the veils and tear off the masks. I don’t mean to sound bitter.”
“It’s okay,” Merlin said. “I understand. If you have a message for William – ”
“Right. And how will you pass it on?”
“I’ll give it to Derek an’, if he has
another one of those dreams … ”
“I’ll think about it.” Patricia wiped her cheeks. “Why did William appear to Derek and not
me?”
“Do you know how to track down someone
who could do this? Do you know where to
start looking or how? You can’t just
call a private detective. What would
you tell him? My late husband appeared
to me in a dream an’ told me someone’s trying to bring him back from the
dead. I want you to find them an’ stop
them. You’d be locked up, Patricia. Derek has not only the knowledge and the
resources to do this but also the experience in the kinds of rituals
involved. I realize you don’t have much
love for the Legacy but, in this, it’s your best option.”
Merlin grilled a tuna steak and let
Patricia recover her balance. This
visit wasn’t going too badly. Patricia
had fainted and then released a lot of grief.
Now she looked exhausted, empty.
But she hadn’t asked Merlin to leave, at least not yet. Merlin put the steak on a plate and placed
it on the counter with a side salad.
Patricia picked up a fork and, clearly lacking appetite, began to pick
at it and push it around the white porcelain.
“Don’t waste it,” Merlin urged. “William doesn’t want you to punish
yourself. None of this is your fault.”
Patricia stabbed at a small piece of
fish and forced herself to eat it.
“What questions do you have to ask me?”
Merlin sat opposite her. “I need you to think back. Did you ever see what looked like a foreign
coin? William’s father gave it to him years
ago, while William was at Oxford. Maybe
he told you it was a lucky coin. It was
.. so big, tarnished, the markings just about all rubbed off.”
“I know it,” Patricia said. “William never spoke of it at all. I didn’t know his father had given it to him
or that it was lucky. It didn’t bring
him much luck, did it? I found it when I
was going thru his things. It was in
the back of a desk drawer under a heap of other stuff. Forgotten.
I don’t suppose William even remembered it was there.”
“Where is it now? Can I see it?”
Patricia shook her head. “I don’t have it any more.”
“Okay. Did you give it to the New York house with the rest of William’s
things?”
“How did you know I did that?”
“We called them to ask.”
“Oh.
No, it was just an old coin as far as I was concerned. It was not obviously Legacy. It was .. something which my husband had
owned.”
“But you don’t have it anymore.”
“No.
I gave it away.”
Damn, Merlin thought. Why is life never easy? Why doesn’t it, just once, give me a fucking
break?
“To whom did you give it, Patricia?”
Patricia swallowed another mouthful of
fish. “An old friend.”
*****
“Well, that’s one line of inquiry down
the toilet,” Nick remarked, leaning back and stretching. “No Salome Macintosh anywhere in the
US. What’re the odds, huh? You’d think there’d be at least one. But no.”
“Have you tried variations on the
spelling of Macintosh?” Rachel asked.
“MacIntosh with a capital I or Mcintosh with a big M, little C, or even
– ”
“Big M, little C, big I?” Nick
suggested. “Yep. Tried ’em all. Zip.”
“How about you, Alex?” Rachel asked.
“Selene Macintosh. Yeah.
I’ve found several,” Alex answered.
“Checking ’em against their driver’s licenses though .. no match. Not even close.”
“Has anyone considered that these
could be fake names?” Nick remarked.
“Has been known.”
Rachel bit at her lip. She felt she was in charge. Derek hadn’t specifically said it but she
felt it. He was sleeping right now and
that had to be good but all the good it was doing would be lost if he was woken
in another ninety minutes or so with a report of failure.
She turned. “Tigris.”
“Dr Corrigan,” he acknowledged.
“Where’s William?”
“Over there, in that armchair.”
“Please ask him what he knows of this
woman.”
Tigris turned to the apparently empty
armchair. He said nothing but nodded
and turned back. “Dr Sloan says .. he
knows very little. He knew her as
Salome Macintosh and he only ever met with her the one time.”
“Okay. Is there anything he’s learned since then about her?”
“Her name could be Selene. Apparently – if it is the same woman – she used
to be in the neighborhood of William’s childhood home.”
“All right. Does William remember her or his father referring to her, or
about a Selene in the neighborhood?” Rachel inquired. “Were there any families in the area with a name similar to
Macintosh?”
“Why do you ask that, Dr Corrigan?”
Profelis frowned. “If someone is going
to use a false name, why would it be similar to a real name?”
“Because, in my experience – ” she
began.
“Dr Sloan asks what experience is
that?” Tigris cut in.
“I’m a therapist,” Rachel explained,
after taking a deep, calming breath. “A
shrink. Clients who come to me often
use fake names when they first start treatment. They don’t want people to know they could have a mental illness,”
she patiently answered. “I know the
treatment’s working when they fess up.
That’s my experience, an’ it tells me that people who use fake names
very often choose one similar to their real names because it’s a lie an’ they
don’t want to be caught out. Let me
give you an example,” she said, pacing away, her index fingers held to her
lips. “If I didn’t want you to know my
name is Corrigan, an’ I told you it was Smith, you would call me Mrs Smith,
right? That’s my name, an’ I’m wearing
a ring. But it sounds so different to
my real name that I wouldn’t react when I heard it. You might have to say it two or three times before I remembered
that was the lie I’d used. But if I
told you my name was Covington ..? It
starts the same way so I’d react to it.
I’d stay close to home so the lie is easier to remember.”
Tigris smiled faintly. “Dr Sloan is impressed.”
“Well, thank you, but it doesn’t help
us, does it?”
“He appreciates that but .. he says
this is yet more proof of why you’re an excellent recruit to the team.”
Rachel blinked. She’d been in the Legacy for so long now
that she didn’t think of herself as a recruit.
But then maybe William felt that fifteen or twenty years was the
appropriate milestone for recruit to become member.
“He says .. no. He doesn’t recall her or his father speaking
about her or a Selene. However, there
was a McAdam family in the area.”
Tigris paused. “That’s big M,
little C, big A.”
“We’re on it,” Alex said, flashing a
grin at Nick. “You take West Coast,
I’ll take East.”
“An’ we’ll meet somewhere in the middle,”
he commented, swinging back to his keyboard.”
*****
Merlin leaned forward. “An old friend?”
Patricia shrugged listlessly. “I hadn’t seen her in years. She turned up, out of the blue, a few weeks
back. Maybe a couple of months. September or early October. Said she’d only just heard about William’s
passing. She wanted to pay her
respects, give her condolences. We
talked for hours.” She smiled
faintly. “It was good to
reminisce. She said the years had been
good to me. I said the same to her but
only because it was polite. She hasn’t
aged well, not at all.”
Merlin stayed silent and let Patricia
talk.
“I first met her in college. She had such ambitions. She wanted to go into the government.” Patricia shook her head. “Justice Department, CIA, FBI, something
like that. To be honest, I didn’t think
she’d ever make it .. but she did. She
next contacted me when I was married and living in New York. We had lunch. She wanted to meet William.
Said something about a .. a special offer she had to make him. We laughed about it, I remember. William was a handsome guy, all his
life. I wondered what kind of offer she
was making, and she told me a professional one, one worth a lot of money. I feel bad about it now but, back then, I
was feeling a little resentful of the amount of time he gave to his work. I figured I was owed a little payback. So I arranged it.”
“Salome Macintosh.”
“Right. You found out about her as well.”
“You gave her the coin.”
“She asked for something small as a
keepsake. Something which had belonged
to William. I tried to give her a few
other things but she said no, they were obviously personal. Eventually, I remembered the coin and she
said that was perfect.”
She would, Merlin thought flatly. “Did you always know her as Salome
Macintosh?”
“That was her name in college.”
“An’ what college was that?”
“Vassar.”
“Okay, we may be able to trace her
from that. You don’t know where she is now, do you?”
Patricia shook her head. “She left soon after. She said she’d call but .. I haven’t
heard.” She paused, her expression
becoming thoughtful. “Is she the one
doing this to William?”
“It’s possible. The coin wasn’t a coin but a powerful
talisman. Patricia, I have to ask an’
I’m sorry but .. were you William’s controller?”
She blinked. “His what?”
“Salome acted as a go between. She got William working as a spy inside the
Legacy. He passed on information to
someone in the government. Were you his
controller?”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“You’re lying, Patricia,” Merlin
remarked sadly and the other woman flushed.
“Maybe you misunderstand,” she said.
“What is there to .. misunderstand in
‘no, I wasn’t’?”
Patricia’s mouth pinched in. “All right, maybe I misunderstood deep
inside. William was intensely focused
on his work. It kept him away from home
a lot of the time. His family life had
to be organized, controlled. He
delegated that to me. So, in a way,
yes, I was his controller but I never
ordered him to be a spy or to .. do whatever it is spies do. Is that clearer for you?”
Merlin didn’t answer for a
moment. “You met Salome in New York,”
she then continued, “thought payback was a pretty good idea, arranged for her
to meet with William. When did you see
her next, or hear from her?”
“It was .. I don’t know, I’m not
sure .. maybe a year. It was a long
time ago! She called me, asked how we
were doing. We talked for a while. She said that William was doing a great job
and, if he ever said or hinted that he wanted to leave, I should try to talk
him out of it. I was growing used to
his absences so .. I said I would.
After that, it was a long time.
Just before we moved to London.
Once we were in England, I never heard from her again. The first time I saw her again was when she turned up here in September or whenever
it was.”
“Okay. I believe you.” Merlin
felt tired. “One last question an’ I
have to be going.”
“I’m listening.”
“Did Salome ever mention her
boss? She was a go between. We know William was on one side. Who was on the other?”
“Clearly someone in the government.”
“The government is full of people,
Patricia. Did she mention a name? A personality? Anything to give us a lead?
You gave her the coin but she could have passed it on. We have to get it back. Think for a second. You don’t like the Legacy because it scares
you .. an’ you only know a very small fraction of what it does. William knows a lot more. If whoever succeeds in bringing him back,
that person will have a pet slave, completely dominated, held in thrall with no
hope of release, and he, or she, will have access to everything William
knows. What kind of terror campaign
could be waged with that knowledge?
What kind of hold over everyday people, people like your friends, could
be had knowing what goes on in the darkness an’ the shadows? The Legacy’s strength is in its secrecy –
the names of its members, the location of its houses, the nature of its
work. That will be lost and, with it,
the defense shield it represents.
William is important, yes, but we have to look at a bigger picture
here. If there’s anything you know,
anything Salome mentioned in passing, or her reaction to one of your stray
remarks, you have to tell me.” Merlin shrugged. “Too much is riding on this for you to hold
back.”
Patricia looked away. “When I met her for lunch that time, she
said her boss was a guy who demanded absolute attention to detail. No one was permitted to slip up. When she said it, her mouth turned
down. Her voice changed. Okay, she could just have been complaining
that he cut her no slack but ... I
couldn’t swear to it, it was just the impression I got, but I think she was
scared of him. Then, when she came
here, she said she hoped to retire soon, get free of all the politics, the
constantly watching over your shoulder.
She seemed tense. I thought it
was because she felt awkward visiting with me.
People often do when they’re visiting a widow or widower. They never
know what to say. Maybe I read it wrong
and she was tense for another reason.”
Merlin nodded. “Could be.
Thank you. You’ve been very
helpful.”
Patricia rose with her. “About that message to William … ”
Merlin halted, her eyebrows rising in
invitation.
“Tell him .. tell him I love him, I
always have, I always will, I miss him, the children miss him. Tell him .. I’m proud of the way he
died. I think he would’ve wanted to go
that way – making a difference, saving a life.
And tell him .. I wouldn’t wish him back. I learned to be patient while he was alive; I can wait until my
time comes so I can be with him again.”
Merlin nodded. “Word for word. I promise.”
*****
Derek had found it very easy to fall
into a deep sleep. As soon as his
eyelids closed, he knew nothing. There
was no gentle descent into sleep, it was like some benevolent entity had
switched off his lights. His body,
despite being in a coma for several days, needed to rest because any exertion
after a spell of total inactivity was extremely tiring. His mind, as Rachel had said, needed a break
because, in a way, that hadn’t stopped working the entire time. His dreams were weird, nonsensical images,
random pictures and sounds, smells, even tastes. He drifted thru them, safe and cocooned, completely separated
from William Sloan, coins, go betweens and long coats in oppressive summers.
Derek …
A frown twitched his face and his nose
wrinkled. Without being aware of doing
it, he jerked onto his back
Think you’re safe ..?
Sweat beaded along his brow.
Think I don’t know where you are?
His breathing quickened.
Think your door seals can keep me out?
Derek muttered beneath his breath and
swallowed.
The house on the island in the
bay. You see? I do know.
He frowned again, shaking his head.
I can come for you any time I
want. Will you be ready for me ..?
Derek started awake, his mouth dry and
his eyelids flying open. He listened to
the sound of his heart racing in his chest and it sounded like the drums of
doom. Slowly – too slowly – it faded
into the patter of rain on his window and his breathing calmed. The sweat dried. He knew he should sleep again but he didn’t feel safe in his room
or in this house .. yet where else was there to go?
“It’s okay,” a voice said from the end
of his bed.
He breathed out on a sigh. Aquila was back.
“I’ll watch over you.”
He slept.
*****
“Bingo,” Nick said quietly. In the almost silence of the control room,
it was virtually a shout of triumph.
Heads turned toward him, bodies
clustered at his back.
“Selene McAdam.”
He hit a button on his keyboard and the
results appeared on the big screen.
Alex’s computer generated picture of Salome Macintosh was side by side
with the driver’s license photo of Selene McAdam.
“Alex .. that’s a pretty fair match,”
Rachel remarked, impressed. “Obviously,
she’s decided to go a little more blonde to hide the gray but the face … It’s extraordinary what you an’ the computer
have accomplished.”
“Dr Sloan wants to know where she is,”
Tigris said.
“I bet he does,” Nick replied with a
flaring grin hastily smothered. “The records
state she’s .. just north of here.
Sonoma Valley. Forest Ridge
Road.”
Tigris swung back. “I would not advise that, Dr Sloan.”
William was on his feet. “I know, Tigris, but I am not going to sit
here and wait while my eternal rest is tampered with. I’m going there.”
Profelis was moving to block his
way. “We can’t allow that. Our orders are very precise – ”
“I don’t give a damn about your
orders! I used to order you. I’m
certainly not your prisoner. You are
only here to protect me wherever I
happen to be. Are you saying that you
two can’t do that? Against one woman?”
“What’s going on?” Rachel demanded,
looking at the two Enforcers and hearing only their half of the argument.
“I think William’s tired of our
company,” Nick replied.
“We’ve given him what he wants and now
he wants out,” Alex agreed.
“I am tired, Mr Boyle, of being the
victim here,” William corrected coldly even though Nick couldn’t hear a
word. “Aquila said it before – we take
it to them, we’ll have them on the ropes.
We’ll have control. Tell him to
warm up the helicopter.”
“I won’t do that,” Tigris stated. “Yes, we are here to protect you. And we can best do that in this house. If you leave, you will become vulnerable to
any necromantic spells being worked.”
William’s hands closed into impotent
fists. “Get Aquila here right now!”
“She will only agree with me,” Tigris
replied. “You were told to choose a
bodyguard. You chose Aquila. I was told to assist as backup. I will do my job.”
“You’re third string,” William
snapped.
“You cannot order me, Dr Sloan. I do not answer to you, not anymore.”
“What the hell is going on?” Merlin
asked as she came in. Derek followed
her.
“We’ve found Selene McAdam, aka Salome
Macintosh,” Alex replied. “William
wants to go after her.”
Merlin glanced at the screen. “Hey, nice job, Alex. William, sit down.”
“Will you stop telling me what to do!”
“Jeez, William .. how many years did I
have to put up with exactly that? Now
the boot’s on the other foot, as they say.
Sit down .. please.”
“William,” Derek pleaded. “Do as she says. You asked for my help.
Let us help you. Rushing into an
unknown situation … ” He shook his
head.
“You know Derek’s right,” Merlin
commented. “If the situation were
reversed, you’d be the one telling him not to be impatient, even reckless. I know this personally affects you but
you’re really safer here. For a while
longer, at least. Now we know who she
is an’ where she is, let them dig up some more information. She may not be there now, William. We’ll leave, take you to her, once we know
the latest.”
The fight seeped out of him and he
looked a tired, anxious old man. “Do
you promise?”
“Yes.
I promise,” Merlin said.
*****
“Is that wise?” Derek asked softly.
“No, it’s dumb but a promise is a
promise. Yeah, it makes a lot more
sense to send Nick an’ Tigris or even me after this woman but let’s face it,
huh? You want to go an’ no one or nothing is gonna stop you going,
despite the fact that you can just about run the ten hour mile. You promised an’ your honor is at
stake. An’ let’s not forget that, no
matter all the fine words, you do feel you owe it to William. He died saving you. You knew from the moment you found out that,
one day, it’d come bite you on the ass.
This is your last chance to even the score, pay off your debts, sleep
easier at night, an’ maybe even smile about it.”
Derek grinned broadly. “More common sense?”
“Just knowing the personalities
involved, Derek. Isn’t rocket science.”
He turned his attention to more
practical things. “Assuming she is
there, and alone, she could attempt to use the talisman against us. What can I expect? Will I feel any effect?”
Merlin wrinkled her nose as she
thought. “I’ve no experience of this
artifact,” she replied, shrugging tightly.
“We’ve learned that it has to be in your possession for it to affect
your mental state. Sloan Senior owned
it for a year or so and it had a depressing effect. I think that was because he never really owned it. He was, essentially,
just a caretaker. His mental processes
didn’t need altering. He resisted, a
conflict occurred an’ he became unwell.
Now, William did own it. He paid it no attention, forgot it was
there, threw it in a desk drawer an’ left it alone. It was free to work on him an’ it did. Not only did it change the way he thought, it forged deep links
to him. Over time, that became a chain
strong enough to pull him back from death.
You don’t own it so my guess is that you’ll suffer no effects at
all. Selene is the current owner. She
may be feeling its effects, but, there again, she’s using it to do something so
the effect may be different on her.”
Derek nodded. “And what about William? How will it affect him?”
She hesitated then grimaced. “My guess is that close proximity to the
coin will only make it stronger and the magic will work faster. The attempt is likely to turn into a
successful outcome. But that is
only a guess.”
“Then, on balance, he should remain
here.”
“I agree but it isn’t going to happen,
Derek. Just like you have to be there,
William has to see this ended. It’s his
right. I won’t deny that to him.” She straightened. “My advice to you, if you want it, is to go be Precept to your
team. Leave William to me. I have some things to tell him.”
“Secrets?”
“Personal. Completely unrelated to the case.”
Derek nodded slowly. “I wish there was a way he could see
Patricia, just once. He regrets very
little about his life but not saying goodbye to her comes at the top of that very
short list.”
He left the office and, from the door,
Merlin beckoned to William to come in.
“Selene has the coin?” he demanded.
“Yeah. Patricia gave it her.
Selene said she wanted a keepsake an’ refused several items until
Patricia offered the coin. Don’t blame
her. She didn’t know it was wrong any
more than you did. You’ll also be
pleased to learn that Patricia was never your controller .. except in a purely
domestic sense.”
His eyes closed in relief.
“Sit down, William. I have a message to you from your wife.”
*****
Nick frowned. “Anyone here know the combination to the
vault at Fort Knox?” he asked, his voice softly thoughtful.
There was a second or two of puzzled
silence.
“Because breaking in there would be easier
than trying to find out about this woman,” he concluded sourly. “Shadowy government agencies don’t just hide
behind firewalls. They bury their files
so deep, it’s as if no one ever exists to work for ’em.”
Alex went to say something but
didn’t. She looked as though she was
close to an idea but was still figuring it thru.
“Whatever it is, Alex,” Rachel
encouraged, “I think you should share.
There’s only so much brick wall pounding my head can take.”
“I don’t know,” Alex said
quickly. “I was thinking that, if we
knew the exact location of this agency, we’d stand a better chance. The quickest way to discover the location is
to call them and trace the call .. only they’d have to call us which they
wouldn’t do because they have no reason to .. so it doesn’t work as an idea.”
“But it could,” Profelis said
softly. “If Dr Sloan can remember the
number he used – ”
“From what I’ve heard and seen,” Derek
cut in, “there was little, if any, two way communication involved. He called and spoke, then hung up. If we tried to do the same, as Alex says, we
couldn’t trace the call and, anyway, they’d hang up long before the time we’d
need to trace it.”
Profelis glanced at Tigris and smiled
then looked at Derek.
“Have you never heard of a ghost in
the machine, Dr Rayne?”
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