Chapter 23

Derek

They swiveled sharply. An old man stood in the entrance to the dining room and he was nodding slowly at Rachel’s declaration. Merlin slowly rose to her feet again.

“Sit down,” the old man said sharply and her knees buckled. “Introduce me to everyone.”

“Yes, sir. This is Dr Der – ”

“I don’t want titles, just names.”

“This is Derek Rayne,” Merlin said and felt obliged to add, “the Precept here.”

“Winston’s boy. I can see the resemblance.”

“This is Rachel Corrigan, and Alex Moreau.”

He nodded. “And you must be the husband. Former Navy guy. Nick.”

“That’s right,” Nick confirmed.

“Everyone, this is my grandfather. Peregrine.”

Movement returned.

“Really? I’m pleased to meet you, sir,” Derek responded. “You knew my father?”

“Can’t say I knew him. Spoke with him once. Had a wild streak buried deep did Winston Rayne. Like a lotta people, he thought he knew better than the people around him.”

There was a bitterness in his voice which couldn’t be disguised, yet, strangely, also a sense of relief.

“Will you sit down?” Derek invited.

“Thank you, yes, I will.” Peregrine went to the table and sat opposite Merlin. “You’re wondering why I’m here. Wondering why I took off like I did. I’ll tell you but you have got to eat while I talk. I know how you’re feeling, Peri. I know because .. I’ve felt it a lot worse. I was there when it happened. I saw him do it. I listened to him rant an’ rave like a madman an’ I could’ve stopped him but he was my best friend an’ I couldn’t hurt him. He paid the price .. but so did I.”

Rachel silently put a full plate in front of Merlin and retreated to eat her own breakfast.

Peregrine paused. “Reuben was always a strange bird. He never could quite fit in, y’know? He tried but he needed to be watched the whole time. His Mom – Freda – was a good woman but, for one of us, she was weak. We never put her on the front line, it wouldn’t have been fair. Now I know fair doesn’t mean much to us but, in her case, it really wouldn’t have been fair. Red Meyer married her and she became one of us, got pregnant, had a boy, an’ everything was fine till Red got killed. Reuben was four. Freda just didn’t have the experience to raise him right. So he needed his friends to keep him on track an’ his friends were me an’ my Mom an’ Dad. We nurtured him every step of the way, saw to his training, we were there for him whenever he wanted us, we did everything we could short of living his life for him. And, when he was grown, we gave him his freedom. It wasn’t enough. This life was never enough for him. There always had to be something .. more,” Peregrine said on a long sigh. “When I met my wife and I married her, I couldn’t give every second of every hour to my friend. But .. hell, I was nearly thirty an’ he was four years older than me. How long does a man need to have his hand held? I had to see to Miranda’s training. I had a family of my own. Reuben didn’t look like he was ever gonna marry an’ settle down so .. my Dad took over. He got Reuben back into shape – yet again.”

Peregrine’s eyes flickered with memory. “He was strange, yes, but he wasn’t evil. Back then, he’d just lost his way a little. He was always thinking an’ he had good ideas. It was Reuben’s idea to change the start date for training week each year. Some of the moves you’ve learned .. Reuben created them. He was a good Enforcer, Peri. He saved Ox’s life once, got hurt himself as a result. But, inside, there was a lot of anger. He felt abandoned. His Dad was dead an’ couldn’t really deal with him, an’ his Mom was weak. He could never really understand the rules, why they were there, why they were necessary and why he had to obey them, and he hated being a slave to the Legacy. He admired them yet he detested them. The one thing Reuben never could master was the need for faith. He hardly ever prayed. He believed in himself, in his abilities, his own power .. and even that wasn’t enough for him. When my son was born – your father, Peri – Reuben became more distant again. And then, when Joe was two, Reuben met Winston Rayne.”

Derek sat up slightly. “Are you implying that my father is the cause of all this?”

“No, I’m not. Reuben’s the cause of all this. But your father came into Reuben’s life at exactly the wrong time. Reuben went traveling with him. He discovered freedom from restrictions. He started thinking thoughts he should never have let form in his head. What was more, Reuben explored those thoughts, and he began to build a new image of himself. He believed he had evolved into a new kind of Enforcer. One free of the rules. One free to shape his own life.”

He shook his head. “He came back from that trip a different guy. To all intents an’ purposes .. he wasn’t one of us anymore. I was worried but .. Reuben had always been like that. He’d go visit his father an’ he’d come back in a temper or silent. He’d shake it off in a few days so we didn’t do anything about it. We thought he’d be like usual an’ get over it. On the surface .. I guess he appeared like normal but, underneath, nah. We’d lost him. We just didn’t know it.”

“Why’d you go away?” Merlin asked. “You knew I’d want answers, information, something to work with.”

“Well, listen to you, making your demands,” he retorted. “I don’t suppose you remember when I died. You were a kid – ”

“I remember.”

“You weren’t there.”

“I still remember. My Dad cried an’ he doesn’t cry often. He told me you’d earned your rest an’ that you wouldn’t be around so much as you were before. I remember,” Merlin stated. “Don’t ever tell me I don’t.” She looked down. “Painful things are never forgotten.”

Peregrine was silent for a moment. “Let me tell you something. I was there when my Dad was killed – ”

“He wasn’t killed. He was murdered,” Merlin corrected.

“Yes, he was,” Peregrine accepted. “An’ I saw it happen. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. For a moment there, I was seriously tempted myself to have revenge on Reuben Meyer. It would’ve made me feel vindicated. But I would’ve been just the same as him – doing it because I could, an’ I would not leave Miranda to raise Joe alone. So I let the boss do the avenging. I was .. torn apart. The wounds on my father .. I felt as if they’d happened to me. Michael said he couldn’t afford to lose another warrior. He’d already lost Ox, he wouldn’t let me go as well. So he took the memory away, blocked it, put another one in its place. As far as I knew, my Dad died of a heart attack. That’s what every one of us believed. Ox knew the truth but Michael made him promise not to speak of it. It was down to trust. Faith in each other. If it got out that one of us had gone to black, the trust would be killed stone dead. So .. we mourned Ox an’ got on with our lives an’ our jobs. As far as any of us were concerned, Reuben Meyer had never existed. Wasn’t till I died and went over the river that I learned the truth .. or rather rediscovered it. Michael took the block away on the condition that I promise too. Knowing all that .. how d’you think I felt? I knew Reuben was being punished but … Well, I guess it’s like you say – painful things are never forgotten. The pain hangs around for a good long time. An’ I couldn’t talk about it to anyone. Couldn’t work it out, not like people can these days,” he said, glancing at Rachel. “Now, when things started to smell bad, I went to see my Dad because I thought I recognized the stink. So did he. It was Reuben. We went away for a couple of reasons, Peri. One, to try an’ find out what the hell was going on. Two, so we didn’t have to answer awkward questions. I didn’t know what the boss planned to do. I didn’t know what Reuben had done to cause all this new trouble, and I didn’t know you’d be the one to take him on. I knew one of us would have to if he got back into the world .. but that was a long shot. An’ how much would the boss say? This was a big secret. I’d made a promise, Peri, an’ I don’t break ’em.”

“So why are you telling me now?”

“Because I came back from my .. huntin’ an’ fishin’ trip an’ Joe told me you were asking about some guy he’d never heard of called Reuben Meyer. I watched you training last night, you an’ Nick, working on moves. Brought back a lot of memories that did. I figured I wasn’t so much breaking a promise as confirming what you already knew.” He looked round the table at the others. “And I guess this is keeping it in the family. You’re not quite Legacy, Peri, an’ they sure ain’t Enforcers, but I like the way you all work together, respecting the differences and helping each other along. Reuben did something terrible to us, to our family. It’s good that you’re the one to put it right.”

Merlin nodded. “It’s blood debt. I’ll have it settled.”

“So .. what can you tell us about this guy?” Nick asked. “Beyond the fact that he isn’t playing with a full deck.”

“What do you need to know?” Peregrine asked in reply.

“What he looks like. We got one black an’ white photograph an’ the definition isn’t so great. It’s a group shot, not a close up. What are his favored weapons? How does he attack? How does he sound when he talks? Is he really not a typical Enforcer?” Nick reeled off.

“How strong is he, physically and emotionally?” Rachel added.

“Will he come back looking like a normal man or will he be burned beyond recognition?” Alex went on.

“How did he escape?” Derek concluded.

Peregrine didn’t answer for a long time. Then he nodded. “He escaped, did he? I didn’t know that.”

“Or he was released,” Merlin replied. “The boss doesn’t know but he’s gone to find out.”

“That explains why there’s no one around to ask what to do. Well, now, you have your work cut out for you, young lady. Reuben’s no pushover. He trained with me, and with Ox. We taught him a lotta things. He’s smart, clever. He thinks a lot about what he’s doing. Nothing ever happens by accident, y’know? Maybe that time he got hurt at training week left something behind, some trace of venom which meant he’d never be right. We thought we’d caught it all but maybe we didn’t. Let me see … ” He paused for a moment to think. “I’d say he’d come back as a normal looking guy or someone would notice him an’ say something. He is strong. Enforcers are born strong, then we get stronger. Emotionally .. I’d say he’s fragile. Always was. Maybe there’s an advantage to be gained by exploiting that weakness but, if you go for the underbelly, be careful. Reuben can make up for that weakness in other ways, an’, like Nick says, he ain’t playing with a full deck so pushing him where he’s fragile will make him violent an’ more unpredictable than he already is. Plus, consider where he’s been all this time, maybe that’s changed him. Is he typical ..? That depends. Get him talking in a bar, I’d say no. We blend in, don’t draw attention. Reuben doesn’t care about that. He wanted normal, all the time. Get him fighting, then, yeah. He’s an Enforcer, his instincts take over. The day my Dad was murdered is proof of that. He talked, then he attacked. What does he sound like? Like any other guy. His voice is .. not deep, not shrill. He sounds like I do. He hides his thoughts so don’t expect to find him by looking for someone shouting his mouth off. What does he talk about? Just about everything under the sun. Or he did. How does he attack? Surprisingly, with little warning.”

“Really?” Merlin queried.

“He always gives a sign. Not much but it’s there. Look for it. May be a sound, or a word, or it could be a gesture. What are his favored weapons … That’s a tough one,” Peregrine admitted. “Reuben didn’t go training much toward the end so his power is unfocused an’ raw. He may have lost some of it due to his punishment but, on the other hand, maybe any loss has been replaced by another kind of power. He’s the only one to have done what he did so we don’t know what the effect of being punished has had on him. When he went training with me, he favored a flame spear. The Gorge frightened him for a long time when he was a kid so he got comfortable with something that had reach. When he murdered Ox, it was an electricity blast. Ball lightning but very raw. It was an explosion more than a direct shot. It was crude, no finesse. None of that .. laser precision. I doubt you could find anything to shield against it. He looks .. well, he used to look handsome. Dark brown hair. Sandy brown eyes. A little thin in the mouth an’ he rarely smiled but, when he did, it made all the difference. Lean, as you’d expect. A bit taller than me. That answer everything?”

“Not quite.” Merlin leaned forward. “Where can I find him?”

“He rented a house in the city. Russian Hill. He was born in Bakersfield. He lived for a time at Paradise Drive. He died at my house on Nob Hill. He spent some years, like we all did, in River Sands, Nevada. He only left the country to go on that damn trip to Asia with Winston Rayne.” Peregrine shook his head. “Came back from that in August. By Christmas, he was gone.”

Merlin was quiet for a few seconds. “What does Ox feel about all this?”

Peregrine smiled. “He is mad enough to spit bullets. He was mad when he got murdered because, right to the end, he believed he could still pull Reuben around, get him back on the path. Only thing which calmed him down was knowing Reuben was getting what he deserved. Now, of course, Ox suspects that Reuben’s stirring it up again so he is stamping around, a real bear with a sore head an’ that is gonna get a lot worse when I tell him what has happened. He said to tell you to go kick Reuben’s ass so hard, you’ll put him in orbit .. an’, just in case, to make sure all your affairs are in order.”

“Good as done,” Merlin replied.

“Okay. Well, I won’t keep you from your Legacy business any longer. Peri, forget what your Dad taught you. You an’ Nick have got to do this together, one team with totally new tactics. If I find out anything, I’ll tip you off.”

“Thanks,” she murmured.

Peregrine slowly nodded. “Good luck, kid. You’re gonna need it,” he said and vanished.

*****

Breakfast over, their heads buzzing with everything they’d heard, they assembled in the library a little later than nine sharp to put together an initial plan of action.

“I thought I’d start looking thru the newspapers for reports of unusual activity which might signal a location,” Alex began. “Unexplained lightning shows. I don’t think, from listening to your grandfather, that Reuben’s the type to flaunt his abilities and draw attention to himself in that way, not before he’s ready, but he may be practicing.”

Merlin nodded. “Good idea. Thank you.”

“I spent last night reading thru Winston’s journal to try an’ get some insight into Reuben’s personality and state of mind. Peregrine’s given me more to flesh out a picture, an image. I can brief you in more depth as soon as you’re ready,” Rachel offered.

“Okay. I’ll let you know.”

“You an’ I really need to work on some new tactics,” Nick said.

“I agree.”

“An’ I think my weapons can play a part before we hit the showdown. If he has a body, I can hurt it.”

“For sure,” she smiled.

“It was him,” Derek suddenly declared. “I remember. I saw him.”

Merlin’s head turned sharply. “When? Where?”

“I was a child,” Derek hastily explained.

Rachel nodded. “I wondered if you would remember. Winston noted it in his journal.”

“You saw him?” Nick queried.

“Yes. It was .. when my father returned from the trip to Asia. A man came with him. I was only a boy and I was upstairs, on the gallery overlooking the foyer. A child had turned up at the house and my mother was anxious, believing it had been abandoned. But it wasn’t a child at all. The man struck – no warning – and killed it instantly. Later, my father told me the man was an Enforcer. I never realized until today that the Enforcer I saw was Gulo.”

“And did he look like Peregrine described?” Alex asked.

“Yes,” Derek confirmed. “But .. older. He was older than my father by several years. I didn’t really see his face but the rest of it matches what Peregrine said.”

“And he gave no warning?” Merlin pressed.

“None. He came in behind my father, put down the bags he was carrying, and killed the child.”

“How? What weapon did he use?”

“It was … You’d imagine I could remember that, wouldn’t you?”

“Not necessarily,” Rachel commented. “You were a child and you saw a very traumatic event. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to block out specific details and leave only an impression of the general scene plus what you felt.”

Derek closed his eyes and pulled up the memory. “It was .. like a fireball. It crackled as it shot across the foyer. I remember it missed my mother by .. six inches. She fainted when the child exploded.” He opened his eyes again. “Is there such a weapon?”

Merlin nodded. “One not often used but it’s available. Peregrine implied Reuben doesn’t like close quarters battle. He prefers to keep his distance. And, on this occasion, he gave no warning. What did he do after he killed the demon?”

“He said something to my father, very quietly, and walked out.”

“A threat?”

Derek thought about it. “I don’t believe so. Winston Rayne did not react kindly to threats, no man does. My father didn’t react at all so I don’t think it was a threat, no.”

“Is it important that Reuben gave no warning?” Nick frowned.

“It’s standard practice, pretty much,” Merlin answered. “It says to me that Reuben was still an Enforcer at heart when he came back from Asia. Maybe killing that demon was the last true act of goodness he ever did. But it may also mean that, when he’s confronted with genuine evil in a real life situation – as opposed to training – his instincts govern his reaction.”

“You’re not evil,” Rachel pointed out.

“Neither was he, back then. Evil was the enemy.”

“And, now, you are his enemy,” Derek said.

“Oh yeah,” she nodded. “Big time.”

“You’ll have to be very careful, Peri,” Derek cautioned.

She nodded slowly. “But he’s my enemy an’ that means I don’t have to give any warnings either.”

*****

Merlin and Nick went to the gym to work on their tactics. It was a backup plan, in case it wasn’t possible to confront Reuben Meyer in an empty place. If he decided to try a showdown in Union Square at lunchtime, it would be difficult to remove him. Rachel worked in the control room, writing up a character profile of the enemy. Alex worked alongside her, investigating newspaper reports in northern California. Derek sat in his office, thinking.

So that was Reuben Meyer. He seemed coldly, clinically efficient, so much so that, all these years later, I can still see it happening as if it were yesterday. Reuben Meyer and that short glimpse of him that I had, formed my belief of the Enforcers for decades to come. It took Peri to show me they are also human beings, that they have a zest for life to balance the death they bring. Strange that they must now face each other in combat. Who will win ..?

Derek was disturbed to realize he couldn’t answer that. His heart wanted to say Peri. His head, and his memory, said .. maybe Reuben. And, maybe, he considered practically and sadly, there could be no winners, only losers. Merlin was ready to sacrifice her life if it meant the destruction of her enemy. In that, today was no different to any other. This time, however, the odds weren’t so stacked in her favor. The odds were, in fact, nearly even.

And then he realized that it didn’t really matter. None of it. The important thing was sending Reuben back to Hell. If he had escaped, or had been permitted to escape or had been released, the critical task was stopping him before he could attack again. They said that, once a dog tasted blood, it always craved it and would attack more easily the next time. Maybe a slight exaggeration but Reuben was just like that. A quiet, unassuming guy one day, albeit with ideas of being more than he was, and a murderer the next.

It didn’t matter if Merlin died sending him back. She was ready for that possibility. Yes, it would hurt the survivors but she would only shrug it off. It didn’t matter if Nick was killed so long as the enemy was conquered and vanquished. And it didn’t matter if the members of the San Francisco Legacy house were all sacrificed in the attempt .. provided that the attempt was successful.

It was a matter of facing up to the inevitable. Facing up to mortality, accepting it, acknowledging that all life ended at some time, then letting it go. Only then would there be peace in the soul and a calm anticipation. All that was asked was that they do their very best.

Is this what he meant when he told me to repay the debt? To be ready to give up my life and to surrender the lives of those in my house? We have never faced such a threat before, it is true. Even those souls we have condemned to Hell and who were sent back to plague us .. none of them had an Enforcer’s power. Reuben Meyer received that gift from God. If the Enforcers are mortal angels, that makes Reuben .. something similar in power to Lucifer himself.

Is what we’re doing now enough to help settle what we owe? We have all agreed to help and, so far, Peri has accepted the offer. She may refuse to accept the sacrifice on top of everything else.

Maybe .. the man in my dream meant that I must be ready to lose Nick. It seems that Michael has overridden my authority and there isn’t much I can do about that. I don’t know what else I can do to help the Enforcers beyond what I’m doing already. Thru our efforts, Peri knows who this man is, what he looks like, how he thinks and attacks. Without us, she would possibly have gone to confront him knowing very little. Perhaps her grandfather only came today because he saw Nick training with her and understood why that had to be.

All we can do is our best and hope it is enough …

He shifted slightly. No, that’s incorrect. What we can do is plan for the worst, go into this as prepared as we can be, make every advantage tell. A multi-pronged attack has a greater chance of succeeding than a single assault.

We need to know a location. We need to get there as soon as we can, either before Reuben arrives – which would be best – or before he can become comfortable.

We are assuming, of course, that Reuben has a reason for escaping. It could be he was simply escaping his punishment. I don’t suppose, not for a moment, that his reason in returning to the world is to become a respectable member of society. His is the kind of mind which builds castles in the air and then moves in to live there. King and lord of all he surveys. And, if his power, even raw and unfocused, is on a level more or less with Lucifer, he could want to turn this planet into Hell on Earth and make us all suffer his punishment.

I wonder what the Devil is thinking of all this. Does he feel threatened? Would he let Reuben rise to such a height? Would it suit his plans or endanger them? It would be ironic indeed to discover that the Devil and all his demons are on our side for once, helping us fight a common enemy …

Derek rose and returned to the control room. “Alex, have you made any progress?”

She shook her head. “If he’s in California, he’s laying low. I’ve not found one report of strange weather phenomena .. which is how Enforcer weapons would be interpreted. Lightning blasts, fire damage. No inexplicable deaths. No instances of spontaneous human combustion.”

“Check Nevada,” Derek suggested. “River Sands. He could be visiting every place he has lived.”

“Wouldn’t he start in Bakersfield?” Alex queried.

“How do you know he didn’t? Were there any reports of house fires?” Derek shrugged tightly. “We remember we are looking for an Enforcer and so we search for the extraordinary while we overlook the obvious. They naturally blend in, adapt to their surroundings.”

“Right,” she nodded. “I’ll check it out.”

“Rachel,” he continued, swinging round to the other workstation. “How are you doing?”

She shook her head too but in disbelief. “Y’know .. I always believed the Enforcers were good at everything. They could do no wrong.”

“They’re only human, Rachel,” Alex remarked.

“I know it now. Two of ’em seriously screwed up as parents. A little boy of four who loses his father .. if that loss isn’t handled right, it can scar the mind for the rest of that boy’s life. And that’s what’s happened here. His mother wasn’t strong enough to cope with a child with that kind of power so .. instead of learning how to cope, instead of asking for help, she instilled fear into him. And frightened children usually go one of two ways – they become bullies or they become repressed. They bottle it up, grow a thick crust over the top. And then, when that fear has matured, fermented, built up, it explodes into violence. Reuben probably never saw himself as good enough. Didn’t Peregrine say that, when he went to visit his father, he came back either angry or silent? What’s the betting that his father lectured him on his shortcomings? Didn’t praise the good things he’d done but pointed out an’ dwelled on the things he hadn’t done. Enough negative feedback will make anyone turn away, give up, question their purpose. Reuben couldn’t stop being an Enforcer .. so he came to the conclusion that he was different for a reason. No one quite understood him not because he wasn’t making sense but because he was better. They were still treading the same, age worn path. Reuben was making a totally new path.”

She paused, studying her notes. “Even at the end, he probably didn’t even think about the number one rule. Abuse the power, there’s a severe penalty. He hated restrictions so he found ways to work between the rules rather than outside them. Winston wrote that Gulo was willing to compromise about the sepulcher, and they’d known each other for merely days. And, if he truly believed he had evolved into some new kind of Enforcer, one free to shape his own life, he most likely believed that the old rules didn’t apply to him. This was a brave new world, so surely there had to be new rules to go with it. Being punished, maybe that wasn’t so great a shock as discovering that he was just like all the others. All his big ideas meant nothing.”

Derek was frowning. “Is he still frightened?”

“No,” Rachel replied with a brisk shake of her head. “When he murdered Ox, the fear exploded out of him and he learned he was powerful. He won’t be frightened again. He has confidence. And then, of course, he has the knowledge that he’s done what no other Enforcer has done .. twice over. He’s killed an innocent an’ been punished for it, and he’s escaped that punishment. He’ll be riding high.”

“I have to agree with your assessment,” Derek responded. “You are the expert, after all.”

She sat back. “How does this fit with your dream?”

“I’ve been trying to determine that myself,” he admitted and Alex glanced round. “If I knew what the debt was, I could tailor our efforts accordingly.”

“Do you think the way to .. repay whatever it is must be to lay down our lives?”

Derek hesitated before smiling wryly. “To be honest .. no. Joining the Legacy means being prepared to die for the cause and we have all faced that possibility. The angel of death has kept us company more than once, I’m very sure. But perhaps it does mean we must be prepared to make sacrifices and face losses we would rather not face.”

“Nick and Peri,” Alex breathed.

“Exactly. However, being prepared and actually having it happen are two different matters. I say we should do everything we can with regard to the first in order that we can prevent the second.”

“We’re not dead yet,” Nick said as he came in, “so stop planning the funeral.”

“That is the last thing we want to do,” Derek promptly agreed. “We were only discussing this debt we owe to Peri and the others.”

Merlin entered rather more slowly. “Was that all the guy said to you in your dream? Repay the debt?”

Derek nodded. “And it wasn’t exactly a dream. It was a real place. A desert somewhere. In the past, I think. It seemed familiar yet strangely new, as if time hadn’t yet had a chance to mold the landscape. That’s why, with Rachel’s assistance,” he acknowledged, nodding in Rachel’s direction, “I’m led to believe the man I saw was an early member of the Legacy.”

Merlin hauled herself onto one of the workstations and hunched her shoulders. “When I met with Gabriel the other day, one of the things he said was that I have allies who must help. He told me that it’s time to call on them, according to the original agreement made between the Enforcers and the Legacy.” She hesitated then glanced round at Derek. “I’ll be honest with you, I wasn’t certain about doing that but Gabriel then said that Michael says it’s time they settled the debt they owe and that I have to call in the marker.”

“And you didn’t think to mention any of this to us,” Derek said in a neutral voice.

“Derek, c’mon, I don’t know if I can beat this rogue. People must owe you a heap of favors. How do you call in those markers? I bet you ask for their help with .. answering questions or providing expert knowledge. You don’t have ’em stand beside you in the line of fire.”

He nodded slowly. “So .. what is the debt?”

“Beats the hell outta me,” she shrugged. “My memory’s pretty good but .. what happened between your club an’ mine three thousand years ago .. gee, sorry, I have no idea.” Merlin angled her head. “Do you? No; it took some guy in a quasi-dream to tell you about it, yet I’m supposed to know?”

It was a fair comment which didn’t help.

“There must be a way of finding out,” Alex remarked.

“Yes,” Derek breathed. “I’ll call Paul Emery at London house. The agreement was renegotiated two years ago. Perhaps he still has the original.”

*****

“Yes, Derek, I do but I hope you’re not going to ask that I read it.”

Derek glanced up at Merlin who was in his office with him. “Actually, Paul, yes, I was.”

He heard a faint sigh. “This document,” Paul Emery continued, “isn’t in any way magical. It has no spell cast over it to .. preserve it. It is a simple agreement. A contract. It’s written in an early form of ink on a mixture of papyrus and crude paper, in a mixture of Hebrew and Greek. Just handling it is an extremely risky affair because it is so fragile.”

Derek frowned. “When you negotiated the new contract between the Legacy and the Enforcers – one of your first tasks as leader, as I recall – how did you do it?”

“Alopex and I took the best from the former agreement and – ”

“Did you use the original manuscript as the base for your negotiations?”

“I had a copy made, both of the original and a translation into English.”

“Then can you look at that?”

There was a pause. “I can get one of my associates here to – ”

“No, Paul. It must be you. I realize you are a very busy man but I need to know what was agreed at the start.”

“If he’s that busy, have him fax a copy to us,” Merlin suggested.

Derek relayed the request. “Both the translation and the copy of the original Hebrew and Greek.”

“Okay, but can you tell me why it’s so important? It’s really quite a long and boring document.”

“Most contracts are,” Derek commented. “It’s important because .. we’ve been asked to help with something according to the old agreement.”

“Which is no longer valid,” Paul responded.

“The something we are helping with began when it was.”

“Okay. I’ll get on it in the morning.”

“Tonight,” Derek gently insisted.

“It’s that important?” Paul asked and Derek could hear the frown of concern.

“Yes. It is.”

Derek hung up and looked steadily at Merlin. “He’ll fax over the copies.”

“You really think it is that important?” she asked.

“I don’t know, Peri, but the man in my dream thinks it is. And, if he was an early member of the Legacy, he was probably there when the agreement was first written down. For him to speak to me now, all these years later … Consider this,” he invited. “We have, in our respective organizations, worked together for three thousand years. How it began, we don’t know but some hardy souls must have taken the bull by the horns. Three thousand years … A long time. I have known you for over two years. I owe you a lot. You’ve helped us when we were in need. You’ve protected us and our secrets. How much does the Legacy owe the Enforcers for three thousand years of such assistance? A lot and more besides. Now, what would it take for the Legacy to be told in two ways – the man in my dream and Michael – that it’s time to repay the accumulated debt of millennia? Something singularly big, significantly evil, and unaccustomedly unique. Would you say a rogue Enforcer, the only one to have crossed the line in your history which is longer than ours, fills those criteria?”

Merlin nodded. “I guess it does, yeah.”

“Will you then let us repay what the Legacy owes?” he asked solemnly. “No matter how high the price proves to be.”

Merlin thought it over. “That goes against everything I believe in, Derek.”

“All right. Look at it this way. You do not feel certain that you, alone, can beat Reuben Meyer but, together we may be able to beat him. He has limited knowledge of the Legacy and we have evolved. He will not be expecting us to be there. We have the element of surprise. We have the advantage.”

Merlin breathed in deeply. “Okay. Repay the debt.”

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