Chapter 6

Slope

“I love this city,” Steve sighed as he popped a fresh bottle of beer. “I love New York but .. it can be soulless. Remote. There are so many people, all busy with their own lives, their own problems. Takes a disaster to bring out their best, y’know? It shouldn’t be like that. But this city .. it’s so .. open an’ friendly. People talk to you.”

Nick nodded. “It’s true.”

“You come here a lot?”

“Nah. I come here but my favorite places are north in Marin County. Up in the mountains. Used to have some pretty wild nights up there.”

“Used to ..?” Steve asked slyly.

“Before I met Peri an’ settled down.”

“She’s one hell of a woman, Nick.”

“Real feisty,” Nick grinned. “Both in bed an’ out.”

“Don’t! You’ll make me jealous! So, tell me,” Steve went on, “these wild nights you used to have … What’d you do?”

They sat on the end of a deserted pier and watched the lights across the Bay twinkle on the water. It was midnight, and they had a crate of beer just behind them.

“I used to drive up there, find a disused road or a closed road, an’ I’d switch off the lights an’ race. Time myself. Have to beat the record.”

“With no lights. In the dark.”

“Pitch black.” Nick shook his head. “Natural high.”

Steve whistled softly. “We have to do that.”

Nick laughed. “Sure! But not tonight. It’s too late. We wouldn’t get there an’ back in time.”

“Wasn’t thinking of that. I don’t have my car with me,” Steve remarked. “Natural high racing against the clock should be even better racing against the clock an’ another automobile.”

Nick stilled. Then he nodded. “Be a blast. You should drive the road in daylight first.”

“Why? To make it safer?” Steve scoffed.

“Wouldn’t be a fair contest – me knowing the road an’ you not.” He glanced sideways. “Tomorrow?”

“Sure. Will Derek let us out?”

“I’m positive something’ll come up tomorrow necessitating a fieldtrip,” Nick replied, his eyes cunning.

“An’ Peri will let you do it?” Steve wondered.

“She doesn’t need to know,” Nick bluntly dismissed. “My private time is nothing to do with her.”

*****

“Maybe I should get Alopex back,” Merlin said into the phone.

“I’ll deal with it,” Derek replied. “If I feel there is the need, I’ll call him myself. Mike did say it was mostly true. From that, I’m assuming Steve elaborated on the truth and didn’t totally fabricate his résumé. That would be cause for dismissal.”

“I guess .. an’ we’ve all done that. I’m as guilty as hell of elaboration.”

“But at least war has been avoided. We have a truce in place, if not peace.”

“Oh?” She sounded puzzled.

“Nick has taken Steve under his wing. They left here tonight like brothers and not mortal enemies.”

“Wow, really? I’m pleased. Confused, but pleased. It got very close at times today. We had to do some fast talking to avert a fight.”

“I’m glad you did. Ingrid sends her best wishes and prayers to you.”

“Oh, thanks, Derek. That’s sweet. Next time you speak with her, tell her it’s gratefully received an’ reciprocated.”

“I will. I’ll leave you to get some sleep,” Derek smiled. “Goodnight, Peri.”

“You too.”

The line went dead but Derek wasn’t quite ready to call it a night. Neither, it seemed, was Alex.

“I know it’s late but .. do you have a moment?”

“Of course. What is it?” he asked, gesturing her forward.

Alex carefully produced a folder. “I’d like to do a fieldtrip.”

“Alone ..?”

“Possibly, but I’d like Rachel to come with me.” She put the dossier on his desk. “This is all the research I’ve done so far.”

“Talk me thru it,” he invited, leaning forward.

*****

Rachel had arrived home late and been ready for her bed but, despite weariness of body, weariness of mind just wasn’t there. She went down to the kitchen and switched on the kettle. Maybe a cup of tea in a dimly lit room and some peace and quiet might do the trick.

Like Alex, she’d been astonished by Nick’s one eighty turn. Derek had welcomed it, blithely declaring that Nick being in charge for the day had forced a mature attitude upon him. He had clearly weighed the consequences of any continuing ill will and come down in favor of peace. Alex had cautiously agreed. Rachel wasn’t so sure and had reserved judgment.

It was this doubt which kept her awake now.

Okay, I’m a mind doctor. I examine personalities and motivations as my day job. If I can’t sleep, it must be because my mind feels I should be working. I’ll do what I can. Pay it some lip service and, maybe, it’ll let me alone enough to sleep so I can really do it justice tomorrow.

All right. I don’t know Steve Anthony well enough to make anything more than a surface diagnosis. I hate to say it but I have tried to avoid him. That has to change. If ever there was a time for me to earn my keep, it’s now. However, on surface examination .. I can say the guy seems to be obsessed by Nick.

She poured boiling water onto a tea bag and idly stirred it with a spoon.

This has been borne out by Derek himself who related to me his conversation with Mike Tierney, Steve’s former Precept. I’d say this obsession .. which could be minor .. stems from personal admiration of Nick’s achievements and peer pressure from the others in the New York house. When first notified of his remarkable similarity, Steve reacted just as Nick did the other day. He withdrew, became cranky. He tried to establish some boundaries, ring fence who he was. But then he gave up. He yielded to the pressure. And then the active phase began – he started deliberately adapting his behavior to fit the image he’d been given. That image was colored by the filters of hearsay, rumor, third and fourth hand renditions of case investigations. So the end result is a guy who looks and talks like Nick, acts like Nick but doesn’t think like Nick. The internal mechanisms are quite different. And that means Steve’s perceptions of right and wrong are different too. He’s the product of his background molded by his environment.

Rachel grinned quickly. Not bad for a surface examination.

Now, I can’t comment on how he was in New York but let’s look at his first day in San Francisco. His arrival wasn’t planned. At least, it wasn’t notified to us in advance. It put us on the defensive. We had no time to prepare. That .. discomfort would have come thru in our body language and tone of voice. Despite that, Steve didn’t react. He got on with the security protocols. He asked the right questions. In short, he did his best to fit into a group of people displaying a degree of tension. I can’t fault him there. I can’t, in fairness, put the blame on us either. We did our best too.

Rachel took her tea to the table and sat down with a weary sigh.

According to Alex, his second day started well. He went for an early morning run, had breakfast, then went up to his room to unpack .. and then he left the house, the island, his duty and responsibilities, and all without a word to anyone.

Rachel’s lips pursed and she frowned.

It’s like .. something switched inside him. In the space of a few hours, his personality underwent a one eighty degree turn. That seems remarkably familiar …

Okay, what could have caused it? Without asking him, I’m shooting in the dark but I have work experience to guide me. People change because of many different reasons. Different motivators. Often, it’s due to a deep rooted unhappiness which is only felt at a distance. They don’t know why. Then, as if by magic, the cause is revealed and they decide to do something about it. It usually takes a therapist to wave the magic wand and help the patient change the things making them unhappy.

However, sudden change – within hours – is invariably due to some kind of trauma. Physical trauma, like being in a car wreck, can focus the mind on what needs changing. Sometimes, trauma like that can take an unhappy person and show them their blessings – they may be badly hurt but at least they’re alive. And, sometimes, it can work the other way – a happy person can become bitter, distrustful. They ask ‘why did this happen to me?’ and blame the whole world when they don’t get the right answer.

Then there’s emotional trauma. If I need an example of this, let me use myself. When Patrick died and I lost my son, my whole life changed. I got depressed and, when I was getting really to the bottom of the barrel, I joined the Legacy. Faced my ghosts, my demons, and, one by one, I beat them. I’m stronger for it. Okay, it didn’t happen in the space of a few hours, but the principle’s sound. Others can go the opposite way. Confronted by such emotional shock, they withdraw completely, unable to cope, enter a fugue state. They fall off the wagon. Turn to narcotics. Self destruct.

She sipped her tea.

So .. if I apply this reasoning to Steve .. something happened to flip the switch. I don’t think it was physical trauma. He didn’t have any bumps or bruises I could see. If he was badly hurt, he couldn’t have just walked out. So, if physical trauma was involved, it was very minor and it wasn’t enough to flip the switch. Therefore, it had to be emotional.

Rachel closed her eyes and absently rubbed the muscles at the back of her neck.

Okay, where does this take me? What could Steve’s motivations be? What kind of emotional shock did he have?

He could have built up some huge fantasy about working alongside his idol and reality was just too much to cope with. He discovered Nick is only human, and worse, wasn’t overjoyed to have Steve in the same house as him. Someone popped Steve’s balloon. His fantasy crashed and burned.

Or, instead of discovering Nick was human, Steve learned he was. That his cherished fantasy of being just like Nick just wasn’t going to work, ever, because he just wasn’t good enough. End result would be the same.

Or he could have imagined that he’d come into the house and be the answer to our prayers, then learned that, no, he wasn’t. He was welcome but not immediately indispensable. In truth, we didn’t really need him or anyone to join us. In New York, he was their ‘Nick’. In San Francisco, he wasn’t. We already have a Nick, the real one. Maybe he felt that coming here was a mistake.

Or the sheer impact of leaving New York, cutting his ties, moving, suddenly hit him. He knew no one here, he was very much the newbie who didn’t know places, street names, city districts, or the other areas around the Bay. To go from knowing to ignorance, to have to ask really basic questions, to be treated ‘kindly’ until he was up to speed .. for an active, worthwhile member, it would be frustrating and it could be traumatic.

Or, possibly, he realized that being Nick Mark Two was not going to work here. He’d worked hard to become who he was – and we weren’t impressed. In fact, we were embarrassed by it. Reason enough to flip a switch? To decide to go all out and become Nick? To start phase two and begin the final eradication of whatever remained of Steve Anthony? Now he was here and Nick was in the same room, Steve could observe him, iron out all those inaccurate images he’d been given in New York.

She frowned. That can’t be it, she thought. I know he’s only had .. a day but his personality, according to Alex anyway, has turned nasty. Nick’s done nothing to bring that about. Although .. it could be a temporary knee jerk reaction. An interim phase. Not exactly designed to put us off the scent because I don’t think he thinks there is a scent or that we’re on it, but to draw a line under one version prior to using it as building blocks for the next.

She paused, running thru all that to search for errors in her reasoning. There were bound to be some but she was too tired to go into it in depth. Thus far, it seemed okay.

All right. What caused Nick’s one eighty turn?

I know him better than I know Steve yet this is more mystifying. To all intents and purposes, war almost broke out between them today. Nick really held onto his temper in the face of some serious provocation, and he didn’t put a foot wrong, just like I told Derek. All the antagonism came from Steve. And yet, they left the house together like two old friends. In the space of a few hours, something happened to Nick to make him act differently. But what?

Peri isn’t here. Nick sent her home, to safety. Maybe that’s being a little paranoid but maybe not. If Steve has a red Mustang and a room just down the hall, Nick could, reasonably, have imagined his next move might be on Peri. Peri is a stabilizing force, even without her special talents. She knows how to talk with Nick. If I need evidence, his behavior today proves it. The Nick of old would have lost it badly and gone in swinging, and Steve would probably be in the hospital. So .. could the fact that Peri wasn’t there contribute in some way to Nick’s change of heart?

Maybe. I’m guessing.

Rachel drained her tea cup and rose to put it in the sink.

Oh, wait a second … I don’t like that idea. Maybe Nick hasn’t had a change of heart at all. Maybe he’s following Sun Tzu’s advice – keep your friends close but your enemies closer. It could all be an act. Play along with Steve’s fantasy, let him get close, complacent, and then hit him hard.

At last, she felt her mind start to give up. I hope I’m wrong about that idea .. but I’ll think about it more in the morning. Whatever it is, it’s the start of a long, very slippery slope. I hope he knows what he’s doing …

*****

“Climb up there ..?” Steve queried.

“It’ll be fun. A blast. C’mon, life’s too short, right?” Nick angled his head, his eyes twinkling with mischief. “Not chicken, are you?”

“Are you kidding?” Steve scoffed.

“Look,” Nick coaxed, “it’s late. The cops won’t even know. An’, if we do get into trouble with the law, I have some detective friends.”

Steve peered up at the girder. The Oakland Bay Bridge stretched over some cold, deep water. If he fell, he wouldn’t last long, and he’d been drinking quite steadily. His balance wasn’t all it might have been.

“Dare you,” Nick challenged, stepping back and folding his arms.

Steve sucked in a breath and leaped.

*****

Derek woke early, his mind buzzing. He felt a very quiet sense of pride in Alex. She had shown some tremendous initiative and radical thought. They’d talked for over an hour, going thru her research dossier, and Derek had promised her he would sleep on it and let her have his decision in the morning.

“Alex, I’m very impressed by this,” he’d concluded.

“Thank you,” she’d smiled and had, strangely, sounded relieved. “I hope you agree to my fieldtrip request and that you can spare Rachel too. I know she really wants to come with me.”

And I can understand why, he considered. It’s a purely scientific investigation. In a way, it’s groundbreaking. I have to agree to the request. It will be invaluable to the Legacy as a whole and a wonderful boost to Alex’s visibility within the organization. There could be a legitimate article to come from this, published freely in the journals. As she rightly pointed out, this is not a fieldtrip to eradicate a monster. Her life will not be in peril.

Unless .. of course .. Alex has gotten entirely the wrong spin on it. But I don’t believe she has. The range of experiences reported is too wide, the accounts told by the ‘witnesses’ too disparate. If it was a genuine creature, they would have stuck to one description. The same monster terrorizing all. They haven’t. For once, I believe all the stories can be explained scientifically, and it is for Alex and Rachel to gather the proof.

And, now, I can spare the both of them. Nick, Steve and I can keep things on track here. It will be good, allow us to .. bond a little. By the time Alex and Rachel return, Steve will be more integrated into the team. The natural friction will be much reduced.

He threw back the blankets and set his feet to the floor. And that’s when the alarm went off.

*****

“I’m sorry,” Nick said. “I forgot.”

Derek glared at him. He was outside the kitchen hall door, barefoot, and in his robe. Alex was similarly attired as she shivered next to him.

“How many years have you lived here?” Derek demanded. “And you ‘forgot’ to enter the code before opening the door?”

Nick shrugged. “It happens. No big. There’s no fire or thieves. It was just a genuine mistake, Derek.”

“I did remind him,” Steve said.

“You did not!” Nick accused. “Are you gonna let us in?” he asked Derek. “It’s been a long night. I’d like to get a couple of hours’ sleep before starting the daily grind.”

Derek wanted peace between the members of his team but he also wanted adults, and they were acting like children. He felt a sigh build in his chest but refused to release it. Perhaps if he treated them like adults, he would be rewarded.

“Yes, come in,” he said shortly. “I trust you spent an educational evening.”

They were ahead of him by now, their backs turned to him, and so Derek didn’t see the smirk on both men’s faces.

“Very,” Steve answered, completely straight voiced. “San Francisco is a lovely city, Derek. I’m honored to be here.”

Alex smiled. This was so much better than the offensiveness of yesterday. It seemed they really were starting to gel as a team.

“We’re glad to have you here,” Derek responded. “Now, as it’s still very early, let’s .. try to get back to sleep.”

Nick and Steve hurried on ahead, taking the stairs two at a time and talking quietly as they went. Derek glanced at Alex.

“At least they’re back before nine,” she remarked.

Upstairs, Nick swung round. “You did not remind me – you dared me to set off the alarm.”

“He doesn’t know that. C’mon, let me get some Girl Scout points with the ol' man,” Steve retorted. “You can afford to take a few hits. Your rep’s sound enough.”

“Yeah, like a rock,” Nick said smugly. “You still on for tonight?”

“Wouldn’t miss it.”

“Better get your heap of nuts an’ bolts in prime working condition or I will hammer you.”

“Look to your own crown, man,” Steve challenged. “You are going down.”

“In your dreams.”

They laughed and separated, Nick heading into his room, Steve not too far away. Nick closed the door and peeled off his jacket, tossing it on the floor. He lay down, closed his eyes, and drifted quickly into an exhausted sleep.

While he slept, however, a frown flickered on his brow. It was rest for his body but it seemed his mind was in turmoil.

*****

Merlin woke and stretched lazily. Automatically, one hand checked the progress of her expanding abdomen. She didn’t groan out loud but a tiny piece of her mind sighed in resigned lament for her disappearing waist. Then she recalled Nick wasn’t there and she did groan out loud. Merlin wasn’t really upset, it was more a habit than anything. She rolled her head on the pillow to check the time then swore softly.

“Shit .. Sophie’s gonna be here in fifteen minutes.”

She scrambled up and fled into the shower, and was out again and dressed in nine. Then, finally, as she came to rest in the kitchen where she drank a glass of milk and swallowed her vitamins, Merlin allowed herself time to think about what Derek had told her.

What the hell is all that about ..? Yesterday, I got sent home and Nick was gonna kill him. I think he would have come damn close to doing it too. And yet .. now they’re like brothers. That is some kind of weird. Oh well, I guess there’s no guessing at human nature. Nick’s caught me off balance. I would’ve sworn, hand on heart, that there was absolutely no way he’d ever give Steve the benefit of that much doubt. Just goes to show that you shouldn’t swear to anything unless you have it as a positive fact in the palm of your hand.

What would make me do that? God knows, I have met people I would not trust an inch, that I do not and never will like, and would never give them a moment more of my time than I absolutely had to. What would make me treat them like close family?

Well .. the fact that I don’t trust them. The fact I would want to watch them closely. Sun Tzu said it best – keep your friends close but your enemies closer. Arkadi – case in point. I spent weeks with that guy, getting all pally with him. Turned my stomach. Maybe Nick is just doing the same. Putting on an act. Going undercover. He’s capable of doing it. Ordinarily, he wouldn’t be so shallow. But if he feels threatened enough, he’d put on a front, a mask, hide all the rest away behind steel barriers, and, when Steve’s gotten enough rope, Nick will watch him hang himself.

That’s the only reason I’d take someone I don’t like under my wing. There again, Nick isn’t me. He could have another reason entirely. It could even be to show him that Steve really isn’t Nick. Bring him into the fold, let him work and play alongside .. and the illusion should shatter. If nothing else, it’ll give Nick a cynically amusing hobby.

The doorbell chimed and Merlin went to get it. “Hi. You ready to make a .. start?”

Rachel smiled. “I am, yes.”

“Is it time for a checkup?” Merlin warily questioned.

“It’s time we talked.”

*****

Derek glanced at his watch. He couldn’t help it. Alex was already working, looking into specific experiments she would need to run when she went to Parkfield. She assumed Derek would agree to her request. She’d spent an anxious few hours going over the dossier, just to make absolutely sure. She didn’t believe Steve – and he’d apologized, after all – but he’d still said the research was thin. People didn’t say unless there was an element of truth in there. They wouldn’t just keep quiet, they’d have no reason to say anything. During those hours, Alex had been torn in two. Half believed Rachel and clung to that belief like a life raft, the other, while doubting, agonized over his words. It had turned out that Rachel was right. And now Alex had the seed of doubt that New York ran a tighter ship, it was more thorough, and that, in some way, she wouldn’t make the grade.

“Alex,” Derek said, to distract himself from the time and the fact that neither Steve nor Nick hadn’t shown up yet, “your fieldtrip request.”

Her heart leaped. “Yes?”

“I give my permission. I think it’s an innovative, groundbreaking investigation. Of course, you must go and you should take Rachel with you. Not because you need her there, you don’t, but she needs to be there.”

She blushed with pleasure.

“And you should think seriously about an article for the journals. I see no reason why this should be restricted to the Legacy. We are also the Luna Foundation, our .. public face. Under those auspices, you should publish something.”

“Really?” Her eyes were shining.

“Earthquakes happen all around the world. There are paranormal investigators all around the world too. The more knowledge we can amass of what could cause people to see things, feel things, and yet know there is a logical, scientific reason for the experiences .. doesn’t that help everyone? If there is a correlation between the instances of alleged paranormal activity and the build up of geological forces, it could even assist the scientists who predict earthquakes. It’ll be another measure.”

“How soon can I leave?” Alex asked.

Derek checked the time again and, for one wild moment, Alex thought he was going to say ten thirty or something. “First, you have to know what you must do there. For that, you’ll need to get together with Rachel. Then you have to put the equipment together, and we may have to purchase some of it. Then, there is the fundraiser … ” He smiled. “You cannot get out of attending that, Alex. But .. soon after .. now we have Steve here .. I don’t see why you can’t leave.”

She nodded. “Soon as Rachel gets here, I’ll give her the good news. Thanks, Derek.”

“No, thank you,” he responded, and looked at his watch again.

*****

Merlin had no sooner gotten Rachel settled in the kitchen when she had to go to the door again. This time, it was the artist.

“Hi, ready to make a start?”
“Yeah,” Sophie nodded. “I thought I can sketch the outlines today an’ begin painting the backgrounds. Sky, sea, the dunes, grass.” She hesitated. “Are you really sure about .. the other stuff?”

“It’s important. Nick wants it there. I have someone here so you okay to go up an’ do your thing?”

“Sure. No problem.”

“I’ll fetch up some coffee in a while,” Merlin grinned. “I love to watch you working.”

She returned to the kitchen where, according to the invitation, Rachel had made a cup of tea and herself comfortable.

“Who was that?” Rachel inquired. “I didn’t recognize the voice.”

“The artist. She’s painting the nursery. We couldn’t decide on blue, pink, yellow, some other color, so we figured we’d have the walls done as a picture. It’ll be unique when it’s finished,” Merlin replied. “Talk about what, Rachel? This isn’t more of .. seeing a specialist, is it? Cos I thought we’d discussed that.”

“I wanna talk about Nick,” Rachel said. “Do you know what happened yesterday?”

“Derek told me.”

“He wasn’t there until virtually the last moment. Earlier, Steve said some things to Alex an’ was very .. offensive. He upset her. She told Nick. Nick went to straighten it out.”

“An’ did he?” Merlin shrugged quickly. “I ask only because the guy’s still alive.”

“Alex says Steve apologized,” Rachel related, “which is an improvement. Nick didn’t show again until after Derek got back. And … ” She shook her head. “I was there. I’d been there most of the day. You know that because we talked. Nick didn’t lose his temper once an’ that has to be down to your influence. Tell me, did you suggest to him that he make friends with Steve?”

Merlin smiled. “No. I suggested that killing Steve was not the best thing to do as the guy in charge during Derek’s absence. Steve had .. er, said some things to me too, Rachel. Nick kinda guessed what those things were and .. he was gonna kill him. I persuaded him not to.”

Rachel glanced away, distracted. “I was up for an hour or so last night. Couldn’t sleep. I tried to reason it thru. Steve has changed since he arrived. That could be down to the location, nothing more. If they run a tight ship in New York, the relative freedom we enjoy here could’ve torn down some inhibitions. But he has changed. Yet Nick’s changed too. Up till yesterday early evening, he hadn’t. Suddenly, he’s acting differently. I was there. I couldn’t have been more surprised. They came into the dining room together, laughing, then .. went off. Left the island. Nick said he was going to show Steve the local landmarks. Do you have any idea what might’ve caused it?

“I did think about it this morning,” Merlin admitted. “I tried putting myself in that position. Only thing I could come up with is that it’s an act.”

“An act.”

“A feint. You pretend to be the guy’s friend, let him get close, let him drop his defenses, then hit him hard. Or, if you don’t go in for an attack, you manipulate him into a situation where, in front of witnesses who matter, he screws himself.”

“I thought that as well,” Rachel confessed. “Revenge. Vengeance.”

“Not necessarily. Sometimes, against a very clever opponent, it’s the only way to go. William Sloan, for example.”

“There wasn’t an element of revenge in that?” Rachel queried, her eyes mild.

“Not from me or the guys,” Merlin answered. “We’re not allowed to hold grudges.”

“Really .. or do you mean you’re not allowed to act on them?”

“Are we discussing me or Nick?” Merlin asked with a smile.

“In Nick’s case here, it could be revenge. It could,” she insisted. “If Steve .. said something, enough for Nick to want to take such drastic action, he could be ‘killing’ Steve by another method.”

“Yeah, that’s possible.”

“Will you help me?” Rachel requested. “Will you keep an eye on the situation when Nick’s home, let me know if he does anything out of the ordinary? Ordinary for him, that is.”

“Sure, I’ll do that but I have to say that, if his behavior now is an act, he isn’t doing anything out of the ordinary. He’s being himself.”

Rachel sighed, unhappy with that idea.

“Of course, he could also just be being himself with another motive entirely,” Merlin went on. “Steve likes to think he’s a damn close match. Maybe Nick’s being .. slightly larger than life to show Steve he really isn’t all that close, an’ never will be. It’s still an act, kinda, because, inside, he’ll be boiling mad that he has to do it. He just won’t let it show.”

“Yeah, that could be it,” Rachel nodded slowly. “I’ll monitor them when I can. I think it fair to expect some macho shows of relative strength. They’ll test each other.”

“Should be something to see,” Merlin commented.

*****

“It’s the box,” Steve shrugged. “It .. does something. Frees you. I know it freed me. I was always .. do the job, no matter the cost. An’ now .. it’s like … ”

“Life’s too short. Let’s have fun,” Nick said, turning the box over in his hands. “You’re right. I feel liberated.” He put the box back on his nightstand. “I guess we’d better put in an appearance downstairs. I have to find some reason to get us to Marin County tonight.”

“I’ll help,” Steve offered, grinning.

They left Nick’s room and strolled leisurely to the control room. Derek glanced round and raised an eyebrow. Nick smiled quickly. “It was a late night, Derek. A little leeway, please.”

“Steve, a moment of your time,” Derek requested.

Nick watched his new best buddy follow Derek into the office. “What’s that about?”

“I don’t know,” Alex replied.

“He didn’t tell you?”

“No, he didn’t.” She glanced round. “He doesn’t tell me everything, Nick. But I did notice him checking the time.”

Nick sighed loudly. “I wish he’d lighten up once in a damn while. I’m doing exactly what he wanted – living with it, trying to make the new guy feel welcome, an’, no matter what I do, it isn’t enough. He pisses me off.”

Alex blinked. “Nick ..?” she hesitantly queried.

“Don’t you start in on me,” he warned.

“I wasn’t going to!” Alex sighed abruptly and rose. “I’ll find somewhere else to work. When you feel more like the Nick I like an’ respect, I’ll come back.”

He muttered something under his breath but Alex didn’t catch it, which was just as well.

In his office, Derek gestured at a chair. “Please, sit down.”

“Have I screwed up somewhere?” Steve inquired.

“Not that I’m aware. I wanted to talk with you about your résumé,” Derek said lightly but watched Steve’s eyes. There wasn’t so much as a flicker. “It’s very impressive. If we can go thru it, I’ll have a better idea of your strengths and how to fit them into the team. We haven’t really had the opportunity before now.”

“Okay,” Steve agreed. “What d’you wanna know?”

“It says you have a background in education. Where did you teach?”

“Various places. Africa. Middle East.”

“Really. And what did you teach?”

“Education. I taught people lessons, Derek. I was a mercenary. A gun for hire.”

“Oh, I see,” Derek murmured. “Your specialty is the Far East. In what ways are you an expert?”

“Chinese food. Nah, I’m kidding,” Steve laughed. “Chinese myths an’ legends. Been interested since I was a kid an’ got this cool book from the library. That developed into Chinese demons, the undead. From .. around the age of twelve, I guess. Didn’t wanna scare the crap outta my parents by starting on that too young.”

That was better. Derek had been a little shaken about Steve’s past ‘profession’.

“And .. forensic archeology?”

Steve felt his cheeks start to burn. “Well .. that’s slightly stretching it. In my fighting days, we’d come across stuff which had been buried. Usually people who’d been murdered. I used to try to figure out how they’d died. Hey, some of ‘em were really old, like ten or twenty years.”

Derek didn’t react. “It says here you can speak several languages, read even more. Languages are always useful.”

“I speak Hindi, Mandarin, Arabic an’ .. some African dialect I picked up. Local patois. I can read Latin an’ Old English. I find it interesting.” Steve eased back. “You gonna toss me out, Derek?”

“Why should I? You haven’t lied, not exactly. Just been .. diplomatic with the words. And we’ve all been guilty of that to some degree in the past.”

“Really? I would never have said you’d be guilty of that,” Steve remarked. “If I could point one finger at anyone in this house and say that one is a blunt speaker an’ always gives it straight, just as it is with no frills, it’s you.” He grinned suddenly. “Of course, that’s unless you’re wearing your Precept’s hat, in which case anything goes – diplomacy with words, facts, the truth, not saying anything at all, an’ outright lying.”

“I try to be honest,” Derek responded, “as much as I can, with the people in my team.”

“Like when you told them I was coming?”

“That was an error and I apologize if it caused you difficulties. Was it that which drove you to simply walk out?” Derek inquired.

“I had personal business to deal with in town. I .. just wanted to get it outta the way, y’know? I don’t know about you but I can’t concentrate one hundred percent if I know I got some boring routine chore which needs doing. Let me do it, then I can focus. Plus .. I haven’t had a vacation in five years. I figured I was owed a day, just for me. I’ve already had all this out with Nick. I’ve said I’m sorry that I never mentioned it. Is it gonna haunt me for the rest of my life? Permanent black mark on my file?”

“I don’t believe so. Our rules here are .. basic and not that many, not compared to other houses. I don’t insist that we follow Legacy rules to the letter, only to the spirit of those rules. If you have to leave for whatever reason, we like to know. There are grounds for this – we know where you’re headed, what you intend doing there and what time you’re likely to be back. If you don’t turn up, we can follow your tracks.”

“So .. if I’m going on a hot date, you want chapter an’ verse in advance?” Steve queried.

“Of course not,” Derek dismissed. “In that situation, you could tell us that .. you’re going to the mainland, to the city, having dinner with a friend at the Saint Francis or Dante’s, maybe a movie or a club, and you may not be back till the morning.”

“Okay,” Steve nodded.

“If you plan to bring someone into the house, we’d like notice and the person’s name. This rule cannot be broken. Everyone who comes here as a guest has a security check done on their background. Everyone. It doesn’t matter how long we’ve known them. Friend, family member, enemy, person in distress.”

“That makes sense,” Steve agreed.

“If anything unusual happens to you, we want to know. As Legacy members, we are targeted more than the man on the street. Attacks begin in any number of ways. It can be thru dreams, random contact, items sent in the mail, anything. If we are forewarned, we can be prepared. Has anything unusual happened to you since you left New York?”

Steve slowly shook his head. “Not a thing.”

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