Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

JASON

" I 'm sorry I can't help you." The lawyer sounded sincere over Erin's phone. "NSEP denies any knowledge of Alan Hiranchai. They made no arrests of any kind this morning."

"I was there!" I protested. "This stiff, middle-aged dude named Commander Lloyd Underhill was in charge."

"So you said, Mr. Miller. I wasn't able to speak to Underhill directly, but his assistant assured me that the commander is in Washington, D.C. right now, not Washington State. Apparently, he finished up a case yesterday and is due to fly back to our local branch office tomorrow."

"Are you saying that was an imposter at my house? Do you have a picture of Underhill?"

"NSEP doesn't post identifying photos of its agents. I got in touch with Commander Waidner's office, too. That's the sorcerers' arm of NSEP. They had no information on Alan, either."

"Crap. Okay, what do we do next?"

The lawyer sighed loudly enough to be heard. "Listen, Jasper Jones called in a favor asking me to help you, and if there's anything within my official purview I can do in the future, let me know. If Hiranchai was being held on any of the usual charges, there's a straightforward procedure to follow. However, they claim —" I don't think I imagined the emphasis he put on that word. "—they have no idea who or where he is. That's a dead end for me, from a legal perspective. There's no way to petition or advocate for a prisoner they say they don't have."

"So we just, what? Pretend he never existed? He has a school class waiting for him to teach them science and history after spring break's over." He has me, waiting for him to come home.

"You could try to see Underhill in person tomorrow at the local office. Let me know if you make the attempt and I'll come with you. A witness is always a good precaution with NSEP. Find out if he'll stonewall you to your face and also make sure he's actually the man you saw."

"I'll do that," I said immediately.

"I'll text you the address of the local branch. Notify me if you get an appointment."

If I don't, I'm going anyway . "And until then?"

The lawyer hesitated. "If Jasper doesn't have any better ideas, I'm sure I don't."

Erin probably could read my expression because, before I could respond, she picked up the phone. "Thank you," she told the lawyer. "We'll be in touch."

"Good luck." He ended the call, and she set her phone down.

I pushed away from her patio table and paced the length of the pavers, then back. "We can't just sit here." The patio was small enough to cross in five strides. I whirled again.

Sylvester raised an eyebrow. "You're as restless as a hive of bees, young man. Almost as bad as that apprentice of mine. Where is Alan, anyway? He should be here."

Dale met my eyes, biting their lip, and I managed to contain an angry comeback. It wasn't Sylvester's fault he kept forgetting how much trouble Alan was in.

Erin's phone rang, and she glanced at the screen. "Spam." She stopped the ringer, checked the time. "Damn, it's almost two. I should nap if I'm going to be any use later. I'm beat—" Her phone rang again and she nudged it. "Same stupid spam number."

I blocked her hand before she canceled the call. "Spammers don't usually call twice. What if it's Alan?"

She glanced at me. "If I get sixty insurance guys calling me later, I'm giving them your number." Tapping the screen she said, "Who is it?"

"Sunny. Listen up."

I tipped my empty chair over, grabbing for the phone, but Erin snatched it away and switched to speaker. "We're in the garden. Go ahead."

"I stole this phone. Knocked it out of a woman's hand, pushed it down a storm drain, and went in after it before the screen could lock up." That explained the hollow echo behind his voice and some distant high-pitched shouting. "Too damned heavy for me to carry. I'll expect some applause for that maneuver when we're out of this mess."

"Is Alan with you?" I demanded.

"I wish. But he's nearby. I'll text you where I am, hang on." After several seconds, Erin's phone pinged.

She flipped over to texts, then back. "It's a business. Gunderson's Antiques in Forville?"

"Yeah, something's screwed up about map sharing, or maybe it's me typing with dirty tinfoil on my toe," Sunny said. "That's the closest. It'll get you here. We're about four hours northwest, near the Canadian border."

"Where's Alan?" I pushed.

"NSEP has a facility up here, well outside town. I don't know if it's an official site or something black ops. Wouldn't be surprised if it's secret since the approach is a dirt road and the main building's heavily warded."

"Is he okay? Not hurt?"

"So far. Just the cuff blocking his magic. I got to speak with him for a moment. He sounds all right."

I had Erin's tablet out and I mapped a route. "I can be in Forville in four hours."

"I'll meet you behind the antique place. We need a good plan. Getting Alan out isn't going to be easy. They sure didn't bring him all the way here to stand him in front of a judge and slap his wrists for being unregistered. And he's not the only prisoner."

Erin asked, "How many others?"

"Don't know. I just looked in a few windows before I found Alan. The compound has a fence, guards. They're serious."

"Do you have a plan?" I'd learned never to underestimate Sunny.

"Yeah. Fly at top speed ten miles to the nearest town, knock a phone down a sewer, get filthy calling home, and bring up reinforcements. Been there, done that."

"Right. Is there stuff you think we should bring along?"

"Cruise missiles?" Sunny squawked roughly, his version of a laugh. "I'd say magical firepower, but I don't know who to suggest."

"A lawyer?"

"Couldn't hurt, although they'll probably get the runaround. Still, it's never a bad idea to have a legal shark on your side."

"Okay. I'll be there ASAP."

" We'll be there," Erin said. "Take care, Sunny. Stay out of sight. If they have wards, they have a sorcerer working for them, and they won't mistake you for a pet."

"That's one of the weird parts," Sunny said. "Why didn't they grab me when they took Alan? They acted like I was some kind of stuffed budgie, didn't so much as watch me. Oh well, their mistake."

"Very much so." I leaned closer to the phone. "Thanks, Sunny. So much."

"Hah. I did it for Alan, not you. Now get your firefighter ass out here. And don't bother to call this number back. I'm leaving the drain. Holy rotting dead carcasses, Batman." The call dropped.

I sucked in my first deep breath in hours and flopped into one of the chairs, taking three seconds to pull myself together. "Okay. All right. Erin, can I borrow your car? They clearly knew Alan's routine, knew me. They might recognize my truck."

"None of this borrowing shit." She rubbed her face. "I'm coming with you, of course."

"Me, too," Dale said.

"Where are we going?" Sylvester asked. "Why isn't Alan here?"

Bring magical firepower. I wanted to tell them all to stay home and stay safe. Men in flak vests and boots holding guns didn't belong with two Healers and an old man. But they loved Alan too, and I had nowhere else to turn for help. Even Sylvester— he might be a bit lost, mentally, but he'd been a strong sorcerer in his day, and he'd apparently used his magic in a helpful way last summer.

"Who else can we call?" I asked them. "Do you have sorcerer friends who'd help?"

Erin shook her head. "The folks I know well enough to ask a favor and would trust with Alan are Healers, and we're already well stocked with that talent. Jasper's too old, and anyhow, he won't leave Hamish."

Who was even older. Sadly, because he'd been a powerhouse in his day, and not just for his magic. "The Allies' Hammer," as he was called in World War Two. He had to be over a hundred now. "We could ask Jasper for advice. Or…" I still didn't trust my phone, so I borrowed Erin's, copying the number I'd stored in my cryptically named contact for "Parking." For Alan, I would beg help from the strongest sorcerer I knew, whom I'd met only once in a parking lot.

"Jason?" Darien Green's voice sounded slow and rough, like I'd woken him from a nap. He's eighty years old too. But the sense of his vast power colored my memory of concrete and old smoke and a ghost.

"Sorry to disturb you, sir."

He huffed. "Darien, not sir. I assume this is important?"

"Alan got picked up by NSEP and they took him away to a secret location. We only know because Sunny managed to hitch a ride. The lawyer we hired was told by NSEP they had nothing to do with Alan and didn't know who or where he was."

Darien's tone sharpened. "Are they up to those tricks again? Is that why I have three text messages from Jasper? Shit. But why Alan? What did he do?"

"I don't know. He hasn't done anything magical recently. Unless you count getting Tommy Dean to stop spitting on the classroom floor." That nine-year-old had been the bane of Alan's existence all year, but he seemed to be turning the corner at last. Not even a wild third-grader could resist Alan's charm. Except NSEP. They weren't charmed.

From Darien's end, Silas said, "Although… he did meet with us last summer. Remember, Darien, I thought we might've been followed, heading home from Shadecliff? I wondered about the alphabet agencies then."

"That was ten months ago," I protested.

Darien noted, "NSEP always liked to play the long game. Maybe it took them this long to figure out who we met in Shadecliff, or maybe they tagged you two at the time and sat on the information. Until they needed him."

"For what?"

"That's the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question, isn't it? Are Erin and Sylvester safe?"

"We are," Erin said. "Right here, too."

"I wonder if it's just Alan. Hmm." Darien hummed as if thinking. "I'll contact some people, see if there's any word of a new sweep of unregistered sorcerers."

"Or any missing sorcerers at all," Silas chimed in. "They might've picked Alan for his talents or his youth or who knows why, beyond lack of registration. We'll put our ears to the ground. I wish we were there to help."

"Where are you?" Erin asked.

"Paris. Which is why you woke me up. It's eleven at night here. No, no," Darien continued over my apologies. "This is important. But we made one last trip to see some favorite spots, and given how hard it was to score plane tickets to fly here over what turned out to be spring break, no doubt it'll be even harder to find a fast route home."

"Don't do that," I told him.

"Yes. Don't do that." The light voice with a little rasp was Grim, Silas's cat familiar. To be honest, he'd intimidated me more than the two men had, that one time we met. Grim added, "Silas, you're too damned old to be throwing down with NSEP anymore."

"I'd just be watching," Silas said. "Darien would be throwing down."

"The day you just sit back and watch Darien in a fight is the day I break out in purple spots," Grim muttered.

"Purple spots? Hah!" Pip still sounded like the pup he'd seemed. It was hard to remember Darien's familiar was a sixty-year-old veteran of the Upheavals, not a terrier puppy. "Can I see you do that, Grim?"

"It's a saying, you flea-bitten mutt."

"Enough," Darien interrupted. "Jason, if you and Alan really need us, we'll try to get there. But I can't promise we won't have to wait days to get a flight."

Erin asked, "Can you suggest someone else who might help? We can pay them." She raised an eyebrow at me and I nodded, of course. Two hours of the lawyer's time had dug into my savings, but I'd second-mortgage the house to help Alan. Erin continued, "Sunny said there were wards, and suggested we bring magical firepower, but without Alan, we're pretty tapped out beyond healing."

"I'm not sure who… Let me think." After a pause, Darien said, "Zahira."

"You think?" Silas sounded skeptical. "She's awfully young."

"She's in her thirties. We're just getting old."

" You might be."

Darien chuckled. "Anyhow, Zahira owes me a favor and her best talent is thinking outside the box. She's not in Washington State, though. She'll have to drive up to you from L.A., so she won't be there for at least a day. Longer if she has to negotiate time off work."

"She could fly," Silas suggested. "We could pay for the tickets."

"Still spring break, hon," Darien murmured.

"Oh. Right."

"Jason, I'll ask her, and send you her contact info if she agrees to join you."

"Alan wouldn't want anyone getting hurt on his behalf." I wanted all the help we could get, but at the same time, I wasn't sure about some stranger I'd never met.

"She's probably bored. She'll appreciate the challenge. And she's no fan of NSEP."

"Okay." I glanced at Erin, who raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. We'd asked for help and we might be getting some. We were in no position to be picky. "Thank you. We appreciate that."

"Keep in touch. We may not be right there, but we can answer questions. Or call Jasper. He can take a break from translating those ancient German witch-finder accounts to give you advice."

"We will. Thanks."

"You take care. Bring Alan home safe."

When the call ended, I dialed the lawyer again. His phone rang over to voicemail immediately. "Your call is important to me. I am out of the office and I will be unavailable for the next three days. Urgent matters should be referred to my assistant…"

I hung up without leaving a message and huffed. "So much for ‘ I'll even come with you .' I guess he thought better of taking on NSEP."

"Or he's actually busy," Dale suggested. They always did see the best in everyone.

"More likely he got spooked." Erin nodded to me.

"Either way, we're not waiting for him." I jumped up. "Dale, Erin, get packed up for a trip. Put my pack from the living room into the car, too. I'll be back soon."

"What are you going to do?" Dale asked.

"Buy burner phones and get some guns," I told them.

"Get some… Just like that? Isn't there a new law?"

"Ten-day waiting period for new purchases, sure. But I'm not going to buy guns."

Their eyes widened. "You're going to steal them?"

"No." I would've, for Alan, but that was completely unnecessary. "One thing about having three sibs in a small town is having my choice of guns I can borrow. Sara and Will run the sporting goods store. I expect Will has the biggest assortment at home to choose from." I headed back into the house toward my truck, adding over my shoulder, "Back in half an hour. Be ready to roll."

My siblings were way more into hunting and fishing than I was, although I'd learned both at my father's knee and faked enjoyment, back when I was desperately playing macho. Usually, my disdain for hunting was another wedge between us, on top of the gay thing, but right now, I was grateful my family leaned into small-town stereotypes. I was going to get us some firepower against the bastards who took Alan.