“The Philly Shipyard,” Morris Howell said over the Bluetooth speaker in our hotel suite an hour later. It was sitting on the coffee table amongst takeout boxes and empty drink containers.
“What about it?” Alice asked as we all looked up from our own reviews of the information we had gathered on the Morrell family.
“Follow the money, right Agent Jay?” he asked. “There are regular rental payments made from the LOA operating account that was tagged as ship YD ware. Digging deeper, I found the payments extend back for years. One of the early postings labeled it with an address on Kitty Hawk Avenue, which is in the shipyard. My guess is it’s storage or warehouse space.”
“Excellent work, Morris. Caeco and I will check it out; everyone else keep digging,” Agent Jay said. Everyone looked at her with hopeful expressions. “No, just Agent Jensen for now. But if you’re all good, we’ll bring back dessert.”
“What about us?” Eve asked.
“You have complete access to the bureau café,” Mitch said, not a hint of sympathy in his voice. “I know for a fact that they make that pecan pie you like so much at least every other day.”
Morris’s laugh sounded loud and clear over the speaker. “He’s got you there, Evie! She’s got a third of a pie sitting at her right elbow as we speak.”
A loud thwack sound came through, followed immediately by a heartfelt “Oww!”
“Traitor!” Eve said. Rustling sounds overpowered the microphone, my brain filtering the sound and forming a picture of a paper ball fight in full progress.
“On that note, we’re out,” Jay said, waving me toward the door.
Ten minutes later, we were in the Suburban and pulling out of the hotel parking garage, Agent Jay at the wheel.
She took a few minutes to follow the GPS directions on her phone, then settled back when we got onto I-95 South.
“So… how ya doing?” she asked.
“Er, fine, I guess. Why? Do you want a debrief report?”
“No, I want to see how you are handling everything because, well let’s see, we had a big fight with remotely controlled civilians, then you had to fly to northern Vermont because your ex, who happens to be one of this world’s most important weapons in the coming fight, almost died. Would have died without your help. Then you had to brief the president before rushing back here. Seems like a confusing time, so I’m checking in.”
“Oh. Yeah,” I said, immediately uncomfortable. “I’m okay. Sorry about hurting all those civilians, though.”
“I’m sorry too. But I don’t think we could have avoided it. They didn’t react to pain and wouldn’t stop. I saw you using less impactful techniques—I did too. But they didn’t work. So no shame in protecting your teammates,” she said, glancing my way.
I just nodded when she was looking. After a second, she went on. “You try real hard, don’t you? Not to hurt people?”
I felt myself lock up for a moment, then nodded again, only this time her eyes were on the road. “Yeah. That’s what I like about aikido. I don’t have to break bones or heads.”
It was her turn to nod. We traveled another half a mile before she spoke again. “How about seeing Declan?”
I didn’t answer, mostly because I wasn’t sure what she wanted but also because I wasn’t real clear on the whole thing myself.
“That had to hurt… seeing him with his girlfriend,” she commented.
I sighed internally, my training preventing me from ever expressing that kind of thing in front of a superior officer. But she wasn’t going to let it go.
“I’ve seen them together before. Wasn’t so bad this time. Didn’t like seeing him hurt. The kid’s always getting hurt.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen the reports. He does tend to get roughed up frequently, doesn’t he? You’d think that a witch that powerful would be impervious,” she said.
“That’s just it. He’s not. I mean, if his guard is up, he’s real hard to damage and even when he is hurt, it usually means the other side is just smoking cinders or something. But yeah. He throws himself right into the middle of things and he slips sometimes and then he’s pretty breakable. Hell, he just got over being hurt in Burlington by that demon.”
“And you’re a lot less breakable, right?”
“Definitely. I guess that’s something that Stacia and I have in common. It takes a lot to hurt us, and then we bounce back quick. But now I don’t know. If he doesn’t have his powers anymore, he’s a sitting duck.”
“With a werewolf bodyguard and the most powerful technology on the planet watching over him,” she said.
“Ha, you don’t know him. That’s barely enough to keep him safe on a quiet day.”
“What about all those elementals?”
I thought about that for a moment. “Omega did tell me that Draco kept crawling into bed to be near him. There must be something to that, right?”
“I don’t know jack shit about elementals, Jensen, but I’ve seen pictures and video of that mini dragon. If you’re saying it’s like his Lassie or something, I’d say that’s gotta mean something, right?” she questioned.
“Omega? Is Robbie still around Declan?” I asked out loud. Agent Jay glanced at me, face unreadable. My team couldn’t seem to get used to the idea that he was almost always just a question away.
“Yes, Caeco. Stacia thinks he’s under the residence at the moment. Draco continues to lie across Declan’s feet. Nether elemental seems put off by Father’s lack of magic. I believe that Ashling considers that to be a positive thing on several levels.”
“You mean like they know something about his abilities that we don’t?”
“Ashling says that witches tap into magic, which I would probably term quantum energy, but that elementals are actually made from magic. So yes, they are far, far more sensitive than even Ashling herself is.”
“Thanks, Omega,” I said.
“You’re welcome,” he responded.
I wanted to ask if he knew the results of Mother’s tests yet but didn’t feel like opening that can of worms in front of my boss.
“I’m going to have to adapt to that faster,” Agent Jay said, glancing at the big SUV’s media center.
“So I guess we’ll have to wait and see about his abilities, but he’s alive and his closest elementals seem unshaken by his injuries,” I said. I hadn’t thought about it, but on some level, I must have been worried or anxious and Lois Jay had effectively lanced a boil I didn’t know I had.
“You have drones around him?” I asked out loud. Lois glanced my way then realized, again, who I was talking to.
“Of course. I have enough combat power on site to defeat any army on Earth.”
“Good,” I said, nodding. Turning to my boss, I noticed her expression.
She had a slightly awestruck expression on her face. “Ah, was he overexaggerating? About that whole army thing?”
“No, I’m sure not. My understanding is that his new drones take the alien tech to new levels. Also, while Omega does seem to have a sense of humor, he does not joke about his father.”
“I definitely have a sense of humor, Caeco Jensen. Just ask Father, Chet, Chris, Tanya, Lydia, or Stacia.”
“I know, Omega. I said as much. Some people would argue that you are just copying one… that’s why I used the word seem, but I already know it’s there,” I said. My boss now looked stricken.
“This is really hard to get used to,” she said, shaking her head. “Chatting with a world AI that controls more military might than even my own country like it’s nothing.” She turned off the highway onto the Broad Street exit.
“Father says that formal conversations can be useful at times among conflicting parties, as it provides a framework for careful interaction, but that most of the time, informality is less stressful. I think he is generally correct.”
“Your father doesn’t believe in taking himself too seriously,” I said.
“He’s widely accounted the most powerful witch on Earth and from all reports can destroy a town without breaking a sweat… or at least he could… before. He really felt that way?” Agent Jay asked.
“Yeah. He takes magic super serious, but not himself. Chris is a little like that too,” I said.
“Nathan Stewart said that Chris, Tanya, and Declan were the only known Champion-class individuals we had identified, and they act like that?” Agent Jay said, pulling into the shipyard main access.
“Hah, I knew it,” I said. She glanced my way. “At Arcane, the rumor was that there was another Champion-level student. I always thought it was Declan. He always joked it was Mack and Jetta.”
“The unpowered brother and sister?” she asked, incredulous.
“They’re lucky.”
She laughed and looked sideways at me, then turned the car onto Kitty Hawk Avenue.
“No, really,” I said. “They’re incredibly lucky. Not with lottery tickets, but with life. Jetta is the only person who can sometimes beat me on the range with a handgun. She’s a really good shot, but I have engineered reflexes, inhuman vision, and machine-driven aiming solutions. Yet she somehow manages to pull off enough so-called lucky shots that she’ll usually tie or even beat me. Mack seems to have similar luck, but with long guns. Then there are all the things that have happened to them that should have killed them, but fate somehow intervened.”
“Probability definitely skews in the vicinity of the Suttons,” Omega added.
“You’re not kidding?” Agent Jay asked.
“No. It’s like a superpower. Look, that’s the address Morris sent to us,” I said, pointing at the building in question. We were almost at the end of Kitty Hawk, nearing the waterline and drydocks. A massive building, twice the length of the nearest ship being either constructed or deconstructed in dry dock, took up the whole side of the road. One of the massive doors showed our address number above it.
“You could keep anything in there,” Jay said, slowing the car as we coasted by it.
“Yeah, you really could,” I agreed, reaching out with my internal senses. Instantly I pulled back, a feeling like electric shock still tingling along my spine, down my arms and legs, and out to my fingers and toes. “Shit!”
Agent Jay accelerated down the road, turning behind a small metal-sided building almost on the dock. “What happened?”
“I, ah, I guess you could say, extended my feelers and something stung the shit out of me,” I said, shaking both hands.
“Interesting. The building appears to be surrounded by a field of energy, kind of a protective blanket,” Omega said. “Caeco has experienced what might be called amplified feedback. Ironically, it’s analogous to what Father must have gone through under the ocean—on a much, much smaller scale. My own drone felt it as well.”
“You have a drone here?” Agent Jay asked.
“Of course, Agent Jay. Several. If I’m to be of maximum value, I have to have proxies on scene.”
She looked at me. I shrugged. “You’re not surprised?” she asked, brow furrowed. I couldn’t tell if she was pissed or surprised or both.
“No. He uses computers and sufficiently sophisticated electronics to monitor things all over the place, but if he’s really interested in something, then there is always a drone or three around. Just wish I had let him test it instead of doing it myself.” My toes still tingled.
Agent Jay’s face was now carefully blank. She tapped her bottom lip thoughtfully. “What could do that? What manner of tech could cause feedback like that?”
“Other than my drones or Father or a full Circle of Witches, it could only be one of several things, at least in my estimation. Either Vorsook technology or one of the more powerful denizens of Fairie. Obviously elementals could do it, but as Caeco remained conscious and my drone remained functional, I would eliminate that option.”
“You’re saying we either have a Vorsook craft of some kind in there or a high-ranking elf?” Jay asked. She looked relatively unsurprised.
“Essentially.”
“Well, based on what we have learned about Samuel Morrell, I’m leaning toward the Vorsook scenario,” Jay said, studying me closely.
“Concur.”
“Let’s get back to the hotel,” Jay said, putting the big vehicle into reverse and backing around. “We’ve learned a great deal. We’ll need to plan carefully before we move forward.”
I just nodded, rubbing my hands together to get the feeling back, as she drove back out Kitty Hawk Avenue and headed the way we had come.