Doorways to Infinity (43 page)

“That’s over a hundred and thirty miles round trip, just to pick up your dinner.”

“It takes longer to walk to the dining hall.”

Eric shook his head and said, “All right, that’s sounds crazy, but there’s something I want to mention before you go. I’ve been thinking about your friend’s suggestion that we mount a small mission to the monastery, to tweak Mr. Cage’s nose, without telling anyone at the agency about it. I think I have an idea, but I want to discuss it with everyone, since we’re going to need your help.”

“How about Wednesday night?” Fred said. “I have to study tomorrow night for a test.”

“Me too,” Terry said. “A big one.”

“I keep forgetting that you’re still in school. How’s that going?”

“Hard. It would be a lot easier if I weren’t working, too.”

“Not many students are working as secret agents while they’re going to school.”

“It’s my cover, so why not? I’m learning stuff and getting credit hours, but it’s tough.”

“Jamie, I had another idea I want to mention to you,” Eric said. “It’s a way to safely handle your communication issues. You can use a closed phone system.” He smiled with his lips closed. “It’s like a glorified intercom. You can make tiny magic portals, can’t you? Isn’t that how you connect your phones in Rivershire?”

“Yeah, and the Internet in the school’s office. Why?”

“You can get a central unit, which is an electronic switchboard about the size of a small refrigerator, and put it somewhere safe, like your grandfather’s headquarters in Rivershire. Then you give phones to everybody you need to discretely communicate with, and connect them to the switchboard through the mini-portals.”

“Couldn’t somebody tap into it?”

“It doesn’t connect to the main phone system or the Internet. That’s why it’s like an intercom, except that you can hook up as many phones as you want, all with separate numbers. The White House has a system like that, and so does the Pentagon. They are totally secure. You just need to put the mini-portals in a spot where they wouldn’t be noticed, which should be easy if they’re small enough.”

“How would I go about getting a system like that and setting it up?”

“Any IT person can do it. I can, too, but not right now. Not until after we take care of Phillip Cage. In the meantime you’ll have to continue to be careful with your regular phone calls and texts.”

“Which means you’ll have to keep making doorways,” Fred said to Jamie. “Where are you going to find an IT person to maintain it? Will you have to give somebody else the oath and tell them about the magic?”

“Ivan can probably handle it. He’s majoring in computer information systems. I wonder if that’s a coincidence.” Jamie rubbed his mouth thoughtfully while he regarded the two agents. “Eric, when did you get the idea for the phone system and the mission to Romania?”

“Yesterday afternoon, I think. Both of them. Why?”

“Just askin’. The timing is a little suspicious. I was just talking to Uncle Charlie about this stuff yesterday.”

“You don’t think Uncle Charlie had something to do with this, do you?” Fred asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t see how he could. He doesn’t have any magical power, and there’s no spell that could do something like that. At least none that I know of.”

Eric wrinkled his brow. “What are you talking about?”

“Never mind,” Jamie said. “It’s just idle speculation. We’ll see you Wednesday night.”

* * *

After reviewing the list of scientists Dr. Tindall had given him, Jamie picked one: Dr. Karen Westbrook, anthropologist. She would be another researcher who would study Eddan’s world and the people of Rivershire.

He met her in Dr. Tindall’s office. She was a large woman, especially standing next to the rather petite Dr. Tindall. Not fat, but as tall as Jamie and big-boned, with strong features and a voice to match. Jamie guessed that she was about the same age as Dr. Tindall, early fifties, and it was obvious that the two women were friends.

Jamie brought Rollie with him to administer the magic oath, then Rollie excused himself and left immediately afterward. Dr. Westbrook had the same reaction to the glow and tingle of the supernatural vow as everyone else and was equally wide-eyed when he made a doorway to Rivershire. “Wear your coat,” Jamie said before they stepped through. “It’s cold there today.”

They stood in the field next to the school and Dr. Tindall explained in rapid, excited words, complete with hand gestures, about what she’d been doing in Rivershire over the last month. It didn’t take Dr. Westbrook long to recover from the shock of crossing from one world to another via a magic portal —
interplanetary travel made easy
, as Rollie called it — and she quickly grasped the significance of the opportunity she’d been given: to be one of the first scientists on another planet. She was especially interested when she found out that the people there had originally come from Earth and that Leora’s family was related to Dr. Tindall.

“My goodness, Nancy.” Dr. Westbrook put one hand flat on her chest. “This is absolutely unbelievable. Family, here? On another world? That’s so….” She sucked in a sharp breath and gave her head a tight shake. “Does anyone in Ireland or Scotland know that they might have relatives here?”

“My girlfriend’s got relatives here, too,” Jamie said, “and her dad’s been buggin’ me to help him set up a family reunion with them and some of their distant cousins from County Cork. But I’d have to give the oath to a bunch more people and make doorways and stuff, and I don’t want to do that. Too risky.”

“I’d love to see that reunion, though. Can you picture it? Families that have been separated for centuries and didn’t even know of each other’s existence, suddenly brought together? That would be fascinating to witness. Imagine the stories they’d tell.”

“Imagine the casseroles they’d bring,” Dr. Tindall said, and they all laughed.

Dr. Westbrook turned and gazed at their surroundings. “What a fantastic, crazy thing.” Then she frowned at Dr. Tindall. “You’ve been keeping this a secret all this time?”

“I couldn’t tell anyone because of the oath, like the one you just took. I think it’s important to get an anthropologist here right away, though if you agree to study this culture, you’ll have to keep it a secret. You can come with me on the weekends, if you want. I’ve already got a place to stay, or we could stay at the inn. That would be fun, I think. Jamie’s going to let me use the school’s pickup truck, so we’ll have transportation. It’s really a wonderful place to work, Karen. What do think? Will you do it? You won’t have to take the inoculation potion again.”

“I’m
definitely
intrigued.” Dr. Westbrook smiled and lifted her eyebrows nearly to her hairline.

Jamie pointed an accusing finger at Dr. Tindall. “But not until you investigate the second mining site. You promised.”

“Oh, I will. I’m just waiting on you to select the world.”

“What’s this?” Dr. Westbrook said.

“She has to do an environmental impact study of a potential mining site for us,” Jamie said, “and it’ll be on a different planet, for the same company that’s already mining another world. It’s how we make most of our money to pay for everything, now.”

“I want to go with you, Nancy,” Dr. Westbrook said, “if it’s on another planet. I didn’t know there were more.”

“There are thousands of Earth-like planets that I can make doorways to,” Jamie said. “Maybe millions. Maybe an infinite number. But Dr. Tindall has to check one out for us before I approve the mining deal.”

“Then I’ll definitely go with you. My background isn’t biology, but I’m sure I can be helpful.” She smiled broadly. “Jamie, can we stay here a while so I can see more of this place?”

“I’ve got track practice here around four o’clock. I can make a doorway back to campus for you then. How’s that?”

“Your team is training here?” She looked at the gravel track nearby and knitted her brow. “Don’t you have a nice facility back in Cullowhee?”

Jamie
tsked
. “It’s a long story, but my team likes to run here, so I make doorways for them almost every day.”

Dr. Tindall glanced at her watch and nodded. “We can stay until then. If we get cold, we can always go inside the school.” She put her hand on Dr. Westbrook’s arm. “We should do that anyway so you can meet Jamie’s grandmother, Evelyn. She works here.”

“She teaches here? On another world?”

“Somebody’s gotta do it,” Jamie said. “In fact, we’re looking for a science teacher for next year. Want a job?”

“No.” She chuckled. “I have one, thanks.”

* * *

The two CIA agents suggested that all of Jamie’s friends should help plan the second mission to Romania, but only three of them could be a part of the actual strike team. Eric had several reasons for that: the cliff ledge by the monastery where Jamie would put the doorway was too small for all of them, fewer people meant less chance of getting discovered, and Eric and Terry had only brought back three extra bulletproof vests from their last visit to the CIA headquarters.

“Nobody goes without a vest,” Eric insisted. “Not even you, Jamie. I don’t care if your shield can protect you from a nuclear missile strike. You might lower it for a moment, and that’s all the time a sniper needs to kill you.”

“Sniper?” Rollie frowned and put a fist on his hip. “You didn’t say anything about snipers.”

“I’m not saying that one will be doing sentry duty, but it’s a possibility. They’re not as effective at night.”

“We’re definitely going at night,” Fred said firmly. “Late at night, like, two or three in the morning, Romanian time. We want the witches in the monastery to be asleep when we go, because we’ll probably have to use a spell or two on the guards, and those witches will feel it if they’re awake.”

“Right,” Terry said. “We don’t want to tip Cage off that we’re utilizing magic.”

Jamie held up his hand and waved it loosely. “Eric, are we snatching him on this mission? I thought we were just tweakin’ his nose. Something relatively safe.”

“We won’t apprehend him unless the opportunity presents itself with minimal risk. My idea was for us to plant a bug on his property. I doubt we’d be able to put one inside the monastery, but we can still get some useful intel from outside, if we put it in the right place.”

“What kind of bug?” Nova said.

“Two, actually, paired in one small package, stuck up in a tree.” He looked at Jamie. “That’s where you come in.” Then he swept one flattened hand through the air.

“I get to fly on this mission? Cool.”

“You’ll still have to stay below radar range. You’ll need to place it up in a tree, and it may be too dark to translocate it accurately. The unit will consist of a very sensitive outdoor mike and another device that will pick up two-way radio and cell phone transmissions. Both units will be coupled with an antenna that will send the signal to our other satellite, the one that’s permanently stationed over Eastern Europe.”

“So what do we do?” Melanie touched her chest with one finger, then pointed at Bryce, Rollie, and Nova.

“We need your help planning the details of the mission,” Terry said. “Nobody’s ever tried anything like this before, and you are familiar with Jamie, Fred, and Rollie’s capabilities.

“Rollie’s going?” Nova’s eyes narrowed sharply. “Why do you need him? He might get hurt.”

“We’ll try to make sure that he doesn’t,” Terry said, “but I think we might need his super speed.”

Rollie flashed a cocky grin and started to say something, but Nova elbowed him the ribs. “Ow!” His brow dropped sharply. “What was that for?”

“Don’t you go gettin’ overconfident and get yourself killed.” Then she waggled a finger in his face. “And don’t do anything stupid!”

“Nobody will,” Terry said. “We’re going to come up with a good plan, and everybody’s going to come back safe and sound.”

“You’d better,” Nova said. “If you’re going to Dracula’s backyard, we’re going to have to come up with a fool-proof plan.”

* * *

Early Saturday evening, Jamie, Fred, and Rollie returned to Eric and Terry’s house, all of them dressed in dark clothes and wearing heavy coats and gloves. Fred had a bag slung over her shoulder, full of various potions and powders.

Eric and Terry were ready for them when Jamie and his friends stepped through the magic doorway into the agents’ living room. They had on their bulletproof vests, and their pistols were strapped to their waists; their assault rifles were at their feet.

“This is what we’re planting tonight.” Eric held out a fist-sized apparatus that looked like two cell phones that were strapped to a tiny satellite dish. “I rigged this up yesterday.”

“Don’t you think they’ll notice?” Fred said. “That’s pretty suspicious-looking.”

“Well, first of all, nobody ever looks up, and this is going to be way up in a tree.” Then he turned around to the table and grabbed a cluster of dark green plastic leaves. “And if they do, this will camouflage it. This is fake mistletoe that I got from the craft store.” He slipped its stem through one of the black plastic straps that bound the devices together. “See?”

“How is it going to attach to the tree?” Rollie asked.

Eric flipped it over to reveal a two-inch long spike on the back. “I fixed a big roofing nail to it. Jamie’s going to have to jam it into the bark of one of the branches, with the little dish pointing up. You can do that with your magic, can’t you?”

“I think I can get the bark to mold itself around it. That’ll be better.”

“Is that one of your spells?” Terry said.

“I can get plants to do stuff, especially trees. That’s why I’m majoring in Biology.” Jamie held out his hand and said, “Can I see it?” Eric gave it to him and Jamie hefted it and frowned. “It’s heavier than I thought it would be.”

“It’s got a lot of electronics packed in there,” Eric said. “A super-sensitive microphone, a bug to pick up electronic broadcasts, and a transmitter.”

Fred eyed it and said, “Don’t drop it while you’re up in the tree. It’ll make a racket.”

“Okay.” Eric set his jaw and looked each of them in the eye. “Does everybody know what to do?”

“We’ve been over it a hundred times,” Rollie said. “Let’s go.”