Dearest Mother of Mine (Overworld Chronicles) (23 page)

"So, even if we take out the guards and take control of the truck we're screwed," I said. "Because there's no way to break it open."

"Can we use the arch to get inside?" Adam asked.

Shelton shook his head. "The trailer is identical to every other one like it. You remember what happened last time we didn't have a precise location." He looked to me. "What about that blink thing you do?"

"Similar issue. I have to see my destination," I said. "Otherwise, my mom could probably escape on her own."

"Once the Conroys move to the new house, we should be able to raid their old one," Adam said. "Maybe dig through the garbage and find traces of blood."

"But, whose blood will they use?" I asked.

"I'd be willing to bet Jeremiah's," Shelton said. "But Arcanes like him don't just leave bodily fluids lying around for his rivals to get hold of. You can do some nasty stuff with someone's blood, even if it's old. He probably uses magic disposal to get rid of loose hairs and that kind of stuff."

"Back to square one," I grumbled.

"I disagree," Adam said. "Nobody's perfect. With enough planning, we can get the blood. First, though, we need to know whose blood."

Shelton pursed his lips. "Yeah, I suppose you're right." He threw up his hands. "I'm gonna hate waiting while the girls are off on their little mission."

"We don't have to wait," I said. "Elyssa asked me to help with a diversion to draw the Darkwater people away from their HQ."

"Good idea," Shelton said, face brightening. "I assume we'll use the omniarch to travel somewhere?"

"I'm thinking Bogota." I said.

"Why there?" Adam asked.

"If we appear in Bogota, Kassus's people will have to use the Obsidian Arch in La Casona to get there," I said. "As the Templar commander in Colombia, Christian Salazar has the authority to shut down the arch and keep the Darkwater people from returning to Atlanta anytime soon."

"Oh, I see." Shelton clapped me on the shoulder. "Good thinking, man."

"Elyssa and her crew will need to use the omniarch tonight to open a portal inside Darkwater," I continued, trying not to smile to broadly at Shelton's compliment. "We'll need Meghan here to reopen a portal for us so we can get the hell out of Bogota once Kassus and his crew show up."

Adam took out his phone and tapped on the screen. "I'll text her about it."

"This is gonna be fun." Shelton pursed his lips. "Why don't we use this opportunity to ambush Kassus and get him off our case for good?"

Adam's eyebrows shot up. "You really want to ambush that monster? He isn't some hack, Shelton. You're strong, but this guy knows all the tricks."

"And my magic is unpredictable at best," I added. "Do you really think we can catch this guy off guard? Besides, he won't be alone if we do our job right."

Shelton made a back-handed motion. "Yeah, you're right. It'd just be nice to have this monkey off my back."

"Agreed," I said. "But we aren't ready to take him on just yet."

He nodded. "True." Stretched, and stood. "Well, at least we won't have to storm the Conroy stronghold to rescue your mom after all. I'm gonna study these semi-trucks and see if I can figure out a weak point."

Adam left to meet with Meghan, so I contacted Christian and asked for his help in shutting down the Obsidian Arch in La Casona once I drew threw Kassus's men.

"I can do that," he said after I explained the situation.

"Any tips for hijacking an arcane prison truck?" I asked.

"Templars usually escort them, so I have a little inside knowledge," he said. "Your best bet is to disable the escorts first, and use them to block the truck. Don't let the size of the semi-truck fool you, either. It may look like a typical nom tractor-trailer, but the engines are magically enhanced for extra speed if it needs to escape."

"Anything else I should know?"

Christian paused a moment. "The doors are always blood sealed. Protocol demands the sealer not accompany the convoy, but proceed to the destination, leaving a vial of blood in another secure location should something happen to him. Since you're dealing with a rogue operation, I doubt they'll follow protocol and set aside a blood vial. This means you'll need to secure the blood from the person who sealed it."

"Isn't there some way to open the trailer in case of emergency?" I asked. "Like a magic word?"

There was no hesitation in Christian's answer. "Without the sealer's blood, no, I'm afraid not."

I thanked him and hung up feeling even more discouraged about the entire thing. I saw two major problems. One, we'd never done anything like this before, and two, we didn't have nearly as many people as Darkwater, if it came down to a fight. We'd need to neutralize the escorts instantly, leaving only the semi-truck to deal with.

I sketched scenarios on an arctablet, straining my imagination to come up with some way we could incapacitate highly-skilled battle mages without killing them. I didn't even know what kind of escorts to expect. Would they be in normal vehicles, or might they utilize aircraft? Templars commonly used sliders disguised as helicopters, and I had no doubts Darkwater had access to all sorts of gadgets, magical and tech-based alike.

Part of being a good leader is knowing when you don't know jack.

My next vital steps involved grabbing donuts and a monster-sized energy drink from the kitchen, and placing a phone call to Thomas Borathen. I called the compound—the old man had never given me his digits—and after a few minutes of waiting, someone put him on the line. Leaving out Elyssa's plans for Darkwater, I explained the transport situation. "I don't know what the hell I'm doing."

"And you want my help," Thomas said, voice neutral.

I laid out more facts about a possible ambush. "There aren't nearly enough of us to fight a battle if it comes to that. I think overwhelming force will allow us to take the transport without incident. That's where you can help."

He grunted. "I want you to think about this carefully. Darkwater is comprised of Arcanes. The transport is ostensibly being used to transport a dangerous Arcane."

"Right," I said, trying to see where he was headed with this.

"So, you see the problem."

I pulled away from my phone and gave it a confused look as if Thomas could see my face.
What's he getting at?
I opened my mouth to ask for clarification when I suddenly saw his point. "To observers, this is an internal Arcane affair."

"Precisely," Thomas said.

"A force of Templars interfering in an Arcane matter would look pretty bad."

"The political situation is already dire," he replied. "The Synod retained its position on the Overworld Conclave even though the Templars split. Bara Nagal and his political advisors are attempting to cast us as dangerous rebels who should be put down. If we're seen attacking an Arcane convoy, it will give Cyphanis Rax extra ammunition for the council to side with the Synod Templars should he win the special election."

I sank into a chair. It was all so complicated. I'd never had to worry about politics, but things had changed. Thomas's decision to acknowledge me during the initiation ceremony made a lot more sense now. I wasn't just some upstart kid anymore, I was a political symbol right along with him and Nightliss thanks to my constant meddling.

"My mother is Seraphim," I said, grasping at straws. "That makes this an inter-super conflict which gives the Templars jurisdiction."

"Do you have proof your mother is actually onboard?"

I had no proof aside from the word of Lornicus.

Thomas apparently took my silence as an answer. "You grasp the situation better now, don't you?"

"My mother would make a powerful ally," I said, trying to think in military terms. "Isn't it worth the gamble?"

"That's a good question," he said. "Does the risk outweigh the reward?"

"I think so." Or was I thinking with my heart instead of my head?

"Let me give you more information," Thomas said, not a hint of condescension in his voice. "The Synod moved a legion to the west side of Atlanta. They're constructing a compound and dispersing units into the region my forces patrol."

"Can't you stop them?" I asked.

"Only if I want a war we're not prepared to fight," he said.

"They started a war yesterday."

"Even if that's true, it doesn't mean we're ready to fight them."

I blew out a frustrated breath.
Screw it. He's not going to help.
"I guess we'll just have to make do." I wasn't going to beg for help.

"I will intercede if you request it," Thomas said.

"Intercede? As in, troops and everything?"

"Overwhelming force or whatever suits the situation." Thomas's voice was firm. "I've given you the facts. I've explained the possible consequences. Now that you are informed, I am placing the final decision in your hands, Mr. Slade."

"Let's say we hijack the transport," I said. "Can we claim jurisdiction and demand the sealer open the vessel?"

"They will likely show a false manifest, and claim the Templars acted without proof or jurisdiction. Political pressure would be applied. It's also possible the Synod would step in and ally itself with the Arcane Council to force us to return the transport."

As my mind considered the political ramifications of involving the Templars, especially when we needed to win the hearts and minds of Arcanes and other supers if we had any hope of forming an anti-Daelissa alliance, it made me wonder if this was Thomas's way of testing me. Was he truly offering help, or just seeing how stupid I really was?

My mind ran in circles before I finally said, "Are you serious about helping me if I give you the go-ahead?"

"Do I sound serious?" he replied.

"Always," I said.

"Then you have your answer."

I knew the decision was too complicated to make without conferring with the others. "Let me consider all the options," I said, quoting a military movie I'd seen before. "Maybe there's a better way to handle this."

"Very well." Thomas disconnected without another word.

Chapter 21

That afternoon, our group of six conspirators met for a late lunch and to prepare for Operation Clearwater, a nickname Bella had given our scheme. I explained my plan to use Christian to trap Darkwater people in Colombia so Elyssa and crew could infiltrate their corporate headquarters and search for information regarding my mother's transportation route, discover whose blood would seal her transport, and, last but not least, dig up any useful information on the research Darkwater was doing on the arches and control rooms. We would need the information if we had any hope of using the Alabaster Arch in El Dorado to find the Grand Nexus and, if possible, destroy it.

Adam had written a script to search the magic-based computer system Darkwater employed. Such systems were called Arcsys datacenters and used spells similar to what ASEs used to store data. All Elyssa had to do was attach her arcphone to an Arcsys node and run the script—at least in theory.

I also mentioned my conversation with Thomas. Elyssa and the others furrowed their brows in almost perfect unison when I told them he'd left the decision up to me.

"I knew he was setting you up for leadership," Elyssa said, "but this is unheard of."

"Thomas Borathen really said he'd give you the final decision?" Shelton said, sounding baffled. "The old man is losing it."

"Thanks," I replied, voice heavy with sarcasm. "I'm not sure what to do."

"We don't have enough intel," Elyssa said. "We need the schedule, the identity of the person sealing the doors, and the route. Then we can plan how to handle it."

"I realize that," I said. "At least we have another option on the table, and that's good."

"It's bloody wonderful," Stacey said, her eyes narrowed to contented slits as she regarded me like a cat might regard a bowl of milk.

"How do you plan to let Kassus know you're in Bogota?" Elyssa asked.

I offered her a knowing smile. "You just let me worry about that, okay?"

She gripped me by the front of the shirt and pulled me close. "Fine," she whispered with a grin, and pecked me on the lips. "I love you. Good luck."

Shelton said his goodbyes to Bella while Adam did the same to Meghan. It felt like we were going on a long trip and wouldn't be back for a week, though if everything went well, we'd be back in town the minute Kassus fell for our ploy. Ryland sauntered into the room, prowling like a wolf on the hunt. I noticed he wore his sideburns in the mutton-chop look he'd favored the first time I met him.

"You guys need a fourth?" he asked, running a hand through his short thick hair. "I'd be happy to run with you."

"Kassus might add you to his lists of targets," I said. "It might not be a good idea."

He shrugged. "I ain't worried about that."

"My wolfy will make sure nothing bad happens," Stacey said, her eyes examining Ryland's posterior.

"Won't find me turning away help," Shelton said.

Ryland was a Templar, and he could turn into a really big wolf, so he might be handy in case things went from bad to worse. In my book, that was always a possibility. "Let's go, then."

"We set up a long-range ASE to keep an eye on Darkwater headquarters," Elyssa said. "If it spots any commotion, we'll let you know."

"We'll leave the portal open for our return from Bogota," I said. "But if we see an opportunity to lead the Darkwater people on a longer chase we will, especially if Christian is delayed in shutting down access to the Obsidian Arch so they can't return."

"Sounds like a remarkably well-considered plan," Stacey said with a wink.

We went downstairs to the omniarch. Christian had sent me the picture of an empty room in a Templar safe house near La Casona for the portal exit. I concentrated on the image, and the image of the room appeared in the center of the omniarch. When we stepped inside, I noticed the portal had opened in the middle of a wall. As we'd seen before, the physical world seemed to warp around the shimmering gateway, unaffected in any other way. Through the thin gap between the wall and the outer edge of the portal I saw another room.