Light in the Barren Lands: Travail of The Dark Mage Book One (35 page)

It was after they collected the fifth glowing crystal, that James began to realize they were under surveillance. Nothing blatant, but there were two men who seemed to always be the same distance away, and whom he caught casting glances toward him and Jira.

A surreptitious survey of the immediate area revealed the two men may be all that were present at this time. But if they were undercover agents, that would change. But how had they found him? It took only a moment for him to figure that one out.
The map!
The map upon which he had Jira mark the locations of the crystals. Of course those who held Jiron captive would have taken their belongings. And what would they have done after discovering a map with areas marked on it? Staked out those areas!
Stupid, stupid, stupid!

He didn’t apprise Jira of the situation. Instead, he started walking calmly and nonchalantly along the sidewalk as he sent magic out to discover how many others were out there. Aside from the two he had already uncovered, he found four others. Hidden in their jackets were guns and radios. They were in communication with someone,
that
much he could figure out.

The threat of gunplay prompted him to take one of his recently collected crystals and begin imbuing it with protective spells similar to the one that has been with him since the island. Once it was completed, he handed it to Jira.

“Here,” he said. “You hang onto this one for me, okay?”

Taking the gem, Jira replied, “Yes, Uncle.”

“It will protect you should things get crazy.” She looked at the crystal then up to her uncle. “If you are ever in trouble, say ‘Activate’, and one of my protective shields will surround you and protect you.” Seeing that she was about to say the word to create the protective shield, he stopped her. “Not yet. Only do it when you must.”

“When will that be?”

“You’ll know.”

“Yes, Uncle.” Putting the crystal in her pocket, she couldn’t help but keep her hand inside with it, cupping it and rubbing its hard surface with her thumb.

Being tailed pretty much forestalled any idea of gathering more crystals. He had to lose them (and
quickly
) before reinforcements arrived and, as he said to Jira, things got crazy. The five retrieved crystals would have to do for now.

Continuing forward, James began to formulate a plan. Passing by a store selling T-shirts and other novelties visitors often wasted their money on when vacationing, he led Jira within. As soon as they passed through the front door, he hurried Jira between the displays to the back.

“What are we…?”

“Not now,” he said. “We have some bad men after us.”

“The ones that have father?”

“Most likely.”

Hand in hand, uncle and niece picked up their pace as they darted into a hallway bearing a sign,
Employees Only!
From the front came the noise of their pursuers rushing inside. James risked a glance backward and unintentionally made eye contact with one of them. Immediately, the man hollered and the chase was on.

“Run, Jira!”

Bolting for the back door at the end of the hallway, James held tightly onto Jira’s hand. He hit the bar on the door with his hip, slamming the door open. Then darting to the right, he brought Jira to an abrupt halt. Putting their backs against the wall, he let the magic flow as he whispered, “Stay still and don’t say a word.”

Beside him, Jira nodded.

A shield enveloped them, one similar to that which he used to conceal the crystals set about town to gather magic. He was sweating bullets when the undercover men burst through the door. Jira’s hand tightened in his as the gaze of one man seemed to look right at them before moving on to search elsewhere.

“Where’d they go?” asked one man.

The other man glanced both ways before darting down to the left while the first raced to the right. The one heading right began radioing others that James had given them the slip. James sighed with relief when the two men disappeared out of sight.

Jira hugged him tightly, her small body trembling with nervousness and no small amount of fear. He laid his hand upon her shoulder to reassure her. “We are hidden from unfriendly eyes, Jira. My magic shields us.”

“I want father,” she whimpered. As brave as she was, a girl sometimes needed her father.

“We’ll get him,” he replied. “Don’t worry, we’ll get him.” Now that they knew he was back, and visiting the locations located on the map, they’ll have each one doubly watched from this point on.

Five crystals!
That was all he had been able to recover. Would five be enough? He doubted it but didn’t dare risk further complications by attempting to get the rest. True, he could continue in his shell of invisibility and recover the crystals, but the draw of magic required to maintain it was not something he could keep up for an extended length of time, not even with crystals. For it made no sense to drain the crystals he had in order to obtain the others. No, he would have to make due with those already collected.

Keeping the shield in place, James had Jira remain close as they began moving off down the alley behind the novelty store. They hadn’t even reached the end before cop cars began arriving.

Men and dogs scoured the area. Several times, James and Jira were forced to press themselves against the wall in order not to be run into by the searchers. One dog that came close started barking in their direction, but its handler, who thought the dog was barking at nothing more than a brick wall, told it to be quiet and dragged it away.

Once they made it out to the street, they were able to scoot away until clear of the searchers. At that point, James canceled the invisibility shield and they joined the throng walking along the sidewalk. For a block or more, he kept constant vigil by sight and magic for anyone taking an interest in them only to find there weren’t any interested parties.

“I think we lost them,” he announced.

Jira was silent for a moment. “I want to go home,” she said despondently.

He pulled her aside and looked into tear filled eyes. “So do I, Jira.” Giving her a hug and patting her on the back, he said again, “So do I. Want some ice cream?”

She shook her head. Not even
that
could dispel the unhappiness she felt. She wanted her father. She wanted her mother. And she wanted to go home!

Chapter Twenty-One

________________________

Night had fallen an hour ago and the lights of Las Vegas had come to life. At any other time, perhaps such a spectacle may have held interest for James, but at the moment, his thoughts were elsewhere.

He and Jira sat upon a bench at a bus stop across and a little ways down the street from where her father was being held. Throughout the afternoon, James had checked on Jiron via the mirror purchased earlier only to find him undergoing heavy interrogation. Had they brought out the pincers or other such torture devices that James had been exposed to on Jiron’s world, he would have gone in long ago. But the worst Jiron suffered was deprivation of food and water, and some well placed blows. He knew that Jiron had endured much worse and would take these in stride.

James had grown to dislike the agent in charge of the interrogation for the way his friend was being mistreated. Perhaps the agent might be around when he went in to collect his friend?

“Is it time, Uncle?”

“Almost, Jira,” he assured her.

From a sack sitting between them came the smell of fried chicken, jojos, and biscuits they’d bought at a local KFC for Jiron when they busted him out, for James knew he was going to be hungry.

While they sat upon the bench, the bus pulled up before them. The door opened and the driver looked at James questioningly. James shook his head. Shrugging, the driver closed the door and the bus continued on its way.

Earlier that afternoon, James had come to this area and directed two magical
“seeds”
toward the walls on the north and south side of the building to which they attached themselves. Then for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening, they gathered power until now they were practically humming with stored magical energy.

James wasn’t sure if both would be needed. He had a general idea of what he planned to do. When first formulating the plan, he toyed with the idea of showing up earlier and telling them in his best Schwarzenegger impersonation,
“I’ll be back,”
but quickly discarded the idea despite the thrill it would have given him.

“Are you ready?” he asked. Upon her nodding affirmatively, James got up from the bench. “Activate your crystal and don’t dispel it until I return.”

As the protective shield sprang into place, she replied, “Yes, Uncle.”

“This shouldn’t take very long.” And with that, he left the bus stop.

“Hey, Randle!”

Glancing to the agent at the doorway to the interrogation room, Agent Randle asked, “What is it?” Before him, the terrorist sat strapped to the chair, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, and yet the man had the audacity to grin.

“Got another ‘terrorist’ on the phone claiming to be this guy’s partner.”

“So? We’ve been getting those all morning long after this guy’s arrest was broadcast on the news.” Thank goodness the reporters believed the terrorist was being held in the city lockup or they’d be inundated with reporters and onlookers.

“I know, but this guy seems more lucid than the others. He also asked if we had found a way to communicate with our friend here yet. Sort of thought it was a joke or something.”

“Running a trace on the call?”

“Of course. Should have it any moment.”

Randle sighed. “Very well. I’m not getting anywhere with him.” Stepping from the room, he shut the door behind him. The agent held a cell phone forward and he took it. “Yes? Agent Randle speaking.”

“Randle?” The voice on the other end seemed rather surprised.

“That’s what I said. So, you’re the terrorist, huh?”

“My friend and I are not terrorists, though I am the one you are currently looking for.”

“Uh-huh. Not terrorists you say? Seems to me you spread a lot of terror at Haveston.”

“That was…unexpected, and we are rather sorry about that.”

“Are you calling to give a list of your demands?”

“No, just to let you know I’m coming to collect my friend and that it might be wise to get everyone out of the building. I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“You think you can simply walk into the Las Vegas jail and take your friend?”

There was a pause. “If my friend were at the jail, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

That got Agent Randle’s complete attention. Every other terrorist wannabe had believed the man they were holding was at the jail, just like it was being reported on the news. Moving his hand to cover the phone, he whispered urgently to the agent standing next to him. “It is the terrorist. See if the trace is completed.” The other agent raced off down the hallway.

“I see I have your attention now,” stated the voice on the phone.

“Yes, you do.”

“Good. I’ll be there shortly. If you are wise, you’ll meet me at the front door with my friend.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” replied Agent Randle.

“I figured as much.”

“Why don’t you come in and we’ll talk about it?”

“No thanks, I’ve already spoken long enough with your…brother? Cousin? I couldn’t figure out how he knew where I was, but now it all makes sense.”

“You don’t think we’re going to just give him to you, do you?”

“No, not really. This call is merely to warn you of my imminent arrival so fewer people will get hurt.”

“That’s awfully nice of you,” Agent Randle said with great sarcasm.

“At least my conscience is clear.”

From down the hall, the agent sent to see about the trace shouted, “We got him!”

“Where is he?”

“Phone booth, less than a block away.”

“Ah, I see you know where I am.”

Ka-boom!

The building rocked as a blast took out a section of its eastern wall. “Just so you know I’m not bluffing. You’ve got five minutes to clear out. Anyone I see with a gun pointed in my direction dies. If my friend is dead when I arrive, I’ll slaughter everyone and raze Las Vegas to the ground. I’ll be coming in the front. If you’re smart, my friend will be waiting for me.”

Click
.

As James left the phone booth, smoke rose from the site of the explosion amidst chunks of debris falling to earth. People screamed, sirens rang, and he walked calmly toward the FBI building. Around him, shimmering and all but invisible, was his protective shield.

In the neighboring blocks surrounding the FBI building, cop cars moved to block roads to keep civilians out of harm’s way. James continued walking until he stood across the street, facing the building wherein he would find his friend. Taking out his mirror, he quickly had Jiron in view.

Two agents were removing the bonds binding him to the chair, while another held a gun pressed to the back of his head. Once Jiron was freed from the chair, they cuffed his hands behind his back and marched him from the room.

For a fleeting moment James thought they may have actually acceded to his request, but then the men hustled Jiron to a back room where he was thrown in and secured. Agents took positions to cover the hallway leading to the back room in anticipation of his arrival.

Ping!

A bullet ricochet off his shield followed quickly by a dozen more. Snipers located in the upper stories of the FBI building, along with a couple on the roof, had him in their sights and were trying to take him out.

James sighed. He hated what he had to do. But a threat not followed through would only lead to further complications. So, taking out one of the rocks acquired earlier, he began launching them one by one toward the snipers just as he used to do to Empire crossbowmen. Sped with magic, they flew unerringly to their target, taking them out until no further bullets were sent his way.