The War Gate (12 page)

“I did not know that. Call Auggie up on the house phone, tell him to get in here and to bring one of our head programmers.”

He’d never considered Avy his real daughter. Adopting her had been done more out of courtesy to the family name. How would it have looked if the child had been adopted outside the family? Nothing honorable to be found in that. He had fulfilled his blood tie to his brother by doing the right thing—raising her to legal age. Then he’d handed her the ticket of freedom, severing the parental bonds. What more could a young woman want than the freedom of choice to pursue her dreams?

A few minutes later, Drake saw his security chief and a programmer enter his office. He motioned for them to take seats. “Linda, take lunch.”

“I just got back from lunch.”

“Eat!”

He watched her leave, and then he addressed the two. “It’s not an extreme emergency, chief, but you indicated that my daughter logged onto our website yesterday?”

“That’s affirmative, boss. Just thought you should know about it. She used a code two access to scan several departments.”

“Well, I did offer her a code card when she was younger. I think it was that Father-Daughter Day occasion or some such. She removed herself from my household not long ago, so I’m unaware of the company she keeps at the present. I wonder if you could trace the signal through the network, locating the origin and time of her inquiry. I would like a solid printout of everything she put eyes on. It’s just a matter of routine.”

“I can do that,” said the programmer. “Even from this station if you want.”

“No, take it down to security. I’ll wait for the results.”

Drake waited for them to leave and made sure the door was shut. He turned his monitor on, punched in the employee database, then scanned the listings. He found her listed under Labrador. Sure enough, he’d authorized the clearance three years ago. He placed the highlight bar over her pass code and hit the delete button.

When Auggie and the programmer returned to his office thirty minutes later, they gave him a five-page document. Drake read it while the programmer spoke.

“I traced it back to the Harvey Sibbitt Library. The exact time was quarter to eleven in the morning yesterday.”

“That’s all. You can go. Auggie, you stay.” Drake waited for the door to close, then dialed the library. A woman answered. Her voice seemed agitated.

“Yes, whom would I be speaking to?” asked Drake.

“You are speaking to Abigail Folger.”

“What are your hours, dear?”

“Nine to nine, except on Sundays. Then it’s nine to two.”

“Thanks, goodbye.”

Drake scrolled through his employee roster again. He found a Riley J Folger, who worked in the warehouse. He checked his emergency contact list, finding both parents listed. One of them was Abigail Folger. Riley’s hire date indicated that he had been with Cyberflow for four years.

Drake waved the papers. “We’re going to pay the library a visit. It might be nothing, but I want to check it out.”

He ordered one of his limousine drivers to pick them up at the front entrance. They rode downtown in silence. When they entered the library, Drake eyed a fat woman behind the main counter. He suspected she was the Abigail Folger he had just spoken too. He waited until she was free from talking with some patrons.

“Mrs. Folger.” Drake produced his Cyberflow identification card, letting her eyes linger on the CEO title. “I’m Drake Labrador. This is my security chief, Augustus Hollywood. It has come to our attention that our security network was breached yesterday around ten forty-five in the morning. It was an unauthorized entry. We know that the person responsible was my daughter, Avy. She’s been disciplined for this type of behavior before. She hacked into our system from this library, which appears in our database records. I’d like to know who she was with, or the name of anyone who accompanied her.”

Her face insolent, the librarian stiffened. “You’ve got to be kidding. She doesn’t seem like the type to do anything like that. I thought she was researching her family history.”

“What family history?” Drake pressed

“She wanted to check the archives. Look, I don’t think I should reveal to you what might be privileged information. I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

Drake narrowed his eyes. “Then I might have to ask Riley, your son, to leave his position at Cyberflow. That would be a shame, considering he’s been with me for four years.”

“Are you blackmailing me?”

“We are investigating an illegal security breach,” said Auggie. “We’re dead serious about this. I can assure you that if you’re not forthcoming with the information, Riley will be dismissed.” He leaned over the counter for emphasis, wheezing close to the woman’s face.

Abigail backed up a step, her eyes popping like a rabbit’s in the company of two wolves. “Okay, okay,” she said, “just don’t fire Riley. He’s getting married soon, he can’t afford to lose his job. She was in here with Sebastian. He’s the local man who has a magic act over at the old Stadium Theater.”

Drake hunched his shoulders at Auggie.

“The Amazing Sebastian, boss. You know, the magic kid that’s been written up in the paper?”

Drake nodded. “I think I remember somebody like that.” Then to the woman, “Keep your mouth shut about this. It’s a private matter.” He left a dollar bill on the counter, then turned and headed for the door.

“What do you think they’re up to, Auggie?”

“Up to no good and after money. What would you like to happen, Mr. Labrador?”

“Put some men on him. Run him down—monitor his movements. See if my daughter is with him. I don’t like outsiders probing into Cyberflow business. That goes double for snooping relatives.”

Chapter 9

Avy hadn’t slept well, so she’d driven to the theater just after sunrise. She parked in the rear lot, trying to put her thoughts together in some coherent manner. Who could sleep after what had happened? It wasn’t every day that you watched someone walk clean through a wall, then disappear. It wasn’t normal to be told that you were special, capable of the same thing. Revelations like that could put a person’s sanity out of whack, maybe for good. She needed answers—now. She had the feeling Sebastian knew a lot more about Janus than he let on.

She walked the short distance to the back entrance of the theater and hammered on the door. After a long wait, she tried again, this time ringing the service buzzer. The door creaked open.

“I was hoping it was you,” said Sebastian. “Sorry, I was in the bathroom. Come on in.”

After sitting on the cot, Avy looked around. He must have bought a coffee maker, because one now sat on the counter percolating. She noticed the pigeons were loose, perched high up on the joist beams. Two bunnies romped across the floor. A manikin stared down at her with blank, accusing eyes. Even with his efforts to domesticate it, Sebastian’s residence still had a creep factor to it, which didn’t do anything to ease Avy’s mind or settle her nerves. How ironic that these little nuances hadn’t pricked her senses before. She’d had enough crazy magic in the past few days to last a lifetime. To top it off, the man she had begun to have feelings for had demonstrated a need to hide things from her. Not good.

Sebastian poured some coffee while he spoke over his shoulder. “I worried about you last night. The way you stormed out of here I thought you’d never be back.” He offered her a cup, but she refused it.

“We have to talk.” She looked at the wall on the other side of the counter, the exact spot where she’d seen Janus vanish. “I’m not comfortable in this place right now.”

“We can go to the park. I think I owe you an explanation.”

“You think? That’s the understatement of the century.”

They drove to the park in Avy’s Jeep. She walked past the last place they had sat together. She wanted nothing to influence her emotions or the questions she had lined up for him. They took seats on the bank of a small side pond, where some ducks bobbed near the water’s edge. She looked out across the water, speaking to him in a monotone.

“You knew about Janus all along,” she said. “You kept that from me. What’s your connection with him? He’s not your everyday acquaintance.”

Sebastian threw a pebble in water. “It’s true. I guess I’ve known him ever since I can remember. He came to me when I was very small. I remember falling off my bicycle one day, hitting the pavement hard. It knocked the wind out of me. I was so stunned I couldn’t move. A truck raced around the corner, barreling down the street. I started to crawl out of the way, but I knew I wasn’t going to make it in time. The truck slammed on its brakes, going into a skid. A pair of strong arms yanked me to the curb while my bike took a full-on hit.” He paused for an uncomfortable moment. “My savior was a long-haired priest who came out of nowhere. It was Janus. He saved my life that day. That was the first time I shared some type of a bond with him.

“I never spoke about it to anyone. That included my parents who I figured would ground me for months and never let me ride my bike on the street again. I also thought it would betray the trust on a higher level. From the start, I just knew the obvious—that he was a priest. He started to come around more. I somehow knew that he was on a mission to help people. From what he told me, he could help people in some extraordinary ways. I witnessed a few of these heroic deeds later on. That’s about the time I got interested in magic. In fact, he supported the skill in me. It was our secret.”

“Did he ever ask you to do anything for him?”

“I volunteered a few times. He sent me on intelligence gathering missions. It always had something to do with a case or a prospect that he was working on. That’s what he does—he makes things right.” He looked at her.

“Did he ask you to get involved with me because I’m one of his prospects?”

“He asked, but at first I didn’t promise that I would get involved. I decided to help after I met you. If it had something to do with protecting you, well, I wanted to be a part of that. He told me you were in trouble. He asked if I could offer support. I swear, he just stressed the job factor. You needed work. I needed an assistant. He put us together. He just knows these things. I’ve been discovering the rest of your problems right along with you.”

“I don’t know why I believe that, but I’ll give you a pass. This guy has to be the same one my mother raved about while she was in prison. A handsome long-haired priest—that fits the description. He has to be the same person who appeared to her on death row. But there was no record of any unauthorized entry or visits into the prison. Chubby told me all of this. After what I saw last night, I’m positive we’re talking about the same person.”

“It’s more than possible he’s tied in with it. He’s talking about injustice, Avy, the righting of a wrong. He says you’re the vessel for this change.”

“He goes a lot further than that. According to him, I’m not even leading my own life. I am some kind of resurrection. I have to clear my mother’s name in order to stop some catastrophe. The way he says it, I am my mother—like some lost doppelganger. Talk about a double life!”

“You’re not the only one he's connected with. This has been going on for centuries. Not everyone gets a second chance. But it’s worse in this case because others are going to suffer or lose their lives. That's when he opens a war gate.”

“Then why doesn’t he stop it himself? If he can perform miracles why can’t he put an end to it?”

“He serves the part of a guide. He points the way, provides the tools to make things right. He can’t interfere in a direct way.”

“That’s pretty weird,” she said. “I’m willing to admit that if my mother was framed, in the name of justice something has to be done to clear her name. But why couldn’t he have teamed up with a real detective? Why am I the best one for the job?”

“Maybe you’re the only one for the job. I don’t think there’s anyone more qualified to follow up on this. It was a long time ago, but you’re tied into it through the bloodline. It could be that the participant has to be a blood relative. He also said something about heading off a future disaster. What if that disaster involves people close to you?”

So far, everything pointed to Drake, Avy realized. If he was going to kill again, he had to be stopped. No argument there. How would she accomplish that? That was the next question she posed to him.

Sebastian answered, “You’ve been given a wonderful gift, Avy. You have to realize that. I know it seems out of this world, but it’s real. You have to become a Walker. You have to learn how to use it, control it.”

“I don’t know the first thing about it. Where is Janus now?”

“He’s always on the move, traveling the Gates from one location to another. He’s not the type that has a permanent address. He’s more like a wavelength if that makes any sense, and just shows up when he does.”

“How am I supposed to know how to use these skills? This walking stuff?”

Sebastian adjusted his seat on the grass to face her. “I can tell you what I know. He says that walking is primed by an emotional state. It has to do with stress, caused by anger, fear or anxiety. The most effective way to bring it on is with anger. It happens when the top of the shoulders, the neck, or the face flush with heat—like when you get real mad. It’s some type of an internal chemical reaction that affects a hormone surge in the nervous system. It’s similar to a nuclear reaction. I know that sounds crazy, but that’s the answer he gave me once when I pestered him about it. Something about atoms scattering, cells breaking links.”

“Then what?”

“Doors, hatches, and gates are the portals. Once you enter one, you can blitz to the next nearest one. To keep a string going you have to be good at controlling the emotional force, knowing when to slow down, then when to speed up. Attaining higher speeds is the challenge.” He tossed a rock in the water. “See the ripple effect? It’s like riding a wave—once it starts, you hop aboard.”

“You sure know a lot about this for just a friend.”

“My God, Avy. What magician wouldn’t want to know the bare bones of that trick? That’s one I could never pull off, even with all the rehearsal in the world. He has the secret inscribed in his DNA—he’s a carrier. I think he’s selective of who gets that gene from him. You are the first face-to-face Walker I’ve ever met. You are part of him.”