Balance of Power: An Alastair Stone Urban Fantasy Novel (Alastair Stone Chronicles Book 25)

by R. L. King

  Blum looked dubious. “I dunno, Stone. People don’t whack other people over the head and break into their houses for ‘study purposes.’”

  Stone chuckled. “Obviously you’ve never met some of my more zealous academic colleagues, Detective.” He pulled on his coat. “Anyway, thanks for the chat. Let me know if you come up with anything, will you?”

  “I will if you will.”

  “Did you hear Janice Inouye’s house got broken into?”

  Stone feigned surprise as he stood in Beatrice Martinez’s doorway later that day. “Bloody hell, is that right? Is she all right?”

  “She’s fine. It happened sometime yesterday afternoon. She wasn’t home at the time, and neither was her husband.” Martinez sighed. She looked tired, with dark circles under her eyes and an uncharacteristic slump in her shoulders.

  “Have they got any idea what they were looking for?”

  Martinez waved him toward a chair. “She took a few days off, naturally—that’s how I found out, when she called in this morning. She said they didn’t find anything missing. The police have a suspicion, though.”

  “Oh?” Stone kept his expression carefully neutral.

  “Yes.” She glanced at him in concern. “And I’m afraid you might have cause for concern too, Alastair.”

  “Why is that?”

  “They think it might have something to do with the break-in at the storeroom, where Brandon got hurt.”

  “Bloody hell. They still think the thief was looking for something specific?”

  “That’s their speculation—though they don’t know what it is. Obviously if they’re breaking in to Janice’s place, they didn’t find it in the storeroom.”

  “It was fairly jumbled in there, though. I don’t think I saw half the items during the time I was inside.”

  “That’s true—whatever it is, it might still be there, buried somewhere among the other items. But the police are speculating that, whatever it is, it’s possible somebody who was in that room before the thief showed up might have taken it.”

  “Taken it? You mean stolen it?”

  She shrugged. “I doubt it. I can’t imagine anyone here would steal anything.” Giving Stone a narrow-eyed glance, she added, “but I wouldn’t be quite as certain someone might not ‘borrow’ something for a little while if it struck them as interesting.”

  “I suppose it’s possible.”

  “Janice claims she didn’t, though. And I assume you didn’t either?”

  “Of course not.” Stone was grateful once again that he was an excellent liar. It came with his extensive training in aura control from the time he was an apprentice. “Honestly, I didn’t see much in there that struck me as particularly interesting. A few things I might like to show my students, but certainly nothing terribly valuable.”

  “Well, you might consider increasing the security around your house. The police might be able to provide a few drive-bys, but they’re so busy I doubt you’ll get much else from them.”

  “That’s all right. The security around my house is fairly extensive. If they try anything, they might be in for a surprise.”

  Martinez shook her head, staring at her hands on her desk. “I don’t know, Alastair. I’ll be honest—I’m sorry I ever agreed to let them store the collection here. I thought it might be academically interesting to let some of the faculty examine the items before they move on, but look what that decision has caused. We have Brandon nearly killed, and Janice is understandably feeling violated…I’m glad the whole mess is leaving soon.”

  “Leaving?” Again, Stone feigned surprise.

  “Yes. I’ve spoken with Hiram Drummond’s heirs, and they’ve agreed to have the collection moved to San Francisco until the auction. It will have better security there, and we won’t have to worry about anyone else getting hurt. They’ll re-catalog everything when they get there, and hopefully determine if anything is actually missing. They’re bringing in a truck the day after tomorrow to pack everything up and haul it off. Campus security will be sending some officers over to keep an eye on the process, and I think the Palo Alto police department might even send over an officer or two to oversee things, just to be safe. I’ll be glad when it’s gone.”

  Again she looked up at Stone, almost as if coming out of a trance. “Anyway, what did you want? Sorry to drop all that on you, but you showed up and…” She gestured around.

  “Of course. I’m happy to help, even if it’s only to be a sounding board. I just came by to see if you’ve heard anything else about Greene. Is he out of the hospital yet?”

  “Yes, I heard they let him go home today. His roommate is taking care of him. He’s supposed to stay home and rest for the next few days.” She drew a breath. “So…”

  “So that means his classes will need looking after.”

  She gave him a faint smile. “Don’t worry, Alastair—you and Mac are off the hook. I’ve arranged for a couple of TAs to take them over until he’s back.”

  Stone didn’t let his relief show. It wasn’t that he minded taking the classes—he still enjoyed teaching, and was happy to help Greene—but he suspected he was going to be busy enough for the foreseeable future that it wouldn’t be wise to add more commitments to his schedule.

  He was already forming a new plan, and for that he’d need Eddie and Ward’s help.

  14

  “I don’t know, mate,” Eddie said dubiously. “That seems like a bit of a dodgy idea—not to mention potentially dangerous.”

  Stone waved him off. “Dodgy, yes. Dangerous—I doubt it. If I can’t fool a bunch of mundanes long enough to get this done, I should turn in my mage card. Can you do it?”

  He exchanged glances with Ward. “Maybe, but not on such short notice. That’s not exactly in our wheelhouse.”

  “But—”

  “’Ang on,” Eddie interrupted. “We can’t do it—but I think I know somebody who can. Assumin’ you’re willin’ to trust somebody else. And it’ll cost dear.”

  “Cost isn’t an issue. Trust—that’s a bit more of a problem. If you trust this person that would normally be good enough for me, but we’ve already seen there are people out there willing to kill over this thing. I don’t want to see anyone else get hurt over it. And I also don’t want to let it out of my hands.” Stone paced the sitting room, thinking. “It doesn’t need to be exact—just good enough to fool the mundanes. Do you think your friend could work from photos and detailed notes?”

  “Probably,” Ward said. “The result wouldn’t be as precise, though.”

  “Yes, well, I don’t think it needs to be. Don’t forget—nobody knows it’s even missing, so it won’t be subjected to close scrutiny. Can you give him a call? I need it as soon as possible. By tomorrow if he can manage it.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Eddie said. “You don’t want much, Stone, do you?”

  “You love it and you know it. You both do.”

  “Well, I gotta say, life is certainly a lot more interesting wit’ you around. I’m still workin’ out whether that’s a good thing.”

  With the day free of classes, Stone returned to California. Jason’s agency wasn’t anywhere near a ley line, so he drove down to San Jose.

  “Hi Dr. Stone,” Gina said as he entered. “Jason’s not here. He’s got a court appearance this morning and won’t be back till lunchtime.”

  “That’s fine. I was in the area, so I figured I’d check in to see if you’ve made any progress on locating Mr. McGrath’s auction catalog.”

  She sighed. “Sorry, not yet. This isn’t exactly the kind of hacking I’m familiar with. If you wanted me to break into a file system somewhere, that I could do easy-peasy. But do you realize how much of a needle in a haystack this thing is? Assuming it even exists?”

  “I do. I know. Have you found anything yet?”

  “A few things, yeah. You’re lucky that this guy was semi-famous, even if it was only a hundred years ago in the Midwest. That will make it easier. But this involves a lot of
looking through old newspapers and that kind of thing—a lot of which aren’t even online. I’m hoping I can find out where the auction was held. At least that way if I can’t find the catalog online, you might be able to go to wherever it is and search the library manually.” She wrinkled her nose. “You know, work your way through boxes of dusty old microfiche records? Is this really worth it to you, Doc?”

  “It could be, yes.”

  She leaned back in her chair and regarded him curiously. “You do know how hard it is for me to keep my mouth shut and not ask you about all this weird stuff, right? I mean, come on. Space aliens in Colorado, and now obscure auction catalogs from fifty years ago?”

  “What can I say? I’ve got…eclectic interests.”

  “Eclectic interests would be crocheted toilet-paper cozies and NASCAR. This is just…weird. No offense,” she added quickly, as if suddenly remembering he was a part-owner of the agency.

  “None taken. Hell, if I got offended every time someone called me weird, I wouldn’t have time to do anything else. All I can tell you is that it’s got to do with the recent break-in up at the University. A good friend was injured, and I’m doing some investigation of my own.”

  She sighed. “Yeah. Okay. Like I said, I’m glad to help because I like tracking down stuff like this. But one of these days I hope you’ll trust me enough to tell me the rest of the story.”

  Eddie didn’t get back to Stone until late the following day.

  Stone called him instantly after the text arrived. “I was starting to worry you wouldn’t be able to do it.”

  “You’ll worry when you ’ear ’ow much it’s gonna cost you. I ’ope you were serious about money not bein’ an issue.”

  “It’s fine. Can I come and pick it up now?”

  “Oh, sure. It’s only three in the mornin’. Early yet. Especially with your new flittin’-around-the-world thing.”

  This time, Stone didn’t bother trying to hide anything. He reappeared outside the library less than five minutes later and knocked on the door.

  Eddie stared at him. “Okay, that’s bloody incredible. The other times I could almost rationalize that you were ’avin’ me on. You weren’t over ’ere already, were you?”

  “No, I was in my study in California with Raider. Come on,” he urged, hurrying inside. “Let’s see it.”

  It was on the table in the sitting room, atop a stack of random papers. Stone hurried over to it and used levitation to bring it up where he could study it. He whistled softly. “Impressive, Eddie. Very impressive.”

  “Told you ’e was good.” Eddie looked pleased. “I think ’e did a bang-up job matching it from nothin’ but photos and notes.”

  Stone didn’t answer, too busy examining the replica of the black pyramid from every angle. It wasn’t perfect—he was familiar enough with the real thing that even without having it handy to compare, he could see small differences in some of the symbols on the sides. But Eddie’s craftsman had managed even to duplicate the signs of the pyramid’s advanced age—the rough edges, the chip out of the top, and the slightly asymmetrical sizes of the two holes in the bottom. Obviously, he hadn’t duplicated the thing’s magic-damping properties—Stone had no trouble levitating it and manipulating it with magic—but that hadn’t been a requirement. The mundanes who’d be cataloguing it wouldn’t know about the magic anyway. He had, however, somehow imbued the pyramid with a faint aura of magic. “It’s brilliant,” he said at last. “Thank you.”

  “Thank Mr. Khouri. He’s a master craftsman, and the best magical artificer I know. I’m honestly surprised I managed to convince him to work on this. He’s usually scheduled for months in advance.” He handed over a piece of paper. “There’s what you owe, and the bank account number to send it to. ’E says ’e trusts you if I do, but don’t wait too long.”

  Stone glanced at it. “You weren’t kidding. Worth every penny, though.” He pulled a cloth from his pocket, used it to pluck the floating pyramid from the air, and put it in his pocket. “Thanks again. No time to spare, either. They’re going to be loading up the collection starting tomorrow morning.”

  “You sure you want to do this? If they catch you—”

  “They aren’t going to catch me. I’ve got all sorts of tricks up my sleeve. I’d best get going, though. Lots to do, preparations to make.”

  Eddie tilted his head. “Can I watch?”

  “What?”

  “You know. Can I watch you leave?”

  Stone chuckled. “You want to try working out what I’m doing.”

  “Do you blame me?”

  “Sure, why not? Give me a moment, though. It does take a bit of preparation.”

  Eddie watched him closely, obviously using magical sight while he visualized the pattern in his mind. He nodded, offered a cheery wave, and disappeared.

  The last thing he saw before he was gone was the look of wide-eyed amazement on his friend’s face, but he couldn’t pause to let it amuse him. He hadn’t lied to Eddie—he had a lot of things to do before the morning.

  15

  The next day dawned bright and chilly.

  Stone crouched on the roof of the building across the way from the one containing the storeroom. He’d been there for half an hour already, watching the activity milling around the large truck parked at the back of the opposite building. They had the double doors propped open; a pair of campus security officers stationed on either side watched as coverall-clad workmen wheeled crates outside and into the truck. Two other security guards patrolled the area around the truck’s rear, and Stone had already determined two more were watching the storeroom door. If any of the workmen had plans to steal anything, they’d have no chance to do it between the storeroom and the truck. Even if the campus security guards didn’t deter them, the uniformed Palo Alto PD cop hanging out near the truck’s ramp would probably do the job.

  They weren’t taking any chances. Stone supposed it made sense, since they probably still had no idea how the original thief had managed to enter the room without a trace and someone had been nearly killed during the commission of the crime. But as far as they knew, this was nothing more than a collection of dusty old artifacts that probably weren’t worth that much to anybody but a collector. Stone wondered if this was Martinez’s doing, beefing up the security to help her deal with her guilt over what had happened to Greene.

  It was a Saturday morning, so far fewer students drifted by this obscure corner of the University’s grounds than usual. Even so, a small group of them had congregated near the truck, watching with curiosity from behind a makeshift barrier. One was taking photos with an actual camera—perhaps someone from the Daily staff looking for human-interest stories.

  Stone checked his coat pocket, rubbing the fake pyramid with a gloved hand. He still wasn’t entirely sure how he was going to accomplish his mission. So far, everything that had come out of the storeroom had been boxed up in large wooden crates, some of which hadn’t even been opened before being initially stored. With all the activity going on inside the storeroom, Stone doubted even his magic could guarantee no one would notice him if he tried slipping the pyramid inside one of the boxes before it was sealed.

  He’d already discarded the idea of trying to sneak into the storeroom before the truck arrived. He probably could have done it, but he had no idea how many other security measures they’d put into place in the wake of the break-in and attack. The last thing he needed was to be caught on some hidden camera. This pyramid was intriguing and he wanted to know who’d attempted to steal it, but not so much he was willing to put his position at the University at risk.

  Not yet, anyway.

  The workmen continued steadily loading crates into the truck and hurrying back with their empty carts to collect more. Based on Stone’s knowledge of the storeroom’s dimensions and the size of the collection, he estimated they’d probably be at it for another thirty to forty-five minutes, minimum.

  He considered waiting until they were finished, then usi
ng invisibility to enter the truck. Once the workmen closed the doors, he’d have until they reached San Francisco to pry one of the crates open and slip the pyramid inside. It was definitely an option, but he didn’t want to remain here on top of this building for that long. The odds were almost nonexistent that anyone would see him, but he didn’t want to take chances. Better to get this over sooner rather than later.

  He scanned the group again, including the spectators and the immediate surroundings, looking for any sign of magic. If he was hiding, it made sense someone else might be as well. But he saw nothing—no magical energy hovering around anyone, no illusions, no invisible presences lurking behind trees. If the thieves were planning anything, this apparently wasn’t when they were going to do it.

  And even better, if nobody around here was magically active, their chances of spotting anything he tried were low. He’d have to devote some extra energy to avoiding the cameras, but that was fine. Energy, he had.

  Another pair of workmen came out, wheeling two more large, wooden boxes. So far, all those that had come out had been wooden, which meant they were probably the ones that hadn’t been opened since they arrived at the University. Stone had spotted them when he was inside the storeroom, pushed back against the wall.

  Would the workmen crate up the rest of the collection in more wooden boxes? That seemed a bit old-fashioned. Did people even use wooden boxes for shipping anymore?

  Stone sighed. This was getting him nowhere. Even with his magic, trying to open one of those sealed crates and slip something into it would be risky, as would trying to stow away in the truck. He didn’t like it, but he was rapidly reaching the conclusion that his only viable option was to get into the storeroom and put the pyramid inside one of the crates before it was sealed.