Reality Hack

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘Well… Men. I’m sure they were men, and more than one because I’ve seen two together. All dressed in dark clothes. Black suits, I think. They sneak around… Well, not sneak exactly. I see them standing beside fences or walls. Just standing and looking.’

  ‘Do you think you could describe any of them?’

  Mrs Wooler frowned. Nisa frowned as well, but she was frowning at the cup of tea she was holding, which was red. Tea was not supposed to be red. The idea that you could drink the stuff was beyond her and she noticed that Kellog had not even picked his cup up.

  ‘I’ve never seen their faces,’ Mrs Wooler said. ‘Always in shadow.’

  ‘I see. Do they seem to be watching anywhere in particular?’

  ‘Now you mention it… The May house, across the road and two down. Young couple. He works. I’m not sure how they can afford a mortgage on one salary, but I’ve seen them off out on the town at the weekends, her in some designer outfit that wouldn’t cover a doll…’ Mrs Wooler’s eyes drifted to Nisa, who was in a fairly tight T-shirt and her best jeans, the ones without the holes in. ‘But it takes all sorts.’

  Nisa gave a smile which she hoped looked genuine, even if it felt like her face was cracking, and took a sip of her tea. It felt as though all the water had just been sucked out of her tongue.

  ‘Thank you, Mrs Wooler,’ Kellog said, standing as he did so. ‘Don’t worry. We’ll be keeping an eye out for your prowlers.’

  They were outside and walking across the road before he said, ‘It’s never a good idea to drink anything they give you. Occasionally it has something dangerous in it, but it always seems to taste like tar.’

  ‘Now you tell me,’ Nisa replied sourly.

  ‘I thought it was obvious from the colour.’

  ‘Yes, well… She didn’t approve of my outfit.’

  ‘I don’t get the feeling that you are someone who cares about the approval of middle-aged women.’

  ‘I’m not, but… I’m supposed to be a cop.’

  He glanced at her. ‘You could, perhaps, be a little smarter.’

  For some reason that stung more than it should have, but they were at the door of the May house by then and she got no chance to reply as Kellog pressed the bell.

  A few seconds later the door opened and Mrs May was there, smiling, but looking a little perplexed. She was in her twenties, Nisa guessed, slim, attractive, with a cap of red hair, green eyes, and a narrow, pretty face.

  ‘Hello,’ she said. ‘Can I help you?’

  Kellog held up his warrant card. ‘Metropolitan Police, ma’am. I’m Detective Inspector Kellog, and this is Sergeant Harper. We were wondering if we could ask you a few questions. You’re not in any trouble. We’re just investigating some suspicious behaviour along the grove and you may have seen something.’

  Mrs May’s gaze flicked across the road toward Mrs Wooler’s house. ‘You’d better come in,’ she said. ‘Can I get you some coffee? It’s fresh.’

  ‘That would be most kind,’ Kellog replied.

  Nisa wondered whether he was doing it to see whether she would fall for it again.

  ‘Shadowy figures watching the house?’ Mrs May, who had turned out to be Lisa and insisted on them calling her that, said. ‘Mrs Wooler’s imagination is kind of… wild. She thought I was a prostitute until she realised I don’t go out much and I don’t have visitors. Then, apparently, she started telling people I was probably in the drug trade.’

  ‘What is it you do?’ Nisa asked. The coffee smelled really good and just the scent was making her feel more relaxed.

  ‘I’m a writer. Mostly freelance stuff for magazines, but I’ve done short stories and I’m trying to get a novel published.’

  ‘Anything I might have read?’

  ‘Oh, I doubt it. Most of my stuff goes in business mags or women’s ones and you look a bit young for the kind of thing they ask for. Do you read articles on HRT?’

  ‘Uh, no.’

  Lisa smiled.

  ‘So, you’ve seen nothing unusual around your house recently?’ Kellog asked, apparently deciding that they should return to the subject at hand.

  ‘No. Nothing…’ She frowned. ‘Well, Ben said he saw… He said it was probably just a fox or something. The shadows in the back garden looked wrong. I couldn’t see anything. I did get a bit of a weird feeling though, like someone was watching. Had nightmares about it. Dark, shadowy figures looming over me in bed.’ She grinned. ‘Stupid really.’

  Nisa took a gulp of her coffee. As was always the way, it did not taste as good as it smelled, but it was good coffee. It almost chased the feeling of dread away.

  ~~~

  ‘What was that?’ Kellog asked as they drove back toward the Rabbit Hole. ‘In the house when May mentioned the dream, you went white. Whiter than usual.’

  ‘That nightmare I had a couple of nights ago?’ Nisa replied. ‘Same dream. More or less anyway. My shadowy figures had glowing eyes. And I could hear them speaking.’

  ‘What did they say?’

  Nisa frowned, but the words had faded faster than the imagery and that was dimly remembered now. ‘I don’t remember. I mean, that’s if it meant anything anyway. I just remember that I heard them.’

  ‘Odd, but shadowy figures are not exactly an unusual feature of nightmares. Aside from a shared dream, did you notice anything else odd about Mrs May?’

  ‘Um…’ Nisa searched her memory, trying to come up with whatever it was Kellog had noticed which she had not. Lisa May had seemed like a nice, friendly woman. The house had been tidy, but there had been enough clutter to suggest that it was lived in. There had been family photographs on the mantelpiece. ‘No,’ she said.

  ‘Neither did I,’ Kellog mused. ‘So why would they be watching her?’

  ‘They? The file mentioned several sightings of these shadowy men around London, but it didn’t say anything about what they might be.’

  ‘System agents tend to conform to an archetype appropriate for the age. Angels, wise old men… and these days it’s usually men in dark suits and shades.’

  ‘Men in Black.’

  Kellog sighed. ‘Precisely. People don’t tend to question sinister government agents. We don’t know that these shadows are from The System, but it’s a working theory. If they are then something major is happening. They’ve been sighted in five different locations since the beginning of June. I haven’t been able to find anything strange at any of them. When we get back, run a background check on the Mays. Norbery can help you this time, show you the procedures.’

  ‘And then it’s ear protectors and bullets again?’

  ‘Practise for at least two hours a day. There is a test.’

  ‘Of course there is,’ Nisa muttered.

  Westminster.

  The Mays were about as ordinary as it got. Ben was a lawyer, primarily handling conveyancing. He had met Lisa at university where he had been studying law and she was taking English Literature. They had been married for three years, which meant they were about to get divorced or they were doing better than average. Lisa had not looked that stressed. Their bank account was not exactly overflowing, but it was in the black and they paid their credit cards off every month.

  Lisa had, indeed, written an article on hormone replacement therapy, along with a number of others on various topics. She seemed to be a capable researcher as well as a writer. Nisa found a couple of short stories as well. There was a romance piece written for a monthly women’s magazine and a fantasy in a slightly more esoteric periodical. Both seemed well written, if not especially imaginative. There was no hint in any of her writing that she knew anything about real magic.

  Norbery suggested checking the husband’s work. The esoteric language of demonic contracts was a lucrative sort of business for those who could get their heads around it. But there was plenty of evidence that Ben May was far too busy moving houses to have the time for moving souls.

  ‘Seriously?’ Nisa asked. ‘People sell their souls to demons?�
��

  ‘Very seriously,’ Norbery replied. ‘For money, power, revenge… any foolish thing they can dream up that the demon can arrange. And it’s easy to get carried away. If you owe your soul to a demon when you die, it can take everything. That person leaves the pool for some period of time and they usually come back… twisted.’

  ‘Bugs.’

  ‘It’s one way to create them. Some, like your cat, have existed since The System began. Others turn up new at times. We suspect Skinwalkers fall into that category.’

  ‘Norbery… You believe that The System is real, right?’

  ‘Having doubts?’

  ‘Well… questions.’

  ‘Good. Never take anything on face value. Yes, I believe it. But it’s not like people haven’t believed in things which were wrong before. They used to think the Earth was flat. People still believe in God, and that’s certainly a myth if The System is real.’

  ‘Someone had to make it.’

  ‘Yes, but I think a supercomputer or a very large team of programmers is more likely.’

  ‘Huh. Kellog seems pretty sure about The System. Hanson too.’

  Norbery gave a slow nod. ‘They are, but they don’t know, not really. That’s what faith is, of course. Belief without proof. We have evidence, but proof is something else. Perhaps, just perhaps, we’re all wrong.’

  Tower Hamlets.

  Nisa stopped at the door of the tower and frowned. Something felt wrong. She was not entirely sure what it was, but she knew it was there, a weird, tense sensation somewhere in her head, like a headache waiting to happen.

  She turned, looking around at the car park, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Thinking about it, she got the same feeling sometimes when she worked magic, or when she watched Kellog doing it. Was she sensing something magical now?

  Her gaze shifted to the medical centre off to her right, and that was when she saw the man. He was tall, slim, and very pale, dressed in a black suit and tie, and a white shirt. He was wearing sunglasses, but then it was quite bright… But…

  Turning again, she quickly unlocked the door and stepped inside. The tension left her body almost immediately, but she went for the lift at a fast walk and only felt comfortable when the door of her flat was closed behind her.

  Faline looked up from the couch and gave a worried-sounding meow, but without casting the spell, the cat was going to be no use. Well, she could tell her anyway…

  ‘There was a man outside,’ Nisa said. ‘Dressed in a black suit. Just… standing there outside the medical centre. I think he was watching me. I can’t concentrate to work the spell…’

  Sitting up, Faline patted the cushion in a most un-cat-like manner. The suggestion was obvious and Nisa sat down so that Faline could settle into her lap. The purring started and Nisa found herself relaxing whether her brain felt like it or not. The tense sensation was there again, which seemed to prove both that Nisa was sensing magic and that Faline’s purrs were magical, but now the feeling of mild euphoria overwhelmed it.

  ‘You believe that the man was a “System Agent,”’ Faline said ten minutes later when her purring had done its job and Nisa had cast the telepathy spell.

  ‘He fits the description, but I guess so would any guy in a black suit wearing sunglasses. It’s just… I seem to get this odd feeling sometimes when I’m around magic. Like a tension in my head. And I got that outside and there he was.’

  ‘Sensing magic is not entirely unheard of. It is not that common either. A useful talent which you should attempt to develop.’

  ‘Huh. You’ll pardon me if “an agent of The System was watching me” is taking higher priority at the moment.’

  ‘Of course, but he could have been a simple magician or another form of supernatural.’

  ‘That’s better?’

  ‘Well, obviously that depends. Did he do anything threatening?’

  ‘Aside from watching me, no.’

  ‘He watched you in a threatening manner?’

  ‘That sounds silly.’ The cat tilted her head to one side. ‘I…’ Nisa stopped. ‘I guess I didn’t feel threatened, exactly. It just felt… weird. And he was just standing there… watching.’

  ‘You are an attractive woman and I doubt there was anything else to look at.’

  ‘You’re just trying to make me feel better.’

  ‘Is it working?’

  ‘Yes,’ Nisa grumbled.

  ‘What is in the bags?’ Faline asked, humour carrying over the link to her mind.

  Nisa looked at the two bags she had brought in and dropped almost immediately.

  ‘Oh… I stopped off for some clothes on the way home. I needed something… smart to wear.’

  ‘Well…? Come on, get changed. I want to see you smart.’

  Westminster, August 7th.

  Nisa walked through to Kellog’s office with a file in her hand. He was sitting behind his desk peering at his computer with a frown on his face, so she waited.

  ‘Yes?’ he said, apparently unwilling to take his eyes off the screen.

  ‘This case, the poltergeist? I think you missed something,’ Nisa said, which got his attention. He turned from the screen… and looked at her. After a second she said, ‘What?’

  ‘You’re looking… very smart,’ he said.

  She had decided to wear the new outfit, just in case. It consisted of a pencil skirt, black with a pink pinstripe. Over that was a strapless bodice, black lace over a pink satin under-layer, turning to solid black over her hips, and ending in asymmetric, pink satin borders. There was a black, sleeveless bolero jacket, a pink leather cincher-style belt, and high-heeled sandals with an ankle strap. And suddenly she felt self-conscious.

  ‘Well… it’s dry-clean only so don’t expect it every day. I’ll get some more stuff when I get my next pay cheque. And don’t expect me to chase vampires in these heels.’

  He almost cracked a smile. ‘Generally you should be running away from vampires. What have I missed?’

  ‘Well, you’ve got a house with broken pots and a couple of small fires. The family suspects the local youths are getting at their kids. You suspected one of the boys has telekinesis…’

  ‘It’s the usual reason for unfocussed events such as this.’

  ‘Yeah, I gathered that, but the tests came back negative. I was wondering why the family thought someone would be after the kids.’

  ‘They claimed that bullying was quite rampant at the local school.’

  ‘Uh-huh, they would. I did some checking. Those two have been kept behind for fighting on three different occasions. There’s a letter of complaint lodged by their parents for unfair treatment. “Our little angels are not bullies,” sort of thing.’

  Kellog frowned. ‘You’re saying this may not be supernatural at all? The regular force is investigating the mundane angle…’

  ‘Yeah… Could be just regular kids, except for one thing. One of the boys at their school committed suicide last year. He didn’t leave a note, but his parents thought he might have been bullied. He never said anything, but they know he skipped school when he could and he was getting more and more withdrawn before he died.’

  Kellog gave a grunt of displeasure and pushed himself up from his desk.

  ‘Not a good idea?’ Nisa asked.

  ‘No, it’s a good working theory which we can test, and I should have seen it. Hanson’s right. I’ve got too much on my plate.’

  ‘Well… fresh eyes on the problem, and I was a teenager more recently than you.’

  He looked at her. ‘Are you suggesting I’m getting old, Sergeant?’

  ‘I don’t know. How old are you?’

  ‘He’s thirty,’ Sandra said from the corridor outside, ‘going on fifty.’

  Nisa managed to stifle the giggle just in time: she was fairly sure Kellog would not have appreciated it.

  ‘Damn, girl,’ Sandra added as she started past, ‘you brush up well. You could have a girl batting for the other side. Don’t let Norbery see
you like that. He’s married. He could have a seizure or something.’

  ‘I’ll go see Hanson,’ Kellog said, definitely trying to change the subject. ‘Assuming she authorises it, you go home this afternoon. Try to take a nap.’

  ‘Uh…’

  ‘We’ll stake the place out. If we are dealing with an unquiet spirit, it’s likely to show up after dark.’

  Pinner.

  ‘So… how did you end up working for Hanson?’ Nisa asked.

  They were sitting in Kellog’s car about a hundred yards from the house where the Wentworth family lived. It was a fairly large place, four bedrooms, a large garden, all of it well maintained. John Wentworth ran a small building business which did pretty well for itself. His wife, Donna, stayed at home and looked after her two sons, John Junior and Simon. Of the two, Simon got into more trouble, but Nisa suspected that was because his elder brother was smarter.

  ‘Long story,’ Kellog replied.

  ‘We’ve got all night.’

  ‘Hopefully not.’

  ‘Huh. It’s just… I’m supposed to be your partner and I know next to nothing about you.’

  There was silence for a few seconds. Nisa waited, unsure whether he would answer but sure she should not press him. She was about to say something about not worrying about it when he spoke.

  ‘I said I didn’t like the Order. I don’t, but I used to be a member. Several of us got into some things… We did something stupid and someone had to pay the price. The others were protected, and I was the outsider. An American, twenty-one years old. I was hung out to dry, but Hanson saw that and offered me a deal. I work for Exceptional Circumstances, and they don’t press charges.’

  ‘You were twenty-one?’

  ‘Yes. I’d been in the country for three years, two of those with the Order. I scraped my degree.’

  ‘Then… your contract must be almost up.’

  He looked across at her. ‘No.’

  ‘But…’

  ‘I said we did something stupid. You’ve done nothing aside from being an unknown, potentially powerful, magician. My contract is longer.’

  ‘What… what did you do?’

  Any answer he might have given was stopped by a chime from a small box sitting in the open glove compartment. Nisa looked at it, and Kellog reached for the door.