by Paul Edwards
Chapter Eleven
"I have to stop the organization that imprisoned me."
Peter and I were in a hotel suite in Cairo, it was early afternoon.
"I'm not going to be much help, I still can't walk," Peter replied.
"You have to go back, there are already news reports about you being kidnapped."
"Isn't that dangerous."
"You are an important businessman, they won't try to snatch you in public, they probably fear you now as well."
I used my bracelet to conjure up a silver ring with a large emerald setting.
"Wear this, if you get into any trouble just say my name three times in a row," I handed the ring to Peter.
"What will happen?" Peter asked as he put it on.
"You will be spirited away to safety," I thought for a bit, "um... if afterwards you see a young woman, just tell her your with me."
I transported us then, back to Peter's enormous office, it was early morning judging from the light coming through the window.
I had already researched the Brutes credit cards, I knew he belonged to a shadowy government organization that was headquartered near Rand.
Thankfully the organization was quite small, there were only a handful of employees. I learned quickly that there were numerous groups like this, created to solve specific problems which the ruling government wanted to remain secret.
I also realized that these groups were kept small so that they could be dissolved quickly and their records and sometimes people destroyed.
Peter had sat down at his desk and was calling numerous people, he was telling them that he was alright, he had made up a story that he had been beaten and robbed.
I was thankful that his factory was surrounded by a large fence and security guards.
"The police will be here soon... along with my lawyer." Peter said to me.
I walked behind the desk put my arms around his neck and kissed him.
"I have to go anyway, I'll see you tonight," I said.
"You'll be careful right?" Peter had a worried expression on his face.
"Of course... um... feel free to blame everything on me... they'll believe you."
"The exotic femme fatale angle huh... I'll try to keep you out of it," Peter replied.
Before I left Peter's factory I found a secluded spot and put on my flying suit beneath my clothing, I also conjured up a pair of sunglasses and a wide brimmed hat.
I activated a few new enchantments to my flying suit, it was now bulletproof and if I slipped on a pair of gloves which I had stashed in one of the suits pockets I would be much stronger than a normal person.
I again felt like a costumed character from a TV show preparing to battle evil.
I had found the address of the secret organization, I used a taxi to ferry me there, it was in an old three story brick office building. I paid the driver and cautiously entered the building then walked up the stairs to the second floor.
I was soon standing in front of the proper door, there was a small brass plaque screwed into the door, it said General Importers.
I slowly opened the door, it creaked slightly, I saw a large room with four old wooden desks pressed against the walls, the desks were full of stacks of paper and folders, there were laptops in amongst the clutter.
There were no people around, I saw another door, there was a sign over top of the doorframe it said general manager.
I walked as quietly as I could, unfortunately the old wooden floor was not co-operating with me, it groaned and squealed with every step.
I knocked on the door, if there was someone in the office there was no way I would be able to surprise them.
"Come in," someone said, it was a woman's voice.
I opened the door, I saw Janet sitting behind a large wooden desk, she did not look surprised to see me.
"Where's your muscular friend?" I asked.
"He's gonna be in the hospital for a while... then he's retiring, I got his job now."
I looked around her office, someone had hung a poster of some sort of flying craft on the wall, I want to believe was written below it. I recognized it from a TV show Shelley had liked.
"Frank works for me now too," Janet said.
I could see her hand surreptitiously moving towards her desk drawer.
"Don't bother, your pistol won't work anyway," I was bluffing, but it was a good bluff.
Janet narrowed her eyes, then pulled her hand back.
I looked at the poster again, "well you're already a lot smarter than Frank... all you need now is a long red wig."
"What do you want Kem?"
"I want you to stop, give this up."
"I can't do that."
"I'm no threat to you, or anyone, besides things could get much worse, I've been pretty gentle so far," I tried to sound threatening.
I could sense no fear in Janet, I suspected she and I were a lot alike, we had both been close to death so many times that we had made peace with it.
Janet stared at me, "it's funny, you know a lot of archeological discoveries aren't published."
"So?"
"If you ask the right people you can learn a lot of interesting things."
"You found something interesting?" I asked.
"Do you know an archeologist named Charlie Smith?"
"Maybe... I did a lot of research for my cover story."
"Well that's a coincidence because he did a lot of research on you, even purchased a small ancient statue with your name on it."
"Leave him out of it," I took my sunglasses off and stared at Janet.
"So... I'll bet he was the one who found you, I did my own research on you too... your are not as harmless as you want me to believe."
I felt myself start to get angry, then a thought occurred to me, she was just trying to manipulate me into revealing more information.
"I doubt you found much, just a few old stories, most of them fairy tales."
"Yes... fairy tales... like Sodom and Gomorrah," Janet studied my face intently.
"The names sound vaguely familiar," I said.
"I guess I should have said Soem and Gemer."
She had gotten the pronunciation almost right, I thought to myself, I took my hat off and sat down on the rickety wooden chair that was in front of her desk.
"Imagine my surprise when I found out they didn't publish a lot of things they found in the dead sea scrolls, lot of embarrassing things in there, thankfully I have a few connections," Janet said.
It was the first time I had ever seen a smug expression on Janet's face.
I stared at her.
"You're quite the hypocrite Janet, Dresden... Hiroshima... like it or not you're the beneficiary of that."
Janet expression changed to one of confusion.
"What are you talking about?"
"I don't know what those scrolls said... gibberish probably... everybody changing the story to suit their needs."
"You destroyed two cities... how can you justify that," Janet looked angry.
"I told them to stop, I warned them, I did everything I could think of."
"You're a sorcerer, you could have just killed their leaders."
"It's nice to believe there are lynchpins in history... maybe there are... but I couldn't find one... just kill Hitler and everything changes... but then it doesn't... I was a eighteen year old girl as well as being a terrible sorcerer... no finesse in those days... trying to fix this awful thing."
"So what really happened then?"
"I got drunk and blew up the fucking cities... that's what happened, and it fixed things."
"So that makes it right?"
"I think Anubis and I are going to have a long conversation about that when he's weighing my heart."
"So what's stopping you from doing the same thing again?" Janet sounded defensive.
"I'm not a crappy sorcerer anymore... you talked about turning rocks over when we last spoke, you have no idea the rock you've turned over... you will stop hunti
ng me Janet, one way or another."
"I'm not scared of you."
I stood up then, I rolled back my shirt sleeve and then started flipping the squares on my sorcerer's bracelet, a book appeared in mid air.
I grabbed the book and tossed it onto Janet's desk.
"There you go" I said.
"What's this?" Janet said, she looked at the book like it was a poisonous snake.
"Do you think you're a moral person Janet?"
"Yes."
"I'll bet you worship at a temple, give to the poor."
"I go to church," Janet was starting to look perturbed.
"That book, it's a textbook, it explains the basics of sorcery."
Janet cautiously picked it up and opened it.
"It's written in hieroglyphic's," she said.
"Sorry about that, there aren't any English copies, you're smart, I don't think you'll have any trouble translating it, it's quite good, the writer was a gifted teacher."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Now's it's your problem Janet, all those conscienceless people you work for, you can just give them all the secrets... let them destroy the world."
Janet turned the book over in her hands, her expression reminded me of the character's in an old movie I had liked, when they had finally found the valuable statue they were looking for, then it slowly changed into a blank mask.
"It has a security feature, the text changes into something else when another person comes near it, only you will be able to read it," I said.
Janet looked at me, I could see fear in her eyes."
"It's flammable... you can always just burn it."
Janet looked back down at the book, this time for almost a minute, her eyes didn't even blink, then she looked up at me again.
"Frank is right... you are the Devil."
I put my sunglasses and hat back on, and turned to leave.
"Call me sometime... I still have the cell phone you gave me."
I walked out the door.
The end.
