Wizard's Blood [Part Two]

by Bob Blink

  “I’m meeting Gene and we are going to see his father. My account is supposed to be set up, and I should be able to start accessing the funds today. I need to get all the information and make sure the electronic banking is in place, since I’ll be making a number of purchases over the Net.”

  By mid afternoon Randy was back at the house, with more than two hundred thousand dollars in his new account. He should feel rich, but already he was wondering if he’d brought enough with him to fund the purchases that he was looking at. The first thing he did was place the order for the night vision goggles, restricting himself to six pairs for the moment. If they were as nice and as useful as he hoped, he could order more later.

  Then he returned to the matter of power. He had been considering the idea of solar power as a charging station. While the arrays would eventually wear out they would last for years, far long enough to outlast the rechargeable batteries he would need to support. The oasis seemed like an ideal place to set up the arrays. It would be in an area that had sun most of the year, out of the way, and yet only a portal stop away from the College. He sized out a system then doubled the capacity, and was about to order the gear when he had second thoughts and tabled the matter for the moment.

  He went back to the matter of supplying the lab with AC power. The idea of inverters had caught his attention the other day. They came in a variety of sizes, and could take standard DC power and produce very clean and stable AC power. Stable and clean would be important if he wanted to drive computers and other sensitive electronics. He could set up a massive battery, somewhat similar to the battery they had had in the small satellite ground station where he’d worked one summer. Charging the battery could be accomplished by a number of means, including a steam powered generator, water power, wind power, or a combination. The charging power didn’t need to be clean. The battery could then feed the inverters which would provide the AC he wanted. He could also size the systems depending on his intended usage. By adding a bit of capacity he could also use the system to charge the lower voltage batteries directly from the main battery, making the solar charger less important.

  By the end of the afternoon, he made a selection of gear to support a major system at the lab and a couple of moderate sized systems he wanted to set up outside of the city. He also chose a number of smaller inverters for portable, in this case cart portable, systems. He ordered the gear, with a number of spares since they wouldn’t be doing any repair on Gaea. He also ordered a hundred very large industrial 12V batteries. Buris had batteries, and given a look at the ones Randy would be bringing would be able to manufacture his own, but he wanted a system up and running quickly. Capability developed on Gaea would simply expand their capability later.

  Randy was about to quit when he went back and ordered the solar charging system anyway. He would see how the two systems worked out. More capability rather than less was important at the moment since he expected to be too busy come spring to deal with modifying what they had in place.

  As he turned away from the computer, he realized something else he would need. He added electrical outlets and switches to the long list of items to be purchased. He also added a note to warn people about the dangers of 120V power. This was going to be new to them, and they wouldn’t have the advantage of being familiar with the dangers from childhood.

  The next week was spent shopping while he waited for deliveries of equipment. Randy spent long days in electronics and hardware stores, making trip after trip back to Janie’s garage with full loads. He and Gene located another five rifles, and his friend in precision shooting was able to order another six through his club. They also found another fifteen thousand rounds of Black Hills .308 and two thousand rounds of the .45 ACP ammo he’d chosen. They had the dealer they met at the show order the additional Nightforce scopes, since they had only found one of that model locally. All of the rifles had been turned over to Gene’s friend to be worked over.

  During this time Randy made two jumps to Gaea with his accumulations. He told Ward what he had coming, and that he’d want to set up a rapid delivery when the stuff arrived. The batteries and power system would be heavy and would require a number of trips. To accomplish the transfer quickly, he wanted all of their team on call. Everyone would transfer to Earth. The node would be loaded, and one team member would take a load back. While they loaded up the node for the next round, the Nexus on Gaea would be unloaded. This way they could make six to ten deliveries in the course of an afternoon.

  Things were starting to move.

  Chapter 114

  Ryltas was due today, but they had been keeping a casual watch for the past couple of days. It was reasonable to expect him to hold to the pattern he seemed to have established, but there was no known reason that said he couldn’t vary things a bit. Knowing how dangerous he was, Randy didn’t want Janie involved. He and Gene would take all the active measures, and both of them were armed. Randy had the Kimber they’d picked up at the gun show, and Gene had an odd .22 magnum semi-auto that held an amazing thirty rounds of ammunition. Neither was licensed, but that seemed an unimportant detail at the moment. The plan was to let Ryltas make the trip to Gaea, and then pick him up on the way back and see where he went. To increase their odds of following him, Randy and Gene would follow in separate cars and stay in touch via cell phone.

  Ryltas showed up on schedule a bit before noon. His brown hair was cut fairly short, a significant change from when Randy had seen him on Gaea and very different than the memories he had from Cheurt of the man. Still, there was no doubt it was Ryltas. He was dressed similar to the way Janie had seen him before. He wore a tan shirt and pants with a pair of heavy soled boots, and carried a clipboard with several sheets of paper attached. He also wore a cap and a pair of dark glasses. The way he walked and looked at the addresses and then the clipboard, one would suspect he was a delivery person or worker searching for the proper house. He carried a heavy tool box and some kind of package that also looked a bit heavy. Randy would have liked to know what he was bringing, but he couldn’t afford to interrupt the normal operations just yet.

  When Ryltas reached the front of their house, he nodded, and then walked without hesitation off to the side of the building. They had left it unlocked. Janie had said she had sometimes locked it, but it didn’t matter, the man always walked right through. Randy was sure why. He could see one of the glowing crystals partially showing in a small leather belt pouch on Ryltas’ left hip.

  Ryltas had no reason to be concerned. He had done this every couple of months for the past two years, and it had become commonplace to him. No one had ever given him any trouble, and if he worried that he might be observed, it didn’t show. He made his way by the side of the house and into the back yard, walking straight toward the small knoll. He had barely stepped onto the raised surface when he faded and then disappeared completely.

  “He just left,” Randy told Gene when he answered. “You should come over now.”

  They had no idea how long he would be gone. Janie hadn’t timed him in the past, sometimes seeing him coming and sometimes going, but the implications were that he made fairly short trips. Leaving Janie to watch the back yard from inside the house, Randy headed out the front door and turned down the street in the direction Ryltas had approached from to see if he could determine how he had arrived. It was unlikely Ryltas had parked too far away, but he had clearly been careful not to advertise his destination by stopping in front of the house. Randy found two cars that he didn’t recognize. One was obviously a rental car from the stickers on the glass, and the other was an older sedan that he simply couldn’t remember seeing before. It could be either, but the rental car supported Randy’s suspicion that Ryltas didn’t reside in the area any longer. After two years on Earth, he would have learned that other locations would better suit his needs, and planes could bring him into the area when he needed access to the Nexus.

  He was walking back when Gene pulled up beside him.

  “Why don’
t you park a few houses down the block from mine?” Randy suggested. “I’ll get my car and I’ll wait up the block behind the rental car I saw. That way we’ll be on either side of him and it won’t look like a parade when we drive out of here.”

  Gene drove on, and Randy went into the house, told Janie he would be leaving, and that he might not see her for a few days. He explained his suspicions about the rentals and promised to call once they settled down somewhere. Then he moved the car and waited. It would have been nice to talk with Gene, but he needed to keep the line clear so Janie could call him the moment Ryltas reappeared. That happened about three o’clock in the afternoon. He ended the call and quickly called Gene to let him know.

  Ryltas walked down the street toward Randy without any obvious cares. The sight of the wizard made Randy feel a desire to raise his shields, even though he knew it was impossible here. Ryltas no longer carried the packages, so those had indeed been some kind of delivery to Cheurt. Now he carried a small box, which also appeared to be heavy. It reminded Randy of the box he himself had brought, and he couldn’t help wondering if Ryltas financed himself here by bringing gold from Gaea as well.

  Randy watched as the wizard placed the box in the trunk and climbed into his vehicle, started it up, and smoothly drove away in the direction he was pointed. Quickly, Randy called Gene and told him to start driving so Ryltas would see him as a moving vehicle, not one parked that started up after he passed. He waited a second, then started after the man. If Randy had no experience tailing another car, Ryltas had even less concept of the idea. He drove unaware of their presence as he headed out of Boulder and onto the road directly to his destination, which unsurprisingly to Randy was the Denver airport after a stop at a FedEx at the edge of Boulder.

  “I’m going to park and go into the terminal so I can pick him up there. Keep an eye on him and make sure he returns to the car rental.”

  The Jeppeson terminal could be approached from the east or west side, with parking on either side. Randy chose the east side, simply because he’d used it before and that made it familiar. He parked the car, slipped his pistol into the glove box, and hurried inside, walking casually along the wide center aisle, waiting to see what happened.

  “He’s on the way there now,” Gene said when Randy answered the phone. “I could see him on the rental bus when it pulled out. I’m going to park and head inside.”

  Ten minutes later Randy saw Ryltas enter the terminal and walk over to the entrance to inter-building trams that would take him to the departure areas in the other buildings. Randy stayed behind him and followed as he went all the way to the far building where Southwest Airlines was located. Ryltas made his way directly to one of the departure gates, checked the destination and time, and then headed back up the floor to a Starbucks. Obviously he had already picked up his return boarding pass that morning and had no luggage he wanted to check in.

  Randy had noted the destination. Ryltas was headed to Los Angeles. The flight was scheduled to depart in just over an hour. Quickly he called Gene.

  “Get me a flight on Southwest 2277. It leaves in an hour. Bring me the ticket. I’m in the Southwest gate area.”

  With Gene getting his ticket, Randy found a place he could sit and watch Ryltas to make sure this wasn’t some kind of diversion.

  “I’m coming along,” Gene said when he sat down next to Randy a bit later and handed him his ticket and boarding pass. You could still lose him on the other end, and once we know where he is headed I can always come back”

  “I agree. I suspect he will have his own car on the other end, and while one of us keeps an eye on him, the other can get a taxi or rental car.”

  * * * *

  Three hours later Randy was hurrying down the stairs of the parking structure where Gene had an impatient taxi driver waiting.

  “He’s driving a red Camaro. Here’s the license. I don’t think he could have made it down here yet.”

  Moments later the Camaro appeared, and they had the driver follow after it. Money talks, and despite some reservations about following another vehicle when he understood their intent, a couple of hundred dollars waved in his direction was enough to get the driver to follow along behind Ryltas. It wasn’t a difficult pursuit. Just as he had done in Colorado, Ryltas drove straight and steady to his destination, which was only a few miles away in a nice part of El Segundo. He pulled into a two level dwelling a few blocks from the beach, stopping the car outside of the closed garage. Randy had the driver drop him a couple of houses down the block, and Gene had the taxi take him back to the airport rental car area.

  “What did you find?” Randy asked. They were sitting together in the rental car and Gene was using his laptop to investigate a couple of databases that were not normally available to the public.

  “The car is registered to Arthur Waring with this address on the license. The house is rented, so there is no name on the ownership papers that is going to help us. I don’t know how I can find out whose name is on the rental papers.”

  It was now nine o’clock at night, and the sun had set some time ago. It was likely that Ryltas was in for the night. They had discussed taking off and finding a couple of rooms, and then checking back in the morning.

  “I have an idea,” Randy said suddenly. He opened the door of the rental and, slipping out, quickly crossed the street to the mailbox in front of the house. He pulled it open and grabbed the contents, walking directly back to the car. Most of the mail was trash advertisements, but there was one magazine and one bill addressed to Arthur Waring.

  “I think we have him,” Gene said. “At least we know where we can find him again. How about we get some food and find a place for the night?”

  A few blocks away on El Segundo Boulevard they found a Residence Inn and were able to get a suite with a pair of rooms. Randy hurried out and picked up some take-out at a nearby Chinese restaurant and they settled in to plan the next day. He had already told Janie where they were, and that Gene would be coming back the next afternoon or evening.

  Early the next morning they were back on the street, but Ryltas didn’t appear until late in the morning. When he did, he was with a very attractive brunette, and they made their way down to the beach where they had a relaxed brunch at one of the open air establishments. It was the beginning of October, but unlike Denver, it was still very comfortable this time of day here. Afterwards, Ryltas and the girl headed straight back to the house.

  “He doesn’t seem to be breaking a sweat,” Gene observed. “He appears to live pretty well. What do you plan to do now?”

  “I want to know if someone is with him. Not the girl. I suspect she is local. I’m curious if Cheurt has put any more of his people here on Earth? I’d also like to see inside that house. I’ll bet we could learn what he’s been up to. That might help us know what to expect when Ale’ald goes back on the offensive come spring.”

  “Uh-uh. Not this trip. We don’t know enough. Now that we know where he is, we can do some checking on him. Later we might find a way to satisfy your curiosity, but I wouldn’t take any action now. Besides, you said he could have power that you don’t.”

  “I know. I think I’m going to hang in here a couple of days. I’ll drop you at the airport. I want to get a couple of local throw away phones, and then I’ll just see what develops. It might be worthwhile to hire someone local to watch him. I don’t know how to go about that, and I don’t know if it would establish a link to Denver I don’t want.”

  “Let’s leave that be for now,” Gene suggested.

  * * * *

  Three days later, Randy was convinced that Ryltas was here alone. At least, he didn’t seem to have contact with anyone in the city that Randy “remembered” from Cheurt’s memories, nor anyone that seemed a likely candidate to be from Gaea. The few people Ryltas met were clearly locals, who worked for some pretty big companies. Randy didn’t know what Ryltas was putting himself across as, but he was escorted into Raytheon one day and Lockheed another. So
mehow he had made some pretty impressive connections, but exactly what he was after Randy had been unable to determine. Finally Randy headed back to Boulder where he could think about how to proceed. Whatever Ryltas was doing, he didn’t expect it to matter. One way or another, Randy intended to make certain Ryltas had made his last trip through the Nexus.

  Chapter 115

  Figuring out what to do about Ryltas had to be set aside for the moment. Other priorities had moved to the top of Randy’s list. When he returned home he found that most of the items he had ordered had arrived, and the garage was filled with batteries and power system equipment. He had also been accepted into the sniper course, something he considered a priority, and had a little more than a week before he’d need to board a plane for West Virginia. That also meant he needed to get the Nightforce scope mounted and the rifle sighted in so he’d be properly equipped for the training. Showing up with an untried rifle would be one way to end up washed out early.

  He’d be back east for two full weeks and essentially out of touch. There was no concern that he’d be gone too long and miss his Nexus return date, but he’d be glad to be back close to the transition point. It made sense to get all of the items filling the garage moved to Gaea and allow Buris a chance to start installing what he could. Randy could spend a few days and help with the critical parts of the installation, and do a little system checkout. A trip would also allow him to let Chancellor Vaen know what he had learned about Ryltas thus far. As a result of this thinking, the morning after he’d flown back from California found him out in the backyard early, piling the Nexus high with electronics and batteries. Once he reached capacity, he went inside to tell Janie he was leaving, and explain that he would be bringing most of the people she’d seen in the pictures, although they would be staying only a short time. Giving his sister a hug, he walked back behind the house and stepped onto the Nexus and disappeared. The transition was starting to seem almost commonplace.