by Voss Foster
And she was off to the vault, but Casey stood up next. "I'll set up triage. We don't know what shape any of them are going to be in. Or what shape any of you are going to be in when this is all over and done with."
"Nothing you can't fix." I nodded to him and offered the most reassuring smile I had. I knew Casey worried about…well, everyone, but especially us in the OPA. "You saved my stupid ass enough times. I'm sure you can handle this."
He rolled his eyes. "Much as I'd like to get you naked on my table again, try not to lose your skin this time."
He was still flirting with me, which meant he was in okay shape. Probably not great. But okay. I'd take okay.
For the time being, okay was all any of us were going to be able to offer.
Chapter Twelve
As promised, things were in motion inside ten minutes. We were armed up, checking maps, as more agents began to file in. Zar was deep in talk with a rotund, squat plant elemental, one of Tarwald's remote transport specialists.
Amid all that chaos, my phone rang. I knew who I didn't want it to be, and I knew who it inevitably had to be, and I was right on both counts. "Eric. This is a bad time."
"Is it? Does that have something to do with the mass movement of my agents into Al-Sekar without any warning?"
Honestly, I was surprised it took him that long to find out. It wasn't like we were being subtle about it. Not here in the Mundane, anyway. We'd traded any level of secrecy for speed and efficiency. "We think we have the kidnapping victims. We just have to go get them back, sir."
"In the Hidden Kingdoms, without prior authorization, in some kind of thrown together mess of a job that's taking agents away from their other assignments?"
"The word was sent out to the head of the OPA at each field office, sir." I fought to keep my tone even and level. "They made the call on who they could afford to send out at this time. Luckily we managed a good number of agents for a job like this."
"They decided. Right." He snorted over the line. "I know how this works. Agent Swift says jump and they don't even ask how high. They just keep hopping until he's happy, everyone else be damned."
I glanced to Swift and he was staring. Everyone was staring and the room had gone quiet. "Permission to speak freely, Eric?"
"Denied."
Okay, now that wasn't going to fly. "Then I'll speak freely without your permission, sir. How dare you."
"I think you need to strongly consider what you're about to say to me."
"Do I? Well, maybe you need to consider what you just said. You've been up my ass and up the ass of the entire OPA since we saved the world from Jörmungandr. Since I shot the damn snake in the brain so it wouldn’t murder all of us. You included. And you can waste my time, because that's your prerogative as the big scary FBI director. But I'm not going to have you accuse Agent Swift of anything but the damn utmost in professionalism."
"You do not need to try and tell me anything about Swift."
"Really? Because that's what you've wanted me to do this whole time. Run back to you with all this information about the OPA, all these salacious details you've imagined into being? If that's not what you were after, then by God tell me so I can stop filing needless reports on top of the other needless reports I have to file all day. Nothing would make me happier than you not wasting my time."
I knew I should stop. Knew it because I wasn't an idiot. Knew it from the eyes boring into me from all around. Knew it from the churning in my stomach. But the weeks and weeks of bridled fury had finally slipped the yoke, and I didn't have enough wherewithal or stamina to rein it back in. Not even long enough for the rest of this phone call. "You know what? I'm tired of you constantly checking in on me, checking in on the OPA. Frankly, you don't need to check in to see if we're doing our jobs. If we weren't, I wouldn't need to tell you. You'd know, because Chicago would be underwater, and all the kids in Florida would be cracked out and three-quarters dead on dragon's dew, and every city would have been run through by ten story fairy hives." I'd be cleaning out my desk at this rate, but someone had to talk to Svenson. Someone had to get him off our backs. "If you think we need some extra oversight or some kind of extra hand-holding or whatever the hell else, figure it out. Because that's not my job. My job is to keep you and the rest of the United States citizenry from getting eaten by a rogue dragon every other weekend."
When Svenson finally replied, his voice was quiet. Restrained, but pointed like an ice pick. "Your job is to do what I tell you to do when it comes to running the fucking Federal Bureau of Investigation. That's why they call me the FBI director."
"I'm not concerned with the fucking Federal Bureau of Investigation right now, sir." And honestly, in that moment, I meant it. "We don't go to the Kingdoms for fun. We don't go to the Kingdoms just because we have access to them. We go when it's important, and in case you forgot what our current case is about, we're talking about dozens of missing children. We're talking about the potential genocide of Al-Sekar, too."
"Emotional manipulation isn't going to work."
"This isn't emotional manipulation. This is reminding you what's at stake. And you can toss me aside for giving you a reality check, Director Svenson, but I don’t regret it." I scanned around for the temperature of the room again. Swift's teeth were clenched tight. King appeared to be badly stifling a laugh. Gutt was slack-jawed aghast. And the queens of Tarwald didn't seem to know what to do with themselves. But screw it. Time to get it all out in one fell swoop. "I don't regret it, because while you're sitting up there in your damn office, pushing papers and organizing and micromanaging, some of us are in the trenches doing the work. Now I'm about to go walk into a desert, comb through every grain of sand we can find to look under, and hope that maybe I can find a damn sign of something that might look like it relates to these missing kids. If you want to get off your ass and come with us, then by all means, get coming because we're getting ready. First hand look at what all us spooks are actually doing, so you know there's no spin on the information. Otherwise, we're all going, and you can rip me a new asshole and fire me and do whatever you need to when I get back."
My face was hot, vision just starting to get dark on the edges. I stayed on the line, because damn it, I wanted to either hear it go dead or hear him give me an actual answer.
"I'll be down in five minutes."
"What?" That wasn't the response I thought I'd get. Ever. Ever, ever, ever. "You're coming down."
"I'm coming down. Everyone needs to get ready. Outfit me, too. I have broad shoulders."
And he hung up. I turned to Swift, lowering my phone, and just sort of blinked at him a few times before opening up. "Director Svenson is coming…with us."
Swift's jaw actually dropped. So did King's, but Swift was the one who kept going, actually responded to this weirdness. "You're shitting me."
"I'm not shitting you. He wants us ready to go, and he wants us all to get him outfitted too. Says he has broad shoulders." It was starting to sink in a little bit, what I'd just done. Now that I'd spat out all my anger, I was left…cold. Cold with reality. I looked at Swift again. "I just told the FBI Director off for five minutes, didn't I?"
"A little less than that." Swift was finally pulling himself together and was acting like the head of the OPA again. "He didn't fire you yet, which means you're still getting going. Get suited up and armed up and get ready to greet the FBI Director so he can come with us and hopefully not get murdered." Swift clapped me a couple times on the shoulder, and that was that. Back to work for him, for me, for all of us.
I got my vest on, got my taser and my gun and the anti-magic restraints, just in case they'd actually be useful.
Then Svenson marched through the door—it took less than five minutes—and I forced myself to stand rail straight. If he had something to say to me now, then I probably god damn well deserved it. Even if nothing I said on the phone had been untrue.
And he did walk straight up to me, hands shoved in his pockets. "Agent Rourke."
"Director Svenson. Are you sure you want to come on this?"
"Show me what it is that you people do that makes you so much different than any other agents in the FBI. And never imply again that I'm sitting on some gilded throne in my office."
I really wanted to point out that he'd practically accused Swift of being his own throne-sitting God-King of the OPA, but now that the rage had poured out of me, those kind of admonishments didn't quite flow forward like they had over the phone. "We have agents coming in from the field offices to help us out." I ran through the actual mission with him in the most basic terms I could.
When I was done, Svenson didn't look happy. "Is it necessary to go around this Queen Levat and not tell her what we're planning to do on her own sovereign ground?"
"It is if we want to save the kids and the Kingdom." Swift finally came in, fully decked out, to save me. He handed Svenson an enchanted bulletproof vest, the embroidered symbols gleaming under the fluorescents. "Short version, sir? Al-Sekar doesn't love humans, and they have some bad blood with the shapeshifters. They don't want to share pertinent info with us on this case, but we have every reason to believe there are US citizens in their Kingdom, being held against their wills."
Svenson nodded, slipping on his vest. "And how is my coming along going to affect this?"
"You have feet and a pair of eyes, sir. You'll be with Gutt and Dash, well away from the purview around the palace so we can keep the human presence in Al-Sekar to a minimum."
Svenson nodded. "Wherever you need me and think I'll do the best work. At the moment, I'm yours."
Swift made to leave, then stopped himself. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"
Svenson actually chuckled. A dry, sarcastic chuckle, but a chuckle. "At this point, do any of you spooks really need to ask that question?"
Swift shrugged. "If you're here to get in the way, or to try and control what we're doing, or use the behavior we have in the field as some sort of tool against us, I will take it personally. And you may have noticed I have some big, scary, magical friends who also wouldn't be happy."
"I'm not here for anything nefarious. I'm here to help instead of sitting around, pushing paperwork, as I've been so accused."
"Keep it that way and you're welcome to come along." Then Swift turned to Gutt. "How close are the others?"
Gutt tapped his comm on. "According to Kimmy, the first groups are already in Al-Sekar, positioning themselves discreetly around the palace. They should already be using their magic sensors to try and track the location of the elementals in the city area, but it may require an unexpected level of calibration to make Mundane magic sensors useful inside the Hidden Kingdoms. So it may take longer than we would like for her to begin getting useful data to crunch."
"If they're moving in, we're clear to start." He raised his voice so it crashed out across the whole space. "Remote transport. Let's move out. I want this whole process quick and clean. Nothing out of place. Find the damn kids, find the damn shapeshifters, don't get yourselves or anyone else murdered in the process. Understood?"
Murmured assent from everyone.
"I need to know you understand this. Every last one of you." He rolled his shoulders back and cracked his neck. "We are finding some damn kids before they are blown to hell. Now do you understand?"
"Yes sir."
"Yes sir, Agent Swift."
Similar remarks moved all around the office, even a brief one from Director Svenson, though it definitely looked like it came off bitter on his tongue to have to say it.
"Good. Now let's go have ourselves a search party."
Chapter Thirteen
Once the main body of the forces had filed through, into Al-Sekar proper, the round little plant elemental turned toward me, Gutt, Swift, and Svenson. "You all prepared? I'll let you out on a hill overlooking the old palace."
Swift nodded. "Anything we need to know about this fancy stealth transporting of yours?"
"It can be a little more claustrophobic than standard remote transport, and you need to move quickly. The portals aren't noticeable, but they're slightly less stable than what you're probably used to. A light jog through should suffice."
"How unstable is unstable?" Svenson had his arms crossed, and he stared imperiously down at the tech. "I need to know that this is going to be safe for everyone involved."
More like he needed to know what he'd gotten himself into, since he hadn't looked into it before any of the others moved through.
The tech just laughed under his breath. "You've never transported before?"
Svenson huffed, but then he responded, at least. "I haven't."
"Well turn left right away and you'll be fine. I can keep the portals open for about twenty seconds. Fine for one of you, just a little harder for four of you."
"And I have to turn left, why?"
"Let's get a move on instead of having a crash course in remote transport." Swift snapped his hands onto Svenson's shoulders. "Let's go."
The elemental didn't wave his hand through a circle like with normal remote transport. He drew his thumb across his left palm. Pale blonde light erupted as a shower of sparks, like striking flint and steel, but on a massive scale. The sparks hung in the air for a few seconds. Then the tech made the normal circle in the air I was used to. The sparks coalesced into a ring in the air. I could see the telltale rainbow shimmer as the sparks spread out into a solid circle of light, but once they settled into place, the rainbow was completely covered.
Our tech stood with his legs apart, fingers stretched out so you could see the outline of his bones beneath his skin. When he spoke, his voice was tight, strained. "Go."
Didn't need to tell me twice. You could see the strain on his body just from holding it open these few seconds. Gutt ducked through and I followed behind. Swift was already pushing Svenson forward, hands still on his shoulders.
We turned out and onto a silvery bright dune underneath the white sun of Al-Sekar. I walked over to Gutt to the right and watched as Swift and Svenson staggered out. The golden sparks fizzled out of sight almost as son as their feet had cleared the portal. I had to say, somehow seeing Svenson in the Hidden Kingdoms just didn't settle. More than me or Swift, he just didn't feel like he belonged in this magical glowing desert.
Up above me, a shrieking cry sounded through the air. I looked up for the harpy. I knew that sound. Swift and I had broken up a nest of them in Portland, and you didn't forget that sound. Part human, part bird, and an extra part bone-chilling for good measure. And just in case I ever tried to forget, I still had a nasty talon scar on my left ass cheek as a reminder. But honestly, I was glad to have one with us now. Eyes in the sky and fierce fighters, even if they got disarmed or got their magic disabled.
Svenson shrugged off Swift's hands. "Is this place always so bright?"
"Quite a sight, ain't it?" Swift straightened out his jacket and patted his chest where his sidearm was strapped out of sight. "I'm going to the old palace to wait. Gutt, think you can make an estimate on where you guys should be heading?"
"The soldiers departed from the palace when the sun was high and didn't reach the natural opening until the sun was on the horizon. I can make a fair estimate and extrapolate from there. With our aerial eyes, we should have as good of a chance as we can manage."
"Good. Stay in communication. You're going to be out on your own with this one."
And that was that. Swift walked off. I looked out down the hill to the old palace. It was impressive in its own right, though it was hard to live up to the floating glass palace they had now. A solid building. Red bricks, glowing so intensely they cast a nearly opaque aura of light. Like a bloodstain against the pale sands of Al-Sekar. I don't know if it was meant to intimidate, but it certainly seemed like it would, if anyone came up to attack it. This definitely spoke more to the warring past of Al-Sekar than their current beautiful palace.
Appropriate that we would start this leg of the mission here.
Svenson clea
red his throat and I turned to face him. "Sir?"
"That phone call to me…"
Well, I guess we were doing this now. Better to get my ass-reaming out of the way before it became a problem getting things done. "I…damn it, permission to speak freely?"
"For today we're both field agents. I'm only your boss when I get back up to that office to sit on my throne."
"You brought up the gilded throne. I just used a lot of swear words." I sighed and definitely didn't look at him while I was talking. "I'm not going to take back anything I said. I know it puts my job on the line. I knew it when I said it. You don't like the OPA. I don't know why. We do the work that nobody else is doing. We do a damn good job. So I just don't get what the hell your problem is with us."
He stayed silent a few moments, his jaw tight, but he did eventually respond, staring straight up as a dragon silhouette circled above us. "What you do, out here and in there. It's not the FBI. When I took over as director, that's what I was told, flat out. I could pretend that you were a part of the FBI, and I had to for good appearances. But there's no part of your office that's really in the FBI, other than getting access to the same resources and the same plot of land." He finally looked over at me, and he seemed tired. "See, any other agent who talked to me the way you did on that phone would have been set aside for desk work while I figured out whether or not you could still work in the bureau. But you're out here in the field, and you're doing this work, and you won't be going anywhere."
Wow. That was laid out quickly. He sounded a little defeated, and I was actually feeling sorry for Svenson. "You're still the Director of the FBI, and we're still in the FBI."
"You don’t believe that. You're in the OPA. That's even how all of you introduce yourselves on your cases. Dashiel Rourke, OPA."
He had a point there. Couldn't deny it. "We're still under FBI purview. Why do you think it was so fucking annoying to have you breathing down my neck? You were ready to pull the plug on the whole department."
