Cabal

by David Delaney

  "Loyalty, I offer loyalty to you, until death," said Piper, still clinging to my feet.

  "Piper, please." I pulled her up by her arms and guided her back to the chair. "Your animal is already in the process of reattaching itself to you, I promise, it just takes a little while. But we need to know what you know about Marcus. Is there any way we can locate him?"

  "Marcus loves only two things, power and wealth," said Piper. "He has perfected the art of wielding untold power, but wealth can't be conjured. So if he's back, he will head straight for his money."

  Morgan held up his hand. "Um, It's been over thirty years, how does he even still have money?"

  "There are places in the world where, for a price, the wealthy can store anything for a thousand years or more if they so desire."

  "A thousand years?" Morgan smiled. "That seems awfully long.”

  "She's right," said Lucy. "Society members own family vaults that go back forever."

  "Are these physical vaults?" I asked. "Will Marcus have to show up in person?"

  "And present his wand?" said Wyatt under his breath, smirking.

  Lucy rolled her eyes. Maddie was sitting closest, so she slapped his arm.

  Piper ignored Wyatt's comment. "I would not doubt that Marcus probably has a physical vault somewhere, but this is the digital age. Even in 1988 electronic banking existed, and Marcus had multiple accounts spread across many banking institutions all of which offer the same kind of permanent solution as a vault."

  "So, his money is just sitting there?" Morgan asked.

  "Yes," said Piper. "And if you allow me access to my computers, I can tell you if any of the accounts have been accessed recently."

  "You have access to Marcus' accounts?" Elyse asked. "Why?"

  Piper didn't immediately answer. I could sense that she was nervous, and preparing to lie. She didn't get the chance.

  Morgan clapped his hands together. "Oh-ho. You sneaky little devil."

  "What?" I asked, not making the connection.

  "Don't you see?" said Morgan, grinning. "Miss Piper here was under the impression, like everyone else, that Marcus was dead. Add to that the fact she's a world-class hacker and it becomes plain as day why she's so nervous about Marcus showing up and murdering her. You've been spending his money, haven't you?"

  She nodded unhappily. "Like you said, the man was dead, so yeah, I helped myself."

  "What are we waiting for, let's jump on a laptop and find the douchebag," said Wyatt.

  We followed Piper into what she called her workstation. The room was easily the size of the living room, but there were no large floor-to-ceiling windows—or any windows at all for that matter. There was the low hum of multiple cooling fans and indirect ambient light cast odd shadows on the walls. But it was the equipment that was impressive—three fully enclosed towers of hard drives, two state-of-the-art 3D printers, and a wall of flat-screen monitors, each displaying different software programs that were executing automated commands that did who knows what.

  Wyatt whistled. "This is the coolest room I've ever been in. Are all of your machines home-builds?"

  "It's the only way to be sure the equipment hasn't been compromised," said Piper.

  "It looks like the secret lair of a Bond villain," said Elyse.

  “With all of this," Morgan gestured, “It looks like you're still in business. But why, if you have access to Marcus' money?"

  Piper shrugged. "I bore easily. And money is one thing, but knowledge . . . well, that's quite something else all together."

  "How do we know, if we let her use a keyboard, she won’t just release killer robots or something?" said Lucy.

  "Because I'm in as much danger as you, if Marcus is running loose," said Piper, folding her arms. "So, if I have your permission—"

  "I say yes," I said, looking at my friends for confirmation.

  I received five nods.

  To Piper I said, "Do your thing."

  Before becoming a shifter and joining the ranks of the magic world, I had been a declared Computer Science major at UCLA. I was playing it cool, but the awesomeness of Piper's set-up had me totally geeking out on the inside. I moved to stand behind her as she seated herself in front of her digital throne. Her fingers flew across the ergonomic keyboard, and I was barely able to follow what she was doing as screens of data flashed by. It didn't take long, because Piper didn't have to do any real hacking. She already knew where all the accounts were located and had designated herself an authorized admin of several of them.

  Piper stopped typing. "Damn."

  "What is it?" I asked.

  She swiveled around to face us. "Part of me was holding out hope that the bunch of you are nutters. That Marcus was long dead like he’s supposed to be."

  "So, the accounts have been accessed then?" said Morgan.

  "Yes and no," said Piper.

  "Do you care to elaborate?" said Lucy.

  "The accounts I've been using look untouched," Piper explained. "But there was one specific dormant account, the largest one in fact, that is no longer dormant."

  "When was the most recent activity," Morgan asked.

  "Yesterday."

  "Is there a way to track Marcus through the banks?" asked Lucy.

  "No," said Piper. "But there's no need to track him. I know exactly where he is, or at least where he was about five hours ago."

  "What? Where?" I said.

  "Mexico." Piper turned back to her keyboard, typed a short command and the wall of flat screens now displayed location information. One screen had a high-level Google Maps view of a rugged coastline, another a ground-level view of a very fancy-looking house, another provided up-to-date temperature readings, weather conditions, and what looked like tidal charts, and yet another indicated distance and flight times.

  "You're looking at one of the few Marcus properties I decided to keep," said Piper. "It's a gated villa located north of Cabo San Lucas. It has one caretaker who lives in a small hacienda at the back of the property."

  "And you think Marcus is there? Why?' asked Elyse.

  "Because the lights are on," said Morgan, pointing at the image of the villa. "This is a live feed?" he asked Piper.

  "Yes," she said.

  We crowded around the screen for a better look at the house. It was like a McMansion version of a Spanish castle. And not only were the lights on, someone was most definitely home.

  "Did you catch the movement behind that upstairs window?" I asked Morgan.

  "You must have more cameras," Morgan said to Piper. "Where are the other feeds?"

  Piper smiled weakly. "Apparently, someone down in Cabo doesn't like being spied on and has disabled all the other cameras."

  "But what?” said Maddie. “Forgot about the wide-angle lens pointed at the front of the house?"

  "The bastard knows we're looking for him," said Lucy. "He's taunting us."

  "Yes, he is," said Morgan.

  "Why would he want us to find him?" said Wyatt.

  "So he can ambush us the second we set foot on the property," I said.

  "A trap," said Maddie.

  Morgan shook his head. "No, an invitation."

  "What are we going to do?" asked Wyatt.

  "How's your Spanish?" Morgan asked him.

  "Me gusta jugar al futbol," said Wyatt. "Two years of high school Spanish and that's all I got."

  "How are we going to get down there? Drive?" asked Elyse. “Because even though Mexico is friendly, I still think you need a passport to fly in."

  "I can help with that," said Piper.

  Morgan wasn't a shifter, but he was still pretty fast for a human. He pulled his gun from its holster and chambered a round in one precise, fluid motion. The barrel pointed inches from the side of Piper's head.

  Piper went completely still and softly asked, "Hey Morgan, what's with the gun, mate?"

  "Morgan?" said Lucy.

  The gun remained rock-steady as Morgan spoke. "I think Piper has outlived her usefulness. She's
a known associate of Marcus and by all accounts a bad actor even by your Paragon Society standards. Orson magicked her shifter abilities away, but that's not permanent, and what's to say that as soon as we leave she doesn't contact Marcus and tell him all about us?"

  "I stole from him, trust me, he'll kill me on principle," insisted Piper.

  Morgan poked her in the head with the barrel of the gun. "Nobody said you could speak. She's a threat to the mission. I say we ice her, just to be safe."

  I thought Lucy was aggressive in her tactics, but Morgan was stone-cold. My senses were wide open and I could tell that he not only meant every word, the idea of blowing Piper's head off wasn't elevating his heart rate at all.

  "Morgan, dude," said Wyatt.

  "I'm sorry if this offends anyone's delicate sensibilities," said Morgan. "But this is real life, we are in mortal danger, and she is a liability I'm not willing to risk."

  "Morgan," said Elyse. "Piper has skills we need. She can provide us with passports, money and access."

  "Division, the group I work for, can provide all that and anything else we need."

  Lucy stepped around Piper so she could meet Morgan's eyes. "At the very least your agency is compromised by the Society, and the Society is compromised by the Cabal. We can't trust anyone in your organization right now. I was fully prepared to end her myself, but now I think we need her."

  "Morgan, I really don’t want to get shot,” said Piper. “But I would like to say something.”

  Lucy and Morgan were engaged in a high-stakes staring contest, Piper's life hanging in the balance. I counted twelve Mississippi's before Morgan let out a breath and pulled the gun away from Piper's head. I caught Wyatt's eye and tilted my head slightly in Morgan's direction, the kid nodded. I don't know what Piper planned to say and I didn't know if it would change Morgan's mind, but there was no way I was going to stand by and let him kill her in cold blood. Wyatt's blink was the only thing fast enough to stop Morgan's bullet from finding its mark. I tensed, prepared to tackle Morgan as soon as Wyatt disarmed him, but I sure hoped it wouldn't come to that.

  "You guys don't think you can trust me, I get that," said Piper. "And before tonight, Morgan, your assessment of me would have been correct. I would have done anything in the name of self-preservation, but not anymore."

  Morgan snorted. "And why is that?"

  "Because the Ollphiest once again walks the Earth," Piper said, emotion clouding her voice. "And I will follow wherever he leads."

  Yes.

  Elyse let out a small gasp. Maddie and Wyatt exchanged uncertain glances. Morgan frowned—he probably didn't get exactly what was happening, but the seriousness of Piper's intentions was clear.

  My throat had gone dry.

  "Um, what?" I said.

  Piper turned slowly so as not to startle Morgan and looked at me. "I told you I am prepared to offer ukwethembeka. You will lead the shifter people to glory and I am a shifter before all else. I will stand with you, always."

  "That word you keep using, I don't know what it means," I said. I looked to Elyse, but she shook her head, clearly as clueless as me.

  Piper raised her hands palms-out and waited.

  Hey Crazy, do you know what's going on?

  Do not stand there like a fool, take her hands.

  Why? What's going to happen?"

  Something amazing.

  Yeah, I'm going to need more than amazing.

  Silence.

  Hello?

  It was no use, the voice in my head refused to answer.

  "Morgan," I said. "I'm going to take Piper's hands and something . . . weird . . . might happen. Just don't get twitchy, okay?"

  "Orson, are you sure?" asked Elyse.

  "I think we're cool."

  I stepped in front of Piper and reached out my hands, pausing before I made contact. I glanced at Morgan once more. "Of course, if this goes sideways and she tries to pull a fast one, you have my permission to shoot first and ask questions later."

  Morgan grinned, tapping the gun against his thigh.

  "Here goes nothing," I said.

  The moment I laid my hands on Piper's open palms, she clasped mine tight. She started speaking in a crazy-sounding language, and she repeated the word that sounded like a sneeze multiple times—it almost sounded like a chant. Whatever she was doing woke my magic up—not my shifter magic, but the other stuff that allowed me to strip auras and made me immune to death spells—my Ollphiest mojo. It surged through me, filling me up and it felt incredible. Piper's aura started pulsing in response to the energy my body was generating, and it started to look like a synchronized laser-light show. I realized what was happening a moment too late and I couldn't stop it. My super-strength was useless, I couldn't let go of Piper's hands.

  It was a binding spell.

  That's what Piper's word had triggered. She was binding herself to me, but it wasn't her magic doing it, it was mine, I just couldn't control myself. The two of us were locked in a magic embrace that would only end when the binding was complete.

  The magic began to slowly fade. Wave by wave the energy decreased until I could pull my hands away.

  Elyse's grabbed me by the ears and pulled my head down so that we were face to face. "What the hell was that?"

  "I . . . uh . . . it was—" I stammered.

  "That was some kind of binding spell," said Lucy. "But nothing like I've ever seen before."

  Elyse let go of my face and in a blur landed on top of Piper. The chair tipped over and they spilled to the floor, but Elyse was unfazed, letting loose with a flurry of punches.

  "What did you do, you bitch?" Elyse's aura was starting to shimmer. She was going to shift, and if she did would rip Piper to shreds. "He's mine!" Elyse shrieked.

  Piper was doing her best to protect herself without retaliating. Morgan dropped back into a shooter's stance, his gun trained on Piper. Lucy had a dagger in one hand and fireball primed in the other. Maddie was powering up. Nobody was injured, yet, but the situation was spiraling out of control. Wyatt was standing there with his mouth open, apparently shocked at the full-on girl-fight occurring three feet away.

  I grabbed for Elyse, wrapping my arms around her from behind, knowing if she went full beast-form I was the only one in the room who could survive her claws.

  "Wyatt, blink Piper out of here!" I shouted.

  "Don't you dare," said Elyse, the menace in her voice spooking even me.

  Wyatt stopped mid-step, his face full of indecision.

  I pressed my lips against Elyse's ear. "You have to calm down. If you shift like this it's going to be bad and you'll regret it later. Please, listen to me. It's not what you think, I promise. Just relax your body and I'll explain."

  Elyse stopped struggling against me, but her body was still rigid with tension. I shook my head at Wyatt and he backed away from Piper.

  "Everybody needs to chill," I said. "That means weapons down."

  Lucy snuffed out her fireball, but kept the dagger pointed in Piper's direction. It seemed Morgan decided to follow her lead and kept a two-handed grip on his pistol, but the muzzle was pointed toward the ceiling.

  "Orson," said Lucy. "It was a binding spell. A powerful one."

  Maddie nodded in agreement.

  "I know," I said.

  Elyse went limp in my arms. "You know," she said weakly.

  "It was my Ollphiest magic, it responded to the chant. I couldn't control it or stop it. I tried. But what Piper did, it wasn't . . . she bound her life to mine."

  Piper sat up, her lip bleeding from a cut that was quickly healing. I guess her shifter mojo had started to return. "I am sorry. I had no idea it would be that dramatic. Elyse, I understand that you and Orson are mated. The spell is an ancient shifter rite and is not romantic or sexual. It is an oath of loyalty."

  Elyse wasn't convinced. "If it's an ancient shifter rite, then how come I've never heard of it?"

  "Because people like Orson were supposed to be extinct," said Piper. "This
is old magic, even by shifter and Society standards. I would've been surprised if you had known of it."

  "And how is it that you know of it?" asked Lucy.

  Piper smiled. "Family tradition. My grandmother was learned in all the old ways and taught them to me."

  "Exactly how old are you, Piper?" asked Lucy.

  Piper frowned. "Now that's not a polite question, especially with such handsome young men present."

  Morgan huffed. “All right, if all the magic stuff is done, can we get back to the fact that we can't trust her? He waved his gun in Piper's direction. "Which, I'm sorry, still means we can't leave her alive."

  "Actually," I said. "We can. Trust her, I mean."

  "And why is that? Because she made this oath of loyalty thing?"

  "Exactly," I said, standing up and helping Elyse to her feet. "You see, if she ever betrays me—which, by the way, includes all of you by extension—she'll die."

  Elyse looked at me, eyes wide, and I smiled back at her. "I told you it wasn't what you thought."

  Morgan looked from me to Piper, who remained seated non-threateningly on the floor, and then back to me. "She'll die?" Morgan snapped his fingers. "Just like that?"

  "Yeah, pretty much."

  "Oh," said Morgan, holstering his gun. He offered Piper a helping hand and asked sweetly, "You mentioned something about passports and piles of cash? You wouldn't happen to have access to a private jet would you?"

  Chapter Thirteen

  Now that Piper was sure we weren't going to ice her, as Morgan had so casually put it, she started bossing people around. It was her house and equipment after all.

  "You," Piper pointed at Wyatt. "I keep my ID blanks in a hidden compartment at the back of that cabinet," she indicated a black metal filing cabinet in the far corner of the room. "I need six California driver's license blanks and six passport blanks." Piper turned to Morgan, "Will U.S passports do?"

  Morgan thought about it for a moment. "How much longer will it take to cook us up both U.S. and Canadian?"

  "It won't add any significant amount of time."

  "Then we'll take both."

  Piper called to Wyatt, who was rummaging around in the top drawer of the filing cabinet. "You hear that?"