Love and Darkness (The Cause Book 2) (33 page)

Polly nodded.  “Much as I hate to say so, I don’t think southern California is safe for you.  You’re another Council vote, and thus too tempting a target.”

“My people!  What if the Arms go after them when I’m not there?  I need to get back there!”  Connie stood, but Polly stopped her before she made it to the door.

“No!  Think first.  Let’s work this out before we go haring off in all directions.”

“Polly,” Connie said, almost pleading.  “My people!”

“It won’t do you a damned bit of good to hurry back there,” Polly said, letting her ample charisma into her voice.  “Keaton with a crew of flunky Arms can roll over your people just as effectively whether you’re there or not.  We need a unified approach, not a piecemeal panic.  Sit down.”  Connie sat.  Polly turned to Tonya.  “Tonya, any ideas about what Keaton’s next step will be?”

“The first thing Keaton did,” Tonya said, quietly repeating herself, “was to take out one of Suzie Schrum’s people.”

“You think Keaton’s going to take down the first Focuses?  By herself?”  Polly said.

“Yes.  Keaton’s impatient, and since the multi-Arm predator effect gives her a method for taking out the first Focuses, why wait for us?  Besides, that way, when she gets the first Focuses’ blackmail stashes, she gets leverage on the rest of us.  We need to help out the firsts, or we’ll be next.”

Lori shook her head.  “There’s something to be said about Keaton’s approach, Tonya.  The firsts are going down, one way or another, and I don’t think anybody can help them,” Lori said, her voice gone soft.  “They let the rot grow too large.  I’m not convinced the Arms would be worse than the first Focuses.  If we were free to train ourselves the way we know we can, Bass’s idea about living off tagged Transforms would be just hot air, and lead to at least one dead Arm.”

Tonya winced.  She had a lot of respect for Lori these days, but Lori still took the occasional trip back to Lori-land.

Connie nodded, though, a nod that chilled Tonya.  “The first Focuses made too many enemies, and they consider leading the Transforms their God-given right.  They’re too vulnerable for us to save, physically or politically.  Tonya, we can’t help them.”

“So what’s Keaton’s plan, Tonya?” Polly asked, changing the subject.

Tonya shrugged.  “She’ll capture the first Focuses she wants to use, and the rest will die.  Two decent Arms working together should be able to cow most Focuses, and three ought to be able to handle anyone save Her Nibs.  To get those numbers, Keaton will need to drag all the Arms in and delegate out some responsibility.  Note Hancock’s move out of Detroit, and the fact she took Gail with her.  I suspect Wini Adkins will have an unpleasant encounter with Carol Hancock soon.  For the others, Haggerty would be the obvious person to lead a group of Arms after Suzie Schrum, given she’s already in New York.  No guesses about who will attack the rest, though.”

Lori’s face turned feral after Tonya’s comment about Suzie.  Schrum had ordered a hit on Lori once, among other provocations.  Her hired thug had wounded Lori and killed one of her Transforms, and no one had ever convinced Lori to forget.

“If she’s going to take the first Focuses, she’s got to take Shirley Patterson and her multi-Focus household,” Connie said.  “Who would lead that attack? Keaton herself?”

Tonya nodded.  “Almost certainly.”

“Can she win?” Connie’s face turned pale.

Tonya shrugged.  “They should be able to take Patterson with a coordinated attack, but it would take all the Arms working together.  The Commander is a good enough strategist to out-plan Patterson, and Keaton can’t be beat for battle tactics.”  Just thinking about such a fight hurt Tonya’s brain.

Polly rubbed her forehead.  “I’m not so sure.  If any of the first Focuses can survive this idiocy, it’ll be Shirley Patterson.”

“They’ll just pick them off, one at a time, because like the Crows say, we’re housebound,” Connie said.

Lori nodded.  “Keaton’s betrayed us and we’re screwed,” Lori said.  “Twelve real Arms and they’re going to tear us apart like gauze.”

Polly nodded, counting noses like the pro she was.  “We can’t help the firsts.  They’ve either been neutered, gone power-mad and evil, or in the case of my boss,” Patterson, “become a psychopathic true believer in her own divinity.  But let’s think, people.  What do
we
do?  I’m not interested in slavery or death for either myself or my people.  The Arms don’t need to become twisted and evil to become murderers – they’re predators.  Murder is their natural state.  We need to be prepared for our turn on the lines because they’re going to come after us, regardless, if only just to test us to see how strong we are.  Tonya, what do you think happened to the
push the Cause
projects?”

“Remember that box I told you about?” Tonya said.  “The Arm end of it is squashed for now.”  Amy and Carol had to be pissed, having their successful research stomped on like this.  What had that done to them?  “Keaton wants to use the fruits of the project to control us later.  The Commander gave me the box while she was still loyal to the Cause.  There’s little in the box that’s of immediate use, save the recipe for how to build a Crow-Focus household, which involves adding a teaspoon or two of actively pushy Arm.”

“We need more witches,” Connie said.

“Yes,” Polly nodded.  “We need to use all the strength we’ve got.  Lori, you’ve been training Focuses, and several others are strong from their own self training.”

“Lupe Rodriguez, Pearl Innkeep,” Tonya said.

“Jill Bentlow.  She didn’t join us last time because she didn’t want to oppose the first Focuses, but I think she’ll join us this time if we’re being threatened by the Arms,” Polly said.

Lori nodded.  “I know a few more.  Not many who I’d call combat capable, though.  Of that lot, Ellen O’Donnell, Elisabeth Grammar, Maybelle Roznovsky and Stephanie Doud are the best.”

“Put together a list,” Polly said.

“Lupe’s in Los Angeles, just a few miles from Keaton,” Connie said.  “We need to get her out of there.”

Tonya shook her head.  “No.  If we pull Lupe, we alert Keaton.”

No one said anything to that.  Cold facts.  Bad luck for Lupe, being so close to Keaton, but they wouldn’t ruin what little chance they might have just to save Lupe and her household.

Polly nodded.  “We bring in who we can, and figure out how to work together.  Ignore the first Focuses restrictions.  At the least, we can see if multi-Focus charisma can roll a multi-Arm predator.”

“Move households?” Connie asked.  Polly nodded, her face pale.

Multi-Focus charisma was such a slim hope, Tonya thought.  A stalemate was more likely in any encounter.  Then the Arms would just shoot them.

“Other suggestions?” Polly said.

“Well, there’s still Gail and juice support for an Arm project,” Lori said.  “If we can get juice from a Focus to an Arm reliably, maybe we can convince some of the Arms to break ranks and join our side.”

“Lori, that’s crazy.  Hancock’s on the other side now,” Tonya said.

Lori frowned.  “I’m not sure how true that is,” she said, slowly.

Tonya started to argue, but Polly held her hand up for silence.  “You see something, Lori?”

“I’m not sure,” she said, thinking.  “Keaton put Carol in a position where she needed to choose between her loyalty to Keaton and her loyalty to us, and she chose Keaton, but her farewell message had more information in it than what you would expect.  She invited me to help Gail in Chicago, and reminded me about your safe, Tonya.  Plus, this operation has Keaton’s feel to it, not Carol’s.  Don’t forget how well Carol managed to surprise the Hunters during the clearing of Chicago.  If the Commander was in charge, with the same goals, we’d find out what was going on only when she dumped the first Focus corpses on our doorsteps and demanded our surrender.”

“That’s something,” Connie said.  “If the Commander isn’t doing Keaton’s planning, that helps us a lot.”

“Don’t count on it,” Tonya said.  “That’s the sort of thing that could change tomorrow.”

“Gurgling poo,” Lori said, after thinking for a few moments.  “The juice pattern project!  Tarnation!”

Tonya frowned.  “What about it?”

“Zielinski has put together a working method for transcribing juice patterns, so that they can be recorded and stored, and then duplicated later by different Focuses.  I’ve been helping him, off and on, in my free moments, but he’s the brains behind the project.  The project’s not complete, but it’s working.  He’s even using the transcription system as a lever to increase Gail’s learning speed as a witch.”

“You’re kidding,” Connie said, breathless.  “He’s got his lost cause project working?  That’s huge.  There’s got to be a way we can use something like that.”

“Oh, I’m sure there is,” Lori said, “except for one little problem.  The biggest breakthrough in Focus technology in a decade, and the Arms own it.”

They all groaned.  Tonya cursed the day the first Focuses had taken out a contract on Zielinski, forcing him to go underground and eventually, to the Arms.

Polly tapped her fingers against the arm of her chair.  Tonya could almost smell the devious thoughts running through the Council president’s mind.  “Well, since Hancock isn’t going to be putting her full effort into the Arm juice support project, then we need to give Gail some help.”

Lori nodded.  “I think I’ll be making a lot of phone calls to Chicago.”

Polly shook her head.  “This isn’t a time for half-measures.  If our lives depend on a Zielinski project, our young super-Focus needs more than an occasional phone call.  You need to live there.”

“What?” Lori said, her mouth open in shock.  “That’s enemy territory now!”

Polly nodded.  “Live there.  Pick up your entire household and move to Chicago.”

“Polly, you don’t know what you’re asking!”

“Yes.  I do.”  Polly paused for emphasis.  “You can do this.  Consider losing one of your people to an Arm raid, or spending time in Keaton’s basement with your defenses down.  Do you think even your ability to tolerate pain is immune to the multi-Arm predator?”

“Polly…” Lori said, and then interrupted herself.  Polly didn’t say anything.  Lori sighed and nodded, accepting.  “I’ll do it, but I hope you don’t end up regretting this idea.”

“Get over there as soon as you can.  Teach Gail the trick of drawing juice from her own buffer.  She needs the trick, and I give you my permission.  Under the circumstances,” Polly said with a small smile, “we’re going to disregard Shirley Patterson’s orders.

“As a matter of fact,” Polly said, looking at Tonya and Connie, “I’ll teach you two the same trick.  And any other Focuses we can pull in.  Until the Arms come knocking on our doors, we’re going to do nothing but circle the wagons here in New York and train up witches.  Real full-powered witches.  We’re going to need every trick we can get our hands on, and thanks to the Hero’s suggestion, I’ve got forbidden Focus technology
manuals
I can hand out.  We can’t save the firsts, but we’re going to darned well give ourselves a shot at saving ourselves.”

Tonya blinked, startled.  She had been trying for the last three years to convince Polly to teach her the juice buffer capability, and now the forbidden trick just landed in her lap.

“While you’re up in Chicago, Lori, why don’t you see if you can work on Hancock.  Maybe lure her back to our side,” Polly said.

Lori shook her head at the likely impossibility of that task.  “Think about what you’re saying, Polly.”

“None of that,” Polly said.

Tonya could barely believe her ears.  Polly had just thrown Lori to the wolves.  Unless Polly had a deeper scheme she wasn’t sharing with them, or, specifically, with her.

A miracle, thought Tonya.  What they needed was a miracle, because nothing else was going to help.

Henry Zielinski: November 4, 1972

Hank stretched out on the floor of the Littleside employee gym, trying to clear his head from the disasters of the day.  Of the week.  Carol had been through a few hours previous, not for long, and again in a horrible, depressed mood, garnished with utter futility.  “If you were smart, you’d find some way to stop me from messing up everything,” she had told him.  “The basement work is eating my mind.  You need to find out if Lori knows any way to keep people like me from, um, messing up things.”

Carol’s confusing comments bothered him, but before he could glean anything from his boss, or even remind her again that she was the Commander, she vanished.  He had seen Carol in this mood before, long long ago.  A visit in Newark, when she was a student Arm, and at wit’s end with Keaton.  He suspected something rotten had happened, something she wouldn’t or couldn’t talk about.  Something Arm egregious and evil.

Her order of the day contradicted her earlier order about keeping things quiet.  Was Carol playing some game with him?  Well, yes, of course.  The real question was: what sort of game?

Finished with his stretches, he went over to one of the treadmills, and started to jog.  Although this was officially the employee gym, it existed mostly to be a perk for visiting Arms.  The gym was large enough for a facility twenty times the size of Littleside.

The treadmill to his right started up its squeaky motion, startling Hank.  He looked over and saw Lori, jogging along nonchalantly.  She wore a sweat suit, and her short black hair bobbed as she jogged.  He hadn’t seen her enter the gym.