My Path to Magic 2: A Combat Alchemist (22 page)

Snooping on
his superior, Captain Baer experienced a sense of guilt - he liked Satal. But Kevinahari was adamant: "Something is going on; you have to help your boss. What have you found out?"

"
He took some stuff from secret storage and from the evidence depository. I marked with an asterisk the items he had already returned and ticked the ones that I had seen in his office. I have an impression that a couple of things are gone."

The empath
perused the list, highlighting some lines. "This one is a rare ingredient, and it cannot be used in dark magic. Two amulets with unknown functions and encrypted records are gone. Does it bother you?"

"
Mr. Satal is a NZAMIPS officer with many years of experience," Baer frowned. "I cannot believe he took them for profit…"

Kevin
ahari stubbornly shook her head, "Satal can be manipulated. I just do not understand on which hook he has been caught. Ask your people to check if something unusual happened around him recently."

Baer
chuckled - he did not like the empath's idea from very beginning, and he decided that he would not go beyond a simple investigation.  Then he would talk to Satal openly.

A day later
he decisively changed his plan.

"
Bad news," the captain came into the empath's office. Kevinahari reached for the cups and teapot, but Baer dismissed her invitation. "Satal's children - two twin boys - didn't show up for class. The school year has already begun, and their teachers worry - they have not been warned. Satal and his wife won't pick up the phone."

"
This is bad. Very-very bad," Kevinahari cringed in her chair. "Can you tap his phone line?"

"
I did.  I put two loyal people on to listen; they will keep this secret. But if it takes more than two weeks, this story will attract unwanted attention."

"
We won't be given so much time," the empath took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "The missing amulets! They are our only clue. What are they, what are they used for?"

"
I'll show their description to one professor at the university. He might help us."

"
Gather a group of your most trusted people," the empath quietly rocked in her chair, staring into the void. "No more than a dozen fighters, the ones who will follow your orders without hesitation. Please, no dark mages. Keep them at the ready at all times."

Baer
realized that he would have to confront not just a colleague who went berserk, but a powerful dark magician, obsessed with saving his family. If only he could help Satal! But how could an ordinary cop like him oppose an enemy mighty enough to kidnap the children of the strongest combat mage in the region?!

Sata
l requested the records of instrumental control - likely, he wanted to track down the timing of the kidnapping. Apparently, he did not find anything.

To
keep the twins as hostages (they surely behaved like a pair of rabid wolverines), the culprits needed a detached house with a basement. Baer decided to check the sales of detached homes around Redstone for the past five years - the artisans were renowned for their long-term planning. Even the slightest hint would help to shrink the search area.

Tapping
Satal's phone did not help much.

"We are tired of waiting for
your results."

"I am not God and
cannot walk through walls. The instrument control room is locked, and the key is in the safe of the chief of the local police. Baer usually stays in his office till late night. On Wednesday evening he will go to the city hall, and I'll make a copy of the key. Then I will need a week for…"

"
We feel you do not want to cooperate."

"
It's beyond my control! The amulets I gave you right away."

"If
by the sixteenth all is not done, your chances of getting your kids alive will be severely reduced. And make no mistake; we are watching you."

Reading the
listeners' records, Baer shook his head; only people absolutely confident in their power could afford to threaten a dark magician like this. And they were sure that his retaliation wouldn't follow, if it came to that. Also, the captain knew the key to the instrument control room was truly kept safe in the vault, but not in his office - in Satal's. Hence, the senior coordinator tried to gain time. For what?

"
Where did the call come from?"

"
From the railway station. Fifteen minutes before that a train from Finkaun arrived, ten minutes after - a freight train left for Ekkverh. That's all, unless the caller just took a cab to the station to make a call."

Now they knew the deadline.
Artisans did plan some vileness, and there was a chance that they would accomplish it with or without the help of the senior coordinator.

"
I've got fifteen hundred real estate transactions related to the purchases of detached houses in the suburbs. Will you have a look?" Baer passed a stack of sheets to the empath.

Kevinahari
meekly took the list - she was out of ideas, too. The time was slipping away.

In
a gesture of despair, Baer decided to turn to a fortune teller. Not to an unknown charlatan, but to Mrs. Alonzo, who had correctly predicted the four major catastrophes of our time and owed him a couple of favors. But the seer did not help her benefactor.

"
No, precious, nothing bad will happen to you. Not this month, nor the next. I will look into the kids' future, if you bring something of theirs - a piece of clothing, for example. Without it I am helpless. One thing I will tell you for sure - do not be afraid of your very near future. Your gloomy period is far from now; it is concealed by the night fogs."

Thus e
ncouraged, the captain returned to his office. Two days prior to the due date scheduled by the artisans, he met with the empath to discuss their course of action.

"
Tomorrow we will have to talk to Satal," Kevinahari tried not to look into the eyes of the captain. "I'll be through with the papers overnight. In any case, he must realize that he can't do this quietly - too many people are involved."

B
aer did not mention that just two of them knew the truth, and Satal could easily "ensure" their deathly silence.

His
night was restless, and before going to work Baer put on the highest security suit which, however, could not save him against a skillfully aimed curse - the upcoming conversation with Satal would be stressful.

The captain
was intercepted by a duty officer in the headquarters' hallway.

"Sir, I beg your pardon, s
ir! I know we are bound by subordination, but there is a limit to everything! Without booking, without any preliminary notice, without explaining his reasons!"

The captain frowned.
"Can you elaborate, Sergeant Farrell?"

"
Mr. Satal has been occupying the operational unit for two hours, and all this time the employees cannot…"

"
Corporal Maim's group to the operational unit!" Baer rushed with wide strides to meet the inevitable.

The o
perational unit was a squat, one-story building, equipped for fixing corrupted amulets, imposing charms on weapons and potions, and for performing light-weight but necessary magic - the failure of which would cause no serious consequences worth a trip to the "cleaners" base. The inner space of the building was protected by a double security perimeter, stationary reflectors, and by two dozen traps of various kinds - these safety measures were sufficient for the work of professionals with average magic abilities.

Mages
usually booked the operational unit a few days ahead. Two dark officers and a healer-white talked quietly "about life" sitting on a bench in the shade of acacia, not at all disturbed by the disruption of the schedule - it wasn't the first time. All three watched with interest the appearance of stormtroopers with crossbows.

"Emergency
!" Captain Baer declared resolutely (his subordinates recognized him without any additional introduction). "Please leave the location of the incident."

Under the
glances of harsh stormtroopers, the magicians did not ask questions and retreated in the direction of the main building. The captain decisively opened the door of the operational unit; under such circumstances the owner of the suit with the highest level of protection was supposed to play the role of the shield for the rest.

The
y found the senior coordinator almost instantly. He sat on the floor against the wall; the lines of a huge pentagram slowly cooled in front of him. His face darkened, deep shadows lay under his eyes.

"
You are just in time," the magician wiped excessive perspiration off his face. "Is the group ready?"

Baer
nodded uncertainly. "Come on, let's talk openly: I know where they are keeping my children; we have to hurry up now."

An
agitated duty-officer pushed his way through the crammed stormtroopers: "Sir, we have a communications problem! None of the phones are working - something happened to the wires."

A
maniacal smile appeared on Satal's face. "Do not worry, sergeant. It'll last for an hour and a half."

With mix
ed feelings of annoyance and relief, Captain Baer began to give out new orders; in ten minutes two trucks filled with stormtroopers drove out of the headquarters' yard.

"
Where are we going to, sir?" Baer yielded leadership to Satal.

"
Down the street and to the left on the boulevard."

"
Can you give us the exact address?"

Sata
l shook his head. "I do not know the address, only the route. I keep a picture of this place in my mind and will tell you when we reach it."

Kevinahari, who managed
to jump in the back of the truck at the last minute, squeezed herself closer to the coordinator, and handed him a blue bottle. He shook his head again. "No, I promised him that I wouldn't do this."

"W
hat makes you keep your promise?" the curator grimly wondered.

Sata
l chuckled. "He can exact vengeance on my descendants. Do I need it?"

Baer understood with crystal clarity what
was going on - they were talking to a possessed man.

"
Sir, you are…"

Satal
's smile turned into a grin. "Yes, I am! There is always a way to solve any problem, though not all are willing to pay the proper price."

"
Rustle
simultaneously exists everywhere," the empath elaborated to Baer. "It could trace the path of a specific person in time and space without any problem. But most people whom the monster touches die."

"
Well, even if I die, so what," Satal shrugged indifferently. "I'll outlive these bastards anyway."

The
trucks left the city and turned off the groomed highway onto a maze of narrow country roads, small farms, large suburban mansions, and unexpected clusters of huts of a totally archaic look, whose inhabitants perceived the appearance of the vehicles as a big event. The drivers were constantly honking to scare donkey drovers, shepherds, and goats off the road - villagers hurried to get home before sunset.
Rustle
wasn't good as a cicerone; he couldn't judge the navigability of the roads, and a couple of times the trucks had to make a detour, going round littered gullies and muddy, marshy ponds. The squad walked the last two hundred meters to a secluded farm, but they managed to reach the place in an hour and a half. The senior coordinator closed his eyes as if listening to something and confidently nodded: "They are here!"

Kevinahari
looked into her records and said, "This estate was not on my list."

It didn't come as a surprise to
the captain. Judging by the size of the lot, it was a part of a previously very big farm, which was portioned with choice portions already expropriated by neighbors, and the rest was of no interest to anyone. Baer marveled at the cunning of artisans: their shelter was close to Redstone and very secluded at the same time.

The
senior coordinator arranged a war council in the garden, in front of the rickety fence. "Attention everyone - listen to me carefully. My children are in the basement; inside there are three guards," he displayed a piece of paper with a pencil drawing. "I'm not going with you - we can't use magic, they set containers with nitroglycerin here, there, and there. This substance is very unstable; the slightest agitation of the magical background will blow up the house. On the positive side - there are no mages among them." Obviously, the coordinator was familiar with Tangor's report on Arango's explosive steamer.

The c
aptain had to admit that the importance of data received from
Rustle
justified the risk of submission to the monster. So often people die because of their ignorance of seeming trifles!