Real Magic (33 page)

Dominic scowled. "Just who do you think you are? Give me my boy and get the hell off my land."

Walter stomped over to Dominic and shook his hand. "It's an honor to meet such an accomplished magician as yourself. Even before the Door of Vanishing trick, I found your work as The Amazing Verido to be impressive. I've read about you in the magazines, and I must say that I think you should have become a much bigger star than you did. The close up work, the big illusions, all of it showed me that you were a master of the art. Houdini himself would have been challenged by you." Duncan saw Dominic wince, and he knew Walter must have clamped down hard on that hand. "As for me, I am nothing more than a man you do not want to cross."

"You've got it all now," Duncan said, stepping forward. "You know it doesn't matter what this farmer says. You'll take all these Doors before the day is out. So why bother with threats? You've won."

Walter turned toward Duncan, wheezing from the stifling barn. "You got a lot of gumption. I'm truly surprised. You worked real hard to stay ahead of me, but in the end, it doesn't matter. I got your friend, I got your girl, I got all the cards."

Duncan paused, then grinned. "Not all of them."

"Oh?"

"If you had it all, you wouldn't be threatening anything. You'd have either let us go or killed us. But we're still here which means one thing to me — you still don't know how this all works."

Walter walked right up to Duncan and patted his cheek with a wet hand. "You've been a smart one this whole time. Hasn't he, Freddie? Been a real smart one." Freddie grunted. "Well, let's see how smart you really are. Tell me, what am I going to do if The Amazing Verido holds out on me?"

Dominic said, "You want to use the Door of Vanishing? It's not a trick to be played with. It's not a trick at all."

"I know," Walter said, snapping his head toward Dominic. "So let's start this off the most painless way I can think of. You tell me how to make the Door work or I'll call in the police and they'll arrest you for several old unsolved murders."

"I can't do that. These Doors are too dangerous."

"Sure. I understand. Let me restate my request so you can comprehend this situation a bit clearer." From his coat pocket, Walter pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the boy. "Tell me how to use the Door, or I'll kill your son."

"Oh Lord, no." Tears rushed down Dominic's cheeks.

Duncan locked eyes on Freddie. He shook his head as if to say, "See the kind of monster you work for." Freddie squirmed under Duncan's gaze. As if fighting off the accusation, he tightened his hold on Vincent's arm.

"Well, Papa? Are you going to talk or does your barn get painted with your boy's brains?"

Duncan cleared his throat. "I'll tell you. Let them all go. I know how this works. That's what we were discussing in the house. He told me everything."

"That so?" Walter moved away from the boy.

"Yes. I'll tell you what you want to know."

"Then I guess I don't need Verido anymore." He pulled the trigger.

The little gun made a loud noise and Dominic fell to the ground, clutching his side. Blood oozed between his fingers. Lucy cried out and covered her mouth while Vincent stared in shock. Dominic's son leapt to his side.

"Still not talking?" Walter said.

Duncan looked at him like he was a madman. "I told you I would if you just let them go."

Walter shrugged. "You can waste time negotiating but The Amazing Verido's going to die soon if he don't get any help. I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a trick for patching up a bullet wound."

Duncan strained to find the right avenue out of this. There had to be an angle to work, some way to protect everyone. But Walter wouldn't give him the time to think.

The big man strolled around the barn, looking upon the Doors as if viewing an art gallery. "Freddie, put your gun to Ms. Lucy's head. Maybe that'll get some answers for me."

Freddie did as instructed. Lucy looked to Duncan, tears streaming down her face, every muscle in her body tense. Duncan tried to calm her with his eyes but he knew it wouldn't work. A gun to the head trumped kind eyes every time.

But Freddie held that gun, and that was the only angle left.

Though he spoke to Walter, Duncan turned his focus on Freddie. "I see now why your bosses stuck you out in the middle of Nowhere, Pennsylvania. You have no honor."

"Excuse me," Walter growled.

"Come on, Mr. Walter. First you threaten the life of a boy and now an innocent woman. Where's the honor in that? The real Chicago men are tough, no doubt, but they would never stoop so low as to use kids and women."

"Don't you talk to me like that."

"Or what? You going to go kill a few grandmas, too?"

Walter wagged a finger at Duncan. "You think you're clever. Rattle me a bit and I'll make a mistake? Something like that? No, sir. I've been waiting a long time to stand here, and I won't have it screwed up by hotheadedness. Why should I care what you think about honor? You've got far less honor than me. You've been lying to these fine people from the start. Come on, Ms. Lucy. What did he tell you was his reason for all this? I'm sure he came up with a great lie."

Lucy shivered and a new wash of tears streamed down her face.

"I did lie to them," Duncan said. "I did it to protect them from all of this. From you."

"Great job you did there. Ain't that right, Ms. Lucy? He sure is protecting you from that gun resting on your skull."

"I was wrong. Lucy knew that. She tried to get through to me. I should have told the truth from the start but I was afraid." He faced Lucy. "I fell in love and I was afraid the truth would send her running fast from me. I was a fool for that. I'm sorry."

"Aw, isn't that sweet? I might even shed a tear for you. Or I'll just kill the girl and you can shed all the tears. You want that to happen, keep flapping your jaw. Or, you can tell me what I want to know and then you won't have to watch the pretty girl die."

Duncan glanced at Freddie one final time. The man's eyes darted between Lucy and Walter. His finger touched the trigger, then pulled away and rested on the side of the gun, then back to the trigger. It wasn't enough, though. Whatever incentive Freddie needed, Duncan had not done the job well enough. It was over. There were no more cards to play. Duncan refused to let them harm Lucy, and if things did not resolve soon, Dominic would bleed to death. If Dominic was indeed a relative, Duncan didn't want to know what that would do to his own existence.

"Okay," Duncan said. "You win. I'll tell you how to use the Door."

 

Nelson Walter crossed his huge arms.
He knew he had won but he wouldn't give Duncan any room to rest. Duncan expected no less. Walter was that kind of man — he didn't take joy in the winning but rather found pleasure in grinding his opponent into the ground.

"I won't wait for long," Walter said.

Duncan glanced around the barn at all the Doors. Without a clear plan, he decided to stall as long as he could. At least that would buy time, and in some cases, that's all one needed. A little time, a little hope, and an open eye, looking for an advantage he could use.

"All of these doors are Doors of Vanishing. Every last one. And each Door is a gateway to another time, another place. You told me recently that you knew there was real magic in the world. Well, here it is. The most powerful real magic in existence. No two Doors go to the same location or the same time. Each one is unique. These markings are part of the ancient spell that makes them work. We don't know where this magic came from, but history is filled with tales of powerful people with hands deep in the dark arts."

Walter spit to the side. "I don't need a damn show. Freddie, put a hole in the girl's pretty leg."

"Okay, okay, wait!" Duncan said, and Walter put a hand out to halt Freddie. But Duncan noticed that Freddie hadn't moved to begin with. Maybe he had some room to work with the thug, after all. Walter's word
show
flashed in his mind and he had an idea. "I'll dispense with the formal part, but in order to grasp the complexities of this apparatus, allow me to demonstrate the full trick. It'll make things far clearer than my mere words."

Even if Walter's criminal senses warned him away from this, Duncan knew the magician in him would never decline. Walter's face lightened as his excitement grew. "Yes, sure. Show me the trick." Walter jutted his chin toward Dominic's crumpled body. "Better be quick, though. He won't last long."

Duncan rubbed his sweating hands on his pants. "I'll need an assistant and some other help."

He stepped towards Lucy, but Walter put out a cautioning hand. "Not her."

Before Duncan could respond, a voice called out from behind. "Ladies and gentleman," the voice said. Duncan turned around to find Dominic's son standing next to a Door set into a platform. "Prepare to be astounded by this final trick, the most dangerous trick ever attempted by any magician anywhere in the world. In just moments, The Amazing Verido will give you the Door of Vanishing."

Duncan stared at the boy, unsure if he could believe what he was seeing. The only reason he could think that the boy wanted to perform the trick was because he knew the end result. If they did it right, Nelson Walter would walk through a door and that would end their problems. Could this boy really be suggesting that? That would require an amazing amount of bravery and cunning from a child. Then again, this child seemed to love his father. What wouldn't he do for that kind of love? And even if the boy wasn't making the suggestion, the thought now existed in Duncan's mind. It froze him despite the hot day.

"I guess I'll be Verido for this," Vincent said and stepped forward. He patted Duncan on the shoulder. "I know the performance. I've read plenty of accounts. I just don't know how the trick actually works. What do I need to do?"

Duncan shook his head. "Just do the show. I'll take care of the rest."

Vincent winked and spread his arms wide. "My dear guests, it is a pleasure to perform for you this singularly incredible trick. You'll please take note here that this is an ordinary door in an ordinary frame that's been set up on this platform for ease of use."

Vincent knocked on the door, the frame, and the platform to indicate solid wood. Vincent's charisma could not be denied, and both Walter and Freddie watched carefully — cautious but somewhat enthralled by the show.

"To further prove this is nothing but an ordinary door, I shall walk through it," Vincent said. While he spoke, Dominic's son rotated the platform until the door stood in profile. Vincent then opened the door and stepped through it with ease. Once on the other side, he closed the door, gestured to the audience as if to say, "See, nothing odd here," and then opened the door again, and went back through. "Just a door like one you no doubt have in your very homes."

The boy rotated the door so it now faced the audience. "And now," Vincent said, his voice rich and mysterious, "I will send this boy to another realm." The boy walked up to the door, glanced back at Walter with an unsure look — all excellent acting on the boy's part — and stepped through.

From where he stood, Duncan watched the boy close the door and immediately slip through a trap door in the platform, curling under and closing the trap above him. Even watching it happen, it looked impossible that he should be able to fit, but he appeared to have no trouble. On the other side of the door, the side facing the audience, Vincent continued the routine with a barrage of faux-magic words and hand gestures.

"And now," Vincent said, placing his hand on the doorknob, "the boy is gone." He opened the door to reveal the empty platform. He closed the door again, and talked about how difficult it was to bring somebody back. As he spoke, the boy slid the trap door open and uncurled from the platform. When Vincent finished his performance, he opened the door and there was the boy.

Despite the situation, Freddie actually clapped his hands until a sharp look from Walter stopped him.

Vincent walked to the left, far from the door frame as if in deep thought. "Now, here is where things get interesting." In Verido's performance, this marked the point where he would talk of faraway lands, witch doctors, and whatever else he came up with. Vincent tailored his talk to the moment at hand. It was a subtle, brilliant move that demanded the attention of his audience. "You've seen the Door in action and you obviously want to harness its power for yourself. Since we are dealing with authentic magic and not the clever sleights-of-hand that are the mainstay of many a magician, you must learn the proper words, the incantation, if you will, that allows these Doors to function."

As Vincent continued to talk, bringing Nelson Walter closer in as he imparted the "secret," Dominic's boy rolled the door over to Duncan. He looked at Duncan with pragmatic eyes. He knew what he suggested they do, and he had no moral qualms about it. His steady stare shined on Duncan like an interrogator's harsh lamp, demanding answers, not letting him shift into the shadows to escape. Though he felt less sure than the boy, he nodded.

Together, they removed the fake door from the platform, grabbed the closest Door and inserted it into the platform. Then the boy wheeled it back as Vincent continued his remarkably gripping tale.