Stolen Love

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Crown Vic to a Parallel World: Stolen Love The third and final installment of the ongoing adventures of Church Philips

21

The Start of a Plan

Hannah, Leah, and Altus entered the room and arranged themselves in a neat row at the head of the table. They were all dressed the same again, this time in seamless bodysuits of purple and orange. I assumed these were more of Andy's reef collection, but I didn't bother asking.

The three young people waited to be addressed. I assumed from the way Altus' eyes kept crawling over to me and darting away, that he believed what Bem had told him about my willingness to hurt him. That was fine with me. I hoped it would make him eager to please me by helping us help Shawn.

Bem led off with a question. "What is the maximum distance the three of you can communicate telepathically with each other and with a non-telepath?"

The two girls, who stood like bookends around Altus, glanced at each other around their boyfriend and seemed to silently compare notes. When they finished, they turned their attention to their stepfather.

Hannah, or maybe Leah, spoke for all of them. "Between us, we can communicate up to a mile apart. For a non-telepath who we're familiar with, someone we've done it with before, we can send up to a half-mile and receive from about a third. It depends on how strong they are and whether they're an empath or not."

Bem jerked his chin toward Primis. "How far with him?" He asked.

The twin that was doing the speaking addressed Primis. "What's your magic?"

"Fourth Class Telekinetic, double-C rating." Primis answered with ready precision. "All the Summas family are telekinetics...except Chordus...I mean Shawn."

That seemingly innocuous statement grabbed my attention. All the Summas family are telekinetics, except Shawn.' I thought. I'd never realized that. Must've been lonely for him. Poor Shawn. Must've been hard, having a father like Verpa and then being odd-man-out with his magic. He couldn't help being the second son, or not being a telekinetic.' I felt a swelling of sadness around Shawn's past, but I didn't get much of a chance to mourn for my husband's lost childhood. The conversation proceeded around me and I needed to pay attention.

The twin who'd been talking to Primis continued to look at him but stopped speaking aloud. I assumed she was speaking in his head because Primis started to react with short nods or head shakes like he was very engaged in a conversation, but he said nothing. The twin looking at him did nothing but look. I assumed she was so used to telepathic communication that physical gestures had grown less important to her. It was an interesting distinction that I made a mental note to pay attention to in the future.

The mental conversation seemed to end, and the twin got back into her line with the others. "His mind voice is unpracticed." She announced to the room. "He could project with practice, but I assume we don't have time for that. I could communicate with him over less than half-a-mile, maybe a quarter mile. How much information do we need to communicate? Smaller words and simpler concepts can travel farther."

"We may need details." Bem remarked after a moment's reflection. "How far for details?"

"A quarter mile for me or Leah, no more. Altus is a little stronger, maybe a third of a mile for him." The twin that was Hannah by process of elimination said.

I wondered about Altus' greater strength. I'd naturally assumed that since the twins had been around me fairly often since they were eight years old, my overflow magic had stretched their capacities just like everyone else. Altus had been around me, but not for very long, so his capacity was probably close to whatever he'd had naturally.

I reasoned that Altus must be a particularly powerful individual and the twins were probably on the low end of the power scale until they were influenced by my magic. I guessed I'd leveled them up but not enough to match Altus' natural ability. I wondered about it, but again, I didn't get a chance to wonder much.

Bem singled out Altus with a question. "Do you agree with Hannah's distance assessment? Do whatever you need to do to be sure."

I felt like something was being talked around and not said. I wanted to know what Bem had in mind, so I asked, and Bem explained. "Programming Primis and having the compulsion on a timer isn't as safe as I'd like it to be. We don't know how long they'll take to capture him or when they'll decide to read him. They may wait until they get him home if their empath is not a member of the recovery team. If that's the case, the timer could run out before they read him. Then where would we be?"

Bem shook his head to indicate his discomfort around that uncertainty. "It would be better if we could release the compulsion remotely, once we're reasonably certain Primis is home and safe. That's where the twins or Altus come in and that's why we have to know how far away they can communicate.

"If they can get close enough, one of them can release the compulsion undetected by the enemy. Once released, Primis could then communicate directly with the telepath we send. The telepath can get the information we need from the source without resorting to the use of bugs or other technology that would be difficult to place and easy to detect."

Bem's plan made good sense to me. I decided a test was in order. I got to my feet and waved to get Altus' attention. He appeared to be mid-mental conversation with Primis and it took him a second to raise his nervous eyes to my face. "Sir?" He squeaked.

"Come on," I beckoned him impatiently, "we'll drive a mile away and you guys try to talk, then we'll come closer a tenth of a mile at a time until you can speak clearly."

Bem provided his blessing for the exercise. He agreed a test was in order. Altus stared at me like a deer caught in the headlights of an eighteen-wheeler a split second before impact. Leah's mind voice sounded in my mind. "What are you up to?" It asked.

"A real test." I thought back at her. "I need him to help save Shawn. Do you think I'd take him out on the plains to do weird shit to him with Shawn's life at stake?"

Leah's mind voice didn't answer me, but her presence left my mind. I waited while I assumed she Leah conferred mentally with her sister and her boyfriend. As I waited, Altus' eyes narrowed until they were a somewhat normal size. He left the perceived safety of his position between my nieces to stand near me. "I'm ready." He said and tried to sound confident.

I led him from the room, across the entryway, down the stairs, through the rumpus room and into my kitchen where I paused at the culinarian for more coffee. The adrenalin from my initial encounter with Primis was long gone and exhaustion had started to catch up with me. I was fading fast and needed a boost to keep going. I filled another thermos and asked Altus if he wanted something. "No sir!" He belted out like I was his drill sergeant.

I rubbed the back of my neck in frustration. I knew his manner was my fault, but that didn't stop it from making me a feel unhinged. "Please have something." I begged. "Humor me. Anything you want."

The boy accepted a large bottle of extra tart lemonade to pacify me, and we made our way to the garage and the Crown Vic. I got him in the passenger seat and tried to get in the driver's side but couldn't. The seat was still adjusted to suit Bem's much smaller frame. I powered the seat back and down, got in, and started the car.

As the V-8 engine came to life with a small roar, Altus threw the door open and made a move like he planned to bolt from the car. He paused when he saw I hadn't reacted to the sound of the engine. It took me a minute to realize that he'd never been in the car before, and as a Solum native, the noise of the running engine caught him by surprise. He pulled the door shut but didn't take his hand from the handle.

I drove us from the garage and pointed the car to the east to come around to the front of the house. Altus seemed to relax slightly once we were under way. I drove us around to the bottom of the grand staircase, set the trip odometer, and drove into the dark. At one mile, I stopped and made a U-turn to face the car toward the house. "You want to try now?" I asked and reached out to set a hand on Altus' shoulder.

Altus jerked away from my touch and plastered himself against the passenger door panel. I took my hand back and used it to rub my neck. "Alright," I said, frustrated by Altus' reaction but still trying to keep the emotion from my voice, "I'm sorry I threatened you. I promise not to make you eat your dick. OK?"

"Yes sir, Mister Church sir!" Altus belted at me.

"Jesus FUCKING Christ!" I swore out the open driver's side window. "Look," I blurted out the window and turned to face Altus, "look, you pissed me off the other night and I threatened you. I don't regret that because I think you needed to be reminded who's in charge in this house.

"Now though, I need you. I need your help. Think of how you'd feel if someone kidnapped the twins, then multiply that feeling by a million, because that's what I feel like right now. Just focus on helping me...help me help Shawn. You do that, and you and me are square. OK? You'll have my undying love and respect, whatever that's worth." I held my hand out to him. I offered it for him to shake like he and I were striking a bargain.

Altus eyed the hand suspiciously, like he expected it to bite him. He made me wait while he clenched his lean jaw, bucked up some confidence from somewhere, took my hand, and shook it forcefully like a used car salesman would. "I'll do my best." He said at a normal volume.

"Good. That's good. How do we do this then?"

Altus squared himself in the seat and focused. "Drive toward the house, slow. I'll let you know when I reach him."

I took my foot off the brake and let the car idle toward the house. I goosed the throttle to get us up to five miles-an-hour and kept us there. Altus appeared to concentrate and I assumed that meant his power was working hard. I watched the tenths of a mile click by on the trip odometer. I counted down from one mile in my head with opposite numbers. `Point nine, point eight, point seven, point six, point five...'

Halfway between point five and point four Altus had me stop the car. "I can sense him now. I could talk at him, but we're not close enough for him to talk back."

"I don't know how this works." I admitted to Altus. "The girls mentioned details being more difficult than other things."

"We could test it." Altus suggested. "I could give him something to remember and tell him to start thinking it back to me. Then when we get close enough, I'll hear it."

"Like what?" I asked.

"A sentence or a string of numbers...anything."

I thought for a second and came up with something for Altus to send. "Send him these numbers; eight, six, seven, five, three, oh, nine." As I said them, I found myself wanting to sing them. `Thank you, Tommy Tutone.' I thought.

Altus sent the numbers twice, along with the instructions for Primis to think them back at him. When he was ready, he told me to start getting closer to the house, very slowly. I let the car idle and kept my eyes on the odometer. The inverse of point four clicked by and the number started to roll into the dashboard when Altus stopped me again. I guessed we were point three seven miles from the house when Altus repeated the numbers to me. It was a greater distance than Hannah had anticipated, but not by much.

I wanted to celebrate the success, but Altus stopped me. "We can communicate this far away, but it will be hard on Primis. Even with me doing most of the work, the act of sending your thoughts over a distance is exhausting for someone not used to it."

"Is there anything we can do to make it easier?" I asked.

"If he writes down what he wants to say, then reads it, that will save energy. It means he won't have to think about what he wants to say so he can use all his mental energy to send the words without having to think them up and send them. Even at that, he won't be able to give you much more than a page of text before he's exhausted."

I congratulated Altus on exceeding expectation, thanked him for working with me, and drove us back to the garage.

We reentered the dining room and Altus moved directly toward my nieces. He kissed them both while I announced the distance results of our test. Bem asked Lenis and Primis about the area around Verpa's house and the possibilities of getting within a third of a mile without being noticed.

"It is a gated community." Lenis explained with her eyes on the ceiling as she thought. "It is patrolled, but not heavily. It would be easy enough to get someone inside, but they would not be able to linger for very long."

Lenis seemed to have a thought that pleased her, and she brightened up. She brought her gaze down from the light panel ceiling to address Bem. "We have...or I should say, there were these neighbors, the Vicina women. I could call them and see if Altus could visit them. I have not seen them in years, but I think I still have their contact information.

"They are VERY old women, a couple. They could never stand Verpa. As I remember, they do not much like men, but I always got on with them. That would be a destination. Altus could pose as...I do not know...a physician perhaps? Their great age would make a visit from a physician seem like quite a normal thing. Maybe he could pose as a resident nurse. That would give him an excuse to stay for a few days."

The discussion devolved into details and my mind wandered. I was tired and the coffee I'd poured into my system wasn't helping as much as I'd wanted it to. I supposed I was too used to high levels of caffeine for it to have much effect. The magic that usually supported my endurance also seemed to be less helpful than normal.

I thought it over and figured out that, beside my brief nap on the hood of the car, I'd been awake for twenty stressful hours and that was after a long day and short night before. I'd need sleep soon, but the idea of going to bed in my apartment without Shawn made me want to weep again.

"Big Guy!" Bem called. I assumed, from the note of frustration in his voice, it wasn't the first or even the second time he'd tried to get my attention. I don't know how long I'd been sitting with my eyes open and my brain in neutral, but it must have been a while.

"Yeah, what?" I asked.

"I asked if you agreed with the plan?"

"What plan?"

Bem glared at me for a second, then his expression softened, and he shrugged a small shrug. "Are you alright?" He asked.

"Not really."

"But I already knew that." Bem finished my thought for me. He wasn't wrong and I let him have that one. Bem told me why he'd wanted my attention. "We have a plan and we're ready to go. Do you want to hear it?"

"Whose plan is it?" I asked.

"Mine and Vulp's mostly."

"I trust you. What do you need me to do?"

Bem scrutinized me like he was trying to gauge how much longer I could function without collapsing. That's what I assumed he was doing anyway. It's what I would have done if I was him and he was me. "Can you drive us to where we'll leave Primis?" He asked.

"I don't need to be awake to drive." I sighed and rose from the table. I stood and stretched and twisted my body to try to work a kink out of my back. As I twisted one way, I noticed Ars and Cass again. Ars was sitting back in his chair with his fingers steepled together and his eyes on the ceiling. Cass was still next to him, with his hands clasped behind his grey head. His eyes were also on the ceiling.

That image surprised me on several levels. I was surprised that Ars hadn't participated in the meeting. I hadn't heard his voice even once. I thought that especially odd because Primis was his nephew just like Shawn was. I was also surprised that I hadn't heard Cass's chatter the entire time. Normally the elderly man would have called attention to himself in some manner. He would have at least called attention to himself even if all he did was redirect that attention to the son he was enormously proud of.

`Curious.' I thought. I would have tried to reason it out, but I was too tired. I was too tired and my mind was already far too occupied with the emotional storm that thrashed through it. I didn't have any capacity left to worry about Ars or Cass or any other damn thing.

Bem took a few minutes to tell everyone who didn't already have an assignment to go to bed and to tell the ones who did have an assignment to get to it. Lenis hugged and kissed her son. She told him she was proud of his bravery and sent him to go with us. I started to lead the way out when Cass scurried over to us.

Cass addressed himself to Primis. He grabbed Primis' hand and pumped it up and down. "My boy, you don't know me, but I think you're doing a wonderful thing. May God protect you and see you on your way."

Primis didn't know who God was and asked for clarity. "Who?"

"Almighty God, my boy." Cass said, like that would clear things up for Primis. Cass didn't wait to see if Primis understood him. He seized Bem in a tight hug and patted his back. "I'm proud of you son." He said to the side of Bem's head. "The way you've orchestrated the plan, I'm confident you will see results. It does an old man's heart good to watch you put your experience to work for your friend. He couldn't have better people working on his behalf."

Cass released Bem and raised proud eyes to mine. "Could he, my boy?" Cass asked me.

I shook my head. "No Cass." I said as some tears welled in my eyes. The old man's words had made me realize how lucky I was to have friends like Bem and Neb and the Dux brothers, and family like Hannah and Leah and their insolent fuck boyfriend Altus, and Met and Andy and Comet who wasn't there and Ars and Lenis and Cellarius and Mary even Joe. I felt grateful to everyone and lucky to have them all and completely miserable that I needed their help in the first place.

I heaved a desperate sob and screwed my fists into my eyes to try to block the tears. "I...I love you all." I gasped to the room.

"My boy." A deeper version of Cass's voice called my name as his small, thin hand grasped for mine. "Take heart," he said when I looked down at him, "the very best team there is, is doing the very best that they can. You saved the world. You will save your husband."

Cass's words hit me right in the heart. They were just what I needed to hear. I couldn't believe how lucid Cass was in that moment, how very thoughtful he'd been. I dropped to one knee and grabbed the old man in a hug. "From...from your mouth to...to God's ear." I blubbered to Cass as I held him against me.

"Alright, my boy...alright." Cass soothed me. "It's time for you to go now. My Bem made the plan, now you have to see that it gets carried out." Cass coughed his single dry cough. "Must get moving."

I sniffed and gathered myself. I released Cass and stood from our embrace. I thanked him again and turned my steps toward the garage. I led the way and was followed by Bem, Vulp, and Primis.

Bem got in the front with me and Vulp got in the back with Primis. Bem reached over and patted my knee. I cleared my throat and tried to address what just happened between me and Cass. "Your dad..." I said and trailed off because I didn't know what else to say.

"I know." Bem admitted to me. "He...he surprises you sometimes."

"He's great." I said.

"I really love him." Bem added. "He...he really is great."

With that settled and nothing more to say, I twisted the key and started the engine. I hadn't put the car in gear yet when Vulp's rarely used voice made a request. "Church, I'm going to start programming Primis. It would be better if we had quiet. Would you...you know?" He made a gesture like he was wiping an imaginary window between the front and back seats. I took that to indicate he wanted a barrier.

I didn't comply with the request right away because I felt like I should say something to Primis, but I didn't know what. I turned in the seat far enough to make eye contact with him as he sat behind Bem. The man was my brother-in-law but I'd never gotten to know him. I wanted to ask him if he was OK, but I thought that would just make him even more nervous than he already was.

Primis seemed calm enough. He seemed so calm that I wondered if he was still under Neb's influence. I assumed she'd released her magic because it didn't work well over distances. `Must be the after-effects.' I assumed. I knew from my own experience that Neb's influence tended to set up a sort of emotional trend that would last a while after she stopped exerting her power. I hoped for Primis' sake the effects would last a long while.

I looked into Primis' frozen blue eyes and saw traces of Shawn in him. The things that he'd done that day, the risks he'd taken in spite of his timid nature, made me think he had more in common with my husband than even he thought. Primis' actions made him one of my heroes.

I wanted him to know that I was grateful. I thought of offering him anything he wanted, a blank check, but that felt hollow to me...cheap maybe. I wanted to offer him something, though, something that meant something to me. I had an idea and went with it. "When this is over, I want to get to know you." I said and tried to make my tired voice sound warm and inviting. "Do you think you'd like to come here and stay with us a while? I think your mother would like that. I think Shawn would like it too."

"I'd like that." Primis agreed, his voice still low, still coming from his throat instead of out of his head. I liked his lower voice. He sounded like Shawn.

"Good, I'm looking forward to it." I stopped talking and thought for another minute while the car idled and filled the garage with the echoing grumble of its exhaust note. There was more I wanted to say to him, more I had to say.

I leaned toward Primis and stuck my arm between the front seats into the back. I offered my hand to him. He grabbed it in a firm, confident grip and held on. "Thank you...for what you did today. Thank you Primis. Keep yourself safe so you can come visit us. If something happened to you because of what you did, that would make Shawn sad."

"Do you think so?" Primis asked in a voice that sounded small and uncertain.

"I know so." I promised and gripped his hand tighter to let him know I meant it.

"Thanks, Church." He replied as a smile tried to work its way across his face. "No matter what happens, I'm glad I took the risk."

I took my hand back, straightened in the seat, wiped my eyes again, and put the car in gear. Vulp's voice from over the seatback reminded me of the barrier I forgot to erect. I built a wall of magic, like a limo partition, right behind the front seats and sealed Vulp in with Primis.

I glanced in the rearview and saw Vulp staring at Primis with laser-like intensity and Primis looking back the same way. I assumed Vulp had started the programming. I said a silent prayer, to a God I didn't believe in, for Primis' safety.

I let Bem point the way to where we'd left Primis' car and took my time driving us there while Bem explained the plan and the roles everyone was to play.

"It's almost dawn." Bem said to premise his explanation. "When we get to the rented car, Primis is going to get in and go to sleep. When the sun comes up, he'll drive back to Oppidum with all possible speed. I hope the enemy will be there to get him. If they are, he is to revert to his former cringing self and to allow himself to be taken home. As far as he will know, he never made it to the estate, never saw or talked to any of us. If the enemy isn't there, he will make his own way home as quickly as possible.

"Also at dawn, Steward Summas will leave the estate in his plane. He will be taking Altus and Hannah with him. Leah will stay with us. The girls didn't want to be separated, but they are too recognizable together. Andy, because of his fashion company, has done a good job of living in the media's attention and keeping it off the rest of the family, but the twins are known.

"They're young, rich, and beautiful, so they are popular enough to be conspicuous together. By herself though, Hannah should be able to go without attracting notice. We can't have anyone related to this house being seen anywhere near Verpa's estate. It would tip them off.

"Steward Summas will give Altus a car from The HALL and will send him to the Vicina residence that Lenis mentioned. Lenis will call the women later on this morning to let them know the boy is coming. She will not tell them why. If she has to, she is to tell them that he is there to gather information against Verpa. According to Lenis, that should be sufficient to motivate the old women into hosting Altus for a few days to a week.

"The Steward will also give Hannah a car and a false identification from The HALL. She will journey separately to a place within one mile of Verpa's estate. If there is a hotel nearby, she'll check in. If not, the Steward will give her credentials as an official of some kind, a mail inspector, or a health inspector or something, to gain access to a facility within telepathic range of Altus.

"Once they're both in place, they will connect with each other telepathically and Altus will link with Primis. Altus will release the compulsion from Primis. Once he's free of Vulp's programming, he will talk to his father and find out everything he knows about the kidnapping. Vulp and I have already told him what we need to know, so he'll know the right questions to ask.

"Altus will remain at the Vicina place and will check in regularly with Primis. That will help protect Primis if he's found out and will help update us if Verpa gets more information. Hannah will also stay in place and will communicate with us via phone and message. She will be Altus' conduit to us. Altus is not to communicate using any technology. He's so close to Verpa's residence, we don't want to risk any of his communications being picked up by the enemy. Once we have more information, hopefully tomorrow, we'll be able to act. In the meantime, we'll keep an eye on Shawn's phone for the inevitable second ransom demand."

The plan Bem laid out sounded reasonable and his speech took long enough for us to arrive at Primis' rental car. I pulled up next to it and parked. I glanced in the rearview to check on Vulp and Primis. Vulp seemed to still be locked into the process of programming Primis, so I left the limo partition in place and waited.

As I waited, I thought about the plan Bem had explained and came up a question or two. The first was about the timeframe. "When you say we'll have more information tomorrow, you mean today, right?" I asked.

"No, tomorrow. The day after today." Bem raised his hand to stop my objections. "Remember the logistics. We're four hundred miles from Oppidum. Primis will have to drive for hours to get back there. Hopefully, Domus' people will be there to collect him with their own plane, but if they're not, he'll have to charter a plane to get to a commercial hub and then fly commercial to get home. It's going to take him all day today just to get back to where he started.

"It will take the Steward less time to get to the capital with Altus and Hannah, because he will be flying direct, but it will still take them many hours of travel to get to The HALL. Then they still have to get their forged documents, weapons, and vehicles and travel to Ortus, where Verpa lives. Altus will have to meet the Vicina women and Hannah will have to locate a place nearby and establish her base of operation. All that takes time. I'm sorry, Big Guy, but today is going to be lost."

The thought of losing a full day depressed me to the point of wanting to cry again. I felt like everything was moving in slow motion and there was nothing I could do about it. In order to keep myself from impotently screaming and hitting things, I used one of the lessons I'd learned from Doctor Recolens, my therapist. I tried to mentally stand back and figure out what the real problem was.

Shawn was kidnapped. That was the primary matter, but I was handling that...sort of. The more immediate problem, was that I was tired, and my emotions were frayed. It was taking everything I had not to come completely unglued or to fall asleep where I sat. Even if there was an immediate action to take, I was in no shape to take it. I gripped the steering wheel until all my knuckles were white and nodded to the windshield. "So, what do we do?" I asked.

"You will sleep." Bem instructed. "That's what we all need to do. Most of us have been awake close to twenty-four hours and under great strain. We need sleep. We need to recover so when there is something to do, we can do it immediately with clear heads. I will assign a rotating watch, so someone is awake at all times to monitor communication and keep up with all the players. If something happens that requires attention, that person will wake up the right people.

"This is how these things run. As much as you want to charge to the rescue, until you know where to charge, you have to take a step at a time and deal with each thing as it comes. The waiting is excruciating, all the more so because of how important the subject is to you. We have to wait, and we have to take care of ourselves so we can do what's necessary when it's necessary."

"OK." I sighed on a frustrated exhale. "I know you're right. I'm trying."

Bem patted my upper arm and lowered his hand to rub my kneecap like he was shining an apple. "You're doing good, Big Guy. Shawn would be proud of how good you're doing."

"Thanks." I didn't completely believe Bem, but I pretended to. I thought some more about the plan and checked the mirror again. Vulp was still doing his thing, so I waited some more, and that gave me more time to think about what I'd been told. Something was bothering me. "How is Altus and Hannah being nearby...how does that help protect Primis?" I asked after I'd thought some.

"Altus will be right next door and Hannah will be less than five minutes away. If Primis needs help, they will help him. They're both going to be armed. Altus will be the first wave of the attack, Hannah will be the second. The Steward will also be putting the local police on standby to back them up as needed. The police won't know why they're on standby. It's a common enough thing to do and not give reasons. They'll probably assume it's a readiness drill. If nothing happens, that's what it will be, but if they're needed, they'll be ready."

I shook my head at the windshield. "I don't like them putting themselves in danger. Shawn wouldn't like it."

Bem gripped my knee to get my attention. "Don't forget, your nieces and their boyfriend are going to be members of the Protectorate Police Force when the summer is over. They trained for this and are very capable. Big Guy," Bem said and waited for me to look his way, "they're my daughters as much as if they were my blood. I helped raise those girls and I love them.

"You know how much I worked with them. When they're together, no one can beat them; not me, not even Vulp. You remember, about three months ago when the three of them were home and me and Cy and Vulp teamed up against them? We fought like hell but finally had to call it a draw."

I remembered the match. I remember thinking it was very unfair for the three men to square off with three children. When I saw those children fight, I had to change my opinion of them dramatically. The twin girls and Altus, despite their youth and comparative lack of experience, stood against the three battle-hardened special forces warriors and gave them not one inch of ground.

That match was the single, most impressive display of hand to hand fighting I'd ever seen. I assumed, in a real, all-out fight, the battle experience of the warriors would win out over the youth who, at the time, were still trainees. Even with that possibility acknowledged, watching them fight gave me a new respect for my nieces and their pecker-head boyfriend.

Bem reinforced his words. "I would trust them against any enemy I've ever faced."

I was gnawing that over when a knock against my magic startled me and put an effective end to my discussion with Bem. I checked the rearview and got a thumbs-up sign from Vulp. I dropped the limo partition barrier and waited. Vulp put his finger to his lips to keep me quiet and spoke to Primis. "Begin now." He directed.

Primis didn't respond verbally. He opened the door, got out of the Vic, walked to his car and got in it. He leaned back in the seat and closed his eyes. Vulp slid across the bench seat to the spot Primis had left vacant and pulled the car door shut. "Now what?" I asked.

"Let's wait." Vulp said and jerked his chin toward Primis who was apparently sleeping in his car. "He'll wake when the sun comes up. I want to watch him drive off."

"Won't he see us sitting here?" I asked.

"His eyes will see us," Vulp explained, "but his mind won't know we're here. He could be parked right in front of the mansion, and he wouldn't see it. I want to watch him drive away, then we can go back and get some rest."

We waited for the sun to rise.