The Fourteenth Key (The Chronicles of Terah Book 3) (46 page)

~ ~ ~ ~

Kevin and Chris had only been back from the sparring meadow a few minutes when Joan knocked on Kevin’s door. She heard Chris laughing right before he opened the door.

“What’s so funny?” she asked as she walked in.

“Your timing,” Chris answered, still laughing.

“I had just asked ‘what’s next?’ when you knocked. It struck Chris as funny,” Kevin explained. “Now, what can we do for you?”

Joan sat down. “I’d like for you to put on a little demonstration.”

Kevin frowned. “Magic?”

“I guess you could call it magic, key magic.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to stand outside where Caitlyn can see you. Then, while she’s watching, I want you to use your key to disappear and then reappear.”

Kevin nodded. “I can do that. When do you want me?”

“As soon as we’re done in here.”

“You talked to her?” Chris asked.

Joan nodded.

“How did she react?” Kevin asked. “Did it upset her?”

“Not really, but the only thing we talked about was the men on the boat. I kept it light and treated it as an adventure.”

“And you think a key was involved?”

“From the way she described it, I’d say yes, but I could be misinterpreting her description. She knows what she saw. It’s putting it into words that’s giving her trouble, which is why I want to run this experiment.”

“So how are we going to set it up?” Kevin asked.

“I want you to be in the background, in her line of sight, but not the focus of her attention.”

“Why not?”

“If I tell her to watch you and tell me if that’s what she saw, she might say yes just to please me or to get me to stop talking about it. I’d rather she see you by chance. Then, if she points it out and tells me that’s what happened, that that’s what she saw, we’ll know it’s valid.”

“Excited utterance,” Chris said.

Joan turned towards Chris and nodded. “Exactly. If she does that, we can feel confident in saying the slavers used a key.”

“So where do you want me?”

“I’m not sure. I need to get her interested in something. Then you can walk into her line of sight, use the key to leave, come back, and then walk on.”

Kevin nodded. “Got it.”

~ ~ ~ ~

By the time Joan got back outside, Caitlyn was involved in a game of hide and seek with the other children. Joan watched for a few minutes while she tried to come up with a way to incorporate their experiment into the game without drawing the attention of the other children. Her only other option was to take Caitlyn out of the game and get her involved in something else. But what? She looked around, trying to come up with a plan.

North of the playground there was an area the guards used for practice, but the only thing going on was target practice. On the other side of the playground was the stable, corral, barn, and blacksmith shops. Neiven was inside the shop working, but he was making horseshoes, probably the dullest thing he ever did. The horses were all on the far side of the pasture, so there wasn’t going to be any help there. The grounds men were working around the area, but no one was doing anything that would interest a child.

Just as Joan was about to give up, she felt a gentle tug on her hand. When she looked down, Caitlyn asked, “Have you figured it out yet?”

Joan squeezed the little girl’s hand. “Not yet, honey, but I’m working on it.”

About that time, Karl, Chris, Kevin, and Alek walked out of the dining room and headed towards the family gardens. They hadn’t gone five yards before they caught Caitlyn’s eye. “Isn’t that Karl?”

“Yes, it is,” Joan said. “Wonder what he’s doing out here?”

“Let’s go ask him.” Caitlyn started to pull on Joan.

The men stopped halfway between the dining room and the garden and stood in a ragged circle facing each other, talking.

“Wait a minute. It looks like they’re talking right now. We need to wait until they’re done.”

“How can we tell when they’re done?”

“By watching and seeing what they do next,” Joan answered.

Kevin wasn’t looking towards Joan and Caitlyn, and neither was Karl, but Alek was.

“Is she looking this way?” Kevin asked.

“Sure is,” Alek answered. “I’m not sure what Joan’s saying, but it’s working. Caitlyn’s watching us, but not you.”

“Huh?” Chris asked.

“She’s looking over here but she’s not watching Myron any more than she’s watching the rest of us. I’d say this is a good time to try it.”

Kevin pulled his key out of his pocket, turned it, and went back to his office.

Caitlyn gasped and squeezed Joan’s hand. Joan didn’t say anything, just waited. A few seconds passed, and then Kevin was there again.

“Did you see that?” Caitlyn asked, jumping up and down and pulling on Joan’s hand. “Did you see him? He was there, then he wasn’t, then he was, just like the man on the boat. That’s what I saw! Just like that!”

Joan picked Caitlyn up and hugged her. “Let’s go ask him how he did it.”

“But I thought we had to wait until they were done.”

“They are,” Joan said, turning so the little girl could see the four men. “See, they’re waiting for us. Let’s go tell Myron about the man on the boat.”

~ ~ ~ ~

That evening there was a knock on Kevin’s door shortly after he and Chris returned from dinner. When Chris opened it, Gen. Crandal said, “Cpt. Lawrence said you wanted to see me?”

Kevin nodded. “Joan talked to Caitlyn today.”

Gen. Crandal sat down. “And?”

“We’re dealing with a key.”

Gen. Crandal sighed. “Well that explains what happened to the captives. I wonder if that same crew is responsible for a few of the other raids, like the one on Longleaf Lake.”

“So what are they doing?” Chris asked, frowning. “Using the key to jump around the world and pick up captives wherever they happen to land?”

“I don’t think it’s quite that random,” Kevin said. “The slavers had a boat at Syrando, and according to what Marcus heard, it sounds like the same boat was at Rochdale.”

“Can you take a boat through the energy field?” Gen. Crandal asked.

Kevin didn’t answer for a moment. “I’m not sure. I know I can take furniture, but the largest thing I’ve tried to carry was a bed. A boat’s larger, but size and weight don’t make any difference. Picking up a chair is the same as picking up an apple, but it would take a sorcerer to do it.”

“What kind of boat did the slavers have on Longleaf Lake? Do we know?” Chris asked.

Gen. Crandal shook his head. “We don’t really know if they had a boat. We just assumed they did.”

“Has anyone seen any sign of those captives? Or the ones from the West River?” Kevin asked.

Gen. Crandal shook his head. “And it’s been three weeks since the West River raid. There should have been no way for them to make it out of Camden without getting caught, but a key changes everything. They can hit anywhere and then vanish.”

“And there’s not much we can do about it, is there?” Chris asked, looking back and forth between Gen. Crandal and Kevin.

They both shook their heads.

“Guess we might as well let your soldiers go home,” Kevin said.

Gen. Crandal nodded. “I’ll send Lt. Martyn a message to pack up and return to Pylar’s Landing. He won’t like it, but he’ll follow orders.”

“You aren’t going to tell him why?” Kevin asked.

“Not in writing. All we need is for people to find out someone’s going around capturing people with the aid of a key. We’d have a panic on our hands. I’ll tell him and Sgt. Doyle after we pick them up, but I’ll tell them to keep it to themselves. I’m sure Sgt. Doyle will tell his men, and I imagine Lt. Martyn will tell Sgt. Nance, but they won’t tell anyone else.”

“When do you want to go get them?”

“Today’s Tuesday. He won’t get my message until tomorrow evening. How’s Friday around lunchtime sound to you?”

Kevin glanced over at Chris, who nodded.

“Do you want to meet me here?”

Gen. Crandal nodded. “Anything else?”

Kevin shook his head.

“Then I’m done for today.” Gen. Crandal stood up and stretched his back. “It’s been a long one.”

Before he reached the door, there was another knock.

“Looks like yours isn’t over yet,” Gen. Crandal said as he opened the door.

Alek and Rigel looked at Gen. Crandal and then at Kevin.

“Are we interrupting something?” Alek asked.

“No, I was just leaving,” Gen. Crandal said as he walked through the door. “They’re all yours.”

Alek turned to Kevin and asked if they could speak with him for a minute. When Kevin nodded, the two guards shut the door and sat down.

“What’s up?” Kevin asked.

“We’ve got a couple of concerns regarding your security,” Alek answered.

Kevin frowned. “I thought we hashed that out a week ago.”

“We did,” Alek said, “but we may need to rethink some of it.”

“Why?” Kevin asked. “Because of yesterday?”

Alek nodded.

Kevin shook his head. “Yesterday was a fluke. It never would have happened if I hadn’t brought Landis here.”

“And if someone hadn’t leaked where she’d be,” Chris added.

“Just as someone could leak where you’ll be,” Alek argued, looking at Kevin.

Rigel cleared his throat. “When we were working on the plan a week ago, we overlooked the most dangerous place you go.”

Kevin frowned again. “Where?”

“The back porch of the chapel in Milhaven. You’re there at least once a week to take Sister Theresa one place or another for the Sisterhood. If I were an assassin out to get you, I’d have a blind somewhere behind the chapel. I’d be in it every morning by daybreak and stay until after sunset. Within a week, I’d have my shot.”

“He has a point,” Chris said.

“But I can’t take a guard with me every time I pick them up or take them home, and if an assassin’s sitting in a blind somewhere, a guard wouldn’t do much good anyway,” Kevin argued. “I understand what you’re saying though. The only place I’m more likely to show up is across the river where I practice each morning.”

Rigel tried to stop it, but a grin spread across his face.

“What?” Kevin asked him.

“Well, we weren’t going to say anything, but that whole area is checked out several times every day, and it’s under watch from sunset until after you finish your routine the next morning. I’m not saying an assassin couldn’t get to you there, but they’d have a really hard time doing it.”

“So maybe we need to do the same thing at the chapel,” Alek suggested.

Kevin shook his head. “No, we’ll come up with something else. I hadn’t considered the possibility that an assassin could get that close, but I guess one could. And I don’t like the idea my showing up there could put someone else in the crosshairs.” Kevin paused when he noticed frowns on Alek’s and Rigel’s faces. Crosshairs. “I don’t want anyone else to get hurt just because they’re standing next to me.”

Both Rigel and Alek nodded.

“Maybe we could make your coming and going a little less public,” Chris said. “You meet them on the porch, right?”

Kevin nodded.

“What if we made the porch a little larger and then enclosed it?” Chris asked, turning towards Alek and Rigel. “Would that take care of the problem?”

“Hard to hit what you can’t see,” Alek said with a grin. “I think it would work.”

“What do you think?” Chris asked Kevin.

“I don’t have a problem with it, as long as the sisters agree to it. Rigel?”

“Sounds like a good solution to me.”

“We’ll talk to Sister Agnes, and if she doesn’t mind, we’ll get started on it tomorrow,” Alek said.

“Who’s going to do it?” Chris asked. “Just the two of you?”

Rigel shook his head. “We’ll get some of the guards to help. It won’t take long. When’s the next time you’ll need to pick Theresa up?”

“I have no idea. It could be next month or five minutes from now. Let me know when you’re ready to work and I’ll come help.”

Alek and Rigel exchanged looks and then Alek shook his head. “To be honest, we’d rather you stay away from there until we have it done. It’s bad enough Marcus got shot back there on my watch. If you got hurt there too, I’d never hear the end of it.”

“Sorry, but I can’t make any promises,” Kevin said, just as Chris said, “I’ll see to it.”

Kevin looked over at Chris and tilted his head. “How?”

“I’ll make sure you go to the front door until the back porch is finished. You never go to the front door. No one will be looking for you there, and by the time anyone figures out you aren’t using the back door anymore, they’ll be done.”

Kevin raised his eyebrows and looked at Rigel.

“That’ll work,” Rigel said while Alek nodded.

“Okay, I can do that,” Kevin agreed. “Anything else?”

Both Alek and Rigel shook their heads as they stood up.

“Then have a good night,” Kevin said. “And Alek, what happened yesterday wasn’t your fault. You did what you were supposed to do. Landis didn’t get hurt.”

Alek didn’t answer for a moment. Then he gave a slight nod and said thank you.

After the two guards were gone, Chris shut the office door. “He’ll always blame himself for Marcus though.”

“I know, but I wanted him to know I don’t. Anyway, what’s next?”

“Tonight? Nothing.”

“Good.” Kevin stood up and stretched. “Then let’s shut down the office and get out of here before someone else comes.”

~ ~ ~ ~

While Kevin and Chris were talking to the guards, Joan was putting Caitlyn to bed. As she spread the blanket up over the child, she noticed tears in Caitlyn’s eyes. Joan sat down beside her and asked what was wrong.

“I’m afraid I’m going to forget Mommy.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Today, after we talked about the men on the boat, I tried to remember what Mommy looked like, and I can’t.”

“Do you remember what color her hair was?”

Caitlyn nodded. “It’s the same color as mine. Daddy’s was brown, like Corey’s.”

“And how long was Mommy’s hair?”

Caitlyn scrunched up her face. Then her eyes brightened and she touched Joan’s arm, halfway between her shoulder and elbow. “It was that long. That’s where Mommy’s hair hit her arm.”