Dark Magic (28 page)

He threw down money, and headed for the door. The pay phone next to the dart board started to ring. The waitress who’d been serving him answered it. “Hold on, I’ll check.” She cupped the receiver into the crook of her neck. “Is your name Jeremy?”

Wolfe’s hand was on the front door. He shot her a murderous look.

“What if it was?”

“Someone’s looking for you,” she said, gulping hard.

“Who?”

“Some guy with a funny accent.”

“Does he have a name?”

“He wouldn’t give it to me.”

Wolfe crossed the bar and motioned for the receiver. Lifting it to his ear, he felt the cold plastic seep into his skin. The waitress skipped away.

“What do you want?” he said.

“Hello, Major Wolfe,” said the elder with the BBC accent. “When you didn’t contact us at the usual time, we decided to track you down. How is your mission going?”

Wolfe parked himself onto the stool next to the pay phone. He had not decided how to break the news to his employer, and supposed now was as good a time as any.

“I’ve hit a bump in the road,” Wolfe replied.

“How so?”

“I tracked down Reggie Brown this morning, and got attacked by a pack of dogs. There was a young woman with him, chanting some sort of spells. I think she’s a witch.”

“Will you be able to continue?”

Wolfe laughed to himself. Nothing like getting right to the bloody point, was there?

“No,” he said flatly.

“You can’t continue, or won’t?”

“Does it matter?”

“Answer the question, Major.”

“Won’t. I’m finished. Game over.”

“That’s our decision to make, not yours.”

“The police have circulated my photograph, and everyone and their brother is looking for me,” Wolfe said, surprised at how calm his voice sounded. “It’s just a matter of time before I’m caught, so I’ve decided to chuck it.”

“We have an agreement,” the elder replied. “You signed it in your own blood when you became a member of the Order. There is no quitting on our watch.”

“Oh, piss off,” Wolfe said, letting the alcohol talk for him.

“How dare you speak to me in that fashion.”

“I’m hanging up now. Have a nice day.”

“Wait!”

“Give me one good reason why I should.”

The elder hesitated. “What if we change our deal?”

“What are you offering?”

“More money.”

“I’ve got all the flipping money I want. It will have to be something fresh. Put your thinking cap on, and come up with something.”

“I need to speak with the others.”

“Do that,” Wolfe told him.

The line went mute. Wolfe found himself staring at his reflection in the silver plate on the payphone. The tattoo on his neck had intensified in color. The tattoo was like a homing device which let the elders keep track of him. The day Wolfe had the tattoo removed, he would have to tell the doctor to cut very deep.

“Are you still there?” BBC accent said, coming back on the line.

“I’m here,” Wolfe replied.

“We wish to make you a new offer in recognition of your present situation. This offer should more than compensate you for your trouble.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Wolfe said.

“If I’m not mistaken, you are presently in a bar with several large-screen television sets. Walk to the nearest screen, and stare at it.”

“Why the hell should I do that?”

“Major—just do it!”

Wolfe dropped the phone, the receiver banging against the wall. The nearest screen hung directly over the bar. He crossed the room and gazed up. A basketball game was showing, with men flying through the air like they had wings on their feet. In the blink of an eye, the picture changed to a tranquil bay with deep blue water, and a fishing boat tied to a dock. A sunburned man wearing a straw hat was cleaning the deck, while whistling to himself. The man looked happy, without a care in the world, and Wolfe’s face grew warm as he realized that he was looking at himself, the picture on the screen his dream of one day retiring to the Seychelles. It upset him to know that the elders knew such intimate details about him, but that was the price you paid for working with men who practiced dark magic. He went back to the pay phone.

“No thanks.”

“But—”

“I’ve got all the money I need to buy my boat and start my charter fishing business,” he said. “You can’t dangle that carrot in front of my face.”

“You’re a hard man to please, Major. You realize we could crush you like a bug, if we so choose.”

“But then there would be no one to kill Peter Warlock and his friends.”

“We could find someone else.”

“Who can kill psychics like I can? Good luck.”

“Perhaps we can sweeten the offer.”

“Go right ahead,” Wolfe said sarcastically.

Again the phone went mute. Wolfe could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times in his life he’d been in a position like this. He caught the waitress’s eye, and mimicked chugging a beer. She got him a perspiring Heineken from the bar, and slapped it into his hand with a knowing wink. The elder with the BBC accent returned to the line.

“We have something else we’d like to put on the table,” the elder said.

“I’m listening,” Wolfe replied.

“Go back to the large screen TV you were looking at a moment ago.”

“What for?”

“It’s part of our offer.”

Wolfe crossed the room. A commercial with a talking lizard was showing on the flat screen. Before his eyes, the reptile turned into a ravishing woman sitting on a prison cot in some godforsaken part of the world. It was Rita. He walked back to the pay phone.

“Where is she?” he said into the receiver.

“Turkey,” the elder said.

“Don’t tell me she’s in Diyarbakir.”

“It’s a rather nasty place, isn’t it?”

Diyarbakir was a hellhole. Torture by the guards was common, with prisoners dragged behind cars across a concrete courtyard until they died.

“How did they catch her?” Wolfe asked.

“Your girlfriend attempted to kill an Arab terrorist who was in Turkey on vacation. It seems she’s employed by the Israeli Mossad. How ironic that both of you are in the assassination business.”

“Shut up, you dirty swine.”

“Now, now, Major, we didn’t put her there, but we can get her out.”

“You can? How?”

“Leave the details to us. Our offer to you is this. Stay in New York and finish your job. Rita will be sprung from prison, and flown to a city of your choice. First class, of course.”

Wolfe took a swig of beer. Rita was the only woman he’d ever loved. Like him, she had no family or friends. He was the only person who cared about her, and she him.

“You have a deal,” Wolfe said.

“You’ll kill the rest by tomorrow?” the elder asked.

“You have my word.”

“Tell me how.”

Wolfe hadn’t thought that far ahead. Killing the others in such a short amount of time would be hard, unless he set a trap. He had not forgotten the old witch and her niece going out for dinner, even though they knew their lives were in danger. They were naïve, and he would use them as bait to draw the others in.

“I’ll have to get them all in the same room,” Wolfe said.

“Is that possible?” the elder asked.

“They’re a close-knit group. It shouldn’t be difficult.”

“When will this take place?”

“Right now.”

“Splendid. I look forward to speaking with you soon.”

“What about Rita?” Wolfe asked. “When will I know she’s safe?”

“Don’t worry about Rita. We’ll take care of everything. Farewell, Major.”

The phone went dead. Wolfe crossed the room and stared at the flat screen. The elders had left Rita’s image there, just to torture him. His dream of running away to the Seychelles had always included her. Without Rita, the dream would die. He would not let that happen, even if it meant killing half the people in New York with his bare hands.

“I love you,” he whispered to the screen.

His beloved began to fade away. A pitiful sound escaped his throat. Once during a mission he’d been captured and tortured in the Congo, and it hadn’t been as painful as this.

He left the bar knowing what he had to do.

38

Nothing ever died on a computer. Every file left a history, even if had been erased. It was all there, recorded like a giant footprint for posterity, if you just knew where to look.

Garrison knew where to look. The FBI agent worked the keyboard on Zack’s laptop, a study in concentration. Peter sat beside him, and tried not to look at Zack, who lay on the floor fifteen feet away. His assistant’s neck had stopped glowing right before the FBI arrived.

“So what am I looking for?” Garrison asked.

“A file on me and my psychic friends,” Peter replied. “Hopefully, it will help us figure out what Wolfe’s mission is.”

Garrison resumed his search. “I’m still having a hard time believing you killed Zack with a screwdriver while he had a sword. How does that work?”

“I got lucky.”

“Lucky, my ass. What are you, a Jedi warrior?”

Peter did not have a good answer. How could he explain that the demon inside of him had killed Zack? Now that the demon was gone, he wanted to put the incident out of his mind.

“Found something,” Garrison said several minutes later.

Peter leaned in to have a look. The file was called FNP. That had to stand for Friday Night Psychics. Garrison opened the file, and scrolled through the pages. It contained the names of the Friday night group, their phone numbers, and their addresses. There was no mention of Wolfe, or why he’d been sent to New York.

“Damn it,” Peter said.

Garrison closed the laptop and slid it off the table. “I’m going to let our forensic team have a crack at it. Maybe there’s more here I’m not finding.”

“You’re taking the laptop away?” Peter asked.

“I sure am.”

Peter felt himself start to panic. He trusted Garrison, but not the people he worked for. He couldn’t let the FBI get their hands on those names.

“You have to erase that file,” Peter blurted out.

“No can do. This is evidence.”

“You have to. Otherwise, everything falls apart.”

Garrison gave him a healthy stare. “Explain yourself.”

“If my friends’ names get out, the Friday night psychics are no more.”

“What are you talking about?”

“There are rules to conducting a séance that must always be followed. They have to be conducted at night, the participants have to dress a certain way, and certain props must be used, including occult signs and astrological symbols. It’s part of the deal, and there’s no getting around it.”

“So?”

“One of the most important rules is secrecy. Each member vows to protect the identities of the other members of the group. If the group becomes exposed, its ability to talk with the spirit world ends. If you let that file out, our ability to conduct séances will die.”

“You’re saying you won’t be able to help me?” the FBI agent asked.

“That’s right.”

“Why do you need a group? Why not just do it yourself?”

“The spirits don’t often hear us. If one psychic calls out to them, they usually don’t respond. If a group of psychics calls, they do. It’s because of all the commotion in the spirit world.”

“It’s noisy on the other side, huh?”

Peter nodded. He’d been there, and it was as loud as a busy subway station.

“You’re asking me to commit a crime,” Garrison said. “As an officer of the law, I’m not about to step over that line. At the same time, I don’t want to do anything that will diminish your ability to help me. So, here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to go over to the other side of the room. The laptop stays right here. If this file’s gone when I come back, I’m not going to say anything.”

“Got it,” Peter said.

The FBI agent’s chair made a harsh scraping sound as he rose from the table.

“See you in a few,” Garrison said.

*   *   *

Peter texted Snoop, asking how to make the file disappear from Zack’s laptop. His assistant replied with a detailed set of instructions, and Peter went to work. Garrison stood on the other side of the loft, talking to a member of his team.

Several excruciating minutes later, the file was gone.

Peter breathed a sign of relief. His cell phone vibrated in his pocket. It was Holly. He answered in a hushed voice.

“Hey.”

“Are you all right?” Holly asked.

“I can’t talk right now. I’ll call you later.”

“Wait. Did you figure out who the spy was?”

“I took care of it.”

Garrison had finished his conversation, and began to cross the room.

Peter said, “I’ve got to go.”

“Don’t hang up,” Holly said. “My aunt’s had a change of heart, and wants to contact the police. She’s afraid Wolfe will kill us if she doesn’t do something. I tried to talk her out of it, but she won’t budge. I called Max, and he’s coming over to talk to her. We need you here, too. My aunt will listen to you. When can you get here?”

His loyalty was to his friends, and always would be.

“Give me twenty minutes,” he said.

“I’ll be waiting for you.”

Peter ended the call as Garrison neared the table.

“Locked and loaded?” the FBI agent asked.

Peter wasn’t sure what Garrison meant, and simply nodded.

“Glad to hear it. I need to get a statement from you about what happened.” Garrison pulled up a chair and sat down. Taking a spiral notepad and a pen from his pocket, he began to scribble. “Okay. Now, start from the beginning.”

“Can’t you just make something up?” Peter asked.

“A man died here. No, I can’t make something up.”

Peter rose from his chair. He couldn’t be in two places at once; giving a statement to the FBI would have to wait. He told himself that Garrison would get over it.

“Going somewhere?” Garrison said.

“There’s someplace I have to be.”

“Sit down. I’m not done with you.”

The Sword Suspension illusion sat in the center of the room. Lying on the floor was a large white sheet that was used to cover Liza as she was suspended in midair. The sheet looked innocent, but in fact had stiff wires sewn into its fabric that resembled a human figure when held the proper way. Peter had made Liza disappear hundreds of times with it, and no one had ever discovered its secret. Picking the sheet up, he covered himself.