Vengeance of the Dancing Gods (36 page)

Poquah started the car, and they drove off, not toward the trailer but just around, while they evaluated what she said. Poquah had the power to know truth from fiction.

"It was real late, y'know, long after you left. I got some more of that good stuff out and started to refill the pipe when they suddenly came busting in the front door. I mean, geez, I was alone in there! Luckily I got lots of exits out of there, since you never know who or what's gonna come around to maybe bust you. I rolled back and hit the trip that dropped me under the altar and really put me under the church, you know what I mean? Well, I'm scared to move, like maybe they got the whole place surrounded, you know? So I wait there and I hear 'em walking all over and like that; finally I hear this woman's voice say, 'We could be here all night in this cold and rain,' and this guy's voice says, 'Yeah, but she can't get away.' So she says, 'We don't have time to waste on turning over every slab in this joint. Put a watch on her house and her friends and let's go.' And then she pauses and adds, 'Mahalo McMahon, I am the Baroness de Boquillas! If you are within the sound of my voice, as you are now, so will you remain, until you come to me along the True Path.' And all of a sudden I get kind of tingly, you know, and then I hear 'em leave..

Page 193 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods She'd huddled there under the church for hours, then managed to sneak out, avoiding the two men set to watch the place, but she was cold and stark naked. Her house and the houses other friends were all covered—she spotted the watchers, but there was no way around them— and so she'd spent a cold and miserable night in an old woodshed. In the morning, she had the idea to steal some wash off somebody's line so she could at least get out of there—a sari from a sheet or something—and she had the opportunity, but she could not do it.

"I mean, like, it's creepy, but I can't stand the thought of putting anything on. Nothin' but these flowers, anyway.

I got to admit I never much liked wearing any more clothes than I had to, but this is different. The idea of putting something on is like—well, like the idea of eating shit or something..

"It is a conditional curse," Poquah told her. "The Baroness is the Baroness because she has some power and the intellect to use it. If she had been patient and well practiced, she would have searched for something con- 248 VENGEANCE OF THE DANCING GODS 249 JACK L. CHALKER taining your body cells and summoned you to appear, but they don't seem to be that concerned with you. Lacking that and the power of a Dacaro, she could only cast a simple, elemental curse. You would either have to live as a wild animal, be locked up in an institution for compulsive nudity, or come to her. You appear to have come to the same conclusion yourself..

"Yeah, well, what else could I do? I mean, I'm starving I don't know how those deer and bears do it. So, anyway, this morning they loaded up this pickup with crates of apples and oranges and stuff like that, and I saw that the guy driving was one of them, so I managed to sneak into the back of the truck, figuring I could eat on them. He got in and drove off up here, so I ate a few apples and had to kind of tag along for the ride. When he stopped for the stop sign back there, just before coming into town here, I jumped out and ran for the woods. I was just trying to figure out what to do next when I saw you two drive up, and I recognized Conan, here, so I figure, what the hell, I'll try for something and I sneaked into the back of the car and that's it." She paused a moment.

"You know, it's funny. These flowers are still fresh, too.

Should'a dried out yesterday..

"She's telling the truth," Poquah told Joe, turning the car around and heading back toward the trailer.

"Yeah, but what are we going to do with her?.

Page 194 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods "I've given her spell a cursory once-over, and I find it very much the Baron's trademark in these things. It's simple, but it would take a great deal of time for me to undo. Conditionals, in particular, usually have bad little traps for those undoing them. No problem, if I had two or three hours to spare, but I do not..

"Hey! You can't leave me stuck like this!" she protested.

"All in good time. Stuck for a while, that's all. Get her into the trailer. I'll drive up and park the car, then work back down to you..

Tiana was the only one awake there when they got in, and was startled to see the self-styled Neo-Primitive Hawaiian priestess and equally fascinated by her story. As for McMahon, she wasted no time in going through much of the fruits and vegetables she could find, although she did not touch meat. Only then was she relaxed enough to look over and really appreciate the hideout in plain sight, and she was impressed.

It took Poquah a good half hour to return, but this was mostly because he wanted no signs around the trailer that it just wasn't parked there until needed. Nobody ever looked twice at trailers like this, which was the beauty of the thing, although lots of cars parked around it would certainly draw immediate attention.

"We will be active tonight," Poquah told them, when at last he felt safe enough to enter, "but we cannot fully spring our trap until tomorrow, almost at the last moment.

You will just have to trust that Master Ruddygore has mapped this out and knows what he is doing..

"He has always come through in the end for us," Tiana noted.

"Yeah—after getting us in trouble in the first place,.

Joe grumped.

"This is the second night of the full moon," the Imir reminded them. "Now that we know how to bypass their security spells, we don't require one of them for you two.

We can arrange our own pattern to our advantage..

"Sounds good to me," Joe noted.

"Anybody mind telling me what you're talking about?.

Mahalo put in.

"Our part of the operation tonight is to sneak into the Baron's compound, seal off the doorway to Hell he's created, and then do what damage we can to him, his transmission equipment—anything. Getting in is no problem.

Getting to the objective will be a terrible problem. Getting out—well, we must depend on others to allow that..

"It's a bigger organization than it looks," Joe explained Page 195 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods to the newcomer. "A lot more than just us here." Actually, 250 VENGEANCE OF THE DANCING GODS he had only Poquah's word for that, but he felt pretty certain it was true. "Each of us has a job to do..

Mahalo looked at them and frowned. "Now, wait a minute. You, Spock, are the only guy here who can cure me of this curse, right? And you're going in there tonight?.

"Yes. You can remain here until it is finished. It is safe here, and if anything happens to us, you will be looked after by others..

"And can these others lift this thing?.

"No. But they'll eventually be able to get in touch with someone who can..

"Uh-uh. I'm not going to stay cooped up in here and then have a lot of strange guys have me at their mercy.

If you go, I go..

"I'm afraid there is no real provision in the plans for you. Besides, it is likely we will get caught, even if we succeed..

"Then you need me all the more. I know that house.

I lived there for six years. There's passages, entrances, and exits in there I bet even the Baron hasn't found yet..

She paused a moment. "Hey, look—you guys think you're gonna win, right? I mean, caught or not, if it all comes together, the Baron's finished? The cavalry can march in and rescue the widows and orphans?.

"I believe I understand your question. Yes. The most important thing to do is to get the mission accomplished tonight. That may get us killed, or it may not. If we succeed, the next most important thing is not to get killed, even if it means surrendering. Once our missions are accomplished, it's up to others to see it through..

"Okay. I'll take care of the not-getting-killed part. You take care of the job. Just make sure the cavalry remembers this captive when it comes, huh?" She frowned and stared at Poquah for a moment, then reached out and pushed back his hair on one side. "You got real weird ears. I knew there was something funny about you. You some kind of warrior elf or something?.

JACK L. CHALKER 251 "Why, yes, in fact I am. How did you know that?.

"Geez, I'm not ignorant! I read Tolkien twelve times!.

Father O'Grady was sober, and therefore not quite prepared for the assembled crew. He also, it seemed, Page 196 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods could not penetrate Marge's illusion as a sober man, but she could drop the illusion for him. He crossed himself when he saw his first Kauri without a haze of booze, but he was certainly convinced. He wore one of his black suits, but he'd removed the white collar and also added lamp black to his face and hands. He had been in hostile territory before and he knew his business.

A little more unsettling for him than seeing a Kauri was seeing Mahalo McMahon, undressed as she was. The only thing more unsettling than one Mahalo McMahon was two Mahalo McMahons, which is what they got. It had not been intentional, but at sundown Mahalo, inside the trailer, had been a fraction closer to Tiana than the woman detective Poquah had arranged for. Tiana was not completely put off by the turn of events; McMahon was in superior physical condition, it seemed, in spite of all the junk she smoked. If anything, it was Mahalo who was a bit taken aback by the change, which suddenly gave her a near twin sister. The flowers, of course, had not duplicated, but the curse had, until sunup at least. Tiana was forcibly as naked as Mahalo.

This time, Joe had been luckier. The man he'd duplicated was about his size and build and in fine shape. He was also a black man; Poquah had thought it convenient for a night operation, as he needed no lamp black at all.

Although unclothed, both Mahalo and Tiana could carry guns, and Poquah gave them small but deadly hand guns.

McMahon was a bit nervous about it, but she decided to take it anyway. Tiana was just as bad a shot, but felt better with some reassurance. Joe, outfitted in camouflage fatigues, carried a semiautomatic rifle and, in a sheath, the great sword Irving, which hummed softly in anticipation of battle. It had been a long time. Poquah preferred 252 VENGEANCE OF THE DANCING GODS the dagger and the short sword. His job was more to counter or cast spells than to fight; if he needed to, he wanted it to be fast and quiet, with no iron in the weapons.

Gimlet, it seemed, was involved in another operation entirely complementing theirs, and had vanished. Marge would fly lookout for them until they entered, then hang loose to create diversions when needed outside the place.

Mahalo was the guide; Joe and Tiana were to guard against physical threats, and Poquah against those of sorcery.

Once O'Grady sealed the opening, they would try and find the Baron, if they could, or get out fast, if they could not. A small force of agents paid for the purpose waited, heavily armed and ready, on the opposite side of the holdings, but were not to try anything until they either heard shots from the mansion or got the go-ahead from Marge.

If the Baron was upstairs in his bed, and all were fast asleep, he would be beyond Joe's reach, and so there was no sense in waking him, Dacaro, or the followers in the tents if it could be avoided.

Page 197 Chalker, Jack L - Vengeance of the Dancing Gods As they were set to go in, Joe looked over at Tiana and whispered, "You remember all that stuff I said about being bored and wanting adventure? If I ever say anything like that again, drive a silver stake through my heart or something." She smiled, kissed him, and they were off.

Mahalo brought them to the house by a route so complex they couldn't even follow it, but it seemed to be one designed by somebody—an escape route, it appeared, well planned, only enacted in reverse. Because of its use of the terrain and even a couple of small streams, it was quite effective in masking their movements and always providing both cover and a measure of isolation from the settled areas. It was a good route; so good, in fact, that when an informer had given it to the narcs in exchange for probation later, the narcs had used it quite effectively to sneak up on and surround the house.

There were heavy patrols, usually with Dobermans, but the dogs could not be let loose except under the tight control of their Elder masters, since Dobermans had real JACK L. CHALKER 253 trouble figuring out friend from foe and were color blind.

Several times men with dogs came quite close to them, but, with Marge's warnings from above and a few very casual little spells from Poquah, they seemed either to lose interest or charge off, pulling their masters in other directions.

Joe and the others finally emerged about twenty feet from the house, but then they were stopped for a while.

There were nasty-looking guards everywhere, all armed with weapons and looking very much like soldiers on guard duty. The floodlights, too, remained on, leaving any approach to the house open, well lighted, and within sight of a guard or patrol.

Poquah seemed more concerned for some reason that there was the sound of dogs underneath the front porch, and a clear indication that they were just about living there. He dismissed that worry almost immediately. Any thief who couldn't get around mere vicious guard dogs wouldn't have lasted long anyway.

"Wait here. I will be back," the Imir instructed them, and pulled his dagger. He seemed to vanish, worrying both O'Grady and Mahalo.