Wizard's Blood [Part Two] (24 page)

He nodded. “That should be no problem. I’ll tell you though. He’s going to stiff you a bit on the exchange.”

“
The cost of speed and secrecy. I have about twenty pounds of gold I’ll send with you tonight. The next thing I’ll need very soon is at least one of the rifles I’m going to be taking back. I’ll want to sign up for a course and will need to have it then.”

“
What kind of course?”

“
It’s a sniper training course that is open to civilians. I read about it some years ago and wondered why anyone would be interested in such a thing. It teaches all aspects of the craft. Supposedly it is very difficult, but is very highly rated. I’ll need the skills for my teams on Gaea. It’s getting late so I can explain this later.”

“
This weekend there is a gun show in Denver,” Gene said. “It’s been advertised all over town. We could probably get a look there to get started. While we are looking we can work on what you will need.”

“
Okay. You take the gold and see what you can do with that tomorrow. Tishe and Janie and I have shopping to do tomorrow anyway. Saturday we’ll come and see you. That’ll give you a bit of time to think this through. If you’re still game, I’ll go over the lists of things I really need help with.”

* * * *

“
Sorry Tishe. I expect a lot of that was a bit boring for you. Tomorrow you’ll get a chance to look around.”

“
I like him,” she said. “He’s going to help us.”

“
I know. I just hope I can pay him back.”

Randy hesitated, but he had to know.

“
Tishe. Earlier when I said that Shyar was a seven, you looked like you were agreeing with me. She’s not. She’s just a six now.”

Tishe shook her head. “She’s a seven. I don’t know why I know it. I don’t even know Shyar. I only saw her once and never talked with her.”

“
Then why are you so certain?”

“
A few days ago, right after you came back from Earth the first time, I suddenly had this feeling. It was like I could sense Shyar. It happened suddenly the first time. After that, it seems like she fades in and out. They have her somewhere, and where she is blocks her from me. But she is out there. I think she could sense me too.”

“
Have you ever heard about anyone being able to communicate this way?”

She shook her head. “Never. So I was afraid it wasn’t real. Why should I be able to sense her? But when you said so positively that she was a seven, which was something I sensed, I knew it was real.”

“
Did you get any sense of how she was?”

Tishe hesitated, which made Randy very nervous until she said, “It felt a little like she was annoyed.”

Randy couldn’t help but laugh. After several months of being detained against her will, Shyar would certainly be annoyed. If she was annoyed, sooner or later someone was going to pay for it.

“
When you get home you’ve got to keep trying. Maybe we can learn where she is.” Randy was buzzing with new found hope. If he could learn where they held her, a rescue might eventually be possible.

By the time Randy and Tishe woke the next morning, Janie’s kids had long since departed for school. Randy made it up first and was downstairs talking with his sister when Tishe finally appeared.

“
I didn’t realize you were so tired,” Janie said.

“
It’s the time difference. We had just gotten up a few hours before we arrived. I didn’t get to sleep until almost two in the morning.”

“
It wasn’t like that last time you were here.”

“
The time slips between here and Gaea. The day there is just a little over twenty-two Earth hours long. That makes a certain time of day there, different on this side every day. We just hit it wrong this time.”

“
I assume you have a plan for the day.”

Randy nodded. “I think we should exchange the rest of my gold coins so we have plenty of cash. It might take a few days for Gene’s dad to come through with the exchange of the bars of gold from Gaea. Then shopping. Tishe should have some more appropriate clothes while she is here. Also, I might as well get started on some of the simpler stuff. Tishe can take a load back with her. If we can, we’ll work in a bit of sight-seeing so Tishe can get a better idea what our world is like.”

After a quick breakfast, they climbed into the rental car that was still sitting in Janie’s driveway. It had the larger trunk, and Randy wasn’t certain how much volume he would need. Tishe climbed into the seat next to Randy at Janie’s urging.

“
You can see better up there,” she’d said. “This is your first time in a car, right?”

Despite knowing the words, and having a bit of background from the knowledge Randy had passed to her via the crystals, it was different to actually experience being in a car. She watched Randy’s every move, and was surprised when the vehicle began to move backwards out of the driveway. She latched onto the door support, but within a half block of leaving the house she was grinning hugely as the car moved swiftly down the street. Randy could see her trying to take in everything as he drove down the road and into heavier traffic a few blocks away.

While Randy concentrated on the traffic, Janie explained to Tishe what she was seeing and how the traffic rules worked. By the time they reached downtown, she had settled back to watch, now comfortable with this unique means of transportation. After exchanging the coins, a process that was now familiar and easier since the shop had records of his previous dealing, they headed toward the mall where Janie promised to get Tishe outfitted.

Tishe was comfortable enough with Janie now that she was content to go with her while Randy headed in another direction to take care of some of the items on his list. First off, he needed to get a cell phone. He decided on a couple. He didn’t know how much travel would be taking place between Earth and Gaea, but it would be useful if he could supply each person with a phone preloaded with his cell and Janie’s home number. It would at least be a backup contact in case of difficulty.

His iPhone was back on Gaea, but the service on that phone would have long ago been canceled since he hadn’t paid the bill. It was also linked to him, something he definitely didn’t want. He had decided he could buy some of the throw away phones that wouldn’t have any history. It seemed you could buy them anywhere now, and in a small pavilion in the middle of the mall he found what he wanted. He bought three of the phones and some precharged batteries, activating each one with a hundred dollars worth of time. He didn’t know how much he would be using it, and could add time easily enough if he need more minutes. Waiting in the lounge chairs outside the department store for the ladies, he preprogrammed all the relevant numbers into each of the phones.

Janie and Tishe were only a half hour late, and came walking out with Tishe now dressed more like a local girl of her age. She wore Levis, or more likely some other brand with a decorative pattern on the seat, a very nice long sleeve shirt, and the required sports shoes on her feet. The additional bags Janie and Tishe were carrying were numerous enough that Randy knew Janie had purchased Tishe several more outfits to choose from. Tishe clearly had enjoyed the experience and beamed with delight.

They put the bags in the car, and then headed back into the mall. Randy was looking for the local Radio Shack, and when they finally located it, he bought several volt-ohm meters, a large selection of cables, several spools of wire, some small hand tools, an assortment of connectors, and a video monitoring system. On the way back to the car he added a dozen LED flashlights and five pairs of high quality binoculars. The clerk indicated he could have the additional dozen pairs Randy wanted by the middle of the next week, so Randy asked him to order them for him.

A bit later they stopped at one of the larger computer stores. He knew he wanted additional computing capability on Gaea, but hadn’t had a discussion with Gene as to what might be the best way to go, especially since he hadn’t had a chance to see if his plans for AC power were going to work out. For now, he bought another of the MAC Powerbooks, so he’d have backup, a battery powered printer, lots of ink, both for the new printer and for Janie’s printer back at the house, and several large boxes of photographic paper. Finally, he grabbed another two iPads on the way to the checkout. They drove back to the house, unloaded, and headed into Denver.

The ride into Denver gave Tishe a chance to see how fast the car could move, and gave her a sense of how large the area was. Angon was a big city, but it was small compared to Denver. She couldn’t believe the number of people, cars, and the sheer size of the multi-storied buildings. After a stop for a late lunch, complete with ice cream for dessert, he drove past the airport so she could see the planes taking off and landing, and then headed back to Boulder.

On the way back, Tishe asked about the planes. “Can we ride in one” she asked eagerly.

“
I’ll see what I can arrange, “ he said. He was a private pilot after all.

That night he made a deal with Janie’s kids. In exchange for showing Tishe how the computers worked, along with lessons on the Internet, and for printing copies of the photos from the thumb drive he’d brought from Gaea, he gave each of them one of the iPads. He knew they’d liked the one he’d had here before, and as he suspected, Janie hadn’t replaced it for them. He figured it was a good deal. He would have plenty of little tasks they could help him with from time to time.

“
Where’s your sidekick?” Gene asked when Randy showed up at his place mid morning on Saturday.

“
Tishe is spending the day with Janie and the kids. Since it’s Saturday, the kids are off today, and Janie plans to show her around some more. Timmy also got her into a couple of video games last night, so she was up pretty late. It’ll make my day a bit simpler this way.”

“
What are your plans for her anyway?”

“
She’ll be going back to Gaea on Monday. I have a load of stuff she can transfer, and I have to get going on a number of things.”

“
Is she in a hurry to leave?”

“
Not at all, but that’s the date we agreed on with people on Gaea. If she didn’t show up, it would be a concern there. The main reasons for her coming have been accomplished. She’s seen Earth. She knows Janie, so she can appear at anytime and be welcomed, in fact Janie has already told her she has a room anytime. I suspect she will be back. Besides, most of what I need to do, she can’t help with, and I need to get started or I might miss an opportunity.”

“
I thought it over like you asked,” Gene said. “The only thing that bothers me is your planning to kill that guy. Is that necessary?”

“
You won’t be involved in that. But remember, there is a war on Gaea right now. Millions of lives are at risk, and Ryltas is the agent that Ale’ald has placed here on Earth to find technology to aid their war effort. That has to stop, which means he has to go. I’d actually like to take him back to Gaea so they could question him, but that’s a lot more difficult, and I haven’t thought of a way that I’m sure would work. Even if I could find a way to get him back, you should know that he’d be unlikely to survive the questioning. They aren’t as gentle about such things there, and the last guy I turned over didn’t live through the process.”

“
Why would it be so difficult to take him back?”

“
First of all is the opportunity. The longer I have to be in contact with him, the greater the chances I’ll get caught. Kidnapping’s not something I’m skilled at. Then there is the issue of magic.”

“
Why? I thought none of you had much magic here. Is he stronger than you somehow?”

“
It is quite possible he is. Cheurt chose his people to be strong, and they are experienced in using magic for fighting. More important, they have found a way to activate a kind of storage crystal, so he has access to a small supply of stored magical energy. That gives him a decided advantage over me if it comes to using magic. It would be one thing to simply kill him, but getting involved in a one-on-one altercation would be risky. I haven’t decided how to deal with him yet, and won’t until I’ve had a chance to check him out.”

“
How are you going to find him?”

“
The only method I’ve come up with is to follow him after he makes his next appearance. Since he doesn’t come often, I need to make sure I’m ready and don’t lose him. The next opportunity wouldn’t be until the end of the year, and that’d be too late.”

“
Maybe you need to get some professional help?”

“
Involving someone else has too much chance of problems later. If I end up killing Ryltas, it could lead the police back to Janie if someone knew about our interest. Somehow I need to track him myself from the house to wherever he goes. Once I’ve located where he is staying, I’ll have more options.”

“
Any idea when he is likely to return?”

“
Janie’s calendar shows he had been quite regular in the past. If he holds to his schedule, he should be making an appearance in a couple of weeks, around the 4
^th
of October. One of the tasks I’d like your help with is to set up some kind of remote monitoring of the area in the back yard. I bought a system the other day, and it’s supposed to be able to broadcast to an iPhone or iPod Touch via the Internet. I plan on being home and watching on that day, but in case he comes early, I’d like the additional monitoring.”