God Hammer: A novel of the Demon Accords (4 page)

As power left the falling car, it slowed, at least a bit, and as the shaft walls ballooned inward, the sides of the elevator screeched the most God-awful squeal of tortured steel and stone, loud enough to temporarily block out the screams of the people inside.

I shuddered a little at the damage I was doing to the elevator and its shaft, but when I opened my eyes, I found Stacia still with me, watching me with widened eyes.

Chris had ripped open the doors to the shaft and, from the flashes of energy I could see around him and Tanya, was preparing to do something drastic to catch the elevator.   But it was slowing on its own and when it finally appeared in the open shaft, it came to a stop, almost totally wedged tight, with the bottom of the car still a foot above the lobby floor.

Chris looked at the base, where the steel of the elevator was now jammed tight against the concrete of the suddenly much-smaller shaft and then glanced my way. 

He smiled and gave me a nod before yanking the car door open with casual strength.  Eight or nine young people, who I recognized as part of the intern group, were quickly helped out of the car.

“Joe, shut down all the elevators. Now,” Tanya ordered.

“Ah, ma’am, somehow they already are,” he said.

She glanced my way and caught my little head nod.  I was locked in a bit of a battle with whatever this program was, both of us trying to convince the building’s elevator computers to do our bidding.

“Maybe shutting the power off to the elevators would be a good idea,” I offered through slightly clenched teeth.

“Do it,” Tanya said as Stacia moved closer to me, looking concerned.

“Done,” Joe said, and my struggle suddenly ended as the entity fled and the elevators shut completely down.

I took a deep breath and the world around started to spin, but a really strong hand grabbed my elbow and steadied my swaying form till I could stand on my own.  I gave Stacia a nod of thanks, then looked over at the scene by the elevators.

The college kids looked shaken up, but a few were realizing just who was pulling them to safety and some of the shock was being replaced by awe. 

“Think your Aussie girlfriend is going to faint when she realizes who has a hold of her?” Stacia asked.

I snorted, both at the scene and her persistence in mentally pairing me with the poor girl who was now staring at Chris.

“Nah, she doesn’t strike me as the fainting type,” I said.

“Declan—maybe you could start on the elevators tonight?” Chris called.

“Ya think?” I asked, smirking when he gave me a lifted eyebrow.

“Such sass.  He like that with everyone?” Lydia asked Chris.

“Only people he likes,” he said.

“What if he doesn’t like you?” she asked.

“Then you eat flies and live on lily pads the rest of your life,” he said.

I shook my head at that old trope, yet as I did, Sorrow supplied a spell that seemed like it might legitimately create just such a transformation. 

Off came my suit coat and out came a handful of Sharpies from my computer case.  Time to start earning my keep.

Is it just me, or does it seem ironic that you need stairs to get to the top of an elevator?  I was in a funny mood as I contemplated such deep, existential questions.

Maybe it was the near tragedy of almost losing half our summer interns. Maybe it was the adrenaline left over from my battle, but most likely I think it was putting a name to the enemy we’d been battling without identity for several months.

The voice of
our
secret weapon told me I was near, Lydia’s much higher tones a bell-like counterpoint to Declan’s surprisingly deep voice.

I got to the top of the elevator motor housing and found the two of them deep in conversation.

“But don’t you see?  If I get reliant on it, if I start to trust its advice, wham!  That’s when it yanks the rug out from under me,” Declan said.  He was sprawled out on top of the motor housing for elevator three, drawing runes with a large, black marker.

“But what if it never does?  What if it never betrays you and you miss out on all this vast witchy knowledge of the ages?” Lydia asked, sitting on the opposite motor housing, this one for elevator four, swinging her feet like a child.

“Are you working for Sorrow? Did it hire you?” he asked mildly.  His suit was rumpled, his white dress shirt now covered in dust and pen smudges, along with a little grease from the elevator shaft.

Our special intern had insisted on first warding the computers that controlled the elevators, then the automatic brakes inside the shafts, and finally the motor control units high atop the building.  These two were his last and I could send him to bed for a well-earned rest.  The poor kid hadn’t even seen his suite of rooms, drafted into protecting our headquarters right after the accident, working through much of the night.

“Hey, I brought you some breakfast.  Chef Remy made it special for you.  He’s dying to meet you,” I said, setting down the oversized tray I was carrying.

The kid finished whatever rune he was on, then dragged himself over to the edge of the housing and dropped down to his feet, his tired eyes fixed on the tray.

“Is that coffee?  If it’s coffee, I may have to marry you,” he said, grabbing the big mug and taking a deep sip. 

“Once you finish that one, it’s off to your quarters for you,” I said.  “Anything else can wait till you get some rest.”

“You realize that anything else is the entire building, all the computer systems, all the corporate vehicles, and any cell phones or tablets you want protected?” he asked.

“Welcome to Demidova Incorporated, kid,” Lydia said with a smirk. “Summer fun in the sun.”

“Not the summer you had imagined, huh?” I asked.

“Actually, it’s kinda nice to just sit and draw out runes I normally doodle in class.  After finals, this is a nice brain drain,” he said, munching some toast and opening the stainless lid over Remy’s masterpiece omelet.

“Whoa, this thing smells awesome,” he said.

“They’re so light and fluffy, they’ll float away if you don’t cover them,” I said.

“You two sound like food perverts talking culinary porn,” Lydia quipped.

“Birds of a feather,” I said.  “Lydia, I’ll hang here with D, so you can get back to whatever mayhem you were plotting when you woke up this evening,” I told her.

Tanya and I had immediately decided that a senior member of the exec team should be with Declan while he warded the building to stave off questions and speed things along. She had taken him to the various control computers, the on-duty personnel quick to note the special status we were according Declan. Arkady had stood on the side of the elevator shafts while Declan hung in a Swiss seat from climbing ropes and did his thing.  Lydia had taken the next shift, and I had his final time.  When he got up this afternoon, Stacia would be his guide.

“Oh, the kids from the elevator wanted me to thank you for saving their lives,” I said.

He grimaced around a sip of orange juice.  “How do they know I had anything to do with it?”

“We told them.  Left off the witchy stuff and just explained that your skills braked the elevator.  They think that means you’re a mad blackhat hacker.”

“Well, I am, so that’s okay,” he said, cutting into the omelet with the side of his fork.

“So he’s already a hero?” Lydia mused. “Quick work, Junior.  Now all the girls will want you.”

He snorted at that, popped a bite of omelet into his mouth and immediately closed his eyes in appreciation.

“Wow, he’s just like you Chris—more interested in food than girls,” Lydia noted.

“I like girls, but if you recall, I have this whole
witch and evil book
vibe going on,” he said.

“Girls like mysterious boys.  And you, my young friend, are as mysterious as they come,” she replied, hopping lightly down from the motor and brushing off her butt.

“Yeah, some of them were full of questions. Including that rather smashing brunette with the brilliant accent,” I said, trying for an accent.

“Don’t quit your day job, Superman.  An impressionist you are not,” Lydia said.  “Now if you’ll excuse me, I better go fix whatever went wrong while I was up here.  Declan, nice chat.  Chris, remember to use complete sentences and avoid numbers bigger than twenty.”  Then she was gone.

“She really goes after you, doesn’t she?” Declan asked, picking his marker up and drawing while he ate with the other hand.

“It’s our thing.  When she stops picking on me, I know I’m in trouble,” I said.

“That’s cool.  Like siblings.  Mack and Jetta do a little of that.”

There was a buzzing, which I quickly realized was his cell phone, sitting on a corner of the housing.  I caught a glimpse of the screen, which showed a text from Mackdaddy.  The message was cryptic.

Well your
real
face will
never
get that close!

Declan laughed when he saw it, then put his phone back down, hiding the screen.

“Speak of the devil,” he said.

“What are those two doing for the summer?”

“Ashley’s dad asked them to house sit.  He’s teaching Mack to forge knives and they’re watching the house when Mr. Moore is back in Fairie, which is most of the time.  Jetta is waiting tables in Saratoga Springs, and Mack has a part-time job at an auto dealership.  The deal is free rent and includes utilities. They handle their food and Mack gets to keep or sell anything decent he makes on the side.  In return, the house is watched over and Mack, who is really good with tools, helps Mr. Moore with all of the orders he got since he reopened the forge,” Declan said.

“Sounds like a neat summer, at least for Mack.  He gets to learn new skills and make some cool stuff.  How does Jetta feel about it?”

“Are you kidding?  Jetta wants knives like most girls crave shoes, clothes, and jewelry.  Those two are going to be packing some serious blades come fall,” he said.

“So how about Caeco?” I asked carefully.

“She’s good.  We’re friends still. Probably helps that I didn’t date Ryanne or anything after we broke up.  But things were weird. She had this sort… I don’t know… admiration, maybe, for Mr. Jenks and I had all these witches and parents of witches maneuvering around me, and neither of us know much about relationships, and then Sorrow was inside me and well… we just chilled. Both loaded down with issues.  Soldier daddy issues for her and me, well I got the whole lost witch family thing going on. Anyway she’s working for the FBI this summer.”

“Right, helping Agents Krupp and Mazar,” I said.

“Yeah, Oracle pushed her hard for a summer job, but she doesn’t want to fall back into that ultra secret stuff.  With the Bureau, she can learn how not to be a soldier but still use her skills.  And the FBI needs all the help it can get with the supernatural stuff.”

“Has she started yet?” I asked.

“She goes to Quantico Sunday.  Monday, they will run her through an abbreviated training course.  The instructors will decide how much extra training she’ll need,” he said with an evil grin.   I just raised eyebrows at him.  “She’s gonna destroy their program—they have
no
idea what she can do,” he said, proud of his friend.

“Well I’m glad you two are okay.  Like you said, you both need some space.  And on the plus side, you shouldn’t have any witches to worry about while you’re here,” I said.

“Yeah, this isn’t what I was expecting, but like I said, it’s kind of soothing.”

“Well, we didn’t expect it, either.  But your arrival was a Godsend.  Anything your wards can do to keep that program,” I glanced around, “away will be huge.”

“You can talk here.  This pattern is one I use to block electronic signals of all kinds. Like an occult Faraday cage. My phone only works here because of the runes I have on its case.  Yours won’t pick up a signal,” he said.

I pulled my phone and sure enough, the
no service
message was up where the signal bars usually went.

“That’s the first time I’ve been happy to see my phone wasn’t working,” I said. “Okay, this thing is called Anvil and it has decided that Tanya and I are threats, I guess.”

“It must be really advanced because I’ve never felt a program like that.  Really powerful, it just sorta takes over whatever system it wants.  Jumps from desktop to laptop to cells, which makes it basically impossible to track.  Doesn’t like my magic, though.”

“I’m sorry Declan, but I’ve exposed you to this thing and I didn’t know how dangerous it was.  What about your aunt?”

He snorted.  “Rowan West is so heavily warded, it’s like Fort Knox for witches. Plus I left some active defenses in place. I’ll tell Aunt Ash to dial it up a notch and the wards will block everything.  She’s not very tech friendly so it won’t bother her, but some of the customers will have to learn to deal.  I imagine this thing is researching me through Oracle’s files by now.  I wonder what it will make of the references to magic?”

“Your guess is much better than mine,” I said.  “Honestly, how does something like this think?”

“Probably in a very linear fashion.  Computer programs follow logic trees, even the fuzzy logic ones.  It obviously has an adaptive learning element to it, but really, most programs just focus on their task.  If it was created to look for threats, the best thing to do isn’t trying to destroy it, but rather convince it that we’re not threats.”

“What?” I asked, taken completely by surprise.

“You dropped a friggin’ asteroid on a silo.  That’s what I would consider threatening.  That’s when you were probably labeled a threat.  Plus, who knows what e-mails the authorities were sending back and forth about you and Tanya.”

“So how the hell do we convince a computer that we aren’t a threat to the country?”

“I’m not sure.  But it must have parameters it uses to classify threats.  If we can find those out, we might be able to change them in your case and, probably now, mine as well.”

“So we what?  Hack the NSA?” I asked.

“No. That’s the kind of thing it would take as super threatening. Maybe talk to the programmers that wrote it.”

“Is it safe to leave it running around?  Who else could it label a threat?” I asked.

“I don’t know.  Just so you know, I’m not all that advanced as a programmer yet.”

My turn to snort.  “Yet you can actually
hear
a computer and talk to it,” I said.

“Yeah, I’m not gonna lie—that sorta rocks in the comp sci world.  But when I felt this thing in your system and in the interns’ stuff, it felt really strong.  And fast.  I don’t know how you remove something like that.”