Sons (Book 2) (81 page)

This is nearly what it’s like to be invaded
, I told them, whispering into the crevasses of their minds. 
The main difference is that you will have control when I recede and I am not leaving anything.

Once I released them, they both gasped and fell forward on the table, panting heavily from exertion.

“Oh, did Seth just show you?” Ethan chuckled, watching them start to hyperventilate.  “Couldn’t have been a true invasion or he’d have you giggling over finger-paints of colored little bunnies.  He likes bunnies.”  He was grinning evilly at them.

“Ethan!” I admonished.  “That’s chicks and it’s a marshmallow candy.”

“Ooh!  I didn’t see any of those!” he cried, looking at the trays again eagerly, playing.

“Does that give you a better sense of what this means?” I asked.  “I hope so, because I do
not
like doing it.”

Barnett nodded emphatically, but Harmond only managed a single drunken nod.

“Should I ask embarrassing personal questions to prove I know everything you do, or will you trust me on that score?” I asked, sipping my still-hot coffee again.

“Huh?  You read our minds?” Harmond asked, his voice still shaky.  “And you remember them?”

“Yes,” I answered scoffing, my expression clearly confused.  “Why else would you do it?”  Peter and Ethan snickered at me.  Apparently, I was very sarcastic.

“And you can do this for close to four hundred men?” he asked, obviously surprised at the prospect.

“Considering he’s already done it for over a million,” Kieran said with amusement, “I think a small number like four hundred wouldn’t be a problem for my little brother.  I imagine even I could manage that.”

Ethan burst through the anchor and into my cavern howling.  In reality, he sat at the table quite calmly watching the goings on.  In my head, he was having laughing fits that would make packs of hyenas jealous.  “He
thinks
he could…” he nearly shouted then erupted into more fits.  I wasn’t sure what he found so funny.  I thought Kieran could do it, personally.  If it ever became an issue, I’m sure one of us was in for a nasty surprise.  Oh, wait.  That’s sarcasm, I get it now.

David scribbled something on a pad between Steve and him.  I nearly joined Ethan in his fits when I read the pad.  One line read, “It’s like a Mexican game show!”  I didn’t understand the comment, really, but it was endearing that they were bonding that way and it was off the wall enough to make me smile.

“I believe we’re done here then,” I said, making moves to stand.

“But we haven’t agreed to anything,” Harmond objected, confused.

I chuckled slowly as the smile curled across my face.  “But I know what you’ll agree to, General Harmond,” I said coolly.  “What leverage you had was lost when I held your minds.  First will take you back to your quarters to collect your belongings.  Once I’ve completed the necessary treaties and contracts, I will return you to JFK and stay with you for your protection until you can arrange transportation to whomever needs to read and sign the agreements.  I will also provide a deadline appropriate to conditions at that time as well as a method to contact me for the signing.

“Your difficulty in understanding has made my part of this negotiation very simple,” I said finally standing.  “This won’t take long.  Shall we get started, then?”

“Yes, sir!” Jimmy said excitedly.  “Gentlemen, it’s a short walk.”  He started walking them back to their suite.  Messner helped to soothe their battered sensibilities, but that would only go so far.

“Ellorn?  I need some papers copied,” I called through the geas.  “Do you have anyone available right now?”

Certainly, Lord Daybreak
, Ellorn answered. 
How many people would you like?

“Ten to fifteen would finish in short order,” I answered.  “Do we have any paper stock with Gilán watermarks?”

If I understand the concept of a watermark, yes, sir.  In the conference room?
He asked.

“Yes, please.  Thank, Ellorn, you’re quickly becoming indispensable to me,” I said with a smile on my face.

“Thank you, too, Lord,” Ellorn said as he pushed open the door with a flurry of sprites behind him.  “Though there are a thousand waiting to take my place, I appreciate your confidence.”  They rushed forward, rolling in the same cart from before and started clearing and cleaning one side of the table while several stood by with stacks of light blue paper and several small boxes of styluses and inkwells.  We got up, too, for movement’s sake, already getting stir crazy.

“We can work on one side of the table, sirs,” Ellorn said, standing in the center of the table looking upset that we were moving.

“We’ve been sitting a while, Ellorn,” Kieran said mildly.  “We just need to move a bit, that’s all.”

“I just railroaded the Army,” I said sullenly.  “And I think I’m going to get away with it.”

“Seth, that’s not a bad thing,” Kieran said moving my chair slightly as he settled against it.  “Both sides need to move swiftly.  I would like to know what you’re agreeing to.”

“I grant the political asylum and they relieve them of duty in exchange for a copy of the stolen computer files,” I said.  “Their final duty assignment will be a detached security detail for McClure and Associates, where they will become employed.  Those with relatives requiring insurance benefits will have them and they agree to provide a registry for the rest.  I have also promised to enter talks to do as Ethan suggested to General Harmond.”

A deep rumbling laugh echoed through Kieran’s chest as he sipped his coffee and swallowed, watching the brownies setup their stacks of paper and ready pens and inkwells for dictation.  “So what you’re saying is,” he said, “they’re getting what they want, the barracks are getting what they want, and we aren’t doing any more than what we were going to do anyway.  What’s the problem?”

“I just railroaded the Army, Kieran,” I repeated myself.  “The United States Army!  For a group of men who tried to kill us!  What the hell is wrong with me?”

“The same could have been said for us, Lord, yet you helped us,” a little brownie named Yont squealed timidly, bravely interrupting our conversation.  “Daybreak is a compassionate man.  There is nothing wrong with you.”  Ellorn was mortified that one of his detail would speak out of turn.

“That’s sweet, Yont, thank you,” I said, looking down into his tiny, cute face as he trembled in fear of me.

“I second that sentiment,” Kieran said.  “You’ve done nothing but act with compassion and responsibility since this started, Seth.  Since adding Daybreak to your repertoire, you’ve acted as a Faery Lord should.  Quit second-guessing yourself.  You’re doing too well for that.”

Everyone else looked as confident in me.  I had a hell of a cheering section, that was certain.  “Okay, Ellorn, this is what I need…”

JFK was bustling so early on a bright New York morning.  We arrived at just after seven thirty on Friday morning and we received a number of wide-eyed stares from servicemen and a few retirees who recognized the ranks and huge plates of multicolored adornments on the fronts of their uniforms.  They were also confused, no doubt, by us surrounding them protectively, obviously not military but still holding that bearing.  Barnett and Messner cycled their cell phones on while Harmond re-read through the summary of both the treaty and the two contracts that I’d provided for them.

“I still can’t believe you’re doing this,” Harmond muttered.  “What are you getting out of it?”

“Hopefully, an end to this dreadful war and needless killing,” I said, watching the concourse idly.  “If nothing else, then shutting down another side of it.  As much damage as we can do to them, the better.”

“We’ve got a helicopter on the way,” Barnett said, snapping his phone shut.  “Thirty minutes out.  We need to get to Terminal Nine.  There are some Marshals in this terminal on their way to escort us.”

“Oohh, not a good idea,” Peter said, grinning.  “Do you know who they’re sending?”

“Deputy Director Harris and several of his men,” Barnett answered.  “They were waiting for a flight out to Europe somewhere.  Ireland, I think.”

“I have promised to kill him the next time I lay eyes on him, General Harmond,” I said, my demeanor unchanged.  “I will follow through on that promise.  I would suggest you make other arrangements very quickly.”

Ethan laughed suddenly.  “That won’t be a problem,” Ethan snorted, still laughing.  We all turned to look down the hallway he was looking down to see the backs of six blue-suited men running away from us.  The back two kept glancing over their shoulders nervously.  “Harris turned as green as me this morning and turned around so fast I bet he got whip-lashed!”

Barnett’s phone chirped.  When he answered, we could hear Harris yell, “Why didn’t you tell me Daybreak was there?”  Barnett had to pull the phone away from his ear.

“You didn’t ask and don’t yell at me,” Barnett said sternly.  “Ever again.”  Harmond wasn’t the only one with some bite.  Harris backed down.  “And show him his due respect in the future.  Lord Daybreak just informed us of your difficulty.  General Harmond and I can’t wait to hear the explanation for this.”

“I don’t answer to you, Colonel Barnett,” Harris countered.  “Do keep that in mind.”

“Oh, but you do, Deputy Director Harris,” Colonel Barnett assured him.  “The Pentagon pays for quite a bit of your department’s activities.  That puts you very much under our scrutiny.  Expect to be called for an accounting, Marshal.  Now stay where you are and General Harmond and I will join you in a moment.”  He snapped his phone shut and more cordially said to Harmond, “General, our… escort has arrived and is currently hiding a few hundred feet away.”

“What did he do that has convinced you to kill him?” Harmond asked alarmed, sliding the two-page treatise back into his briefcase.

“He has attempted to contravene my Constitutional rights and arrest me on several occasions,” I started ranting calmly but I knew it wouldn’t end calmly.  “Attacked us at a major metropolitan hotel where he managed to nearly kill two of my brothers while they were in his custody.  Attacked me again while I was removing them from their custody and saving their lives.  Challenged me to single combat to the death while manipulating the Faery against me as well.  Attacked us with fatal magic while on foreign soil and if it hadn’t been for my brother that would have resulted in the deaths of
his
men.

“And even after all of
that
,” I said, slowing down and pulling back on my growing anger, “we forgave him and worked with him and his agency, even going so far as removing several deadly curses from him and his men.  But then he had the gall to lie to me and to stonewall me when I was asking for help for four hundred helpless men who needed food and water.  Something that was completely within his authority and capacity to help me with and he disappears on me intentionally, to put me in a difficult position.  I no longer trust anything about that man or anyone in his department.”

“That… is difficult to believe,” Harmond said, shocked at my vehemence.

“Root around for his embarrassment in Atlanta, General,” Peter chortled.  “Seth learned a new trick that day.”

“I’m sure Lord Daybreak has learned many,” Harmond said.

“No, this was before Daybreak,” Kieran said, far more unperturbed by his near-death experience than I was.  “When he was very much a lost kid looking for his parents and I had been away for a very long time and was unaware of the advances in modern science.  Seth and Peter were nothing short of amazing.”

“Seeing as we are parting ways for the moment, General,” I said and reached across to pick up the envelope sitting on my desk on Gilán and handed it to him.  “The deadline for this agreement is four o’clock today.  If your people cannot agree by that time, another set of meetings must be arranged and the circumstances won’t come to such pleasant arrangements on your end.  Follow the instructions in the envelope when you are ready to gain my signatures.”

“Thank you, Lord Daybreak,” Harmond said, smiling and bowing slightly, unsure.  “You’ve been most obliging and kind to us.”

“I try not to make enemies, General Harmond,” I said congenially.  “It makes life easier for everyone.”  And held my hand out to shake his, something he was comfortable with.  “Colonel Barnett, it’s been a pleasure, especially in the past few minutes.”

“Thank you, Lord Daybreak,” Barnett answered, confused for a moment, but shaking my hand as well.  Both of them were feeling I was a little more human in the contact.  “It’ll be my pleasure to take the insufferable prig down a few pegs.  Remind him who he works for.”

“And that rather conveniently brings us to you, Colonel Morelli,” I said, turning to the third of our quartet.  “Who exactly do you work for?”

Of course, the question gained everyone’s attention, especially Harmond’s and Barnett’s.  Morelli was the most startled.  His psychic blocks had seemed to hold up against the minor intrusions I’d made on him.

“What do you mean?” he stuttered the question.  “I work for the Army, for General Harmond in the Pentagon as legal counsel.”

“And?” I asked.  “Behind all those fancy little twists of magic in your mind, you’re hiding quite a few little secrets that don’t involve defending your country, Colonel.  Most would say just the opposite.  Though I doubt you would bring about the downfall of the country, you would definitely damage its foreign policy and relations with many as this unseen war continues.”

Morelli’s confusion at being caught cleared with each word I said, exchanged by desperation with shutting me up.  He threw himself at me in a wild and angry attempt to kill me on the spot, but I didn’t move an inch in response.  The Day Sword didn’t twitch, instead Gilán responded.

Before Morelli got within six inches of me, a solid white truncheon bathed in blue fire smashed straight down before me and onto the hands grasping out for me.  The blow instantly shattered Morelli’s wrists.  As he fell to his knees in a shout of pain, a second blow flew out and battered against the back of his shoulders and neck, driving him to the ground and Jimmy twisted himself so that he was between Morelli and me.

“Don’t… touch… him,” Jimmy snarled at Morelli.  Harmond and Barnett stared at Jimmy, awed.  He was on the far side of them, beside Ethan, when that began.  He darted around them almost invisibly fast to intercept Morelli without the benefit of the Road.  They hadn’t seen an elf move before, much less a
Sidhe
, and somehow, I’d put Jimmy pretty high on even that chart.

Messner was on Morelli, rolling him over and examining him.  Murmuring consoling comments to the mewling man, Messner tried to gently pull Morelli’s arms away to see his hands.

“We’ve attracted attention,” Kieran said mildly, staring into the crowds around us.  I glanced around and saw several security guards running toward us, hands on guns and shouting hurriedly into radios.  Barnett moved to the outer edges of our circle holding his arms out to the first guard to approach.

“This is a National Security matter,” he called loudly.  “Please stand clear.”  Barnett sidestepped a man as he skidded to a halt, almost colliding with him.

“Perhaps you should withdraw now and let the FBI and the Marshals deal with this,” Harmond said quietly as he moved in beside me.  “There are a number of cameras being pointed at us.”

“No worries there, General,” I said.  “None of them will resolve to any of us, including you, while we’re here.  Agent Messner, can you handle the cameras if we leave?”

He grunted.  “Not this many, not reliably anyway,” he admitted quietly.

“Okay, we’ll keep the cameras under control then,” I said as Jimmy and my brothers formed a circle around me.  I opened a portal into the Marshals’ hallway large enough to speak through.  “Cliff, you cretin, someone decided to create a scene and we have to leave now.  Harmond has need of you out here so you can come out of your hole now.”

“Oh, to be a fly on the wall,” Peter chuckled.

“Thank god!” Harris said.  “Denton!  Look down there and watch for them to leave.  We’ll go as soon as they start away.”  I shut the portal.

“What a brave, little man,” I said sarcastically.  “We’ll be off then.  I hope to see you before the deadline, gentlemen.  Thank you for your time.”

We were stopped almost immediately by the wall of security guards encircling us.

“Let them pass!” snapped Barnett harshly.  It’s amazing how well a man with brass eagles on his shoulders and a hundred or so brightly colored bars on his chest controls men not even under his command.  A large hole opened up in the circle, five men wide and three men deep, allowing us to pass through quite freely.  A contingent still followed us as we headed for the doors, but that was reasonable.

“Are we going home now?” Jimmy asked, nearly whining.

“No, I don’t think so,” I said, glancing around at the nearest clock.  “I’m sure Darius has had plenty of time to get plenty of news by now and I need to keep him busy for a while, so he can’t ‘advise’ them.  But I don’t need everyone for that.”

“Good, because I promised Gordon some help today,” Kieran said.  “And while I have no doubts of Jimmy’s intentions, he’s new to his abilities.  I’d prefer either Ethan or Peter go with you.”

“Whadya say, Pete?  We hadn’t hung out in a while?” I asked, grinning back at him.  “Care for a trip to rural New York?”

“Are you sure?” Peter laughed.  “Leaving these two by themselves leads to trouble, you know.”  Ethan slugged him.  “And one of them is violent.”  He laughed harder, holding his arm where Ethan connected.

“Come along, little guardian,” Kieran said, putting his hand on Ethan’s neck and shoving him affectionately.  “Let’s go work some of those muscles.  Call if you need anything, guys.”  They shifted to Gilán just as we turned out the doors and into the light of day.  A quick shift to the Cahills followed.

As we walked along the crowded sidewalk, I opened a small portal to spy through along the road just outside the wards to Fuller’s mansion.  The road was fairly empty with one or two cars traveling it, but the outer edges of the property didn’t have the security personnel lining it like the other night.  Sending out a few feelers over the lip of the ward, I realized that they hadn’t yet re-instated it, instead keeping my changes in place.  Good news for me since it would make it easier to slip inside unseen, but only easier.

“Y’all ready?” I asked needlessly.

“’Course,” Peter said.  He reached through my hole, picked a place, then wrapped the three of us in portals and we disappeared from the sidewalk.

“Be careful, Peter,” I warned him as we kept walking along the road, side by side.  “If I weren’t paying attention, you could have been hurt there.”

“Yeah, right,” he said laughing.  “You, not paying attention.  When does that happen?”

“Alternating Wednesdays in months with Zs and Qs,” Jimmy said smugly.  “I got it in writing.”  Peter laughed and slapped Jimmy on the back.  “What’s that shimmer, there?”  Peter’s eyebrows shot up as he looked in that direction.

“Very good, First,” I said, not bothering to look.  “That’s the outer reach of the ward.  I didn’t expect you to see that yet.  Peter, they’ve been bad wardkeepers.”

“You’re kidding,” Peter said, taking my intent quickly.  “It’s been, what, six days?”

“Seven, it was Saturday, wasn’t it?” I said as I reached for the entry point I had still locked into the wards in Fuller’s family homestead.  Instantly, I locked into the security network around the big house and the hundreds of acres of beautifully manicured landscape.  “Oh, maybe they were luckier that they didn’t.”

They had considerable damage on two sides of their property.  A firefight of some kind, mostly of a physical nature it appeared.  I pulled Peter up beside me, but Jimmy would have to be taught how to handle a ward this complex.

“Whoa,” Peter muttered.  “Maybe they were.”  He chose the opposite side from the one I searched.  “It looks like the damage was contained to the warning lines, though.  The wards fought off whatever attacked them.”

“Depending on who and what it was, it might not have,” I said, trying to gauge the time of the attack by the scoring on the ground.  “This looks like maybe yesterday?”