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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781532067297 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | iUniverse, Incorporated |
| Publication date: | 02/08/2019 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 368 |
| File size: | 649 KB |
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CHAPTER 1
Natalie Benson frowned as her cellphone vibrated, making a rattling noise against the granite countertop. She glanced at the backlit clock on the stove and saw that the time said 6:30 a.m. Constance's "wake-up call" still had her off balance. Being awakened by a powerful telepath was like getting unexpectedly doused with a bucket of ice water. Not a great way to start the day.
But Constance didn't communicate by text message. What now?
Taking a deep breath, Natalie picked up her phone and saw that the message was from Rajit Naresh, the lawyer whom she worked most closely with. The two of them reported to the same partner, a man whose tendency to panic often added stress to an already stressful job. "Disaster alert. JB's gonna freak. Take a look at the Sun."
Natalie frowned at the display. Was this some kind of a joke? Raj had a weird sense of humour sometimes. The Toronto Sun was not the newspaper he usually read, and it seemed extremely unlikely that James Behrman would read it either. What the hell was Raj doing reading the Sun at 6:30 in the morning? Given that the two of them typically worked late into the evenings, neither of them was an early riser, by choice.
She picked up her tablet from where she'd left it the night before on the coffee table and walked out onto the balcony, trying to tuck her blouse into the waistband of her skirt one-handed. She was a tall, lean woman, her eyes a striking shade of blue, with strawberry blonde hair and a pale complexion. The expensively tailored suit skirt had a matching jacket, which was currently lying across the back of the sofa.
It had been raining earlier. The leaves of each of the plants making up her container garden were glistening with diamond-like water droplets as the early-morning sun poked through the dissipating clouds. Natalie took a deep breath of the fresh-smelling air, enjoying the rare quiet of a city that had not yet begun its day, wishing she'd had more time to put herself together. Her shower had been rushed; it felt like the water had barely had time to get her wet before she was hurrying to get dressed. With everything on her plate today, she'd just have time to take care of Constance's request and then grab a cab to work. There wasn't even going to be time to do her makeup, though she hated going to work looking less than her best.
Turning on the tablet, Natalie typed Toronto Sun into the search box and clicked on the resulting link. Her eyes widened as she saw the headline that her colleague was surely referring to:
Local lawyers implicated in prison breaks
Natalie glanced down toward the main road visible off the right side of her balcony, while a view of the lake stretched out on the left. A lone streetcar rattled past, a delivery truck and a couple of cars passing in the other direction a few moments later. Since her expected visitors had not yet arrived, she touched the icon representing the article and began to read. Catching sight of the name of her firm in the first sentence, Natalie swallowed hard. Was her worst fear about to come true? Mostly she had been able to keep her two worlds from colliding, but there was always the fear that one day, it would become impossible. She sank into a chair, ignoring the damp surface, and began to read:
A possible link has been found between Toronto law firm Mason Sullivan LLP and some of the recent prison escapes in the Toronto area, says James Matheson, member of the RCMP task force created to investigate the growing number of prison breaks. It is widely suspected that many of the escapees are either mages or assisted by mages, since there are rarely clues on how the disappearances were effected. Since the notoriously secretive magic community has neither confirmed nor denied their involvement, the public is left to assume the worst.
Natalie groaned as she went on to read that several of the most recent AWOL inmates were people accused of fraud, the one kind of crime that often had a civil lawsuit as well as a criminal case related to the same set of facts.
Where there are non-criminal court cases, the party on the other side of the lawsuit was represented by Mason Sullivan LLP, in many cases. Mason Sullivan, a large law firm in downtown Toronto, does not practise criminal law. Several of those who have recently disappeared from jail were named in Anton Piller orders obtained by Mason Sullivan on behalf of its clients prior to the arrests. Similar to a search warrant, for non-criminal matters, an Anton Piller order grants rights to enter private premises and seize computers and electronic data as evidence.
She read the rest of the article with growing dismay. She, Raj and James Behrman did almost exclusively fraud litigation, so this accusation was levelled straight at their department, even if they weren't personally named.
The newspaper article continued to suggest that her firm was in some way involved with the steady trickle of prison escapes that dominated the news. The reasons were fairly vague and, to Natalie's mind, quite farfetched. But that wouldn't matter. Just a sliver of doubt would be enough to make someone hire a different law firm. Everyone hated and feared mages and anything to do with them. Natalie and her sister had been aware of that since they were children, when their parents had told them what they were, and what they would be when they grew up. What to do, what not to do, how to hide it — their lives had been a continuous smokescreen.
And what would happen if the partners ever found out that one of their junior lawyers did occasionally have something to do with those prison breaks? That could easily be the end of the career Natalie had worked so hard to achieve. It's not like she would be permitted to explain what she did and why. Thinking of several recent hate crimes that clearly targeted suspected mages, she felt her heart rate speed up as she contemplated consequences even worse than the ruination of her career.
Glancing up to see a cab pulling to a halt just outside her building, Natalie struggled to pull herself together. She stood up and saw three men emerge from the back seat, one after the other, all wearing sombre-looking business suits. One of the men glanced up and nodded at her slightly, as though there weren't fifteen storeys separating them. These, then, were the people she had been told to expect. Seeing an ambulance pass the driveway entrance, she thought of her sister, who worked as a paramedic, a job where she was actually able to use her magical abilities to save lives. Natalie sighed, thinking she should have chosen a different career path, and turned back inside just in time to hear her buzzer sounding.
How long would it take before this one hit the news? Constance hadn't bothered to identify the parties involved, of course. Her mental contact had been abrupt as always, and she had closed down the communication before Natalie was awake enough to ask questions. What if it was another one that could somehow be linked to Natalie's firm? Each time she was involved in one of these situations, it increased her risk.
On the other hand, how could she justify her wish to be left alone? With great power came great responsibility, a truism she had heard more times than she cared to think about.
"Yes?" she said in a neutral tone after she'd pressed the response button.
"It's LEO," came the expected answer. "Is it okay if we come up?"
"Sure." With a sigh, she pressed the release button and glanced around to make sure the place was presentable. She flicked on the TV and switched to CP24's rotating headlines before muting the volume. Sometimes these situations were fairly awkward; having an excuse to look at the TV could be useful.
Within minutes, there was a knock on the door. Natalie opened it, stepping back to let the men enter. One of the three walked stiffly, with a blank, almost frozen look on his face. Though these three men were strangers to her, this was an exercise that had been repeated many times in her condominium unit.
The two men flanking the third were doubtless police officers, though one of them did not particularly look the part. The stiff-faced individual was a prisoner, and the fact that he was moving in exact synchrony with the officer wearing jeans and a rumpled T-shirt made Natalie shudder. Even though she knew that the situation warranted it, she couldn't help but feel uneasy seeing coercive magic being practised right in front of her eyes. To all but a select few, using coercion magic was almost the worst crime a mage could commit. The thought of taking away someone's free will bothered her on a primal level.
As she was stepping aside, she remembered that all three of them had been wearing suits when they got out of the cab. Looking more closely, she noticed that the one worn by the prisoner didn't quite move in a natural way. It was like bad CGI, and Natalie could easily spot the illusion. So the red-haired man's suit had probably also been an illusion, which he had dropped once it was no longer needed.
"Good morning, Ms. Benson." The officer who spoke was the one still wearing a suit. Natalie noticed that his broad shoulders strained the fit of his jacket. Probably no illusion there. He had large hands and a buzz cut. Even with no uniform, his entire appearance broadcast his occupation. "I'm LEO Marcus Keane. My partner is LEO Jon Forrester. Our ... guest ... is Peter Lassiter. Thank you for assisting."
"Not like I'm really given much choice." Natalie sighed. "I just wish I could be given a bit more notice, you know? Surely this was planned way sooner than 45 minutes ago?"
Marcus sighed. "Well, yes," he admitted. "But there's been a series of problems that made it necessary to request your assistance. I assume the Chief called you?"
"No. Councillor Constance Reeve gives me the orders. To be honest, I can't stand that woman invading my head. Especially not when she wakes me up at six in the morning. Being woken up by a phone would be far more pleasant."
"No kidding," Marcus agreed. "I'll be sure to mention it to the Chief when we get there."
"I'd appreciate it."
"Speaking of getting there, though, that's part of the problem. I'm afraid there's going to be a slight delay."
Natalie tensed. "I don't have a lot of time," she warned.
Marcus pulled a cellphone from his pocket and sighed as he looked at the screen. "The original plan was for us to remove this guy while he was en route to his hearing this morning. Then we would have taken the court vehicle out to the nearest portal in the east end and returned the vehicle later." He referred to a method of long-distance travel that was used by most mages since it was quicker than ordinary transport. "But we learned they had increased the security even more for courthouse appearances from that prison, which was why Jon got brought in. Jon's been on the go for, what is it, 21 hours straight?" He looked toward the red-haired man, who nodded without speaking. Natalie opened her mouth to ask why the increased security meant that this particular law enforcement officer needed to be involved, but Marcus continued before she could ask. "So then we were instructed to ask you to send us to the Sioux Lookout portal since I understand you can handle that distance. But the LEO who was going to meet us there has had some kind of family emergency. Now they're sending a replacement, but we need to wait for his signal that he's there."
Natalie's heart sank as she thought about the inevitable delay. "You need three of you? Even at this point?"
"Two," Marcus clarified. "Jon can't travel to Sioux Lookout and back; he's about to fall over. So we need to wait for the other LEO to get there. That's the rules. Except in extraordinary circumstances, whenever coercive magic is used, there has to be at least two LEOs, who have to file separate reports. God help us if our facts don't match."
"Ah."
"Speaking of which, do you mind if we release it? We're supposed to use it as minimally as possible."
Natalie glanced at the other officer, who still hadn't spoken. His look of drawn exhaustion added years to what should have been a young face. Given that he was still standing with the exact same posture as the prisoner, it was clear who was operating the coercive magic. She noticed that one of his hands was covered with a black leather glove, though the other was bare. A prosthetic, maybe?
She nodded. Jon sighed with relief and made a slight gesture with an unusual-looking octagonal coin held in his hand. Immediately the prisoner staggered a little and then started swearing in a loud and very angry tone.
"Keep it down, please," Natalie told him sternly. "I have neighbours, you know." She raised an eyebrow at Marcus, whose jaw tightened.
Marcus spun around in a circle, gesturing with something he held in his hand, and suddenly Natalie could feel an oppressive pressure in the air, although it faded to a less uncomfortable level quickly.
"Nobody will be able to hear anything now," he told her.
"I could barely breathe, you fu —" The prisoner's words cut off, and Natalie saw that Jon had raised his strange-looking coin, which had blurred and turned into a deep green stone. With his gloved hand, he pulled a small business card from his pocket. Peter, who was staring at the stone with obvious trepidation, took a step backward in shock when the card turned into a pair of handcuffs.
"That's your own fault, mate," Jon retorted, a strong British accent evident. Peter began to struggle as Jon pulled his arms behind his back and secured both wrists. Natalie sensed a surge of magic as he did so, making it evident that the officer was using both physical and magical effort to ensure the prisoner's co-operation.
"If you weren't trying so hard to resist arrest, it wouldn't've been so hard. Waste of time anyway. We're LEO." Peter didn't speak, just sucked in a deep breath and glared at Jon. Marcus stepped closer, frowning menacingly at the prisoner.
"Can you place a block?" Marcus said in a low voice to Jon, who sighed. "Sorry, man, I've never been able to do that one."
Jon raised his green stone and moved it around in a pattern that caused Natalie to briefly feel a wave of nausea and a hint of a headache. The symptoms faded quickly, but she recognized another magical tool restricted to police use only, which prevented the target from being able to perform any magic. Though she had never experienced it personally, she had been told that it could cause a migraine-like headache if used for too long, particularly if the person so bespelled was trying to do magic in spite of it. She had not previously known that some constables were not able to perform this spell and was surprised that an officer could be sworn in without that ability. Still, she was aware that LEO was understaffed.
Though the prisoner looked surly, he did not appear to be aware of what had just happened.
Jon looked around for a chair and sank down into one, rubbing his forehead, though he didn't take his eyes off the prisoner either. He did not look nearly as much like a stereotypical police officer. He was tall and fairly thin, but there was an impression of whipcord strength in the long-fingered hand that rested on the arm of the chair. Though he was obviously exhausted, there was nonetheless a slight tension to his body that suggested he would be capable of springing into action very fast, should it become necessary.
"You can drop the illusion now, mate," Jon said, looking at Marcus.
"Oh yeah," Marcus answered. He raised his stone again and frowned at Peter. As he moved it around in a noticeably different pattern from that which Jon had used, Natalie recognized that he was using the crystal to help with removing an illusion.
Immediately, Peter's face appeared to melt. His tightly curled black hair straightened and turned a dull sandy brown as his poor complexion improved and his face lengthened. At the same time, his suit turned a dull orange colour and was revealed as a one-piece coverall with a seven-digit number blazoned across his upper chest.
"What's up with this LEO thing? Is it some kind of code? And where the hell are we?" Peter asked belligerently. It sounded to Natalie as though he were trying to cover his obvious nervousness with bravado. He appeared to be unaware of his changed appearance, though he stared warily at the small prism Marcus was holding. Peter took a few steps back, away from the large, grim-faced man, turning his head to look behind him along the hallway that led to Natalie's bathroom and bedroom. Natalie thought it looked as though he were going to try to run if he got an opportunity. Marcus evidently came to the same conclusion.
"Freeze!" he ordered. "Do not move, or I will ensure you can't." "What the fuck does that mean?" Peter snarled. He ignored the instruction and took a few more steps away from the officer.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Witch Hunt"
by .
Copyright © 2019 L. M. Brigant.
Excerpted by permission of iUniverse.
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