The Journey of Rick Heiden

The Journey of Rick Heiden - Chapters 15 and 16

I wrote this story for Nifty, a nifty site if there ever was one. Nifty needs your donations to host this work, and some works, no doubt, that are far better. If you enjoy Nifty, please, consider donating at donate.nifty.org/donate.html

This work is the sole property of the author and may not be reprinted or reused without his written permission.

All Rights Reserved © 2021, Rick Haydn Horst

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Thank you for delving into this work; I hope you enjoy it.

Please send questions, comments, or complaints to Rick.Heathen@gmail.com. I would enjoy reading what you have to say.

This novel contains 50 CHAPTERS, and every post will have 2 chapters each.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Just as the lunch rush began, and before the rain started, we grabbed a corner table near the window of a warm cafe, the tiny place filled within minutes. We preferred to sit rather than drift about waiting for someone to either follow us again or receive good news about the ring. Fortunately, the rain wouldn't hinder the drone. Little, short of a tornado or hurricane, would deter its programming.

It began sprinkling outside, and we could see the discoloration on the pavement in one-pound-coin-sized droplets. Big Ben's tower struck noon in the distance, as it began to pour rain upon the city. We watched as a symphony of umbrellas burst open above the heads of pedestrians, most of which were black. For Londoners, the inconvenience of rain never deters them from their business; even I learned to cope with it well. Despite the city's reputation, the rain, typically a slow drizzle, fell infrequently upon London; that day, however, it poured. Over many years, London had witnessed more of the deluge sort, probably due to climate change.

Looking at the menu while ordering luncheon, I noted that several days had passed since I had eaten meat. I found myself not missing it. The chicken sandwich I ordered tasted fine, but I think I preferred Jiyu's typical fare. Earth restaurants had far less variety, despite all the various cuisines available. What they had was a wide range of flavors, which helped to disguise inferior quality food or enticed the consumer to disregard any thought of nutritional value, and often both. One could find nutritious food of excellent quality on Earth. As a rule, however, it must come from your own home, and only if you have concerned yourself with quality and nutrition, the two things many people couldn't afford.

A radical change had occurred in Aiden's eating habits since we first met; I suspected he ate whatever he found available. But I noticed he had begun to scrutinize his food with a more critical eye than he had at the hotel penthouse. He sat there glaring at the delicately cut piece of cod, skewered at the end of his fork.

"Any thoughts about Inspector Le Gal?" David asked as we ate.

"He could be as he seemed," Aiden said and began eating the fish.

"What do you think about that, Rick?"

I sipped some water. "I detected no indications that Le Gal lied. He seemed sincere and genuine, but then again, he could also be an excellent actor."

"Don't doubt yourself, Rick," said David. "I trust your judgment."

Pearce, who hadn't said much since he joined us, spoke up. "I don't trust him. His sudden appearance seems too convenient."

"The inspector searched for us through you," Aiden said to Pearce, "I do not doubt that. The other man following might have been a coincidence."

"Did I make a mistake rejecting Le Gal's help?" David asked.

"He knows he has to earn your trust," I said, "but how can he earn it if we give him no opportunity to do so? Do we not lump him into the same unworthy pile as the likes of Katheryn Elliott, in fearing to treat him as potentially trustworthy?"

"Most likely we, or rather I, did," David said, then looked at Aiden and myself, "So, do we agree that we will find 'it' in London somewhere, as per Le Gal's information?"

Aiden and I both agreed, provided Le Gal wasn't lying or wrong. "I think his credentials give us cause for the benefit of the doubt," I said.

"What time will Maggie get home?" David asked me.

My eyes lit up. "About three o'clock," I said.

"We seem to have lots of time on our hands. We can go see Maggie when she gets home."

"I wish I had a phone to call her and leave her a message," I said.

Pearce placed a pay-as-you-go mobile on the table and slid it to me. "If you know the number, go ahead."

"That's kind of you, Pearce," I said, "thank you." I took the mobile and called her. I figured it would go to voicemail, but she picked up.

"Allo," she said.

"Hello, Maggie."

"Rick? Where are you?"

"I'm back in London. I know you're in school. I expected to get your voicemail."

"I have a lunch break now," she said. "I didn't think you would return so quickly. Did you --you know-- go there?"

"Oh yes, and it's amazing," I said. "I need to see you."

"That would be great," she said.

"How about three o'clock at your flat. There are four of us. Is that okay?"

"I will welcome any friend of yours, Rick. I'll see you then."

I never intended to force her into anything she hadn't wanted to do. When I invited her to join us, if she said 'no' to me, even for no other reason than 'because I don't want to', I would have accepted that and moved on. I just wouldn't have wanted a financial obligation to her grandmother to cause her to deny herself the opportunity.

Aiden told us that we could look forward to intermittent rain for the next few days. It nearly stopped at about one o'clock, so we hurried as best we could. We couldn't take the subway due to the higher concentration of CCTV cameras, so we walked to Knightsbridge. It began to rain again halfway there, so we ducked into a market to wait it out, and it stopped altogether about fifteen minutes later. It took ninety minutes to get to Maggie's block of flats. We hung about in front until she arrived.

"Your flat is over there, isn't it?" Aiden asked me. "I thought I recognized the building."

"I chose it to live close to Maggie," I said.

"She must be a special woman," he said.

"She is," David said. "She's smart, funny, and she cares about people. She's one of us."

I smiled at David.

"So, where in London would we find the moldy old hovel?" I asked Aiden.

"City of London," he said.

"Well, that's pretty posh," said David. "Surely, you weren't living in a moldy old hovel there."

"You could call the area a bit posh," Aiden said, "but you'll find my flat in the least posh building there. It had lots of problems when I moved in, and mold grew in the plaster of every room. The flat remained unoccupied for some time. I had it refurbished, but that escalated into a major renovation when some of the plaster came down in the kitchen and baths, which caused my financial trouble. I never meant to imply I lived in Hackney or anything. As incomes go, I made good money, but keeping up a place like that will make you poor. The whole building needed renovation, and I paid a million before the flat's reno. I ended up with a flatmate to help with the bills, and things improved for several years. Then, when he ran off and got married, it put me back where I began."

Pearce stood there in his private little world, staring off into the distance. I had never seen anyone with the Foundational Enhancement that looked as bad as he did, even his skin seemed off-color. I wished we could do something, but I got the feeling that only time or the clinicians at the temple on Jiyu could help him.

"Are you okay, Pearce?" David asked.

He didn't seem to hear him, his face locked in a vacant expression. I could tell David worried, we all did, but only he knew Pearce's usual personality. Then suddenly, he snapped out of it and acted relatively okay again.

When Maggie arrived at her building, she ran to me, hugged me, and commented about my hair growing back. She wore a black wool cloak with an ivory silk lining. Beneath this, she wore her work clothes, a dress in her favorite shade of green. Its demure style seemed too stuffy for her, but appropriate for a teacher of sixteen-year-olds, however. She hugged David, who then introduced Aiden and Pearce.

She leaned into me, asking about Pearce, whispering, "Is he okay?"

"In time," I said.

Having accepted the invitation to come up, Maggie welcomed us into her flat. As a superlative hostess, she offered refreshments and a seat. Once Aiden made the necessary sweep of the flat for surveillance, we had a chat. I provided the eagerly awaited description of Jiyu and informed her of what had occurred since we saw her last. Only then, had I gotten to the heart of our visit.

"The instant you left Sunday, I regretted saying no," she said. "I want to go, and since then, I have searched for a solution should you return. I know you; I knew you would return. You looked so distraught and disappointed when you left, and I felt the same. I think of you as my older brother, and I love you; I want you in my life, but other than selling the flat, I don't know how to fix the problem."

"Do worry about the flat," I said, "I didn't have the time to sell mine either. How much money do you send your grandmother? And can she handle money well?"

"Two hundred euros a month, and she's known for her frugality," she said.

"Do you think she would do well with roughly twenty-five thousand euros for the rest of her life?" I asked.

"She's quite old," said Maggie, "that's probably more than enough. Do you have that kind of money?"

"I only need to trade in some of our gold and wire the money to your grandmother's account. The exchange said they would take whatever we wanted to trade in, and they can wire larger sums to a bank account." She rushed over to hug me.

France had an astronomical gift tax; in this case, they took fifty-five percent off the top. So, to leave her grandmother the amount we wanted, I rounded up to fifty ounces of gold, so we counted out two hundred of the quarter-ounce rounds.

David insisted we all go in the van to make the exchange. Maggie and I made the transaction in her name. We had no problems, and they wired the funds to her grandmother's bank account in Maggie's hometown of Beziers in the south of France. She called her to provide the details and the confirmation code. Her grandmother had such gratitude that she wanted to thank me herself, and although we both spoke French, the crying made understanding her an unusual complication for my line of work. She seemed sweet, though, and I understood why Maggie felt so loyal to her.

Aiden and Pearce rode in the back of the van again on the return to Maggie's flat. They didn't like it; it became hot and stuffy back there. Out of Aiden's earshot, my curiosity forced me to inquire. "What do you think of Aiden?"

"He looks handsome," Maggie said, "and as your friend, he must be nice." She turned to stare at me. "You are playing the matchmaker."

"She's not even seen Jiyu yet, Rick," David said.

"I know," I said to him, "but she and I have spoken at great length on the topic, and I know what she likes."

"What do I like?" she asked.

"Trust me, you'll like Aiden," I said.

"Tell me his best quality."

"He hasn't let any of this go to his head. He's a great guy."

"Would you have me give him, as the British say, `the time of day?'"

"As someone who knows you well, I would say that if you didn't, you would miss out on someone worthwhile."

"And your opinion of this?" she asked David.

"Always good to get a second opinion, eh?" David asked. "I think I trust Rick when he says he knows what you like. He tends not to exaggerate these things."

"Thank you," I said to him.

"However," David said, "the decision is ultimately yours. Whatever else we might think on the matter, you must do what feels right for you."

"As if I would disagree with such a reasonable statement," I said. "That said, though, Maggie, you know me."

She thought for a moment. "I will give Aiden a perusal. That's all I can say."

"I could ask for nothing more."

We returned to Maggie's flat a little after five, and we ordered Chinese food delivered. I observed Maggie as she watched Aiden scrutinizing the contents of his plate as he then tended to do.

"I'm tired," Pearce said.

I wished I had thought of it, but no doubt, he had jet lag and had not slept well of late. He needed to sleep soon.

"We have put it off long enough," I said, "the time has come to examine our options for sleeping arrangements. For the record, David, I will not sleep under an overpass."

"Why not sleep in the penthouse?" Maggie asked.

"Surely, they're watching our places," I said. "We had chanced enough just parking near my flat. Also, they probably turned our flats over, making them uninhabitable without a great deal of tidying up."

"Men..." --Maggie rolled her eyes and shook her head-- "I found nothing wrong with yours yesterday afternoon."

"You went there?" David asked.

"I didn't know when you would return. So, yesterday I emptied the refrigerator and took out the garbage, to prevent the flat from smelling. It looked the same as always, and you have two beds there."

"How thoughtful of you," I said, "and yes, I have two beds there, but one is twin size."

"Give Pearce the single, Rick," said Aiden. "I wouldn't mind sleeping on your couch."

"I have two chairs and a love seat," I said.

Aiden shrugged. "I'll sleep on the floor."

"No. No." Maggie shook her head at the whole idea. "I won't have anyone sleeping on the floor; we are not children. Aiden, I have the daybed for just such occasions. You can stay with me."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "You hardly know me."

"You have Rick's 'Seal of Approval'," she said, "and that's good enough for me."

Aiden just looked at me with his kind eyes and pleasant smile with an inquisitive expression. With the Foundational Enhancement having cleared up his skin and eliminated the necessity for glasses, Aiden did look quite handsome. But for all that Aiden had going for him, he didn't compare to David in my eyes.

With all that settled, David requested the bug tracer to check my flat, as we knew a bug lay hidden there. Aiden knew to inform us via Iris if any changes to the drone occurred.

While Maggie went to her closet for the blankets to her daybed, Aiden drew me aside, whispering. "What have you said to her?"

"Do you not like her?" I asked.

He nodded in ambivalence.

"I know you hardly know her," I said, "but you can work on that."

"She has your 'Seal of Approval', too, I suppose."

"She most certainly does," I said, and with that, we gave them hugs before leaving for my flat.

Earth has five and a half fewer hours per day than Jiyu. After having embraced twenty-nine and a half hour days for only a few planetary rotations, it made life on Earth seem fast-paced and a bit hectic. The sun was going down before I felt it should. Sure, both planets had "only so many hours in a day," but one would have to experience the difference to appreciate how wonderful it felt to have that extra time. I contend it made life much less stressful on the nerves. Couple that time to a culture that had no time clocks or bosses lurking over the shoulders of employees, and you would realize how much more people accomplished while leaving everyone less stressed at the end of the day.

We remained quiet when we entered the flat, and David swept the guest room first. He found no surveillance there, so we put Pearce to bed, reassuring him that we would go nowhere without him. I closed the bedroom door, and David proceeded to sweep the rest of the flat. We found it in an electrical outlet in the living room. We used a case knife to remove the cover and discovered the clever little bastards had it built-in, allowing the outlet to provide it with permanent power. It had deactivated once we removed it from its power source. I would never have guessed.

The instant we cleared the proverbial coast, David took me into his arms and kissed me. "I've wanted to do this all day."

"I have wanted you to do it all day," I said. "I can't wait until we're home again." He kissed my neck and held me to him. David was a loving and passionate man. Several hours later, we slept intertwined for the rest of the night.

Aiden had no call to awaken us; nothing had changed. Light seeped around the room's blackout curtains far too soon. According to the clock by the bed, we had slept until eight in the morning. Cheers to the long nights on Jiyu, which provided both a full night's sleep and several hours one could devote to any pursuit, including those of an amorous nature. The familiarity of my bed and sheets pleased me. It always relaxed me to have the familiar beside me, but of course, David calmed me most. I always wanted to wake up with David there and think to myself how lucky that made me. I wanted my intense feelings for him to last forever; I had experienced nothing else like it.

Pearce knocked on our door, which awoke David from his slumber. He was hungry, and I didn't doubt it. We had usually eaten every few hours ourselves, but many hours had elapsed since our last meal. David contacted Aiden to ask if he and Maggie would like to join us for breakfast.

I noticed it when the sun went down so early the previous night, but after having slept, I had a distinct sensation of time compression. David and I had never been slugabeds, but the late wake-up caused me to coin a name for the condition and an obvious colloquialism. The phrase "Portal Lag" for the more technical terms sympíesichronosis and aposympíesichronosis. The condition occurring from either the compression or decompression of time that resulted from travel through the portal.

On our way by 8:45, we found it sprinkling outside once again, foretelling of another wet, dreary day. We brought our bags to Maggie's flat to keep them in safety. She had a secure building so we could leave them there. Maggie and Aiden appeared at the door, all hugs, smiles, and eager to eat.

"Nothing to report on the drone," said Aiden. "It's doing well, and for as quick as Laurel's team built it, it's a workhorse."

"That doesn't surprise me," said David, "its construction didn't involve the lowest bidder."

The drone hadn't found it, but if scanning all of London took two days, the drone should find it that day, and for all our sakes, I wanted it to happen early.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

After breakfast, we returned to Maggie's flat to avoid wandering about in the pouring rain. We chatted with one another as we watched it blur the view through the living room window.

Maggie and Aiden, who appeared to get along well, tried their best to engage Pearce in conversation, and by his short answers, he had no interest. I knew they would have a discussion the previous evening. I hadn't known the topic, but with Maggie, one could only guess. In the past, she and I had discussed a variety of controversial subjects that one should avoid in mixed company.

I watched Maggie and Aiden interact with one another, and I thought their personalities meshed with ease. Maggie came from France, and the French love to flirt, but I knew Maggie well. She had a free spirit in a world of imposed unreasonable expectations with demands of conformity. The world shamed or shunned noncompliance, even in private matters that harmed no one. Maggie did what she must to survive in such a world, but she resented it. She told me it felt stifling, and she feared her acquiescence would destroy her true nature.

Aiden, the Englishman, had moments in the faltering of his stiff upper lip, but I wouldn't call his lip particularly rigid. In many ways, he had the remarkable luck to have such intellectual talents that it separated him from his peers. It placed a protective barrier around him, which, no doubt, caused difficulty at the time, but it had insulated him from becoming emotionally inhibited. I'm uncertain that he had ever met anyone like David, who projected himself capable, confident, relaxed, and masculine in a more genuine sense, rather than living a stereotype as many men do. I sensed Aiden admired David for that, and I witnessed Aiden, on occasion, study David. He watched his mannerisms, his bearing, and the things he found most interesting about him.

The rain would stop later in the afternoon, and we somehow ended up in a discussion about rain. Pearce commented that it was depressing, but that reflected his state of mind at the time. Maggie expressed a different view.

"I don't mind the rain," Maggie spoke in her French accent that I always found so charming. She stared out the window with a simple smile. Her skin, once tanned at the beach near her home in the South of France, had faded to a more natural peachy bisque, and her cheeks suddenly flushed a bit. "The rain reminds me of a romantic experience. When I was seventeen, a boyfriend and I decided to walk the Allees Paul Riquet on a warm summer evening after dark. So, we parked his car beneath a streetlamp nearby, and he held my hand as we strolled. We had gone many blocks appreciating the ambiance and enjoying one another's company when it suddenly began to rain. We ran and laughed, desperate to reach the car." She smiled. "The rain soaked us before we got there. As it continued to pour, in the halo of the streetlight, he kissed me." --she turned toward Aiden, who sat near her-- "I love spontaneous romantic moments; they don't come along every day."

Her story enchanted us all, but none more than Aiden. I think Maggie fascinated him. She had such beauty and loveliness; he hung on every word she said.

We sat cozy and dry in a cafe at luncheon. We missed the rain on the way, but once again, it poured from the sky. We hadn't sat there long, drinking tea and having sandwiches, when the drone found the signal. We monitored the remote in expectation as it split into three before triangulating the precise location.

The map zoomed in as we watched. It located the ring in motion, moving west in a vehicle on City Road just past the basin. Once it turned onto Saint John Street, it stopped a bit over half a mile away, at which point, whoever had it entered a building along there. Maggie had no intention of joining us but suggested we meet back at her flat. We tore out of the cafe into the chilly rain.

Our hydrophobic clothing wouldn't get wet much, dashing past pedestrians and dodging vehicles, but the rain had soaked Pearce to the bone, and the run had him out of breath when we arrived.

Someone had the ring in a purple and lime green-colored sushi bar. We went in, and I did not expect to see the person whose hair I immediately recognized. Katheryn Elliott, wearing a plum-colored blouse, sat at a quaint little table with her back to us. The delightful little sushi bar had one worker and two other customers besides Katheryn. We avoided playing around with her in conversations or pleading to a better nature she likely didn't have. So, with limited possibilities, we took the choice that an honorable but desperate person might. We posted Pearce at the door, Aiden at the window, and stunned everyone there. David searched the contents of Katheryn's purse without luck. I searched her pockets, and then I found it. It dangled on a chain into the neckline of her dress.

With nervousness over what we had done, I fumble with the latch until it finally gave way. I put the ring on my middle finger. "What do we do now?" I asked David.

"Well, there's nothing for it," he said, "Katheryn knows where Cadmar is, so we bring her with us."

So, up she came, and when we got her out the door, I noticed an older car sitting in front of the restaurant. It blocked the traffic, much to the annoyance of the drivers in the vehicles trailing behind. Its door opened, and I could not believe it. The persistent fellow, Inspector Julien Le Gal, stood there.

"I told you I want to help you," he said, gesturing emphatically. "Please, let me." The people in the cars behind began honking their horns and yelling out their windows.

It only took a moment, and David led us to the inspector's car. "How did you find us?" I asked him.

"I put a GPS tracker into your jacket pocket in the cemetery," he said.

"What? What is this with people tracking me down?"

David and Aiden put Katheryn in the back-middle seat, we climbed in, and he drove on. Despite the car's size, it made a tight fit between the six of us.

"Oh, mon Dieu (Oh, my god)," Julien said in exasperation, "please, tell me I'm not an accomplice to an abduction."

"No inspector, Il s'agit d'une mission de sauvetage (this is a rescue mission)," I said.

"I see," said the inspector. "I apologize, Monsieur Heiden for the tracker. I hope you forgive me, as I had the best of intentions. I recognized something happening when the tracker showed you running on the sidewalk, so I came to you. Fortunately, I had parked nearby."

"Aiden, why didn't you find that tracker with your device?" David asked from the front seat.

"I only checked the flat, not us," he replied.

"M. Heiden, you speak French beautifully."

"Thank you, inspector," I said, "I'm out of practice."

"Please, call me Julien. Okay, tell me, who is this woman, and why did she need rescuing from a sushi bar?"

"She's not the victim, Julien," said David. "Are you sure the British have done the same as the Americans in giving the treatment, or whatever they're calling it, to people?"

"I know it for a fact," he said. "The British have done the same as the Americans, with success."

"If true," said David, "they must have a living source. They lied when they said Cadmar had died, and Katheryn Elliott here knows all about it."

"So, where would they get it, Cadmar's blood, I presume?" asked Julien.

"You don't want to know." Pearce, who sat soaking the seat in the middle front, spoke for the first time in over an hour, and no one said a word thinking of the significance of his statement.

Pearce, that poor man, I felt sorry for him. The sadistic torture to which they subjected him appalled me, but knowing the world as I did, it hadn't shocked me in the slightest. It sickened me to know that people would do horrifying things to someone, while others would dismiss, blame, and degrade them when they dared to come forward about it. The male-dominated culture we lived in would ridicule a man who spoke about experiencing rape. Its injustice nauseated me. Of course, David, Aiden, and I knew what they must have done, and that gave us more cause to stop them. If nothing else, one's bodily integrity should remain sacrosanct in this universe.

"I do not know where to go," said Julien. "I can drive until we run out of petrol, or you can give me a destination."

"David, I think he's still somewhere at Facility3," I said, and he turned around in his seat as best he could.

"We may just- oh look, Katheryn's coming around," David said, and she did. Aiden and I held her arms so that she couldn't hurt us.

"Anata wa sushi o tanoshinde imasu ka? (Did you enjoy the sushi?)" I asked her in Japanese.

"What am I doing here? You!" She scowled at David when he showed his face.

"Did you miss me?" Aiden asked, sitting to her left.

"It's a good thing she did, Aiden," I said. "No doubt, she's furious over it."

"Aiden, you bastard," she said. "Let me go!"

"You have someone we want back," David said. "You and your people cannot keep him."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said.

Julien quickly pulled into a rare empty parking space. "Ms. Elliott, I am Detective Inspector Julien Le Gal of Interpol," he said, showing his credentials. "What you and your fellow mad scientists have done is illegal, and I will drag all of you before an international criminal court on the charge of threatening public safety, and possibly even terrorism."

"Go to hell," she said.

"Please, Katheryn," I said, "we want Cadmar back. Where is he?"

"Cadmar who?"

"You've kept him at Facility3, haven't you?" David asked.

"If you already know, then you don't need me, do you?"

David pulled his pistol out of his jacket and showed it to her.

"I wonder," said David, "do you remember seeing this, just before I shot you Monday morning?" --she stared at it intently-- "It's quite powerful and versatile. It has many settings. You've felt one of them twice now. Should we try some of the others, you think? Let's see...."

"I'm not buying it," she said. "You're too principled to torture anyone."

"How about buying this then?" asked Aiden, then whispered into her ear.

We couldn't hear what he said, but he knew things about her that we couldn't, so it had to have the potential to cause quite the scandal.

"You wouldn't dare," she said. "It would implicate you too."

"Yes, it would," he said, "and I don't care anymore. Getting Cadmar back means that much to me. Besides, I renounced my citizenship here the night before we came back, and I want to go home. This world has nothing to offer me that I want, not even you. You know, when I stopped your appointment, I did it for the best of reasons. I don't hate you, despite what you've done. I did it because you would steal the credit after I did all my work and yours. I knew you had used me to get what you wanted. If only you had learned some generosity, I would have done anything for you. But just a few words from me, and you can forget all that, forever." He lifted her hand and squeezed it just enough to keep her attention. "I kept your secret, Katheryn. If you could be honest with us and tell us Cadmar's location, I will continue to keep it. I have no problem with that. You can have this world. I have no desire to interfere with your life, and I won't, so long as you don't interfere with anyone who belongs with us."

Katheryn never made any apologies, or even asked whether the man she shot survived. She sat there, no doubt, searching for a way to benefit from giving us what we wanted. She must have thought of something because she finally told us. They had kept him at Facility3, just as I thought.

"Why didn't I see him?" David asked.

"It's like the room labels," she said, "you have to know where to look. You must take a short tunnel to get there. It's in room 15b; the back wall has a hidden opening. Go through the tunnel to the lift; top floor, you can't miss it."

"Does it have another exit?" David asked.

"Of course," she said, "fire safety and all that."

"Couldn't we go in through the exit?" I asked.

"You would need a bomb to get in that way," she said, "and I suspect you don't want to draw that kind of attention. Just go in the front door and out the fire exit. You must pull the fire alarm before the door unlocks."

It grew quite odd. Katheryn either got into it because she enjoyed creating chaos, or for a more personal reason. She seemed too helpful too quickly.

"Does it have any guards?" I asked.

"No."

"Why wouldn't a secret lab have guards?" I asked.

She looked at me. "You have to think like the government to understand. Guards draw attention to things. Want something overlooked and unquestioned? Let it remain commonplace and insignificant."

"Yes," I said, "of course- Wait, have you implied what I think you're implying?"

She tilted her head back and looked to the ceiling. "Block-of-flats."

"Oh, my god," David said

"I do not understand," said Julien. "What is block-of-flats?"

"Rick will have to show you," David said.

"Won't we go together?" I asked.

"Rick," said David, "I will ask you to do something you will not want to do, but I must."

"And what is that?"

"Julien," said David, "I need you to drive us to the Canada Water tube station. Do you know the location?"

"No, but I can find it." He unlocked his smartphone, and we sped off the instant he located it.

"I don't want to leave you behind, Rick," said David, "but I need you to take Julien to Facility3. I know that we could give him the address, but one of us has to keep an eye on Katheryn."

I knew what David was doing, and he was right, but inside I sensed he rejoiced at keeping me out of the line of fire.

"I'll relent on one condition," I said. "We keep an open channel through Iris. I want to know what's happening. I don't want to sit here, twiddling my thumbs, wondering if or when you're coming out."

"That's fair," David said, "providing it's not too far underground."

"I want to go in," said Pearce.

I should have guessed it, but it hadn't even occurred to me. David felt reluctant to agree. I thought Pearce was too weak to join them.

"Are you sure? You can't have a weapon," David said.

"I don't want a weapon," Pearce said, "but you will need me. When we find Cadmar, he may not walk out on his own. It took me nearly a day of eating regular meals while off the machine before I had enough strength to stand again unaided."

"Really...," David said, then scowled at Katheryn.

"Cadmar is fine," Katheryn said, "tired perhaps, but well treated. We're not the Americans, and it isn't a problem to let him go. We don't need him anymore. There's no reason you can't have him back."

She disgusted us with her insensitive attitude. Pearce turned in his seat and rendered Katheryn the scorn such a remark warranted, and she was oblivious to what motivated it. However, the treatment of men by people and government, as a trivial object to use before disposal, represented abuse and one of the worst forms of misandry.

Once outside the Canada Water station, we did a bit of shuffling. Aiden and I got out, activated the child-locks on the doors --so Katheryn couldn't open them, and Julien locked out the back windows at the driver's door. I kissed David for good luck, and the three of us activated Iris. I muted my end, so my talking wouldn't distract them. Iris was working, although I noticed her voice sounded different. I sat sideways in the front seat to keep an eye on Katheryn and help Julien find Facility3.

"Merci, Julien, de nous avoir aide (Thank you, Julien, for helping us)," I said.

"Vous etes les bienvenus. Mon coeur est avec votre peuple et ses ideaux (You're welcome. My heart is with your people, and their ideals)," he said. "Vivre dans un monde sans crime doit etre le paradis. (Living in a crime-free world must be paradise)."

"Chaque monde a des problemes (Every world has problems)," I said.

He smiled. "No doubt, that's true," he said.

I guided Julien, while David's team entered the station. Through a bit of static, I could hear the faint chirps of their weapons. They used an electromagnetic pulse on the guards' communication equipment, including their mobiles, to isolate them. They took both carts from their end of the tunnel. They put their pistols away for a moment, to draw less attention.

"Turn right here, Julien," I told him.

It didn't take long before they made it to room 15b.

The signal was almost too far underground for Iris to reach. With difficulty, I understood David to say, "How do we get into the passage? I see nothing obvious."

"How do they get into the passage at 15b?" I asked Katheryn.

"Press the tile inconsistent with the pattern, to the left," she said.

I relayed the information, and it took several tense minutes before they found it.

"We're in," David said.

They waited for the lift. When it arrived, the presence of a former coworker forced Aiden to stun them.

"We're taking them back up with us," Aiden said.

We pulled into the cul-de-sac and turned around.

"We've reached the top floor," said David, who came in loud and clear by then.

In my ears, I heard several projectile weapon discharges, and Aiden's voice, "I'm shot!" I nearly jumped out of the vehicle to run to the building.

"We have him. We have Cadmar," said David, who then asked Aiden if he could walk.

"I think so," said Aiden, "but I feel light-headed."

I turned to Katheryn in the back seat; she sat there staring at me. "You said it had no guards."

Katheryn shrugged with a little smile. "I lied."

The fire alarm sounded, and I had Julien back up to the building where I stood by the car. They burst out the door of one of the flats. David supported Aiden, and Pearce assisted Cadmar. They had a tough time descending the metal staircase, but I helped Aiden down the last flight to the ground. Cadmar wasn't a small man, and Pearce had gotten tired, so David took over with Cadmar. Aiden looked okay, except for the hole in his right thigh, which hadn't bled much.

When we got to the car, Pearce let Katheryn out, and David put Cadmar in the middle of the back. Katheryn stood back, watching us, pleased to see Aiden's injury. Once I worked Aiden into the middle front seat, I figured I would have no other opportunity to get some answers from Katheryn.

"Why did you pretend to send Cadmar to the United States?" I asked her.

"So, you would give up and lead me to the portal," she said.

"Yes, but why that ruse rather than some other?"

"Oh, I see," she said and began smirking. "We heard all your speculation over the surveillance, so we just gave you the one you would most believe."

She had a devious mind, and we would overthink everything.

Charles, the guard, had exited his white room and stood at the garage entrance across the street as the fire alarm rang out. He just stood there with no gun visible.

David noticed him, stopped for a moment, and turned off Iris.

"Good afternoon, Charles," David yelled across the street, "have you any letters for me in the post."

Charles shook his head. "Not today, will your five in tow stay for tea?"

David shook his head. "Not today." He sounded a bit sad.

Charles nodded. "I noticed what you were doing here, so I ushered everyone out the back exit." He tipped his hat to David. "Have a pleasant day, Mr. Levitt, and good luck."

"Thank you, Charles," David said, "the same to you."

I whispered to David. "That was strange."

"Yes," he said, "I think, perhaps, Charles disapproved of Cadmar's treatment."

Once settled, we set off in the car, and I looked behind me. Cadmar, although looking rough, seemed like a handsome man, but different from his brother Magnar. They left his reddish blonde, shoulder-length hair unkempt, along with his bushy, fiery red beard, which needed a trim. He sat there with his eyes closed, dozing. He knew his friends had come for him; his relaxed face held a pleasant smile.

In the front next to me, his eyes closed, Aiden had a hole in the middle of his right thigh. It had stopped bleeding, and the blood loss looked minimal, but his pale face appeared clammy. I couldn't lay him down, so I turned the heater vents in his direction, and wrapped my arm around him.

"To which hospital should we go?" asked Julien.

"No hospitals," said David. "They call the police for bullet wounds. Aiden's wound isn't that bad. He won't die, no matter how he reacts to the sight of his blood. If you pass me your phone, I'll mark the map where we need to go."

We left for Maggie's flat, and when we arrived, we parked in her designated parking spot at her garage. We entered her home, and the sight of Aiden's wound upset her. By that point, he seemed lucid and in a lot of pain. I got him to lie on the floor, putting his feet up in a chair, while David and Pearce helped Cadmar into another.

"Mon Dieu! (My god!) Why have you not taken him to a hospital? And who are you?" she asked Julien.

I explained, "Parce que les hopitaux et les blessures par balle ne font pas de discretion. (Because hospitals and bullet wounds do not make discretion). Maggie, please meet Inspector Le Gal, of whom we told you. Inspector, this is Marguerite Durand."

"S'il vous plait, m'appeler Julien (Please, call me Julien)." Then he took the liberty of kissing her hand.

I tapped him on the shoulder to capture his attention from Maggie. "As a policeman, have you no medical training?"

"I can treat a bullet wound until qualified medical personnel has arrived," said Julien. "That is all."

"Bloody hell!" Aiden yelled in desperation. "Would someone get this damn thing out of me? It hurts!"