Mac turned in time to see the Avalon member lock the door before she whirled and pinned them both with her finger.

          "Do you have any idea how much trouble the two of you are in?!"

          Nicholas swallowed. "Moderate."

          "More than moderate, soldier."

          Mac looked at Calen. The VE continued to stare, eyes front. He turned back to Huang. "How bad?"

          "You killed two Agents - not constructs...Agents. Agents are expensive, so when two of them go missing, there's a problem. Second of all, the car you so conveniently stood in front of when you shifted here and there was able to signal your deviant activity." She arched an eyebrow at Mac.

          He held his hands out, palms up, still aware of the blood smeared on the front of his shirt. "But if I hadn't have done it, he could have died."

          Huang took a step toward Mac, her finger once again pointed at his chest. "But the point to this is that if you hadn't of left the hotel in the first place, NONE of this would have happened. "

          Calen coughed and cleared his throat. "Were the Agents enlightened?"

          With a lingering look at Mac, the female VE turned to Calen. "No, but they were able to track you from there back here. Which means we have to leave here very quickly. Furthermore you were lucky they weren't enlightened - especially you Mr. Calen." Her finger moved from Mac to Calen. "Otherwise they could have ID'd you and that could cause a lot of problems. You're dead, remember? Try to act like it."

          Calen straightened and furrowed his brow. "I was trying to stay incognito to begin with. Someone else drew the attention," he glanced to his left at Mac.

          The Adept started to protest. He was silenced as Huang reached up with both her hands and grabbed their ears. Her right on Mac's right, her left hand on Calen's left ear. She yanked them down to her five foot one height. The two men winced in pain as their heads met with an audible crack. "I will say this once - whatever the fuck is going on between you two has to stop. Now. We are all on the same side. Do I make myself clear?"

          Calen nodded. "Yes ma'am."

          Mac nodded as well. "Yeah..sure..."

          "I did not go through the past day and a half of psych-ops in room 101 just for you two to screw this up." She released them and stepped back. "I want you both to pack quickly. No delays." Huang strode to the door. But as she opened it, she turned to them. "And don't leave the hotel again unless you're with us." She exited with a purposeful slam of the door. Several of the items in Calen's room rattled.

          Mac stepped back and turned to his right. "Incognito? You neglected to tell her you were running away."

          Calen turned and picked up a perfectly cooked slice of bacon from one of his numerous plates. "I'd have been fine if you hadn't of shown up." He popped it in his mouth and began to crunch.

          "Yeah, and you'd have been on that plane and gone.." Mac stopped himself, his mind like a muddy riverbank. He closed his eyes to concentrate. "Train...not plane…train."

          Calen glanced up at the ceiling. "Welcome to the real world. That's a train …"

          Oh yeah, I'd say Calen was feeling much better – more his charming self.

          Mac took a few steps to the door. "I don't need this - You're used to getting an ass-chewing. I read all about 'em. "

          "I would pack quickly," Calen called out as Mac stepped out. "We'll probably take a plane, and not a train."

          Mac slammed the door.

          Asshole. God that kid is so eighteen.

          Mac remembered the floor number, but not the room number. He stood in the center of the hallway, looking at each of the white doors. I can't remember. Damnit. Now I realize I should have taken that jet-lag pill. He was lost.

          He opened his port. The iris moved slowly and he found his own connection lagged a bit. He needed sleep, badly. And now they were going to head out for another plane. Maybe I can sleep there. The security access to the Parc came slow as well, and it was several seconds before he tracked down Arden's room in the database. The door was right in front of him.

          Arden wasn't in and her things were already gone. Word must've gotten out before he and I got back. The Adept changed his shirt and jeans, new socks and splashed water on his face. He brushed his teeth and skipped shaving, though he had definitely amassed a distinctive goatee and mustache over the past two days. He gathered everything into his shoulder bag. The last thing to go in was his ibook.

          The audio port opened and Mac heard Oz's voice from somewhere nearby. "No…c'mon Johnny. You can't go back to bed. We have to go – there's bound to be Agents here any minute." There was a pause. "Don't make me call Huang."

          On that note, Mac zipped his bag shut, looked about the room and left. I'm not staying around here if he's going to call Huang back up here.

          It appeared the entire group had gathered already in the cafe. Calen appeared to have already finished off another breakfast. Several of the team threw Mac an odd glance, except for Kyle. The Hollow One merely frowned at him.

          No. Not everyone's here. "Where's Mark?" Mac asked.

          Arden was the first to answer. "He's at the Monastery. He'll be joining us later."

          Huang stepped up to Mac. "I suggest that you link in to the broadcast network and see if there is any pertinent news today."

          Link in? Mac nodded to her as she turned away. He moved to the opposite side of the café and took a seat. With his elbows on the table, Mac rested his chin in his hands and closed his eyes. There were lots of interesting stories out there, in as many languages anyone would want. But at that moment, Mac knew he was not in any condition to read. Oh, I could read them – I just wouldn't understand them. He called up a Search and File Rote, then closed his eyes as his systems did the work.

          He felt a presence beside him. The Adept opened his eyes to see Derrick Dryden sitting in the chair opposite him. The Akashic had his arms folded on the table – not in any kind of business manner – though he did project an air of authority. "So…what's the deal?"

          Mac blinked. "Deal?"

          "You. The VE. Oz said you two had issues. I thought you settled them with the kicking of your ass."

          "I did. I mean, we did... it's just - there was a…misunderstanding this morning." Mac shook his head and rubbed his temples. "Look, I'd be more than happy to explain things to you – but not now."

          Derrick arched a dark eyebrow. "You sick?"

          "No. Just tired. Maybe Nicholas could fill you in."

          "Calen?" Derrick shook his head. "I already asked." He stood and nodded stiffly. "I'll be waiting for an explanation as to why I and our group are now in peril and must make a speedy retreat." He gave Mac a hollywood smile and moved away.

          Huang stepped up. "We're ready. Let's move."

          Mac stood and shouldered his bag. Everyone filed out of the café, with Oz picking up the rear. Johnny winked at Mac as he passed by, and the Adept was again reminded of the dream the singer had of Syd. I have to remember to check back with Paul on that one.

          "C'mon, Computer Man."

          Mac blinked at Oz. He hadn't realized he'd stopped walking.

          A white airport shuttle sat outside the door. Several people stood around it, apparently waiting to board. But Huang motioned for her group to step inside. Mac overheard one of the group's members as he trudged past.

          "How can it be declined? I just got the car a week ago. I've never charged on it before."

          The Adept was the last one on before Oz. A space was open in the back next to Johnny beside the window. Mac took the seat next to the singer. He slumped into the seat and as the shuttle turned out into traffic, fell asleep, his head propped against the window.

          It seemed like only seconds between the time he closed his eyes and when Johnny touched his shoulder. "We're here."

          Mac nodded and moved groggily out of the shuttle's seat. They filed behind Huang, who seemed to know exactly where they were going. Though they flew internally, security was still an issue and their passports needed to be checked. Everyone cleared with no problem.

          Except for Johnny.

          He'd been last in line, behind Mac. Mac's internal alarm went up when Huang stepped up to the officer in charge. The uniformed man was frowning at the computer screen. He looked over his glasses at Johnny's passport.

          "Is there a problem?" Huang smiled.

          The officer spoke in English. "It is hiz passport," the man said and shook his head. "Zis man does not exist." He nodded at Johnny. The singer looked confused.

          Mac wasn't happy about the odd look on Huang's face. He watched her pull her palm pilot from her purse – the thing glowed like an Agent's weaponry. With a frown he opened his still sluggish port, though it responded faster than before, and tapped into the small machine.

          The VE database loomed in front of his Magick Eye and he had to close his physical eyes to prevent from getting dizzy. Seeing simultaneous images without them being called was somewhat on the disorienting side. He hadn't told his Magick-Eye to open, yet it had on its own. His VR desktop was also active and he found himself inside, dressed in his dark suit and shades.

          In flashes on the wall around him he saw what Huang was attempting to do – create another ID for Johnny. But her machine wasn't fast enough. And it looked like she was making it up as she went along.

          "Make something up," came Calen's whisper in his ear, though he knew the VE stood several feet away. "Do something - don't just stand there. Use all that iteration hardware."

          The Virtual Adept accessed sixty people from the most recent and local profiles of people on staff at the airport. With random thoughts, he pooled names, addresses, siblings, parents, education, city, state, etc., all from other locations and combined them into the file that Huang was gathering. Then, when there was enough to send, he streamed it into the airport's waiting database.

          He swayed a moment and shook his head. When he opened his eyes, he saw Arden bent over the passport officer's terminal, her breasts exposed and her eyes dark and wide. She batted them sweetly at the poor defenseless man.

          I'll assume that's a stall tactic. Mac smiled.

          The computer abruptly beeped and with a shake of his own head, the officer looked down. "Ah…here he iz." The man stamped Johnny's passport and hand it back to him. "I am sorry for ze delay."

          Johnny nodded and hurried past. Arden gave the man a wink, blew him a kiss, and then moved back. She strolled on up ahead, making sure to wiggle her hips on the way.

          Mac laughed. Whatever works.

          As they moved through another hallway, Mac noticed the VE had begun to lag behind. He favored his left side now and then, and Mac wondered how far along the nanites were in their healing. It was fascinating that something that had the consistency of hand lotion could repair the damage caused by a bullet.

          Arden had also noticed the soldier's actions. "You want me to fix that little hurt, shugah?"

          Calen straightened immediately. "No…" he forced a smile. "Thank you."

          As they moved down a second hallway, Huang led the way with Derrick at her side. Oz stood to the right ahead of them, his gaze moving in every direction. Kyle stood to Mac's right with Arden moving up on his left. Johnny seemed most comfortable near Oz and Calen kept up the rear.

          Open double doors leading out onto the tarmac to the waiting Lear beyond greeted them as they rounded the last corner of the terminal hallway. Derrick stopped in his tracks. He put up a hand and everyone else stopped. With narrowed eyes, the Akashic took a step forward, his gaze intent on something through the open double doors.

          Through the doors, Mac saw three technicians working on two luggage carriers. The trio abruptly stopped and turned around. Normally this wouldn't alarm Mac – perhaps they all heard something on their radios. But when they moved into a single line from left to right, almost in a defensive placement, panic resonated quickly. He called up his optics and gave the technicians a scan.

          Agents – but no ordinary ones. These were Men in Gray.

          Shit.

          "Oz…" Derrick began. "I'm making out five in all. We got three MIG's and two more MIB's heading our way down the tarmac from the right."

          "Gotcha," the Hermetic said, and pulled a big gun from his duffle bag. "Look sharp people. We're getting hemmed in and we have to get to that plane. Those are MIGs out there."

          Mac winced as a sharp, high-resonant whine pierced his ear. Turning, he saw Calen draw the small gun he'd shown him in the limo to the airport when they'd flown out of Las Vegas. The VE held it out and fired. Mac was surprised at the lack of any real noise, other than a sharp pthud, much like the noise of a gun with a silencer attached. What did amaze him was the highly volatile display of physics that happened immediately afterward.

          The blast fired forward, just as expected. It took out the doors, the MIG's and the luggage carriers. The recoil sent Nicholas Calen backwards about nine feet to land firmly and what looked like painfully on his ass.

          Idiot…

          Mac pulled his own gun from his shoulder bag and held it in his left hand, barrel pointed up. If that little gun can do that, then I have no idea what this one can do. And I'm not sure I want to find out.

          Derrick stopped in his tracks. He stared at the now destroyed doorway. Two of the MIGs were struggling to stand. One wasn't moving. The Akashic turned from the waist up and with a harsh look spoke. "You should brace yourself next time you shoot that thing."

          Laura Huang had her own version of the same gun out as she yelled back at Calen. "You turn it down to three." Pupth. Huang didn't go flying backward. Neither was there a large explosion. But now there was only one MIG left, struggling to stand.

          Johnny turned to look behind them, his eyes wide. Mac listened and detected footfalls. "We got five more coming up behind us."

          Derrick shouted out. "We got three more coming up on the Tarmac to the right as well."

          Arden turned then and handed her purse to Mac. "Hold this, shugah," she smiled and faced the rear just as the Agents rounded the corner. The Verbena raised her arms as and as she did, a breeze began to churn the air. Her hair literally began to flutter as she lifted her chin and cried out, "Light bright, bright light, chaos come, cause electric might!"

          Mac stepped back as the fluorescent lighting structure overhead began to rock and weave. Sparks sprayed down on all of them as electricity arched, catching two of the Agents in the chest. They went down floundering like fish out of water. Within seconds the entire structure plummeted to the tiled floor.

          And in the midst of it all was Calen, now struggling to regain his footing from being blasted back.

          The others moved forward to the destroyed doors and toward the tarmac. Mac tossed Arden back her purse. Switching his gun to his right hand, he pulled Calen to a standing position with his left, then slid his arm behind Calen's shoulder as the sparks from the downed light structure continued to rain on them. The two began as quick a retreat as possible.

          As the group burst forth into the sunlight and onto the tarmac, Oz opened fire on the ones coming at them from the right. Mac glanced back at the Agents behind them. Three still stood, but were unable to make it through the still sparking lighting structure.

          Arden turned and yelled at them, "RUN!"

          Derrick charged the remaining MIG and with several unbelievably fast kicks. The Akashic then paused and took a deep breath before slowly releasing it and turning to join Oz.

          Mac released Calen and turned to make sure Johnny was keeping up. The singer had moved toward Oz who was now shooting at the Agents approaching from the right. The Adept watched in fascination as the singer pulled a lighter from his pocket, flicked the small flint that sparked and lit the flame, then tossed it onto a nearby oil slick. The flames exploded outward, reaching for the nearest MIB and made short work of him.

          The Adept wasn't surprised - not with Johnny's magic. And as usual, the singer wore the most puzzled expression on his face.

          A small yell of triumph tore Mac's attention from the burning Agent. He turned to see Calen move to one of the fallen MIG's and snag a pair of shades from the man's face. Well, he finally got his shades replaced.

          "Mac," Arden said as she came up beside him. She grabbed his right wrist. "Now would be a good time to get that plane cleared for take off. With all these explosions, they're going to start grounding any air transportation."

          She's right. He closed his eyes. The connection was still sluggish. I feel like I'm dialing in. Damn. He felt Arden beside him, physically pushing him to the plane as he finally connected to the flight tower's computer. Within seconds he had the plane's clearance granted.

          He opened his eyes to see Kyle dash forward and tackle an Agent close to the plane. The MIB thrashed wildly, then lay still. Kyle reached down and grabbed his shades and slid them into his pocket.

          Huang fired her small gun again and one of the approaching Agents fell back.

          The plane started up, the engines whining. The noise was deafening and Mac put his hands to his hears, the feedback on his Audio shrieking in his ear. Oh God.....

          Calen moved past Mac as he stumbled toward the ramp. Someone grabbed his right arm and pulled. Mac opened his eyes to see Arden at his side, a stern look of concentration on her face. As Mac followed Arden up the plane ramp, he turned to see Derrick come from nowhere and in a spinning move, grab the nearest Agent and shove him four feet into two of his allies. The Akashic looked as if he were enjoying himself.

          Oz and Derrick then bolted for the plane and made it inside as Huang closed the door. She grabbed the mic by the door. "Get us in the air!"

          The Lear taxied quickly down to the runway while other planes remained in scattered places throughout the runway. Within minutes they were air born. Mac gave a deep sigh and let the gun rest on the floor beside his chair. His eyelids lowered slightly as he began to relax.

          Until warm fingers pulled at his chin. He opened his eyes and found himself looking directly into the smoky eyes of Arden. He almost thought the saw electric fire within those depths. She held his chin in her fingers. "Never leave the hotel again." She slapped him lightly on the cheek, almost more of a pat.

          As she moved away, the Adept noticed Calen across the isle. The Engineer removed his seat belt and nearly stood before Derrick came from the back and sat beside him. "So what happened at the train station?"

          When Calen didn't answer, the Akashic turned and pinned Mac down with his stare.

          "It's a long story." Mac ventured.

          Huang stepped forward from behind Mac and turned to face them. "We have a little over two hours before we touch down in Monaco."

          Calen nodded. "Just enough time for a nap," he stood up quickly, then doubled over a bit and clutched his side. Mac narrowed his eyes and tried to see his wounds. But nothing happened. The communication with the flight tower appeared to be the last. Everything was offline.

          "Are you all right?" Huang asked the Engineer. She turned and strode to the front of the plane's entranceway. There on the floor was a briefcase. The VE opened it and began rummaging inside as Calen, clutching his side, moved around Derrick.

          Calen leaned forward to see what she was doing. Mac was surprised to see the VE pale and step back. He shook his head. "I'll be fine.."

          Oz moved down the isle toward Calen. The Engineer managed to sidestep the Hermetic and move backward down the isle as Huang pulled out a hypo-spray.

          The VE turned and bolted as best he could, nearly stumbling over the seats as he moved past the other team members. Huang and Oz hurried after him. Curiosity pulled Mac from his chair and he moved behind them.

          Mac stood in the doorway of the Lear's bedroom and watched Oz wrestle with the VE on the King sized bed. Calen was strong - this much Mac knew from his own experience. But Oz seemed to have the advantage of patience - and he wasn't panicking. For whatever reason, Calen did not want her to shoot him with whatever it was in the hypo. Oz had both his wrists pinned down. The burly hermetic shoved a knee into Calen's chest, though Mac was sure it wasn't forced hard enough to do any damage to the kid's chest. If he doesn't stop struggling, he's going to reopen that wound.

          Abruptly Huang ducked in and shot the spray into the VE's neck. Calen immediately relaxed and his eyes closed.

          The two nodded to one another and as she turned, Huang raised an eyebrow at the Adept who stood in the doorway. "Nanites - they'll speed his healing along. Some of my own mixture."

          Mac nodded and moved aside as Oz left the room first. Huang paused beside him just outside the door. "My advice to you is to get some sleep, Mr. McGyver. I'd prefer to know where the two of you are at all times on this flight."

          Mac nodded quickly. All he could think of was the bed just inside the door. Mac stepped into the room and stumbled around to the opposite side. He pitched forward. The Adept was asleep before he hit the mattress.

          Huang woke them a little over two hours later. It felt as if he'd just closed his eyes. Mac yawned. He felt worse than he had before laying down. Calen moved a bit better, easier. More his usual self, though he gave Huang a wide berth.

          Oz mentioned something about the beauty of Monaco and Mac was dimly aware of conversations between Oz, Huang and Derrick and some safe house the Akashic knew of. The plane landed with no fanfare, which was good. He doubted he could do anymore running right now. They piled into a van with Derrick at the wheel. Mac trudged to the back and slid in. Arden slid in beside him and smiled. He leaned against his bag and closed his eyes.

          The swaying of the van woke Mac. There was a hand gently stroking his stubbled cheek. Fingers twined in his hear and he realized with a panicked start that he'd been sleeping in Arden's lap. He blinked up at her. She looked down at him. "We're here, shugah."

          "Here?" he sat up, but was still unable to boot any systems. He couldn't scan the surrounding forests...

          And forests were exactly the right word. They were hemmed in on all sides by lush greenery, dotted by violet, orange, pink and white flower blossoms. Before them sat a half hidden structure. From what Mac could see, it was Japanese in design. Several young people in similar gees moved about with menial chores as a strong looking brunette woman waited in the driveway.

          Derrick got out, as did everyone else. Mac sat still for a few minutes. He looked up to see Calen leave before him - the VE glanced back at him and shook his head.

          With a sneer, the Adept pulled himself out of the seat and stepped out into the hazy sunshine. The air was hot and muggy and he immediately wanted a shower. He looked at his his red-tinted hands as the waiting Akashic greeted Derrick.

          "Hail brother. I'm Sophia."

          "My name is Derrick Dryden. My friends and I need a safe place to lay low, and I remembered this location. I wondered if we could impose on your hospitality."

          Mac looked up at the woman. She nodded as she carefully examined each of them with a narrowed eye. "Yes, no problem. We will gather your luggage." She turned and spoke in perfect French. Mac didn't understand a word - his systems were shut down.

          She guided all of them to the front door where she insisted everyone remove their shoes. The interior was vastly more modern than the exterior, though the classic feel of a Japanese Dojo was kept throughout in the decorating. The entryway was recessed, and lead up onto a platform to the main room.

          Once everyone had gathered, Sophia spoke. "You are all welcome to lunch - we will be dining shortly. The Dojo is at your disposal. Any questions, please feel free to ask."

          There was a pause. "Sir?"

          Mac rubbed his temple. He felt nearly blind and deaf now without access to his internal systems. Mannis never said anything about exhaustion having any effect. And maybe it didn't - maybe it was the jet lag. He wished he'd taken the pills. This sucks.

          "Sir?"

          Arden touched Mac's arm. "Sugah, she's look'n at you."

          Me? The Adept looked up at Sophia. The woman's eyes narrowed again and Mac felt as if she were looking not at him but through him. She snapped her fingers and a young woman ran forward. "Belle, please escort this young man to the first available room. I think what he needs now is sleep. Dinner will be served around seven." She bowed to Mac.

          With a glance at Arden, Mac followed the young lady to the right as the others moved to the left. They walked down several hallways to a door on the left. Belle opened it and stepped inside to shut the window. Mac stood beside the bed, his eyes shut. A hand guided him down, pressing him into the firm, yet soft mattress. Hands pulled his tee-shirt over his head. Someone removed his socks.

          "Sleep..." a soft, feminine voice said. He felt hands over his chest. Someone moved to unfasten his jeans. "Sleep..."

          Mac slept.

          There were no dreams this time, only the comfortable feeling of warmth. No sound. No light. No thought. Peace. Mac floated like this for a lifetime. He wanted to stay in this place, this soft cocoon of comfort where no demons from past or present could touch him. He remembered the soothing hands on his shoulders, easing away his stresses.

          The hands touched his neck, stroked his cheek, and moved the hair from his face.

          "Mr. McGyver..."

          He shook his head. My name is Alan.

          "McGyver...I'm going to give you something...."

          Give me something...what? No... He wanted to sleep. Something pressed against his neck and he felt a cold sting. He eyes came open suddenly in surprise. A single candle burned beside his bed and he saw Huang hovering over him. "What...?"

          "Relax." She sat back on the edge of his bed.

          Mac blinked several times to make sure what he saw was reality and not still some dream. He shivered slightly and reached down to the sheet covering his hips...and realized he was naked.

          Christ! The Adept kept his outward actions calm as he moved to pull the sheet a little further up to his chest. Who the hell undressed me? And even worse - how come I didn't notice?

          Huang didn't seem to notice his modest distress. "I've injected you with the jet-lag formula. Even after five hours of sleep I couldn't detect your cybernetic signature, so I did my own scan. There weren't any nanites present. I know you're not a clone, so the logical conclusion was that you didn't take the formula, which would explain most of your exhaustion," she arched a delicate eyebrow. "That and not getting any sleep while in Paris. I need to have you up and running at peak efficiency, Adept." She stood and he saw the hypo-injector in her hand.. "Dinner's in half an hour. We have a lot to discuss."

          She left the room and closed the door.

          Almost the minute he sat up, pulling the sheets around his body, Mac's systems powered on. He felt the IR port iris and a steady stream of information came through. He put his hands to his head as a barrage of images, both video and still shot, along with thousands of sound files, forced him into his VR world. There he was able to sort through the reports gathered by sentinel Rotes he'd set up days ago.

          Had my lack of sleep effected my system's running that badly? He marveled at the stacks of paper piling up on his roll-top desk and the speed in which he sat and scanned them and sent them into the appropriate folder. Hey, I should've taken the jet lag cocktail sooner.

          After sorting the open network news, and filing away the report of Sterling's excavation efforts being stalled, Mac turned to the VA boards. One email caught his attention first. One hundred fifty responses to a single post entitled "Batini???"

          His Virtual Icon pulled the emails from the air, transmuting them to printed pieces and sat back. He called up a cappuccino and set it on the desk as he leaned back in his chair.

          Apparently someone raised the question of the rumored resurface of the Ahl-I-vatin in post war Iraq. Many didn't believe them to be the original Lost Tradition and that the rumors were simply generated by the Technocracy in order to disrupt Adepts, since many VA's believe them to be a major threat. Mac was surprised to learn the Virtual Adepts replaced the Batini on the Council, and vowed to fight them to the death.

          He raised an eyebrow over his shades. Fight whom to the death? Them or us? Mac tried to follow the thread, but like all threads along a subject, the further down from the original message, the more muddled the current response became. He did glean that the latest rumor was that the Batini were attempting to unite Awakened and Enlightened people to appose the forces of terrorism.

          Mac dismissed the emails. The entire stack vanished, again returned to their proper file. He pursed his lips and mused over the information of the Batini. Better to just put that aside for now, just like the new information on my father and Richard. Not that I've learned any more than what Calen told me. In all the excitement, I'd nearly forgotten it. Got a job to do. Need to find this Casada and…

          The VR library vanished, and he was reminded of the instant he and Mannis were pulled forward. Abruptly the light went dark and he had three different telephone numbers and addresses for the name Casada. Family records appeared and he scanned the information in, converting them to data and filed. All of the addresses checked out within a twenty-mile radius of where they were staying.

          Which is interesting since I have no idea where we are.

          It was on Casada and Lovenstein.

          One Miguel Casada lives in the area. At the end of the information flow, there is a single line that made no sense.

          "I have Swuvium, and Fulmen". Unsure of what that meant, Mac set up another search on the words either separate or in tandem.

          He disconnected and looked down at his feet. He felt a bit high – as if he'd drank too much coffee. Beside a beautiful teke-wood armoire was his bag. Only it was empty. He found his clothes cleaned, pressed and folded inside the armoire.

          They even got the blood out.

          After a shower, and shave, he felt much better. Mac dressed in pair of khakis and dark blue Hawaiian flowered shirt. It felt soft against his skin as he began his search about the Dojo for the dining area.

          Seeing as how I was lead here, I'm afraid I'll get lost. And since I'm having trouble accessing any kind of security system on this place, either they don't have one, or its Rote protected.

          Mac found the dining room and stopped in the doorway, his mouth open. It's a freaking cathedral. A vast arched ceiling gave roof over a hard wood floor, set upon by six long rectangular tables. All the tables save the one to the farthest right were occupied by the Akashic students, all dressed in soft, light blue gees.

          Johnny motioned to Mac from the right table where the Cabal was seated. The singer sat on the end and patted a place beside him. Mac smiled and made his way to the table. After sitting, he looked up into the face of Arden.

          "Have a nice nap, shugah?" She smiled.

          He nodded. "Very nice. Thank you. And you?" He glanced down the table. Oz nodded at him then turned back to his conversation with Derrick.

          It was then he noticed Calen looking at him, his new shades over his eyes. He arched his eyebrow.

          Mac gave him a sardonic smile. Yeah, you see nannites. Go blow.

          "While you slept, I was watching some of the Brotherhood here spar. Quite exciting, I might add." Arden poured Mac a glass of water from a pitcher.

          The Adept nodded. I'm sure. He looked at Johnny. "You?"

          "Just hung out in the garden. You get a chance, Mac, I'd say go see it. It's beautiful."

          A bell sounded and abruptly twenty or so Akashics in white gees appeared bearing food laden trays. The smells were overwhelming and Mac's stomach growled hungrily. Oh man…I haven't eaten in over twenty-four hours. No wonder I'm famished.

          After a filling and satisfying French dinner, the Cabal was lead to a private room. A fire was stoked and Mac sat by it, surprised at how cool the Dojo has become as night settled. I'd worried I wasn't going to sleep after that shot – but now I feel like I could curl up right there and take a nap. I'm stuffed.

          Laura called everyone's attention to the fire and stood a few feet from Mac as she spoke. "There is little for us to go on at this point. Other than the names I have given you of Lovenstein and Casada. It was last rumored that one of the two men, presumably Casada, was last known to live in an area nearby. We know the keepers of the library will in themselves possess skills as such, whether to operate a filing system or manage record keeping in some way. It was the way of the Ksirafai. Perhaps we can look up antiquities in the area and start from there. I will get with Calen and Mac on a search parameters…"

          But just thinking of Casada's name brought out the information he'd received earlier. Two of the addresses flagged. One showed up as a public library, and the other name, Miguel Casada, was known for his online business as a collector of rare manuscripts and books.

          He raised his hand. Derrick nodded to him as Huang looked at him. The Adept cleared his throat. "I have a listing for a Miguel Casada. I have an address and phone number."

          Huang blinked. "You do?" she gave a tentative smile.

          "The information came up when I awoke. I'll send it to your palm."

          She pulled out her palm and began scanning the information.

          Derrick stood and came over. He leaned over her shoulder. "I'm thinking the collector is the best bet. Runs a bed and breakfast. Should be slow since we're right before the vacationing crowd to Monaco."

          "Agreed," Laura looked at Derrick. "My suggestion is to contact Mr. Casada in the morning. There is a set of words that must be used in casual conversation. He won't help you unless these are spoken."

          "And these words?" Derrick gave her a winning smile.

          "Rose and Dagger, thunderbolt and kiss"

          Oz nodded. "Poetic."

          Mac frowned. Poetic?

          Huang sighed. "I only hope our sources are correct."

          Derrick was the first to volunteer to head up the meeting with Casada. Huang volunteered Mac since he too once operated a Library of rare items. Kyle then volunteered to come along.

          The first meeting of the mission was set.

          But Mac couldn't help hearing Huang's passing comment to Derrick as he left the room. "…way to keep those two away from one another for a while. I'm certain Calen won't get into trouble without Mac around."

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