His internal clock read eight-thirty. Was that Atlanta time, or Vegas time? Or was he set on Paris time? How did the thing know what time it was where ever he was. There were so many questions he still had about his new hardware. Mac sat up in the bed and rubbed his stubbled face. The biggie is do I really want to keep asking them?

          As the Adept stretched he went over the notes he'd taken the night before. As an added bonus, he called up a map of the area and set out the best route to take to Casada's home. Part of him looked forward to working with Derrick - especially having had no contact with anyone from the Akashick Brotherhood before. He also knew the man wanted answers to his and Calen's behaviour that inevitably led to their hasty retreat from Paris.

          The car ride would present the best place for such a question to arise.

          He showered again, shaved and dressed in one of the suits provided by the Avalon Group. Dark pants, suit jacket and white shirt. Standard Adept uniform for Mcgyver. He gave up on his hair, tucked the toolkit given to him by Mannis into his suit jacket, and then headed to the dining area.

          Huang, Derrick and Kyle were already there, the remainder of breakfast set to the side.

          Derrick waved to Mac as he neared them. "Mac, we're going to need a map getting us..."

          "Already done."

          The Akashic nodded. "Good. Grab something to eat, and let's head out."

          Having eaten so heavily the night before, Mac decided on fruit and several glasses of orange juice. He sat beside Huang, who nodded. "Send the map to my..."

          "Already done."

          The VE gave him an approving smile. "Do you understand now why sleep is important?"

          Mac nodded and finished off his second glass of OJ. "Is it sleep, or the nannites?"

          She smiled. "Both."

          He felt eyes on him and sure as he guessed the Akashic was watching him. "I've been talking to Kyle here, understanding more of his abilities, strengths and weaknesses. It's what I prefer to do with any team I work with on any mission."

          The Adept nodded. "Good practice."

          The Akashic clasped his hands on the wooden table and fixed Mac with a cryptic stare. "I'm glad you think so, because before we go anywhere, you're going to tell me all about..." he leaned in and wiggled his eyebrows up and down. "You"

          "Me?" Mac shrugged. "You know all about me."

          "I know what you said the other night," he frowned and looked across at Huang with a half-smile. "Was that just night before last we all went out?"

          She nodded.

          He sighed. "Wow. Anyway, I know about the stuff inside your nasal cavity - I know about your wife and I know now from Huang that your father is Dr. Malcom R. Cooper."

          Mac felt the color drain from his face. For so long he'd kept such things from anyone and everyone. But now it seemed his past was common knowledge.

          Derrick shook his head. "Let me make it perfectly clear - that name doesn't ring bell one for me. I know he's Technocratic. I know your family is - which in a weird way makes sense that you're Adept. But," he put up his index finger and for an instant Mac saw a bit of that carefree man he'd met the other night. "You endangered my life, and every life in this cabal by that stunt you pulled with the VE. That - I cannot tolerate. Teamwork. That's what I want, that's what I have to have." He sighed.

          Mac blinked. He'd never been spoken too so directly before. "Yes sir."

          "Good. I need to know exactly what you can and can't do. I want to know your strengths and your weaknesses. I want to know what you're good at - because sometimes, those aren't the same things."

          And so Mac told him. What he could and couldn't do. What he'd tried and what he didn't know. He told him about the EMP problem, as well as exhaustion and its effects. He told him all he needed to know about working with him as a team - and nothing more.

          When he was finished, the Akashic pursed his lips and looked at Mac. "Iteration, huh?"

          Mac glanced at Huang. He hadn't told Derrick that much. She winked at him. "Derrick does handy work, remember? He's worked with cybernetics before."

          "I prefer to call'em Hard Wired." He sighed. "I know I said before that I didn't understand all the cyborg stuff, so let me clarify my take on things. As for the stuff in your head, William Gibson type 'enhancements' is one thing, or even the occasional Luke Skywalker hand/arm or leg I can deal with, but when your body is more metal than flesh and bone, then I think you've got some serious issues and years of therapy ahead of you. So please don't think I'm looking at you any differently than any member of this cabal. Okay, let's go."

          "Go?" Mac glanced at his internal clock. "It's only 9:30. I thought we were leaving at 10:00?"

          "Why wait? We're all here - all that matters right now."

          The Brotherhood owned several vehicles parked beneath the structure, out of sight of the main drive. Derrick chose the SUV with the onboard guidance system. Derrick directed Kyle into the back as Mac slid into the passenger's seat. Derrick buckled in behind the wheel, cranked the car and turned to Mac. "Map."

          With a look at the LCD screen in the dash, the Adept accessed the small computer and uploaded the maps and applications he'd created last night. The screen fuzzed, then displayed a bright red path to a house.

          Derrick looked at Mac. "You did that with a thought?"

          He nodded.

          "Hooo-kay," pulling out, the Akashic put it in drive and turned back down the dirt road away from the Dojo. "Now, the next order of business," he glanced at Mac. "I want you to tell Kyle and myself all about yesterday morning."

          Casada's home sat up on a hillside with a drive branching off the main road to the front door. Derrick pulled the car closer, but kept it parked on the road across the street. The trio sat still in the car watching the house because of one little, visible problem.

          The front door was wide open. Kyle had noticed it first.

          Derrick pursed his lips. "I don't like the look of this." He turned to Mac. "Can you scan anything?"

          He shook his head. "Already tried. There's nothing active in the way of a security system. I mean there is one, but its deactivated. And like Kyle said, I sense only one living thing."

          "Casada?"

          "A dog," Kyle said from the back. "I want to get a closer look." The Hollow One had his door open and was sprinting across the street before Derrick could stop him.

          The Adept followed behind Derrick as the Akashic swore under his breath. They crossed the road and eased up to the front door. Kyle stopped there on the front porch, his hands on the door frame.

          "This door's been open eight hours already."

          Derrick shook his head. "This isn't good. Something's really wrong. Kyle, can you tell what happened?"

          A small whine drew their attention to the side of the house. A shaggy dog ambled up the steps and went straight to Derrick. It hid its head in between Derrick's legs. "My, my..." the Akashic reached down and spoke softly to the dog. His words appeared to calm the animal and Derrick was able to move away from it.

          "Animal's been through trauma - not physcial, but he's seen something and he's afraid."

          "Guys..." Kyle said from the doorway.

          They stepped to the Hollow One. He turned a dark eye to each of them. "Casada's in there, but he's dead. He died a while ago. He was attacked on his way home - some guy in priest's garb. Black robes...red cross on a white background." He shook his head, his brow furrowed.

          Derrick sighed. "Priest?"

          "There's something else here too.." Kyle said. "Something I can't identify."

          Derrick reached out as Kyle moved through the door and inside. "Don't mess anything up, Kyle. No fingerprints."

          "I won't," the young man shot back.

          Mac followed Derrick into the house. The first room lay in shambles about them, the floor strewn with books, magazines, glass and wood from broken chairs. Derrick paused briefly as Kyle moved past him to a room on the left. Mac concentrated on the artifacts he saw scattered about the room. The longer I stand here, the more certain I am we have the right man. But I'm also growing more concerned for our safety.

          The Hollow One shook his head as he mumbled past them again. "Someone else...I just can't touch them. There was someone else here... besides the guy in robes. Where are they?"

          Derrick turned to look at Mac. "He always like that?"

          Mac nodded.

          With a shrug, the Akashic continued his careful movement over the debris.

          "In here..." Kyle called out ahead of them.

          They turned down a nearly debris free hallway to where Kyle stood in front of a study. Unfortunately there appeared to be bars on the study door. Mac peered inside, and could just make out the motionless feet and legs of someone on the floor. The bars prevented them from seeing much else in the room.

          "It was a templar..." Kyle said.

          Mac looked at the Hollow One. He appeared to be in a trance. "Templar? As in the Knight's Templar?"

          "The same," Derrick nodded. "I can sense he's been here - as have the EMTs and the police. They couldn't get in this room." He pulled on the bars a couple of times. "They call this a panic room." He looked at Kyle. "Did you see how he activated it?"

          Mac looked at the mechanism and searched out for 'panic room'. Twenty-seven different schematics called up on panic rooms. None of the passcodes he had corrolated with the description. It's going to take hours to unlock this room that way.

          He said as much to Derrick, but the Akashic was intently watching the Hollow One.

          Kyle pursed his lips as he closed his eyes. Mac knew this as reading time, but he didn't understand its mechanics. It seemed a bit superfluous - he knew it worked - but it just didn't have the permanent staying feel of the magic a computer did.

          "He hit a switch on the inside - near the side we can't see." Kyle's voice was distant.

          "Is there a way to open this remotely?"

          Kyle nodded. "The manufacturer's back door. That's who...that's who the police have gone for." He opened his eyes and looked at Derrick. "But you open it if you flip the switch Casada did with the right key combination."

          "Do you have it?"

          "Yes..."

          Derrick turned. "Mac, can you teleport inside there so Kyle can give you keycode to unlock this door?"

          The Adept smiled. Wow, I've never been asked to teleport before. Usually I'm just being scolded for it. He moved to the bars as he called up the Rote. The teleport was almost shiftless, as if he'd simply walked through the bars.

          Abruptly standing inside a room with a dead body was exceedingly different than standing outside looking in on one. Casada looked to be in his mid fifties and in good shape. He lay in the center of the room, his arms splayed out in what appeared to be a seven o'clock pattern. Something had been written in blood around the body. Mac moved gingerly about the room, careful not to touch anything. "Can you give me a clue to where I go?" He looked back at the two behind the bars.

          "It over by his desk, beneath a big..." Kyle blinked. "Painting?"

          Mac looked about the office. Okay, there were paintings on the wall. No, there were four, one appeared to be a tapestry - and it was the only one over a desk. His optics buggered as he looked straight on at the tapestry.

          "Mac...there underneath that thing you're looking at."

          Thing... Mac looked at the desk. There was nothing on top and he bent down on one knee to find a panel and key at the bottom of the desk. "Okay, I found a panel."

          Kyle answered, "Type in 3489."

          Mac did and the bars on the door vanished.

          Once the others stepped in, Mac went back to the paintings as Derrick knelt beside the body. "He's been dead seven or more hourse. That's how long this blood's been out of the body."

          The placement of Cassada's hands were interesting to Mac. Derrick commented on the man's arm placement as well.

          Mac looked at the paintings about the room, and pointed out that Casada pointed to two of them, at 12 and 7. Mac recognized one of the paintings – it had been Maouri's favorite. It featured an inert male and female, one can only assume Adam and Eve, lying on the ground. Hovering immediately over them was an astonishingly beautiful angelic creature that looked as if it were about to breathe on one of the figures. The tag on the bottom of the frame said it was called The Garden of Eden.

          Mac frowned. That doesn't sound right.

          He turned to check out the second picture, the one at 7:00. It was one of two men standing together, one is haloed. The man without the halo looks like he's about to whisper something into the other man's ear.

          His optics whirled again and his vision blurred. Never had the new lenses actually interfered with his sight. He blinked a couple of times and stared at the picture of the two men. His readout flashed to the lower right of his vision as something glowed about the painting. The readout reported a >RESIDUE OVERLY ON FRAMES<. His optics began scanning the painting using spectrums of light.

          "There's something written in blood around this man's body," Derrick said.

          Mac narrowed his eyes at each painting - the residue was on each of them.

          "Mac, can you to translate this?"

          The Adept frowned and pulled his attention away from the paintings. He followed where Derrick pointed to a bloody circle about Casada.

          "Fulminis sub Maria floria didici." Mac accessed the web and pulled down a Latin program. He studied the words a few seconds. "There are two translations of this. One says 'lightening bolts under Mary flower they will discover'. That's a literal one. But if you want an interpretation, I'd say it says, 'Enlightenment can be found under the Marian Flower'."

          "What the hell does that mean?" Derrick mumbled.

          "There's a key in that man's hand," Kyle said from across the room. The Hollow One was looking hard at the tapestry.

          The Akashic knelt down again and retrieved a silver key from Casada's hand. Attached to it was a tag that read, "speak the language of flowers".

          Derrick took in a deep breath. The air around him calmed. "Flowers. Common theme here. Mac, can you look up this Marian flower?"

          Another search on Google pulled up several websites on gardening, in particular on roses. "Okay," Mac called out, though he kept his Magick-Eye focused on his internal screen. He read aloud: "The rose is sometimes called the Marian Flower or Mary's blossom, particularly a stylized Medieval design element popularized in the stunning stained-glass Rose Windows featured in most Gothic cathedrals. Marian flowers were also carved into stone work, wood work, and sometimes everyday items. Apparently 'speak the language of flowers' is part of the latin translation." Mac blinked and cleared away the VR of his google search.

          Derrick rubbed his chin and arched a wicked eyebrow at Mac. "That is insane – you doing that, but," he shrugged and turned his attention back to the business at hand. "Rose windows..."

          "Could it have something to do with this tapestry?" Kyle asked.

          Having not seen it fully, Derrick moved around Casada's body to the desk where the Tapestry hung. "Whoa..." the Akashic said. "I'm getting all sorts of fun stuff over here."

          Mac turned. "What?"

          "If I'm not mistaken with my own history," Derrick pointed to the tapestry. "That represents the Red Rose of the Lancastrians and those as the the White Rose of York. Mac, Can you do another search - on the history of this tapestry, or at least its symbols?"

          "No, wait," Kyle said and pulled a card from off the desk. "It says here most of the warring houses during England's War of the Roses received these as banners of truce - also as symbols of the new Tudor monarchy."

          "Lots of roses," Mac said, and turned his attention back to the paintings. Maouri liked roses. He shut out the memories. Why am I thinking of her so much lately?

          Derrick reached out and touched the tapestry. He shivered slightly before speaking. "There are Time and Correspondence workings on the tapestry itself which are quite old, extremely refined and elegant, and like nothing I've seen before. Kind of like the Old Masters of Magick."

          "There are spheres working on that thing?" Kyle said as he moved away from the tapestry. He moved to stand behind Mac.

          Derrick looked down at the key in his hand. "Even this is magically constructed. I can feel it, and it is pulling me to..." he frowned and leaned forward. The Akashic reached out with both hands and easily lifted the tapestry off of its hanger and set it down on the desk.

          Mac turned to watch Derrick.

          Behind the tapestry was a door with a keyhole.

          "Oh wow..." Mac stepped forward to stand beside Derrick.

          "Wow is right," he reached forward and touched the wood. "Mac, how about taking some high rez images of the entire room?"

          "I think we should take the tapestry," Kyle said.

          Derrick shook his head. "No, we can't risk alerting the police to us being here."

          "It'll look like a burglary - what's the difference? I say we take it."

          Leaving the two mages to their debate, Mac turned and to his surprise, found a Rote for photography as well as an application within his application library. What the Photo Rote did, who knew? He decided to try it by snapping a shot of the Garden of Eden painting. But before he could, his optics again started their spectrum dance. Abruptly words in French came into view across the canvas as he focused with black light.

          "Ceci s'appelle le souffle de la vie."

          Derrick stopped and turned. "What?"

          Mac pointed to the painting. "That's what I'm seeing. It's written over the canvas. But I can only see it in blacklight."

          "Ceci s'appelle le souffle de la vie," Derrick pursed his lips. "That means 'this is called the breath of life'." He turned to look at the other paintings. "Do you see anything else on any of the other paintings?"

          Mac pointed at the other painting. "Only the two the body's pointing at."

          The Akashic stood and cocked his head to the right, narrowing his eyes at Casada's hand placement. "What does this one say?" He pointed to the one at 7:00.

          Mac narrowed his eyes. "Ceci s'appelle le baiser de Judas."

          "'This is called the Judas kiss'." Derrick moved to the painting at seven, then to the painting at one. "This card is wrong. This painting isn't called The Garden of Eden."

          Mac glanced at Kyle. The Hollow One had folded the tapestry up and was shoving it into his long coat. The Adept opened his mouth to say something, but Kyle put his own finger to his lips and winked.

          Hoo-kay. Mac looked back to Derrick. The Akashic was looking at each of the paintings in turn. "Mac, can you take a picture of what it is you're seeing?"

          Nodding, the Adept took several hi-rez photos of each, then filed them away – their size caused a minor stuffiness in his head – as if he had a head cold. I need to get to my hard drive and download these asap.

          Derrick was fingering the key in his hand. He moved then and strode to the door as Kyle moved aside. The key slid in. The Akashic turned it.

          The door opened to reveal a staircase leading up. Derrick looked up and then closed his eyes. "There's a secret room…somewhere above us. The attic maybe, but there aren't any stairs leading up to them." He opened his eyes and nodded to the door. "Except for these."

          "Uhm..I'm no architect, but isn't that the outside wall?" Kyle pointed to the doorway. "There shouldn't be stairs there."

          "Correspondence effect," Derrick looked at Mac. "Ready?"

          "Yep."

          They followed the Akashic up the stairs, which let out into the attic. Shelves, both round and squared, a few concave and oblong, lined the walls. Many were made of dark wood, while others Mac guessed were painted metal. They all held various sorts of antiques, from rare coins to tomes to books. The librarian in him marveled at their condition and he longed to wonder about their content.

          Kyle stopped in the center of the room, his eyes wide.

          "What?" Mac asked.

          "It's up here too!"

          "What?" Derrick asked.

          "That same resonance. But it's not alone." He shook his head. "There are two, and I know this one!"

          "Know?" Derrick looked about the room. He pointed to a three drawer metal filing cabinet near a curio filled with coins. "That's been left open." He narrowed his eyes. "And recently."

          "Nicholas!" Kyle burst out.

          "Where?" Mac looked about the room. He didn't detect anyone else near the house other than the three of them, but it wouldn't surprise him if the VE had somehow snuck along.

          Derrick knelt beside the cabinet. With a gloved hand, he pulled the top drawer out. Nothing remained inside except for a manila envelope. The Akashic opened the envelope and dumped its contents into the palm of his hand. It was a small, gold cylinder covered in pock marks. He held it up for Kyle and Mac to see. One side had a depressed area that looked as if something had been pushed against it. It also had what Mac believed was a male and female end.

          Before Derrick could replace the item in the envelope, Kyle stepped forward and snatched it. Derrick shook his head with a sigh and Mac assumed the Akashic decided against arguing with the Hollow One.

          As Derrick stood, he turned to the others. "You mean Calen's been in here?" He pointed to the floor, indicating the attic.

          Kyle nodded. "Been a while ago too. He's all over the place up there, especially on that." He pointed to the cabinet.

          "Son of a…" the Akashic turned and took in a deep breath. "I am so gonna break that little mavrick."

          "Mac? You there?"

          The Adept looked at Derrick, who still had his back to him, then he looked at Kyle who was now looking at the coins. "Hello?"

          "There you are," the voice said. "Can you hear me?"

          "Yeah…Oz?"

          Derrick turned quickly and narrowed his eyes at Mac. "Oz is here?"

          "No…here," he pointed to his left ear. "Oz…how am I hearing you? I mean, the pattern's electronic…"

          "I'm on Huang's communicator. No time – just listen. Calen and Johnny already got there this morning. They were there when Casada was murdered, and they brought something back with them."

          Mac relayed what Oz said to Kyle and Derrick.

          Derrick's usually serene face slowly changed and the darkness there frightened Mac. "Really…" His voice was calm and easy.

          "Mac, tell Derrick to get you guys out of there. Calen's picked up a police broadcast – they're on their way."

          Kyle straightened up and turned to them. "The police are back.

          "Shit," Derrick said. "All this was such a waste. I've got me a Technocrat to teach a lesson or two about team work."

          "Oh, Mac, did you get a good look at the paintings? Calen mentioned there was something odd about them…" he paused. "He suggests using a Black Light spectrum."

          "Tell the VE I'm ahead of him.We're on our way out." Mac wasn't sure if the communication was broken. Hell, I'm not sure how it was initiated. Make sure and ask Huang about that.

          Derrick moved to the window of the attic. "I think we can climb down here." He looked around the room, his eyes widening. He pointed to a rolled ladder. "Over there. Mac, can you grab that? I'm sure it's the one used by our intrepid 'team mates'."

          Mac and Kyle lifted the ladder to Derrick, who in turn carefully lowered it through the window. He glanced back at the two. "Is the door to the stairs up here closed?"

          Mac nodded. "I closed it."

          "Then let's go, and please be extra quiet."

          Mac went through the window first as Derrick stepped aside. He carefully descended, and then held it still for Kyle. Derrick pulled the ladder up after Kyle was on the ground. Mac watched as the Akashic nimbly climbed out the window, and in a stunning feat of control as the man flipped in the air and landed cat-like on the ground between he and Kyle. Mac closed his mouth as Derrick motioned for the other two to follow him.

          As the policemen and several men in suites filed into the house, the three Mages made their way around to the front. Once the officials had moved inside of the house, the trio ran to the SUV and got inside. Derrick started the engine and eased the vehicle out onto the highway. He turned it around a mile up and drove back by the house on their way out.

          The three of them sat in silence. Mac stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled it. The images were definately getting a bit annoying. I seem to have a limit on the memory of my Navigator.

          "I can't believe that Technocrat came up here without us." Kyle said from the back. "We're suppose to work together. We follow the rules."

          Derrick nodded, though he kept his eyes focused straight ahead on the road. "True, Mr. Kyle. Which is surprising to hear you say that when you stole something from Casada's house I expressly asked you to leave alone."

          Mac glanced back at the Hollow One, who in turn stuck his tongue out at the back of Derrick's head.

          If the Akashic noticed, he didn't say. Mac watched as a slow, even smile pulled at his mouth. "I think it's time I teach Mr. Calen that there is no "I" in team work."

(written with JP Rhea)

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