Chapter 13
Our hero finds himself heading east
Elgin sat in the dim orange dusk of the shadow realm’s night and looked at the myriad fires of the departed souls waiting out this eternity. The Iffrit’s creators had understood the afterlife in a scientific way that Elgin found comprehensible but cold. Self aware and self directing entities like humans altered the universe in subtle but real ways that created a ‘wake’ and ‘inertia’ that the failure of the physical body did not erase. In this closest and least substantial of shadow worlds that wake and inertia expressed itself in a form that the individual’s conscious matrix made semi real. In the long run these personal ‘knots’ merged and melded into the semi illusion, strengthening it.
There was a rustle nearby and Griffith TwoShoes appeared out of the dimness. He had a long ‘peace pipe’ in his hand, with various talismans attached to it. He settled down on a log across from Elgin, picked up a stick and poked the fire. “Thank you for guiding me through the veil Oldest.” He spoke to the fire, through the fire, to the mind he knew lived behind Elgin’s eyes.
“And you too Elgin,” There was a flicker of white teeth.
“Always ready to oblige a friend Griff, do you feel you can make it here on your own now?”
This was the third time they had walked up away from Beauty and made the strange ‘turn’ that took them into the shadow realm.
“I don’t know, I will try to return to the anchor first.”
Elgin nodded, “Smart thing to do, and you need to be sure not to let yourself be lead astray, it is too easy to step into the more distant shadow worlds....”
“...And some of them will kill you in an instant.” TwoShoes finished for him.
“Okay, I guess I’ll let that go for awhile.”
“Thank you oh wise one,” the older man mocked Elgin with a smile. They sat in silence for some time, “Can’t believe it’s already getting on for fall. These last few years have gone quick but this one, whooowhee,” The Indian shook his head, his gray ponytail flipping from shoulder to shoulder.
“It has been an interesting year,” Elgin replied, looking up at the sky where the stars seemed to ripple and wave in great unstable sheets.
“At least the Claw’s gone and the whole mess with the Den’s pretty much history.”
“Maybe,” Elgin continued to stare into the fire with a frown.
“Don’t believe that they have given up?”
The younger man sighed, “I don’t know Griff.”
There was a faint rustle and a large tawny shape appeared from the grass nearby, stropped Griff’s then Elgin’s legs and lay down with a yawn, Humph rolled over so his belly got the heat from the fire and closed his eyes.
Humph had started following Elgin into the shadow realm a few months ago, at first Elgin had thought the cat was somehow ‘tagging’ along with him, but that didn’t last, it was obvious that Humph could enter and exit the shadow realms as easily as Elgin could, and also that the cat knew some trick that let him cover extraordinary distances in a very short time. But Humph wasn’t talking and though Cutter-Iffrit seemed to have some idea of what was happening they hadn’t let Elgin in on it yet. Though they seemed to share a mind it often seemed that the Iffrit wanted Elgin to learn on his own, or at least at his own pace.
A minute later the last person of the little club arrived, “Hey guys.” Kitty Pauls was wearing a long fur coat and fur lined boots and a very fetching fur hat. She had a ‘shooting stick’ walking stick that she unfolded and sat on after giving the logs the two men were sitting on a rather disdainful look. “Should I call to order the Beauty, Wyoming, magic users association weekly meeting?” She asked with a smile.
Elgin waved his hand for her to go on, “Sure, but I forgot to type up the notes again, and Griff used all the dues for some special beans someone was hawking at the trading post.”
She grinned, “That’s okay I’m sure membership director Humph did his best to bite, scratch or eat the favorite pet of every potential new member.”
“Rowr,” Humph agreed from behind closed eyes.
She smiled, rubbed her mittened hands together, “I got a letter from the Mother General of my Association yesterday, a reply to the letter I sent with your note ‘explaining,’” she air quoted the word, “the situation over the last six months. Apparently the unfolding has progressed far enough to be perceptible most places, and some of the surviving focus artifacts are becoming much more powerful. She wasn’t happy with your explanation but she was able to test it like you suggested and the results were repeatable, which didn’t make her any happier but proved you knew what you’re talking about.”
TwoShoes grunted, “I spoke to a couple of the elders in my circle, they also are ambivalent. They feel the world is complicated enough as it is without the old magic re-emerging, too much of what we remember is evil.”
Elgin had started back to whittling on a piece of wood with his belt knife, something he’d do when he needed to think. He was currently working on a shape that was vaguely birdlike. Cutter spoke through him, “It could be used in everyday life to heal, to make, to build, but it was too easily used for evil. It was like giving a five year old a very sharp knife with the ability to turn into almost any sort of tool or weapon. The five year old could use it for doing some wonderful things but it was so easy to turn the knife to evil and the five year old didn’t have the mental tools to build on the constructive things and mitigate the evil.”
The shaman businessman grunted, in disgusted “And we’re any better today?”
Cutter-Elgin grinned bitterly, “As much as you may despise our specie’s current condition it was vastly worse ten thousand, a hundred thousand, years ago. The Iffrit agrees that the world could have done with a bit more seasoning and a more gradual technological ramp up, but as bad as we are we could be much worse. And technology has a large advantage, it can be easily replicated, copied and spread, magic is tied to the magic user and relatively few humans are magic users. It will allow things currently thought impossible but it’s not going to supplant technology.”
“The Mother General says that there are some high energy physics experiments being carried out that have suddenly started showing anomalous results. Anomalous in regards to past results, but results that actually correlate well with cosmological observations that have puzzled researchers on Earth for some time.”
Elgin peeled a miniscule sliver off the wing of his work piece, “That sounds like a good thing.”
“Probably.”
TwoShoes watched the distant flicker of the souls dreaming the night away, “On another topic you know that the final papers for the Great Bear’s Den Resort are being worked up at Zeph’s law firm in New York, Elgin?”
“I’d heard,” he let his hand relax a little, turning the wood in his hand, Zephyr, now Zephyr Smith-Samson again, had gone back to New York and her job as a high power lawyer. In the month after the fight at the CircleSBarS they’d talked almost every day. Especially after her traumatized parents had retreated to New York with Hong, leaving her to arrange things at the Ranch, which she had largely left to Elgin. He’d had coffee with her, they’d laughed at a few jokes together, he’d seen a gleam of something in her eyes when she looked at him every once in a while. But one day she was packed and the next day she was gone, with a smile and a card with her cell phone number and e-mail.
“The original developer backed out when they ran into some issues raising the money. There are two developers interested, both with money, one is pretty much a shoestring operation. The other, Wilcox, Bram and Chekov is a big international name and has big international backing. They do this kind of thing across the world but this would be pretty small for them.”
“Sounds like things are going okay then?”
“That’s the story the committee lets out. Truth is the negotiations are stalled, the original developer is suing for a place at the table, the other two are playing hard
to get and the seed money we raised is evaporating like a puddle in the desert. And I don’t like it.”
Elgin looked at TwoShoes, “One of your fetishes giving off a bad vibe?”
The shaman shot him a disgusted look, “Something is not right and I don’t like it. I’ve reviewed the documents, the money, had accountants look at it, other lawyers I trust, they all say that I’m paranoid. I probably am, but it just feels wrong.”
The knife tip worried at a detail as Elgin thought, Cutter-Iffrit didn’t rise to make a comment.
“TwoShoes, Phoebe and I did some dousing yesterday, the only danger we sense is the Basik rift and something far to the east.” Kitty added.
Elgin nodded, “What do you two want me to do?”
“Go East, meet these people, be the tribe’s representative.” TwoShoes replied.
“What?” Elgin almost laughed out loud.
“Caitlin’s been out once for a few days, BlackHawk was there last week, Thomas Jones, Wendy Doe have been out there. Zephyr treats us well and tries to make us feel at home and provide us with support but the rest of them see us as stone age drunkards. That makes it hard for us to see if they are screwing us or trying to help us.”
“And they’re going to see me, an uneducated hick, red neck cowboy part breed, any differently?” Elgin snorted.
“Maybe not, but despite your own lack of confidence, you look more like a model in a men’s magazine than a cowboy and while you can speak hick with the best of us you can sound like just about anyone you like, it was your only socially redeeming quality when you were drunk,” TwoShoes shot back.
“Ouch.” Elgin said, then looked pleadingly at Kitty, “Tell him I’m a hick and they’ll trample all over me.”
She smiled sweetly, “Hope they do, then you’ll eat them for lunch and ask for more.”
Elgin grimaced, given the Iffrits penchant for eating stray irritants when hungry it was possible that lawyer might be on the menu. He went back to removing wood from his work piece.
Kitty eyed him for a moment then grinned at TwoShoes, “I take that as a sulky yes.”
-o-
Elgin looked down at the approaching tapestry of roads and buildings and decided for the hundredth time that he much preferred flying on his own wings.
“There, there young man, nothing to be worried about, flying is the safest way to travel, I’ve been flying all my life and never been in an accident, and landing’s about the safest part of the trip.” The nun in the seat next to him patted his hand comfortingly. Her name was Teresa McGovern, she’d become a nun after raising a family and losing her husband of thirty years. Now she was Sister Mercy, and she ran a small nunnery and free school in Harlem, as well as a broader teaching ministry for teen girls with children. She was eighty five and energetic as a teenager, but she was dying, though she didn’t know it. Elgin knew it was a toss up as to whether the leukemia or the brain tumor got her first.
He smiled at her, “Thanks Sister Mercy.” He patted her hand, leaving her with what he hoped was a gift. He hoped a longer life would let her do more good, and enjoy the blossoming of that good, but sometimes it could mean the reverse.
There was a momentary sinking feeling, then a jar and chirp, the nose rotated down and then the thrust reversers roared, and they were wrapped in mist for a few seconds. Then the rain was leaving individual streaks on the window. “Welcome to LaGuardia International Airport where the local time is five forty six, please remain in your seat with your personal items stowed, we will be taxiing for the next few minutes, now we have landed please feel free to use your cell phones....” The pretty stewardess far down the cabin smiled into the microphone.
He helped the nun with her carry on then pulled down his pack roll and the heavy brown mass of his leather coat. The airport felt like it held more people than he’d ever met in his whole life, and a lot of them gave him an odd look as he strolled from the gate and followed the ‘exit’ and ‘ground transportation’ signs.
“Hey cowboy, you got a little time for a lady?” Zephyr was dressed in a long buckskin skirt and with a heavy red shirt tucked in but open down the front to show off a cream silk camisole.
Elgin couldn’t help the smile that split his face, that hurt his cheeks, “Hey Deputy, I’ve always got time for a particular lady.” Then he blushed.
She smiled back, a warm smile as she strolled up to him and hugged him, then stepped back with a sigh, “Wow, I hadn’t realized.”
“Realized what,” he almost said my dear but bit it off, “Uh Zeph?”
“How much I missed Beauty.”
He leaned back, “Well, I’m one up then, I knew I missed you.” He wanted to lean down and kiss her but he resisted. He wasn’t sure what thoughts were flowing behind those beautiful brown eyes, but he was fairly sure he’d find out eventually.
She pointed at the bag he’d dropped at their feet, “The rest of your luggage downstairs?”
He shook his head with a smile, “Ah, no, I’m just a poor cowboy, clean tidy whities a spare pair of jeans and two shirts, a razor, toothbrush and comb.”
“Uh, yeah.” She swallowed, looked at him doubtfully, “Elgin, that’s not normal business wear in New York.”
“I’m certain it isn’t but I don’t have the money to buy some fancy suits.” He held up his hand, “Yeah the council offered to pay for them but I figured if my duds are fine for Beauty they’d be good enough for New York.” She blinked at his sudden descent into hick, but she looked into his face and saw glittering anger, directed at something behind her. He stepped back and scooped up the bag and the rolled up coat. “You goin’t take me to my hotel?”
The limo accelerated away from the curb, Elgin ran his hands over the rich leather then looked at Zeph broodingly, “I assume that at least one of the tracking devices in this thing are part of a security system, what about the three recorders, one with video, and the two audio transmitters, over and above the ones in the chauffeurs compartment, and what about the man with a directional mike observing us from the balcony level.”
She went stiff, opened her mouth then closed it and leaned back with a frown, “I called for a limo from the service that the team’s been using for the last several months. I’ve no idea why someone would be spying on us.”
“May not be us, but I think it is. We need to find a new service and make sure they aren’t being paid to spy on us.” That was Cutter more than Elgin speaking, if Elgin was uncertain about the situation Cutter wasn’t, he did not like it at all.
Zephyr nodded, “I’ll have my assistant take care of it first thing in the morning.” Then her lips curved in a cruel smile, “oh damn, are you going to screw with their minds.”
-o-
The fiftieth floor offices of Petters, Petters, Faulken and Christchurch was quietly bustling, a background murmur, warm to the touch but chill to the eye since the glass walls looked out into gray green rain and the bellies of clouds a few stories above.
Paralegal Gretchen Greenmantle called GeeGee by almost everyone waited for the express elevator with barely restrained impatience. Guy Venture, the second most glamorous litigator in the firm, and certainly the best looking bachelor in his age/worth bracket had called for her to come down.
There was a ‘ting’ and the elevator doors opened. Gretchen almost catapulted forward, but froze at the strange apparition standing in the elevator car. A long light tan leather coat, cut loose, with caped shoulders, and slits up the side, a western hat shadowing eyes above a face that looked like it had been chiseled with an axe out of some exotic wood, deepset blue eyes with corner creases formed by squinting into the sun for hours at a time. The coat and hat were both beaded with rain as if the man had just stepped inside.
As the tall man stepped out of the elevator he took off the hat and smiled at GeeGee, and his whole face changed, now he was boyish and a bit bashful, the short cut blonde hair a little disheveled. “Ma’am, you look like you have places to go.??
? He made a sweeping gesture to the car, which he was holding in place with his hat over the door sensor.
GeeGee looked up into the cheerful blue eyes and fell in lust, which she did quite frequently and usually to good if eventually disappointing effect.
“GeeGee are you going down or what?” Trish at the front desk asked sweetly from behind.
The paralegal jumped, smiled, “Uh yeah, thank you sir.”
“You’re welcome ma’am.” Elgin said, as the door closed on the flustered young woman he turned to the tall dark skinned woman standing behind the desk fronting the lobby area. Before he could say anything, she said, “You must be Mr. Chalmers.” She wore a small professional smile well.
Elgin bowed slightly, “Elgin Chalmers, Ms Brown?” He’d seen the small name plate on the desk as he scanned the surroundings.
The smile became a bit warmer, “Teresa Brown, I’m the office manager, please call me Teresa.” She came around the desk and held out her hand
He shook it lightly, “Good to meet you Ma’am, I mean Teresa, please call me Elgin.”
She tipped her head in polite acceptance and turned, “Ms Smith-Samson has arranged for you to use one of the small conference rooms during your stay. She said to make you at home if you arrived before she returned, she had a court appointment early this morning.”
The ‘small conference room’ was well inside and though not exactly shabby it was stark. There were a couple of laptops and tablets set up on charger stands, and boxes of paper. One chair had a stack of paper in front of it, the side of the stack a rainbow of tabs in different forms, colors and sizes.
Elgin flipped his Stetson onto the stark aluminum coat rack and swung off the leather coat. Under it he was wearing a simple red lumberjack shirt and his one and only bolo tie, his best jeans, his good riding boots and the belt buckle he’d won, almost by accident, at the Beauty Rodeo a few years before. He saw his worth tick down another notch with every item ticked off some inner checklist in Teresa’s head, but he didn’t hold it against her.
“These are the briefing papers we have put together for the various interested parties, with background documents, the various proposals, the proposed contracts and the case law in regards to the various discussion points, you can use a tablet or laptop if you need to do any background research of your own,” He could almost hear the rest of the last sentence she’d almost said, ‘Or check out some porn sites, you redneck hick.’
Elgin smiled, “This looks good, can you show me where I can get coffee, and the necessary room, and I should be fine Teresa.”
When he returned with a hot mug of coffee he set it down on a coaster on the table and pulled a device out of a pocket in the range coat. It had started life as a cheap video player, now it was a good video player and a better snoop detector and spoofer. He already knew there were three bugs in this room over and above two recording systems that were supposed to be there. He made sure the little device could spot them as he played with it for a few minutes, as if trying to figure out how to use a new toy.
Eventually he set it aside and started in on the pile of paper. The first dozen pages were actually explanations of all the different colored and shaped tabs. He read that in some detail, Cutter made snoring noises in the back of his mind while Iffrit and Elgin organized the information, he had already read most of the material and Iffrit had already largely digested and analyzed the meanings of what was down in black and white and a lot more that lay hidden in the minds of the men and women who had written it. He flipped through the stack checking to see if there was anything new or missing, ending with the original documents, the deeds and leases that had cost several people their lives.
He drained the last of the now cold coffee and got up to wander back to the coffee mess. Here he found gathered some of the great young legal minds of New York, junior associates in their expensive but slightly ‘off’ suits and the paralegals in their carefully not too dressy non uniform uniforms. There hadn’t been many of them earlier, Teresa had perceptibly cleared the halls as she advanced with the ‘hick’ in tow and only a couple of braver, or more senior than average, associates had remained in the coffee room when they’d arrived.
He got a lot of flickering looks, some faint smiles, a few gently pitying looks and sensed more sneers behind his back. The cup in his hand was redbrown with the company initials and crest in gold. One of the senior female associates, a statuesque, green eyed blond was leaning against the counter. She smiled sweetly, “Y’all look pretty country there sugar.” The accent was laid on, but cutting through the layers and the years it wasn’t far from her original bayou brogue.
“Why thank you Miss James, you dress up that counter right well yourself.” He replied with a smile that was more amused than anything else.
The blonde jumped, “Uh, how?”
“Did I know your name? You’re Zephyr’s assistant, you arranged for the new limo service this morning, the driver was very impressed and described you quite well.” Elgin poured himself a cup of coffee now that the girl had moved out of the way.
“Wow Barb, got you in one.” One of the young bucks grinned widely at the girl’s discomfiture.
Then there was a stir in the school of young chum and one of the sharks appeared, a smiling man, in a slightly darker suit, his smile belying cold blue eyes under dark brows and hair slicked down in a style that had been popular in the middle of the last century.
“Ah, you must be Mister Chalmers!” The smile broadened and developed some teeth as he advanced with a hand held out, “Good to meet you, I’m Charles Chester Petters-Smith, one of the executive partners. We are so glad that the tribe chose our company to assist in this business! Are you assisting on some technical matter, since you’re not from the tribe?”
Elgin shook hands with a smile, “Appearances can be deceiving, genetics can be strange, I’ve got a higher percentage of Indian ancestors than either Caitlin or Griffith, I guess all my Amerind heritage is down deep, the wild bare back pony riding, arrow shooting, scalp taking bits, you know.” He let some teeth show in his smile.
He went on, “The tribe appreciates Petters, Petters, Faulken and Christchurch taking our business, the Smith-Samson’s are well known and respected, since Xander’s no longer practicing we came to his daughter. We know that the business is probably a bit on the small and common side for you, so we do appreciate your taking us under your wing as it were.”
The round faced man’s smile was still there but his eyes were narrowed, he’d heard loud and clear that the tribe understood the situation and that Elgin wasn’t quite what he looked.
“There you are Elgin, oh hey Charles.” Zephyr said distractedly from the other archway. The slow exodus of associates became a near stampede now that there were two big beasts in the room.
Elgin turned with a smile, “Good morning Zeph.”
She glanced at her watch, “Almost afternoon, the developers are going to be here in half an hour.” She looked up at him closely, “Do you feel like you’re ready?”
“Ready, Zephy, really? Mr. Chalmers is the client! I’d be more worried about how ready you were.” It was said with a jolly smile for the newb but the sharks dead flat eyes raked Zeph. Charles Petters-Smith, did not like Zephyr Smith-Samson one little bit, the pair smiled and then Charles turned and left.
Zephyr got a cup of coffee and waved Elgin to the entrance she had come in through. Instead of the conference room she lead him to an office, it was modern and neat, had a glass wall that faced the main ring corridor, on the other side was another, bigger office, with a vast expanse of window on the outside. Zeph’s office door was in an alcove, where Barbara James sat resolutely focused on something on a computer monitor.
Elgin pulled out the ex-MP3 player and tapped on it a couple of times as he looked around, finally coming to lean against the desk Zeph had sat down behind. “Seems like a bad omen to be on the outs with an executive partner like Mr. Petters-Smith.??
?
She smiled faintly, “Executive partner only because he’s a barracuda the senior executive partners like to let loose on cases where they want the other side to pay in blood. But he’s an insecure, vindictive sadist at heart and everyone knows it. Some of the associates love him because he’s so funny and he gives out presents like candy, but they don’t threaten him and having them around him puffs up his importance, at least in his own eyes.”
Elgin nodded thoughtfully, “You’re a Junior Partner correct?”
“One step up from senior associate yes, the most important step,” she added a little defensively. “ Most of the lawyers who join the company never make partner, most will move on for one reason or another before they’re ‘on the bubble’ for partner. But once you’ve been ‘on the bubble’ a couple of times, and been passed over, it’s time to move on.”
“A ruthless business.”
This got a shrug, “Supposedly one of the last bastions of pure meritocracy outside of the hard sciences.”
Elgin folded himself into a seat, “What went wrong?”
She blinked, “Wrong?”
“You had a court date early this morning, which you didn’t know about last night, and it was supposed to be done quickly and yet it’s almost lunchtime before you get back and you’re obviously upset. So. What went wrong?”
After a moment of hesitation and thought she shrugged and explained, “We all have to do some pro bono work, I help out with the lawyer work for a free clinic and try and help out with some of their patients in trouble with the law. I’ve been working with a couple of Chechen girls, prostitutes, who were beaten nearly to death by their pimp for trying to run away. Of course they’re illegals, their parents sold them to the white slavers who shipped them here in a container and they figure that they’ll be worse off if they go to the government and get deported.”
Rubbing her eyes she went on, “I thought I had them on the straight and narrow, got them into a shelter got them jobs, helped set them up to apply for refugee status.”
Now she shrugged, the corners of her mouth drooping sadly, “The younger one called this morning, her cousin, Olga, wanted some more pretty things and decided to turn some tricks to make the money. Third john was an undercover cop and she was in the lock up. I got there and got her out but one of the other girls they picked up knew Olga and I’m pretty sure I saw the pimp, Bruno. I tried to make sure we couldn’t be followed which took time, then when I’d gotten Olga back to the co-op, I sat the pair of them down and had a heart to heart. And then it took forever to get back here.”
She spread her hands out on the desk, “Damn it, I am worried about them, I hope to God the other girl doesn’t tell Bruno. He’s a monster, worse than a wolf, at least you can see they’re monsters, Bruno just quit caring about anybody but himself a long time ago.”
“Any way to have the police take care of him?”
“I talked to a friend on the force, but...” she shrugged, grimaced, “He’s part of what they call the Russian Mafia, they do the real dirty work for the old guard mafia, Irish mobs, even Jamaican and Chinese international gangs. They’re far from untouchable but when it comes to an illegal alien prostitute? Meh.” She closed her eyes.
She sat staring at her hands for a while and Elgin sipped his coffee with cold alien thoughts trickling through the back of his head. At last she looked up, “The three developers and the lawyers for the main money interests are coming today to discuss the situation, see if there is a way to settle the thing amicably.”
Elgin looked into his coffee, then up, “I have a suggestion.”
“Shoot.” She looked interested.
He explained and she listened, asked a few questions, listened some more, made a suggestion or two and then listened as he wove one of them into the plan and shot the other down. She had started jotting down notes on her pad after a while and then quickly started to scribble out the plan.
Finally she looked at the clock, “They will be here in ten minutes, no way to have this typed up, proofed and ready today. We’ll have to stall for today, even see if we can get them to postpone until tomorrow.”
“What if we put the suggestion on the table today in rough form, let them critique it and then work it up tomorrow or even the next couple of days?”
She rubbed her neck, frowned at him, “Sounds good.”
“Except you don’t like the idea.”
“I don’t know, I think I’m just getting superstitious about this, it seems like every time something starts to go well something goes sideways.” She smiled crookedly, “And these days I’m not quite as dismissive of superstition as I used to be.”
“I think we should propose it, but there is one thing you need to do for me.” Elgin said easily.
She blinked, “Uh, yes?”
“There is a clause in the contract that puts a lien on the Den if there are delays in construction, outfitting or opening. It’s fair enough on its face, basically means the tribe can’t sell the land out from under the development. But in conjunction with one of the other clauses it essentially gives the financiers the ability to seize the property . If the project fell behind for any number of non-financial reasons the lien kicks in and if the financiers refuse to continue funding they essentially own the land and can force renegotiation on whatever terms they care to make.”
“What?”
He leaned over her desk, tapped up the current working documents and highlighted a couple of clauses, separated by several dozen pages and apparently completely unrelated to each other.
“Shit!” she swore savagely after reading the two clauses.
“Not your fault Zeph, I’m not sure it was on purpose,” But he suspected it had been.
“It’s my job to see that sort of thing Elgin!”
There was a knock on the door, and Barbara opened it, “Everyone has arrived Mz. Smith-Samson.” Her eyes flickered between Elgin and her boss uncertainly, she’d been watching the interaction between the two and it had been totally different than what she had seen with the other ‘Indians’ or indeed some of her really important clients.
When the door was closed Zeph stood, “You know as well as I do that those clauses are written the way they are for exactly the reason you spotted. I need to find out how they got that way and who was responsible. But for now...even more reason to see if we can postpone.”
Elgin shook his head, “Better to go ahead and have the discussion today, rewrite those two clauses so they don’t have that toxic effect and move on. It’s not clear we’ll find the culprit looking back, lets see if any wolves pop up after we shake the tree more thoroughly.”
“And me without me without my Glock and a concealed carry license.” Zeph sighed.
-o-
Zeph leaned back and watched Elgin finish off his steak, it hadn’t been a he man steak, but as good a fillet as one could get in New York, which was as good as they came these days. They’d had salads along with the fillet he’d ordered along with Brussels-sprouts, asparagus and a baked potato. He was visibly enjoying all of them.
He had met her at the restaurant’s entrance, appearing out of the rain and darkness as if walking between the raindrops. Since he was dry and knowing a little about what he was, she figured that was at least possible. The sometime cowboy was dressed in pretty much what he’d worn to the office except he’d added a very nice soft leather sports jacket. He’d certainly lit a fire in the heart of the little minx of a greeter out front.
At last he finished his meal and set the knife and fork down with a sigh. He looked at her, and smiled at her expression of enquiry, “It was all excellent.”
“I’d have thought you’d have had some of the seafood, it’s much better here than in Wyoming.”
He shrugged, “Later.” Iffrit was getting hungry and raw fish was going to be on the menu.
She swirled the merlot in her glass, “That was an interesting session today. I would not have expected t
hem to agree to the suggestion to break the work up like that.”
“HCD had been working with the tribe for years, they know the most about the land and the opportunity, everyone likes their layout, their problem was the secondary infrastructure and infrastructure as much as money. Wilkes-Barns is more used to big public works, the access improvements along the highway and working with the airport in the city gives them an in there with a lot of legs since Wyoming is booming these days. Johnson and Sons are really builders with the chops to develop projects, they’re used to working in the mountain west, know the ins and outs better than HCD ever could. So Wilkes-Barnes does the infrastructure, Johnson and Sons do the secondary infrastructure and foundations, HCD builds the superstructure and then moves into outfit and startup with Wilkes-Barnes providing management support. They each get to do what they do best and this way Wilkes-Barnes gets to use Johnson and Son’s local connections, and HCD gets to use Wilkes-Barnes supplier network.”
“And its win, win, win all the way around.” She said with a teasing grin.
Elgin winced, “So I got a bit carried away with my own eloquence. But you were part of it.”
Zeph laughed, “It was brilliant, you just kept asking innocent questions, pointing things out, let people talk then I’d chime in and walk them a few steps forward, you’d defuse an argument with your guileless blue eyes and we’d start the cycle again. Most of them will have decided it was a setup by the next meeting.”
“One person did realized what was going on,” Elgin said quietly, “Dmitri Andropov with the Twin Eagles and he didn’t like it at all. Did you find anything strange about Twin Eagle Financial’s team?”
“It was big, don’t know why they brought the two associates unless they were there to listen and learn. The girl’s going to have to learn to dress a bit more conservatively, I think she may be new to the States, some of the women from euro Russia tend to dress flashy.”
Elgin shook his head, “I think the two older guys were the associates, the younger pair were bodyguards.”
She almost protested then shut her mouth, “You could be right, Twin Eagles is a bit of an enigma. It’s a pretty small operation with a few secretive principles, and Dmitri might be one of them. They are spreading money around the US, mostly on good solid money making bets with a few fliers.”
“We a good bet or a flier?”
“Good bet.” She smiled cheerfully.
“So you think the Russian’s who back Twin Eagles are just looking for safe returns?”
Her mouth twisted, “I’m rather sorry to say that while I’ve met a lot of nice Russians, and honest Russians, and quite a few rich Russians, I’ve never met a nice honest rich Russian, not by our standards anyway.”
He nodded, “Which explains why that little clause trap snuck in after they got involved.”
“Well one clause was added by Wilkes-Barnes, the other was a modification of an existing clause but yeah, it was after Twin Eagles came to the table.”
She watched him frown at the table, “Something else is bothering you!”
Elgin glanced up and smiled, “Two things, first, what used to be Russia, the steppes, forest and tundra have been a breeding ground of magic and barbarism for a very long time. Second, it’s Djins favorite hiding place in his mad times. Before the start of human history its magic users, shamans, witch doctors, fire witches, ice witches, wind witches, monster makers and monster killers, were a constant thorn in Iffrits side.”
“So when a mysterious Russian turns up, the Iffrit’s hackles rise.”
Elgin shrugged, “You could say that. But I’m also worried, New York should be magically dead, but it’s not, there are several very strong foci here and some of them have been here a long time.”
“So you can do magic here?”
He shrugged, “Iffrit, like Djin, could have done magic here anyway, but human magic users can also work powerful effects here..”
She sighed, “I’ve got to go see the girls this evening before going to bed. Make sure they are settled down. I’ll be in the office early tomorrow to start cutting and pasting the contract based on the plan we hammered out this afternoon. Should be ready for a review later in the afternoon.”
“You’re sure there’s nothing I can do to help?”
Zeph shook her head, “Its grungy lawyer and paralegal work, it would drive you nuts and you’d drive us nuts, best to go out and tour the city till four or so.”
He didn’t press, she paid for the meal and was pleased that he didn’t even protest once she pointed out it was a business expense. He helped her with her jacket and then went and fetched her coat and hat. He offered to get her a taxi, she was going to take the subway, he offered to escort her to the station and she accepted.
As they walked through the cold rain, she noticed the rain hitting his Stetson and rolling off onto the leather jacket, beading on it and rolling off as if the surface were hydrophobic treated glass rather than fabric. It was subtle and effective, just like Elgin. They came to the subway entrance, and he stood aside to let her go, she smiled, “Good night cowboy.” And then she turned quickly and went down the stairs.