“What if he attacks the team?” Barbara asked.
“Hah!” Duncan laughed. “Let him. None of these guys learned about hiking by taking happy little walks in the woods. They’re all former military and they’ll all be armed. We’ve got, among the Rats present, at least six former infantry, two former Special Forces and a SEAL. And before you ask, if he’s one of them it won’t matter. They will be fully briefed. By Agent Donahue. There’s no way that he could take all of them out. Even if he’s on the team. They go to a phone, pass on Greg’s message and HRT gets in here if it takes calling out the National Guard with armored personnel carriers.”
“Well, actually…” Barb said, cautiously, just as there was a furious knocking on connecting room door.
“Miz Goldberg,” Duncan said, raising his eyebrows at the slight Jewish woman he saw when he opened the door.
“Where is she?” Goldberg said, striding past him and into the room. “You stupid-”
“I know,” Barbara said, shaking her head. “You don’t have to beat me up, I’m already doing that. All three of us are.”
“Whose stupid idea was it to try to flush him?” Kay said, ignoring the oblique plea.
“I think that throwing around recriminations is a bit late,” Duncan said, sitting back down in his chair after closing the door. “We need to get ourselves out of this cleft stick and then throw around recriminations. But, never fear, the Wharf Rat Rangers are prepared to go as far as necessary to find a phone. At which point we can call in a Hostage Rescue Team and we’re all saved.”
“That’s what you think,” Goldberg said, looking at Barb. “Are you going along with this?”
“I was just trying to figure out a way to explain,” Barbara admitted, sighing.
“It won’t work,” Kay snapped. “If he wants to take down your team he can. The only reason he’s not going straight to mass murder is either Barb or her friend.”
“Excuse me?” Duncan said, frowning. “Barbara’s a charming person, but…”
“Shut your fool mouth, youngster,” Goldberg snarled, her accent clearly Hebrew. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with here.”
“Clue me,” Duncan said, seriously.
“Who are you?” Barb asked, looking directly at Goldberg.
“That’s nobody’s business, but…” Kay said, frowning.
“Barbara Everette,” Duncan said, nodding in her direction and waving at Goldberg. “May I make your acquaintance of Lieutenant Colonel Hega Moshen, Israeli Defense Force and later Shin Bet. I believe your highest rank in the IDF was, in fact, major, correct, Colonel?”
“You were a colonel in Shin Bet?” Barb asked, surprised. She’d thought the tough little Jewish woman was probably a former sergeant or low-level Mossad agent.
“Yes,” Kay said after a long pause. “I was the Shin Bet commander for Israeli Special Circumstances.”
“Okay, I got all of that except that last bit,” Duncan admitted, waving his hand vaguely. “Hell, I knew all of that except the last bit. What’s Special Circumstances? Serial killings?”
“Special ones,” Kay said, looking at Barbara. “She’s SC,” she added with a jerk of her chin at the homemaker. “American SC.”
“Who was Goldberg?” Barb asked, quietly.
“Does anybody want to actually answer my question?” Duncan said, plaintively.
“My husband,” Kay said, just as quietly. “He was our top adept.”
“Ok-aaay,” Duncan said, shaking his head. “I did not just hear you say that. No, tell me I didn’t just hear you actually say he was an adept. Please?”
“Special Circumstances is the term used for supernatural investigations,” Barbara said, sighing and still looking at the old Jewish woman. “This person isn’t just a serial killer, he’s a necromancer. The reason there aren’t any marks on Timson’s body is that he ripped his soul right out. Pull the soul out and the body stops working.”
“Oh, I dunno,” Duncan said, trying to catch up. “I had this manager one time…”
“She is not joking,” Kay said, brutally. “I am not joking. If you send out a team, they would have no defense against the necromancer.”
“They would if one of us went with them,” Barb pointed out.
“You any good at hiking?” Duncan asked, smiling. “And if you’re gone, who’s going to protect me?”
“You’d accept me protecting you?” Barbara asked, grinning. “What was all that about women and children first?”
“I also said something about if a woman is a warrior,” Duncan said, shrugging. “I’m still working on the assumption that you’ve both been smoking too much peyote. But I’m also not willing to trust my skin on it. I’m attached to it. Very attached.”
“You would probably survive,” Barb said, looking at him carefully. “You’re… you’re not protected by your faith like I am, but you’ve got something. I’m not all that experienced, but I can tell that you’re powerful in some way.”
“You’re just seeing my natural sexual charisma,” Duncan said, avoiding her eyes.
“What aren’t you telling us?” Kay asked, sharply.
“It’s stupid,” Duncan said, shrugging. “I don’t believe in hocus-pocus.”
“Do you believe in God?” Barbara asked.
“Oh, maybe,” Duncan said, shrugging again. “I’m more agnostic. But…”
“But?” Kay asked.
“I’ve had a few girlfriends, before I was married,” he added, looking up at Barb. “Some of them were into witchy stuff. I didn’t pay it any mind as long as they were good in bed and didn’t nag too much. But one of the ones that… I suppose if you’re not joking she might have really been strong I guess. She’d never let me be around when she was doing a rite. She said I was something like a natural power sink. She called me black silk.”
“I’m not sure what that means,” Barbara said, uncertainly. “I’m really new at this. But I don’t think the necromancer could just rip your soul out. He might be able to kill you, but…” She paused and looked at him. “Can I try something?”
“You can feel free,” Duncan said. “As long as it’s not pulling my heart out and sending my soul to hell. I hate heat. I’ll take the Ninth Level, though. All that lovely ice…”
“No,” she said, reaching into her power base. She had found that there were two sources of power, one that was her channel and the other she supposed was just in her. She had a hard time figuring out exactly what to do, but after a moment she decided that God wasn’t going to condemn her for trying a compelling charm. She’d been told how to form one in class, but never tried it because it seemed intrusive. Now she just reached out and tried to compel him to draw his weapon and set it down.
“That was an odd feeling,” Duncan said, his face wrinkling. “Is it cold in here?”
“I’m not sure what I’m doing,” Barb said, desperately. “Colonel, could I…”
“Go ahead,” Kay said, nodding. “I’ll be the control if you wish.”
When she had tried to compel Duncan she had thrown power at him and had it simply… disappear. This time she just tried to compel the colonel to bend down and pick up a pen. Instead she hit something like a wall. It was strong but she knew she could overcome it if she tried.
“I could push past your resistance,” Barbara said, opening her eyes.