Chapter 16
On the Trail of Lothwen
{So what do we do now, Malfinien?}
{We call Balimar,} she snapped back. {This is a real catastrophe. And I must say, Firlaith has shown himself to be far more Unfit than you ever were or appeared. Running out like that...} Malfinien trailed off into muttered complaints, and Esgalmir looked back out the car window.
They reached her house and whipped into the driveway. Malfinien crushed the brake pedal down, threw the door open, and leapt from the car in one smooth motion. Esgalmir shook his head and slipped out after her.
She had already disappeared into the depths of her house by the time he entered; her haste had scorned to switch on the lights, and he had to wait a moment for his eyes to fully adjust.
{Malfinien?}
{Yes?} He followed the voice to find her punching numbers into her phone.
{I was thinking, I could take your car over to her place, check out the situation there.}
She paused in the button-punching. {...why?}
{Well, if this is going to get such a violent reaction from the humans, they'll probably check her house. They'll do it now that they know she's not human; we would need to go there whether we had gotten her out or not.}
{Good point. Yes, very true... all right, give me a second and we'll go there together.} She stabbed in the last number and put the phone to her ear. Almost immediately, she began tapping her foot in impatience, and Esgalmir smiled slightly. Then she stiffened and spoke.
"Oui? Allo? Oui, Balimar, c'est Malfinien. Ecoutez, je suis désolée de vous téléphoner si tôt, mais une chose très grave est passée..."
Esgalmir waited at the front door; his mind took the inaction to begin running farther and farther into the possible outcomes-- bad and worse. By the time Malfinien finished the danger had finally sunk in, and he was as worried as she.
{To Lothwen's, then?}
{Immediately.}
Esgalmir strode out to the car as Malfinien locked up, then asked her, {What did he say?} Malfinien didn't answer until they were safely on their way.
{He said to get out while we still can.} Esgalmir shook his head sadly.
{And what of Lothwen?}
{Apparently, she was to be left to the tender mercies of human researchers. What do you plan to do at her house, exactly?}
{Find anything that could possibly point to any of us and remove it. Phone numbers, addresses above all, e-mails, anything. Do you know what she had?}
{Only the same things you do-- contact information for everyone in the state.}
{Any particularly Elvish things that could clue others in to us?}
Malfinien furrowed her brow. {Lothwen always wore a brooch. It might give them a clue, I suppose, to go on; but I don't think it would be recognizably non-human. And don't forget aboutThe Lord of the Rings-- it should be easy to pass any 'Elven' artifacts off as movie merchandise.
{She did have an old book of songs and tales. She is the last of her house, and it holds many of their stories. I don't know where to find it, but that would be something to get-- not so much as denying evidence as not losing something that valuable.}
Esgalmir nodded, then stiffened as another thought struck him. {What if they're ahead of us, or arrive while we're there? Are you armed?}
For answer Malfinien threw open the glove compartment.
{What is it?} he asked, baffled.
{Tazer,} she replied. {Shocks the target, temporarily incapacitation. Works quite well, although only at close range. What are you doing?}
Esgalmir was rooting around in the depths of the compartment. {Don't you have any more lethal weapons? With longer range?}
{A pistol, yes. Wrong side.} He switched over and found it.
{Well, that's good to know.}
{Are you armed?} He smiled a thin smile, and a half-second later a silver dagger balanced in his hand.
{Very nice,} she commented after an appraising glance. {Is that all?} He shrugged and, with another swift move, sheathed the dagger back in his boot.
{I carry an assortment of far less elegant knives-- all non-metallic so they can hide from detectors. Strictly for throwing.} He let that sink in.
{So... your main knife isn't detected?} He grinned smugly.
{Indeed it is not.}
{That would make it-- mithril?} she demanded. {Come on, Esgalmir.}
{It is!} he protested. {Real Dwarven make!}
{Oh, this story sounds interesting. But not now-- we're here. Out.} Once again Malfinien was almost to the door of the house by the time Esgalmir exited the car. Lothwen's house sat at the very back of a quiet circle. He made his way up the brick pathway to Malfinien, who was standing impatiently by the door.
{We are on a very tight schedule here,} she snapped at him. {Get the door open, please.}
Why? He looked past the locked door to the window. {Let's go in through there.}
{Hello? Burglar alarms?}
For answer Esgalmir shoved the window up and smirked at Malfinien. {She left it unlatched.}
{That doesn't answer my question-} But Esgalmir had already disappeared into the house.
Through the window, and drat! it opened right behind a lamp. Esgalmir had an ungraceful moment rescuing the lamp, untangling himself from the drapes, and somehow avoiding tripping in the wires, but he managed it. A moment later, sans-lamp, he looked around and found the light switch; he flipped it, then closed and latched the window and walked to the front door.
He took a half-second to formulate his expression and then opened the door. Without a hint of emotion he gave Malfinien a formal Elven bow. {Enter, lady fair.}
Malfinien strode past him, rolling her eyes. {Esgalmir, do you still not understand? We are supposed to be working fast. Not fooling around.} Not interested in hearing her finish, he headed into the next room over and flipped on the light to illuminate the kitchen. Where was the computer?
He slipped into the next room-- some kind of parlor-- and the next-- a sort of breakfast room. Big windows, nice window seat, pretty little table. The door leading from it opened into her bedroom, which included the computer.
{Got it,} he called.
{Got what? Precision would be nice.}
{The computer. Find the phone numbers-}
{-and addresses, yes, of course.} He contemplated the computer for a moment. He could switch it on, go in to her address list, and delete every Elven address; but that would take time. And be reversible, unless she happened to have one of the shredder programs.
Alternately, he could use a foolproof technique and simply take the computer from the house. That would definitely point any investigators worth a penny to the existence of friends, though. So... either take the whole computer or none.
He frowned. What about destroying it? Pointless-- bad for Lothwen if she survived, and no better as far as hiding their involvement. No, he'd just take the whole thing.
A few minutes later found Esgalmir balancing an entire computer system on the way to Malfinien's car. He arranged it carefully in her back seat-- not enough time to load it into the trunk-- and went back in. Malfinien met him at the door to the kitchen.
{I've gotten the addresses and phone numbers. What about the computer?}
{In the car. I just need to go back and do what I can to hide the fact that she had a computer.}
{All right. Next, back to the hospital.}
Esgalmir finished disguising the room in a few minutes, then headed to the front door. Just as he switched off the light, he saw the lights of a car approaching from around a corner, back down the road. At this hour, who would be driving around? Besides them, of course. There was only one explanation.
{Oh-} He locked and slammed the door, then ran to the car. Malfinien had seen the light too. {Go! Go!} She didn't need to be told once, much less twice-- the moment his foot was safely off the ground she sent the car hurtling forward, just into a nearby driveway. {Down.}
They dropped simultaneously to the floor of the car. The headlights came into view of the windows, lighting them up; they approached, then stopped moving. After a moment a door opened and they heard the regular tread of feet, followed by the sound of another door and another pair of feet. The two pairs of feet walked over the asphalt and onto the brick, then paused at the door. After a quiet moment, Esgalmir could just hear the sound of lock-picking, official-style. This lasted about a minute, then the door opened, the feet entered, and the door closed.
{Take a look?} whispered Malfinien.
{Sure.} Esgalmir eased the door open, slithered out onto the grass, then pushed it to. He crept on hands and knees to the end of the car and peered around, thereby avoiding the full headlight glare. It was a police car, completely standard. That meant it probably carried only two people; and they were both inside the house.
Strange that the police should be involved. Then again, who would be sent on a mission like this? They had probably been told Lothwen-- or Ms. Harper, as she went by-- was a member of some kind of ring, and probably had addresses and etc. for other members.
Esgalmir took the chance of rising into a crouch. The lights in the house were on again, and as he watched, a shadow moved across the drape to meet another shadow.
{Both accounted for,} he muttered, then returned to the car. {They're both in the house, and they're policemen. I think we should leave now.} Malfinien, however, was looking clever. {Umm... what are you contemplating?}
{Putting them out of action for the night. Or at least their car. They'd probably hear us leaving if we just drove off-- that's just what we don't need, to confirm others like Lothwen.}
{I'm listening...} Malfinien grinned and outlined her plan. Esgalmir gave a resigned shrug and left the car again.
He slipped over to the police car and tested the passenger door. Locked, as he'd suspected. He shrugged and reached into a boot, pulling out one of his thinner knives. Time to do some real lock-picking.
20 seconds later the door clicked and opened it cautiously. Inside, the first thing that caught his eye was the shotgun; a cursory glance showed it to be unloaded. Truly not very worried, were they? He precisely and permanently disabled the radio, then exited. They probably carried handheld radios, but no harm in trying.
He re-locked the door and turned to the next step-- slashing the tires. Or more precisely, puncturing them, one after another, with his mithril blade. Satisfied, he returned to Malfinien's car, job well done.
Almost. At that moment the front door opened, and Esgalmir dropped motionless to the ground. A young policewoman stepped out and up the brick path; Esgalmir waited, perhaps he wouldn't have to do anything.
But 10 feet from the car she froze; she must have seen the tires. Then she turned casually and walked quickly back to the house; the moment she entered she pulled her pistol and radio.
"Sir, tires are slashed. We've got trouble." Esgalmir strained for the answer, but even Elvish hearing could not quite overcome the quietness of the other's response; whatever it was, the woman replaced the handheld and closed the door.
Esgalmir breathed out and got immediately into the car. {Let's go now; she's probably going to come around from behind the house.} Malfinien nodded and started the car.
At that, the front door slammed open. A muttered curse: the woman was standing there, pistol in hand.
The two Elves dropped again, Malfinien turning the key back as she went down. Esgalmir slipped out-- for the third time, this was getting a little annoying-- and slithered silently under the car, careful not to expose any part of himself on the other side.
The woman approached slowly, pistol pointing at the driver's side window; he could see her confusion and uncertainty, and smiled grimly. That would make this easier. He gathered himself and waited.
The moment her left foot came within range he shot out one long arm and snatched her foot out from under her. She gave an unprofessional squawk and crashed down backwards, but kept a hold on her pistol.
Esgalmir shot out from under the car, dagger in hand; he threw it in a blur of silver and gold, and neatly knocked the gun from her hand. She scrambled for it, but not a moment later Esgalmir had her in an inescapable headlock. She dropped, he went with her; she struck out, trying to incapacitate him, but with his other arm he easily overpowered her. She stopped struggling-- presumably she knew a hopeless situation when in one.
"You know who we is, don't you?" he rasped, changing his voice to resemble a crack user.
"Nons," she gasped. Esgalmir frowned.
"What you talkin' about, woman?"
"Non-humans-- aliens-- I-" OK, this was Not Good. He shifted his grip slightly and increased the pressure; a moment later she passed out. He released her so she could breathe again, then went to retrieve the pistol and his knife.
He swore softly as he pulled it out of the ground; someone was coming around from behind the house, trying to be quiet. He shook his head at Malfinien when she gestured madly for him to get in the car; she groaned silently and disappeared, presumably back to the floor. Esgalmir slipped over to the bushes lining Lothwen's house, pressing himself into the shadows; a few seconds later the other, this time a policeman, came creeping through the dark. He also had his pistol out, but held it pointing straight up next to his head; he looked like he was acting in some police show. That didn't keep him from being pretty stealthy, though, for a human; Esgalmir gave him credit for that. Then threw his dagger into the back of his head.
He had meant to stun, not kill-- the pommel smacked the policeman's head with a soft thunk, and he stumbled to the ground with a groan. Esgalmir followed swiftly, snatching the pistol before the policeman came to himself again, then sent him more firmly into dreamland with another sharp rap on the head. {And now to take you with us,} he muttered to the woman; he hefted her to one shoulder and walked to the car.
{And where do you want to put her?} Malfinien asked calmly, as if neutralizing police officers and breaking into houses had already become routine.
{Hmm... she probably wouldn't appreciate the trunk, so let me move the computer there and I'll put her in the back seat. Don't worry, I will of course tie her up.} Malfinien started the car back up and waited for him to finish the rearrangement.
{And now for you,} he said finally, turning cheerfully to the unconscious policeman on the ground. He relieved him of his handheld, toted him back into the house, and locked it carefully behind him.
{And now we leave,} he finished, closing the car door.
{It is to be hoped.} Malfinien cruised out of the circle and back to the main street. {Where to now?}
{I would say to the hospital, to try and look up where Lothwen might have been moved to, but we can just ask her.} He jerked a thumb into the back seat.
{Just in time, I see,} muttered Malfinien. Esgalmir twisted and looked behind them.
{Ah, more of our friends. The man must have called for backup.}
{Not our concern. Now, did I hear her correctly? We are being searched as non-humans?}
{Right,} he answered grimly. {That was an amazingly quick response. Too quick.}
{What do you mean?}
{The humans haven't even had a full day, yet they've already got Lothwen moved to some secure area, they've sent police to search her house, and they've gotten special forces in for non-humans. I very much doubt this woman works here normally-- they're not going to have a special unit in every city.}
{Then what do you attribute their speed to? By the way, we still don't know where we're going.}
{I'm not sure about either, but they're related. Malfinien, has anyone seen through your disguise? Seen your ears, or anything like that?}
{No-- why?} He launched into the story of meeting Sarah.
{So, she's the only one I can think of who might be responsible for this. If so, she knows where I live and where you live. We can't go back.}
{A 13-year-old human girl? I doubt she's behind it, Esgalmir. I'm stopping here.}
He looked at the Wal-Mart, way across the parking lot. {All right, it's abandoned enough. Now, as to Sarah-- if you don't think she's responsible, who do you think is?}
{I think this is within the limits of human response. A little stretched, perhaps, but believable. What I find totally unbelievable is that some girl like that would be the agent of turning us in. But-- if she mentioned the ears, and her father moves in the right circles, it could have been enough to provoke an investigation. Particularly if they find out your little 'disease' is bogus. I could see that; again, though, a stretch of the imagination.}
{I think we need to get this girl. She could very well cause a great deal of trouble if she is indeed the driving force behind the investigation.}
{Well, where does she live?} Esgalmir gave a helpless shrug.
{I don't know, she always sought me out. Wait--} He cast his memory back to that day on the bus. The book she was writing in, one of those black-and-white binders, with something written on the front... he concentrated and yes, her name and address had been there. {Sarah McHean, 245 Beckinsdale Drive, Charlotte,} he recited.
{Very good,} Malfinien said in surprise. {Where'd you dredge that up from?}
{Never mind, let's go.} She nodded in resignation and drove back out of the parking lot. Esgalmir waited, then decided to move to the back seat to see if their policewoman had begun reviving yet.