Mean Streets

Something that glowed like a dying ember fell to the sidewalk.

I pushed myself up to pursue him, slipped on the wet grass next to the sidewalk, and rolled my ankle painfully. By the time I'd gotten to my feet again, he was too far away for me to catch, even if my ankle had been steady. A second later, he hopped a fence and was out of sight.

I was left there, standing beside my car on one foot, while neighborhood dogs sent up a racket. I gimped forward and looked down at the glowing embers of the thing he'd dropped. It was an amulet, its leather cord snapped in the middle. It looked like it had been a carving of wood and ivory, but it was scorched almost completely black, so I couldn't be certain. I picked it up, wrinkling my nose at the smell. Then I turned back to the car and closed the open door. After that, I untwisted the piece of wire that holds the trunk closed, picked up a blanket-wrapped bundle, and went back to Michael's place.

Morning on a school day in the Carpenter household is like Southampton, just before June 6, 1944. There's a lot of yelling, running around, and organizing transport, and no one seems to be exactly sure what's going on. Or maybe that was just me, because by a little before eight, all the kids were trooping out to their bus stop, led by Alicia, the senior schoolchild.

'So he grabbed the sword and ran?' Molly asked, sipping coffee. She apparently had a cold, and her nose was stuffy and bright pink. My apprentice was her mother's daughter, tall and blond and too attractive for me ever to be entirely comfortable-even wrapped up in a pink fluffy robe and flannel PJs, with her hair a mess.

'Give me some credit,' I said, unwrapping the blanket-wrapped bundle and producing Amoracchius. 'He thought he took the sword. 'Michael frowned at me as he put margarine on his toast. 'I thought you told me that the sword was best hidden in plain sight.'

'I've been getting paranoid in my age,' I replied, munching on a bit of sausage. I blinked at the odd taste and looked at him.

' Turkey,' Michael said mildly. 'It's better for me.'

'It's better for everyone,' Charity said firmly. 'Including you, Harry.'

'Gee,' I said. 'Thanks.'

She gave me an arch look. 'Can't you just use the amulet to track him down?'

'Nope,' I said, putting some salt on the turkey 'sausage.' 'Tell her why not, grasshopper.'

Molly spoke through a yawn. 'It caught on fire. Fire's a purifying force. Wiped out whatever energy was on the amulet that might link back to the owner.' She blinked watery eyes. 'Besides, we don't need it.'

Michael frowned at her.

'He took the decoy,' I said, smiling. 'And I know how to find that.'

'Unless he's gotten rid of it, or taken steps to make it untraceable,' Michael said in a patient, reasonable tone. 'After all, he was evidently prepared with some sort of defensive measure against your abilities.'

'Different situation entirely,' I said. 'Tracking someone by using one of their personal possessions depends upon following a frequency of energy that is inherently unstable and transient. I actually have a piece of the decoy sword, and the link between those two objects is much more concrete. It'd take one he-uh, heck of a serious countermeasure to stop me from finding it.'

'But you didn't trail him last night?' Charity asked.

I shook my head. 'I didn't know where I'd have been going, I wasn't prepared, and since apparently someone is interested in the swords, I didn't want to go off and leave…'

You.

'… the sword…'

Unprotected.

'… here,' I finished.

'What about the other one?' Michael asked quietly.

Fidelacchius, brother-sword to Michael's former blade, currently rested in a cluttered basket in my basement-next to the heavy locked gun safe that was warded with a dozen dangerous defensive spells. Hopefully, anyone looking to take it would open the safe first and get a face full of boom. My lab was behind a screen of defensive magic, which was in turn behind an outer shell of defensive magic that protected my apartment. Plus there was my dog, Mouse, two hundred pounds of fur and muscle, who didn't take kindly to hostile visitors.

'It's safe,' I told him. 'After breakfast, I'll track buzz-cut guy down, have a little chat with him, and we'll put this whole thing to bed.'

'Sounds simple,' Michael said.

'It could happen.'

Michael smiled, his eyes twinkling.

Buzz, as it turned out, wasn't a dummy. He'd ditched the decoy sword in a Dumpster behind a fast-food joint less than four blocks from Michael's place. Michael sat behind the wheel of his truck, watching as I stood hip-deep in trash and dug for the sword.

'You sure you don't want to do this part?' I asked him sourly. “I would, Harry,' he replied, smiling. 'But my leg. You know.'

The bitch of it was, he was being sincere. Michael had never been afraid of work. 'Why dump it here, do you think?'

I gestured at a nearby streetlight. 'Dark last night, no moon. This is probably the first place he got a good look at it. Parked his car here, too, maybe.' I found the handle of the cheap replica broadsword I'd picked up at what had amounted to a martial arts trinkets shop. 'Aha,' I said, and pulled it out.

There was another manila envelope duct-taped to the blade. I took the sword and the envelope back to the truck. Michael wrinkled up his nose at the smell coming up from my garbage-spattered jeans, but that expression faded when he looked at the envelope taped to the sword. He exhaled slowly.

'Well,' he said. 'No use just staring at it.'

I nodded and peeled the envelope from around the blade. I opened it and looked in.

There were two more photos.

The first was of Michael, in the uniform shirt he wore when he coached his daughter's softball team. He was leaning back on the bleachers, as he had been when I'd first walked up to speak to him.

The second picture was of a weapon-a long-barreled rifle with a massive steel snout on the end of it, and what looked like a telescope for a sight. It lay on what looked like a bed with cheap motel sheets.

'Hell's bells,' I muttered. 'What is that?'

Michael glanced at the picture. 'It's a Barrett,' he said quietly. 'Fifty-caliber semiautomatic rifle. Snipers in the Middle East who use them are claiming kills at two kilometers, sometimes more. It's one of the deadliest long-range weapons in the world.'

He looked up and around him at all the buildings. 'Overkill for Chicago, really,' he said with mild disapproval.

'You know what I'm thinking?' I said. 'I'm thinking we shouldn't be sitting here in your truck right next to a spot Buzz expected us to go while he and his super-rifle are out there somewhere.'

Michael looked unperturbed. 'If he wanted to simply kill me here, he's had plenty of time to make the shot.'

'Humor me,' I said.

He smiled and then nodded. 'I can take you to your place. You can get some clean clothes, perhaps.'

'That hurts, man,' I said, brushing uselessly at my jeans as the truck moved out. 'You know what bugs me about this situation?'

Michael glanced aside at me for a second. 'I think I do. But it might be different than what you were thinking.'

I ignored him. 'Why? I mean sure, we need to know who this guy is, but why is he doing this?'

'It's a good question.'

'He sends the pictures to me, not you,' I said. I held up the new photo of the sniper rifle. 'I mean, this is obviously an escalation. But if what he wanted was to kill you, why…? Why document it for me?'

'It looks to me,' Michael said, 'as if he wants you to be afraid.'

'So he threatens you?' I demanded. 'That's stupid.'

He smiled. 'Do people threaten you very often?'

'Sure. All the time.'

'What happens when they do?' he asked.

I shrugged. 'I say something mouthy,' I said. 'Then I clean their clocks for them at the first opportunity.' 'Which is probably why our photographer here-'

'Call him Buzz,' I said. 'It will make things simpler.'

'Why Buzz hasn't bothered threatening you.'

I frowned. 'So you're saying Buzz knows me.'

'It stands to reason. It seems clear that he's trying to push you into some sort of reaction. Something he thinks you'll do if you're frightened.'

'Like what?' I asked.

'What do you think?' he replied.

I put my hand on the hilt of Amoracchius. The sword's tip rested on the floorboards of the truck, between my feet.

'That would be my guess, too,' he said.

I frowned down at the blade, and nodded. 'Maybe Buzz figured I'd bring you the sword if you were in danger. So that…' I didn't finish.

'So that I'd have some way of defending myself,' Michael said gently. 'You can say it, Harry. You won't hurt my feelings.'

I nodded at the true sword. 'Sure you don't want it?'

Michael shook his head. 'I told you, Harry. That part of my life is over.'

'And what if Buzz makes good?' I asked quietly. 'What if he kills you?'

Michael actually laughed. 'I don't think that's going to happen,' he said. 'But if it does…' He shrugged. 'Death isn't exactly a terrifying proposition for me, Harry. If it was, I could hardly have borne the sword for as long as I did. I know what awaits me, and I know that my family will be taken care of.'