Time stretched and snapped. “If only I didn’t feel so goddamn helpless!”
broke from me.
She reached to squeeze my hand. “You were anything but, this morning.”
“Thanks, sweetheart. You and Balawahdiwa weren’t exactly freeload-ing.
But that was when the enemy came out in the open–at last, after all
these days when– Oh, hell, it’s still like groping around in a fog.
Can’t see anything, can’t tell north from south, can’t even grab hold of
the clammy faceless gray,” to slash and bite and feel blood spurt hot.
“Why, we helped the agents learn that foreign devils are involved, we
brought Balawahdiwa into partnership, al-Bunni gave you his spacecraft
plans, last night we met none less than Kokopelli–and if you don’t know
how extraordinary that was for a white person, how many mages and
anthropologists would give half their teeth and a left kidney for the
experience, you haven’t really learned anything about this country–and
then we frustrated a direct attack and have undoubtedly provided the FBI
with a number of important clues.”
Ginny had spoken fast, but somehow her tone rang leaden.
“Yeah,” I said. “Except we’ve been barely on the fringe of the
investigation, and I’ve a notion that from here on we’ll be eased out.
We aren’t official, and we are related to Will Graylock, and in the past
we didn’t stick meekly to our assigned parts as passive civilians. We’ve
got those plans, but unless we can find some way to make hardware from
them, plans is all they’ll be for a long while–maybe forever. Kokopelli
doesn’t take us seriously enough to speak for us to his higher-ups, and
I wonder if Balawahdiwa can approach them directly. We escaped alive,
but the enemy’s not going to underestimate us again. No, he’ll keep on
with his dirty work, but quietly, while you and I sit idle and the
G-men– Oh, they aren’t fools, but I’ve got a hunch the enemy took their
measure beforehand and made provision against their methods.”
My witch laid fingers around chin and gazed out the window. “Yes, that
may well be,” she murmured. “Coyote could act on impulse, but those
behind him, who urged him on and opened the way and then doubtless
helped–yes, I believe they’re thinking far ahead.”
She looked back at me. It was as if a green fire flickered in her eyes.
Now her voice took on a shivery land of life. “If this is a plot by Fu
Ch’ing, to wreck the American space program as part of gnawing away at
the foundations of all the West– Perhaps it isn’t. But our ignorance
itself is a heavy handicap. I can imagine him snickering in his
hideaway, at the middle of his web. One way or another, we need to
know.”
I couldn’t respond in land, not at once. “The British have been trying
hard, and they aren’t fools either.”
“No, but– Steve, I’ve been thinking. The fact that they’ve failed thus
far seems to show that he’s taken their measure, in your words. And
surely also of every thaumaturge they might reasonably consult, whether
from other government agencies or independent operators. Nevertheless,
Fu Ch’ing is mortal. And demons too have their limitations–in some ways
narrower than the limits on humans. Nobody can think of everything.”
Excitement rammed into me. It felt cold and smelled of thunderstorm.
“Hey, you don’t mean–”
“Cardinal Point was–is again, by now–well warded against every
plausible kind of hostile spell and Power, whether American, European,
or Indian. Nobody thought of Far Eastern forces. They aren’t too well
understood in the West anyway. Well, I’ve acquired some small amount of
Zuni lore and skill. Would the enemy be prepared for that?”
“My God!” I leaped to my feet, shaking. “And you and I together, we’d be
unexpected in ourselves, if we manage it right– The old firm!” I
whooped. “Matuchek and Matuchek, confounders of the ungodly, rescuers of
the afflicted, we also walk dogs! Yahoo!”
“Easy, wolf, easy,” she cautioned. “So far it’s just an idea. It may be
worthless. We’d certainly need to plan and prepare, and we’d need
somebody over there to help us, somebody strong who has never occurred
to anyone, and–” She broke off. “And that’s enough for the time being.