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My cel phone rang, a herald of news, good or bad.
Ethan glanced at it, then propped it up on the dashboard between us. "I guess he's ready to talk."
"Ethan, Merit," Catcher said in greeting. His voice was gravely, his tone even lower than usual. He wasn't one for displays of emotion, but Malory's disappearance had to be wearing on him.
"How are you doing?" I asked.
"The woman I'd planned to spend the rest of my life with is trying her best to open Pandora's box, and damn the consequences. I have had better days. And weeks."
I winced sympatheticaly. "So fil us in. What do we know?"
"She was staying at a facility not far from O'Hare," Catcher said. "There were armed guards to keep an eye on her and medical staff to make sure she was stable."
"I thought the Order didn't have operations in Chicago?"
Ethan asked.
"Baumgartner claims it's not an Order facility. Just an inpatient medical facility where he has friends," Catcher said. Baumgartner was the head of the Order. From the sound of Catcher's voice, he wasn't buying Baumgartner's excuse.
"So what happened?" Ethan asked.
"She slept for a while, woke up, and started talking about her addiction. She seemed self-aware, remorseful, so they removed her restraints for a med exam."
"That's when she attacked the guard?" Ethan asked.
"Yeah. Turns out, she wasn't groggy. The guard's stil in the hospital, but I understand they're releasing him today."
"Where did she go?" I asked.
"Transit authority security cameras have a record of her," Catcher said. "She caught the El and then took the train to Aurora. She was spotted at a truck stop, catching a ride on an eighteen-wheeler headed to Des Moines. The trail ran cold in Iowa. She hasn't popped up again since."
Catcher had been the one to put a stop to Malory's familiar spel by knocking her out. Pity he hadn't knocked her out a little harder.
"So she's probably headed toward Nebraska," I guessed.
"But how did she know to go there? How did she know the Order would send the Maleficium there instead of to a new guardian?"
"Simon told her about the silo," Catcher said. "And he and Baumgartner visited and talked about the book being transported when she was supposedly asleep."
"That's two more strikes against Simon," I said.
"Yep," Catcher said. "He'd be out of the Order if Baumgartner wasn't afraid of him. Too much knowledge, too little common sense. If he's stil a member, Baumgartner stil has some authority."
"Tough position to be in," Ethan mused. "Any thoughts on our strategy?"
"First step is to get closer," he said. "You'l want to head toward Eliott, Nebraska. It's about five miles northwest of Omaha. The Order's archivist lives in a farmhouse outside the silo. I'l send directions."
"The archivist?" I asked.
"The recorder of Order history."
"And wil he be the only sorcerer guarding the book?" Ethan asked.
"Her name is Paige Martin. She's the only sorcerer at the farmstead; she's also the only sorceress in Nebraska. The Maleficium isn't always kept there. Since it travels, there's no need for a ful contingent. I've asked them to reconsider letting me go," Catcher quietly added. "I want to be there if things go bad. If worse comes to worst. But they're afraid I can't be objective."
We were al quiet for a moment, probably al imagining just how bad things might go, and the possibilities that we couldn't save Malory...or that she wouldn't want to be saved.
"But they'l alow this archivist to be there?" Ethan asked.
"She doesn't know Malory," Catcher said, "and she's part of the Order. They think she can handle herself."
And they probably thought they could handle her, too. Just like they could handle Simon, Malory, and Catcher, before he was kicked out. The Order had an awful track record for managing its employees.
"You'd think they could spare one or two more soldiers to stop a problem they created in the first place," Ethan mused.
"Unfortunately," Catcher said, "this isn't the world's only magical crisis, and there aren't many sorcerers to go around.
They're assigned as they're available."
I'd been taught as Sentinel to make do with what I had, but that didn't mean I had to like a bad set of odds, or the thought of similar crises around the world.
"We'l chart a course for Eliott," Ethan said. "Malory got a head start, so it seems unlikely we'l reach the book before she does. You might warn the archivist, if you haven't already."
"She knows. And there's something else." Catcher cleared his throat nervously. At the sound, Ethan shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"It's possible you and Malory aren't the only ones on the road. Seth Tate was released this morning."
I swore under my breath. Seth Tate was the former mayor of Chicago, deposed after we'd discovered he'd been running a drug ring.
Tate was also a supernatural with an old, unfamiliar magic, one that had lifted the hairs on my neck more than once.
Unfortunately, we knew nothing else about his powers.
" 'This morning' was hours ago," Ethan said. "Why are we just learning this?"
"Because we're just learning it. We aren't employees anymore, so Kowalcyzk didn't feel the urge to fil us in. Our new mayor has decided Tate was framed, in part because one of the individuals alegedly kiled at his residence was spotted outside Cadogan House earlier tonight."
"That would be you," I whispered to Ethan.
"And no thanks to Tate," Ethan said. "Do we think he's looking for the Maleficium, too?"
"We don't know for sure," Catcher said. "He was pardoned by Kowalcyzk, so the CPD didn't feel they had the authority to folow him, even if they had the resources. And we're short staffed today."
"Short staffed?" I wondered. There were three unofficial Ombuddies, as I liked to cal them, in addition to my grandfather:
Catcher; computer wizard Jeff Christopher; and the admin, Marjorie. None seemed like the type to miss work.
"Jeff caled in today. Said he had some things to take care of. Which is only fair since he's not an employee and isn't actualy paid to be here."
Logical, sure, but it stil seemed weird. Jeff was uncommonly reliable, and he was usualy planted in front of his very large computer. Of course, if he'd needed our help, he wouldn't have been shy about asking for it.
"We can't be sure he's looking for the book," I said, "but I wouldn't be surprised to find him in the middle of the action. After al, he was the one who told me about the Maleficium."
