"Is that likely?"
Kyle shook his head. "Not in the least. But if it's Knight Errant, they've got to be around here somewhere in order to get the transmission from the camera." "Won't they simply come up here now?" Moon asked.
"Why?"
Moon shrugged. "Someone would have seen me standing at me edge of the building when I became physical."
"No, probably not. Cameras that can see that far have a very narrow field of view. You'd have to stand almost in front of it for them to see you."
"Ah, I'd thought maybe we could follow them if they came up here."
"We can still do that," Kyle said, and began looking around me roof. "Do you see any pieces of paper or newsprint or heavy cardboard?"
"Yes," the spirit said, having returned to manifest form. There's a bag over there. It says 'McHughs'."
Kyle chuckled, imagining a crumpled, greasy, fast-food bag. "That'll do."
"I'm confused." Seeks-the-Moon said. "What will it do for?”
"Pick it up and put it on the camera, blocking the lens," Kyle said.
"Ah. Then they'll come to fix it"
Kyle smiled. "We can hope."
The bag in place, Kyle and Seeks-the-Moon quickly retreated into a nearby ventilation duct, passing easily through the machined metal and plastic of its construction, and then descended to slightly below roof level. There, Kyle carefully constructed a spell that would project his vision into the physical world and allow him to observe the tower and the camera. Compensating for the drain the effort put on his body, he surveyed the area.
Finally able to see the camera, he confirmed Seeks-the-Moon's report. But his own experience also told him some things. It was quite small, very concealable, and of a kind often used by corporate or government surveillance teams. He had, in fact, worked a number of times with a very similar model in his FBI days. Like that one, this unit also has a small shotgun microphone attachment that, with the proper filtering software, could easily pick up any conversations that might take place on the loading dock.
A shadow loomed over the tower, and Kyle shifted the spell's point of view back and around to view the source. A thick, flat dish, slightly larger than a garbage can lid, hung in space over the edge of the building. It was a drone, some sort of remotely piloted vehicle, equipped with a camera system and other sensors, undoubtedly sent to determine the cause of the camera outage. It slid in closer, angling the protected rotor blades that made up much of its center, until it got a better look at the camera and the obstruction blocking the lens.
Kyle immediately knew what the operator would do once he or she saw what the problem was, and he quickly began to cast another spell. The strain was greater; the distraction of maintaining the far-seeing spell combined with being in astral space made the casting harder than it should have been. But as the drone's pilot angled the craft to blow the offending bag off the camera, Kyle's spell applied force of its own, holding the bag in place. The pilot swung the drone quickly around to the far side, hoping to blow the bag off with a gust of air from that direction while minimizing the vehicle's exposure to view from the warehouse. But Kyle held the bag in place. The drone backed off, hovering for a moment, and then zipped away out of view. Kyle tried to follow it with the vision spell, but me drone was too fast and the range of the spell too short.
A short time passed, and Kyle was becoming concerned about the amount of time he'd spent in astral space. His body, back on Bern's couch, could only support itself for so long without its spirit, and based on the sun's position in the sky, he'd already been traveling astrally for some time. He decided to risk it, waiting to see whether he was experiencing the telltale weakness that would be a warning of danger. In the meantime, he combined a spell that let him hear what was going on up on the roof with the one that let him see. Just as he completed the combination, the sound of scraping metal attracted his attention.
He shifted the point of view of the spells and saw a well-built man climbing up through the access door and onto the roof. He quickly approached the tower, vaulted up onto it, and deftly yanked the bag clear of the camera.
"Repairman's here," Kyle told Moon, using the mental speech they shared.
"About time." The spirit, it seemed, was slightly claustrophobic.
The camera now unobstructed, the man leaped nimbly down and headed for the trap door.
"All right. You know the plan," Kyle said. With his sight and hearing extended through the spells, there was no way he was going to be able to guide himself through astral space. Moon would do that for both of them, responding to Kyle's mental instructions.
Kyle waited while the man climbed down, men shifted me point of view of his spells to follow him. The trap door opened onto a ladder leading to a stairwell that seemed to extend down through the building.
Kyle followed the man down as far as the spell's range, and then told Moon, “Take us down."
The spirit, holding Kyle's astral body carefully, began to descend through the ventilation shaft. At Kyle's prompting, Moon paced their descent so that the man stayed just inside the edge of the spell's effect.
They followed him, using the buildings along the street as cover, until the man made a turn at Randolph. But from their position, Kyle could clearly see a pair of large tractor-trailers, casually surrounded by a half-dozen nondescript light vans and trucks parked a few blocks down. The area was a mix of commercial and light industrial, so the vehicles almost seemed part of the environment.
"Got 'em," said Kyle.
"Good. Now what?"
"Now, we pay them a visit." Kyle told him. "But first I get my body."
19
Kyle opened his eyes, and immediately began the stretching exercises he used to rid his body of the cramping and lethargy that came with a prolonged jaunt in astral space. That was why it took a few moments before he noticed the large easel and the crayon-scrawled words "I'VE GONE TO WORK." There was nothing else; no other words, no signature, no sign-off to signify with what emotions she'd written the words. Kyle slipped back into astral space and examined the easel and the now indecipherable writing. He sensed a slight annoyance attached to the words, but there was something else. A touch of brightness, though tempered by the darker emotion.
He sighed. He should have kept better track of the time, should have been here when she woke up. Beth would have been irritated by the time she came downstairs, and seeing him sprawled on the couch, his spirit and attention elsewhere, would only have made it worse. If true to form, she'd have calmed down by the time she got to work. He'd call her there later, after he dealt with Knight Errant.
Finding his clothes in a pile on the now remade bed, he dressed and went back downstairs to call the Truman condoplex. A servant answered, and moments later, he was speaking to Hanna Uljaken. She was wearing a white business suit over a mandarin-collared silk shirt mat matched her eyes. She was trying very hard not to show her anger.
"Where have you been?" she demanded. "Are you all right?"
Kyle started to ask her if Seeks-the-Moon had given her his message, but then realized that he'd taken Moon with him. The spirit was probably only now returning to the Tower as Kyle had instructed.
"Yes, I'm fine," he said. "I'm sorry I didn't let you know what was going on. I stopped by late last night, left a message with Moon, and then took him with me to help check something out."
"Well, that wasn't very smart." Kyle could tell she was still angry despite her smile and attempt at a bantering tone. Her reaction implied many things, but none of them he could deal with immediately.
"Is my car still at the staging area from yesterday?" he asked.