“Yeah. It was,” Blaze said. “Now what?”
“What we’ve been doing…getting ready. Making sure all the pieces are in place. She’s going to be here soon.”
“I know. What specifically do you want me to do?”
“Get your gear ready. Wear whatever you plan to fight in…the enchanted stuff. If you need more enchantments, I’ll do them. Get your car prepped to pick them up. Full tank, empty interior. Don’t touch the outside, but make sure the inside’s clear. They’ll cut this as close as they can. No extra exposure if they can help it.”
“Got it. Too bad she has to do this in the US,” Blaze said, looking down.
“I agree. They might put a car behind you. Maybe one in front.”
“I would. I’ll watch for it.
“I think she’s giving a press conference tomorrow after the spawn fights in the woods. Then it’ll all be public. Once she’s there for that, she’s under full protection again, and it’s out of our hands.”
“I’ll check my car now and then get ready. I assume she’ll change here so she won’t stand out coming in. I’ll give my room a quick tidy.”
“Good. I’ll do the rest of the house while you’re gone. You want your clothes in your room?”
“If they’re dry before I’m back, sure. If not, I’ll grab them later.”
“OK. Let’s move. I expect the call soon. Probably too soon.”
“Roger that, Warchief.” She gave me a sloppy two-finger salute and headed out. I shook my head, smiled, and got to work.
If you’ve lived alone long enough, like I have, a quick sweep and putting stuff away isn’t a big deal. I thought about clearing the kitchen or dining tables so we could eat there. Too much work. Tray tables in the living room it is.
Twelve minutes later, I was done. The house looked lived in…comfortably so, not like something out of House Beautiful. I had just put the vacuum away in the garage when Blaze came back in.
“I just got a message from Gunny. Pick-up is at the Eddington Aviation hangar,” she said.
“I know it. From the terminal, turn right, go down the service road…it’s the big hangar at the end. You know where the airport is?”
“Looked it up on my phone. Easy enough. I’m good at driving by map,” she grinned. “One problem though…I should go armed, but I don’t have anything that covers a shoulder holster very well.”
“Hang on. Let me check the front closet.”
I pushed aside a few coats and found what I remembered being there. A well-worn black leather women’s jacket, a few sizes too small for me and in a plastic cover. From the shelf above, I grabbed a dark green, Eddington Eagles ball cap from the shelf.
“Try this. Should fit.” I took the plastic off and held them out to her.
“It’s black,” she said with a smile, shrugging into it. It was a little loose at the chest, but it zipped up over her holster. She put the cap on. “How’s it look?”
“Good. If you can tuck your hair up under the cap, even better.”
“Was this your wife’s?”
“Yes. No one’s worn it since she died. I donated most of her clothes, forgot about the jacket. The cap’s mine.”
“You don’t mind me wearing it?”
“No. I’ve been a widower for years now. She’d want it used, not tossed. That’s why I donated most of her clothes.”
She nodded and headed to the bathroom to fix her hair. A few minutes later, she came back looking different enough that the average passerby wouldn’t recognize her.
“That’ll work. Big sunglasses and you’re set.”
She pulled a pair from her FBI jacket, slid her badge and ID into a pocket. “See you in under an hour. I’ll message when I’m on my way back.”
“Got it. If it’s called off, let me know why.”
“OK. Bye.” And she was gone.
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One last kitchen wipe-down, then I checked the laundry. Dryer done. I separated her clothes from mine, folded everything, left hers on the chair in the bedroom, and took mine to my room.
Then back to the office to wait, do some work, and see if the internet had any hint about the president’s movements. Nothing…just something about “meeting with advisors.” Good.
The worst part of readiness is when there’s nothing left to do. So, I went over the night’s timing and jotted down some notes:
- Blaze back by 6:30–7:00.
- Spawning at 7:00.
- Dinner 7:30–8:00.
- Gear up by 9:30.
- 10:00 PM. I hope to hell this works time.
That gave me an idea. They could watch it from my living room. All I had to do was open the drapes, and we had a good view of the site across the street. I’ve stared at that building for so many years I almost don’t see it any more
After that, the Secret Service takes her wherever she’s staying for the 7:00 AM spawns. She’ll be under Army protection, not just the Irregulars.
I recalled someone mentioning her giving a speech tomorrow morning. That’s going to be when the proverbial cats leave their bag and get released on the country.
Then I pinged Ingrid on Game Chat.
[William of Brinsford:] [Ingrid] [Got a moment?]
[Ingrid:] [William of Brinsford] [Hi Will. A few. What’s up?]
Leaning back in my chair, I wanted her help, and gave her what info I could.
[William of Brinsford:] [Ingrid] [Need your help tonight. New Healer. Needs help from an experienced Healer. You.]
[Ingrid:] [Sure. What time?]
[William:] [Just before the 10 PM spawn. We’ll watch the 7 PM from here.]
[Ingrid:] [Must be nice.]
[William:] [It is.]
[William of Brinsford:] [Ingrid] [I want you to do it via Party chat. I’ll set up a party and add you both to it.]
My smile at the fun of doing that was followed by another sip of coffee.
[William of Brinsford:] [Ingrid] [Can do? You’re her backup to heal her, no one else.]
[Ingrid:] [William of Brinsford] [She’s that important?]
[William of Brinsford:] [Ingrid] [Important enough that I can’t tell you more and you can’t tell anyone until it’s all over. That includes Bhaarrt and Shadow. Especially not them.]
[Ingrid:] [William of Brinsford] [Are we going to know who they are afterwards?]
[William of Brinsford:] [Ingrid] [Yeah. Even then, you can’t talk about it to anyone who wasn’t there until tomorrow morning. Somebody probably will, but I hope to scare the you know what out of them.]
[Ingrid:] [William of Brinsford] [Scare them how?]
[William of Brinsford:] [Ingrid] [Can I tell them I’ll have Bhaarrt sit on them?]
[Ingrid:] [William of Brinsford] [I can see you saying that.]
[William of Brinsford:] [Ingrid] [Trust me on this one. I wish I was joking. You’ll understand tonight. I promise.]
[Ingrid:] [William of Brinsford] [OK. Message me when you have it set up. I’ll go from there. What level are they?]
[William of Brinsford:] [Ingrid] [2 and set to ding 3 tonight, I think.]
[Ingrid:] [William of Brinsford] [Thanks a lot. I’ll see what I can do. See you tonight.]
[William of Brinsford:] [Ingrid] [Thanks a lot.]
“That went better than I hoped.” I spent a few minutes thinking about what I would do in this situation. Or what the FBI and Secret Service would do, or could do.
Then Blaze messaged: twenty minutes out with “nice passengers.”
“Shit! They’re really coming,” I muttered, nearly spilling my coffee.
I pinged the Irregulars:
[William:] [We’re now at DefCon 10. Expect a full go for the 10pm spawn tonight.]
[Bartholomew Ironshaper:] [William of Brinsford] [Will. There ain’t no such thing as DefCon 10. I think it stops at 3. What the hell’s going on? We been invaded or something?]
[William of Brinsford:] [Bartholomew Ironshaper] [We’ve already been invaded by the System. You’ll find out tonight. I just hope we can keep this mostly quiet until tomorrow.]
[Bartholomew Ironshaper:] [William of Brinsford] [You sure about this being that big?]
[William of Brinsford:] [Bartholomew Ironshaper] [Sure as I can be. Bigger. You’ll find out soon. Promise.]
[Bartholomew Ironshaper:] [William of Brinsford] [I hope so. Otherwise, you’re getting crazier by the minute. See ya tonight.]
Chief Brown checked in with me a minute later
[Chief Brown:] [William of Brinsford] [Will. Harry said the Army was going wild at the convention center, State Patrol is on alert. This got anything to do with what’s going down tonight?]
[Chief Brown:] [William of Brinsford] [And that crazy defcon 10 message you sent out?]
[William of Brinsford:] [Chief Brown] [Unofficially, yes.]
[Chief Brown:] [William of Brinsford] [What do you mean, unofficially?]
[William of Brinsford:] [Chief Brown] [Just that. I CAN’T tell you. Someone else might be able to, but I can’t tell you who they are. But if you could manage a couple of squad cars to block traffic on 19th during the late spawning tonight, it will help. Main Street to Fox and any connecting roads or alleys radiating out from the old Speedy Pizza place across from my place.]
[Chief Brown:] [William of Brinsford] [You mean 2 blocks in each direction?]
[William of Brinsford:] [Chief Brown] [I meant to ask in an hour or two, but I might as well do it now. Between the two guilds, there’ll be enough people that we’ll block the street in front of the site for a while. You’re an Irregular. I want you up close.]
[Chief Brown:] [William of Brinsford] [Do I need to armor up for this? You expecting a battle between guilds or something?]
[William of Brinsford:] [Chief Brown] [You can be as armored as you would be to fight a spawn. What you had at the battle will do.]
[Chief Brown:] [William of Brinsford] [OK. Will, you’re making a bunch of your friends doubt your sanity right now.]
[William of Brinsford:] [Chief Brown] [Don’t worry about that. I haven’t had any for a long time. Lost mine a decade ago.]
[Chief Brown:] [William of Brinsford] [Yeah, and then some. More like three decades than just one. We’ll be there.]
[William of Brinsford:] [Chief Brown] [Thank you. Thank you more than you know for trusting me.]
Even Gar-Kosh asked if they could bring the kids. I said yes. Maybe she likes kids.
By the time Blaze’s car pulled up, I’d answered a dozen more “what the hell’s going on” messages without telling anyone the truth.
[Blaze:] [We’re here. And she brought peach cobbler.]
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