Dangerous Games: Chapter 12

Please note that what was originally the beginning of Ch.12 has now become part of Ch.11, hence the Ch.11 revised. So, please read that before reading this.

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Five hours later Ethan, Joe, and Diane were in one of Diane’s white catering vans, parked across the ten-story office building, that served as the Witches Council headquarters in downtown Port Iron. Ethan and Joe were sitting in the front seats checking out the building while Diane was in the back.

“Which floors belong to your…uh people?” Joe asks.

“Technically we own the whole building.” Diane answers.

“What do you mean technically?” Joe questions.

“Well officially, different companies own different floors, but unofficially we own all those companies.”

Joe lets out a low whistle.

“Wow, so your all-pretty rich huh?”

“Joe, not the time.” Ethan interrupt. “Diane what floor is Sera’s office on?”

“If I’m not mistaken her office is on the same floor as the council members.”

“Let me guess, on the top floor?” Joe chimes in.

“Yes.”

Joe let’s out an exasperated sigh, “It’s always the top floor. Why can’t any of these big wigs ever have offices on the ground floor. I mean come on, statistically some of them should be afraid of heights.” Joe grumbles.

“Joe, if you’re not up to this I can do it alone.” Ethan offers.

Joe looks at Ethan as if he had just insulted him.

“Please, you couldn’t make your way out of a plastic bag without me, I’m fine.” Joe angrily grunts.

Truthfully Ethan was surprised by how calm Joe seemed to be, it had only been a few hours since he had learned about the existence of witches and that Diane was one of them. But despite that he seems to be handling it relatively well.

“Heh, alright Joe calm down, no need to get all sensitive.” Ethan taunts.

“Hey, fu-” Joe stops, and looks over at Diane before looking back at Ethan. “Forget you!”

Ethan silently chuckles at Joe’s response before turning back to Diane.

“Diane, what can you tell us about the buildings security?”

“Well, there are cameras in the halls, entrances, stairwells, and elevators with two guards monitoring the screens at all times, and two more guards that check the floors every two hours.”

After a moment of silence Ethan asks, “Is that it?”

Diane is perplexed by Ethan’s question, “Well…yes.”

“Oh.” Ethan replies, both him and Joe looking at each other somewhat surprised.

“Why, what did you expect?” Diane asks.

“Oh, nothing, it’s just since we’re dealing with witches, me and the kid thought there would be a bit more…witch-y stuff involved.” Joe replies.

Diane rolls her, “If it makes you feel any better there’s plenty of witchy stuff in my lab.”

“Yeah, back at Joe’s, you mentioned you had a lab, what exactly do you do here?”

“I am the Head of the Magical Engineering and Research department.”

“And what exactly is that?” Joe asks.

“We develop and study new magic.”

“New magic?”

“Yes, similar to humans and technology, we’re always trying new ways to make or improve magic.” Diane explains.

“Wow, so you’re kind of a bigshot huh? Then what’s with the catering company?” Joe asks.

“Oh that, I just like throwing parties.” Diane replies with a cheerful grin.

Joe looks over at Ethan who just shrugs in response.

Ethan looks at his watch, “Joe, move, it’s time to let Diane drive.”

“Are you sure this plan is a good idea?” Joe asks Diane.

“Don’t worry, I’ve come into work late a few times over the years, so they wouldn’t see this as something out of the ordinary.” Diane reassures Joe.

“Yeah but, once they realize somethings been stolen won’t you be a primary suspect?” Joe questions.

“I wouldn’t say I would be the primary, there are plenty of witches still working even at this late hour. But even if they did suspect me, they wouldn’t be able to do anything without any proof, and as long as you two are as good as you say you are that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Joe gives Ethan a worried expression but gets up and moves over just the same, allowing Diane to get in the driver seat. The plan was for Diane to get them through parking security, then she would sneak Ethan inside in one of her catering trolleys. Joe would stay in the truck and using Diane’s login and password, he would access the buildings network were he would then hack the cameras to give Ethan time to make his way up and steal the files. The plan wasn’t perfect, but it was the best they could come up with in such short notice.

“Don’t worry Joe, Diane has nothing to worry about as long as we do are jobs. Besides, we couldn’t do this without her.” Ethan tells Joe.

In truth, Ethan hadn’t wanted to involve Diane either, but she had insisted that she be brought along, and he had to admit she was there best chance in getting in.

Joe nods in resignation.

As Diane starts the van, Ethan and Joe get into the back and hide inside some catering boxes. It only took a few minutes for the van to reach the security gate. Diane calmly brings the van to a stop next to the guard station and rolls down her window.

“Hey Tom!” Diane calls out.

“Evening Diane, you working late tonight?” Replies a male voice.

Ethan and Joe quietly listen as Diane talks to the security guard, Tom. From the sound of his voice, he seemed happily surprised to see Diane.

“Only for a short while, I’m mainly just checking on how a few things.” Diane states.

“Ok, well pull over to the side here so I can check the back.”

Ethan stiffens, though him and Joe expected this, it was still nerve wracking to hear.

“Oh please, I know what you’re really looking for.” Diane states.

Ethan hears Diane takes out what sounds like a wrapper from the center console.

“Your favorite, my homemade almond cookies with white chocolate.”

“You know me all too well; I’ll make sure to share some with Oscar.” Tom replies happily.

“Liar, but I won’t tell him if you don’t.” Diane chuckles.

Tom chuckles back and presses the button to lift the gate, allowing Diane to drive the van through. Ethan lets out sighs of relief before opening the box he was hiding in and see Joe has come out as well.

“That went a lot smoother than I thought it would.” Joe admitted, as he popped open one of the catering trolleys, revealing his laptop and Ethan’s backpack inside.

“Yeah, I am too.” Ethan agrees.

“You’re welcome.” Diane says to them.

Ethan pulls out his backpack and begins to checks its contents, inside were his mask, his tool kit, a modified power ascender, and the sheath with the silver dagger that he got from Silverblood. After the attack on Clermon’s estate he had tried to give it back, but Mattias had insisted he keep it.

“Think of it a gift.”Mattias had told him.

While not sure if the silver blade was useful against witches, Ethan had brought it along anyway just in case. As Ethan checks his tools, Joe opens his laptop and begins to access the building’s security.

“How long do you think it will take you to get in?” Diane asks Joe as she parks the van.

“I’m already in.” Joe replies.

“What?!” Diane exclaims, turning her head to look at Joe.

“I maybe old, but not slow.” Joe replies with a prideful grin. “Hmm, that’s weird.”

Ethan looks over a Joe, “What is it?”

“One of the camera feeds isn’t going to the security monitors, it’s going to a private terminal. I can’t pinpoint which one unless I dig deeper into the system, but I can show you the feed.”

Joe turns the laptop around and gives Ethan and Diane a look of what seems to be an office.

“That’s Sera’s office!” Diane blurts out in surprise.

“Looks like someone’s keeping an eye on your girl.” Joe tells Ethan.

Ethan feels a mixture of worry and anger for Sera.

“It’s probably the council.” Diane speculates.

Ethan gives himself a mental shake before speaking, “This doesn’t change anything.” Ethan states as he pulls up his hood, “Let’s go.”

Ethan proceeds to stuff himself inside the catering trolley and watches as Diane exits the van, goes around back, and opens the doors. He had expected her to pull out the ramp to get the trolley off the van, but instead with a slight huff she lifts the trolley with him inside it and gently places it on the ground, leaving both him and Joe stunned by the physical display.

“Witch, remember?” Diane states as she points to herself.

Diane slides the trolley doors closed and closes the van doors.

“Comm check.”

Ethan hears Joe’s voice from his earpiece.

“Check.” Ethan replies.

“Did you know she could do that?” Joe asks.

“No.”

Diane knocks on the trolley, signifying to Ethan to be quiet.

“Going dark.” Ethan whispers.

Going dark was Ethan’s way of letting Joe know he was going radio silent. While Diane pushed the trolley, Ethan began to steady his breathing and activated his ability. He instantly got a distorted image of his surrounding, and of the amount of people around him. Despite the late hour there where still quite a few people still in the building not including the guards. Not wanting to tire himself out, Ethan made a mental note of where in the general area people seemed to be and stopped his ability. Despite not using his ability Ethan kept his eyes closed and continued to focus on his breathing to keep himself calm and relaxed. After what seem like hours; Diane finally slides the trolley door open and let’s Ethan out. After letting his eyes adjust to the sudden brightness, Ethan looks around at what appeared to be Diane’s lab. Ethan was surprised, and a little disappointed, to find that it looked almost exactly like a chemistry lab from high school.

“What wrong?” Diane asks, seeing the disappointed look on Ethan’s face.

“Nothing, after what you said earlier, I just expected a little more Hogwarts and a little less high school.” Ethan admits.

Diane scoffs and shakes her head before turning away and pointing at a door in front of her.

“To reach the elevator go out this door and to the left, then go down the second hall to your right. But be careful, I saw-”

“Someone working in the room between the first and second hall, I know.” Ethan interrupts.

They had been one of the people Ethan had sensed earlier with his ability.

“How did you…” Diane starts but then stops, knowing Ethan wouldn’t answer.

“Joe, how’s it going with the cameras?” Ethan asks through his earpiece.

“Cameras are all set for a ten second loop but give me a minute to cover my tracks.” Joe replies.

While Ethan waits for Joe to say he’s ready, he looks around the lab and notices a wide collection of gems and jewelry sitting on top of one of the tables.

“What’s this?” Ethan asks, as he walks over to the table.

Diane walks over to Ethan, “Certain gems and precious metals can be imbued with magic much like the purple gem in the necklace you showed me, the ones you see here are for testing.” Diane explains.

“Precious metals, you mean silver and gold?”

“Yes, but also platinum and palladium.” Diane adds.

“Hmmm, what could you do with let’s say a piece of silver?” Ethan asks, thinking of the silver dagger strapped to his back.

“Well silver tends to interfere and disrupt magic so it’s good for getting past magical locks and interfering with magical tools.”

“Interesting.”

While he didn’t fully understand all of what Diane said, Ethan did understand the word lock and that silver could help him get past magical ones. Just then Joe radios Ethan that he was ready, so he reaches into his backpack and takes out his mask. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, Ethan puts the mask on and turns to face Diane. Diane let out a small gasp when she sees the mask covering his face.

“Sorry, that startled me.” Diane states with her hand on her chest. “I’ll go check if the hall is clear.”

“No, it’s alright, I got it. Just hang back and be ready to leave when I get back.” Ethan tells her.

“Ok, so we got three cameras we need to worry about, the one looking down the hall you’re in, one looking down where the elevators are, and the elevator itself.” Joe tells Ethan.

“I shouldn’t need more than a few seconds to get past each one, I’ll count it when I pass each one.”

Ethan focuses his breathing and activates his ability; besides him and Diane, the only other person he could sense on this floor was the person down the hall. Luckily from what he could tell they didn’t seem to be facing the hall, so as long as he was quick and quiet, he didn’t need to worry about being seen.

Ethan puts his hand on the door handle, “Alright Joe, counting it down. 3.. 2..1 moving!”

Ethan quickly opens door and goes into the hall, Joe was looping the last ten seconds of footage showing a clear hall to the camera, rendering him invisible for ten seconds.

‘1’. Ethan says to himself.

Ethan quickly closes the door behind him and immediately breaks into a silent run down the hall. He quickly reaches the office with the one person still inside, the only window was a small one on the door, so Ethan quietly rolls past it. At six seconds Ethan reaches the hall with the elevator.

“2.” Ethan says to Joe through his earpiece.

That was the signal for Joe to turn off the loop on the first camera and start the loop on the second. Joe times the switch perfectly as Ethan turns into the hall and makes his way towards the elevators. At five seconds Ethan reaches the Elevator doors and presses the call button.

“3.”

As the elevator doors open Ethan rushes in and in one fluid motion jumps up on the handrail pushes open the roof hatch and climbs out, gently closing the hatch behind him.

“Clear.”

“I’m not seeing any calls or alarms from the security room; I think we’re good.” Joe answers back.

Unlike the movies, most security guards are good at their jobs and record the timestamps of their feeds. Looping only ten seconds and then restoring the feed, lessens the chances of someone noticing. And on the off chance someone was looking at the feed during the loop, no one notices the seconds.

Ethan let’s out a deep breath and stops his ability.

“You cut it a little close there at the end.” Joe taunts Ethan.

“That wasn’t me, the doors on this thing are slower than you.” Ethan retorts.

“Yeah well, that’s the trade off on these old elevators, slow doors but they come with a roof hatch.”

“Why don’t newer elevators have roof hatches?” Ethan asks as he takes off his backpack and takes out the modified power ascender and attaches it to the elevator cable.

“Some still do but they can only be opened from the outside and only by firemen.” Joe explains.

Ethan attaches the power ascender to his belt and presses the button for the ascender to start climbing the cable, “Ok, but why?”

“Probably to keep guys like us from doing exactly what we’re doing.”

Ethan let’s out a low chuckle as the ascender continues to take him up, after few minutes Ethan reaches the top. Detaching himself from the ascender, Ethan reaches over and positions himself in front of the elevator doors.

“Joe I’m here, let me know when you’re ready.”

“No worries, the only camera on this floor is the one in Sera’s office.” Joe responds.

Relieved to hear that Ethan forces the doors open and steps onto the floor, per Diane’s directions he makes his way to Sera’s office and once there he radios Joe.

“Joe, I’m at the door.”

“The camera seems to be in the top right corner of the back wall facing the door, it’s at an angle so there’s a blind spot in the back left corner. If-”

“Just cut the feed.” Ethan cuts in.

“Cut the feed?”

“Yeah, you said the camera in Sera’s office is going to a private terminal and not security, right?”

“Yeah.”

“That means whosever watching doesn’t want anyone else knowing their watching her, so even if we cut the feed, it’s not like they can come out and complain.” Ethan explains.

“That’s true, I guess. Ok, cutting the feed, you’re good to go.” Joe replies.

Ethan smiles, in truth he just didn’t like the idea of someone spying on Sera, once again this unusual need to look out for her confused him.

Going inside; Sera’s office had a very standard layout with windows covering the wall to Ethan’s right and a traditional wall clock in the back. There was nothing to distinguish it as Sera’s, no photos, no personal items, not even a plant.

“I guess she isn’t one to personalize.” Ethan comments.

“I’m sure she’ll appreciate your thoughts on her interior design later, for now get a move on.” Joe chides.

Ethan goes over to the desk and starts his search there; on top of the desk, he finds what looks like ordinary personnel files. But the subtle wording of phrases and notes inside revealed they were more than that.

“I think I know why council gives Sera so much leeway, she’s their wet worker.” Ethan states.

“You sure?” Joe asks.

“Yep, I’m looking at kill orders here on her desk.” Ethan replies.

He had seen similar files on Erik’s desk and was even given one when Erik first tried persuading him to give contract killing a try.

“Are you sure she’s not the one giving them out?” Joe asks.

“Trust me, everything about Sera screams killer, not administrator.”

Ethan continues his search and starts combing through the drawers, but still doesn’t find any of the medical or research files he was looking for. He moves over to the filing cabinet and tries the top drawer but finds its locked. Taking out his lockpicking kit, he makes quick work of the lock and opens the drawer. Inside were more personal files of who seemed to be witches, but these had surveillance photos and activities details inside, they didn’t seem to be kill orders like the others. As Ethan began to wonder why Sera might have these files, he then remembers what Diane said about the apostate getting inside help.

‘She must be looking for the apostate’s supporters.’ Ethan noted to himself.

Ethan closes the drawer and moves on to the bottom one, two files in he finds a thick file with medical charts, notes, and a rough drawing of the human body with strange circles inside it.

“Jackpot.” Ethan says.

Ethan gives the file a quick glance and even though he couldn’t understand most of the medical jargon or Sera’s notes, he could tell it was the file he was looking for. Ethan quickly takes off his backpack and stuffs the file inside. He double checks the drawer, making sure he didn’t miss anything before closing up his backpack and making his way towards the door.

“Joe call Diane, tell her to be ready and to- ack!”

Ethan is cut off as he walks into the door even though he had turned the door handle.

“What the?”

Ethan turns the door handle again, but the door still won’t open.

“What wrong?” Joe asks.

“The door, it won’t open.” Ethan explains, as he grunts to try and push the door open. “It’s not locked, and the handle is turning, but the door won’t budge.”

“Is it stuck?” Joe asks.

“No, call Diane, I’m getting a bad feeling about this.”

Joe quickly calls Diane and patches her through to Ethan.

“Yes, I’m here.”

“Diane, I’m in Sera’s office and the door won’t budge. It’s not locked, and the door handle is working just fine, thoughts?”

“I…I don’t know.” Diane answers in confusion.

“Shit.” Ethan exhales.

“What about the windows?” Joe advises.

Ethan looks over at the windows.

“No good, it’s a polycarbonate. I’ll break my hand or the chair before I break this thing.”

“Without going up there and checking myself I can’t say for certain, but it might be magically sealed.” Diane offers.

Hearing that; Ethan takes a deep breath and activates his ability. Looking at the door he can see a faint glow emanating from the cracks.

“Diane, I think your right, it is magically sealed.” Ethan tells her.

“How can you tell?” Diane questions.

“Not the time Diane, just tell me how to get through it.” Ethan rebuts in a dismissive tone.

“Guys?” Joe cuts in nervously. “I know I’ve never seen her before, but I’m pretty sure Sera just walked into the building.”

“What! How can you be so sure?” Ethan asks.

“Redhead, ridiculously beautiful, dressed in all black, has the swagger of a tiger.” Joe states.

“Shit!” Both Ethan and Diane say in unison.

“Joe stall her, cut power to the elevator.” Ethan orders.

“Ok, but this might set off a few red flags.”

“I’m more worried about Sera so just do it. Diane, could really use some help here?” Ethan states in a nervous tone.

“I can’t do anything from here, if I was up there with you than sure, but not from here.” Diane states in a panic.

“Guys, Sera is taking the stairs and she seems to going up them pretty fast.” Joe announces.

“Jesus. Ok, just stay quite and give me a minute to think.” Ethan tells both of them.

Ethan begins to focus on his breathing and begins pushing his ability as hard as he can until the ticking of the clock begins to crawls to a stop. The secret behind Ethan’s ability wasn’t his preternatural sight or his ability to see the world at a slower pace. Those were just side effects; the truth of his ability was a lot simpler than that. All his ability really amounted to was the ability to think harder and faster than normal people. But it was exactly because of this, that his ability had saved him more times than he could count. Pushing his ability to the limit like this always put an extremely painful strain on not just his mind but his body as well, so he had to be quick. Ethan began to go over everything he had at his disposal and everything he had come to learn from Diane, and then it hits him. Letting go of the mental strain, Ethan’s ability snaps back to normal and the world around him seems to unpause.

Remembering what Diane said about silver ability to disrupt magic; Ethan unsheathes the silver dagger and stabs it through the door crack and slices all the way down. The faint glow from the cracks in the door begin to flicker like a light bulb shorting out. Not wasting anytime, Ethan turns the handle and give the door two hard hits with his whole body with the second hit finally pushing the door open.

“I’m out!” Ethan shouts.

“What?”

“How?”

“No time! Joe, start the elevators. Diane, get to the elevator with the trolley and start heading down to the garage, we’re gonna have to get me into the trolley while the elevator is moving. To do that Joe’s going to need a ten second loop of you, so make sure to stand absolutely still, got it?” Ethan orders as he runs toward the elevator shaft.

“Yes, of course” Diane answers.

Ethan enters the shaft and closes the doors behind him; he then reaches out and grabs the elevator cable ignoring the modified power ascender. Knowing it was going to hurt, Ethan prays his gloves give him some protection as he begins sliding down the cable. Ethan slides down at considerable speed, his gloves begin to get hot, and it’s made worse as the elevator cable begins to move. Looking down; Ethan sees the elevator and is able to reach before his hands began to burn.

“Joe?” Ethan calls out.

“You’re good, go go go!” Joe replies.

Ethan opens the roof hatch and drops inside, startling Diane who was inside. Neither says a word as Ethan quickly stuffs himself inside the trolley, and Diane get’s back into the exact position she was in before. Ethan listens as the elevator doors ding open and Diane rushes back to the van, no longer worried about appearances. Reaching the van; Diane quickly opens the back and tosses the trolley with Ethan inside. Joe opens the slider door and helps Ethan out of the trolley while Diane gets in the driver seat and turns on the van.

“Your girlfriend reached the top floor.” Joe updates Ethan.

Diane pulls out of the parking space and drives towards the security gate, Ethan and Joe stay out of site as they watch and wait for Sera to enter the office on Joe’s laptop. Thankfully, the guard at the gate waves Diane through without so much as a stop, so as the van clears the gate, Ethan let’s out a sigh of relief. Both him and Joe smile and laugh as the exhilaration of a job well done spreads through them. They then watch as Sera enters the office and takes a few steps before stopping, looks around in bewilderment with her nose up.

“What is she doing?” Joe aks.

Remembering their encounter at the warehouse Ethan answers, “She can smell that I was there.”

Sera rushes over to the filing cabinet the file had been in and searches through it. Seeing the file gone, a look of rage envelopes Sera’s face as flings the file cabinet behind her and at the window. The window cracks and the cabinet stays stuck in the seemingly bullet proof glass, the display of strength left Joe with his jaw on the floor, and left Ethan with a little sense of unease as he watches her rush out of the office.

“I think…it’s best we don’t go home for a while.” Joe states, still in shock.

“I wish it were that easy.” Ethan replies.

“Helen, your mom.” Joe realizes.

“Yep.”

“Don’t worry Ethan, I’ll be there to help you.” Diane calls out from the front.

“Will she be enough?” Joe asks Ethan.

“No, but I still have a few cards left to play.” Ethan answers.

Joe looks down at his laptop at the still image of the filing cabinet still stuck in the window, “I just hope there good, for your sake.”