Josie sent the letter to the king with a copy of the book of knowledge she had

recovered from the Montrose members she had killed. It was out of her hands until

she received a reply.

Beatrice was better, being able to eat real food again. She would be working with the

others in another few days. That was good.

No one had to watch her now, and she didn’t have to listen to Matilda imitating a

barbarian hero with a big hammer.

She looked up as the door to the office opened. Jack, Aviras on his shoulder, and Eric

Fass stood there. She waved for them to come in.

“Jack,” said Josie. “You said you had an idea on how to find the Lich Queen.”

“Sure,” said Jack. He put Aviras down on the desk. He walked over to the model

of the world. “Show me the Lich Queen.”

A gold circle formed. It rotated across the border into Shemmaria. Josie could see that

from the desk. She and Fass frowned at the display, but Jack grinned.

“Eric Fass,” said Jack. A silver light formed west of the circle. “So we know the

model is still working.”

“So what does the circle mean?,” asked Fass.

“Don’t have a clue,” said Jack. “Best guess is the model is trying to locate the Lich

Queen but she isn’t active yet, and that circle is where we’ll find her.”

“And that circle is in a direct line with the Montrose operations,” said Fass. “This

was marked out from the book when Guin and I looked for targets.”

“Maybe stopping the Montrose stops the Lich Queen,” said Josie. She stood. “I still

have to hit that warehouse outside of Kearnly. It’s on the way to the border. Do we

do this?”

“I can get my group together,” said Fass. “We can do both.”

“We have to do something,” said Jack. “I don’t like leaving without someone to take

care of Bea, but if we don’t do something, those idiots might find a way to unleash

a menace on the world the likes of Aviras.”

“Really?,” said the tiny dragon. “I would like to see them try.”

“All right,” said Josie. “Show us the depot in Kearnly.”

A blue ping lit up the map. The red of the Montrose wandered about. The four could

see a large grouping of the enemy surrounding pale noncombatants.

“Either we can get up there in time to save them, or we get up there in time to burn

the building down, and the women and girls are already on their way to that circle,”

said Josie. “Do we have options either way?”

“Aviras could go up there ahead of us,” said Jack. “But there’s not a lot he could do

on his own. Maybe he could carry a stargate so we can get up there to do things. But

that means we have no transport anywhere else, and we would have to send him with

the same stargate, or another one across the border. If he gets stopped anywhere along

the way because of a monster bird, or whatever, the attempt is done.”

“We’re not sending him alone,” said Josie. “We’ll fly up there with the quinjet, and

then if any of the women are close we will rescue them as part of the operation. Once

we know for sure what we can do with the ground, we can plan a next step to carry

out any tasks.”

“So we’re not going to rush in and molly everyone?,” said Jack. He gave her a frown.

“Who are you, and what have you done with my best friend?”

“Don’t make me punch you,” said Josie. “We’re going to have to take it a little slower

than what we usually do. If Eric helps us, we have to make sure his group is protected

as we go and we will have to pay them at the end of this.”

“Anything we recover will have to be split with anyone we free just like Cairn,” said

Fass. “I am sure the others will help out.”

“If you can gather them up at the Hall, Eric,” said Josie. “Jack and I will get the

quinjet and meet you on the Yard. We will fly out there, and hit the shipping depot,

and try for a lookaround in Shemmaria. If there is a Lich Queen, your group will have

to fall back and get out of the way. We’ll be dealing with dead things brought back

to life.”

“We’ll have to come up with some way to set things on fire,” said Jack. “I might have

to augment Aviras and use him as a flamethrower if we need to get out of there fast.”

“I am ready to set things on fire,” said Aviras. “And depriving others of their hoards

is a time honored custom.”

“This would be extremely useful in the field,” said Fass. “Should we take it with us?”

“I’ll make some portable ones,” said Jack. “It will be like having a bird in the air

telling you what everyone is doing.”

“And that will make all of this easier,” said Fass. “Let me send out the word. It will

take me a bit to get the others together.”

“We’ll meet you down at the Hall in one hour,” said Josie. “Jack and I will work on

the portables for your group so we can mark people as we go.”

“We will be ready,” said Fass. “I have to hurry if I want to meet the deadline.”

Fass jogged from the room. They heard him talking to Elaine and the kids before he

ducked out of the apartment.

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“I think he likes you,” said Jack. He grinned at his friend. “He might give you little

Josies if you let him.”

“What about little Jacks?,” said Josie. She frowned at her friend.

“Elaine and I are working on that,” said Jack. “The things she can do can make your

toes curl.”

“I don’t want to hear anything like that from you again,” said Josie. She crossed her

arms. “And I am not dating Eric Fass.”

“He seems okay,” said Jack. “And I think he likes you.”

“He only likes me because I am making him rich with these raids,” said Josie. “He has

that no dating the boss air around him.”

“What do you think, Aviras?,” said Jack.

“He seems much better than Todd,” said Aviras. The dragon fluttered his wings. “But

I don’t have any experience with the human mating rituals.”

“Are you two ganging up on me?,” said Josie.

“Josie, bubby, bubbly boo, friend of a friend of a friend,” said Jack. He pointed to

himself with both hands. “What makes you think I need help from a blue lizard to

state the obvious? I think you could knock some boots there, if you know what I

am saying.”

“I do know what you are saying,” said Josie with a squint in her eye. “And if you

say it again, I will have a Jack hoodie, with Aviras toe warmers added to my

wardrobe.”

“Leave me out of this,” said Aviras. “I do not want to warm any toes.”

He took to the air and passed through the open door, heading downstairs. The girls

were doing chores. He doubted Matilda would threaten him in such a way.

“I don’t need encouragement to jump bones,” said Josie. “And Fass doesn’t seem

that type. So let it go.”

“I can ask Linus to come around,” said Jack. He grinned at her expression.

“Don’t do anything like that,” said Josie. “I will skin you alive. Let’s do the raid, and

then look for the Lich Queen. I will worry about my romantic life when I feel like

worrying about it.”

“All right,” said Jack. “Remember to name the first one after me. This world needs

more Jacks to do what has to be done.”

“I’m sure any kid named after you will be a terror,” said Josie. “Let’s look at what we

can do to get Eric’s boys copies of the model to use in the field.”

“Already thinking about it,” said Jack. “I might have a working thing in a bit while

we’re flying out to deal with things.”

“All right,” said Josie. “I need some coffee, and then we need to do these raids. When

we get home, Elaine is going to want to go to the show with you. Be ready for that.”

“Are you sure you can handle the kids by yourself?,” asked Jack.

“I’ll have Aviras to do things for me,” said Josie. “Take notes on the show so I can

be sure you actually went instead of fooling around.”

“I can do both,” he said.

“I’m sure, but try to keep the noise down,” said Josie. “Now I am going to get

my coffee, and then we are going to start the quinjet so we can fly into the city

and pick up the boys. Get ready for that.”

“I am,” said Jack. He took one long look at the model. “I might even come up with

a whole new bag of tricks for this.”

“Don’t do anything I will have to explain to Elaine at your funeral,” said Josie.

“Trust me,” said Jack. “I will always come home.”

Josie nodded. She left the office and headed downstairs. She had a certain amount of

faith in Jack. He was learning new ways to use the watches and he had always been

a touch dangerous. Arming him up and sending him out against a target was a death

knell for it.

“Do you want to send a letter home to your sisters and mom?,” Josie asked as she

made some coffee.

“I’m going to wait until Elaine and I are ready to get married,” said Jack. “I want to

make the surprise surprising.”

“When you need to send something home, let me know,” said Josie. “These letters

should be able to reach across with the force from the watch behind it.”

“Any word from Warner?,” asked Jack.

“Not yet,” said Josie. “He might not have been able to read my handwriting.”

“Or he might be ducking you because he knows we’re doing his job and he’s the one

they wanted to pull back with us as his backup,” said Jack. “And he doesn’t want

to take responsibility like a deadbeat dad.”

“Maybe,” said Josie. “But until he writes back, we have no way of knowing unless

we go home.”

“I’m not doing that,” said Jack. “I love all this magic stuff.”

“Which is probably how they knew to pick you over all the other people Warner

knew to be his replacement,” said Josie.

“All right,” said Jack. “I was looking for a change of pace. Moving out of San

Fran had been in my thoughts for a while.”

“You can’t get much farther away than another universe,” said Josie.

“This is almost like a video game, isn’t it?,” said Jack. “I am afraid that I will wake

up and all of this will be gone.”

“I know,” said Josie. “I feel the same way. Let’s see if we can make some imaginary

people a little happier than what they are now.”

“At least our dragon will be happier,” said Jack.

Josie made herself a cup of coffee and smiled. She sipped at the drink. They were

going to have to take off in a bit. Fass had to get across to where his group were, load

up his gear, and then make it to the Hall. They should have given him more of a

warning.

She doubted an hour was enough time.

“What do you think will happen if the King believes your letter?,” asked Jack.

“The Montrose gets destroyed faster and stop being a threat to everyone around

them,” said Josie. “Marking them was the best thing we could have done. If we can

force them out of the borders, that will be even better. The fact that they allied with

other factions in other countries will put a strain on things, but we have to do what

we can with what we have. Refusing to even try is the same as letting them win.”

“And we were never going to do that,” said Jack. “Let’s see what we can do about

this. Maybe if we start hitting those depots, they will have to change routes.”

“We still have to catch up with the alchemists in town that were supplying them with

their potions and things,” said Josie. “They’re still included in everything instead

of a subset of targets.”

“Ready to get the quinjet and head to the Hall?,” asked Jack.

“Yes,” said Josie. “You said you had an idea on how to port the model’s output to

something mobile. How are we going to do that?”

“I’ll show you when we get out to the Hangar,” said Jack. “One of us should check

on Bea before we go.”

“I’ll do it,” said Josie. “Say your goodbyes to Elaine, and grab Aviras and we can go.”

“Are you up for this?,” said Jack.

“I have a better grip on things,” said Josie. “And some people no matter what I think

need to be dealt with in a way they can no longer hurt others. I think I can live with

things, just like I always did. You’re the one who brought the enemy home.”

“And he is so adorable,” said Jack. “He’s like a talking grumpy cat. We could make

a mint with him on Youtube. This ice cream is the greatest. This ice cream isn’t.”

Josie’s eyebrows twitched at the imitation. She shook her head and waved her hand

for him to go. She headed upstairs to Jack’s former room. He hadn’t minded giving

it up to Bea.

She knocked before she entered.

“How do you feel, Bea?,” she asked.

The young woman had pulled herself up to sit with her back to the wall. She had

some notes surrounding her. She smiled.

“I’m doing better,” said Bea. She waved at the notes. “I’m working on my letters.

Elaine said she would figure some way for me to walk around without hurting

myself.”

“We’re going on a raid,” said Josie. She handed over an envelope. “We’re going to

be out of reach of the com bands for a bit. If something happens, send the letter.

We’ll come back to deal with it.”

“I will,” said Bea. “I think with Laura around, no one will try to break in.”

“I know but I worry,” said Josie. “I don’t want anything to happen to you because I

was out doing my job.”

“Yes, Mother,” said Bea. She smiled. “We will be fine. Do your duty. We will do

what we can with the rest.”

Josie shook her head and walked from the room.