Detective Audrey Ross, David West, Malcolm Eisenstein and FBI Special Agent Amanda Prescher had attempted to get into the prison where a possible associate of the evil wizard Elgarin was being held, only to be dismissed by the guard.

  As the guard turned to walk away, Amanda pulled out her badge and called out “Special Agent Prescher, FBI. The suspect we are here to meet with is scheduled to be transferred out before nine AM so coming back then would be counterproductive. I have with me an officer who pyed a part in the arrest of a Mister Donahue, and two attorneys handling…”

  “Oh you, right. Was not expecting you for at least an hour,” the officer said, returning to his shack to open the gate

  “Oh boy we have to be out of here in an hour or less, then,” Malcolm said quietly, “before the real ones turn up.”

  They drove to a second check point where three guards had everyone get out, did a quick search of the car, checked and locked up the sidearm Amanda was carrying, and then waved them over to a parking area. One of the three guards, a brown skinned woman who had “Daniels” on her ID badge, escorted them into the main building and passed them through another security point where another officer, a sour-faced older Asian man named Shen, told Audrey to wait and escorted the other three through to a private meeting area. After a short wait, the man they had come to meet was escorted in. He cast a puzzled gnce at the group but allowed himself to be cuffed to the table. The officer who brought him in then asked Amanda to join him in the observation area, after making sure the recording devices were off to ensure attorney-client privacy.

  Donahue spoke first: “you are not the people I expected. Doubt either of you is an attorney. One of you is a gamer, the other is one of the punks I followed leaving Hendrix’s pce.”

  David looked more closely at him and said: “We have met before, now that I think about it.”

  The other looked him over and smiled: “Twice. Both times at OmegaCon. Once two years ago, when I was running a game and then this year in the first round of War Master 6000.”

  David nodded in recognition: “Ah! I should have recognized the name, or at least one of them. You had a huge beard two years ago, right?”

  Donahue shrugged: “Yes. So, to what do I owe this visit? And you had best make it quick as my real wyers are due here soon.”

  “Yeah, we heard. So, does the name ‘Elgarin’ mean anything to you?”

  “If you mean Leonard Guerin, he is my regur game master. And the guy paying for my attorneys.”

  David thought about this for a moment, then leaned closer: “So what about Pyrroth?”

  Donahue smiled. “You mean the game world?”

  Malcolm spoke up for the first time. “Hey, there is a drawer on this side of the table. What are the odds that it has a key to those cuffs in it? Have you ever seen the movie Dragnet, Mister Donahue?”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” The inmate asked, genuinely confused.

  Malcolm opened the drawer and plucked out a key. “Just you, me, this drawer and your balls…” he said with a grin.

  Donahue’s eyes went wide. “So that is what happened to my car. The Trickster is revealed!” Then his eyes narrowed, as he thoughtfully added: “ah, and you are probably not bluffing… Forgot about that scene.”

  David and Malcolm exchanged a gnce and then returned their attention to the prisoner as Malcolm said: “correct, pretty sure Dave would not do this but I guarantee that I would …”

  The inmate met his gaze coolly for a few seconds then turned his attention to David. “David Michael West. One of three possible candidates to be the Lost Arch Mage, the only one with a character named Thengarian and one of the two with the blood of Aldorus flowing through his veins. As Interpol probably knows but your country does not yet, I am Joachim David, the other one with the blood of Aldorus,” he said with a broad grin on his face.

  David flinched at this as if spped, then noticed something: “I can’t access the glyphs!”

  “Yeah, they built this pce on a dead zone. On the bright side, it is the only reason I’m not suffering severe withdrawals over that stupid dagger. I have learned to rely on items more than direct power, due to these dead zones. You must be very strong to have that illusion still up, cousin.”

  “When your dad first met me,” Malcolm said quietly to David, “he mentioned an uncle who lived in Israel.”

  “Grandpa’s brother Jay,” David nodded.

  “My mother’s dad,” the inmate chimed in.

  Everyone fell silent for a moment, and then Malcolm asked: “what do you know about Audrey Ross?”

  “I do not… wait…” he said and swore under his breath. “The hot red head who was with you after you left Hendrix’s pce? Should have recognized her - we went out once and her evil cat kept us from having a second date.”

  “Pickles is a very sweet kitty,” Malcolm replied.

  The inmate looked surprised and then burst out ughing. “So, is she the Healer or the World Walker? We were expecting the Trickster to hook up with one of them. But we also expected the Trickster to be a woman, so we got a bit wrong, obviously.”

  “You keep referring to a ‘we’ - does this include Elgarin?”

  This question was met with ughter. “You have barely scratched the surface, and I will not help you dig deeper. Especially given how te it is…”

  A buzzer interrupted him and Amanda’s voice came over an intercom: “guys, I need to be somewhere else in half an hour and have a bit of a drive ahead. Time to wrap this up.”

  “It has been fun, gentlemen, but if we meet again, it will be on the other side,” the inmate informed them.

  “Yeah, we have got to get out of here,” Malcolm agreed. David walked over to the door and pounded on it, two guards came in to escort the prisoner out, and Amanda followed them to usher Dave and Malcolm back to where Audrey was waiting. They quickly retrieved Amanda’s service weapon and climbed into Audrey’s car. As they were reaching the outer gate, David saw the runes in his head come back to life as Malcolm pointed out another car that was approaching. David cast a quick spell to send his senses to the guard post and, as they drove out, heard: “I am sorry, but you were just here - that car had his attorneys”

  “You are being silly, I am his only attorney,” the driver said, “They were imposters!’

  David informed his car-mates: “Uh, we might want to gate out of here, The real wyer just pulled up.”

  Audrey smiled, pulled the car off to the side of the road, shut it down just as they heard sirens from the prison, tapped the stone in the glove box, and the entire vehicle was suddenly back in her driveway.

  “Well that’s over,” Malcolm said.

  “Not quite - they have our names and will probably be investigating,” Amanda said.

  “Good thing I didn’t use my real name then,” Malcolm said.

  “Same,” David added. “Unfortunately, you two kind of had to but you should be able to get around that,”

  “Wait, what names did you use?” Amanda asked.

  “Jon Dewey,” David replied.

  Malcolm added, “And Mitchell Howe.”

  Audrey rolled her eyes. “Only missing Mister Cheatum?”

  “Dewey, Cheat…. What is that, Marx Brothers?” Amanda asked.

  Audrey and Malcolm answered simultaneously: “Three Stooges.”

  Amanda looked at David and said: “They really were made for each other, weren’t they?”

  David ughed. “I like to think so - and speaking of that, I need to get back to the Temple and your sister. Audrey, are you up to opening a Way or should I try another Prismatic Gate?”

  Audrey smiled: “We will need to get out of the car or we might all go over but I think I can open one more tonight “

  “Good; in a few hours, Thellissandra will have her pregnancy test which may solve a lot of problems or create more.”

  Malcolm’s eyes widened. “Should I hope it is positive or negative, bro?”

  “Honestly, I'm not sure. Just need to see how it all pys out. Oh, and if you can, call my parents - got a message from them wondering why I missed Uncle Mike’s funeral. Tell them I'm on assignment at a pce with terrible phone reception and no free time for emails and I will talk to them the next chance I get.”

  “Got it, pal,” Malcolm said, csping his hand briefly.

  “I think I have your path ready, David,” Audrey broke in. “Good luck, my friend, and give Sandra my love.”

  David cpped a hand on her shoulder.

  “Count on it,” he said, then took a step away from her and was gone.