A Mole's View...Part 2

With a cold kiss to Nick’s cheek and feral smile, Rose spun around and started walking towards the dark doorway in the far side of the vast rooms. Halfway back, she paused long enough to throw an inviting look over her shoulder and motion with the index finger of her right hand that Nick should ‘come hither’.

“Bring your little toy. My masters will be very interested in seeing it.”

Nick grunted and reached down to scoop up his CoonBot in one hand and the empty backpack in the other. He stuffed the critter and the controller into the pack as he followed this strange woman towards the door.

When Rose reached the door, she turned back one more time. “When you step through the Shadow this time, Nick, look for the door that has a likeness of my name on it, otherwise you will find yourself going somewhere you may well regret.” Her eyes narrowed as she spoke, her voice lowered and became quite sultry. “Do you understand?”

The whole view shook up and down as Nick nodded once. “Yeah, I’ve been through such portals before. I’ll watch for your door, babe. I’m not here to fool around. Lead the way.”

Rose shook her head and laughed. It was a deep throaty sound from someone with such a high-pitched nasal voice. “No, I’m afraid I will not be going with you on this journey Nick, I have other applicants that I must sort through. My job is not yet done tonight. You should know though, that everything that you have said here has been seen and heard by those that you are about to meet, so you don’t need to go through any unnecessary formalities with them.”

“Who am I going to be meeting?”

She smiled in response. “They will introduce themselves if they so choose.”

“I don’t know babe, there sure seems to be a lot of cloak and dagger funny business to this job. I thought I was through with that kind of thing years ago.”

She leaned up close to Nick again, her hand drifting from his shoulder down past his elbow before slipping further down and behind him to grab his ass. Her fingernails left chills wherever she touched him, raising goose bumps on his bare skin. “We have to be very careful Nick. We have some very powerful enemies who may be trying even now to infiltrate us.” Her eyes seemed to bore right through Nick’s and into mine. It was like she was speaking directly to me instead of Nick. “But the rewards of working with us are much richer than those of our enemies.”

Nick pushed her away with his free hand, hoisted his backpack with the other. “Alright then, let me go meet these masters of yours. I like rich rewards.”

He stepped through the door before she could respond.

The Shadow swallowed him, causing the image to go all black once again. Before long though, Nick’s vision adjusted to the dark hues and subtle variations of the Shadowland. He found himself in a long hallway with several doors on each side and he shuffled down it.

Each door had some sort of emblem on it. He paused by each on that he passed. The first door on the right was marked with a small green palm tree made of sparkling emeralds. The next door, on the left this time, was marked with a white tulip made out what might have been diamonds. The third door, still on the left side of the hall was marked by a softly glowing rose made of rubies.

Nick reached out and touched the rubies, perhaps to see if they were real or not, pulled his hand back when the door and the rubies faded out of existence, to leave only a darker shade of black shadow in its place. Another portal to step through. Nick stepped through it.

When the blackness faded away again, Nick found himself standing in a bare stone chamber with no windows or other obvious exits. “What the fuck?”

He swung around to the look for the exit again, only to find that the shadowy door had transformed into a steel door with a small barred window that was solidly shut.

He dropped the backpack to the floor and reached out with both strong hands to grab at the door. Using all of his strength to push at the door, he managed only to rattle it slightly in place.
“Hey, what the fuck is going on here? Why am I in a jail cell?”

Footsteps echoed on stone as someone approached from down a hall towards the cell.

Nick called out again. “Hey who’s out there?”

The footsteps continued to grow louder as whoever it was came closer.

“Let me out of this place!”

A small, round face of an older man with a maniacal eyes peeked through the bars at Nick. It was the face of a man I could never forget. El Diablito.

He cackled in his high-pitched voice. “So, Nicholas. You’ve come to spy on me for our friends, the ORC’s? I don’t like spies very much, Nicholas.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about, man!” There was a hint of desperation in Nick’s deep voice. He was clearly flustered and surprised.

“Oh, I don’t think that is being quite truthful, Nicholas. I have my own spies you know. I happen to know that you were sent by my adversaries among the ORC’s and that you are trying to work under cover to investigate me and my new organizations. I will not tolerate such attempts on my livelihood.”

“Look man, I don’t even know who the Hell you are and what your organizations are. I just heard about someone who might be hiring Casters with unique skills. I’m tired of making cabinets. I want to make some serious money.”

El Diablito cackled again. “Nice try young man. But I am not as easily fooled as poor Rose there. She’s a useful tool, but she has her limitations. You cannot deceive me with your fake protestations of innocence.”

Nick’s shoulders slumped and his view shifted from the door to the floor for a moment as he seemed to give up. He looked back up into the face of his captor. “OK, so what are you going to do with me?”

El Diablito smiled. “Oh, I’m going to let you live. I want your current masters to know that they cannot catch me as easily as they think that they can. I want them to see what they are going to be going up against when decide to make their move. So, as soon as I have extracted all of the information I need from you, I shall be releasing you with enough memories to make a fine little show to Ms. Fyre and her cohorts.” His eyes narrowed and his face and tone grew more serious. “And Nicholas, when you tire of working for a pittance, risking your life and limb for such a ‘noble cause’ and you instead wish to apply your obvious talents towards enriching yourself and your family, I want you to come back and see me. Know this, however, that I will know what it is that you intend in your heart better than you. If you return to me while trying to deceive me again, I will leave you in Rose’s bedroom here for her to do with as she pleases. Trust me, that will not be a very pleasant fate. That poor creature has needs that will leave you a ruined husk of a man once they have been fulfilled. And you would not be able to resist fulfilling those needs either.”

The recording stopped and the images faded away.

I looked up to see Jim standing there looking at a book from one of his many packed shelves. “I’ve been wondering when I would find time to read this thing.”

“El Diablito is recruiting these Casters? He must have some moles of his own inside our…I mean your…organization.”

He nodded soberly as he put the book back into its slot. “After Ravyn and the Frau recovered these memories from Nick and helped him return to a semblance of his normal self, he disappeared. We’re not sure where he is right now.”

“Maybe he took up El Diablito on his offer.”

Jim shrugged. “That’s certainly possible. Or El Diablito could have had one of his agents eliminate him once his purpose had been served. We don’t know just yet.”

“How much more information did the Little Devil collect from Nick about the ORC’s?”

Jim shook his head. “Nick didn’t have a lot of connections within the organization. He probably didn’t learn much from him that he didn’t already know. But we’re more concerned about Nick than we are about what he gave up about us.”

“I think my decision on which enemy to focus on has been made. I hate that little asshole almost as much as I hated Drake. He also knows too much about Alexa and Naomi. He needs to be dealt with, soon.”