A Logical Magician

3

Groaning, Jack opened his eyes. It hadn’t been a nightmare. He was still in Merlin’s office. Everything looked the same. Except the magician was no longer there. Not expecting an answer, Jack called out Megan’s name. No one replied.

Gingerly, he touched where his skull throbbed with pain. He jerked his head away in agony. Nothing felt broken, but he worried about a possible concussion. Dizzily, he forced himself to his feet.

The room spun about, then steadied. He rubbed his eyes in annoyance. The colors seemed wrong. There was a pink tint to everything. Then he remembered the rose-colored contact lenses.

The thought sent his mind reeling. He barely glimpsed the invading bikers, but he felt sure they hadn’t possessed auras. Merlin and his daughter had been kidnapped by supernatural foes.

Jack toyed with calling the police. He rejected the idea instantly. That path led straight to the mental ward. His own initial reaction to Merlin’s identity made that clear. And Jack couldn’t back up his claims with magical powers. The authorities were out. If anyone was going to save Merlin, it had to be him.

That the bikers worked for the mysterious evil power described by Merlin, Jack had no doubts. Somehow, the force had discovered the magician posed a threat to its plans and had sent its minions to kidnap the mage and his daughter. Why the gang hadn’t just killed the pair, Jack didn’t know. He knew for sure it wasn’t out of any feelings of mercy.

Fortunately, their unseen enemy was not omniscient. It failed to realize that Merlin had recruited Jack for the struggle. The bikers had treated him as a minor annoyance to be swatted out of the way, nothing more. Unless, he concluded gloomily, his efforts meant nothing and were doomed to failure. At present, that seemed extremely likely.

Merlin’s rambling discourses left too much unsaid. Jack had no idea how to find, much less defeat, the evil that threatened the future. A mere graduate student in mathematics, he still had not a clue as to why the magician felt he was qualified for the job of saving mankind. Solving equations, not slaying demons, was his specialty. But, he had to try.

Jack wondered if perhaps that was the reason he had been chosen. All his life, he had faced every challenge in his path, no matter what the odds. He never shirked his responsibilities. He attacked his problems with a single-minded determination that ruled out failure. Defeat was not part of his vocabulary. A relentless streak ran through him, making him a much more dangerous foe than anyone ever guessed.

Wobbly, he staggered out of the office, carefully closing the door behind him. His fingerprints were all over the place. That could cause trouble if anyone noticed Mr. Ambrose and his secretary were missing. Jack suspected supernatural entities left no such marks.

Waiting for the elevator, he suddenly remembered the Universal Charge Card. He fumbled through his pockets for a few seconds before finding it. With a sigh of relief, he slipped the rectangle into his wallet. Perhaps he could use the card to track down the missing magician. It wasn’t much of a plan, but at least it provided a starting point for further ideas.

Reaching the ground floor, Jack straightened his shirt and dusted off his clothes before confronting the security guard stationed in the front hallway. He needn’t have bothered. The grizzled police veteran didn’t even look up from his newspaper when Jack coughed.

“Whatcha want?” the officer mumbled.

“You didn’t happen to notice a gang of bikers leaving here a short while ago?” Jack hesitated, realizing how foolish he sounded. “Accompanied by an old man and a young lady?”

The guard squinted over the paper at Jack. Dark eyes peered around warily. “No gangs allowed in my building, sonny. That includes bikers. Now go away and quit bothering me. Can’t you see I’m busy?”

A talkative newspaper vendor across the street confirmed the officer’s claim. “Ain’t their territory,” the old man declared in a high-pitched voice. “They steer clear of the Loop. Too many cops around for them to try anything.”

Jack shook his head in annoyance. The kidnapers had somehow managed to enter and leave the office building unseen. Merlin claimed the teleportation spell only worked on small objects, so that was eliminated. Perhaps the gang knew the secret of invisibility. With magic real, anything was possible. Anything at all. It was not a comforting thought.