Page 27 of Gates of Tartarus

I want to giggle at the expression on Seef’s face. Clearly, he’s not used to being challenged or ignored. That night at dinner, I take great pleasure in telling Jorge and Kavi how expertly Elizabeth smacked Seef down. Emlyn just shakes his head at me.

???

Sadly, all fun and games come screeching to a halt the next afternoon. Seef, for some reason, is in an extra-foul mood with extra foulness on top, and gets his revenge by making me practice the wrist hold and the open-hand strike again then adds a knife strike to the side of the neck. Afterwards, I have to run twenty-five laps of the gym. Whenever I feel like giving up, I remember how Elizabeth dealt with him yesterday and keep going. That and ogling him. I’m disgustingly sweaty by the time we finish, but, really, it’s Seef, so who cares?

Emlyn’s on the phone when we come in. Despite the National Crime Agency’s efforts, there are no leads on any of the trafficking victims from the warehouse. 180,000 people go missing in the UK every year, and no one knows whether the warehouse victims were trafficked into or out of the country. It’s a grey world where criminals can flourish.

I feel comfortable enough to get myself a cup of tea from the thermos, and Emlyn smiles at me and pushes a pack of biscuits over the desk. I’m two biscuits down and halfway through the tea when he gets off the phone. “Training going well?”

Seef grunts: “As well as can be expected.” I bristle at that – I’ll admit getting out of a hold is tricky, but I think I’m getting pretty good at open-hand strikes. If Seef wants to serve as my dummy, I’d be happy to demonstrate. Though the thought of messing up that rugged face does give me pause.

“Good. Well, Maela, do you feel like trying to see Tennireef and Magda?” Emlyn looks encouragingly at me.

I put down my tea and grasp the crystal. “On it.” It’s easier to get my head in the zone today, although I take several minutes to relax and focus. Not being able to see either Tennireef or Magda really shook me on Monday. Once I feel ready, I visualize the shining silver rope, pulling myself up and out into the soft blackness. I picture Tennireef’s face and send my senses out, searching, searching, but find nothing. Eventually, I open my eyes, exhausted.

“No?” Emlyn asks. I shake my head in frustration: “I don’t get it! I mean, Ratko makes sense, because I bumped into him in the coffee shop, but I’ve never met Magda, so why can I seeher? And why could I see Tennireef before but not now? OK, maybe I didn’t really see him, but I somehow dreamed, I don’t know, his dream? Or was that a flash of, what, backsight?”

Emlyn looks thoughtful. “Maybe you have a mental block against seeing him, like you did with Ratko. Or perhaps the “impression”, for want of a better word, that you got from that first vision of Tennireef talking to Magda on a video call wasn’t strong enough. Maybe you need to link to him through someone else, someone you’ve met?”

“Cole,” Seef says. “He used to work for the Gaia Foundation, didn’t he?”

“No. No way,” I break in. “I’m not spying on Elizabeth Cole.” She’s become my idol; I think I may even have a girl crush.

“Maela,” Emlyn begins.

“Do it!” Seef snaps. “If there’s a chance of getting to Tennireef through her, then we have to take it.” My eyes plead with Emlyn, but he shakes his head.

Grumbling, I get myself settled and start to look for Elizabeth, but it’s a repeat of the first time I tried to see Tennireef. I can picture her clearly in my mind, but no doors are opening. After several minutes, I give up. “Nothing.” My voice is dull, and I can feel the beginning of a headache.

Emlyn sighs. “It was worth a shot.” Then, as if to reassure me that I haven’t let the side down, he adds, “and you must be tired out.”

“The first time you saw Magda, she was with Ratko, right?” Seef asks. At my nod, he continues, “So, maybe you’d need to wait until Cole is with Tennireef to see him anyway. Christ! I don’t see her agreeing to that! She’d say ‘no’ just to spite me. I don’t think she’s a fan of law enforcement. Maddox says she barely cooperated with his team.”

I scowl at him: “If Maddox is anything like you, maybe it’s just your charming personality she finds distasteful.”

“Or maybe,” Emlyn says thoughtfully, “video footage would be enough? Maybe if Maela saw and heard Tennireef? She almost saw him the other day, after looking at a photo. Can we get some footage of him, not just at a press conference but maybe in an interview?”

“On it.” Seef takes out his phone and taps a number on speed-dial. “Maddox, mybru!Howzit?” He laughs at the answer, and I stare at him. His face is transformed: his eyes are crinkled up at the corners, and his smile is wide. He’s got a boyish glow, and the tip of his tongue is even poking out between straight, white teeth. I’m entranced. Could this possibly be “triple S”? It’s like seeing Mr. Hyde transform into Dr. Jekyll. “She still giving you trouble?Eina!” he winces. “Listen, can you get me some close-up footage of that scrot Tennireef? We need to run an experiment… No, still nothing… OK. Great.” He hangs up and tells Emlyn that Maddox will try to get them something.

Emlyn nods. “So, Maela, do you feel up to trying to see Magda? Third time’s a charm?”

I blow out heavily through my lips, shoulders slumping, but straighten up when I feel Seef’s eyes on me. “Yeah, OK. I’ll give it a go.” I’m rewarded by Emlyn’s smile and close my eyes feeling a warm glow in the pit of my stomach. I think of Kavi’s lessons on the chakras: red, orange, yellow… or is it red, yellow, orange? Either way, I’ve got a nice little fire going. I chuckle to myself. Kavi sure knows how to lightmyfire. God, whenever I peek at him during yoga… I mean, his muscles actuallyripple. I’d like to stroke him, just run my hands all over him, exploring the crests and contours...

A few minutes later, Magda comes into view. Surprise, surprise, she’s in her lounge, curled up on her couch, watching TV. I look around; the room is disturbingly clean, nothing out of place. There’s a laptop on the coffee table, but it’s closed. I turn back to Magda, trying to imprint her features in my mind. Maybe, since I won’t recall them clearly, I should come up with a verbal description? I muse, if I had to compare her with someone, I’d say Charlize Theron, but with, I squint, Julia Roberts’ hair and eyes. Yes, that would do. I glance at the TV. Oooh,Queer Eyeis on! I settle myself down happily, and Magda and I watch it together. Half an hour later, I open my eyes, smiling.

“You saw her,” Emlyn states. “What did you find out?”

“She likesQueer Eye.”

“Do you mean to say that you’ve spent all this time watching television?” Seef asks incredulously.

I shrug: “The phone might have rung.” I’m feeling delightfully relaxed, all traces of my headache gone. “Besides, I’ve got a better description. Think Charlize Theron with Julia Robert’s coloring.”

“You can recall her features now?” Emlyn’s scribbling my description down.

“No. When I think of her, she’s out of focus. But I tried to come up with comparisons when I was watching her.”

“Good idea,” Seef remarks. My eyes widen: did ‘triple S’ just compliment me? I wish Emlyn’s window was bigger so that I could look out for flying pigs.

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