Chapter 5 - Jack's Fact

The people chased me through the streets, but I turned, slipped my gun out of it's holster, and shot them all down. I made sure not to kill them. Only wound them. More people were chasing me in cars. I jumped up onto a brick wall and from there to the roof of a house. I ran across the tops of the houses in this way, making sure not to miss my footing. The people from the organization didn't let up. So I slipped down into an alley and let them pass me, then I ran to the street on the other side and hurried through the woods where I was greeted by Walter. I handed him the bag and he escorted me to his car where I changed out of my regular clothes and into my disguise.

~*~AK~*~

It was a week later. Blake lay on the couch, staring at the ceiling. They had made no more progress on Ally Kat. They hadn't even seen her yet. There had never been a time when someone came up so empty on records before. Not a single clue could be had. They had tried capturing another criminal the day before, but Ally Kat didn't even let them touch him this time. Instead, they were both missing. The criminal hadn't shown up where he was supposed to. Everything was then postponed until they could find him again. Or else go after another criminal. No new information on Ally Kat could be had by Alameda, though he knew she had tried at the very least. She wasn't mad at him. She had shown up the next day as if everything were perfectly normal and invited him to the movie they hadn't gotten to see because she was gone. Jack had analyzed everything and nothing turned up. Linton took out teams on a regular basis to patrol the town and look for Ally Kat. Not that she would show herself, but there was always a chance they might stumble upon something. Pepper helped Sydney look through old documents, thinking perhaps that Ally Kat might have had some sort of history with the organization before she officially became Ally Kat. While they did all this, Blake had to handle the upper branch of the organization who was about ready to punish everyone for their failures in getting new information on the girl. Thinking on all this, Blake fell into a restless sleep.

When he awoke, it was to find Jack looking down at him from over the back of the couch.

“Jack. What are you here for?”

“I thought you might like to play a game of chess. It's good to get away from everyday problems every once in a while, you know. It clears the mind.” Blake agreed and they set the game up on the table. “How's that best friend of yours doing?” Jack asked as he set up the black pieces.

“Hm? Oh, fine. She's back now.”

“Did she tell you where she went?”

Blake laughed. “She never tells me that. If I wanted to know that I would have to plant a tracking device on her without her noticing. And that's practically impossible.”

“Why's that impossible?”

“Well, she knows me too well.”

“You say that she knows you, yet you don't know her?”

“That's right. I screwed up trying to know her without her knowing me. It's like her normal self is actually her disguise and I have no idea what she's really like. I mean, I feel like I'm trying to catch a shadow.”

“I suppose shadows are easier to eliminate than to catch.”

“Exactly. You can't shine light on a shadow. If you do, it disappears. That's exactly how my best friend is. Whenever I think I've finally spotted her true self, she disappears behind that mask of hers again.”

“Well, I wouldn't think too hard on it.” Jack made his move before continuing, “I need to talk to you about something I found.”

“Yeah? What is it?” Blake asked moving his queen-side castle.

“It's that picture of Ally Kat that Pepper used to show that their eyes weren't the same.”

“What about it?” Blake asked.

Jack moved his knight. “Well, I went through some of the old files on the computer and I found that there had been some activity on it at a time when nobody should have been on.” Blake looked up from the board to make sure Jack wasn't just joking. “So I looked at it,” Jack continued. “You know what it was, Blake?” Blake didn't move at all, but waited for him to continue. “Someone used the computer to change the eye color of Ally Kat from blue to green.” Blake just stared at him. “It had to have been someone who had access to the organization's computer, and the only people who can do that are the people in the upper branch and me. And the picture was like that before it was handed to us in the folders. It had to have been someone from the upper branch.”

“Or else someone who broke into the computer from the outside.”

“What's that?”

“Ally Kat is no dummy, you know. She could have changed it herself.”

Jack shook his head. “No. I ran a diagnostics on the computer. No one but the organization's people have been on it. You know why the upper branch had us do this instead of one of their own?”

“Why?”

“They knew there was a traitor among them. They had to have someone from the under branch do it.”

“You know this for sure?”

“I overheard some of the people talking. It's certain.”

“Then there's only one thing left to do.”

“What?”

“Check mate.”

“Huh?”

Blake stood and took a drink of coffee, then grimaced, remembering that it was from before he fell asleep. “Check mate. I won. Get your coat. We're going to go visit Pepper.” Jack saw that he had lost the chess game once again and put up the pieces and board in the drawer at Blake's desk before following the man out the door. They got into their separate cars and drove to Pepper's house. When Pepper saw the two of them at her door, she was none too pleased. Naturally, she had been irritable all week, due to the accusations. All the same, she invited them inside and offered them some hot coco. She never had coffee in her house, since she never drank it herself.

“What brings you two here?”

“Pepper, what do you know about Ally Kat's eyes?” Blake asked.

“They're the mirror image of mine. Why?”

“That's the thing. They aren't the mirror image.”

“What's that?”

“Ally Kat's picture. Jack says it was changed. The eye that she has open isn't green, it's blue. Same as yours. Someone changed it.”

“You don't mean to say that you think I-”

“I don't know what to think anymore, Pepper. If you don't have anything to do with Ally Kat, someone's doing a good job of framing you. I didn't come here to make accusations though. There's still no evidence. Not a shred of good evidence. I only came here to warn you. Whether you're Ally Kat or not, you better tread very carefully from here on.” Blake then exited the room and Jack turned to leave as well, but paused at the door. Looking back, he opened his mouth to say something, then faltered. Then he mumbled, “Thanks for the coco,” and followed Blake out.

~*~

Blake slept fitfully that night. He kept dreaming that he was chasing a gray, tabby cat with a bell on it's neck down an alley. Every time he turned a corner, he hoped to find a dead end to corner the cat in. But each time he only found another alleyway. On either side of him were the criminals he was trying to capture. Each of them cried out to him for help, while at the same time, kept him from catching up with the cat. Suddenly, he turned a corner to find a wall, with the tabby sitting on top of it. The blue and green eyes of the cat stared unblinkingly at him. Suddenly, the bell on it's neck rang. And rang. And rang.

Blake opened his eyes. He realized that the ringing was his alarm clock, and he rolled out of bed to turn it off. Yawning, Blake went about his usual morning routine. He took a shower, trimmed his beard, put on his suit and tie, packed up his briefcase and went to the kitchen to feed Coal, his cat, and fix himself a breakfast of bacon and eggs. As he was about to poor out some milk into a bowl for the black feline, there was a ring at the door. “Come in!” He called. He heard the door open and shut and as he peered out the door to the living room, he saw Alameda Bryce, dressed as a spell-caster.

“I know you like to dress the part when you go information hunting, but what's with the robes and staff? You a witch or something?”

“Oh, of course not! I'm a spell-caster-in-training. I'm going to go talk to Ol' Lady Kacatrice [pronounced KAH-kuh-trise] to see if she has any information on Ally Kat.” Alameda replied.

“Why would Ol' Lady- Why would Tricey know anything?”

“There was just a small rumor that Ally Kat was seen in her neighborhood, that's all.”

“Well, you be careful. It's not easy to trick a trickster you know,” Blake warned, sipping at his coffee.

“Yeah, well, I've got experience.”

Blake looked up at her, showing a disbelieving, puzzled expression. “When?”

“Oh, uh, before I met you. It's a long story, no time for it now. I just came by to see if you had any garlic.”

“Garlic? Yeah, I think there's some in the fridge. You can help yourself.”

“Thanks!”

Blake continued eating, when he realized something. “Wait, why do you need garlic?”

“To put around my neck.”

“To put- Look, missy, I know it's a spell-caster and all, but putting garlic on your neck?”

“It's a tradition that all new spell-casters wear garlic to protect themselves until they master the powers to send away evil spirits and the like. Just in case they fail, they don't want to be eaten.” Blake just stared, horror stricken. “Hey, it's not like I believe all this stuff! It's just what those weirdos think.” Blake still just stared. “Look, I'll make it up to you. How about dinner tonight?”

“Oh, no. No, not with you smelling like garlic. It's gonna be at least three days before I get near you again,” Blake objected in horror.

Alameda made a face at him, then stopped and thought about what he just said. “Oh.... So all along, the best way to get rid of you was to just wear garlic around my neck? Those spell-casters might have something after all....”

“Get out of here, Alameda! Go take your robes and garlic and staff and get out of here!”

“I'm going, I'm going! Sheesh. And this is the guy who keeps begging me to tell him why I leave all the time,” Alameda muttered to herself as she walked out into the living room and out the apartment door.

Blake shook his head to rid himself of the crazy thoughts, when Alameda walked back in. “Decide to give back the garlic?” Blake asked looking up at her. But Alameda didn't respond. She was gazing at an envelope in her hand with a serious expression on her face. “Alameda?”

The young girl jerked her head up and then looked him straight in the eye as she handed him the note. “This was at your doorstep,” she spoke, barely above a whisper. Blake glanced at it. It had Blake's name in the center and in the corner where the return address was supposed to be, was a bell stamped twice in the same place, once with blue ink and once with green ink. “Blake, the blue and green bell.... It must be from Ally Kat.”

Note from the author: To anyone who is against magic and witches or anything like magic and witches, I apologize. I needed something weird for Alameda to do. But don't worry, Blake shares your opinion.