Outside the Mirage

#27: Floor Seventeen

"We've made absolutely no headway with the Cultist case since Merlyn and his apprentice left," Layfield growled on the phone.

"Well, that's not good enough," Forsythe said from the other end. "We haven't gotten any word from Merlyn on what's happening in Alaska so we need to focus more on what's going on here."

"That's really difficult when the Cultists aren't exposing themselves," Layfield said. "No one's gotten hide or hair from them since the ordeal at Wyvern's house. We've been searching every crack in town to see if we can find them, but either they're hiding better than we can seek or we need to expand our perimeter."

"Worry about expansion," Forsythe said. "I'll get a team of Sniffers in Gunner's Run tomorrow to start looking for higher-level magic."

"Alright, good," Layfield said. "Thank you, Special Agent."

"Did you finally get the Sniffers?" Jordan asked as Layfield hung up the phone.

"I did," Layfield said. "Thank goodness. I'm tired of going side to side and top to bottom of this town. We haven't had a whiff of any Cultist in weeks and somehow that's our fault."

Jordan frowned. "It does seem weird that they just disappeared."

"They didn't just disappear," Layfield said. "They have never really been that active. Merlyn running into Edwards at an awards show was a coincidence, just as someone spotting four Cultists hanging out at a bar downtown was a happy accident. The attack on the Black Fortress came from those things, a retaliation rather than preemptive. The only strike they've made against us first without warning was at the Wyvern house, but that whole property has been scoured for anything that could help us, to no avail."

"That's a fair point," Jordan said. "Maybe we're thinking of it all wrong. Maybe they really are in Alaska, the Cultists, and Merlyn's hunting them down now."

Layfield gave Jordan a look. "I knew Tobias Bennett for a while. He did train me, along with the others. I have my reservations on him being the leader of this gang."

"Why?"

"Bennett's a weirdo, but he's a decent man by nature," Layfield said. "Reclusive and grumpy, but he is the kind of mage who just likes to help other mages get better. He's not malicious. Whatever his connection to this case is, it's not as their leader."

"I trust you," Jordan said. "Just figured I'd bring up that possibility."

Layfield sighed, rubbing his forehead. "We're looking for a Dwarf, a normal guy with swords, a giant wiccan and two mages, one of whom is a famous lawyer and the other has a white beard and a sparkly staff. Why can't we find them?"

"Right now," Jordan said, "we need to get our minds off of it. Overthinking won't solve it. Let's get some lunch. A new taco place opened up down the road, we can go there."

"That does sound good," Layfield said. "Let's go."

The two of them got to their feet, Layfield's brown cloak brushing the floor as he walked while Jordan threw on a beige coat.

"Did you watch the Superbowl last night?" Jordan asked as they approached the elevator.

"I don't like American football," Layfield said, swiping his ID badge at the door.

"You're American," Jordan said. "You can just call it football, I think."

The elevator doors opened and as Layfield and Jordan went to step on, they found themselves face to face with a number of individuals: one Dwarf wielding a large hammer, a petite blonde woman in red, a large muscular man, and an old man with a staff.