Son of the Morning

It was a diet rich in sodium, iron, and all the trace minerals, she noted. Not a bad diet, except for the liver; that would be hell on a time traveler’s cholesterol level.

She kept that page in her hand, and returned to the Gaelic documents.

"His body prepared then by striking Steel to Stone find the Spark of Lightning that will Carry him to the Chosen Time."

Grace almost choked. "What were you idiots trying to do?" she blurted, staring at the page. "Electrocute yourselves?" They had deliberately flooded their bodies with iron and water, then worked up some source of electricity. Who had been the guinea pigs for this experiment, and had anyone survived?

The rest of the page was mathematical formulas. Evidently, they had thought to control the number of years traveled by the amount of water drunk and the force of electricity applied. Interesting concept, but what had they known about electricity, much less controlling it?

She turned to the next page, and her blood ran cold. "And the Evil one shall be called Parrish."

"Oh, my God," she whispered.

"Kris, this is Grace." There was silence on the end of the line, then he said explosively, "Grace!"

"Shh," she cautioned. Nervously she twisted the steel cord of the pay phone, wondering once again if she had any right to involve Kris in this mess. She had been up most of the night, reading and rereading the documents, trying to apply common sense to the situation, but finally coming to the conclusion that extraordinary events called for extraordinary actions. Nothing about her life in the past eight months had been ordinary. Perhaps she would find something in the Foundation’s computers, perhaps not, but she couldn’t afford to leave any avenue unexplored. ‘

"It’s okay. Mom and Dad are inFlorida . Where are you? Are you okay?"

"I’m fine," she said "Automatically.Fine was a relative term. She wasn’t dead, she wasn’t injured, she wasn’t hungry. Physically, she supposed she was fine; emotionally was another story. "Did you have any trouble… after talking to me that time? Did Parrish or any of his men question you?"

"Maybe. I don’t know," he said. "A detective came to the house that day, but he wasn’t the one I’d talked to before. He showed me a badge,y’know , but how would I know if it looked the way it should? He asked me a lot of questions I’d already answered, and I stuck to the story. I’d worked on your modem, showed you a program I was working on, you paid me and left. That was all. You didn’t mention anything about your work."

She breathed a sigh of relief. The "detective" could have been legitimate, and could also have been one of Parrish’s men rechecking Kris’s story.Kristian had pulled it off, protected by his computer wonk persona. No one meeting him would think him involved in anything beyond bytes and programs.

"Where are you?" he asked again. "It’s safer for you if you don’t know." "Yeah, well, so what?" He sounded older than before, tougher and more assured. "I know you didn’t do it, so if you need help, all you have to do is ask."

His unquestioning faith hit her so hard that it was a moment before she could speak past the knot that formed in her throat.

"You’ll be breaking the law if you help me." She felt compelled to warn him, because her conscience was still nagging at her for calling. .

‘I know," he said calmly. "I broke the law by not telling them everything I knew about that night, and I broke the law when I got into the bank’s computers so you could get your money out. What’s one more felony between friends?"

She took a deep breath. "All right. Is there any way you can get into the Foundation’s computer system without setting off any alarms?"

"Sure," he said, completely confident. "I told you, there’s always a back door. All I have to do is find it. But if it’s a closed system, I’ll have to go on-site to get in. Any problem there?"

Grace took a deep breath, trying to remember what she’d seen of the computer system the times she’d been in the Foundation’s offices, which actually hadn’t been that often. "I think it’s a closed system."

"Are we going to do somemidnight breaking and entering?" He sounded eager; Kris was a true hacker, willing to go to any lengths to perform his illegal art.

"No." Harmony hadn’t given her any advice on getting into a secured professional building without setting off its alarm system, but she had given her some pointers about hiding in plain sight. "We’ll go in during the day, as part of the maintenance crew. I don’t know how we’ll get onto the floor without being seen, but we’ll think of something."

"I keep telling you," Kris said. "There’s always a back door."

Chapter 14

WHEN NIALL RODE IN FROM PATROL, SIM MET HIM WITH A worried expression. "Artair andTearlach haven’t returned from hunting," he reported.

Niall looked at the darkening sky. The short winter day was fading fast, and the lowering gray clouds promised more snow. The wind whipped at his hair, blowing it across his face, and impatiently he tossed it back as he jumped from the horse.

"BringCinnteach ," he ordered. The gelding was as steady as his name, and had the stamina of two horses.

"Done." Sim nodded to a stable lad approaching with the big bay. "I’ve had the other lads make ready, should ye want them also."

"Only you andIver ," Niall said. The two men were Creag Dhu’s best archers, save himself. Perhaps he was foolhardy to take only two with him, but he was always mindful of leaving the castle well protected. Winter had cooled the Hay’s raging blood feud with Creag Dhu; over a month had passed without attack. Still,Artair andTearlach were both accomplished hunters, and could read the weather well; if naught was amiss, they would have returned by now.