Summoned Again?

I quickly dispelled the concealment and barrier spells on the fake wall and entered the hidden work room. I took out just enough of my enchanting gear to work and started up the little forge I had and tossed a couple gold coins into the crucible.

While that melted, I took out my old plans for a pendant cube and the list of spells, enchantments, and stat boosts that I could use. They were all different and when melded together, would give me access to a heck of a lot more spells than eight rings at a time did. The only problem was that I didn't have the time to engrave them all.

I sighed and took out a pile of gold rings instead and started engraving the spells that I wanted to use, with Search being the biggest one. It was definitely going to be a huge help, especially with the Map that was still off to the side of my vision. I intentionally didn't think about the goddess or prayed, or anything even remotely referencing divine beings.

It was then that I realized I didn't have any flashes of Divine Sight to help me out of the jam I was in. Then I thought about it while I worked. Over the next hour, I realized something. Something that I should have suspected a long time ago. The visions only appeared when something that would affect my future in a negative way was going to happen.

No sooner had I come to that conclusion when I had a flash of Divine Sight about Jenny coming back with Crystal and seeing the wall moved and the secret room. I definitely could not let that happen, so I quickly stored what I had completed, turned off the forge, and darted out of the room. I closed the door and slid the wall over, then used the bound and conceal spells to cover it up.

I walked over to the kitchen table and put the dirty dishes in the sink, moved the pizza boxes over, and took out several of the file folders that I had taken from Stacy and the others. The partially shredded one was interesting, to say the least.

The six months of expenses, operations, contacts and supply deliveries, gave me the list of people that had been temporarily employed in the building. I was a bit relieved to see they were just normal people and not clandestine members of a secret cabal or anything. Most were freelance and probably had no idea what was going on. I hoped.

I would have to check later and it would give me a chance to try my new Memory Manipulation rings. I was sure that I wasn't going to get much more out of it than a quick reading, though. I had opted to enchant them with Intelligence and Wisdom boosts of +20 each, so when I equipped them... hoo, baby. I felt so much smarter. Unfortunately, I also felt that much weaker, because I lost the Strength and Vitality I had put on the other rings.

I ended up wearing four Search rings and two rings of Memory Manipulation and two of Memory Modification. I wouldn't equip the Cleaning Hands rings until I needed them. I used a Search spell as a test and it gave me the details of the building I was in. The range wasn't great, since it was the basic version and I couldn't boost it with either points or mana.

At least I could move it to different levels, since the Map let me zoom in and out. I thought and switched that ring out for a Cleaning Hands ring and used it. I felt like I had just taken a quick shower and that was awesome. I had been worried that it wasn't powerful enough to do more than take off the top layer of sweat or something. I switched it back to the spent Search ring to let it recharge and tucked the Cleaning Hands ring into my pocket.

Jenny didn't even knock as she unlocked and opened my apartment door. She carried in a garbage bag full of Crystal's things and a suitcase full of Crystal's clothes. I went over to her and took both the bag and the suitcase and put both into the guest room that was going to become Crystal's room. Crystal came with me and she told me where to put everything.

I did my best to not laugh at her, because she was so commanding and strict when she wanted things a certain way and I put everything away for her. She had even taken her blanket from her bed and I replaced the one on the bed with it.

“There! All settled in.” I said and picked her up, kissed her cheek, and carried her back out to the living room.

“Damon, what's this?” Jenny asked and pointed to the partially shredded file folder.

“Just a few things I grabbed on the way out.” I said and put Crystal on the couch, hit the replay button for the movie she was watching, then went over to the table. “They said that the operation wasn't supposed to go on for this long and I wanted to know why they didn't just stop when I didn't reappear after a month.”

Jenny had a flash of anger on her face and then she sighed. “Any luck?”

“It's just records of supplies and things. When they said they were clearing out, they really were clearing everything out.” I said and picked up the folders. “I'll go over the rest when I come back.”

“I can look through them for you.” Jenny offered.

“No, thanks. I can handle it.” I said and walked away from her and down the hallway to my bedroom. I stayed in there for a minute and came back out after storing the files back into my inventory. “I'm heading out now. I don't know how long I'll be.”

“If you need the paperwork for the bank, it's at the condo.” Jenny said.

I shivered slightly at the memory of the last time I was there. “I am never going back there.” I said and went over to Crystal and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “See you later.”

“Bye!” Crystal said and I left the apartment without looking at Jenny.

I called for a taxi and rode the elevator down to the ground floor. By the time I stepped out the front door, the taxi was waiting for me. I climbed in and was taken downtown to the bank. I had been tempted to call ahead; but, that would have warned them that I was coming and I didn't want them to be forewarned or prepared to turn me away.

I walked through the bank's parking lot and thought about dropping the fake detective's car there right away, then decided that it would be better to wait. I went inside and stood in line, as if I was a normal customer, and when it was my turn at the teller, I told her that I was there to check on my safety deposit box. I told her the number and produced my key.

She smiled and nodded as she took me to the manager's office. He apparently didn't realize who I was, because he didn't react when she asked him to open the vault. He led us from the office and to the back of the building. Just for idle conversation, I asked why the door was only a rectangle and not the fancy round ones. He laughed and explained that it was easier to deal with an actual door and not a hatch. The three of us stepped inside and I held my key out to the teller.

“Sir, it's a safety deposit box. You need some privacy to...”

“Please, I insist.” I said. “I'm only checking the contents. I don't need to remove anything from it.”

The teller looked at the manager and he nodded, so she used my key to open it and started to pull out the large tray. She stumbled a little and looked surprised, I assumed because the box was big and was also very light. When she opened the top of it, she gasped because it was empty.

“Well, that's interesting.” I said and looked at the manager. “I wonder who could open my personal safety deposit box without my permission and my key?”

The man's eyes widened and glanced at the empty metal tray, the spot it had been taken from, and back at me.

“If you would be so kind, could you explain where my hundred million dollars in gold coins went?”

The teller gasped and the manager started sweating.

“Well? I know I didn't take them, since I haven't been inside this bank since I put them here.” I said. “Who else has access to my supposedly private and secured safety deposit box?”

“The police...” The manager started to say.

“Don't start lying now. The police wouldn't have the jurisdiction to come in here and confiscate my personal property, unless I was charged with a crime that involved those coins.” I said. “Try again.”

The manager let out a sigh. “The FBI came here and took them.”

“You do realize you broke the law... twice... by handing them over.” I said and he looked surprised. “You would have to know I put them in there to know the contents.” I said and the teller took in a sharp breath. “Then you let them take it without a warrant or even a guarantee that they would return it.”

“How could you?!?” The teller said loudly. “You breached a client's trust!”

“It's much worse than that.” I said and took out my cell phone and dialed 911. “He also froze all my accounts and broke the loan contracts I had with this bank and the government.”

“911, what's your emergency?”

“Hi, there. I'd like to report the theft of a hundred million dollars in gold coins from my bank's safety deposit box.”

“E-e-excuse m-me?” The woman's voice asked, shakily.

“I just had a bank employee open my safety deposit box and the contents are missing, thanks to the manager breaching the public trust and breaking the law.”

“Now, now, there's no need to overreact!” The manager said loudly. “I'm sure we can work this out!”

“I think the police can handle this a lot better than you did.” I said and spoke into the phone. “I know the amount is startling to hear and I'm sorry about that. I'm used to dealing with large amounts of money and I should have put it more delicately for you.”

The woman was quiet for a moment. “You're serious? The bank let someone take a hundred million dollars in gold coins from you?”

“Yes, and if my suspicions are correct, he won't have any paperwork to show for it, either.”

She was quiet for another few moments. “I'll have a detective and two police officers there in ten minutes.”

“Thank you very much.” I said. “Do you want to stay on the line until the police show up?”

“I can't tie up the service for that long; but, I would like to hear more about this.”

“You have my number.” I said and she chuckled. “You can call me tomorrow and I'll tell you what happened and if anything's changed.”

“Thank you.” She said. “I hope you can have a good day, despite this.”

“I'm having a better day already.” I said. “Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.” She said and I hung up.

“A detective and two police officers will be here in ten minutes.” I said to the manager and the clerk. Neither of them said anything in response and I didn't really expect them to. This was going to be an absolutely huge mess for them and I was going to squawk like a rooster to give it as much attention as possible. I was going to make sure that this bank was going to regret ever crossing me.

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