The honorable Mr. Neeson grunts. Daniel shifts his weight and pulls a note out of his pocket.
“Did you write this?” Daniel shows Ahdi the note with one hand, while he keeps Neeson down with the other. “It’s your handwriting.”
“Some alternate version of me did.” Ahdi stares at Neeson. “One of the side channels lets you fish out artifacts that might have existed. The honorable Mr. Neeson fished it out. I bet you two would show up anyway.”
Daniel turns Neeson’s head around. Neeson, wary, stares at Daniel.
“Can you retrieve anything?” Daniel’s face is bright with anticipation. “Like, say, a complete original-cast recording ofFolliesorThe Golden Apple, the latter with the correct ending, of course. Or, even better,Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed.”
“Daniel!” Ahdi and Ellie both shout at the same time.
“They would be historically invaluable.” Daniel’s gaze both doubles down and pleads with the both of them. “It’s not like I would actually accept it.”
“Your sister’s apology is not counterfactual,” Neeson chokes out. “Meeting with her now was my idea. She will wait until you’re willing.”
“We could have shown up in the other order,” Ellie says to Ahdi, ignoring both Daniel and Neeson.
“Then you’d be keeping the honorable Mr. Neeson occupied and Daniel would be keeping people from coming in.” Ahdi rubs his hands. “Now, either we can take this office apart or the honorable Mr. Neeson can honor the terms of the bet and tell us where the images are.”
The honorable Mr. Neeson grunts again. One of his arms flails at a spot on a wall. A hidden hinge becomes obvious once Neeson points it out. Taking in the room, Ellie realizes the office is a maze of secret compartments within secret compartments and portals to container universes. The smug smile on Neeson’s face dares Ahdi to try to find the images.
What Ahdi does next reminds Ellie of a not-a-trick she saw a master at sleight of hand do once, goofing around. The magician covered a ball with a cup, pointed at the cup, then removed the cup, revealing the ball. It looked like she hadn’t done any sleight of hand at all. She repeated the not-a-trick, more obviously, breaking down the steps. The ball was never under the cup. She palmed it as she set the cup down. As she picked up the cup, she set the ball on the table. It was a lot of sleight of hand for something that looked like no sleight of hand at all.
Ahdi goes to the wall, opens the secret compartment, and takes out a bunch of crystals. He drops them into his shirt pocket. It looks like all he did was pull open a drawer, but what he did was a nontrivial amount of understated pyrotechnics. The difference between this and the cup-and-ball not-a-trick is that the understated pyrotechnics was necessary. Without it, there would be no drawer to open in the first place.
Neeson grimaces and makes another attempt to lurch free that never stood a chance. Daniel looks both diligent and bored. Whatever he does to stop Neeson is barely a shift in weight or the slight tensing of a muscle.
“Do you have documentation of the changes his associates made to the skunkworks?” Ahdi asks.
Daniel fishes the tiny crystal he made of Ellie’s work at the archive from yet another pocket. He holds it out and Ellie hands it to Ahdi, who nods slowly as he studies it.
“Excellent.” Ahdi pointedly catches Ellie’s gaze. “Good job, both of you.”
“Now can you tell us what’s going on?” Ellie asks.
“The honorable Mr. Neeson here is blackmailing the good folks who maintain the physics of the universe our skunkworks lives in.” Ahdi gestures to the crystals in his shirt pocket. “Or rather was. If he doesn’t have his builders revert their changes to our skunkworks, I’ll make it known who’s responsible for them.”
Ahdi shows Neeson the evidence in his hand. It lingers for a bit in front of Neeson’s face so Neeson can sense what Ahdi has. Ahdi flashes a quick smile before he puts the crystal in a pant pocket.
“Blackmail. Not exactly respectable, is it?” Neeson ekes out the hypocrisy.
“Oh, please. You all slayed me with the respectability silver bullet years ago. If nothing comes to light, everyone will think I was behind these shenanigans in the skunkworks instead.” Ahdi turns his attention back to Ellie and Daniel. “My advice to you two is leave this office as soon as possible. The folks who can unwedge that door will arrive sooner or later. The honorable Mr. Neeson won’t lay a hand on either of you. Others may not be so restrained. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some evidence to return.”
Ahdi nods to Ellie then to Daniel. There’s a twinkle in his eyes Ellie thinks may be metaphorical. It’s the last bit of him that disappears, though, when he dissolves.
“Well, that’s that, I guess.” Daniel lifts his head toward Ellie.“Say, are you hungry? We haven’t eaten all day. How do you feel about Ethiopian?”
“Sure.” Ellie shrugs. “I should go see Chris, though. Get that apology that’s been decades in the making in person.”
Daniel starts to speak, but stops. He looks down at Neeson.
“Excuse me.” Daniel renews his grip on Neeson. “You don’t get to listen to this conversation.”
A blindfold materializes around Neeson’s head, blocking his eyes. Clear putty blocks his ears. That Daniel has this move at the ready makes Ellie wonder exactly how Ahdi has been training him. He examines his work and pronounces the blindfold and earplugs good before he starts speaking again.
“I told you, Ellie. It’s a trap. She doesn’t mean any of it.” It should sound rude but, coming from Daniel, it doesn’t.
“I told her that the next time she wanted to talk to me, she should text me like a normal person. Not only did she do that, but she apologized. Before I write her off for good, I have to check.”
