"Who are you people?"

She finished laying out the cards and began to play, flipping them over with sharp little snaps. "No one in particular."

"I don't buy that. You know too much. Back in June, when I was sick, the Russian lady came to my room"-he saw her in his mind, salt-and-pepper hair, gray jogging suit, big white malamute-"and told me things about a war I'd been drafted into. 'Is war and you are warrior,' she said. I don't know if she mentioned it directly or not, but I'm pretty sure she was going on about something called the Otherness and-"

Anya stopped her card play and looked up at him. "You'd already heard of the Otherness by then."

"Yeah."

Although he wished he hadn't. The first mention had been earlier in the year, in the spring at a-surprise-conspiracy convention. Since then his life hadn't seemed quite his own.

According to what he'd been told, two vast, unimaginably complex cosmic forces have been at war forever. The prize in the war is all existence-all the dimensions, all the realities, all the parallel dimensions up for grabs. Earth and humanity's corner of reality is a minor piece on the game board, of no special importance. But if one is going to declare itself winner, one has to take all the pieces. Even the inconsequential ones.

One side-a force, a state of being, whatever-is inimical to humankind. It has no name but through the ages came to be called the Otherness by people aware of its existence. If the Otherness takes over, it will transform Earth's reality into a place toxic to all known life. Fortunately, Earth and its attendant reality are currently in the portfolio of the other side, the force known only as the Ally. From what Jack had learned, "Ally" was a misnomer. This force was not a friend, merely an enemy of humanity's enemy. The most Earth could expect from it was benign neglect.

"At the time I thought the Russian lady was some sort of fever dream, but then she showed up again and told me..."

"That there would be no more coincidences in your life."

Jack nodded. The words still chilled him. The implications were devastating.

"Was she right?"

Anya went back to her game, flipping and arranging the cards in the tableau, moving some aces and deuces up to the foundation.

"I'm afraid so, hon."

"Then it means that my life is being manipulated. Why?"

"Because you are involved."

"Not by choice."

"Choice means nothing in these matters."

"Well, if someone or something thinks I'm its standard bearer, it had better think again."

"You are not the standard bearer. Not yet."

If true, that was a relief. A small one.

"Then who is?"

Anya was dealing to herself from the stock now, and Jack couldn't help but notice that the cards were falling her way, more and more finding places in the tableau or the foundation.

"One who preceded you," she said. "He preceded the twins as well. You remember the twins, don't you."

Jack had a flash of two men in identical black suits and dark gla.s.ses, with identical pale, expressionless faces.

"How could I forget?"

"They were meant to replace their predecessor. But when you dispatched them-"

"They didn't leave me much choice. It was them or me. And I tried to help them at the end, but they refused."

"They did what they had to do, but their pa.s.sing left a void. One that you were tapped to fill."

"But you said there's someone else."

Anya nodded as she laid the final card from her stock on the solitaire tableau. All the cards were face up. She'd won. Without bothering to shift all the tableau cards to the foundation, she gathered them up and began shuffling.

"There is. A mensch mensch of of mensches mensches, that one. But he's old now, and may die before he's needed again."

"'Again'?"

"He was the Ally's champion for a long time."

"How long?"

"Very long. So long you wouldn't believe. But now his days are numbered. After ages in the Ally's service-too long, I think, but who listens to an old woman-he was freed. But it seems his liberation was premature. Even though he has aged, he may be needed again. But if he doesn't live till that day..." Her eyes met Jack's. long. So long you wouldn't believe. But now his days are numbered. After ages in the Ally's service-too long, I think, but who listens to an old woman-he was freed. But it seems his liberation was premature. Even though he has aged, he may be needed again. But if he doesn't live till that day..." Her eyes met Jack's.

"Then it'll be me?"

"You."

Against all reason, Jack believed her. With an effort, he shelved his dismay. Maybe that day would never come. Or maybe he'd he'd have died of old age when it did. have died of old age when it did.

But he hadn't come here about himself. He'd come about his father.

"Is the Otherness involved in what's been happening to my father?"

She nodded as she finished shuffling and began to lay out another solitaire tableau.

"The Ally is involved here as well, though tenuously."

"But I can a.s.sume, at least from what I've seen, that you and your ladies are on the Ally's side, right?"

She shook her head. "No. I oppose the Otherness, but I've no connection to the Ally."

"Then whose side are are you on?" you on?"

"Yours."

"But I'm stuck with the Ally, so that means-"

Anya grimaced with irritation and stopped her card play.

"I didn't say the Ally's side, did I? No. I said, yours yours. That means you you, separate and distinct from the Ally."

"But why?"

"Because the Ally can be as ruthless as the Otherness. It opposes the Otherness for its own reasons, none of which involves our health and happiness. It will use you and anyone else it can to fend off the Otherness, and not care a whit what happens to you. Humanity's well-being is not on its agenda. It is, however, on mine."

"Why? What's your stake in this?"

She began rearranging the cards in the tableau.

"My stake is your stake. Everyone here on this planet is in the same boat-Earth is is a boat, when you think of it-and we all deserve to be free of both these meddling powers. This planet, in this subdivision of reality, is inhabited by sentient beings, which makes it all the more valuable in the struggle. But it's more than mere property that can be won or lost or traded at will. If it must belong to one of them, then I'd far prefer the Ally over the Otherness. But why belong to either? Why not be shut of both of them?" a boat, when you think of it-and we all deserve to be free of both these meddling powers. This planet, in this subdivision of reality, is inhabited by sentient beings, which makes it all the more valuable in the struggle. But it's more than mere property that can be won or lost or traded at will. If it must belong to one of them, then I'd far prefer the Ally over the Otherness. But why belong to either? Why not be shut of both of them?"

"Sounds good to me," Jack said. He leaned back, trying to get a handle on what she was saying, and what it meant. "But what I'm getting here...what you're telling me...is that there's a third force involved in all this."

"I suppose you could put it that way."

"And you...you and those other women...you're part of that?"

"So it would appear."

"But how can you hope to compete with the other two players?"

"Because I must."

"But who are you? What What are you? Where do you come from?" are you? Where do you come from?"

"We come from everywhere. We're all around you. You simply never see us."

Jack shook his head to clear it. He didn't want to deal with this now. He'd had trouble enough buying into the cosmic tug-of-war scenario. But now Anya was telling him that a third party had entered the fray-or maybe had always been in the fray but no one had told him. Whatever the case, he'd get to that later. Right now he had to stay focused on his father.

"Why my father? Why would-?"

And then he had a chilling thought. What had she said to him that first day in the hospital room?

Trust me, hon, there's more to your father than you ever dreamed.

"Oh, no! You're not telling me that this 'predecessor champion' you've been telling me about is my father!"

"Tom?" Anya laughed. "Oy! Such a thought! You think you're living in a fairy tale? How can you even consider such a thing!"

"That's not a exactly a 'no.'"

"All right then. You want a 'no'? Here's a 'no.' Your father has no no direct connection to the Ally or the Otherness. Never did, never will." direct connection to the Ally or the Otherness. Never did, never will."

She laughed again and continued her card play.

Jack too had to smile. All right, yeah, it was a ridiculous thought. The pen might be mightier than the sword, but an accountant as defender of humanity against the Otherness? Crazy.

Yet...for a moment there...

"Wait. You said no direct connection. Does he have an indirect indirect connection?" connection?"

"Of course. Isn't it obvious?"

"Because he's my father?"

Anya nodded. "A blood relative."

Jack closed his eyes. This was what he'd suspected, what he'd feared.

"That alligator, then...it was sent by the Otherness."

"Sent? No, that was someone else's idea. I can tell you that the creature was created by the Otherness, but whether intentionally or accidentally is hard to say."

"Why? You seem to know everything else. Why don't you know that?"

"I don't know everything, kiddo. If I did, maybe the two of us could send the Otherness and the Ally packing."

"Why do I get this feeling you're holding back? You don't know everything? Fine. n.o.body does. But why don't you just come out and tell everything you do do know?" know?"

"Because sometimes it's best that you learn things on your own. But I can tell you about the connection between the Otherness and that alligator."

Jack leaned back and took another slug of wine. "I'm all ears."

"It was born near a nexus point."

"And that is...?"

"A place. A very special place. In various locales around the globe there are spots where the veil between our world and the Otherness is thin. Occasionally the veil attenuates to the point where a little of the Otherness can enter our sphere. But only briefly. Rarely do beings from the other side pa.s.s through. But influence...ah, that's another matter."

"Let me guess a location," Jack said. "Washington, DC, maybe? Say, near the Capitol Hill or the White House?"

Anya smiled as she gathered up her cards. She'd won again.

"I'm afraid those gonifs gonifs have no such excuses for their behavior, hon. But one is near here, and another near where you live." have no such excuses for their behavior, hon. But one is near here, and another near where you live."

"Where?" Somehow Jack wasn't surprised.

"In the New Jersey Pine Barrens. At a place called Razorback Hill."

Jack had gone into the Barrens last spring, and almost hadn't come out. "It must be pretty well hidden. I mean, don't you think someone would have stumbled across it by now?"

"There are places in the Pine Barrens that no human eyes have seen. But even so, the nexus points manifest themselves directly only twice a year-at the equinoxes. But their indirect effects can be viewed every day."

"Like what?"

"Mutations. Something leaks through from the other side around the time of the equinox; whatever it is changes the cells of the living things around it-plants, animals, trees...and people."

"You'd think someone would have noticed that that by now." by now."

Anya shook her head. "The nexus points are located in unpopulated areas."