by TR Cameron
Identical entries stood on each side of the building’s centerline, a mirror-image remnant of when the top floor was divided into two separate living spaces. It was a clever renovation that allowed for two avenues of escape. If they hadn’t found the details on the construction permit for the place, they wouldn’t have known, and the witch might have been able to escape. The doors looked thin and flimsy. In short, it was obvious that they were trapped.
Diana lifted a chair that rested along the wall near the left door and set it under the slightly open kitchen window at the edge of the building. She examined it quickly for traps, both magical and otherwise, saw none, and slid the opening up with a small squeak. After a brief pause to listen intently, she clambered in, crouched on the counter, and made sure the room was clear before she lowered herself soundlessly to the floor. Tony did the same, albeit a little more noisily, but they needn’t have worried. A loud television deeper in the apartment effectively drowned out the noise of their entry. She triggered her mic. “Safe entry.”
It sounded like a cooking show was playing in the next room. She pushed it from her mind.
I really don’t need tips on barbecue recipes right now, thanks.
A persistent mental voice wondered where to find the best barbecue in town. An unspoken command corralled it as she focused on the mission again. They advanced cautiously with their rifles held ready for instant action. The straps provided additional stability.
She withdrew a small mirror from her pocket. It was a far cry from the fiber-optic gear ARES used, but it would suffice. She angled it to look around the corner. A large dining area stood on the right, with china cabinets and a rectangular table that could easily seat eight. It had only one visible occupant, a tough-looking man with a pistol in pieces on the surface before him.
Two men whose builds screamed muscle argued about the virtues of charcoal versus gas grills. The witch was nowhere in sight. Diana turned and pointed at Tony, slashed her hand to the right, and extended her index finger. He nodded and positioned himself for a dash into the next room. She held up three fingers, then two, then one, and the two agents moved together.
Diana fired at the goon on the couch nearest her as she rounded the corner. The discharge struck him before he had a chance to react. His head lolled back onto the cushion. The other man was quicker than she expected and had turned to face the intruders. Her rifle clicked to signal a full charge, and she pulled the trigger again. The bolt tumbled the target over the side. The whine of Tony’s weapon was followed by a solid thump, and she turned swiftly. His opponent had apparently pushed his chair over backward to escape and cracked his head on the floor. The agent fired at the downed form to be on the safe side. The small pool of blood that seeped around the man’s skull left little room for worry, however.
This was the part of the plan Diana loathed. Stunning was all well and good when the enemy didn’t actively try to kill you but was far less fun when they did. Shouts and footsteps raced along the halls in their direction, and they both took cover. She fled behind the couch, while he ducked behind one of the table legs farthest from the entrance to the hallway that led deeper into the unit.
The front door slammed, and Diana said, “We may have a runner.”
“On it,” Cara assured her.
A woman’s loud voice yelled orders and curses, which suggested that their quarry was still present. A trio of pistol-wielding troublemakers barreled into the room, two in biker jackets and the third shirtless—and not in possession of a physique that would call for casual nudity. Diana disabled him first for making her eyes suffer.
Tony spun out briefly from his cover, but one of the others fired in his direction and he ducked into the minimal protection the table provided once more. The other man trained a pistol on Diana.
She hurled her stun rifle up on its strap to swing it around to rest on her back. With that safely stowed, she extended both hands and yanked the firearm away from one adversary with her telekinesis, while she released a brilliant line of force out with the other to strike his partner. The weaponless man demonstrated good reflexes by charging her while the other staggered into the wall behind him.
Tony rose again and fired at the one who hurtled toward her, but his shot went wide and struck the television. The device immediately sparked and the screen shattered. The enemy leapt over the couch and hauled his arm back in readiness for a punch. Diana reacted instinctually. She swept both her hands from right to left as force and telekinesis combined to launch her opponent and keep him airborne until he slammed into the wall behind her. She turned to finish him, but a stun blast from Tony’s gun beat her to it and the man went limp. Tony spun and eliminated the one in the hallway as the man struggled to regain his feet.
Laughter sounded from deeper in the apartment. “Such violence. It’s so unnecessary. Why do you invade my home?”
The witch stepped into view. She was tall, almost skeletally thin, and appeared to be close to what, for a human, would be the age of retirement. Long gray hair hung in scruffy waves down to her shoulders, and she wore an ankle-length skirt and a cardigan.
She looks like somebody’s grandmother.
Cara’s voice came breathlessly over the comm. “The runner was easy. The reinforcements, less so. I have them bottlenecked on the first floor, but they might be able to push me back.”
Damn. I need to finish this quickly.
Diana held up her empty hands. “Everything would be better if you come quietly. We merely want to ask you some questions at the office.”
The woman laughed. “The signs of your power are still fading, young one. You will find that I am not so easily defeated as these fools.” Tony’s gun whined, and the witch summoned a circle of darkness to consume the attack. She extended her hand to reveal a wand. Ebony threads snaked from its tip in an attempt to snare the investigator. He flung himself aside to escape them, but judging by the way the magic washed over him in an oval, his deflectors had taken some of the damage he failed to evade.
She ran forward and led with a punch in the air that directed a fist of force at the witch. Her adversary merely gave a contemptuous smile as she moved her head the minimum amount required to avoid the attack, then raised her wand to counter. Diana tried to yank it from the witch’s grasp with her telekinesis but couldn’t dislodge it. Darkness lanced out at her, and she dropped to evade the strike. Unfortunately, the blow still landed, and she scowled at the vibration as the deflector gems crackled.
Her roll dodged the next onslaught and she lurched to her feet. Rather than attack, she gathered the energy around herself to form a barrier. The witch laughed, and the bolt of darkness ripped through the shield like it wasn’t there.
Shit. That was stupid.
Diana dropped and rolled again. The strength of the impact when she struck the coffee table immediately numbed her arm. She heard gunfire, and Tony yelped. She drew her Ruger and shot at the witch from a crouch.
The woman summoned her defense again, but the bullets plowed through. One struck her in the shoulder and spilled her back against the wall.
She barked a curse, sounding angry rather than injured, and the agent squeezed the trigger twice more. The target whispered a word and flicked her wand to levitate a small desk in front of the bullets’ path. It angled in mid-flight and raced toward Diana. She raised her good arm in a hasty defense, and the projectile shattered against her force shield.
Gunfire exploded from the right. Tony stood with his Sig-Sauer in his right hand and the Ruger in his left. He fired with the former at the thug who had shot him and the latter at the witch. Both struck their targets and the man careened into the hallway with a crash. The witch’s condition was slightly more serious as blood welled from her side.
Diana raced forward, zip-tied their quarry, and shoved a bandanna she carried for exactly that purpose into the woman’s mouth in case she had voice-activated magical items on her. Next, she confiscated the wand and slid it into the inside pocket of her coa
t.
I’ll need to carry something to hold these wands, for real.
She triggered her mic. “Cara, status.”
“They’re retreating for now. I’ll maintain position here, but I think they’re done.”
Tony tottered over and pulled his shirt apart to show the pair of bullets lodged in his vest. “So, that sucked.”
Diana nodded. She extracted a roll of duct tape and carefully folded the witch’s clothes over her wounds, then bound them with the silver material. “Good shooting, Tex.”
He grinned. “I’m sure you had her.”
“Without question.”
“Any second, right?”
Diana sighed. “An instant later, and she’d have been down.”
He laughed. “Totally, boss.”
She glared at him, but the way her mouth turned up at the corners probably ruined the look. “Shut up and search the place. Cara, call the PD to collect the trash.”
The hasty ten-minute search before the cops arrived yielded many a positive result. They found several items that looked like they could be magical in nature and pocketed them. Also, they located the woman’s cell phone and removed the gag long enough to let it recognize her face and unlock. Diana spun through the text messages and read one that gave a street address along with a date and time. She held it up to her glasses, and a map appeared, overlaid on her vision.
That’s a block away from the Cube. Three days from now, eight PM. Not good.
She pocketed the device and stood. “Cara, meet me in the back. We have to get to the base. Tony, take care of the PD.” She reached the landing, then remembered. “Hey, make sure they don’t use the rear stairs and bring the bomb squad and a wizard in here to defuse those things.” She made it safely down to ground level and met Cara, who looked sweaty and energized. She held the phone out and waited while she repeated the process of investigating the address.
The former army officer’s face became an emotionless mask. “The Cube.”
Diana nodded. “Yep.”
Cara sighed. “Shit.”
I couldn’t have summed it up better myself.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Diana raised her eyes from a display in the core as the door from the garage tunnel released and swung open. Max barked at her feet, and Rath jumped up on the table to see who it was. The first object to enter the room was a giant black case, the kind a band would take on tour for their wardrobe. Hidden behind it was the slim, blonde form of Kayleigh Dornan.
All three ran across to welcome the tech. Diana assisted in wrestling the huge box into the equipping area. Kayleigh knelt to pet Max, who immediately rolled on his back for belly rubs. Rath didn’t quite do the same, but he stood close to her and grinned like a fool. The agent imagined that her own expression was similar. She’d missed the woman most among her old friends at ARES DC branch.
The tech caught her study of her boots and she answered the unspoken question behind it with an amused smirk. “No, these are still the old pair. I’ve been busy.”
Both laughed. “It’s so good to see you here,” Diana said. “We’ll take you out on the town tonight and show you around.”
Kayleigh nodded and gave the Borzoi a final pet. “So, dogs are allowed up here?”
“Sometimes it’s nice to be the boss.” Diana grinned. “Besides, this is an office day. You know, though, if we simply got Max some armor, he’d probably make a great agent.”
The tech laughed and shook her head. “That’s not part of this shipment, I’m afraid. But would you like to see what is?”
She rolled her eyes. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Rath echoed, “Never.”
Kayleigh pressed her hand to the palm reader on top of her case and typed in a code while standing on a bench to get the correct angle. The latches disengaged and she jumped down to swing the case open. A series of vests hung on the right above a block of horizontal storage. Rows of rectangular compartments covered the left side. Diana raised an eyebrow. “That’s very efficient packing you have there.”
The other woman grinned. “We pride ourselves on efficiency above all things. Well, okay, that’s not true. Creative and destructive are both higher on the list.”
“In that order?”
“It depends on which of us you’re asking and what mood we’re in that day.”
Diana smiled and looked at Rath, who bounced excitedly on the balls of his feet. “It’s about the same around here.”
Kayleigh started on the top left and opened a flap to retrieve a cardboard box. A foam insert held fifty anti-magic bullets for either model of rifle they used. Diana whistled, and the tech answered with a nod. “And three more like it for a total of two hundred. That should give you each two magazines full.”
“Do I want to know how much those cost?”
“You don’t. Not only did we have to pay a premium because of the shortage, but we also had to transport them ourselves from the source to make sure the shipment wasn’t intercepted on the way.”
She frowned. “Is that what’s been going on?”
The tech’s expression matched hers. “Yep. Someone’s been messing with our pipeline, although there is stress on the availability because of the folks on the West Coast. AET and the Brownstone Agency have a super-heavy demand for this over there.”
“Are they dealing with the same group we are?”
“Nothing suggests that. Logically, there’s sure to be more than one set of scumbags to go around.”
Diana chucked. “Well, there’s enough for everyone, really.”
Kayleigh pulled out the box at the start of the second row and opened it to reveal more anti-magic bullets. These were sized for their revolvers. Again, the container held fifty.
“I am truly impressed now.” She frowned. “Should I be worried that someone’s after my team?”
The woman shrugged again. “Probably. It’s clear that someone out there doesn’t like us, and you all are the only us in this town. Speaking of which, how’s the Kilomea?”
Diana rewarded her friend with a scowl and shook her head. Kayleigh laughed and let the subject drop. The next box she removed was triple the width of the others and most closely resembled a shallow briefcase without a handle. She set the container on the bench and flipped it open. The agent whistled, and Rath immediately did a short run and somersault to the top of the rolling case to peer at the smaller one.
Several lines of clear gems stood on end in a protective foam casing. The rows were staggered for spatial efficiency, and her eyes widened. She’d never even imagined seeing so many magic deflector crystals at once before. “Where the hell did you get these?”
Kayleigh grinned. “ARES DC found a black-market dealer’s warehouse. We raided it and apprehended him. These are only part of the stash of goodies we discovered inside.”
She shook her head, momentarily overcome with a desire to surround herself with items of magical power.
I can see why the bad guys are so into the idea.
“How’d you find them?”
“We received a tip, actually.” Kayleigh shrugged. “Someone Bryant knows put us onto the place.”
“Okay,” she said slowly.
I’ll have to ask him about that. He’s keeping secrets.
The tech had moved to the large boxes in the bottom row. She opened one to reveal grenade canisters with small chili peppers engraved on the handle. Diana grinned. “Production, then?”
Kayleigh smiled proudly. “Yep, these are standard issue now. Half the price of a sonic, and more effective when dealing with either a single target or a group of targets spread out.”
“You’re really good at your job. In fact, some might call you great. I happen to know of a field office that needs—”
The woman raised a hand to stop her and spoke loudly. “But you’ll love these.” She turned to the other side of the crate, where the vests waited. “We’ve improved the electrical absorption and added capacitors to store th
e charge before it can reach the resistors. The weight adjustment is negligible.” She pointed to the areas inside the vest where the energy-collecting devices were clustered.
“If one of those takes a bullet, will it hurt us? I mean, extra?”
Kayleigh shook her head. “It’s lined with nonconductive material. They’ll simply short out forward. Worst case, they blow more resistors.”
Diana nodded. “Cool, but why? Innovation for fun?”
“It started that way, but I noticed that your team tends to brawl more than most.”
“Whatever it takes, right?”
“I’m not judging. Your effectiveness speaks for itself.” She reached into the lower portion of the case. “But we realized we could give you an edge.” She held out a glove. It appeared almost identical to the standard versions that paired with the rifles and prohibited others from using them, but each knuckle had a rounded stud on top. Diana looked up and met Kayleigh’s grin with one of her own. “Silver knuckles. The better to punch you with?”
The tech retrieved a cord and connected it to the vest, then to the top of the glove. “You charge the vest before you head out. It will add a shock to several punches before depleting. If you take an electrical blast that charges the capacitors, the glove can draw power from them again. They have their own internal capacitor, but it only stores enough additional energy for one punch. The thing was too heavy when we tried to add more in there.”
“Nice,” Diana whispered. She examined the cord and pictured a variety of scenarios she couldn’t wait to make a reality. “You know, at some point, we’ll have to wear bodysuits under the armor if you need to constantly connect things together.”
Kayleigh grinned. “Don’t tempt me. I’ve watched Iron Man something like one hundred and thirty-seven times.”
The agent laughed, and Rath said, “I am Iron Troll.”
The visitor turned to him. “We didn’t forget about you, buddy. You get one of the new vests in your size as well, but yours powers these.” She extracted a pair of batons and flicked them open. “They should have half again the number of charges as before, and that’s assuming you aren’t hit with something that charges up the capacitors.”
