by TR Cameron
Agents Of Chaos
Federal Agents of Magic™ Book Four
TR Cameron
Martha Carr
Michael Anderle
This book is a work of fiction.
All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
Copyright © 2019 TR Cameron, Martha Carr and Michael Anderle
Cover Art by Jake @ J Caleb Design
http://jcalebdesign.com / [email protected]
Cover copyright © LMBPN Publishing
A Michael Anderle Production
LMBPN Publishing supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
LMBPN Publishing
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Las Vegas, NV 89109
First US edition, June 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-1-64202-335-0
The Oriceran Universe (and what happens within / characters / situations / worlds) are Copyright © 2017-19 by Martha Carr and LMBPN Publishing.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Connect with TR Cameron
Author Notes - TR Cameron
Author Notes - Martha Carr
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
Other series in the Oriceran Universe:
Books by Michael Anderle
Agents Of Chaos Team
Thanks to the JIT Readers
Dave Hicks
Diane L. Smith
John Ashmore
Micky Cocker
Misty Roa
Jeff Goode
Dorothy Lloyd
Larry Omans
If we’ve missed anyone, please let us know!
Editor
The Skyhunter Editing Team
Chapter One
Moonlight glittered on the water of the river to his left as Rath patrolled the rooftops and moved steadily toward the part of town where the security agency was located. Below, headlights and taillights colored the streets as the late evening traffic crawled through the city. As long as no one looked up, they would have a nice, normal drive home.
If they happened to tilt their heads skyward and see the three-foot-tall troll who ran along the perimeter of a building, they would no doubt find it unusual. If they happened to watch when he found the edge and leapt confidently into space, they would probably find it alarming. If they saw his carbon fiber wings spread out to catch the air and allow him to glide smoothly forward, they would undoubtedly wind up in an accident.
It’s not every day you see a flying troll. Rath laughed out loud, even though Gwen was the only entity there to hear it. The AI spoke in his ear. “Safe landing ahead. Wing drop in three, two, one….” The double triangles on each side retracted with a whir into the large rectangular container on his back. He landed cleanly and jogged to a halt to survey the next building, which was too high to glide to.
After his first several nights on patrol, he had determined that he needed better equipment. Kayleigh, who had tasked a drone to follow him, watched the recordings and agreed. They had created the flight suit without mentioning it to Diana in advance. He had demonstrated it for her with a leap from the roof of the security agency as she departed one evening, which resulted in a call to the blonde technician within seconds of his landing.
Their exchange had been loud. It had also involved several words he’d been cautioned not to use around strangers. The tech’s side of the conversation was audible as well, a notable fact since the phone’s speaker wasn’t that powerful. In the end, Diana had apologized to him and Kayleigh but insisted he needed a backup plan. She’d probably been thinking of a parachute. He laughed again.
While the back of the body-harness he wore was devoted entirely to the wings, the front was a different matter. The chest straps bore holders for miniature grenades, currently filled with a sonic, a pair of flashbangs, and a pepper. Diana still didn’t want him using fragmentation or incendiary grenades since he had a habit of fighting close up. She probably wasn’t wrong. His utility belt held a healing potion, the comm repeater that allowed his AI to function, and loops for the baton holsters strapped to each leg. It also carried a device that captured and compressed air, released it when triggered, and automatically refilled in moments.
At the center of his chest lay the equipment Kayleigh had provided as a safety net. It was a motorized winch with a super-thin, ultra-strong cable attached to it—military technology the tech had bartered for with a counterpart in the Army’s R&D division. The line was connected to a launcher mounted on the inside of his right wrist. This also had a narrow flexible tube running down to his belt and held a grapnel that looked like a small arrow. He raised the arm, and Gwen gave a soft chime when he had it lined up properly. He fired and a burst of compressed air launched the projectile to the top of the next building. The wire snapped taut, the tines deployed, and it latched onto the edge. The winch automatically engaged, yanked him from his feet, and pulled him quickly up to the other roof.
And this sight would cause even more crashes. Spider-troll. Heh.
He clambered over the side and disengaged the device, pressed the button to snap it closed, and slotted it back into place. He loved the toys, but most of all, he loved being out and about in the city he had chosen as his own. It felt like home now, and he had a responsibility to protect those who lived in it as best he could. That was why he was out this evening like he often was. During the daytime hours, he traveled with Max, who also had a few new toys of his own. Rath didn’t engage in too many night patrols, maybe a couple each week, but tonight was different.
On a reconnaissance day, he’d overheard Professor Charlotte Stanley mention something that had stuck with him. She was part of a group—they called themselves a vigilante team but laughed uproariously when they did so—that did good in the city and told another member she’d noticed an increased number of questionable people around certain liquor stores in the downtown area. Rath had been waiting for something like that, so he suited up and took to the rooftops. Below, the man he’d followed from the first alcohol store continued to amble along the street and acted as if he was purely an innocent pedestrian. H
owever, the way he flinched and tapped his phone when any police presence was detected nearby suggested he was out for more than simply an evening stroll.
The troll thought he might have seen the man before but couldn’t be sure. If he had, though, he was sure about when and where—at the warehouse the night the stupid pirate-looking person had been whisked away by his henchmen. Rath was still angry that he hadn’t been able to stop the car, and maybe, just maybe, the man on the street below was the one who’d shot at him and forced him to abandon his pursuit. If he was, it only made him all the more rewarding to track.
He wanted to descend a little closer, but he’d given his promise to Diana—surveillance only and no mixing it up unless absolutely necessary. While his definition of necessary didn’t always align with hers, Rath tried to think about such things from her point of view. Teammates have to be able to trust one another. So he stayed high, tracked the man, and made sure the drone followed as well. Hopefully, the bad guy would lead him to bigger, badder criminals. And, eventually, to the pirate whose hat the troll had sworn would soon be his own.
His quarry turned onto another road, and Rath readied himself for a jump and a glide across the car-filled street below. It would be the most dangerous of his maneuvers, a flight followed by a mid-air grapnel. Gwen’s suggestions made it easier, but it remained risky. Naturally, the idea brought a huge smile to his face. He walked to the edge to familiarize himself with what was needed, then stalked as far away on the roof as he could. He’d need as much momentum as possible when he launched himself over the gap.
Rath started to run but a sound brought him up short and he slid to a stop a foot from the edge. His smile had been banished by a fierce scowl. He listened carefully and heard it again. What sounded like muffled screams and scuffling rose from the lane that ran between this building and the next. He raced to that side and peered down to where five men in hoodies surrounded a well-dressed man and woman. One thug guarded the alley entrance while the other four struggled with the victims. Three of them wrestled with the man, and one held the woman’s arm twisted behind her back and her face pressed to the wall.
“Gwen, have drone follow first bad guy.”
“Affirmative. I’ll do my best, but we may lose him.”
Rath shrugged. “Can find again. Call police to come to the alley. And ambulance.”
It was about eight stories down, depending on whether you counted the oversized floors of the building across the way or the normal ones of the building he was on. He retrieved the two flashbangs from his bandolier and palmed one in each hand, then walked to the edge. The alley’s narrow width meant he’d need to swoop along it, then turn and glide back to expend a little of his velocity. The timing should work. “Ready to fly, Gwen?”
“Affirmative.”
He primed the grenades and tossed them to land near the group surrounding the man. A running leap took him from the roof, and the wings snapped out as he leaned to curve to the left. The steering functioned by adjusting the trim slightly as he shifted his balance, all coordinated by the AI in ways he didn’t understand. All he cared about was that it worked, and now he could fly. He spiraled toward the front of the alley and aimed for the man who held the woman in place and who had begun to react to the clattering a few feet away from him.
The troll closed his eyes an instant before the grenades detonated and his headphones protected him from the sound. He reopened them as Gwen chimed and retracted the wings to release him gently in a perfect descent toward the man who already stumbled from the nearby concussion. His feet caught the thug in the shoulder and he lurched forward to crash onto his side. The noise when his skull struck the concrete echoed off the walls, only barely audible above the shouts of alarm from both the victims and the perpetrators. One down, four to go.
The AI’s voice sounded satisfied. “Two minutes to police and ambulance.” Kayleigh had told them the systems might become more personalized and if this was the form it took, Rath was all for it. He drew his batons and flicked to extend them fully, then charged at the nearest enemy, who still reeled from the grenades’ detonation. A pair of quick strikes at his knees toppled him effectively and he howled in pain. The troll moved on to the next target. He leapt and stabbed the batons into the man’s back. The snapping discharge of the built-in stunners was deeply satisfying and the ruffian arched his spine and collapsed. Rath landed on top of him—maybe a little harder than needed—and gave him a modest kick to the temple to keep him down. The troll had neither sympathy nor patience to spare for those who attacked innocents.
Especially those who gang up on them. He rose and faced the remaining pair, who had gathered at least some of their senses. The troll smiled at them, and they scowled in response. The one on the right had a long dirty beard and pulled something that looked like a short leather club from a pocket. His companion was clean shaven and bald and drew a knife from behind his back. It was smaller than the ones the ARES members carried but still a respectable weapon. Rath nodded at the choice, and the enemy frowned uncertainly.
The one on the left spoke. “Big mistake, messing with us, little bastard.”
He shook his head. “Mistake is yours. Every action causes an equal and opposing reaction.” Of course, he growled the last statement to imitate the movie character in the Guy Fawkes mask.
The one on the right laughed. “And what’ll that reaction be? Us beating you down, that’s what.”
The sobbing man with the damaged knees choked out, “Hit him once in the face for me.”
The man with the knife twitched the weapon in invitation. Rath grinned. This would be much more fun if Max was here. He barreled at his adversary and jumped to block the knife strike with his left baton. The man’s eyes widened as the troll’s feet struck his chest less powerfully than he probably expected, but Rath had never intended the kick to do any real damage. It was the other man who was his target.
He pushed off, launched himself at the thug with the tiny club, and aimed a right hook at his face with all his momentum and strength behind it. Cartilage crunched as the man’s nose broke, and the troll delivered another one-two punch as they fell. He flung himself aside before his adversary made impact and landed on his feet beside the one he’d wounded in the legs. He stabbed him nonchalantly with the stun batons and the man stiffened before he passed out.
Rath’s weapons vibrated to indicated that he’d drained them by half and they were now drawing from the supply in his vest to charge. He frowned. Need better batteries. Must have more hits. Kayleigh had increased the power, which he loved, but at a cost. He twitched one of them at the remaining opponent, who turned and bolted out of the alley. Rath sighed. Boring. He raised the barrel of the grapnel and fired it with a press of the stud on his glove. The arrow struck the man in the back of the head and shoved him onto his face before he reached the street. The line retracted, and he reloaded the device as sirens sounded.
By the time the police officers arrived, the troll had already made his hasty retreat to the rooftops and scanned for the quarry he’d originally been following. “Gwen, the drone?”
“Lost him in a tunnel. It’s headed back to base for recharge.”
He shrugged. “We’ll get him next time. For now, must finish patrol.” The troll smiled again as he leapt from the building in a long glide to resume protecting the city.
Chapter Two
Diana’s days now started earlier than ever after the whirlwind house purchase. Even though the actual closing was still several weeks in the future, they’d moved in on a rental basis immediately since hotel living wasn’t all that comfortable with a troll and a dog in tow. All three were excited about their new home. So was their newly added roommate, who had claimed the finished basement as her own.
Kayleigh was far too awake for six in the morning. The tech virtually glowed as she led a still waking up Diana on a walk around the perimeter of the property and pointed out the positions she’d chosen. She gestured toward tall trees near the
front corners of the yard. “Camera locations there and there, high up, wireless, and solar powered.”
Diana took a sip of her coffee and burned her tongue. “Bloody damn. Ow.” She waved at the sky. “You’re aware we’re in Pittsburgh, right? It’s the third cloudiest city in the country behind Buffalo and Seattle.”
Kayleigh frowned and shook her head. “Don’t be a Luddite. There’s enough sun to power the cameras. And the sensor grid.”
Her next sip went down better, and she sighed appreciatively. “The what now?”
The blonde grinned. Wench. It’s not fair for her to look so put together this early. She even has makeup on, for…goodness’ sake. Diana was working on censoring her language, as Rath was all too interested in picking up new words and using them at inappropriate times. Kayleigh gestured again and drew imaginary lines around the property. “Motion, thermal, and sound sensors on every side. Wireless again.”
“What about jamming?”
“If someone jams them, we’ll know to be worried, won’t we?”
Diana held in her exasperated sigh. Overly perky people need a good slap from time to time to keep them centered, don’t they? I think I read that somewhere once. It’d be for her own benefit. “Excellent point. Are you sure a line of marching sentry robots around the perimeter wouldn’t be a better choice?”
