by TR Cameron
Jared growled, “Show me.” The technician mumbled and pointed at a screen where two thin figures in hooded sweatshirts stood frozen in time. It was impossible to tell anything about them from that angle. “Is that the best we’ve got?”
The dwarf replied, “Yeah. The cameras that would have gotten a good look at their faces had a malfunction.” He handed over a small dart, and Jared held it up to the light.
“What’s special about it, other than this clear piece?”
“That’s the important part. It contained magic. Lightning. Shorted out the camera. The thrower was smart enough to keep their head down.”
He grunted. “How did they get past the motion sensors?”
“I assume they were very slow and very patient. I don’t imagine they overcame the anti-magic emitters or anything.”
Jared frowned. “So you’re saying they were magicals?”
Grentham nodded. “At least one of them, anyway. The camera caught them creating a force shield over my detection grid. Clever trick. How they knew the grid was there is a question I’d very much like to ask them.”
He looked at his watch and frowned deeper. “Let’s talk upstairs.”
The invaders had fortunately not had time to make it to his corner office in the back. They might not have been able to get in even if they had, due to the complicated lock his paranoia had demanded. The room was better decorated than those of his subordinates but still downright spartan compared to the upper-level management in the casinos. File cabinets covered one wall, each with biometric security, and a couple of pieces of artwork depicting military scenes graced the others. His furniture was all wood and steel with four chairs around a meeting table, plus an L-shaped desk with a chair on either side.
Jared leaned forward on that desk and growled at the man across from him, “Do we have a leak?”
Grentham shrugged. If the anger radiating off his boss bothered him, he didn’t show it. “I can’t see how. Only you, Phillips, and I knew on our side, and there’s no way he talked. He understands perfectly that reporting anyone contacting him will get him a bigger payday than going against us. Besides, we’ve seen no unusual activity from his surveillance.”
The CEO grunted, leaned back in his chair, and ran his hands through his close-cut brown hair. The decision to keep eyes on his top-level subordinates wouldn’t make any of them happy if they knew about it, so the dwarf took care of it personally. “One of the people we hired, then?”
“They couldn’t have known about the connection back to us. If anything, the secrecy would have led them to believe they were working for him, and no way would they have said so.” Even when they were alone, they didn’t use that name because if someone got a hint of his involvement and he felt the slightest amount of risk, he’d sweep the field clean by killing them all and burying them in the desert.
“Okay. That makes sense. So, we chalk it up to random chance, with the possibility that one of our competitors put a word in someone’s ear to make life difficult for us?”
Grentham tugged on his beard, a sign that he was thinking. After a few seconds, he nodded. “That seems like the only logical way to go. Of course, we’ll beef up the defenses and add in some new wrinkles that will make that pair unhappy if they’re stupid enough to come back, and I’ll have the protection team do a full evaluation of our processes. They don’t have much else on their plate right now, unfortunately.”
Yeah, and that’s the heart of the problem. When Jared had created Aces Security, it had seemed like a risk-free venture from the financial side. All those casinos plus the companies that supported them, working with lots of cash and materials, would need security to protect them. He had the contacts from his time in the military, good people who were willing to do what was required to take care of his clients. Early contracts were plentiful, but ultimately competitors came in, and some of the businesses switched providers. Eventually, he was running in the red rather than the black. That’s when I got the offer I couldn’t refuse. Not that I would have anyway if there’d been an option.
He nodded at the dwarf. “Well, we’ll have to see what we can do about that. The next phase is ready to go?”
Grentham confirmed, “Yep. Scheduled for tonight.”
“Excellent.” Jared stood and adjusted his cuffs, feigning confidence he didn’t feel. “I have a meeting with the wizards and witches about watching one of their warehouses.”
“Pathetic. Scraps.”
He shrugged. “We need cash flow, and we have the people.” He didn’t have enough work to keep his current staff busy, much less the additional personnel he’d been ordered to get on the payroll as quickly as he could manage. Grentham didn’t know about that part of the overall picture and wouldn’t if Jared had anything to say about it. He knows enough about our ties to the big man. Any more, and someone might think I’m an accessory rather than an essential component. I’ll see them all dead before I let that happen. His watch buzzed with a message, and he stared down at it, first in irritation then in trepidation. In a rasp created by his suddenly dry throat, he said, “Looks like I’m going to be a little late for the meeting. Will you have someone push it back a half-hour?”
He steered the SUV into a parking spot right next to another that looked just like it. A half-hour before, he’d put his phone and watch into a box that would block all signals in or out so the electronics couldn’t trace him, and flipped the switch that deactivated the vehicle’s GPS sensor. As far as any records that might exist of his location, he was last seen in a fast-food parking lot near his business.
In reality, he’d driven south to a vast oil facility that had a private covered parking lot. His car had been expected because the guard at the gate lifted it before he had to roll down his tinted window to ask. He climbed out of his vehicle and into the passenger seat of the other one. The driver, a stocky human with a blond flattop, dark sunglasses, and an attitude that filled the small space nodded. “Trenton.”
“Smith.” All of his contacts with the organization that now more or less owned him after the initial meeting with the boss of all bosses were named something simple. He’d encountered two Joneses, one Anderson, and one Matthews so far, plus the Smith. In idle moments on the drive to and from meeting places, he wondered how they all kept it straight or if they required their people to adopt new names full time. “What’s so urgent?”
The man’s hand dipped into his suit coat, and Trenton tensed. They all dressed alike, too, with dark suits, white shirts, boots instead of dress shoes, and not a tie in sight. They also carried pistols in shoulder rigs. He only withdrew a sealed envelope with no name on it. “Orders.”
He’d never for the life of him understand why the organization preferred in-person meetings to the more modern tools of the trade, like temporary emails, encrypted smartphone apps, or even burner phones. Next up, we’ll be doing freaking dead drops with chalk marks on the sidewalk. He took the envelope without a word and put a twist of humor in his farewell. “Smith.”
“Trenton.” The other man nodded.
Jared climbed back into his vehicle and waited as the other one drove off. Then he opened the envelope and saw the two paragraphs of printed commands inside. Holy hell. That’s an escalation. On a compressed timeframe. He gunned the engine and headed for the exit, afraid as always of failing the big man. In the recesses of his mind, a small, worried voice wondered what the next operation after this one would be and whether he’d survive it. Time to make sure I’ve fully funded my escape stash and my go-bag is ready for a long trip on short notice.
Chapter Twenty-One
Ruby had slept fitfully for a few hours after their adventure, but she couldn’t bring herself to stay in bed with all the possibilities running through her brain. Coffee and a shower helped, and she returned to her room to find Idryll sitting on the bed in her tiger-woman form, surrounded by paper. Her partner had worn one of Ruby’s nightshirts to sleep in and looked as rumpled and tired as she felt. Now that Ru
by was back in her standard jeans, boots, and t-shirt, at least her lack of focus should remain mostly hidden by the guise of normality.
“Found anything?” Then, belatedly, “Uh, would you like some coffee?” Ruby stepped near her and extended the mug.
Idryll leaned over and sniffed it. Then her lips pulled back in a frown. “No. Hideous. You find that appealing?”
“Well, it’s not exactly Starbucks quality or anything, but yeah, I like it.” So far, Ruby had managed to find the other woman things to snack on, and she seemed to prefer the grazing approach to eat instead of a big meal. “We’ll get you something when we go out. Maybe stop at a breakfast place. Have you had pancakes?”
With her eyes on the papers, Idryll gave a slow headshake. “I have found a reference on several of these things to something happening tonight and to a dark dragon.”
“Ebon Dragon?”
“Yes, that’s the phrase. Did I not interpret it properly?”
Ruby made a seesaw motion with the hand that wasn’t holding the mug. “They mean the same thing, more or less, but Ebon Dragon is the name of a casino. A title.”
“Ah.” The tiger-woman nodded. “That makes more sense, then.”
She frowned. “How do you know how to read the human language?”
Idryll lifted her gaze to meet Ruby’s. “You understand it, so I understand it.”
That’s not creepy or anything. “Do you mean you know everything I know?”
The other woman made the same motion with her hand as Ruby had. “Not really. Say more that some things you do unconsciously I can also do. Conscious stuff is messy, and I can’t get to it easily.”
That goes in the “worry about later” file. “What do you mean by tonight?”
“There are references to sunset and to something called 2200.” She said the numbers one by one.
“Twenty-two-hundred. That’s military-speak for ten at night.”
She held out a piece of paper. “Strange custom.”
Ruby took it and saw that it was a printout of an email with only the time and a series of numbers. “Why do you think this has something to do with the Ebon Dragon?”
Idryll pawed through the papers on the bed until she found the one she wanted and presented it with a flourish. “The names are the same on this one, which includes those words.”
She read the email, which seemed on its face to be nothing more than arranging a get-together to gamble at the casino. In context with the other one, it could mean something. Or it could mean that they’re spending the night gaming. It’s the best we’ve got, I guess. “Okay, so probably we should wander down and take a look at this place later. Is it possible for you to, uh, get rid of the rest of your visible fur? I mean, the hoodie look is a good one, but maybe not in the middle of the afternoon.”
Her partner sighed. “If necessary, yes. It is uncomfortable to do so for long periods.”
“I guess the alternative is that you could stay here.”
“Not a chance. I’m about ready to start chewing on people from sheer boredom.”
Ruby grinned. “We could stop by a store, get you a big ball of yarn to play with.”
The sound of the door opening made Ruby’s heart shoot into her throat, and she spun, ready to jump and block whoever it was from seeing the other woman. Daphne walked in, oblivious to the panic she’d caused, and her mouth dropped open for an instant before she shrieked, “Oh my God, it’s so cute!” Ruby followed her gaze to see that the Bengal cat was back, rolling around on the bed to get free of the nightshirt that trapped it.
Her roommate rushed over and helped extract the animal, then looked up at Ruby expectantly. She sighed. “She’s a stray. Followed me home a couple of days ago.” More or less true. “Now I can’t get rid of her, even if I wanted to.” Again, true as far as it went. “So, I guess we have a cat. She’s not particularly friendly, though. Watch the claws.”
Idryll, naturally, had shifted onto her back and was accepting belly rubs and nonsense noises from the witch. Ruby rolled her eyes but couldn’t restrain a smile. All things considered that went pretty well. Nicely done, kitty. She asked, “Is there something I can do for you?”
Daphne nodded, not taking her eyes off the purring creature in front of her. “I wondered if you could deliver a package for me. I promised Abbot Thomas that I’d get it to him, but I got called into work. There’s no way I can afford a delivery service right now, and I thought since you haven’t lined up your freelance gigs yet, you might have an hour or two to take care of it.”
Just like that, she was neatly trapped. Everything the other woman said was true although it didn’t account for the time she was putting in as an amateur detective. “Of course, I’ll do it. No problem.”
With a sigh, the witch hopped off the bed and baby-talked at Idryll. “I wish I didn’t have to leave you, pretty kitty.” She turned to Ruby. “Instructions and directions are on the box. He knows it’s coming, so you shouldn’t have a problem. Thanks, roomie.”
When the door closed behind their guest, Ruby said, “Now that she knows, everyone else will, too.”
The Bengal laughed in Idryll’s voice and spoke, the mouth movements even more disconcerting than when she did it in tiger form. “Good. Perhaps I can begin to get a proper level of appreciation, then.”
“Well, now we have a delivery to make. Let’s do it so we can move on to the important stuff.” She sipped from her mug and grimaced at the lukewarm brew. “And so I can get some Starbucks. Ugh.”
The autonomous car had to stop at the end of the road. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the package’s ultimate destination. Ruby climbed out of the driver’s side rear seat, and Idryll, back in tiger-woman form, got out of the other side. The trunk popped in response to a tap on her smartphone, and she retrieved the square cardboard box from inside. It was big enough and heavy enough to be awkward, but not enough of either to block her vision or otherwise cause trouble.
The monks had positioned a package receptacle at the bottom of the long sidewalk-slash-staircase that wound up the mountainside to the abbey, but of course, that wasn’t adequate to Daphne’s needs. No, apparently if there’s a mountain involved, I’m destined to climb it. The heat prohibited hooded sweatshirts, so she couldn’t use magic to make it easier without risking her disguise. She would have asked Idryll to do it since the tiger-woman was doubtless both stronger and more agile than she was, but her partner’s mood was iffy since she was also impersonating a human.
She resigned herself to the walk and started up the mountain. Along the way, occasional puffs of mist shot into the air from small sprinklers on either side, cooling them as they climbed. She didn’t know much about the Abbey, only that she was looking for Abbot Thomas, presumably the leader of the place, and that they were a bunch of monks who generally didn’t interact with the Magic City community except in the form of beer deliveries in both directions. They’d been here before the casinos had gone up when the nearby town was only known as Ely, Nevada and most famous for its railway museum, which probably drew dozens of people from at least a fifty-mile radius a year. Yes, I’m petty. So what?
Idryll asked, “Are these people mystics?”
Ruby grunted and shifted the box to a more comfortable position. “They’re monks, which is as close as we get to mystics. Not magical but spiritual. Focused on a simple life. Impressive brewers of beer through the ages. I’ve had some from this one, and it’s really good.”
“What do you think is in the box?”
She shrugged. “I have no idea. Daphne didn’t tell me, and it seemed rude to ask.”
They continued the small talk until they rounded a curve and caught sight of the abbey. It was two stories high, constructed of stone, brick, and wood. The exterior was simple, brown and grey depending on the material in question, with windows all the way around. A second building was attached to it, more modern-looking and built of uniform bricks, which was doubtless their brewery. They had four or five brews availab
le at a time but didn’t sell them out of the abbey itself, only through establishments in town. She’d had both drafts and bottles and thought that the former was far better than the latter. Not that I’d turn down a cold one in any container right now.
As they reached the top, a young man in a grey robe tied with a white rope opened the door to greet them. His smile made him seem even more youthful. His face was nondescript, other than the eager grin, and he seemed a little thin in the big robe. He took the box easily though, suggesting that some muscle hid within. She said, “Thanks, that’s from Daphne.”
He nodded. “We were expecting this. Thank you for delivering it. Would you like to come in?”
She asked, “Are you Abbot Thomas?” at the same moment that Idryll replied, “We’d love to,” and pushed past her into the building. Ruby followed with a sigh, but the truth was, she was curious as well. The entryway was a small room with doors on each side, and he led them first to the one on the right, which turned out to be a storeroom full of shelves.
He slid the box onto one marked, “Food,” then explained, “Sometimes people visit us in times of need. We try to have some supplies we can send them off with whenever they’re stable and ready to depart. Daphne has been fantastic at collecting clothes, food, and medicines for them.”
Ruby replied, “She’s always seemed like a good person, but I had no idea she was doing this.” I wish I had because I would’ve helped her. Well, no reason I can’t start doing so.
“To answer your earlier question, no, I’m not Abbot Thomas. I’m Daniel. I believe the Abbot is over in the brewery if you’d like to meet him.”
Idryll replied, “We would,” and Ruby nodded agreement.
“Right this way.” He proceeded to lead them through a maze of hallways. They passed other monks along their path, all of whom seemed busy but were more than willing to pause in their efforts to offer a smile and a greeting. She found herself immediately liking all of them and taking comfort in the peacefulness of the surroundings.
