by TR Cameron
Inside, computers arranged in clusters of five surrounded central poles providing power and connection. There were three such groupings, but only one was full at the moment. Five beings sat in chairs with large VR masks over their eyes. Convenient. Maybe they’ll even get to live through this if they stay distracted long enough. A control panel in one corner separated a pair of researchers from the main part of the room. He walked around behind them and saw displays of what each of the infomancers viewed in their headsets. He couldn’t make heads or tails of it, but infomancy had never been an area of study for him. I prefer to leave that to the professionals. A researcher twisted to face him with a frown. “Something we can do for you? Shouldn’t you be on patrol or something?”
He gave a thin smile. “Arrogant. Elitist. Rude.” He whipped his elbow around for another temple smash, and the man went down. Before his colleague could react, Goryo had him on both knees in a wrist lock. “Cause me trouble, and I’ll break your arm, then kill you both. Understand?”
The man stammered, “Yes, yes, understood. “
“Good.” With his free hand, he withdrew the Bluetooth keyboard, the largest disguised object he had brought, and set it on the console.
After thirty seconds that felt ten times that long, Scimitar announced, “I have access. Three people in the biology lab and five in the weapons area.”
“And the emergency exit?”
“As we were told. A tunnel with a golf cart ready and waiting to carry you to the egress.”
I love it when things work as they’re supposed to. “Okay. Any alarm response yet?”
“None. Be sure to take the keyboard with you. I’ve downloaded a ton of goodies to it.”
He laughed softly. “Of course.” It was decision time. The smartest thing to do would probably be to go into the weapons area, kill everyone inside, and make off with what he’d come to get. However, discovering the biological research facility intrigued him. Knowledge of one’s enemies can be as valuable as a weapon, if not more so. He decided to risk checking it out, suspecting that any such work would be investigations of or experiments on magicals.
A kick rendered the man unconscious, and he departed the room, leaving the infomancers in their ridiculous helmets none the wiser. He walked briskly into the biology lab. It took hardly any time at all to defeat the two soft scientists within. He was ready to put down the third disguised device, but Scimitar directed, “Use the keyboard instead.” He complied, and a moment later, she reported, “Downloading. The programs I stored in it work like a dream. I’ll refund half the cost of this run, as agreed, when you turn it over.”
He thought about bargaining, for fun, but didn’t. “Excellent. Will we finally meet in person?”
She laughed. “I like you, buddy, but no. I haven’t lived this long by being overly trusting.” A few seconds passed before she confirmed, “Download complete. Leave the other device there so I can maintain access.” Normally, her incursions would have rung alarm bells, but the first thing she’d done to their system was to inject a virus that made it appear she was one of the infomancers working to defend the place. Or at least that’s what she’d explained. He didn’t care, as long as it worked.
He did as instructed, and she laughed. “Oh, they really were concerned about security. They put the suppression systems in all the labs. Standby.” A couple of minutes went by before she said, “Everyone in the weapons area is down. The gas has dissipated enough for you to go in.”
He smiled up at the room’s camera. “I like you more and more with every passing moment.”
She laughed. “Flatterer. Move.”
He obeyed. She opened the door through the network and setting the keyboard on the control panel allowed her to pop the locks on all the cabinets in the room. He moved from one to the next, examining the options. There was too much to carry it all away, and he hadn’t been able to smuggle in a bag. He’d be limited to what he could reasonably fit into one of the storage crates already present in the room. It didn’t matter. He sought quality, not quantity. He took boxes of anti-magic bullets to start. Always useful. The next cabinet revealed grenades, and when he read off the model number, Scimitar said, “Whoa. They’re filled with anti-magic shrapnel wrapped around standard explosive. That’s mean.”
He chuckled as he gathered up the four that were present. “Only a matter of time before someone figured that out, I guess.” The next cabinet was twice as wide as the others and held guns resting upright on shallow shelves. The top one was a machine gun, the middle an assault rifle, but the one on the bottom caught his eye. He pulled out the shotgun and the box of shells for it. “Looks like a variation on a theme. I bet the pellets are the same ones as in the grenades.”
He discovered nothing interesting in the next couple of cabinets, only prototypes that didn’t appear functional. The final cabinet contained only a single heavy backpack. He read off the code number. Scimitar sounded slightly alarmed as she reported, “It’s a portable anti-magic emitter. Pretty heavy, but I’ve never seen one that miniaturized that’s also that powerful.”
He shrugged it on and found that while it was indeed heavier than he would’ve preferred, it wasn’t a significant burden. “Okay, I have all I can carry. Get me out of here.”
Chapter Sixteen
Ruby was impressed by Diana Sheen’s office. Okay, to be fair, everything about her has impressed me so far, so why should this be any different? It was a combination of practical and stylish that fit perfectly with what she understood of the other woman. A battered wooden government-issue desk sat in the corner, presenting a workmanlike appearance with a high-tech-looking chair behind it. A couple of couches and end tables filled the majority of the space. The wall covered with a massive electronic display was the room’s dominant feature. She could easily picture strategy sessions going on around it, although she’d heard some mention of a particular place in the facility where that happened. Someday, I’d like a real tour, both front of house and back of house, to put it in casino terms.
Sheen herself sat on the couch arranged at a right angle to her own. She was in beat-up jeans, scuffed jump boots, and a concert T-shirt with a picture of Robert Smith’s lipstick-smeared face on it. The agent observed, “You realize this totally sounds like a trap.”
Ruby snorted. “Yeah, I said the same thing to Sheriff Alejo. She’s still planning to be there tonight.”
The other woman shook her head. “Appropriate, doing her job as she should, but also stupid. Unfortunately, sometimes the job is like that.”
“Which is why we’ll be there too. If we don’t show, the police will get creamed.”
Sheen shrugged. “Is that your problem? No offense, but you’re not with any agency that would be required to be a part of this.”
Ruby gave a sharp nod. “I’ve made it my problem.”
The response earned a smile. “That’s an answer I both understand and respect. What do you need from us?”
She sighed. As much as she hated to admit it, the situation could quickly go out of control despite her best efforts. “Anything you can provide. This one worries me. I’ve never had to deal with so many moving parts all banging around at the same time.”
“So you expect the sheriff’s people, the Ely PD, you and your team, and whoever’s selling the gems to show up?”
Ruby nodded. “Probably the PDA too. And, if the word gets out, which it already has, we’re going to see individual criminal groups from all over the place converge for a shot at the diamonds.”
Sheen leaned forward attentively. “What’s your specific plan?”
She matched the motion, eager to hear what the other woman thought of her plan. “I thought we would shoot in, grab the gems, and get the hell out. With the motivation behind the whole event gone, there won’t be any reason for the bad guys to continue.”
The agent shook her head with a frown. “That would be a good solution if you’re able to hit them beforehand. There’s still time. Can you?”
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Ruby sighed. “They’re in motion, and I can’t track them properly. It was a paranoid move on their part that’s paying off big time in screwing things up for us.”
“Well, then, everyone will think the gems are still there and keep fighting to get them, or by that point, they’ll be too bloodthirsty to stop. Once it kicks off, simply removing the initial catalyst isn’t going to fix it.” She lapsed into silence for almost a full minute, her face showing deep thought. Despite her strong desire to interrupt, Ruby restrained herself. Finally, the agent said, “I’ll run it by my team, but it seems to me the optimal solution is for us to try to take out the leaders of each group and hope their followers fall back.”
She kept her voice level. “Us?”
The other woman nodded. “Yeah. I think we’ll join you for this one. Best case, we get more insight into the black-market artifact trade from the people we round up, and we help out a friend. Worst case, we assist in keeping you alive and out of the PDA’s hands.”
Ruby scowled. “I don’t suppose you can do anything about them? They’re beyond annoying.”
Sheen laughed. “No. Believe me, if I had that much power, they’d already be disbanded. There are some good people in that organization, but they aren’t the ones currently calling the shots.”
She replied, “I’ve only met the jerks.”
“They have a lot of them, for sure. As a professional courtesy, one government agency to another, we do see killing them as off-limits.”
“Yeah, us too. We try to remain nonlethal wherever we can, but draw a hard line where law enforcement and the like are concerned.”
Sheen nodded. “Good. That’s how it has to be. So, we have several things to accomplish. Between now and this evening, we have to identify the leaders of each criminal organization. I’ll have Deacon hack the Ely PD again and see what they have, but it would probably be more respectful to request that same information from the sheriff’s office instead of taking it. Can you make that happen?”
“Pretty sure. Keep hacking them as a backup, and I’ll reach out to Alejo as soon as I’m back.”
“Okay, so I think we’ll coordinate our actions, but as discrete units rather than a single team. You and your people haven’t had an opportunity to train with me and mine, and we don’t know enough about one another to be interdependent in the chaotic scene this will doubtless be. We’ll need to make sure that everyone who needs to be connected by comm, is. Before you leave, talk to Kayleigh. She can unlock the full capability of the communicators we gave you, which includes setting up separate channels on a far more expansive basis than their current mode allows.”
Ruby offered a mock frown. “You mean you gave us a present but didn’t let us have all of it?”
Sheen laughed. “Yeah, more or less. Listen, my people have all been burned often enough by those we trusted that now we play it as cool as we can, whenever we can.”
“I’m joking. You all have been amazing, and I’m totally happy with whatever you share with us.”
“We should consider bringing you in for some real training sessions, though. It would be good if at least a couple of us were able to fit in seamlessly with what you’re doing. Speaking of which, since you’re all in disguise, we’ll mask up, too. Don’t want to give away who you’re working with, just in case.” She laughed. “My team has done a lot of weird things, but we’ve never worked with masked vigilantes before.”
Ruby chuckled. “I’d prefer crusader to vigilante, please, even if the other is technically accurate.”
Sheen nodded. “Fair enough. I would in your place, too. I’d be lying if I said my team and I always operated within the bounds of rules and regulations. Sometimes you have to improvise.”
That drew a surprised laugh from Ruby. “You know, that’s the best description ever. I feel like I’ve been improvising since the moment I got back to Magic City.”
“Another thought, we’ll want to make sure we’re able to track one another. Tell Kayleigh you need a transponder chip, too. You can discuss with her the most effective way to integrate it into your costume.”
Ruby shook her head with a grin. “That sounds like Halloween. We prefer battle dress.”
Laughter rang out, and she appreciated how quickly the other woman moved between seriousness and mirth. Although, with Rath around, she probably gets a lot of joy in her life. Sheen replied, “Well, fair enough. We make some interesting semantic choices here from time to time as well. It would certainly be unfair to stop you from doing the same thing.” She turned sober again. “Anything else you can think of equipment-wise that you might need from us?”
“Maybe once we’ve trained together, I’ll have a better answer for that. Right now, adding something new to the mix would probably cause more confusion than benefit.”
Sheen nodded and rose, signaling the end of the meeting. “We have work to do, so let’s get to it. Visit Kayleigh and talk to Alejo. Once your transponder’s on, we’ll know where you are, but go ahead and share the location as soon as you have it. We’ll do our best to be in place before anything kicks off.”
“Us too. Thank you again for all of this.”
The agent grinned. “One truth you’ll learn about my team is that we live for this sort of thing. Mixing it up, making a difference. It’s our purpose, both officially and personally.”
“Sounds like I’d fit in pretty well with y’all.” She rose and extended a hand to meet the one the other woman had offered.
“Who knows? Stranger things have happened. When your work’s finished in Ely, we can talk.” Sheen took her hand in a strong grip and shook it. “For now, though, get moving. Daylight’s burning.”
Chapter Seventeen
Ruby threw her bag onto one of the last-century couches in the bunker's main room and looked around in disbelief. “This place is amazing. It’s going to take weeks of serious effort to get it completely functional, though.”
Morrigan did the same with her duffel and nodded. “Well, we’re all chock-full of free time, right?”
Idryll, who had perched on the arm of one of the couches, replied, “I am.”
Ruby pointed at her. “Perfect. You’re elected. You can live here until it’s clean.” The shapeshifter bared her fangs, and she laughed. “Hey, you volunteered.”
Idryll started to say something, but Ruby lifted a hand to stop her as the tiny device in her ear activated with a soft ping. In addition to the transponders, Kayleigh had given her three earbuds so they could have access to communication when not wearing their masks. The units were the next best thing to invisible, and if anyone noticed them, the tech had suggested they use the excuse of excessive ear wax treatment. Ruby was pretty sure she’d been joking, but sometimes it was hard to tell.
Demetrius said, “Okay, people. I got a hit from the bugs. The other dude, not the one we planted them on, used the phrase ‘putting our enemies on the scrapheap.’ Our guy laughed as if it was funny, and that started me thinking. The only thing that qualifies as a scrapheap around here is the Casino Graveyard.”
Ruby replied, “That seems worth following up on. Let me get in touch with Alejo, and I’ll tell you what she says.” She gave the verbal commands to switch channels and initiate the call to the sheriff. Her unit automatically added the voice modifications that the mask created when she wore it. The comms used heavy encryption plus jumped through a series of hoops to disguise location. Kayleigh had assured them they were untraceable. They’d left their cell phones at home so they couldn’t be tracked to the bunker.
The sheriff said, “Alejo. Who is this?”
Ruby replied, “Do you recognize my voice?”
She heard the frown. “Yeah. What have you got for me?”
“Rumor is it might be the Casino Graveyard.”
“Wait a second, let me check something.” The sound of a keyboard came over the line for a moment, then she continued, “That makes sense, based on what we’ve collected of people’s movements. Plus, it fit
s the criteria we talked about. For a trap, I mean.”
Ruby laughed darkly. “Yeah, I know. Picture-perfect, for that. Keep me updated if anything changes. I’m watching the email.”
“You do the same.” The other woman clicked off.
She informed Demetrius and her partners that the sheriff agreed with his guess. He said, “I’m sending a drone now. I’ll have pictures for you in five minutes or so.”
Ruby grabbed her duffel. “Time to unpack. Masks first, in case he has something he wants us to see.” As well-shielded as the place was, it didn’t block the equipment they’d gotten from the agents. She started taking the items out of her bag and laying them carefully on the couch. When she set the sword down, Idryll hopped off her perch and took the sheathed weapon, examining it with interest. “So, it talks to you?”
“Not really. Only the once. Although sometimes I think I can hear something, right at the edge of my senses, that might be them. It. Whatever.” She waved a hand. “Now’s not the moment to discuss it.” By the time they had all of their gear arranged, Demetrius was back on the line. She slipped on her mask and motioned for the others to do the same, and he fed them video from the drone.
He apologized, “It’s really high up, so you’re not going to have too much detail, but I didn’t want to give anyone a warning that we were looking at them.”
“Good call.” Castoffs generated by the construction and reconstruction of Magic City covered a large flat expanse of desert. It was a labyrinth of shipping crates, piles of discarded building materials, dated cars and trucks that didn’t survive the process and had nowhere else to go, and tons of heavy equipment. The tallest object was a crane that rose into the sky, held steady by guy wires at four anchor points. From it hung a large claw that was used in the operation’s working days to move debris into the giant crusher located near the center. The graveyard hadn’t been active for twenty years or so, although new deposits had accumulated as casinos were modified or demolished and rebuilt anew.
