by Alex Ziebart
Michael’s expression suddenly sobered, face sinking. He looked older now, cheeks droopier, eyes more wrinkled. “I used to read comic books as a kid. Every hero seemed to have a secret lair—a sanctuary where they were safe and sound. As I got older, I started to wonder about that. How did they get these places? How did they afford them? Turned out, most heroes were rich beyond belief. I figure the people who wrote those comic books decided that was the easy way out. Nobody wants to read about someone balancing their checkbook. Nobody would want to hear about this negotiation we’re having right now.
“The message I took from it, though, was people without money didn’t become heroes. It’s hard to do good things—truly good things—when you’re preoccupied with whether or not you can afford groceries. Poverty has a way of making us aggressive and insular. It fills us with spite. Scarcity frightens us more than death and makes neighbors into enemies. Yes, sometimes a hero can rise from such circumstances. But it's damn unlikely. When two potential heroes are standing right before me, I can't allow poverty to be the deciding factor in whether or not we can do good for all of humanity. It would be an honor to provide the two of you with your secret lairs. Consider it done.”
Kristen slid down into her chair. What Michael said echoed in her mind for a long moment, and she stared on in shock. Had he just agreed to that—to everything? That easily? He hadn’t even asked which house she wanted, or how much it would cost, or…
She blinked herself out of her stupor. “Do I get to pick my own place?”
Michael nodded. “Of course. But within reason, obviously. If you’re going to ask for a mansion, I’m afraid I can’t provide a lair of that magnitude.”
Kristen swiveled to look at Todd. She expected he might be equally stupefied, or shocked, or anything at all. Instead, he looked bored, one elbow on the arm of his chair, cheek squished into the fingers of that hand. Her brow arched as she leaned toward him. “Are you okay with this?”
He looked toward her, then away. Though she couldn’t be sure, Kristen thought she could sense the gears churning in his mind. A full minute passed before he offered up a shallow nod. “Yeah. That’ll do fine.”
Kristen turned toward Michael again. “Okay, done. Now what’s our plan for dealing with this lady?”
Jane broke her silence. “I believe you mentioned Delphi owns a store. Todd, could you give us a little more background on that?”
Todd stretched his legs out, crossing them at the ankles. “She owns a liquor store on Thirteenth. There isn’t much more to say about it. Small place.”
“Does she work weekends?”
“Sure. Her apartment is above the store. She works every day, her and some girls she’s hired.”
“Girls? Do you mean women, or actual young girls?”
“Young women.”
Jane cupped her chin in thought. “Interesting. All of her employees are female?”
“As far as I know.”
Jane looked to Michael. “I recommend we get her at home. Late at night, after business hours. Todd can jump inside and unlock the doors for us. We move in, grab the ring, and take her out.”
Take her out.
Kristen shivered. Is that what she was, now? A killer? She supposed it couldn’t be helped. When facing someone with the intent to destroy a city, and in possession of a weapon that could accomplish the task, playing nice might be too much to ask. Still, it didn’t sit right in her stomach.
She resolved not to think about it. Killing the changelings was easy in the moment. It was only after she’d done it that she felt anything at all. If she didn’t think, she could get it done.
Michael drummed his fingers on the table. “Straightforward. Brutal. But this woman has proven herself a threat in the past, and more so now than ever. Kristen, what do you think?”
I just said I wasn’t going to think about it.
Kristen forced a shrug. “Sure. I guess that’ll do it.”
“Todd?”
Todd stroked his mustache with a finger. “Pay my mortgage, and I’ll do whatever you want.”
Kristen cut back in. “Wait. I just had a thought.”
“Oh?” Michael leaned back to listen.
“Todd and I only live a few miles apart. I ended up in the bank right between us and happened to be working the night he ran by. Before that, Jane and I raided that changeling warehouse, which is still within…what, five miles? The Chocolate House, too. Isn’t it a little too convenient all of this is happening so close? Milwaukee is a big place. Why isn’t any of this happening downtown? Or on the north side? Why within a five or ten mile radius in the south side? I’m not sure I buy that it’s a coincidence.”
Jane nodded. “I think that’s a fair question. So far, everything has happened within the borders of police district six. District six has one of the lowest violent crime rates in the city. That means the MPD doesn’t have any real focus—they have better places to be. People like Delphi and the changelings—people who play a long and subtle game—are going to go where the police aren’t looking very hard. I know from experience it’s easier to get a cleanup crew on-site before the police arrive in district six than almost any other. The police might not show up for thirty, maybe forty minutes if it happens late at night. It’s also not far to go to sneak onto a flight out of town.”
Kristen flicked a finger between Todd and herself. “We live in the district with the lowest crime rates in the city, and you picked us to be your heroes? Why not people from somewhere more…in need?”
Michael chuckled. “Technically, we only picked you, Miss Anderson. Todd came along at the right time, and we weren’t about to let him go. As you might have gathered from Jane's explanation, supernatural crime trends don't necessarily align with those of the mundane world we know. More than that, you're only the first, Kristen. We didn't choose you based on your location. We chose you based on other qualities.”
Kristen made a face like she'd just eaten something foul. “A pretty face and big boobs?”
Michael shifted in his seat, obviously uncomfortable. “First, you proved yourself capable and in control for how little experience you had. Second, yes, you're marketable. We're going public with something big here. What we’re doing could change the world, and we have to ease people into it. For all the good I see here, we still live in one of the most racially segregated cities in America. You, as an attractive white woman, will—sadly—put more people at ease. If you come first, then whoever comes next gets to be seen as a hero, too.”
Kristen stared at him. She couldn’t decide how she felt. Angry? Disgusted? Her stomach twisted, and her blood ran hot.
Michael blanched and turned to Jane. “Hell, maybe I should have had you explain that.”
Jane shook her head. “Wouldn’t have done it if you begged me.”
He turned back to Kristen. Sweat beaded on his brow. “There are no roads until someone decides to build them. All we’re asking you to do is build it. Once you’ve done that, you open that road to anyone else who wishes to walk it.”
I don’t want to build a road. I just want to be a badass.
Michael bowed his head for a few seconds before lifting it again. “Just think on it. If you decide you don’t want to be that person, you let me know. In the meantime, regardless of what you decide, Delphi remains a threat. We’ll move on her tomorrow night. Jane will call you with rendezvous details before then.”
Kristen rose in silence and strode straight out of Michael’s office. Todd and Jane followed. They remained silent until Jane peeled off and Todd and Kristen were back in her car. Todd looked over at her while he buckled his seat belt. “You asked the man a question. He gave you a straight answer. Even if you didn’t want to hear it, you did ask.”
Kristen threw the car in reverse and backed out of their parking spot. “That’s such bullshit and you know it. If you ask someone if they’re full of shit and they say they are, that doesn’t make them less full of shit, does it?”
�
��I’m just saying—”
“Don’t just say anything. Okay?” She gripped the steering wheel and squeezed with every bit of strength her hands possessed. It groaned beneath her fingers, the crackling sound of splintering plastic snapping her back to reality. She loosened her grip, lamenting her inability to white knuckle her rage away. “I’m not even sure how I feel yet. I mean, yeah. I’m mad. But I don’t think he’s wrong. It just sucks. The fact that I am what I am should be reason enough to recruit me. But no, I can’t even be a badass superhero lady without being handpicked because of how I look. That shouldn’t be the top line on my list of qualifications.”
“Does that matter? The man isn’t asking you to model for him. He’s asking you to be a badass.”
“Of course it matters.”
“Why?”
Kristen drove through the parking garage. Her body screamed at her to lay hard on the gas and tear around the corners. She wanted nothing more than to turn on her music, turn up the volume, and drive as fast as the car would go. She held herself back; killing someone in her frustration wouldn’t do any good.
Todd rested his elbow on the window ledge inside the car door. “If you’re starting to have doubts, it’d be good to know I’m not alone in that.”
Her brow perked. “Doubts?”
“Yeah.” His voice became somber as he stared out the window, squinting against sunlight as the car rolled back out onto the city streets. “When the changelings went after my family, I realized I’d fucked up. I pulled them into a mess because of what I can do. I figured either it’d pay off and Delphi would do what she promised, or if she didn’t, I’d never resort to anything like that again. I have a wife and three little girls. Using god-damned magic or superpowers or whatever it is I do is only going to bring more trouble. Working with people like Delphi or Temple seems like the only option I have if I want to keep food on the table. But working with those people might get my family killed, too.”
“Could you go back to being an electrician? I don’t remember where I heard it, but skilled labor is one of the few things still in demand. Electricians, plumbers…”
“I’m not certified. I’d have to go back to school. How the hell could I pay the bills for a family of five and go to school?”
“You aren’t certified? Is that why you—”
“I was a material handler. It’s the fancier way of saying guy-who-carries-shit-around. I never did any actual work as an electrician. Anyone with a strong back and a truck can do that job. Nobody goes looking for a material handler. You can grab a guy off of a corner somewhere.”
“Is there good money in being the guy who carries the shit around?”
“It wasn’t bad. It helped that I got to keep any scrap. The client pays for materials. So let’s say they need four hundred and fifty-five feet of wire to complete a job. Well, the spools come in five hundred feet. We buy that spool, bill it to the client, use what’s needed. When the project’s over, I have forty-five feet of leftover copper in the back of my truck the client doesn’t want and the company doesn’t need. I take it to the recycling center and cash in. Sometimes, that money was better than the paycheck.”
“If you don't mind me asking, what happened? Layoffs?”
“The company shut down. The owner pissed money away and blamed the union when he went bankrupt. None of us got paid the last two months we worked there. We thought he was a good guy. Trust is a damn stupid thing.”
“Did you sue him? I'd have sued him.”
“Nah.”
“Why not?”
“He's my brother-in-law.”
“Oh.”
Todd sighed. “Yeah. Still have to see that asshole's face a few times a month.”
“What's he doing now? Something crappy, I hope.”
“Making over a hundred thousand a year with another company.”
“Wow.”
“Yep.”
“If it makes you feel better, my mom told me to be a stripper.”
“Family is the worst.”
Kristen shrugged, hands still on the wheel. “I figure I can pick and choose who I call family. That's probably harder when you're married though.”
“My wife's the love of my life. Her family? Bane of my existence. Her brother-in-law is the reason I didn’t go to college. He made it sound like I’d have a job for life, and the wife told me he knew what he was doing, so I jumped on. Bought a house. Tried to have kids. That wasn’t working, so we tried treatment. Didn’t work. More treatment. Didn’t work. Test, experiments, pills. Finally something took.”
Kristen masked a wince. Entirely without intent, she’d broken a dam and she knew it. She’d gotten a father talking about his wife and kids, and he wouldn’t stop until he ran out of breath.
“Took too damn well. You’ve met her. She isn’t a big woman. Three at a time? That was hell, but she toughed it out. Full term. Full term on three months of hospitalized bedrest that racked up a bill a mile long, and right in the middle of it, her brother-in-law shitcans the company and we lose our health insurance.”
She jumped in before he went any farther. “Let’s make a deal.”
“What kind of deal?”
“I could be who I want to be without Temple. They came to me because I’d already gone out there to help people. I could keep doing that. But Temple has money. I need that money if I want to give my sister the chance at life my parents didn’t. Let’s take their money, but watch out for each other. I’ll watch out for your wife and kids. I need you to watch out for my sister. If any of this Temple business starts going bad, we talk to each other before we do anything that might screw things up.”
“You’re putting a lot of faith in a man who was working with a woman out to destroy the city.”
“If I was in your position and someone gave me the choice between my sister and hundreds of thousands of people—or even millions of people—I’d pick my sister every single time. It isn’t even a question. As for trusting you? I think that’s on you. If you ever think about screwing me over, just remember I can rip a car in half with my bare hands.”
Todd let his answer remain unspoken. Instead, he asked, “Where are we going? Back home?”
“Yeah, I’m going to drop you off if you’re cool with that. You don’t strike me as the type to hang out. I’ve got a guy I’ve wanted to meet up with for a few days and haven’t had the chance. Thought I’d try to do that before this Delphi stuff sets off.”
“Can I offer you some advice?”
Kristen kept her eyes on the road, but her brow arched high. Dating advice from a guy like Todd didn’t strike her as something that’d prove useful. “What kind of advice?”
“If you’re interested in having children, stay away from the drugs.” Todd’s voice carried a note of regret. “IUI is your best option. IVF if you’re desperate. Never drugs, especially not drugs and IVF at the same time. If you get that desperate, stop while you still can.”
“Todd, can I offer you some advice?”
“I’m all ears.”
“Don’t talk to a woman that isn’t your wife or girlfriend about having kids unless she brought it up first. Ever. What enters or exits a lady’s bits is only your business when you’ve been made a partner at the firm. My firm is currently closed for business.”
“Right. Understood. Strained metaphor, though.”
“I just like the idea of vaginas with lawyers.”
Chapter 11
After dropping Todd off at home, Kristen made it only a few steps into her own apartment before her Temple phone rang. She shouldered her door shut and pulled the phone from her pocket. “Hello?”
“Hey. Is Todd still with you?”
“No. You need him?”
“No, that’s good. The plan we talked about to nail Delphi? It was bullshit.”
Kristen tossed her purse onto the kitchenette counter. “What do you mean?”
“Todd’s too close to Delphi. She can read minds by touch. What happens if she
decides to pay him a visit? She’d know everything. Besides, I seriously doubt she keeps the ring at home.”
Walking toward the back room, Kristen’s heart sank. Logically, Jane probably wasn’t wrong. That didn’t make it feel right, though. Kristen went out on a limb to put faith in him. Not even an hour ago, they’d come to an accord. She knew what would come next. Jane would ask her to lie. Kristen steeled herself. “So what’s the real plan?”
“Remember how I mentioned Milwaukee would sink? We’re going to give Delphi a chance at a proof of concept. Meet me at the Temple building tomorrow morning.”
Kristen rolled her eyes. Of course it would be the morning. “What time?”
“Seven. Keep an eye on the news in the morning, too.”
She slapped her forehead. “Seriously? Seven? I was going to make plans!”
“I know, you’re getting a rough intro to the business. I’m sorry about that, but we need you right now. Once this stuff with the ring is over, hopefully you’ll have some time to yourself.”
“Hopefully?”
“No promises.”
Kristen walked through the apartment, plucking trash and dirty clothes off of the floor as she went. How the place got so filthy considering how little time she spent there, she had no idea. “Fine. I’ll be there at seven.”
“Thanks.”
After dumping the handful of dirty clothes into a basket, Kristen ended the call and looked at the phone in her hand. Her finger slid onto the power button. She held it down, counting in silence the ten seconds until it shut down. Shutting Temple out seemed the only way to get a day’s rest.
Kristen took her finger from the button and pocketed the phone. She swapped it for her own, checking it for the first time since visiting Temple. Four missed calls from Emma. Kristen closed her eyes, leaning her head back. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another.
