by James Wisher
Gabriel’s head spun. He wasn’t sure he could feel pain just then.
Amanda smiled. “Good evening.”
Gabriel managed a nod.
Chapter 13
The imposing gray edifice of Watch Headquarters loomed over Gabriel. He felt nervous the whole walk over but now his hands shook. A short flight of stairs led to a set of double doors. He took a breath and climbed up. Inside was an entryway with a row of benches on either side. Both rows were full of people, some hung their heads and others muttered to themselves. At the end of the entryway a short wall divided by into three sections separated the people from the main portion of headquarters. A watch sergeant manning each slot dealt with each citizen’s complaint. Those complaints seemed to involve a great deal of shouting and swearing.
Gabriel went to the right most sergeant and shouted, “Where’s the duty officer?”
The sergeant left the grumbling woman at his station and came over to Gabriel. “Lieutenant Kane?”
“That’s right.”
The sergeant saluted. “Welcome to the watch, sir. Didn’t expect you so early, you being noble and all.”
Gabriel frowned. “I’m surprised you know enough to think at all, you being common and all.”
The older man winced. “I deserved that, didn’t I?”
“Damn right, you did. Call me Gabriel.”
That brought a smile to the sergeant’s face. “Derik.”
They shook hand over the wall. “The duty officer’s in back.” Derik released a catch and the door built into the wall opened. “Third office on the right, name of the door’s Lincoln. He’s expecting you so go on in.”
Gabriel nodded his thanks and went toward the back of the building. He found Commander Lincoln’s office with the door open. A gray haired man of middle years sat hunched over behind a desk covered in a foot tall stack of parchment. Gabriel knocked on the open door. Commander Lincoln looked up. “What?”
“Lieutenant Kane reporting for duty, sir.”
The commander shuffled through his papers until he found what he was looking for. “Here we are, Kane. Jeremiah’s boy, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Shame about your father. I served with him for five years, hell of a good man.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Let’s get to it.” At the top of his lungs the commander yelled, “Griff!”
Gabriel winced at the yell. A moment later a tall broad shouldered man with long hair and a full beard ambled in. He wore an ill used, dirty uniform, but the hilt of his sword looked well cared for if worn form years of use.
“You called, John?” Griff’s voice was a deep base rumble.
“Yeah, your new partner’s here. Gabriel Kane, he’s Jeremiah’s boy. Gabriel this is Griffin Loren, he’ll be your partner for a while.”
“Pleasure,” Gabriel said.
Griffin offered a noncommittal grunt.
“Well that takes care of introductions,” Commander Lincoln said. “Your first assignment is to track down the man that escaped after attempting to murder High Priest Solan. I wouldn’t ordinarily start you out with such a difficult case on your first day but other than the priest you’re the only witness.”
“That’s fine, sir,” Gabriel said. “I’ll feel better when the man’s in custody. I still can’t believe I let him escape.”
“No sense worrying about it. Off you go.”
Gabriel saluted and started back toward the front of the building.
“Wrong way,” Griffin said.
“Excuse me?”
“Front entrance if for the public, Watchmen use the back door.”
He followed Griffin down the central corridor toward the back of the building. They went out an unmarked wooden door into an alley behind the building. “Now what, sir?” Griffin asked.
“What do you suggest, Mr. Loren?”
“Sir?”
“How do you recommend we proceed?” Gabriel spoke each word distinctly in case Griffin had trouble hearing.
“You’re the ranking officer; I assumed you’d take the lead on this investigation.”
Gabriel ground his teeth. “I’d love to take the lead, but I’ve never hunted a fugitive before, I assumed the commander assigned you as my partner because you have experience at this sort of thing.”
“Yes, sir, I have plenty of experience, it’s just most new lieutenants don’t have much use for advice, they just like giving orders.”
“If you want I can give you some orders later, right now I want to find the man that tried to kill my friend. You can either tell me how we’re going to do that or we can go back in and I’ll see about getting a new partner because, frankly, I’ve wasted about all the time I care to this morning.”
Griffin laughed. “John told me you were a different kind of rookie then I usually get stuck with. I told him I’d believe it when I saw it. Well I’ve seen it. You and I will get along fine.”
“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Gabriel said.
Griffin laughed again. “Come on, kid. Let’s go find your killer. And call me Griff.”
Griff took off at a brisk pace bearing east. They’d gone two blocks when Gabriel asked, “Where are we going?”
“Lesson number one,” Griff said. “You want to find a crook, ask another crook. There’s an information broker who works this side of the warehouse district, she’ll have an idea where we can start.”
“Can you trust a criminal to tell the truth?”
“You can trust this one; she sells information for a living so if she lied to her customers she’d soon be out of business. As for others you get a feel for it after a while. I can most always tell when someone’s lying.”
“What about this woman, won’t she be in danger if criminals find out she’s selling information to the Watch?”
“Lucy sells to everyone. She has the most extensive network in the city. It’s cheaper for the Watch to pay her rather than maintain our own network. As to other criminals, they use her services more than we do. If they want something kept secret they need to be subtle enough that she doesn’t find out. That or pay her to keep quiet.”
The warehouse district was in sight when Griff pointed to a rundown tavern that appeared to be in the process of collapsing in on itself. If this was where the information broker worked she must not be doing too well. Gabriel wasn’t at all certain he wanted to go in for fear of the place falling in on him, but Griff pushed through the cockeyed door without a care so Gabriel followed him inside.
The inside was so dim he could just make out tables, a scowling bartender and two drunks passed out on the floor. Griff led him to a booth at the back of the room. A candle guttered on the table shedding a feeble glow on the figure seated there. Griff as usual seemed unconcerned.
“Lucy?” Griff asked.
“Hi, Griff, been awhile.” the voice was husky but female.
“Too long,” he said. “Unfortunately I’m here for business not pleasure.”
The dark figure sighed. “Pity. Let’s go back to my office.”
She got up and led them through a hidden door built into the back wall. Four lanterns burned in the office forcing Gabriel to squint. When he could see he found a well appointed office with a tiger maple desk, several padded chairs, and four loaded bookcases. He also got a good look at their host. Lucy was a tall woman, around forty, with thick black hair and a nice figure. She no doubt kept in shape running for her life.
“Gabriel, let me introduce you to Lucy, the finest information broker in the city.”
Gabriel bowed. “A pleasure, my lady.”
Lucy laughed as she sat down behind the desk. “Save the my lady business for your fancy girlfriend. I’m just plain Lucy.”
Gabriel smiled. “Amanda doesn’t like the formal greeting either.”
She waved them into the chairs opposite her desk. “Have a seat fella’s and let’s get down to business.”
When Gabriel sat he noticed the chair didn�
��t have arms to get tangled with his sword. Considering her clientele he figured most of them came armed and no doubted appreciated the convenience. “We’re looking for the man that escaped after attempting to kill High Priest Solan the night before last.”
“I heard about that, nasty business. Solan’s a sweet old man.”
“You know him?” Gabriel couldn’t imagine Solan and Lucy had much in common or how they might have met.
“He prays for me.” Lucy offered a fond smile.
Griff cleared his throat. “About the thug that tried to kill him.”
“Right, they call him Lucky, though the gods alone know why. You don’t need to worry about him. Someone put a bounty on him. Far as I know, no one’s collected yet. I doubt Lucky’s stayed in one place for more than a few hours since they put the contract out on him.”
“Any thoughts on where we might look?” Griff asked.
Lucy shrugged. “Anyone that might have information won’t tell you, they’d go after the bounty themselves.”
Griff got up and Gabriel followed suit. “Thanks, Lucy,” Griff said.
Lucy shot him a lecherous grin. “Come again when you can stay longer.”
Griff smiled back. “Count on it. Let’s go kid.”
Gabriel nodded to Lucy and followed Griff out of the small office. When they were outside Gabriel said, “So you two…”
Griff shrugged. “Off and on, nothing serious. Come on, if we’re going to find Lucky we’re just going to have to look.”
Griff walked deeper into the warehouse district. Dozens of wagons were getting unloaded at as many warehouses. Every so often a crash rang out followed by a string of curses that would impress the most jaded listener
“Where are we going?” Gabriel asked.
“The nearest tavern. If we ask enough people someone’s bound to have seen him. We should keep it quiet or he might get on to us then we’ll never find him.”
“You know,” Gabriel said after a moment’s thought. “Maybe we don’t want to keep it quiet. If he’s desperate enough prison might look good compared to death at the hands of some bounty hunter. If we broadcast it loud enough he might come to us.”
“That isn’t a bad idea, save us a lot of time too. Let’s try it.”
They reached their first tavern after a five minute walk. The place was a little less dilapidated than Lucy’s. The sign over the door had a carving of a half-man half-fish holding a frothing mug of ale. For the lettered patrons it read, The Tipsy Triton.
“You do the talking, kid. It’ll sound better coming from someone with less experience.”
Gabriel nodded and they went inside. About twenty people, mostly men and a couple women, occupied the common room. It was a rough crew sporting a mixture of scars, burns, and bad attitudes. Add to the fact that they were at a tavern at midday instead of at work and they fell right into the group that might know where Lucky could be found.
He took a deep breath and cleaned his throat. “May I have your attention?”
The patrons greeted his announcement with yawns. Gabriel glanced at Griff who shrugged.
Frowning, Gabriel said, “Anyone that doesn’t want to spend the night in the lockup better shut up and pay attention.”
Everyone fell silent and looked at him. That was much better though if were honest it appeared most of them would rather cut his throat than listen. “I’m looking for a man named Lucky. He’s wanted for attempted murder.”
When no one spoke Gabriel said, “Well?”
“Well why don’t you shut up and run home,” A man seated a few feet to his right said.
Griff took two steps over to the man and kicked him square in the face. The drunk fell over backwards, unconscious. Impressive, Gabriel wouldn’t have imagined Griff could lift his leg that high.
“Anyone else have anything to say?” Gabriel asked. When no one spoke he said, “My name is Gabriel Kane and if anyone has information you can leave a message for me at Watch headquarters. Thank you.”
They left the Tipsy Triton and headed toward the next tavern. “That went pretty well,” Gabriel said.
“Yeah, no one even tried to kill us.”
They repeated their show at another ten taverns and at all ten they received varying levels of hostility and no information. When they left the eleventh tavern Gabriel felt like someone had encased his feet in lead. Dinner and a nap would hit the spot. It was almost sunset and Griff asked, “You want to try one more?”
“Let’s get something to eat first.”
“Yes, sir.” Griff grinned.
They had gone no distance when someone called out them from a dark alley on their left. They veered toward the voice and when they got closer a shadowy, cloaked figure spoke from the shadows. “I hear you been looking for me?”
“Lucky?” Gabriel said.
“That’s right,” the man said.
“Step out where we can see you.”
“Wait a minute. Before I give myself up I want to get a few things straight. I need your word I’ll be protected and that I won’t be executed if I cooperate.”
“You have it,” Gabriel said. “Now step out here.”
Lucky stepped out of the alley and threw back his hood revealing a long thin nose and a pockmarked face. Gabriel nodded. “That’s him; let’s get him back to headquarters before someone else spots him.”
“I’m all for that,” Griff said.
“Wait a minute,” Lucky gave Gabriel a hard look. “Haven’t I seen you before?”
Gabriel glared at him. “I you hadn’t run off the other night you would have saved me the trouble of hunting you down.”
“Son of bitch, you’re that kid that killed Buster. This is all your fault. If you hadn’t stopped us we could have gutted that old priest and I wouldn’t have every bounty hunter in the city after me.”
“If you’d killed Solan I would have hunted you down myself and seen you broken on the rack before I beheaded you with my own sword. Now march, before I take up bounty hunting.”
Griff started toward headquarters with Lucky behind him and Gabriel bringing up the rear. They went about two blocks before Lucky asked, “Why’d they give a kid like you such an important case?”
“You will address me as Lieutenant Kane and to answer your question other than Solan I’m the only other person who knew what you looked like. Now shut up.”
They were halfway back, Lucky hadn’t spoken again, and Gabriel was feeling good about things, when five men armed with swords stepped out from between two buildings and blocked their path. One of the men stepped forward. “You’re a hard man to find, Lucky.”
“Damn it all to hell, I never should have thrown in with you two,” Lucky said.
Gabriel stepped up beside Griff and drew his sword. Griff did the same. “You any good with that?” Griff asked.
“Fair, you?”
“I’ve been in a scrap or two. You’d best let me take the lead, wouldn’t do to get you killed on your first day.”
“You Watchmen want to live I suggest you get lost,” the leader said.
Gabriel stepped forward, ignoring Griff’s restraining hand. “This man is under our protection. I order you to disperse.”
The leader laughed. “The Watch must be getting desperate if they let in a snot like you. I got a cousin your age and she looks tougher. Why don’t you run home to your mother before you get hurt?”
“My mother was killed a little less than four years ago and if you speak of her again I’ll cut your heart out and feed it to you. I challenge any of you to single combat, if you win you can have Lucky if I win the rest of you step aside.”
“There are five of us and two of you. Why shouldn’t we kill you and take him?”
“You can try,” Gabriel said. “In fact it’s what I’d expect cowards like you to do. I doubt any of you is man enough to face me one on one.”
The leader was no longer laughing. “It’s your funeral, boy. Which one of you wants to kill this kid?”
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One of the bounty hunters stepped forward. “I got this, boss.”
“Bad luck for you, kid. Max here is one of our best.”
Gabriel nodded.
“You don’t have to do this,” Griff said in an urgent whisper.
“I made the challenge and I’ll honor it. If I fall do what you think is best.”
Gabriel stepped away from Griff. His opponent twirled his sword, a notched, wide bladed brute about two and a half feet long, in lazy circles. “Ready to die, boy?”
Gabriel ignored the crude provocation and continued to study Max. The bounty hunter was an inch or two taller than Gabriel and he looked like he outweighed him by at least forty pounds. Gabriel raised his sword so the hilt was at his ear and the tip pointed at Max’s chest. Max took a wide stance, braced to accept the charge Gabriel signaled he was about to make.
Roaring, Gabriel charged the bounty hunter, when he was two steps away he fell to his knees and slid behind Max slashing as he passed, severing the tendons of the bounty hunter’s right knee and sending him crashing to the ground. Gabriel popped to his feet swung full circle and slashed down at Max’s neck. Max’s head plopped the ground.
Gabriel flicked his sword to shake off the blood and turned to face the four remaining bounty hunters. “Will you honor your word and step aside?”
“What if I refuse?” the leader asked, a good deal less confident now.
“Then you’re free to join your friend.”
The leader swallowed and waved between fears, the fear of dying and the fear of losing his men’s respect. His face settled into a snarl “I will not yield to a child. Attack!”
He charged. Gabriel forced himself to relax, a task made easier because the remaining three men stood in place like roots had grown from the soles of their boots. The leader realized something had gone wrong and looked back to see what was happening. When he looked away Gabriel surged forward. The leader looked back in time to catch the tip of Gabriel’s sword in the throat. He fell, gurgling, to the ground.
Gabriel looked up from the dead man and the three remaining bounty hunters fled like flushed rabbits. After a tense minute Gabriel decided they weren’t coming back. He cleaned his sword on the leader’s tunic and sheathed it. “That went pretty well.”
