by RJ Blain
“It was created in a lab, and it was injected. Judging from the imprint, it was willfully done. The people who were handling the substance prior to injection were not wearing any protections, and there’s no sense of concern. The lab does seem like a testing environment, but not a professional one.”
“The equivalent of a meth lab in someone’s basement?”
“Yes, that’s an apt way to put it. The vials were made along a brick wall, the kind you’ll find in old basements. Beyond that, I can’t tell you much.” Bradley returned the vial to the rack. “All the blood is contaminated again?”
“Yes, except for the vial in the rack.”
“That’ll do. Put it away carefully, and I’ll have someone pick this up.”
As I was the only one who could realistically contain a spill, I eased everything back into the cooler. “I’d have them work in hazmats. Maybe the lab creators don’t think this shit is dangerous, but I’ve never seen anything replicate that quickly in blood before. Viruses and bacteria only wish they could replicate that quickly. It took maybe five minutes for the blood to be fully contaminated. I don’t like how it feels.”
“How does it feel to you?”
“Hot, greasy, and a bit slimy.”
“That does sound quite unpleasant.”
“It is,” I replied, glaring at my useless foot, which felt no better despite being elevated and on ice. If I took one of the painkillers, it would knock me on my ass, and with so much to lose, I couldn’t afford to lounge in bed all day. Once I could get my foot into the damned boot, I’d begin phase one of working towards my shooter qualification. “What gun did you get me, Ren?”
“It’s at the range along with the application forms for a conceal carry permit. It has to be calibrated to you, so a manufacturer representative will be meeting us there at two.” Ren glanced at my foot. “Assuming we don’t have to reschedule.”
“I have crutches under my bed if needed. I can also practice shooting from a stool if necessary. I’ll have to qualify from all positions anyway, so I can get my initial hours in working from a stool.”
Rising to his feet, Bradley took the closed cooler to the door and dug out his phone, bouncing it in his hand. “That’s not a bad idea.” Dialing a number, he held his cell to his ear. “It’s Hampton. I got my lady to work with your blood, and she recommends using a hazmat suit when handling it. She isolated the drug into some vials along with a clean blood sample. The pint was contaminated completely following, as the substance is replicating itself. Yes, we worked with masks on along with gloves, as she didn’t want to contaminate the samples. I make no promise cat fur didn’t get into anything, but she did take precautions. I’ll have Ren meet you in the cafe right across the street from the Met. It’s contained in a cooler, so as long as you don’t open it up and break the bag, it should be fine.”
After a few more minutes of discussion, consisting of Bradley detailing how I’d worked my magic, how long it had taken me, and the current state of my foot, he hung up.
“You could have directed them to my apartment rather than take those onto the street. I have no idea what will happen if that spills and infects someone.”
“I really doubt anything will happen, and it makes an excellent spot. We’ll just put the cooler inside a bag, and it’ll look like they’re meeting up for coffee.”
I sighed. “I have a gift bag in the closet that should fit the cooler. But it’s pretty gaudy. It was a gift from a Christmas party at the library. I got saddled with it during one of those damned secret present exchanges with a twist.”
“I see you are still not a fan of Christmas party games.”
“The presents are usually embarrassing and awful. One year, I got an entire box filled with candy dicks.”
“Candy dicks?”
“Penises,” I replied, rolling my eyes over the immaturity of my fellow librarians. “That one was Meridian. Everyone in the library loves chocolate, so she decided only candy dicks would do. Most of them were chocolate, but there were a few lollipops in the box.”
“And you got them all.”
“I also refused to share them with anyone, and I ate the entire thing in the comfort of my home. You can’t just waste homemade chocolate, Bradley.”
“You ate chocolate dicks.”
“I absolutely ate chocolate dicks.” I pointed at the kitchen. “I kept one of the lollipops. It’s in the utensil drawer behind the organization tray. I’m undecided if I will eat it or use it as part of some elaborate revenge against my fellow librarian.”
Bradley headed into my kitchen, opened the utensil drawer, and moved the organization tray until he uncovered the bright pink lollipop. “Wow. You weren’t joking. I had no idea librarians had such…”
The helpless way he stared at the lollipop reduced me to laughter and tears. “We’re not exactly as mature as people tend to think.”
“Yes, I suppose that’s one way to put it. Dare I ask what was in the gift bag that happens to be large enough for the cooler?”
“Several cases of chicken noodle soup.”
“Useful but harsh.”
“The card suggested the recipient had to be utterly sick of the terrible gifts from our Christmas parties and wished for a quick recovery.”
Bradley grinned. “That’s actually kind of funny.”
“I’m pretty sure the bastards planned it so I’d get that bag. I now hate chicken soup as a result.”
“Really?”
“I think I need at least another year before I have any again. Or I’m really about to die from some plague.”
“Ren? Do you want to handle disposing of this? I’m getting the creeps just having it in the apartment. Where’s your closet, Janette?”
My damn foot would be the death of me one way or another. If I gave him directions to the bag, he might not locate some of my more embarrassing possessions, including the assortment of lingerie I’d purchased over the years solely to pretend I could be a sensual woman if I put in a little effort and wore enough lace. “Bedroom. Top shelf to the left-hand side.”
The instant he stepped into my bedroom, I remembered the present I’d gotten for myself when I’d gotten the news I might be able to walk again without a boot. The red leather knee-high hooker boots with four inch stiletto heels would be the first shoe I wore after I fully healed, and I fully intended to enjoy every minute of it.
I even had the perfect little dress in a matching red to wear with them hanging in my closet.
Bradley returned to the living room armed with the bag. “I can’t help but notice you have a really nice pair of boots in your closet.”
Yep, he’d noticed them. “They’re my present to myself for when I can escape the boot and my foot has healed.”
Bradley regarded me through narrowed eyes, holding the gift bag out to Ren. “That seems like a rather nice goal, and I approve that you already purchased your gift to yourself. Good motivation, right?”
“Exactly. They should fit when my foot is finished healing.” I wouldn’t share my various doubts over that with him. “Please be careful with that, Ren. I just don’t know how it’ll react if you get contaminated with it, and I don’t know if I can pull it out of your bloodstream faster than it can replicate.”
“I’ll be careful,” the bodyguard promised, packing the cooler into the gift bag, which barely fit it. “I’ll bring back some coffee while I’m at it. We’ve determined part of the reason you were drinking sludge is due to the type of coffee you were buying. I’ll make sure you have something palatable here.”
“Well, I guess it’s nice to know it wasn’t just the coffee maker.”
“It was not helping your situation at all,” Bradley muttered.
Ren left, and I regarded my former employer with a puzzled frown. “You almost never let me just wander off like that.”
“I have my reasons for that.”
“Could you elaborate? He doesn’t do you any good if he’s not with you.”
&
nbsp; “You’re with me, and you’ve made it perfectly clear there’s nothing wrong with your abilities. Your magic might even be stronger than before. That sort of separation from blood is difficult, and you were doing it for an hour. I’ve been told that’s a pretty good indicator you haven’t been completely idle with your magic. You should still take the medication for a week, as it won’t hurt you and may stimulate any parts of your ability that have been unused. With your rating, at most you might gain a small increase to your percentage, so it’s not dangerous for you to use.”
“It’s only dangerous for those with low abilities. A miracle drug that’s not. Can you hand me that bottle, please? I had a thought. I’ll also need a glass and a needle. The needles are in the end table sewing kit.”
Bradley brought me everything I’d asked for, and I pricked my finger, took a sample of my blood, and put it in the glass. Every medication had a different sensation when in the blood, and it took me a few moments to isolate the different compounds.
Painkillers almost always felt like soothing, numbing ice to my senses.
The third drug came across hot, almost slick, and a little greasy.
“What is the drug that you gave me for that, Bradley?”
“The one to help jumpstart your talent? It’s a form of beta blocker. I don’t know much more beyond that.”
“It feels hot, a little slick, and somewhat greasy, too. It’s not replicating, but it has the same general feeling.”
“It does?”
“It does. That doesn’t mean anything beyond it might be the same general class of drug, though. That’s how my ability works with contaminates in the bloodstream. It’s feelings. Painkillers are cool and soothing as a general rule. This stuff? It’s hot, and it’s otherwise unpleasant. I think I’ll refuse the next few doses, Bradley. I don’t like how that feels.”
“Well, no wonder, if it feels similar to the compound that just replicated on you. I wouldn’t want to touch it, either. I’ll give the doc a call back and talk to him about it, and I’ll tell him you’re refusing to take the rest.”
“If I can do that, I just need practice, not try to make my ridiculous ability rating even more ridiculous.”
“Mine is even more ridiculous than yours.”
“Not by much.”
“It still is more ridiculous than yours,” Bradley replied with a smirk. “That means I win.”
Well, some things hadn’t changed. “If that makes you feel better about yourself.”
“I have to take what I can get, and you outclass me everywhere else. I’ll use your bathroom to make this call, if you don’t mind.”
“If you missed my bathroom that much after yesterday, by all means, please visit it.”
“You are an evil woman sometimes, Janette.”
I could be, but I refused to allow him to see that his words cut deep, probably a great deal deeper than he intended. No matter what my parents believed, I was capable of a great deal of harm—and evil. I remained a single step from the wrong side of the line. “Enjoy your visit to my bathroom. Please don’t visit the milk in my fridge.”
“That was just mean,” he complained, stepping into the bathroom to make his phone call.
I hoped the day never came when he’d discover just how mean I could be. I couldn’t afford to show mercy to the merciless.
That would only get more people killed.
Fifteen
Did Ajani draw blood?
Bradley claimed the prescription bottle, and when Ren returned, he handled it over. “That needs to go back to the doctor tonight. She decided to experiment with her own blood, and she changed colors around the same time she realized it has a similar feel to what she found in the blood sample.”
“Changed colors?” Ren took the bottle and put it into his jacket. “If you’re discussing her somewhat pale complexion, you haven’t fed her breakfast yet and she’s likely in a great deal of pain. One is easier to resolve than the other.”
I checked the time, which informed me it was after noon. “Don’t you mean lunch?”
“Technically, yes. While I was on my other errand, I asked the manufacturer to come here with the firearm, and I bribed a registrar to also come so you can file for your conceal carry. I informed them you have an injury that bars you from going to the range until later today. I also requested a stool or something you can use for this evening. Arrangements are being made.”
“You’re more his secretary than his bodyguard, aren’t you?”
I’d been expected to handle some matters, but Bradley had several secretaries who handled most of the work.
Ren grinned. “You’re catching on. While I do serve as a driver and protection, I am more focused on handling his other affairs. I’m trained, but I have nowhere near the training you do. And once you’re back in your prime, you’ll outshine me for just about everything else. That said, I am a god at scheduling, so you have no hope of defeating me there. He wanted to see if your temperament had changed, so he asked me to focus more on being security than anything else.”
“You’re an asshole, Bradley Hampton.” I scowled at my foot, which kept me trapped on my damned couch. “Thank you for feeding my cat this morning.”
“The medications had you out cold, and she ran to the door when we came in and kept leading us to you. It seems your cat has been training to be your bodyguard. You weren’t joking about the two pets only unless you brushed her. I got a light nip to educate me on the error of my ways.”
Damned cat. “Did Ajani draw blood?”
“No, she just gave me a warning that I crossed her lines. I gave her space, and she went back to breakfast. After she had her breakfast, she was brushed, although she insisted on checking on you every few minutes. Once you started to come around, she decided to go hide behind the couch. I did ask the doc, and he said not to worry. You likely needed the sleep, and the lack of pain meant you were sleeping better and deeper than usual.”
Understatement. I wanted to go back to bed, too. Since I couldn’t, I decided to worry more about my fluffy goddess. I checked over the arm for a look at the back of my couch, and sure enough, I spotted the tip of my cat’s tail. “She had a busy morning, so it’s nap time. What kind of gun did you get me?”
“One with a magical safety that’ll be attuned to you. That way, you’ll be the only one who can shoot it. It will be a two point safety system in that regard. It will register your fingerprint on your trigger finger of both hands. It will also register your magical signature. So, even if you’re in a situation where you’ve been disrupted, the gun will still operate.”
“Wait. Are you telling me this gun can detect someone’s magic through a disruptor?”
“Yes, it can. They tried to explain how it works to me, but it went over my head. Something about the scans being more on a DNA level than a magical one? It can even do it through gloves. They’re developing the same technology for forensics work, too. Tawnlen is going to be getting some toys after we get our license for the investigator cell. That’ll give us an edge—and make us valuable to law enforcement.”
I whistled. If we had forensics tools law enforcement didn’t yet have access to, we’d be invited to crime scenes legitimately, which would help us on any cases we happened to be working on. Considering who the killers were knocking off, having that access could make us—or break us. “Why doesn’t law enforcement have it yet?”
“They don’t have the budget. I’ll be paying for the machine out of pocket, and we’ll be agreeing to allow them to test samples on it when we aren’t using it. They’ll want to do checks of known samples to compare the machines accuracy to newer models and designs. Sometimes, newer doesn’t mean better.”
“How much is this costing you?”
“Half a million.”
It was a good thing I was already sitting; I would’ve fallen on my ass had I been standing. “That much?”
“When I wasn’t wandering around the country looking for my wayward bodyguard,
I worked the stock market. It turns out I’m very good at working the stock market. I’m still working the stock market, but I’m doing it for fun right now rather than a way to fill the hours.”
I remembered my mother’s proposal, and when I looked at it through her eyes, I could easily understand why she had started pushing. “Ren?”
The not-quite bodyguard chuckled and sat on the couch beside me. “We’ve done a lot of driving together over the past few years. No matter how insignificant the lead, he would check it. He didn’t like the hassle of flying, and he likes that car. He is not happy his mother has the keys and drove it home this morning after we picked up the new vehicle.”
“I’m so disgusted. The first time anyone sees me in it, they’re going to ask if I have a child on the way.”
I smiled. “Is it a nice family car?”
“It’s got a nice enough ride, and it goes like it means it, but it looks like I’m going to park and herd multiple children out of the backseat. I do have to admit I like the trunk space, so I could get used to it. Please tell me I can keep one sporty car. I don’t think I can handle it if I have to just have a family car, Janette.”
“You just can’t expect me to ride in it unless I’m driving, and I’ll need a track and a damned good insurance policy to see if I can handle driving it. If I’m going to wreck it because of a flashback, I’d rather wreck it on a track.”
“Is it a strong possibility?’
I shrugged. “It’s possible. I used to have them early on, but they went away. I’m to the point I get mad looking at sports cars on the road because I would have done a better job of driving them. It could be years before my foot is okay enough that I can realistically drive. Technically, I have a valid license, and I passed the driver’s test, but it’s hard driving with the boot on, and it hurts like hell, so I only did the mandatory minimum to get my license. I can drive.”
