Over Our Heads

by Jan Stryvant

"What'll I do?" Jolene asked.

  Roxy grinned as she sat back up straight, thrusting her chest out, which drew Sean's eyes like a magnet. "Keep him motivated!"

  "Actually," Sean said, "I think I need to go to the bank and get some more money. I'm broke now, and I don't think either of you have anything left either."

  "Why not use a credit card?" Daelyn asked.

  "Because Jo's uncle has been using one of the credit agencies to track whenever I use it, to find out where I am."

  "So, write a check."

  "What's a check?" Sean asked, and then laughed as Daelyn smacked him one.

  "Okay, I'll see about getting a check book or something," he said while rubbing his arm. She might be small, but she most certainly wasn't weak.

  "We should probably check in with Sawyer too," Jolene said. "I need to see what new info he's got for me, especially after that bombshell you just dropped on us."

  "Well, just make sure you keep him out of trouble," Roxy said and leaning forward she kissed Sean.

  "Ha! I'm starting to think that's something that even you can't do, Rox!"

  "Well, at least make the attempt," Roxy grinned, "and I'll be sure to reward you for efforts!"

  Sean laughed as Jolene licked her lips and leered at Roxy, while Daelyn looked slightly scandalized.

  Roxy and Daelyn

  Roxy noticed that Daelyn had changed back to her habitual coveralls, and was wearing much more sensible shoes than she tended to wear when Sean was around.

  "Don't like dressing up?" Roxy asked as they drove.

  "Umm, well," Daelyn sighed and then just decided to be honest, "I got so tired of the negative attention I was getting for being tall, that I just started trying to be anonymous, to blend in and not be seen. So it got to be a habit. Plus, it's just a lot easier to work in."

  "Well, at least you're not wearing those around Sean."

  Daelyn laughed, "Trust me, he's already peeled me out of them more than once. For some reason he really seems to like them."

  "Well, it's kind of obvious that you're naked under them," Roxy teased.

  "I'm naked under my other clothes too!" Daelyn snorted.

  "But it's a lot more obvious under those coveralls you're wearing," Roxy grinned, "Seeing as that zipper seems to always be working its way south."

  Daelyn laughed, "What can I say? I get a little hot sometimes," she glanced down at her chest, "they need the air."

  "And you like the looks too I bet," Roxy laughed as well.

  "Yeah, I did, it was nice to know I still had something they wanted to look at. Of course, now that I've got Sean, I don't think I need that anymore."

  "Eh, it's always nice being looked at, and it's even better when they know they can't have it!" Roxy smirked.

  Daelyn smiled as she pulled into a parking lot for a rather non-descript factory, "You know, you've got a hell of a point there!" and parking the car she grabbed the zipper on her coverall and pulled it down to her navel.

  "Time to start handing out regrets?" Roxy giggled.

  "Oh, hell yeah!" Daelyn nodded, and parked the car. "I gotta man like most gals only dream of and most guys mind their manners around. I'm definitely gonna be rubbing this in."

  "That's the spirit!"

  Getting out of the van they went in through one of the building's side doors and Daelyn led Roxy past a bunch of heavy machinery, where all the workers were obviously dwarves.

  "Why isn't this all underground?" Roxy asked.

  "Cause with satellites and all that, we need a place for goods to go, products to come out of, and chimneys to be built so they don't see smoke coming out of hillsides where there aren't any factories. Oh, a lot of stuff still gets made underground, but everything gets routed through an above ground place like this one."

  Roxy nodded, "Smart."

  "Course it is, we're dwarves!" Daelyn grinned.

  Daelyn led her into an office off the corner of the factory floor; an older dwarf that Roxy recalled from Sean's birthday party was there, along with a second one who was working on something at one of the drafting tables there. The other tables were all currently empty.

  "Garth!" Daelyn said, coming into the room, got time for an order?"

  "Daelyn! How's married life treating you?" Garth said coming out from behind a rather large desk with drawings and plans spread all over it. "Must be pretty good if you've taken to taunting my boys!"

  Daelyn smiled and hugged Garth.

  "Roxy, right?" Garth said, sticking out a hand.

  Roxy nodded and shook hands, Garth was several inches shorter than her, but Roxy bet he probably weighed twice as much; he looked like he bench-pressed the heavy machines they'd passed on the way in.

  "So, what do you need?" Garth asked, looking back at Roxy.

  "Necklaces, like the one Rox there is wearing, made out of tungsten."

  "I'm not a jeweler, Dae, you know that!"

  "Ten thousand is the initial order," Daelyn grinned.

  "That many?" Garth's eyes widened a bit. "This is something for your man, isn't it?"

  Daelyn nodded.

  "May I see it please?" Garth asked Roxy, holding out his hand.

  "Sure," Roxy said and taking it off, she handed it to him.

  "Have a seat," Garth motioned towards the chairs by his desk as he went and sat behind it. As Roxy and Daelyn watched, he pulled out a mechanical pencil and a piece of paper and started making a series of drawings, starting with the mechanical catch, and progressing through the links fairly quickly.

  "Same kind of stone?" he asked.

  "Yes, please," Daelyn nodded.

  "At ten thousand, I can give you a unit cost of about fifty dollars per. So, half million total, hundred thousand up front, forty thousand with each delivery of a thousand pieces."

  "Fifty each? You'd do that to yer own cousin? Yer own flesh and blood?" Daelyn said dramatically. "Maybe I should have went and talked to Farrah's kids! They'd at least give me a wink when they delivered that kind of quote!"

  Garth shook his head, "Dae! Really now! I'd have to pull a dozen men off of more important projects; it'll cost me time and money! Sure you're family, but ya know how it is!"

  "I know that chain is a standard product, and it don't cost no fifty per!"

  "Well, that may be, but that clasp, it's pretty involved."

  "Twenty, per, Garth, and I won't come back there and smack ya upside the head with Maxwell."

  "Twenty! Dae, really! A dwarf's got to eat! And then there's my family! Thirty!"

  "Twenty-five and not a penny more, or I'll talk to Leissa about how ya've been treating her best friend!"

  "Blackmail!" Garth protested.

  "Of course! So, do we have a deal?"

  Garth sighed and stuck out his hand, and they both shook on it.

  "Give 'em to us in lots of five hundred," Daelyn said. "How soon can you start turning them out?"

  Garth smiled and handed the necklace back to Roxy, "How soon can ya pay?"

  "I got fifty kay on account with my uncle Samis, tell him it's yours now."

  "Okay, I got the stock and know where to get the chain, I think I can get the tiger-eyes pretty quick, they're not a precious stone after all, Dolph's probably got a stock of them. So say a box of production samples on Wednesday, and if those are approved, I'll start deliveries in a week?"

  "That works, now loan me a piece of paper and that pencil."

  Roxy watched with interest as Daelyn quickly drew a sketch of the tag that had the protection from silver spell on it. She then made a few notes on the side about materials, put in all the measurements, and pushed it back to Garth.

  "You're sure about those dimensions?" Roxy asked Daelyn, a bit surprised.

  "Course I am, I held it, didn't I?"

  "I can do these at three per unit," Garth said.

  "Why so cheap?" Roxy asked, surprised.

  "Cause I'll just stamp them out of a sheet of tungsten. These are actually pretty standard; we used to use them fo
r equipment tags. I just need to make a new set of stamp dies."

  "Well in that case, why not two dollars?" Roxy asked.

  Garth stared at Roxy while Daelyn laughed, "Better take her up on it Garth, or I'll get ya down to one!"

  "Fine, two it is," Garth said and shook hands with both of them. "I'll have most of them done by next Friday. Where do you want them delivered?"

  "Pack up a dozen with the sample batch of necklaces; we'll need them for some tests. Put the rest in my home," Daelyn said, "I'm not living there right now, so it's as good a place as any and I won't be tying up your warehouse space."

  "And when can I expect payment?"

  "When I see you next of course. Thanks Garth! Come 'on Rox, let's go."

  "Branff," Garth said to the other dwarf as they left the office, "go check with Lars in the warehouse and see if we have any stock on this chain, or if we need to order some!"

  Roxy followed Daelyn out of the office and left the two men to discuss their order.

  "What's to stop him from asking your uncle for more?" Roxy asked, once they'd gotten back to the car.

  "Oh, he'd never do that, it'd get around as soon as I heard of it, and he'd be shamed right out of the community. Money and debts are pretty serious things for us."

  "Still he hit you with quite a high price, didn't he?"

  Daelyn chuckled, "Eh, haggling is a way of life. So, back home?"

  "Actually, I was wondering if we could go someplace where I could call my father and let him know I'm alright," Roxy sighed. "Sean may have told him, but I'm sure he wants to hear my own voice."

  Daelyn nodded and pulling out of the parking spot took off like a rocket.

  "Might as well go to my place. The phones down in the community are all nice and hard to track. Hell, even the telemarketers don't call us!

  Sean smiled at Jolene as they left the bank and drove to the lawyer's office; he'd taken out a hundred and fifty grand this time, and gotten a book of checks. He'd told them to send the order for the rest to his lawyer when they came in, as Sean didn't have a real address anymore with his mom's house gone. The only surprising thing was his balance was now up to almost a million dollars. Obviously some of the necklaces had sold.

  Thankfully, with Jolene there, the bank president hadn't asked too many questions, and had been satisfied when Sean told him he simply needed the money to invest in gold. Apparently these days you had to give a reason to the government when you withdrew large amounts of money.

  Sean had decided to make a detour to his lawyer's office next only because it was on the way to Sawyer's and they'd go by it anyway. Pulling into the lawyer's parking lot, Sean put on the hat Roxy had bought him, as well as the glasses, and then they got out of the van and went inside.

  "Sean! I'm surprised to see you here!" Anthony Barton, his attorney said standing up and shaking hands.

  "I thought it might be good to stop in once in a while, to see if there's anything I need to talk to you about."

  "Well," Anthony said, sitting back down and motioning to them to have a seat, "the insurance on both of the trailers is taking forever, because of the investigations involved. I sold both of the necklaces, and took a ten percent finder's fee off the top, then sent the money over to your bank.

  "There's been some talk in the media about the two explosions and the fire at your apartment, apparently someone with the police department has been talking to the press on the side."

  Sean grimaced, "I was afraid of that."

  "Well, I got a judge involved and I'm threatening a libel suit against the paper, as well as another suit against the police department for spreading unfounded rumors. However I'm going to need some more money."

  Nodding, Sean got out his new checkbook, "Take a check?"

  Anthony laughed, "Well, seeing as I just put a half million in your account, sure."

  "How much?"

  "Fifty thousand should handle everything."

  Sean wrote one out for a hundred thousand instead, "Here's twice that, in case I'm not able to get in here for a while. What else can you tell me?"

  "Well, your other girl's father is in town."

  "You know him?"

  Anthony shook his head, "I know of him, he's a well known sheriff after all, and with my connections in the lycan community I know what he is, so it didn't take long to put two and two together. Apparently the governor put together a task force to look into this sudden surge in terrorism, and asked him to lead it."

  Sean nodded, he recalled Roxy mentioning that to him.

  "They still haven't found Sampson's car."

  "Have they tried the airports?"

  "The local ones, yes."

  "Think you could have someone check every airport within a couple hundred miles?" Sean asked.

  Anthony smiled, "With the money you're paying me, easily. What do you want me to do if I find it?"

  "Just let me know where it is. I'll see about getting it back later."

  "Sure, anything else?"

  "You do know about the councils, right?"

  "The magical ones?"

  Sean nodded.

  "Yes, I'm familiar with all of them, and I've represented some of the members of the lesser councils and covens over the years, I stay away from the major ones."

  "How do the ones you deal with feel about lycans?"

  "If they don't pass muster with my lycan clients, I won't do business with them, why?"

  "Because I'm in the process of becoming very unpopular with all of the major councils, you might not want to mention to them that you represent me."

  "Most of the minor councils aren't very popular with the major ones either, trust me. Further, the major councils would never want to do business with anything less than a large and prestigious agency."

  "Okay, well, I guess I'll be on my way. I'm having some of my mail sent here for now, because there's really no place else for it."

  "I'll let my secretary know. Good luck, Sean."

  Sean stood and they shook hands, and then headed back out to the van with Jolene.

  "Well, off to Sawyer's," Jolene said.

  Sean nodded, and took a moment to check the van using one of the spells that he'd copied off the 'Cuda.

  "Huh, someone put something on the van," Sean said to Jolene as he started it up.

  "How do you know that?"

  "One of the spells I got from Dae tells you if someone's attached anything to your car. There's a small box on it now."

  "So, someone's watching the lawyer's office?"

  Sean nodded, "And as the police are the only ones who know about him, I'm guessing that's who did it. See any suspicious cars?"

  "No, but if they did what they were going to do, I'd expect them to clear out. So what are you going to do about it?"

  "Nothing, it'll fall off as soon as we pull out of the parking lot."

  "Well, that's handy," Jolene chuckled. "But don't you think it would be a better idea to stick it on someone else's car? Let them chase someone else all day?"

  "Yeah, but if we do that, they'll know that we messed with them, and they'll think we have something to hide."

  "But we do have something to hide!"

  "Yeah, but they don't know that!" Sean grinned, "This way, they'll just think they screwed up and it fell off."

  "Well, let's take the long way to Sawyer's, that's the last place we want the police to follow us to."

  Sean nodded, "Definitely."

  "Daddy!" Roxy squealed and jumped into her father's arms, hugging him, "What are you doing here?"

  "I could ask you the same question, Honey!"

  "We were in the area, and Dae thought this would be a better place for me to call you from."

  "You were going to call me?" Bill said, looking down at his daughter.

  "Of course! Sean told me he talked to you, but I figured you'd probably still want to hear that I'm fine from me as well."

  Bill nodded and smiled at his daughter and hugged her again, she sure seeme
d okay for someone who'd been shot with a silver bullet.

  "So, your turn. Why are you here?"

  "Well, you and your Sean have been stirring things up all over town, and everybody is wondering just what he's going to do next, as well as what he's up to now. So as I'm still on the governor's task force, I thought I'd use that as an excuse to poke my nose around. After what happened last night," Bill gave a little shrug, letting go of his daughter, "I came back here to fill Samis and the other dwarven leaders in.

  "So, just what is your Sean up to now?"

  Roxy smiled at him, "Well, I can't tell you too much, right now the plan is to lay low for a few days while the current storm blows over and start making more of these," Roxy said and tugged at her necklace.

  "I've heard he's started making those. What about the other thing? The one that protects our people against silver?"

  Roxy sighed, "He's working on it. It may take a year to get that started. It's a lot more complicated than this necklace is, and he needs to find a way to mass produce them."

  "So it does work?"

  "We'd both be dead if it didn't, Daddy. Right now though, we only have the one. Until he makes more of course."

  "Can he, Honey?"

  "Mass produce them?"

  Bill nodded to his daughter.

  "Once he understands it, we'll be making a lot of them. It's just a lot more complicated than this simple necklace."

  "I'd hardly call that necklace simple," Bill said, raising an eyebrow.

  Roxy snorted, "Compared to the necklace, the silver tag is very complicated. Sean's father was a genius, and Sean's pretty damn smart himself. He's already figured out how to make a dozen necklaces in a day. Now he's trying to figure out how to make hundreds."

  "That's going to attract a lot of attention, Honey."

  Roxy nodded and sighed, "I know it. Sean knows it too; he's pretty worried about what's going to happen to people once this all starts coming to a head."

  "So, how are you holding up? This has to be rough on you."

  "He needs me, Dad. He needs all of us. He's trying to do something big, something important, something right. I'll hold up fine, this is my place, Dad. This is where I was meant to be. Plus," Roxy blushed and looked down at the floor, "lions are hella sexy."