“Yeah. Thanks.” I rushed out the door. Vinnie’s lights flickered, catching my attention. I hurried over to him and got in. “You aren’t going to believe this.”
“Try me.” Vinnie’s circuits lit up. “Do you want me to drive?”
“No. I want to see where Drea Philpot is going to go.” I eased down into the seat so she didn’t see me when her SUV zoomed out. “Where the hell is Mick?”
“I’m tracking Drea. Not Mick.” Vinnie’s map had a good image of Drea’s vehicle zooming down the road and dumping down onto a curvy country road. The screen read, Pig Creek Road.
“Pig Creek.” I smacked my hands together. “The package from the informant had an address on Pig Creek Road.” I beat my hand on the steering wheel. “The drugs are at that address. That is where the sting is. Oh my God.” I flung my head around looking for Mick. “Where the hell is Mick?”
“Should we go to Pig Creek Road?” Vinnie asked.
“No.” I didn’t want to do it, but I had to. This would definitely seal the deal of Mick dropping the diner issues. “You get Mick there and I’m going to go myself.”
“I don’t like that idea, Maggie.” Vinnie wasn’t going to let me go without a fight. “I protect you, not Mick. Besides, no magic.”
“I’m not going to get hurt and I have to use magic.” I looked around and put my hand up to my nose. “When you see Mick, get him in the car. I don’t care how you do it, just get him to Pig Creek.”
With a finger swipe under the nose, I was standing near a broken down barn in the middle of a field with wheat grown up over my head. The sound of gravel spitting out from underneath tires pinged off in the distance. I crouched down, trying to look through the tall grass to see if it was who I thought it was going to be.
Drea Philpot.
Shortly after her Mercedes pulled up, the black rice burner with red lights underneath that I had seen a few weeks ago parked behind her. The bald man from the warehouse got out.
Drea’s car door opened, Dan stepped out.
“Where are the returns?” Dan asked in a demanding voice.
“Dan?” I gasped, feeling a little helpless. He was not Drea. He was not a Mystic Couture employee.
The rotating blades of a helicopter overhead drowned out their voices as it got closer, making it hard for me to hear. I had to find out where the shipment was in order to tell Mick when Vinnie got him here.
“Holy crap,” I whispered as the helicopter descended down into the field, bending the tall grass at the root, landing a little distance from the barn.
The bald guy and Dan ran toward the helicopter. The pilot got out. They exchanged a few words before the three of them walked into the barn.
Not long after, the sound of more spitting gravel was in the distance. I held my breath waiting to see who else was involved in the sting.
“Vinnie,” I closed my eyes tight and tapped my necklace trying to get him to turn around. “Stop. Stop.”
It was too late. Dan ran out of the barn. The bald guy right behind him with his gun pointed directly at Vinnie. Vinnie’s windows tinted. They couldn’t see in.
“Get out!” The bald man demanded. “That was the car and the girl who knew about the sting.” He told Dan how he had seen me, and the informant told him I was the one who intercepted the package meant for Mick.
“Maggie, dear,” Dan tapped on Vinnie’s window. “Come on out nice and easy or I’m going to have to put pretty bullet holes in the door.” He held his hand out and the bald guy gave him the gun. “Don’t make me kill you in your car. My wife and I don’t want to have to come to your funeral. Though I would comfort my sweet wife as she thinks you are a friend.”
“Shoot her.” The bald man encouraged him.
“Maggie. Pretty little, Maggie. It all adds up doesn’t it?” He talked to the window with the gun pointed at it.
He moved the gun and shot the front driver’s tire. I jumped, keeping my jaw clenched so I didn’t scream out in fear he’d shoot me. I had never been in a situation like this so I had no idea how magic could hold up against a gun.
“No wonder I never heard of you as a Mystic Girl. I bet you were working with the police the whole time.” He threw his head back and laughed out loud. His face grew serious and he aimed at the back driver’s tire, shooting it flat. “When I went into the house to confront Tawny on appointing you the Mystic Girl of the year and not Drea, she asked me questions about drugs because she knew I was involved in Drea’s international sales by doing all the mailings. I knew I had to get rid of her.”
He eased himself around the passenger side of the car, shooting out the back tire. One by one he was going to make sure Vinnie wasn’t going anywhere.
“I started to get suspicious when you went with her to the airport and asked all sorts of questions. At least that was what she told me.” He flailed the gun in the air. “You talking about murder but trying to cover it up was cute, but not cute enough. I mean, yes, I had cancer and yes, I initially started to smuggle the drugs in and sold them locally to pay off bills because I was tired of my wife working so hard. Maybe I got a little greedy.” He aimed at the front passenger tire. The loud shot rang out. Now all four tires were flat. “What better cover up than Mystic Couture? Perfect. Little did anyone realize the drugs were coming into the United States not out.”
Dan made his way to the driver’s door.
“Now it’s time to come out.” He held the gun steady, aimed at the door. “I’m not playing and I don’t give second chances. You saw what happened to Johnny, the informant who gave you the package. He’s dead, just like Tawny and soon you will be too.”
The bald man laughed, smacking Dan in the back.
“Go on. Kill her.” The bald guy spread his legs and crossed his arms, ready for the kill.
Bam, bam, bam. Shots rang out, bouncing off of Vinnie. I could only imagine what Mick was doing inside.
“What the hell?” Dan spat at Vinnie when he saw there were no bullet holes. “Go get a crow bar. I’m getting that bitch out!” he ordered.
The pilot ran into the barn and quickly returned with a crow bar.
“Open it!” he ordered him and kept the gun on the ready.
Vinnie’s door swung open, knocking the three of them down like a bowling pins.
I ran toward the helicopter and Mick ran after me. The three of them fumbled around, rolling on top of each other.
“What the hell kind of car is that?” Mick screamed running behind me.
I jumped into the helicopter, pointing for him to jump in next to me.
“Do you know how to fly a helicopter?” A wave of greyness passed over him.
Fear like the quick, hot touch of the devil shot through me.
“Nope.” I put my finger under my nose and gave a good swipe. A little magic was definitely called for in this situation. “Hold on.”
I let my witchy senses take over and let my hands go as they wished, sending the helicopter up in a shaky motion. Gun shots rang out from underneath us. I looked out the window at the three drug smugglers all taking aim as we ascended up into the air.
“There’s your drug shipment.” I pointed back to the boxes behind our pilot seats.
“How did you know?” Mick screamed above the propeller sounds.
I shrugged trying to get the helicopter to go forward and stop hovering. Dan didn’t stop. Shot after shot, he let off rounds of the gun.
Mick made a call on his phone and within minutes Dan, the bald guy, and the pilot were surrounded by SWAT. We watched as they were taken into custody before I swiped my nose, letting the helicopter descend back down.
Mick stumbled out of the helicopter, greeting Burt who had run toward us.
“Good work.” Burt and Mick were shaking hands.
I got out. My nerves were on end, but inside I was happy. The Brew and my family were going to be kept secret.
“Very nice, Maggie Park.” Burt came over and congratulated me. “I had no idea you knew h
ow to fly a helicopter.”
“Neither did I.” Mick looked at me with slight watchful hesitation.
“A hobby.” I shrugged.
“Good work.” Burt smacked me on the back like he did the other agents. “Be sure to stop by the agency to get your check.”
“Will do.” I gave the captain a wave and watched Burt walk off to the SWAT van that was holding Dan and his drug gang.
The barn was loaded with returned shipments from overseas. Dan Philpot had a good international drug gig going. He was shipping his wife’s Mystic Couture product to drug lords all over the world. They would take the products apart and store the drugs in the compartments, shipping them back as returns.
Dan paid for the returns to be put in an airport hanger where one of his workers had his helicopters. The pilot would log his pilot hours, but not before stuffing the returned boxes into his helicopter and flying to the abandoned barn on Pig Creek Road. After the shipment was put in the barn, the bald man was in charge of getting the drugs out into the hands of drug dealers.
According to Mick, that was the next step. Getting the drug dealers off the streets, but for now my part was over. And I was glad for it.
“You need a ride home?” Mick asked when it was all wrapped up.
“Nope.” I shook my head and walked back to Vinnie.
“But. . .” Mick stammered and pointed to the fully aired tires. “I was in there. I saw and felt the tires get shot.”
“What?” I asked with disbelief in my tone.
“The tires.” Mick shook his head. “Of course. Nothing right? It’s in my head?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.” I opened the driver’s side door.
“Are you okay, Mick?” Burt asked, looking between the two of us.
“I’m fine.” Mick turned and walked off, stopping to watch me get in the car.
I got in the car, Vinnie slammed the door once I was tucked safely inside.
“You know you scared me.” Vinnie peeled out, spitting gravel and dust all over Mick. “I didn’t like bringing him here. I actually gave him a little carbon monoxide to knock him out. He came to when the shots rang out.”
“Good thinking.” I ran my hand along Vinnie’s dash. His engine purred. “And I love the tinted window touch too.”
“Good riddance, Mick!” Vinnie zoomed down Pig Creek Road toward home.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Take a seat!” I yelled out into the diner over the lunch crowd.
The last couple weeks the news media was eating up the drug smuggling ring and what had taken place with Mystic Couture. Tawny Fawn had a funeral fit for a makeup queen like herself and her daughter had taken over the makeup empire without a bump in the road.
Of course I had to tell her I was not who she thought I was, but I had a sister who would be a better consultant than I would be. Little did me, Mom, Auntie Meme, and Lilith know, but Lilith’s witchy hour came as soon as she signed on to be a Mystic Couture consultant. Her two worlds had collided. It didn’t surprise me. As we all knew, Lilith had always been the more fashion forward of the two of us. One problem, she no longer worked at the diner, leaving me to do the double shift until Auntie Meme found someone to replace her.
Auntie Meme was mad because she didn’t have anyone to take over the diner. But hopefully we had several years before we had to worry about that.
“What can I get you?” I turned around from behind the counter with two plastic waters. “Burt. Mick.”
“Maggie.” Burt greeted me. “I insisted Mick bring me to the diner because you never picked up your check.”
“I guess with what had gone on.” I glanced over at my shoulder. Auntie Meme had her head stuck through the pass through, ogling us. “I was giving it time to settle down. I mean you guys have been busy.”
I noticed Mick didn’t say a word. He barely looked at me.
“I’m going to get the beans and cornbread Mick raves about.” He pointed to the restroom. “First, I’m going to wash my hands.”
“You rave about the beans?” Satisfaction came out of my mouth. I decided not to rub it in when he glared at me. “So how have you been?” I asked.
“I’ve been thinking that something went down in that car of yours.” Mick slid the glass of water close to him. “I don’t remember how I got to Pig Creek Road. In fact, I didn’t know anything about Pig Creek Road until that crazy man was shooting at the tires and then the door.” He picked up the glass and took a drink. “After a small heart attack, I realized the bullets weren’t getting in. Then the door flew open.” He set the cup back on the counter and pointed to himself. “I didn’t open the door. The door opened on its own.”
“What can I say?” I smiled. “It’s an old car. Things go wrong with old cars all the time.”
“And that is what you’re going with?” he asked. “Same with the informant.” He took a deep breath and eyed Burt making his way back to his stool at the counter. He reached across the counter and grabbed my wrist. My body tingled from the contact. “I’m going to figure this out and exactly who you are, Maggie Park.”
“You promise?” I couldn’t help but flirt a little bit. I had him puzzled and it was kind of fun. He let go. I could feel the sexual magnetism that made him so self-confident.
He peered at me intently.
“Did I miss something?” Burt asked looking between Mick and me.
“Nope.” I shook my head. “Two bean and cornbread specials!” I yelled through the pass through.
Auntie Meme winked at me. “Specials?” she asked.
“One special.” I winked back. “One plain.”
Auntie Meme’s smile widened in approval.
“How did you know to fly the whirly bird?” Burt asked with amusement.
“I had over heard Dan say the shipment was in the helicopter and I knew the drugs were in there. So I just jumped in because they had their guns pointed at us. And by luck I hit the right button.” I twirled my finger in the air. “Granted we didn’t move forward, we just went up, which was enough to stay away from the flying bullets.”
“Thank you. Here is your check.” Mick took an envelope out of his pocket and placed it on the counter.
“So could we possibly use you if we need to from time to time?” Burt asked when I turned back around.
“No,” Mick protested.
“Why not? We do use civilians when we need to remain anonymous. She’s reliable, she blends in. And she might just be what you need to be more careful.”
“I am available. I mean, I’d have to check my schedule at the diner and with Auntie Meme, but that wouldn’t be too hard.” I avoided Mick’s stare.
“No, no she’s not. She sometimes works extra shifts at The Brew and she takes care of her aunt and mother. Not to mention she’s not had formal training,” Mick protested.
“Formal training as in spy training?” The thought did appeal to me. And I did kind of miss all the action over the past couple of weeks. It was like trying to figure out a puzzle by not using magic. “I could definitely get some formal training. Like carrying a gun and stuff?”
“No,” Mick protested.
Beep, beep, honk, honk, Vinnie’s lights flashed and his horn honked from where he was parked. I glared at the window, and held my hand behind my back, snapping my finger to get Vinnie to shut up. I knew he was going to be mad that I really did want to help in another case. Call me crazy, but I was getting a real picture that maybe my life’s journey was to help catch bad guys. Maybe not in the gun toting, badge holding kind of way, but in some way.
“That car of yours has got to be taken to a real mechanic.” Mick ran his hand through his hair. There was visible stress in his furrowed brows.
“Order up!’ Auntie Meme yelled. “Here is the special.”
I grabbed the plates and put the special in front of Mick.
“There you go. Enjoy,” I said in my sweet southern voice.
I slipped into the kitchen to catc
h my breath. Had I really just agreed to help out whenever SKUL needed me to?
“I thought you told me and your mom that you two were over,” Auntie Meme bellowed out from the steamy pot she was stirring.
“We were.” I vowed then and there not to let my two worlds find out about each other.
“Your mom isn’t going to be happy.” Auntie Meme walked over to the shelf of ingredients. She took a jar of mutant ants off the shelf and handed it to me. “You better take that home with you.”
“Why?” I asked looking down at the ingredient Mom used to ward off evil spirits in some of her smudging ceremonies.
“I’ll call the Spell Circle girls.” Auntie Meme busied herself gathering more items and putting them in a take-home sack.
“Why are you doing all of this?” I asked about the items she was collecting and taking a peek out the pass through window at Mick and Burt.
Mainly at Mick. His six-foot frame was planted on the little counter stool. Two weeks didn’t diminish his ruggedly handsome good lucks. His dark hair might have been cut a little shorter exposing his widow’s peak a little more. Witches love a good widow’s peak. We believed it showed a strong sense of character.
“I told you, your mom is going to flip when you tell her.” Auntie Meme was right. The night after the arrest with Dan, I told Mom that Mick and I were no longer “dating.” She ended up preparing my favorite meal in a celebration dinner.
“What Mom doesn’t know,” I said, realizing I was going to have to keep the worlds separate a little bit longer than I had initially planned.
I went back out to the diner and cleaned a few tables.
“Take a seat!” I yelled when the bell over the door dinged, but about fell over when I saw Mrs. Hubbard mosey up to the counter stool open next to Mick.
“Mrs. Hubbard.” I smiled, looking at the blue ribbon pinned on her yellow cardigan and Mystic Couture pink rouge on her balled up cheeks. “I see you got the blue.”
“Not the first place blue. That obviously went to your mom.” She tapped the ribbon. “I got honorable mention. No one has ever had a beautiful plastic garden on Belgravia Court.” The twinkle in her eyes told me of how proud she was. “I’ll have the special I hear so much about.”
spies and spells 01 - spies and spells Page 19
