So how to find a pop-up black market in the middle of all that? A stationary row of trains sat on the tracks that bordered the west side of the building, so I climbed up onto one of the tanker cars and sat down in a shadowy recess. Even in the summer, Vancouver nights were chilly. I was happy to be able to pull my hood up in order to better blend into the darkness. It was comfortable enough I could sit and observe a large stretch of the building in the hopes that the people I was looking for would be using an entrance on this side.
For a while, not a single person walked by. I’d expected to see at least a couple of kids or maybe a binner pushing a stolen shopping cart full of loot, but the night was dead quiet. Several times I got as far as pulling my phone — a replacement courtesy Chase’s pile of burners — out of my pocket to kill time browsing r/esoterica. Each time I checked myself at the last second, lest the glow from the screen give away my hiding place as clearly as if I’d been wearing a necklace made of flashing bike lights. So I sat, and I watched, and I tried not to think about what would happen if Trang decided this constituted a breach of our agreement.
Around midnight, foot traffic picked up considerably. A few artists left the building from one of the back exits, complaining loudly about how street art belonged on the street and not on canvases hung on gallery walls. This distracted me enough that I almost didn’t notice the lone figure looking over his shoulder before yanking open a door partially hidden in an alcove. I kept my eyes on the door, and sure enough, a group of three teenagers who looked like they were out well past curfew disappeared through it a few minutes later. Over the next twenty minutes, a dozen more people entered the building by that same door. While none of them looked the type to have multi-page criminal records, there was something of an illegal rave vibe about the whole thing. Too many furtive glances from those entering alone. Too many nervous giggles from those arriving with a group.
When a break in the flow of visitors presented itself, I hopped down from my perch and crossed the distance to the suspicious doorway. Someone had drawn a chalk dollar sign on the rusty metal door, as much of a flashing neon business sign as I could possibly have asked for. I chastised myself for not just walking around the building to look for such an obvious clue, then yanked the door open and slipped inside.
The hallway was lit with nothing but the dim red light of an exit sign mounted above the door. Once my eyes adjusted, I saw that the hallway was little more than a narrow corridor with a set of stairs at the far end. The stairwell only went down, and I peered cautiously around each flight as I made my way to what I figured to be a second basement. Light from the lower floor spilled into the bottom of the stairwell. The murmuring of a decent sized group of people echoed along the corridor. Another hallway greeted me when I stepped out of the stairwell, and I almost slammed face first into a door that opened in front of me.
I hopped back quickly, hiding at the edge of the stairs to keep from being seen by the guy and two women who’d just stepped out of a side entrance. Once they were far enough down the hall not to notice, I stepped out and peeked into the door they’d emerged from. On the other side was a much longer hallway with half the overhead lighting burnt out or broken. A host of footprints were visible on the dusty floor, making it clear several people had passed through recently.
When I shut the door and followed the original hallway to its conclusion, I discovered where everyone had gone. A large open space had been turned into a makeshift marketplace. Tables lined the outside and the center of the room, each of them piled high with illicit goods. People haggled over computers, cell phones, clothing, and a scary amount of weaponry ranging from decorative swords to fully automatic military spec rifles. A cluster of tables in the far corner were doing a cracking trade, handing over tiny baggies of everything from weed to pills. There must have been forty or fifty tables in all, each of them with enough merchandise to warrant serious jail time for the sellers.
Trey and Johnny stood behind a display of cell phones and tablet computers in the middle aisle. I tugged my hood forward to make sure my face was still at least somewhat hidden, then pretended to be interested in a table of gold and silver jewelry in the next aisle. I moved down the line of tables until I was right behind them, my view partially obstructed by a grid rack of designer handbags. Still, I could see them well enough to make out that it was just the two of them working the table. I don’t know what I’d been expecting, maybe some authoritative boss figure snapping at them to fetch more goods from a truck out back. Instead it was just two kids from a crew I no longer had any business harassing.
Hanging out in the underground market without buying anything or going near Trey’s table got more and more difficult as time passed. After spending far too long inspecting a pair of night vision binoculars, I’d bought them just to mollify the agitated seller. Knowing they’d been lifted from somewhere, I felt more than a little guilty about buying stolen goods. That said, at least I had a birthday present for Chase when it rolled around later in the fall.
I was in the process of slinging the binocular case strap over my shoulder when a flurry of movement erupted at the far end of the room. At the center of the hubbub was a woman in a sleek black dress, her arms and shoulders wrapped in a stylish velvet half cloak. The wide hood was lined with with a shade of purple so deep it was almost as black as the rest of her outfit. An ornate gold necklace glittered at her throat. She looked like she’d just come from opening night at the opera.
People practically jumped to get out of her way when she strolled down the aisle, pressing themselves back up against the tables in order to avoid the two serious looking bodyguards trailing behind her. The woman marched straight to Trey and Johnny’s table, stopping and folding her arms while staring down at them like a headmaster about to expel the school fuckups.
To his credit, Trey kept his cool far better than Johnny. From where I stood, I could just see the smug grin on Trey’s face as he squared off with her from behind the table. Johnny shrank backwards, moving to the far edge of the cramped space, trying his best to blend in with the pile of cell phone boxes that made up the rear wall of their makeshift booth.
“Fancy meeting you here, Miss Montgomery,” said Trey, gesturing to his array of wares. “Come to peruse our fine assortment of mobile devices?”
“I didn’t take you for someone this stupid, Trey,” she said cooly. The entire room had stopped what they were doing in order to watch this little drama unfold. “Where are my parts? You were supposed to deliver them two days ago.”
Trey shoved his hands into his pockets. “Yeah, about that; we’re no longer in a position to continue our business arrangement. I’ve been meaning to text you to let you know, but you know how it is.”
“No, Trey. I do not know how it is. You were paid up front in more than just money. If you don’t have my parts, I’m left with no reason to let you walk out of here alive.”
The woman’s bodyguards took a step forward, hands moving inside suit jacket lapels to produce identical handguns. I moved around the edge of the aisle to get a better view, figuring Trey would be too distracted to notice me even if I tore my top off and started dancing on one of the tables. As far as I knew, there’d been no rituals from which Trey and his crew had replenished their source of magical power. He was as helpless against two brutes with handguns as any other walking meat sack, and he had to know it.
He surprised me by laughing.
“Shee-it,” he said, drawing the word out while shaking his head. “Y’all are some imposing motherfuckers, that’s for sure. Still, I wouldn’t be pointing guns at me were I in your shoes. We’ve got a new boss now, and I don’t think he’d take too kindly to you threatening his employees.”
“Yeah,” said Johnny, finding new boldness in Trey’s words. “You can’t touch us or you’ll have to deal with Mr. Trang.”
The woman’s hand clenched ever so slightly, her fingers pressing into the skin of her bicep. She eyed the two boys sternly for a long time, mo
st likely trying to decide just how much of an inconvenience dealing with Trang would be if she killed them anyways. It was glaringly obvious how much their blatant disrespect rankled her. I braced for the bloodshed I was sure to follow.
Instead, the woman nodded to her bodyguard. As if working from one shared mind, the guns were simultaneously returned to their hidden holsters. When the woman spoke again, it was with a quietly severe tone that reached every ear in the room.
“The only reason I’m letting you live is that I want you to give a message to Trang. If he gets in my way again — for any reason — I will go to war. Make no mistake, you and your friends will be the first to fall.”
She spun on a heel and walked away, but not before one of the phones on the table sizzled and popped with wild blue electricity that caused it to burst into flames. The fire quickly spread to the rest of the merchandise. Trey tore his shirt off, beating it against the white hot inferno in an effort to prevent the fire from spreading any further while the sellers on either side of them hurried to move their inventory away from the miniature conflagration. Despite Trey and Johnny’s efforts, the flames kept spreading, fiery fingers licking the air around their table yet never seeming to spread any farther. I didn’t need to have my mage sight active to recognize such an obvious use of magic. Whoever this woman was, she was clearly something more than just the money behind Trey and Johnny thieving operation.
I slipped out of the pop-up market in the ensuing confusion. I hadn’t learned much on my surveillance mission, but at least I had a face and a name to start looking into. I was sure now that if Chase and I started digging, we’d be able to unearth something that would lead us to why someone with Montgomery’s obvious talent would do something as stupid as teach kids like Trey how to harness magic from a power nexus.
Crashing from the sugar and caffeine I’d ingested hours earlier, I walked home as quickly as I could. I was pretty sure I’d seen a rising crust pizza in the freezer, and my mouth was watering in anticipation of a late dinner by the time I rounded the corner to Chase’s house. Hunger fell away immediately when I saw the soft blue glow of a cellphone illuminating the familiar face of one of two suited men standing on either side of our front door. The bodyguard turned off the phone and shoved it into his pocket as I approached, reaching out to push the door open for me.
Sitting primly on the edge of an armchair in the middle of our living room, one leg crossed ladylike over the other, was the woman from the market.
“Hello Alex,” she said without smiling. “My name is Alisha Montgomery, and I believe we share a common interest.”
Chapter Fifteen
“I assume you know why I’m here?” Montgomery continued.
I shifted uneasily from one foot to the other. If she wanted to hurt me, I could only assume she’d have had one of her goons surprise me with a couple of bullets to the back of the head instead of having him act as a doorman out front. I had a good guess what she wanted. Just to be sure, I figured I’d make her spell it out for me.
“Why don’t you help me out a bit,” I said.
“As you saw at that silly little market tonight, I’m having an issue with a group of former employees. It occurs to me that since Trey and his band of thugs have jumped ship and pledged allegiance to your employer, you may wish to do the same. In working for me, you could be handsomely paid to pursue your original goal of removing them from the landscape.”
Feeling like a bit of a thug myself with my hood still up over my head, I flipped it down and unslung the binocular case from my shoulder. This I set down on the coffee table, making a mental note to move it upstairs before Chase got home. Unsure of what to do with myself, I tucked my hands in my back pockets and stared at Elisha Montgomery. She was even more imposing up close. Her designer outfit looked like it cost more than every item of clothing I’d ever owned. Her stylish hair and makeup made her look more like a powerful matriarch or businesswoman than a mage. Yet, what I’d seen her do so casually at the market indicated a not inconsiderable amount of magic talent hidden behind a shrewd and calculating gaze.
“Are you aware of who you’re picking a fight with if you go up against Trang?” I asked.
“That old reptile is far more harmless than he likes to think he is,” she said with a dismissive wave. “He’s a relic of a bygone era who never leaves his den. Would I want to be trapped in a room with him? No. That doesn’t mean I’m going to cower before his every little threat. He’s only as powerful as those he sends against me. Right now his strongest asset seems to be you.”
“Well, I’m no longer working for Mr. Trang,” I told her. “Although I’m not so sure I want anything more to do with this whole affair.”
“Work for me, and you’ll be able to take down Trey and his entire crew.” She stood and came closer, her features softening. “I know what happened at their house the other night. Do you think things would have gone well for you had you not escaped? Will you be able to sleep comfortably at night knowing Trey is still out there doping girls up so he can have his way with them?”
I snorted dismissively. “It didn’t seem to bother you when they were your employees.”
“How they behaved was never my concern,” she said, the hard edge returning to her voice. “I’d hired them to do a job, and so long as that job was done to my satisfaction, I cared nothing for what they did in their spare time. I don’t share your particular weaknesses in that regard.”
“The same way you didn’t care they were killing people in order to harvest magic from the power nexuses?”
Darkness flashed across Montgomery’s face for the briefest of moments before she regained her composure. It was little more than a clench of her jaw and a couple of rapid blinks, but it was enough to let me know I’d hit a nerve. Maybe the woman had a conscience after all. Wielding people like pawns was one thing, but having them commit murder on her orders had to leave at least some trace amount of guilt.
“I was not aware that this was how they’d gained their abilities,” she said, her flat tone not quite concealing the anger she clearly felt at being the last to know this particular detail. “The hiring and training of those boys was handled by a… well, let’s call them a subcontractor to keep things simple. This person assured me they could procure the items I required. So long as they deliver on my requests, I don’t micromanage my employees.”
My feet were sore, and I was tired of standing in the entrance to my living room while this woman treated it like her own office. I sank down onto the couch and pulled my feet up onto the cushion beneath me. If Elisha Montgomery wanted to maintain her ruthless matriarch act all day long, that was her business. I was going to make myself comfortable until she got the hint that I’d never work for someone so callous. I still hadn’t figured out who’d ordered the attack on Chase and I after our initial inspection of Trang’s warehouse, and I wasn’t about to forget that the woman responsible could very well be the one standing right in front of me.
“Sorry, but I’m really not seeing what’s in all of this for me.” I made a show of stifling a yawn to show her how little she intimidated me. “You’re clearly involved in criminal activities. If you know as much about me as I suspect you do, then you should also know that you’re the kind of person I get hired to put out of business.”
“You’re not wrong about me, but it’s not as black and white as you seem to believe,” she said. “Mr. Trang and I have conflicting business interests. There are ugly moments in any such rivalry, and I can’t imagine you’ve done your due diligence in researching your former client if you believe him to be so law-abiding. What I’m offering you is a chance to see Trey and his pathetic little gang of miscreants receive the justice they deserve. How that is achieved, I will leave at your discretion. Ally yourself with me, and you’ll also receive a fifteen thousand dollar compensation for work you seem intent on doing for free.” She glanced around the living room meaningfully. “Money I’d guess you and your partner could put to good use.
”
“Any chance you’ll tell me more about this subcontractor first?”
“Out of the question,” she said quickly. “My organization is extremely compartmentalized. Should you agree to work for me, you’ll benefit from the same discretion should someone else start asking questions about you.”
I turned the offer over I my head. On the one hand, Montgomery was at least passively involved in the death of several teenagers, and it was hard to imagine that she was wholly ignorant of the assassin I’d had to put down at the Summer Night Market. I didn’t have to be psychic to guess at the amount of blood that had been spilled on her orders. Violence was nothing more than a tool in her arsenal. Judging by how quickly her bodyguards had drawn their weapons on Trey, it wasn’t very likely Montgomery suffered any compunction over killing someone to get what she wanted.
On the other hand, I wasn’t going to learn a whole hell of a lot more about whoever was teaching ungifted how to draw power they should never have been given access to. It was still a long shot, but getting closer to Montgomery was my best chance to root out the real cancer in the middle of all of this. Working for Montgomery also meant a layer of protection from Trang. Unless I was willing to walk away from this thing without seeing anyone answer for their actions, I was bound to bump up against Trey and his crew again. Having a heavyweight like Montgomery in my corner gave me the excuse I’d need to go against Trang’s orders to leave his new employees alone.
Black Market (Black Records Book 2) Page 15
