by Martha Carr
“Yeah.” Johnny stepped aside and pulled the rolling chair in front of the desk.
She sat and began to click through the computer.
“Do you spend much time on the dark web?”
“Enough to know how to get in and find my way around, for the most part.” She looked at him with a smirk. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know that’s where most magicals do their business when they don’t want anyone else to see.”
“Most humans too.”
“True.” Lisa’s fingers flew across the keyboard, and he turned away to let her do her thing so he could do his. Right now, that was mean-mugging the Wood Elf, who lay on his side with his eyes closed and tried not to move while the coonhounds loomed over him.
“What are you gonna do with him after this?” Rex asked.
“Yeah, we could chase something. I like chasing. I like catching even more.”
“We’ll let him decide that one for us,” Johnny muttered.
Lisa darted him a brief frown before she returned to the keyboard. “What?”
“Nothin’.”
Chapter Eight
“Okay. Here we go.” Lisa clicked and typed for another twenty seconds, then leaned back in the chair and lowered her hands into her lap. “Oh, man. There she is.”
Johnny scowled at the monitor and the picture of a wide-eyed girl with matted brown hair and a bruise across her cheek. Even when they took that, she wouldn’t let them see she was scared. Tough kid.
The description the Boneblade had put up of Amanda was even worse:
Twelve-year-old girl fresh from home. Feisty and spirited. Unbroken. Clean. Orphan. Likes to bite.
“Did you read the description?” he asked.
“Assholes.” She shook her head. “But they left out a major detail.”
He cracked his knuckles. “They wouldn’t leave it out if they knew.” Putting a shifter on the auction would bring in a much higher price. They have no idea. “We need to get in on that bid.”
“I didn’t get approval to use funds to bid on a person, Johnny.”
He shrugged. “I’ll put the money up. That’s not a problem.”
“This is in the tens of thousands already.” Lisa gestured at the bidding screen. “Are you sure?”
“Whatever we have to do to rescue her. I’m good for it, trust me. Get us in and place a bid.”
“Yeah. You got it.” Her face scrunched in surprise, she focused on the computer and created a fake account for them. “Here we go. How much higher do you wanna go?”
“It’s at twenty-four thousand now. Put us down for thirty.”
She typed obediently and the highest bid updated on the site.
Johnny snorted. “Bulldog? That’s your preferred dark-web handle?”
“It’s the first thing that came to mind. Did you want me to put your name down instead?”
He smirked at her and returned his attention to the screen. “That was a big jump. All these other sick bastards were movin’ up a thousand at a time. We’ll get this in the bag for sure—”
The highest bid updated again to thirty-five thousand dollars.
“Great.” She grimaced. “It looks like this Lemonhead idiot has a ton riding on this.”
“Okay. Bulldog’s better than Lemonhead, I’ll give you that.” He gritted his teeth. “Take it up to fifty thousand.”
Lisa turned slowly to look at him from the chair. “Fifty.”
“That’s what I said. Do it.”
She typed their bid in and their Bulldog handle remained at the top of the bid list for three seconds before it changed again. “Jesus. And Lemonhead kicked it up to seventy-five.”
Rubbing a hand over his mouth and wiry red beard, Johnny turned away from the computer desk. “This asshole’s gonna pay, all right. Much more than seventy-five thousand when we’re done with him.”
He marched to the Wood Elf, caught the magical by the front of his shirt, and hauled him up before he pounded his head against the wall. The prisoner groaned. “Who the fuck is Lemonhead?”
The elf merely glared at him.
“Start talkin’, asshole. My hounds are always hungry.”
“You might as well kill me now, then,” the prisoner muttered. “If I tell you shit about Lemonhead, I’m already dead anyway. And you won’t find anyone else who’ll tell you, either. This guy doesn’t fuck around. He doesn’t stop with only one moron who opened his trap. He takes out everyone you know and you never see him comin’.”
“You didn’t see me comin’ either. He’s leading the bid on the girl and I need to find him.”
Luther snarled. “I want a turn, Johnny. See if he doesn’t spill it after I take a few chunks out of him.”
Rex snapped at the side of the Wood Elf’s face. “No one hurts a pup. No one. We’ll make him remember.”
“Naw.” He thumped the Boneblade member against the wall again and shoved him to the floor. “This bastard was sent to eliminate us in an alley. He doesn’t know shit about Lemonhead. Whatever he gives us is useless anyway.”
“You wanna try bidding again?” Lisa asked.
“Nope.” The dwarf straightened and snapped his fingers. The hounds snarled at the bound magical one last time before they returned obediently to their master’s side. “There are a few places I wanna try first. We might be able to find better information.”
“Where are those?”
“I’ll tell you when we get there.” Johnny walked around the back of the computer table and grasped a chunk of cables. With a quick jerk, he ripped them apart and let them dangle over the side of the table. A few sparks sputtered. “No one’s keeping tabs on the kid from here.”
Lisa stood and glared at the Wood Elf before she followed her partner and his hounds out of the room.
“Hey,” the prisoner called and struggled against the ropes. “Hey, you can’t leave me here like this.”
“Watch me.” He gave him the middle finger as Lisa opened the door. Neither of them bothered to close it again before they made their way down the stairs.
“They’re gonna send someone else after us when he gets out of your ropes.” Lisa peered down the hall leading to the front of the club before she turned toward the back door.
“Let ʼem.” Johnny opened the door into the dark night and held it open for her. “They had a tip from Pete but no one knows where we’re goin’ now.”
“Except for you, right?”
He smirked and nodded down the sidewalk. “Come on.”
The colorful lights of Manhattan’s Lower East Side spilled across the streets and lit everything almost as bright as daytime. He checked his watch before he scanned the rows of buildings ahead. “Eleven-thirty. Things are only startin’ to kick up.”
“Things are always kicked up here. Hey, watch it!” Lisa leaned toward the dwarf as a bicyclist raced past too close to the sidewalk. “See?”
“I was talking about one place in particular, though.” He pointed ahead. “A friend of mine owns the bar there on the corner. Or at least he used to. It’s been a long time since I’ve stepped foot in the place.”
“You have friends in New York?”
“I have friends in a lotta places.” He shrugged. “Hopefully, some of ʼem stuck around longer than I did.”
When they reached the corner, Johnny smirked. “That’s a good sign.”
“What? A rundown front door?”
“A rundown screen door, sure.” He opened it with a creak and held it aside so Lisa could open the bar’s front door. “Ernie’s half-assed attempt to decorate. Here’s to hoping nothin’ else has changed too much.”
The dogs trotted up the two steps after Lisa, and the screen door slapped shut behind the dwarf.
The inside of the Low Place was barely lit by dusty, bare yellow bulbs hanging from the ceiling. Despite the grungy feel and the name that didn’t particularly strike excitement in passersby, the bar was packed with magicals. Most of them had seen better days—the general crowd was fairly
advanced in age and haggard-looking. They muttered in low conversation across tables or didn’t bother to talk at all as the patrons focused on their booze instead of their company.
A gnome in a paperboy cap thunked his peg leg onto the wooden floor and pointed at Rex and Luther walking beside the dwarf without leashes. “Hey. You can’t bring dogs in here.”
Rex stopped and stared at the gnome. “Want me to bite him for you, Johnny?”
“He’s not worth the time.” Johnny kept walking toward the bar without so much as looking at the heckler.
Luther wagged his tail and began to sniff the sticky floor beneath the occupied bar stools. “He looks too stringy, Rex. Smells like licorice.”
“Yeah…” Rex growled at the gnome who growled in response before the hound rejoined his brother.
“Hey, Ernie,” the gnome shouted. “Tell this asshole he can’t bring his dogs in here.”
“Man, who thinks it’s okay to—” The old elf slinging drinks behind the bar looked up with wrinkled, hooded eyelids and caught sight of Johnny. His scowl morphed into a tired-looking, crooked smile, and he handed an overflowing drink to a gnarled wizard at the bar before he thumped a hand on the sticky wood. “Well, I’ll be damned. I thought you went off to die under a rock somewhere, Johnny.”
“It’s good to see you too, Ernie.”
“The dogs,” the gnome shouted.
“Mind your own business, Jerry.” Ernie waved the prickly magical off. “The dogs are mindin’ theirs. Grab a seat, Johnny. Who’s your friend?”
Before the dwarf could say they weren’t exactly friends, Lisa extended a hand toward the old elf and smiled. “Lisa.”
“Take a seat.” Wiping his hands on a wet bar rag, the proprietor turned without shaking her hand and took a bottle of Johnny Walker Black from the shelf behind the bar. He poured four fingers for his old friend and set the glass on the bar as Johnny and Lisa took the last two empty bar stools at the end. “What are you having?”
“Gin and tonic, please.”
“Got a preference?”
“Wells is fine. Extra lime, though.”
“Sure thing.” With a smirk, Ernie turned again to retrieve another glass from the almost empty stack behind the bar.
She leaned toward Johnny with a curious smile. “He didn’t even ask you.”
“He doesn’t have to. I only drink this right here, and anyone who knows me knows that.” The dwarf took a long sip of his whiskey and nodded. “It tastes good in any city.”
“Okay.” She chuckled and adjusted her seat on the stool.
“Here you go.” The proprietor set her overflowing gin and tonic on the bar, glanced around the rest of his establishment to make sure no one was doing anything they shouldn’t, and wiped his hands on the rag again.
“How much do I owe you?” Lisa asked.
“Naw. It’s on the house.” The man wiped the sticky bar absently. “Only the first one, though. I can’t let old friends drink for free forever. I’da been outta business ten years ago, otherwise.”
Johnny snapped his fingers and lowered a fist toward his hounds. “Take a load off for a while, huh?”
Rex and Luther lowered themselves to the floor and rested their heads on their front paws. “I smell nuts up there.”
“Peanuts, Johnny?”
“Ooh, never mind.” Luther stretched his head out under the dwarf’s bar stool to lick the crumbs on the floor. “Found some.”
“So where have you been, Johnny?” Ernie asked. “I haven’t heard a damn thing about you in…shit. Twenty years.”
“You know I retired.” He sipped his drink again.
“I asked where, not what you were doin’.” His friend smirked. “I guess I should ask why you’re here instead.”
“He’s taking a break from retirement,” Lisa said. When both the dwarf and the old elf stared at her with matching frowns, she shrugged and lifted her drink to her lips. Her eyes widened. “Wow. That’s…strong.”
Ernie pointed at her with a crooked finger and looked at Johnny. “Are you sure she’s with you?”
“For now, yeah.” The dwarf settled both forearms on the edge of the bar. “She’s not wrong, though. I couldn’t turn this case down, and I thought I’d come to ask you a few questions.”
“Exactly like back in the day.” The elf opened the mini-fridge beneath him, pulled a beer out, and popped the lid off before he took a long drink. “So. What do you wanna know?”
“Anything you have about a demented bastard rollin’ around the dark web callin’ himself Lemonhead.”
His old friend raised his eyebrows in surprise and looked thoughtful before he took another swig. “It’s not much.”
“Anything you can tell us would be really helpful,” Lisa said.
Ernie studied her curiously. “Uh-huh. No one knows who Lemonhead is, Johnny. He maintains a strict policy of not showin’ his face but he controls most of the East Coast human trafficking and drug trade.”
Johnny sniffed. “It sounds a lot like Boneblade.”
“Yeah, it does. But he’s even higher up than that and unaffiliated.” The proprietor shrugged. “This guy’s had the highest bounty on his head for…shit. At least fifteen years. Every bounty hunter in this bar would love to take his ass in. Hell, every bounty hunter in the States. The price on Lemonhead could set you up in retirement twice over again if you caught him, but good luck with that.”
“He’s that hard to find, huh?”
“No.” Ernie glanced at Lisa and took another long pull of his beer. “Everyone I know has already tried. The bastard doesn’t show his face but he doesn’t keep it a secret how to find him. Which I honestly don’t get, but these crime lords out here do shit I’ll never understand. The stories would make even you shiver, Johnny.”
The dwarf snorted. “I doubt it.”
“But they come back to tell the stories?” Lisa asked.
“Only the ones who don’t end up dead.” Ernie nodded toward Jerry the gnome and the huge half-Kilomea with a scar running down the side of his face seated at the table with him. “The rest of ʼem come back crippled and pissed.”
“Well, there’s one bounty hunter who hasn’t tried.” Johnny lifted his drink. “Do you feel like helping a dwarf on this one?”
Ernie exhaled a breath through pursed lips and shook his head. “You’re determined, huh?”
“I’m on a job, Ernie. You know how that works.”
“Yeah, yeah. Johnny Walker doesn’t give a shit about horror stories.” The elf snorted and shook his head before he lifted his beer to his lips again.
“I’m tracking a kid,” he added. “Her whole family was murdered, and this asshole’s shellin’ out some serious cash to buy her.”
Ernie choked on his drink and thunked the bottle onto the bar. A few of the patrons turned to look at him but he didn’t pay them any attention as he wiped his dripping chin with the back of a gnarled hand. “Shit, Johnny.”
“Do you have anything else?”
“Yeah.” The elf swallowed and cleared his throat. “Yeah, I have something for you. There’s a Monsters Ball tomorrow night at Falcon Towers in the Financial District. It kicks off at eight-thirty. I’d bet you this girl you’re looking for will be there too. Those assholes don’t throw parties like this unless they’re gettin’ down to some seriously nasty business.”
Johnny nodded. “How about a way to get in?”
“Sorry. I don’t deal in the how, Johnny. Only the what, when, where, and who.”
“Yeah, okay. What about someone who does deal in the how?”
Ernie pressed his wrinkled lips together and shook his head slowly. “Your best bet is to raid that place tomorrow if you can.”
“That’s not good enough.” He knocked back the rest of his drink and slammed the glass on the counter. “It’s good to see you, Ernie.”
“You too.”
The dwarf slid off the barstool and whistled for his hounds. “Let’s go.”
Lisa took a long drink of her gin and tonic that was still only half-empty when she finished and slid off her stool too. “Thanks, Ernie.”
“Uh-huh.” The old elf jerked his chin at her. “You’re learning from the best, lady. Pay attention.”
“Oh, I’m not—”
“Lisa,” Johnny called as he beat Jerry the gnome’s attempt at mean-mugging him again and flipped the peg-legged bounty hunter the middle finger. “Time’s up.”
With a sigh, she hurried after him and caught the gnome glaring at her now too. “Do you have a problem?”
Jerry thumped his wooden leg onto the floor again. “Yeah, I’m lookin’ at it.”
“Enjoy your drink.” Shaking her head, she crossed the bar and barely managed to catch the screen door as it swung into her face. “Johnny.”
The dwarf marched down the sidewalk with his hounds trotting at his side.
“What’s wrong? We got a good lead for tomorrow night.”
“That’s too far away,” he grumbled. “Someone’s gotta have more information.”
“Like who?” She pulled her phone out of her pocket and scrolled through the pictures she’d taken of the file on Amanda Courier’s case. “The only real lead we had was finding the Boneblade through Pete. Which we did—”
“The Boneblade is a fucking Least Killifish now.”
Lisa stepped around the large group of young people who stood outside the next bar they passed. The venue pumped out what she thought was heavy metal with all the screaming instead of actual words. Everyone in the group wore dark, heavy makeup and black clothes with silver studs, and two of them sported mohawks. She waved the cloud of cigarette smoke out of her face and ignored the goth group’s laughter. “A what?”
“It’s a tiny fish in the Everglades.” Johnny shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. “Lemonhead’s the Redfish we’re after now and Ernie can’t be the only magical in this damn city who knows anything about the guy.”
“He said no one knows who Lemonhead is.”
“I know what he said. I’m not saying he’s wrong but he’s wrong. I’ll find something.”
