by Charley Case
“Okay, then we don’t stop for too long.” He smiled. “And don’t go racing through the streets like you normally do.”
She gave him a dark look. “What’s the point of a fast car if you can’t drive fast?”
“The knowledge that you can if you want.”
Chapter Twenty
Mila kept the car basically at idle, not making too much noise, and cruising along at about fifteen miles an hour. They started to pass a tall, white fence on their left, and it took them a second to realize it was the fence to the house they were looking for. Coming to the driveway, they could see that the fence encircled the entire property and had a large iron gate that looked as impressive as the one at Preston’s.
The small glimpse they caught on the drive by the house was impressive. It was three stories and topped with steep, angled, slate roofing. There were several black cars in the drive, but the tan sedan they had been following was parked among them. Then all they could see was more white wall.
Despite what Mila had said about there not being street parking, there were several more black cars parked along the street in front of the house. Mostly mean-looking sedans, but a few Suburbans were thrown into the mix as if there was a government party happening at the house, and no one knew how to carpool.
“Well, that would be the most impressive thing I’ve seen today if I hadn’t already watched Penny set a warehouse on fire.” Mila chuckled, putting a little more gas to the engine, and taking the road back out toward the entrance to the neighborhood.
“Head back around and park behind the cars on the street. We need a little more info on what we’re dealing with.” Finn frowned at the phone screen in Penny’s hands. “Penny, is there a way to get a view of this place that’s more than just a map? Like a top view of what’s actually there?”
She shrugged and started fiddling with the settings until she found a toggle to turn on the satellite view, then began scrolling across the city to find where they were. Mila made the turn to stay on the circle and idled back down the street toward the white-walled estate. She slipped the Hellcat into the first vacant spot behind a sedan and shut the car off.
“Can’t see much.” She sat up in her seat as far as she could and squinted.
They had a view of the gate, but basically, all they could see beyond that was the large turnaround in front of the house.
After a few seconds, a pair of guards walked across the drive on their side of the gate, a man and a woman, both in black tactical gear and chatting with one another. Finn didn’t see any obvious weapons, so he figured they must be magic users, which meant they were more than likely Kashgar, not Peabrains.
Penny held up the phone. “Chi.” A small puff of smoke filtered out from between her teeth in frustration.
Finn and Mila leaned in, but the image was just a gray blob with the word UNAVAILABLE written across it.
Mila raised an eyebrow. “Well, that’s not something you see very often. Most military installations have a filter on them, but I’ve never seen a private residence filtered out. Someone paid a lot of money to make that happen.”
“Can we find out who the house belongs to?” he asked.
Mila gave that a moment’s thought. “Maybe.” She took the phone and opened a browser, typing into the search bar. “It’s a private residence, but it should be in the public tax records. Give me a second.”
Finn watched the front gate for signs they’d been detected, but it seemed that the black Hellcat was similar enough to the other sedans that they were going unnoticed by the chatting guards.
On a whim, he rolled down the window and listened.
Mila shivered at the cold air flowing in. “Dude, it’s freezing. Roll that up.”
Finn pulled off his bomber jacket, sucking in a breath against the sudden pain in his ribs, but he hid the accompanying grimace by turning away. He didn’t want Mila to worry too much.
She reached over and helped him get the jacket off.
“Thanks. Here, put this on.” He handed her the jacket and leaned out the window a little to listen.
She shrugged into the way-too-big jacket and rolled up the sleeves a few turns to keep her hands free. “What are you listening for?”
“Well, every time we were in the hound sanctuary at the Menagerie, the hounds were barking and howling. I assume the ones we’re looking for would do the same thing.”
“Yeah, but I thought they were being controlled by a spell or something. Wouldn’t whoever’s in charge keep them quiet?”
Finn glanced at Mila and suppressed a smile. She was absolutely adorable in his oversized (for her) coat. “The spell would have to be extremely powerful, so I imagine it would only last for a short period. That’s one of the reasons I think they’re using an artifact, and probably a dwarven-made one, if it’s powerful enough to hold more than twenty hellhounds in its thrall. Something that powerful would be extra taxing for a non-dwarf to harness because they can’t channel the raw magic trapped in the ground that’s needed to power it properly. So, the same problem applies. They would only be able to use it for short periods of time; maybe an hour at most before it burnt them out.”
“Shir shi!” Penny held up a hand to quiet them down as she stood on Finn’s leg and leaned out the open window, her eyes closed.
“She hears dogs barking,” Finn whispered, keeping Mila in the loop.
They waited while she listened, Finn closing his eyes as well to try and heighten his hearing. After a few minutes, he could make out the distant barking, but if the wind shifted even slightly, he lost it.
Mila continued to look up information on the house while Penny’s face became frustrated.
Finally, the faerie dragon pulled herself back into the car and huffed. “Squee. Shirch serie?” She put her hands on her hips and raised a questioning eye ridge.
Finn shook his head. “I don’t want you flying in there alone. We have no idea how many wards they have in place. They could spot you and take you out, and we would never know.”
She nodded but countered with “Grich, shi.”
Finn pursed his lips, then nodded. “Fine, but get some height before you approach. And if we have to get out of here, keep an eye on the car and meet us once we’re out of the neighborhood.”
She gave him a firm nod, then crawled out of the window and launched herself with a kick off the door. She glided low to the ground until she disappeared into the bushes across the street.
“What’s she doing?” Mila asked, clicking on a link on her phone.
“She’s going to take a look at the place from a couple of hundred feet up. We figure if they have any wards, they won’t extend that high, because of plane travel.” He bit his thumbnail, then leaned over and pulled open the jacket Mila was wearing, reaching into the opening.
“Hey! What the hell?” She yelped before realizing he was pulling his box of Charleston Chews from the inside pocket. “You could warn a girl before diving into her jacket.”
“Technically, it’s my jacket,” he gave her a half-smile and then opened the box. “I’m just a little nervous for her. I hate it when she goes out on her own like this.”
“She’s an independent woman. She can handle herself better than both of us.” Mila squinted down at what she had found. “Besides, doesn’t she do stuff like this all the time?”
“This is different.” He sighed, craning his neck to try and pick her out against the bright blue sky. “Normally, I could get to her if something happens, but this is a little more out there. We can’t just go charging in. They could have an army in there. If the number of vehicles is any indication, then that statement isn’t an exaggeration.”
“Found it!” Mila held the phone out, but the text was so small, he couldn’t read it with his eye swollen like it was. She realized he was having trouble and read it for him. “It says that three months ago, the property was privately owned by some guy and his wife, but then it was sold to a corporation called Black Hole Consulting.”
Finn raised an eyebrow. “Black Hole Consulting? Could they be any more obvious? It’s the Dark Star.” He glanced toward the gate, and his eyes widened. “Oh shit. The guards are coming this way.”
The two guards were walking beside the wall, and the woman was looking directly at the car. She pointed at them. “Hold it right there! What are you doing out here?”
She approached the car cautiously, while the guy with her took up a defensive stance and took a few quick steps to the side to spread them out.
Now that they were close, Finn could tell they were both Kashgar, and the way they held their hands at the ready told him they were both capable casters.
“Shit. Get us out of here. The last thing we want is a fight in the street when they have backup just around the corner,” Finn said, preparing his own spell in the back of his mind.
Mila rolled down her window and held up her phone. “Hey, we’re lost. I was just looking up directions.”
The two guards relaxed visibly, and the woman stepped closer, bending down and resting her arms on the opening as she leaned in closer to Mila.
“Well, pretty little lady, this is a private neighborhood. You can’t be here, though I might make an exception for you.” She gave Mila a coy smile before glancing up and seeing Finn for the first time, his face purple and bruised, with one eye half swollen shut. “Jesus! What the fuck happened to you?” She leaned in further, narrowing her eyes. “Wait, you’re that fucking dwarf!”
Her hand came up, glittering golden light forming around her palm, along with a small, translucent bubble.
Mila jammed her elbow up into the woman’s nose, eliciting a crunch and a splash of blood that hit the ceiling of the car. The woman screamed, falling back and clutching her face. Her partner didn’t even bother to check on her, just stepped closer to the Hellcat, a determined look on his face, and a bubble of magic on his fingertips.
Finn reached across Mila and pointed his palm at the man as it began to glow with purple light.
“Gunna salainn!” he shouted, and a tight grouping of salt crystals blasted out like from a shotgun, tearing into the man’s hand and fingers before shredding his black jacket and knocking him backward, his magic fizzling out as he flew.
Mila started the car and hit the gas, peeling out onto the road, and fishtailing for a second before taking the long curve and moving out of view of the estate. She had to swerve to avoid hitting a Mercedes SUV turning into the neighborhood, causing her to slide out onto the main road and almost get sideswiped by a car before she straightened out again.
Finn looked over his shoulder but didn’t see any cars following them. He then scanned the sky, looking for Penny, but she was either too far away or flying at some angle that made her difficult to see.
Mila slowed at the stoplight on Colorado Boulevard, checking her mirrors, and breathing hard.
Penny swooped in through Finn’s open window, making him jump and Mila flinch.
She landed on his lap, breathing hard, but held up a thumb and smiled. “Chi chi.” She then took the box of Chews from Finn’s hand and tipped it into her open mouth.
Finn let her have the rest of the box, knowing that using as much power as she had to catch up would make her hungrier than usual. If there was one thing he had learned over the years, it was not to get between a hungry dragon and its meal.
“You okay?” Finn asked Mila, who was still a little wide-eyed.
“Yeah. I’m good.” She barked a laugh. “This shit is exciting! I love it.”
Finn had to laugh at her exuberance. He was glad she was having a good time, but things were about to get serious. “Okay, but now we have a problem. They now know we know where they are. So that means they’re probably going to move the hounds or get reinforcements, or both. We need to move soon. I’m thinking tonight we try and get in there.”
“What’s the plan? Kill the hounds, or take out the leader? Either way, we still have all the guards to deal with,” Mila argued, making the turn onto Colorado Boulevard to head north.
“We’ll have to come up with something. But first things first, we need to talk to Preston and give him the ring. Maybe he’ll have some ideas.”
“No.” Mila made a chopping motion. “The first thing we’ll do is stop by the house and get a few healing potions. No need to go in half-cocked if we don’t have to. Besides, the condo is on our way to Preston’s...sort of.”
Finn wanted to tell her that time was against them at this point, but he had to agree that he was not exactly in fighting shape with his broken ribs.
He nodded. “Good idea. We should be prepared for anything.”
They rode in silence for a few minutes before Mila started chuckling.
“What?”
“I’m pretty sure that guard was trying to hit on me until she saw you.”
Finn raised an eyebrow. “She works for an evil overlord.”
Mila shrugged. “It’s just nice to know I’ve still got it.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Finn relaxed on the couch, holding the now empty healing potion bottle, and winced ever so slightly as his ribs knit back together. Mila was right; he’d needed the potion. He was in so much pain that he hadn't realized just how bad it had been. He wouldn’t be surprised if he’d had some internal bleeding from the tire iron to his side.
Mila knelt on the couch next to him, watching his face with rapt attention. She jumped, her hand going to her mouth, as Finn’s nose cracked loudly, resetting itself.
His nose resetting was a bit much and made his eyes tear up.
Penny, who had seen this show a hundred times, was holding a notebook, trying to draw what she had seen on her brief scouting mission. She was even putting down where she saw guards and what she thought their patrol probably looked like from the short time she saw them moving.
“How do you feel?” Mila winced as the broken skin around his eye sealed itself back up.
“Better.” He sat up, turning his head to the side and getting a satisfying crack from his stiff neck. “The healing potion stop was a good call. Speaking of calls, can you reach out to Preston to see when he’s available?”
Mila sat back on the couch, her feet tucked under her, and pulled out her phone. “Sure. Do you have his card?”
Finn reached into his back pocket and pulled out both Preston’s and Anita’s cards. He handed Preston’s to Mila and was about to put Anita’s away when her number caught his eye. He wasn’t a genius when it came to numbers, but the first three-digit sequence looked familiar to him and he frowned at the card, trying to think of where he had seen it before.
His eyes widened. “No. It can’t be that easy. Where’s Peter’s phone?”
Mila lifted her hips and pulled the smartphone from her back pocket, unlocking it before handing it to him. “What is it?” She had Preston’s number punched in but hadn’t called yet.
“I think I recognize this number.” He shook Anita’s card with one hand as he used the other to access the texts on Peter’s phone.
“I mean, we’ve called her twice today,” Mila said, biting her lip, her thumb hovering over the call button.
“I never saw the number,” he pointed out. “You called her first, then we just hit redial when we called from the car.” She stared at her phone in hesitation. “Just call. He’s just another person, and we’re working for him. He gave us the card so we could call him.”
“Yeah, well, excuse me for feeling nervous about calling one of the most powerful men in the world.”
“I’m really glad my pedigree doesn’t mean anything here on Earth. I might never have met you because you would have been too nervous to talk to me.” He reached over and hit the call button for her.
She looked up at him, her eyes wide with betrayal. “I can’t believe you did that!”
He laughed. “You better get on that call. Wouldn’t want him to have to wait.”
She gasped and put the phone to her ear.
Finn smiled a
t her then went back to the contacts in Peter’s phone. He checked the D, J, and A without any luck, but when he opened the K, his heart jumped a little. He compared the numbers, and they were the same. K was Anita, or at least, K had been using her number.
Just to be sure, he checked the date of the last text from K on the phone and saw that it was the day before the theft, a little over two months ago.
“Hello?” Mila’s voice was shaky as she spoke into the phone, but she straightened up after a second. “Oh, hello, this is Dr. Winters.” She had a slightly disappointed look on her face and gave Finn an embarrassed shrug. “Finn and I have found the ring. When would be a good time to come see Mr. Meriwether?” She waited a second for the reply before continuing. “Well, tonight would be better. We have a lead we would like to talk to him about, but it’s time-sensitive.”
She pulled the phone away from her ear and covered the microphone with her other hand. “It’s the butler. He’s checking with Preston.”
“And you thought he was going to answer the phone himself.” Finn laughed. “I’ve been around many rich and powerful people, and the only thing they had in common besides their wealth was the fact that they didn’t do even the simplest things for themselves, like answering the phone.”
“He said it was his personal number,” she argued.
“It is. It literally is the number for his house. That alone is pretty impressive.”
The muffled sound of talking made Mila quickly press the phone back to her ear. “Yeah, I’m here...okay, great. We’ll be there soon.” She hung up and smiled. “He said to come over now.”
She grabbed her boots from beside the couch and zipped them on before getting up. She then went to the closet and grabbed her short, dark-red leather coat. Finn liked it better than the black one, especially with the black corset underneath, and might have secretly been glad that her black one had been ripped to shreds.
He got up and unrolled the sleeves of his haggard bomber jacket before slipping it on. When he was done, Mila was already propping the front door open, waiting for him.
