Swing Shift: Book 2

by William D. Arand

  “I’m expecting it,” Trish said with a sigh. “It isn’t as if I haven’t heard most of it before. And where I come from, I’ve probably heard and seen worse. I appreciate the warning, though. Thank you, Sergeant.”

  No one said anything further.

  It was obvious the sergeant already felt strange saying as much as he had. Gus appreciated both the warning for Trish and what he’d said about the assistant warden.

  He’d have to be on his game to make sure he kept Trish safe.

  And to make sure he didn’t lose his cool. It was quite likely he’d get mad during this adventure. If he didn’t watch himself, he might do something to give away what he was.

  They were escorted through a massive, heavy steel door. The type that had a solid layer of pure iron inside of it.

  Definitely where they keep the most dangerous offenders, or the biggest.

  Bittersmith led them into a lobby, straight through what looked like a reception room, and through an open area with a tower in the center of it.

  Tilting his head up, Gus found himself looking into multiple security cameras, one-way glass, and ten men with combat rifles.

  Not taking any chances at all.

  One more hallway after that, Gus and Trish found themselves in what looked like a staff-only part of the prison. Every single door had some type of security measure on it, or several guards.

  There was no shortage of manpower here, and whoever was funding it apparently felt like the classic approach of having more walls, more bars, and more guards was the appropriate action here.

  Anything else was a luxury and not worthwhile.

  Yet Gus got the impression the prison Indali had served her sentence in was worse even than this.

  “Here’s your interviewing room. Everything you requested ahead of your visit was provided. Thank you for respecting our protocol,” Bittersmith said, opening a door. “Prisoners will be brought in on the other side. They’ll have five guards with them who won’t be leaving. Anything you ask and anything they respond with will be recorded. Any questions?”

  “No,” Trish said, then turned to Gus. “Gus?”

  “Nah,” Gus said. He looked at the table they’d be sitting at.

  Everything he’d requested seemed to be there. Printouts with the information they needed, two pads of papers, water bottles, and some pens.

  “I’ll have the first prisoner brought in,” Bittersmith said before he closed the door.

  Trish and Gus moved to the desk and took their seats. Glancing into the corners, Gus was reassured when he realized the cameras were very visible. They were even pointed out with helpful warning signs.

  Thankfully, there were none directly behind him. Though there was one directly behind Trish, where the lead “investigator” would be seated.

  Picking up his pen, Gus immediately grabbed one of the printouts and handed the other to Trish.

  “You sure you want me leading the questions? I don’t really know what I’m doing,” Trish said.

  “You’ll be fine. Remember?” Gus asked. He couldn’t say anything about his mind reading since it was likely they were being recorded even now.

  “Yes… I remember. I just… I’m nervous. That’s all,” Trish said.

  “You’ll be fine. And—”

  The door opened, and a man in a bright yellow jumpsuit was walked into the room. He was chained from head to toe.

  “Oooh, a sexy one this time,” said the man. “I’d fuck her and drain her in a heartbeat.”

  Trish blinked once at that but didn’t respond. Her eyes coolly watched the man.

  “What, like what you see?” he asked.

  The guards escorting the man pushed him down into the chair, but they said or did nothing else.

  “Your name is Ferdinand Eliho?” Trish asked, looking down at her sheet of paper.

  “For you, baby, you can call me Daddy,” said Ferdinand.

  With a thin smile that seemed bored, Trish looked back at the paper.

  Gus took this opportunity to sink a thread of power into the man’s mind. Spinning it up quickly, he found Ferdinand had no defenses at all. It was as if the man’s mind was a shack without a front door.

  “Your classification is Vampire, is that right?” Trish asked.

  “Sure is. I bet your blood tastes sweet as sugar,” Ferdinand purred.

  Gus found the man was far more interested in Trish as a food source than anything sexual. The simple reality was that he was on a very minimal blood diet to keep him subdued.

  He was here on several murder charges and wouldn’t be getting out anytime soon. Hundreds and hundreds of years were on his head.

  “I imagine it does,” Trish said, sounding bored. “Now, I have it listed here that you work for a coven. Is that true?”

  Watching the man closely, Gus immediately saw anger.

  Frustration.

  In his mind, Gus saw that the man felt betrayed by his coven. He’d been left to rot in prison, and it was unlikely they would make any move to break him out. Nor had they assisted with his trial.

  The simple reality was they’d let him go as soon as he’d gotten caught. He desperately wanted to get out and kill them all. With his own hands.

  But he wasn’t going to rat them out.

  Clicking his tongue, the Vampire leaned back in his chair and said nothing.

  “Would that be the Saint Anthony coven?” Trish pushed. “Since it’s obvious you work for a coven.”

  “I don’t work for shit, bitch,” Ferdinand said.

  As soon as she’d asked about the SA coven, Gus had been given a flash of faces, names, and places.

  Latching on to those memories, he began to rapidly write everything down in notes.

  “…would argue that you did indeed work for them,” Trish continued, not breaking eye contact.

  With Trish keeping the questions in the right spot, Gus was able to keep following along the same memories he’d been chasing.

  “…what you’re talking about. Are you always this stupid?” Ferdinand asked.

  Gus frowned, getting annoyed at Ferdinand. Or more specifically, the way he was talking to Trish.

  She was handling it incredibly well, however. She’d said previously that it wasn’t new for her to be in situations like this.

  In fact, Gus remembered she’d said in the past she’d resorted to using magic to end situations.

  “…did you report to? Who was your boss?” Trish asked.

  “Are you not listening to me!?” Ferdinand shouted at her across the table.

  Instantly, two guards grabbed the Vampire by each shoulder.

  There’d been a clear memory of the man he’d reported to. Young looking, possibly in his twenties. His name was Tim Bannick.

  Though the information was years old, so it was quite possible Tim was long dead.

  “Right,” Trish said. “And where did you meet your boss when you had to check in?”

  “I worked for no one!” shouted Ferdinand. His teeth were showing now, and it looked like he wanted to jump across the table at Trish. “I met no one!”

  It was a nightclub.

  Vermilion was the name of the place.

  Frowning, Gus focused on his paper and quickly sketched out a very rough approximation of what Tim looked like. He was no artist, but it wasn’t terribly difficult when you had a mental photo of someone you could reference.

  Didn’t hurt that the cameras wouldn’t catch him doing it, either.

  Alright. One boss, one building.

  Great start.

  Unfortunately, Ferdinand was little better than a button man. Hired to pull a trigger, use a knife, or swing a bat. He knew nothing more than his contact.

  Looking up from the paper, Gus caught Ferdinand with his own eyes.

  “…stupid cunt and let her—” Ferdinand froze as Gus stared hard at him. “Let… let her—”

  Trailing off, Ferdinand grew quiet, unable to look away from Gus.

  Gus
lowered his pad of paper and slid his print over it to cover his notes, then leaned forward toward Ferdinand. Never breaking eye contact.

  “I’m going to show you how to have manners, unless you change your attitude right now,” Gus said in a low growl. He could feel his inner nature bleeding out through his voice.

  A bit of horror-magic tinged his words without his wish.

  The room became utterly quiet and still with his statement.

  Gus could taste the fear slowly coming out of Ferdinand now. It was growing larger with every second. Then he could taste the fear from the guards.

  They were all feeling rather afraid of Gus.

  “Do you understand me, Ferdinand?” Gus asked, his voice still quite low.

  “Yes,” Ferdinand said. “Yes. I understand. I do.”

  Turning his head to one side, Gus watched Ferdinand as if he were a bug. One he wanted to step on but was concerned might make the sole of his shoe dirty.

  Blinking slowly, Gus leaned back in his chair and took up his pad of paper again.

  “Now,” Trish said with a smile. “Let’s continue.”

  ***

  Gus lifted a hand and rubbed at his eyes. They’d been interrogating prisoners all day. For the better part of ten hours, in fact. They’d run right through lunch and into dinner.

  They’d been able to dig up two more bosses, or really people to look into, but beyond that it was mostly fringe players.

  People who ran odd jobs.

  Ferdinand had been the only one with any jobs to kill people, however. Everyone else had been mostly involved with low-end things.

  A lot of it was just robbing or extorting clientele from various clubs and bars.

  That and they were running a good number of brothels.

  Vampire prostitutes, male and female alike, couldn’t catch anything from anyone. They could also feed from anyone they “entertained.”

  Leaning to the side and holding his hand in front of his mouth, Gus stifled a yawn.

  “I’m not doing too bad,” Trish said. There was a clear amount of confidence in her voice that she hadn’t had at the start.

  “No, you’re doing very well. You’re figuring out what questions to ask and in what way,” Gus said.

  Trish had been learning. He had also started feeding her questions he wanted her to ask. To prompt more memories and thoughts, as well as to simply push their guests in different directions.

  She’d only needed that guidance a few times. By the fourth interview, she was rapidly bringing people around on themselves in their own stories and statements.

  Even if they didn’t say anything, it was obvious when she got it right.

  “Last one for ya,” Bittersmith said from behind them. He’d checked in on them several times throughout the day.

  “Great. Thank you, Sergeant.” Gus nodded his head at the Were.

  With a nod in return, Bittersmith closed the door.

  Sighing, Trish unbuttoned her coat and put her hands on her head.

  “Can we go have dinner after this? Vending machine stuff doesn’t do it for me,” she asked. “I’m hungry for a real meal. Doesn’t have to be expensive or anything.”

  Gus chuckled and nodded. “That’s fine. Yeah.”

  “Perfect,” Trish said, then stretched herself out backward. “This wasn’t a vacation, to be sure, but it’s been fun.”

  Gus couldn’t argue with that. It’d felt nice to be more or less alone with Trish all day. Even if they’d been working for most of it.

  He’d had similar thoughts when he’d been alone with Vanessa while Melody was out.

  I’m just not cut out for more than one woman, I think.

  It’s not like I’m not enjoying myself, though.

  Maybe I’m just being a complainer.

  The far door opened up, causing Trish to immediately put her arms down and re-button her coat.

  In walked the guards with another prisoner in a bright yellow jumpsuit.

  After dropping the woman into the chair, the guards watched her with the same intensity they had all the other prisoners.

  “Your name is…” Trish paused, looking at her sheet. “Chloe Wain?”

  The woman who’d joined them had short, bright blond hair curled into tight ringlets. Her eyes were a sky blue, and she was the palest Vampire Gus had ever seen. On top of all that, she had a smattering of freckles across her cheeks and on the bridge of her nose.

  She looked extremely athletic, and he would put her on the “cute” side of the spectrum.

  Which seemed pretty much the opposite of most female Vampires he’d seen so far.

  “That’d be me,” Chloe said, smiling at Trish.

  Her smile was different than he’d expected, however.

  Chloe was listed as a Vampire. One who had been in the SA coven some ten years ago. There weren’t many details about her arrest, other than that she was here for murder, extortion, bribery, witness intimidation, breaking out of prison, kidnapping, and a good number of manslaughter charges.

  Nowhere did it list that her fangs were missing.

  Where they should have been, Chloe had nothing but gaps in her teeth.

  By this point, Gus had already worked a scrap of his power into her mind and was lying in wait for her memories and thoughts.

  Passive reading was the safest way to get anything done in someone else’s mind. Especially without them noticing you were doing it.

  Except this woman’s thoughts and mind were placid. Like a lake of still water. There was nothing going on in her head, and it seemed deliberate.

  “I understand you were in the SA coven?” Trish asked, smiling in return at Chloe.

  “I was,” Chloe said with a nod. A series of memories flickered through her mind, though they seemed dimmed by time and lack of care.

  And they were forced to the briefest of thoughts.

  Her eyes slowly tracked over to Gus and remained there.

  “And you were one of their enforcers?” Trish asked.

  “I was,” Chloe said once more. She hadn’t looked away from Gus to speak.

  Her mind was filling with images of all the work she’d done for the coven.

  The truth of the matter was that she’d worked for the people at the top of the coven. During her imprisonment, she’d maintained her cover as a low-level enforcer since it was a good way to stay alive.

  To her, the guards and staff made this place just as dangerous as where she’d once called home. Especially if she started talking about what she had actually been.

  As long as she played the role she’d taken on, she’d be left alone with her life.

  “Are you going to list out my crimes? The other agents usually do,” Chloe said, continuing to keep eye contact with Gus. It was like she was transfixed.

  “No. Should I?” Trish asked.

  “No. Wouldn’t do anything,” Chloe said, her eyes slowly narrowing as she watched Gus.

  In her mind, a thought was building.

  Of Gus sitting at the table, where he was right now, and her under that very same table. Of her giving him a mind- and life-altering blow job.

  In that thought of hers, Gus was gasping and trembling in her grasp. He was little better than a pile of overused nerves.

  He was begging her to continue, to marry him, to let him give her anything she wanted so long as she kept going.

  Her entire mind was solidifying around that thought, that she wanted to desperately do it, and that she wouldn’t answer another question unless she could.

  That Gus would die of the pleasure she’d give him if she let him. And he could even feel it in his own mind.

  Feel what she was doing in that thought of hers.

  She was projecting all of it into his mind, what he’d feel with her lips around him.

  “Oh,” Chloe said a second later. The smile on her mouth became a massive grin. “What a delightful surprise.”

  “I beg your pardon?” Trish asked.

  “You can
read my mind, Agent,” Chloe said in her own thoughts. “Did you like the performance? I put some real effort into that thought for you. I even tried to push what you’d feel into it.”

  Not responding to the bait, Gus frowned and looked at her with his best version of confusion.

  “I don’t understand. Surprise?” he asked.

  “Yes! A surprise indeed,” Chloe clarified. “It’s okay. I’ve been around for a long time. The better part of three hundred years, in fact.

  “You’re very good at hiding it. Very good. Better than any I’ve ever met. The problem is… I can smell your blood. I can hear the beat of your heart.

  “I heard it start to race at the idea of my thoughts. I could practically hear the blood rushing through your veins and to your… well… I’m glad you liked my offer.

  “Don’t worry, though. I think… I think you already picked me apart before I realized it. Didn’t you? Tore my thoughts clean out before I noticed. I think you’re far stronger than anyone I’ve ever met. Even the sponsored psykers can’t compare with you, can they?

  “And with that… maybe we both have secrets to share.”

  “I think I’m done here,” Chloe said, looking at Trish. “But I’d love to talk more later. Perhaps if I was made a deal?”

  “And then we can run off and take apart the SA coven. I’ll be happy to participate in that,” Chloe thought to herself, her eyes sliding back to Gus. “Get me out of here, Agent, and we’ll burn them to the ground. An old one such as I and a telepath like you could do many things. Maybe even fulfill that offer I made you, too.”

  Gus… didn’t know what to say.

  Chapter 5 - Let’s Make a Deal

  Frowning, Gus ran his hand over his face. In the end, he’d failed miserably and been outed. Chloe was apparently no stranger to having her thoughts attacked. She’d even developed her own way of fishing an active mind reader out into the open.

  Trish made a rotating motion with her hand.

  “No one can hear us now. And any camera looking our way won’t be recording,” she said.

  “Thanks, Trish.” Gus shook his head. Leaning back, he looked up at the interior of the car.

  “Tell me what happened there? Something clearly happened,” Trish said. To be fair, the situation was a little strange. Chloe hadn’t exactly helped with the way she’d been speaking.