Covert Ops

by T. R. Cameron

  Her second-in-command took advantage of the distraction and fired triple groups of anti-magic bullets at the target. After the first, Diana released the shield as the woman lurched awkwardly, regained her balance, and suddenly raced away. The agent pursued but skidded to a stop as a section of the tunnel her quarry had fled down suddenly crumbled. Cara halted abruptly beside her and gestured at it with her chin. “Backup plan. Smart.”

  “Right?”

  They returned to the main portion of the cavern to find that Nylotte and Rath had trussed the enemies and dragged them out to the center to make it easier to retrieve them on the way out. Diana looked at the altar and the stairs leading to it before she faced the Drow. “Suggestions?”

  Nylotte shrugged. “No, actually. Nothing that I’ve found or that Lady Alayne provided you has anything to say about this.”

  Cara said, “I call left side.”

  She laughed. “We head up together. Nylotte can stay here to rescue us if things go wrong.”

  It was a shock to all of them when everything went right. Moments later, the two women and the troll stood at the table and stared at the blades. Diana shook her head. “They look so ordinary.”

  Cara replied, “They’re beautiful.”

  Rath nodded in agreement.

  “So, there’s every indication that these things have a mind of their own.” Diana gestured at the weapons. “It’s probably safe to assume they’d have a preference as to who gets to use them. Nylotte is more of an attack from the back sort, and Hank’s magic doesn’t lend itself to this fighting, so it’s down to the three of us.”

  Her second-in-command sighed. “It has to be you, then, boss.”

  “No, I don’t think so. How about this—we each put our hands over them and see what happens. Maybe they’ll let us know. If not, we’ll decide from there.”

  Rath nodded. “I’ll go first.” He stretched his hand out and remained motionless for several seconds. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and he shook his head. “Nothing.”

  Diana moved forward to try next. She closed her eyes and tried to reach out to the weapons but failed to feel any kind of connection.

  Cara took a deep breath and stepped forward. As her hands moved closer, a sense of active magic permeated the platform and the daggers changed. Color crept over the blades and washed slowly from the point to replace the silver. One transformed to pure white, and the other deepest black. She gasped as they leapt into her palms. The woman’s voice was filled with wonder. “They’re…talking to me.”

  Around them, the cavern began to shake. Nylotte raced up to the platform, barely ahead of crumbling pedestals and a collapsing roof. Diana saw the stones fall upon their trussed prisoners but couldn’t feel too much regret about them facing the ultimate consequences of their actions. The Drow summoned a portal to her workshop, and they all dived through as the crypt fell in on the space they’d abandoned.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “I can’t believe you went to another damn planet and you didn’t invite me.” Hank spoke loudly from across the yard where he stood near the grill with Cara. There had been much jockeying for the position of grillmaster but ultimately, her second-in-command had claimed it and selected the newest agent to assist. Diana didn’t have a dog in that particular fight, as long as she didn't have to do it.

  There had been an incident. Kayleigh and Rath still teased her about it. Well, hell, how am I supposed to know that fish flakes like that and gets all over the place? And oh, by the way, it certainly wasn’t my choice to do fish, anyway. Fortunately, they had stuck to proper grill food for this gathering—burgers, hot dogs, Kielbasa, and chicken.

  It was the first time most of the team had been to the house she shared with Rath and Kayleigh, and the teasing had started in the first minute with the first guest—Tony—and hadn’t stopped since. Her standard reply was, “Welcome, have a beer, go out into the yard, and shut up about the house.” But it was said with a smile.

  Now, looking at them all with a drink in her hand and the sun starting to work its way toward the horizon, she was filled with satisfaction. Her team had come together spectacularly well. She was reluctant to discuss business for fear of breaking the spell of pleasure, but there were things she needed to say before everyone became silly later. And silly was inevitable—it was part of the requirements for attending. The lawn darts had been hidden away and replaced by a few setups of the Midwest version of horseshoes, which involved beanbags and an inclined target with a hole in it, and she expected the competition to be fierce.

  Her first stop was Sloan, who watched Rath and Max. He was still processing recent events, but when she’d asked him whether he could continue, he’d merely shrugged and given her a smile. “It’s what I do. I’ll be fine. I’ve been here before. No worries.” She tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention and asked the question she’d promised herself to put to him at least every second day. “Hey, Face. Time to come out?”

  He grinned at her. “Oh, hell no. There’s way more trouble I can cause for these jerks before I fade.”

  She laughed and moved on to her next target, Tony. The former detective argued with Anik about which variety of hotdogs was better, chili-cheese or Chicago. The demolitions expert was in favor of the latter, and Tony seemed personally offended by his stance. “Seriously, man, all the deliciousness of chili on a hotdog. How can you not see the glory?”

  Diana stepped in before the other man could answer. “Hey there, Stark, what’s the deal on Starsky and Hutch?”

  He wiped his mouth before he answered. “Vicki is the better of the two, but they’re both quality. I think we can continue to use them for support. I’d like to give them some investigative stuff, too, if their chief signs off. And since she’s an old friend of mine, I'm sure she will.”

  She nodded. “Good. Keep me in the loop but do as you think best.” She turned to Anik. “What do you need that you don’t have?”

  He kept a straight face as he replied instantly, “A vacation.” She laughed with him at the joke, and he took a pull of his can of Lawful Evil Double IPA. “Seriously, though, it’s all good. I’m working up some specifications for an expanded demo kit based on what we’ve faced and should be ready to start putting it together soon.”

  Diana put a mock look of fear on her face and turned it into a grin. “Excellent plan. I can’t wait to see it when it’s done.”

  She circled to the tech table, which was a corner of the picnic bench that Kayleigh had insisted on having in their back yard. In retrospect, it had been a solid idea. The duo held down one end of it, and the rest was covered in foods of various kinds, wrapped to keep them warm or cool, whichever was required. She smelled the corn on the grill, and it made her mouth water as she took a seat beside Deacon.

  “So, trouble twins, is everything good?”

  The new team member laughed, and the old one simply rolled her eyes as always. He said, “We need better computers. This off-the-shelf stuff is crap.”

  Kayleigh added, “Crap for work, super-crap for gaming.”

  Diana laughed. “Work hard, play hard. Try not to break the bank, okay? Or, you know, find a bad guy’s offshore account and spend their money.” She’d meant it as a joke, but the way their eyes lit up told her she’d probably opened a door better left closed. Actually, maybe it’s time to start kicking doors down all over the place.

  She paused beside Rath and Max. The troll had put a target on the fence that ran along the back property line and threw small discs of grilled Kielbasa at it, launching each with deep concentration. After he’d reviewed where the missile impacted the man-shaped silhouette, the Borzoi would dash forward, barking, and snap up the fallen weapon before he returned to Rath’s side. She’d noticed that everyone made it a point to stop and talk to them. She grinned at the memory of going to the shelter with Rath to adopt the dog. That was a great day.

  “Not too much extra food for Maxie, Rath.” She pointed at him. “He seems like
he’s gained weight. Perhaps you need to take him patrolling more often.”

  The troll looked shocked, then stared at his partner and knelt to run his hands over him. “Maybe a little. Max must train harder. Starting tomorrow.” The dog gave a snort and lay on the grass to watch his sausage-throwing friend with attentive eyes.

  Diana laughed as she finally made her way around to the grillers. Anik hadn’t seemed at all tense about them hanging out together, so she assumed Cara and he had come to some kind of understanding. A bystander might assume she and Hank were a couple, but the body language was definitely more locker room than ballroom. Or bedroom. She stepped rudely between them and turned to face Hank, completely eclipsing her second-in-command. “So, new guy, what do you think?”

  He coughed once on the combination of beer and laughter at whatever Cara did behind her. “All love. Love the town, love the people, love the action.” He got a suspicious look in his eye and she threw a hand up to stop him.

  “One word, only one, about anything involving more than four wheels and I will throw you over that fence. And I think my elderly neighbor would find you very attractive as she nurses you back to health. What are your feelings on jello salad on a daily basis? She puts grapes and marshmallows in it.”

  He drew an imaginary zipper across his lips, and she nodded and spun without warning. Cara had been giving her bunny ears but put the hand behind her back with a look of complete innocence. She coughed once. “Hey, boss, nice party.”

  Diana stared at her with angry eyes, then relented. “You, of all people, need relaxation. Everything good with…you know?” She looked at the woman’s boots. Kayleigh had customized an off-the-shelf pair with sheaths for Cara’s new knives, and the woman had taken to wearing bootleg jeans until they found a better solution. The single time she’d tried to leave them behind, she’d only made it about ten feet before she fell to her knees with her hands clutching her head.

  The woman nodded. “Yep. We’re moving toward an understanding. Right now, I can only manage about a half-hour at a time of talking to them without becoming exhausted, so it’s slow going. But progress is happening.”

  “They’re not trying to turn you into a zombie?”

  “If they do, rest assured, your brain is the first one I’ll come for. It’s bound to be fluffy and delicious and not dense at all. You know, since you don’t have much packed in there.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I had it from ‘fluffy,’ thanks. Your burgers are burning.” They weren’t, but she enjoyed the way the other woman startled.

  Her rounds made, she sauntered over to stand in the doorway to the house and watch her people. Finally, the pair of clicks she’d waited for caught her attention as the front door opened and closed, and she turned with a smile. Bryant dropped his suitcase and came over to wrap her in a hug. She dug her head into his chest and breathed his cologne in. Her words were muffled by his clothes. “I missed you, chucklehead.”

  He laughed. “Good party?”

  She grinned. “It is now. Shut up and kiss me, you fool.”

  Once again, he obeyed orders like the excellent soldier he was. Her last thought before she let her concerns slip away was, Shit. I gave the techs the green light to steal money from bad guys. I hope they don’t talk to Cara and Hank about the semi.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Iressa limped angrily into the small den she used as her private office. It was sparsely decorated as she always tried to limit the demands she placed upon a host. It made manipulating their minds so much easier if there was less for them to object to. Switching hosts regularly increased the difficulty level for those who might be interested in tracking her.

  That, plus the use of illusions and a persistent habit of checking for watchers at all times and in all places kept her safe while her plans inched toward the moment when everything would come together.

  She paused to corral her emotions. When one of the falling rocks had struck her leg and broken the bone, she’d been upset. When the healing potion failed to restore it fully, she’d been irate. The healer she’d used had cowered beneath her passionate anger and made excuses or explanations that she wasn't interested in hearing—something about it only needing a day or two to mend due to her unique nature.

  Naturally, she’d killed the woman for bringing it up.

  The witch lowered herself into the seat behind the desk and set the disc before her. Some hours before, she'd alerted Sarah of the need to speak, and the time was at hand. She cast the communication spell, and vapor emerged from the small object to show the other witch in her office on Earth.

  Her minion spoke. “How may I serve you?”

  Iressa snarled, “Better than you have thus far, I hope.” The report of the authorities’ attack on the woman’s subordinate was beyond troubling. If they possessed that level of knowledge about the Remembrance, it threatened all of them, especially if they'd abandoned restraint as the escalation to executions suggested.

  If part of her anger was directed at herself for failing to kill those present in the crypt, well, that wasn’t something her pet witch needed to know.

  Sarah cringed at her words, and whispered, “Yes, master.”

  She sighed inwardly. The woman wouldn’t have been her first choice, but she’d have to do. “What is your status now?”

  The woman straightened. “Dreven has insisted on daily communication with Marcus and I.” A sneer slid over her face. “He directs us to engage in small actions, which the humans support fully. I feel it’s beneath us and distracts from our ultimate goal, but he doesn’t want to hear my protests.”

  She grinned. “Our dear Dreven is likely under some pressure from his master to do so. The fact that they scurry about like this means they do not have a clear path forward, or that this is only a part of it. We must plan for either eventuality.” But we mustn’t eliminate darling Dreven yet. Let them think they are safe and in control until the moment we are fully ready, and then they can share Ushev’s fate. The irony was that if they had succeeded in reaching the blades, she would have killed the gnome herself to claim them.

  “How do we do that, master?”

  Iressa’s grin widened. “We do it in three ways. First, you ensure that the magicals in your city’s Remembrance are completely loyal to you. Do anything you need to do. Money, magical items, vices, violence, whatever. They must be yours.”

  The glow of satisfaction that suffused Sarah was exactly what she’d intended. “With pleasure.”

  She nodded. “Second, you seek to turn these small acts into larger acts, especially when they involve the local authorities. That will put pressure on the group that killed your underling.” The witch flinched at the mention of that and revealed her own anger about it, which served her superior’s purposes perfectly. “Finally, we plan a strike against these people who are after you. We find out where they work, where they live, and where they go for fun. Then, we kill them, one and all.”

  Sarah grinned. “Yes, master. Thank you. It is beyond time that we had real leadership.”

  Suck-up. Iressa waved, and the connection dissolved. She steepled her fingers and defocused her eyes, turned inward, and considered the days to come. A distant corner of her mind suggested she might not be safe in her current location, which drew a sigh. When that voice spoke, she listened.

  She pushed herself up from her seat and winced at the stabbing pain in her shin. Thanks to the beauty she’d been blessed with and the powers of persuasion she’d developed over many hard and pain-filled years, there was a list of men dying to claim her. Little did they know the ultimate result of that particular desire. She considered the timing and decided she didn’t have to act immediately. First, a long, hot bath to make this accursed leg stop hurting. She exited the room and called for the house’s servants to prepare it for her. I’ll wait until tomorrow to kill my benefactor. Then, it’s on to the next.

  The story doesn’t end here. Follow Diana, Rath and FAM’s adventures in Agents of
Order.

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  Author Notes - TR Cameron

  Written June 27, 2019

  Seriously now, thank you.

  Thank you for reading the fifth book in the Federal Agents of Magic series, and for continuing on to the author notes! I continue to find great emotional support in the reviews and comments about the prior books – I’ll respond to a couple notable ones below, stealing shamelessly from Michael Anderle’s early approach to author notes. I’m deeply honored to be able to continue to share this ever-sprawling story with you.

  This book was big fun to write. After the culmination of the first arc in book 4, it was time to start making life difficult for the characters again. Hopefully you enjoyed it, and feel like things aren’t too easy for them!

  The next three books will challenge the Agents further, and push several of the characters against, and through, their existing boundaries. I think we’re done with adding new good guys for the time being, but I wouldn’t swear to it. Sometimes inspiration strikes and suddenly you just have to add someone! After those ones, books 9 and on are in the planning stages, and so far all signs point to big fun ahead.