Cloak & Ghost: Blood Ring

by Moeller, Jonathan

  “Malcolm Lock?” said Nadia as Caina locked her computer and stood up again.

  “I do enjoy historical novels,” said Caina. “Like I said, everyone needs a hobby.”

  “My husband likes to read,” said Nadia. She slid the Malcolm Lock book back onto the shelf. “It’s safe to tell you that because I’m sure you’ve deduced that already.” She glanced at Caina. “You’re very cautious around wizards, aren’t you?”

  “I’ve had some bad experiences,” said Caina.

  Nadia grinned. “Is that why you have that shotgun bolted under your desk?”

  Caina blinked. “How did you know about that?”

  “Reflection on the glass of that map of New York City behind your desk,” said Nadia. “See, you’re not the only one who’s observant.”

  “My mother could use magic,” said Caina, walking around the desk. “When I was younger, I wanted to kill all humans who could use magic.”

  Nadia gave her a wary glance. “What changed your mind? I’m hoping something changed your mind, seeing as how I’m standing three feet from you.”

  Caina shrugged. “I got older. Magic’s like money, or elected office, or power, or even charisma. It’s just another form of power. It isn’t even really ‘magic’ in that it’s something we don’t understand or something supernatural. It’s just aetheric radiation from the Shadowlands, and it can do good things or bad things. Some people abuse it, and some do not. And it seems that Joseph Sulzer is abusing every form of power he can find. Let’s go talk to my cybersecurity expert. She likes to camp out in the server room, I’m afraid.”

  Nadia nodded, and Caina left her office and led the way to the door at the end of the corridor. She unlocked it, and they took another flight of steps down to the basement level. The HVAC equipment was down here, along with the armory, long-term file storage, the gym where Caina both exercised and worked out her frustrations, and other supply rooms. She walked to another steel door, unlocked it, and stepped into the server room.

  Immediately the whine of hundreds of computer fans filled her ears, and a blast of cold air washed over her face from the air conditioning. Two dozen server racks filled the room, thousands of green and blue LEDs blinking. Thick bundles of wires dropped from the backs of the servers and disappeared into ducts in the floor or ran along the ceiling in wire baskets. There was a plastic folding table facing the server racks, sagging beneath the weight of a half-dozen monitors, their surfaces covered with green text on a black background.

  A gaunt red-haired woman sat cross-legged in a desk chair before the monitors, her feet bare. She wore tan cargo pants, a black tank top, and a gray sweater that could have held three of her. Nadia looked a bit underfed, but the red-haired woman had the gaunt appearance of a recovering drug addict. Her ragged red hair hadn’t been cut evenly, and her green eyes were fixed on the monitors. She hummed a tune as she typed, from time to time taking a drink from the enormous travel mug of coffee next to her keyboard.

  “Hello, Nerina,” said Caina. “I keep telling you to work in your office. It’s not freezing in there.”

  “But I’m right next to the servers down here,” said Nerina, not looking up from her screens. “If there is a drive failure in one of the hard drive arrays, I can replace the failed component at once. That can result in faster computational times of up to three point four percent.”

  “Have you started working on that phone?” said Caina, hoping that Nerina hadn’t gotten distracted. Nerina Strake was the best cybersecurity expert that Caina had ever met, but she did tend to get distracted.

  “Yes, of course,” said Nerina. She gestured at the phone in the mirroring case, which was plugged into one of the servers. “I have been recording everything since you brought it last night. Mr. Sulzer’s activities have been most interesting, and...”

  She turned in her chair and blinked up at Nadia, who watched her with bemusement.

  Nerina jumped to her feet, the chair spinning behind her.

  “Nerina...” started Caina, but it was too late.

  “You are sixty-three inches tall and one hundred eleven pounds of weight,” said Nerina. “When expressed in pounds and inches, your weight is approximately one point one seven six one times larger than your height.”

  “Um,” said Nadia. “Okay?”

  “Oh!” said Nerina. She slapped her forehead with the heels of her hands. “Oh, I forgot, social graces! I always forget those. But mathematical equations are so much more precise and elegant. Social graces are always so sloppy and imprecise and do not chart to accurate mathematics.”

  Caina looked at Nadia, wondering if she would be offended, but she only laughed.

  “Do you always greet people this way?” said Nadia.

  “Yes, regrettably,” said Nerina. She sighed

  “Yeah,” said Caina. “We don’t let her meet clients anymore.”

  Nerina sighed. “The mayor’s wife was very offended. But there was no way she weighed only one hundred and forty-one pounds, as I attempted to explain to her mathematically.”

  Nadia held out her hand. “I’m not a client. And I’m not a politician’s wife, thank God.”

  Nerina blinked at her, then smiled and shook her hand. “You have an unusually strong grip. Your muscle mass ratio is at least one point four times stronger than average for your height.”

  “Thanks,” said Nadia. “I think.”

  “Oh, it was a compliment,” said Nerina. “I need to work on my grip. Caina keeps telling me that I should exercise more, but there is never enough time, and I get distracted by the fascinating mathematical problems inherent in network security, and then...”

  “We should talk about Sulzer’s phone,” said Caina.

  “What?” said Nerina. “Oh, yes, of course.” She dropped back into her chair and started typing. Two of the monitor’s displays changed to show an enlarged image of a phone screen. The phone’s wallpaper showed Congressman Joseph Sulzer with his arm around the waist of one of the dancers from the Cattleman’s Pride, a dancer who was wearing only a few strips of strategically placed silk.

  Nadia barked a laugh. “Subtle.”

  “And characteristic,” said Nerina, typing more commands. Files appeared on the other displays. “Congressman Sulzer uses this phone a lot. Last night he employed it to send several payments to various escort services.”

  Caina looked at the screens. “Probably for some of the women who were on the stage at his party.”

  “Ew,” said Nadia. “Our tax dollars at work.”

  “Do not worry,” said Nerina. “It doesn’t look like he used any tax money, but instead kickback funds from various businesses.”

  “Oh, good, he’s just corrupt,” said Nadia. “Big improvement.”

  “Not really,” said Caina. “Did he use any other applications?”

  “He did,” said Nerina. “I thought you would find this interesting. Sulzer accessed several banking apps repeatedly.” A list of the banks appeared on the screen. “He has accounts at all of these banks, and he checked all of them tonight and again this morning.”

  “Paranoid, isn’t he?” said Nadia.

  “If he wasn’t, Homeland Security would have arrested him years ago,” said Caina. “He has accounts at seventeen different banks...”

  “Yeah,” said Nadia. “Wait, wait, wait. Let me check something.”

  She drew out her phone, unlocked the screen, and pulled up a file. Caina glanced at the screen and saw that it was a picture of a financial statement. Nadia flicked through several more pictures of financial statements and then nodded in satisfaction.

  “Got something?” said Caina.

  “Yep,” said Nadia. “According to his phone, Sulzer has accounts at seventeen different banks. But my information sources include his tax returns for the last couple of years, and according to those, he only has accounts at twelve different banks.”

  “Then he does his off-the-books business at those five banks,” said Caina. “Nerina, can y
ou bring up that other screen capture? No, that other one.”

  Nadia leaned closer as the image appeared. “And according to those apps...Mr. Sulzer has safe deposit boxes at all five of those banks.”

  “Wonder what he keeps in those,” said Caina. She looked at Nadia. “Want to help me rob some banks?”

  “It’ll be just like the bad old days,” said Nadia with a smirk. Caina wondered what that meant. “I haven’t robbed a bank for a couple of months, so why not do it now?”

  “Great,” said Caina. “Let’s plan some robberies.”

  ***

  Chapter 6: Slightly Illegal

  The next morning, I prepared to help Caina rob a few banks.

  That was technically illegal, I know, but the High Queen had told me to find proof to bring down Sulzer, and so long as I didn’t kill or hurt anyone, I doubted she would care very much how the sausage got made. Besides, I was planning to break into the safe deposit boxes of a man who was a Rebel and Archon collaborator, and who was either harboring or actually was a necromancer.

  Once the proof of his crimes went to Homeland Security and possibly the Inquisition, some safe deposit boxes were going to be the least of Sulzer’s worries. And no Elves used the five banks that Sulzer employed for his secret businesses. That meant I wouldn’t have to worry about magical defenses. With my Cloaking, Masking, and Occlusion spells, I could walk right in, take what I wanted, and leave again without any human guards or mechanical alarms noticing my presence.

  Which disturbed me a little, if I was honest.

  I had a lot of power, which meant I had the responsibility to use it well. The High Queen and Morvilind had both told me that the price of power was the duty and the responsibility to use it wisely, and they hadn’t been wrong. If I really wanted to, I could probably steal enough in a single day to make myself a billionaire.

  If I was going to rob some banks, I had to make sure I did it for the right reasons.

  Then again, since I had seen a small army of undead specters rise from the ground, I was pretty sure I had damned good reasons.

  Caina and I had worked out our plan the afternoon before, and I got dressed. I donned a gray pencil skirt, a white blouse, and a gray jacket, finishing the outfit off with high heels and a light touch of makeup. Into a small purse, I tucked my phone, a handgun, and a lockpick gun, though I didn’t think I would need them. Once I was dressed, I looked like a secretary.

  Which was good, since that was the goal. The last time I had dressed like this had been the last time I had helped rob a bank, come to think of it. Back when Morvilind had been forcing me to work with Nicholas Connor and his Rebels, and Nicholas had been planning to break into the vaults of the Royal Bank to find information about the Sky Hammer project. The Royal Bank had been far better defended than the banks that Caina and I would visit today.

  Then again, I had almost gotten killed several times during that job, and I had been shot four times.

  No, best to be careful, even in a bank that lacked the Royal Bank’s superb defenses. One mistake could still get me killed.

  I finished checking my reflection in the bathroom mirror when I heard my phone ring. I hurried to the dining room to fish it out of my purse, and I saw that it was Riordan’s number. It was seven in the morning, which meant it would be noon or so in London. I grinned and lifted it to my ear.

  “Nadia’s printer toner,” I said, remembering when he had called me to ask me to dinner for the first time. “You empty out the cartridges, we’ll fill them up again. Satisfaction guaranteed.”

  “You’re running an office supply business out of my condo?” said Riordan in a dry voice.

  “I think you’d be more interested in the guaranteed satisfaction,” I said.

  “I’ll take you up on that very soon,” said Riordan. “The business trip has gone well. We’ve tracked down most of the clients, and we haven’t lost any associates.”

  That meant the group of Shadow Hunters had found and killed most of the wraithwolves, and they hadn’t lost any of their number in the process.

  “That’s very good news,” I said. “Never fun to lose associates.” I hesitated, unsure of how much I could tell him. “My boss has a job for me right now.”

  “Does she?” said Riordan, his voice growing wary.

  “It’s nothing major,” I said. “I don’t even have to leave New York, and it should be wrapped up in a few days. I’ll tell you all about it when you get back. Um...but I do need to ask you something, and I think I can discuss this over the phone.”

  “What is it?” said Riordan.

  “Have you ever heard of a company called Ghost Securities?” I said. “I thought they just provided security guards for hospitals, but I suppose they do more.”

  “Just a bit more, yes,” said Riordan. “They’re...very dedicated to their mission. Ruthless when they think it necessary. But my company has done business with them before. They can be trusted, once they give their word.”

  “Can they?” I said. That was good to hear. I didn’t think Caina was setting me up, but I hadn’t survived this long by taking chances. “Have you ever met their New York branch director?”

  “I’ve never met her, no,” said Riordan. “I’ve heard of her, though. She has a good reputation with my company. We’ve subcontracted some work out to Ghost Securities from time to time.”

  “Really,” I said. I supposed that meant Caina knew that the Family of the Shadow Hunters was a real organization and not a group of stock characters in popular fiction. (I had seen a few movies about Shadow Hunters, and they were always ridiculously inaccurate.) I decided not to ask her about it. She had already deduced more about me than I was comfortable sharing, and I didn’t want her to know that my husband was a Shadow Hunter.

  “If your boss has you working with them, you can trust them to a point,” said Riordan. “They won’t double-cross you unless they have a very good reason.” His voice turned dry again. “And if they double-cross you, I suppose you’ll make them regret it.”

  “And how,” I said. Caina’s abilities made her immune to illusions, but they wouldn’t stop a sphere of elemental fire or an ice spike. I wanted to ask if Riordan had ever heard of the valikarion, but that wasn’t a safe topic for a phone call.

  “Be careful,” said Riordan.

  “I’m always careful,” I said.

  He laughed. “And you’re such a good liar.”

  “No, I’ll be careful,” I said. “I’m really looking forward to you coming back. Satisfaction guaranteed.”

  “I’ll look forward to it,” said Riordan.

  The conversation reminded me of when we had first started seeing each other, over a hundred and sixty years ago from my perspective, but only a few years from his. We had taken things slowly, because I had been burned in my relationship with Nicholas, and both of Riordan’s previous lovers had betrayed him and tried to kill him. But we had flirted a lot, had a lot of long phone conversations like this.

  But, well, we were married now. There was no reason to do anything slowly.

  Except for reasons of satisfaction, of course.

  I wanted to stay on the phone with him, but we both had work to do, so we said goodbye and hung up. I let out a long breath, switched the phone to silent mode, and dropped it back into my purse. I really wished that Riordan were here. For one thing, I missed him. For another, he could have watched my back. I was reasonably sure that Caina was trustworthy, but I had been wrong before. And we were chasing a corrupt Congressman and a necromancer. A Shadow Hunter was a useful man to have around for that kind of thing.

  I checked my reflection one last time, nodded to myself, and headed out.

  I caught a taxi and told the driver to take me to the House of Agabyzus in Brooklyn. The fare was exorbitant, but I didn’t know how long today’s work would take, and I didn’t want to leave Riordan’s SUV on the street. The only thing worse than dealing with New York parking was dealing with New York’s impound lots. I claimed
to be heading to the House of Agabyzus for a job interview, and the driver chatted away (well, rambled, mostly) about the various job interviews his children had done over the years, and the monologue eventually changed to a detailed analysis of the profound failings of New York’s various professional sports teams, followed by an account of how the driver had managed to stay alive during the Rebel attack on New York.

  We both agreed that was the damnedest thing we had ever seen.

  A half hour and several thousand words of conversation later, the taxi dropped me off at the House of Agabyzus. I looked around and spotted Caina sitting at one of the tables on the terrace, two cardboard cups of coffee before her. She was wearing a black suit and a white blouse of a different cut than yesterday. A gold chain glinted around her neck, along with earrings and a gold pin in her lapel. She had on a brown wig, and this time her contact lenses darkened her eyes to a near-black color. The combined effect made her look stark and forbidding, like a particularly humorless auditor.

  “Good morning,” I said. “I like the Power Bitch look.”

  Caina grinned. “It is a bit much, isn’t it? But since I’m going to pretend to be your boss, you can’t talk to me that way.”

  “Sorry,” I said, sitting across from her. “I like the Power Bitch look, ma’am.”

  Caina laughed. “Better, I suppose.” Her voice changed to her upper-class New York accent. She passed me the cup of coffee, and I took a grateful sip. “Ready?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Let’s go engage in off-the-books financial transactions.”