by Martha Carr
“You’re so afraid, you’re like a scared little man running to his car. Ha-ha!”
Normally, the bounty hunter would have smiled at the sound of Nelson’s curses before he slammed the door of his black SUV shut and the vehicle raced away. Right now, he didn’t. Instead, he clutched the edge of his worktable and stared at the bulging file of his daughter’s case like it was a bomb he had no idea how to diffuse.
And it’ll go off sooner or later. Ain’t nothin’ I can do ʼbout that.
Lisa stopped at the entrance to the workshop and leaned against the doorway, her arms folded. “Is everything taken care of?”
“Yep.” He glared at the file.
“Anything I should know about?”
“Nothin’ worth repeatin’, but here.” He took Wallace’s tracking device from his pocket and tossed it at her.
She caught it deftly and turned it in her hands. “What’s this?”
“Ain’t a pair of cuffs, but it’ll lead you to that indictment for…whatever charges you wanna stick on Terrance Glaston. You ask me, bad parentin’ should be illegal too.”
Lisa fought back a smile and pocketed the tracker. “I agree.” She glanced at Amanda, who’d stretched on the couch with her head on the armrest. “I’m gonna head to the hotel, Johnny, and start a formal report on this Logree case. Let the department know everything that’s worth telling them and advise them of Glaston’s location. He won’t get out of this scot-free but I have no problem leaving out the rest. Then we’ll wait for the next case to come in.”
Johnny turned to look at her and cocked his head. “Naw, darlin’. You shouldn’t have to wait around for me to take a job I only kinda want.”
“Oh, that’s what these are, huh?” Lisa fought back a smile. “You only kinda want these cases.”
He sniffed and didn’t say anything else.
“You know, I might hang around for a few other things if I had a reason to.”
He studied her for a long moment. Any other time, that one-liner would be an open invitation I might take. “Well. Your reasons are your own, darlin’. Your car. Ain’t no one forcin’ you to stay in the swamp.”
She stared at him and her coy smile faded into one of understanding instead. “Right. I’m getting this ‘Johnny needs his space’ vibe, so I’ll get out of your hair. You let me know about whatever case finds itself in your lap next, okay?”
“Uh-huh.”
The agent glanced pointedly at the stuffed file folder on his worktable. “And if you still want to take me up on my offer with that one.”
“’Preciate it.”
“Yeah, I know.” She headed down the hall and the door shut quietly behind her.
The dwarf grunted and stared at the file again. I ain’t in the right mindset for this one. I can’t fuckin’ do it today.
He returned to the living room, fully intending to slump onto the couch and put his feet up.
Amanda stretched with a pre-teen sigh. “Ugh. I thought they’d never leave.”
Johnny snorted. “Kid after my own heart, ain’tcha?”
“Maybe a little.” She sat and leaned against the armrest on the far side of the couch, silently offering him the other side.
The bounty hunter sat and rubbed his mouth. “It’s been a weird couple of days, huh?”
“Kind of. Yeah.”
“I reckon things will be a little quieter ʼround here. At least until the next case comes up.” Or the next time a redneck shifter tries to step foot on my property lookin’ to recruit.
As if she’d read his mind, the girl looked away from him with a grimace. “I did go see that pack yesterday.”
“Oh…” He closed his eyes. “Confession time, is it?”
“I want to tell you what happened, okay? I told them I don’t need a pack and I don’t want one.”
His eyes snapped open and he stared at the coffee table. That’s not what I expected. “I reckon they didn’t take that one too well.”
“It could have been worse.” She shrugged and picked at a loose thread on the couch cushion’s seam. “They laughed at me and told me to get lost. Which I did. Well, not literally. But I left.”
“Fine distinction.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t want anything to do with shifters like that if they’re gonna keep treating me like a kid.”
Johnny snorted. “You are a kid.”
“I mean a stupid kid. Like I have no idea what I want or what I think or what I’m doing.”
“Uh-huh.” He folded his arms and studied her. “Well, you ain’t anywhere close to stupid. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”
“Duh.”
They both laughed and he steeled himself for what he expected to be another tense conversation. It needs to happen. “Listen, kid. We still have a few bugs to work out with this whole livin’ situation in the swamps. Now, maybe I wasn’t specific enough the first time—”
“I’ll do better.” Amanda nodded quickly and gazed at him with wide, eager eyes. “Promise. I’ll listen. I’ll pay attention and follow the rules. This morning was…” She swallowed thickly. “I don’t want that to happen again. Yeah, anyone coming after me with guns trying to get to you is seriously an asshole.”
He sniggered but nodded for her to continue.
“And they would have killed me. So… I feel bad about it, but not really.”
“Yeah, I know the feelin’.”
“But I don’t want to leave. I truly don’t, Johnny. I like it here.”
“All right.”
They sat in silence for a moment before she turned quickly toward him. “I should get a cell phone.”
Johnny laughed gruffly. “You mean I should get you a cell phone.”
“Well, yeah.”
“Naw. All that’s a whole different kinda trouble I ain’t fixin’ to deal with it.”
“Think about it, though. If I’d had a cell phone this morning, maybe I could have called you before things got weird with those…guys with guns.”
He frowned at her. “You just said you didn’t want that to happen again.”
“I don’t. But if it did—”
“Yeah, yeah. Tryin’ to stay two steps ahead of the game, huh?”
She grinned and pointed at him. “Exactly. And all the other kids at my school in New York had cell phones. I don’t know why we didn’t, but it’s stupid to not do the one thing that would let us talk to each other no matter where we are, right?”
“You callin’ me stupid, kid?”
Amanda gave him a one-shouldered shrug. “Only if you don’t get me a cell phone.”
“Yeah, keep talkin’ to me like that. See how far it gets ya.”
“Please?”
The dwarf pushed off the couch. “I’m takin’ a shower.”
“Will you at least think about it?”
“Maybe.”
“It’s not like you’re giving me one of your grenades or anything—”
The bathroom door shut behind him, followed by the sound of running water. Staring at the door, Amanda rolled her eyes and lay back on the couch. He’s gonna get me a phone.
Chapter Thirty-Two
One week later
Johnny walked down the spiral staircase in the old church and half-watched two kids who couldn’t have been older than ten race past him up the stairs. The other half of him focused on finishing his last text to Amanda after she’d asked if she could take the airboat out for a spin.
Don’t forget to tie it up when you’re done.
He slipped his phone into his pocket and headed down the hall once he’d reached the basement. Okay, fine. Gettin’ the kid a phone was a good idea.
“You know where we’re going, Johnny?” Rex asked and sniffed along the floor beside the wall as the folks talking in the hallway backed away from the dwarf and his hounds.
“Hey, mister.” A woman wrapped tightly in a baggy shawl stared at the coonhounds and shook her finger at him. “No dogs allowed down here. Those are the rul
es.”
Luther whipped his head up to sniff at the edge of her shawl, which she jerked away from him with a humph of disapproval. He sneezed and shook his head. “Yeesh. You’d think if they had rules about dogs, Johnny, they’d have rules about showering.”
“Not allowed!” she shouted.
A door opened quickly on the right up ahead, and a man with shaggy gray hair in an oversized sweater stepped into the hall. “It’s all right, Kiki. They’re guests for the day. Dogs and all.”
The woman frowned at Johnny, then sidled down the hall and jerked her shawl even tighter around her.
“You the doc?” Johnny asked as he approached the man. Looks more like a hippie on the run than a doctor.
“Leahy.” The man nodded and shook his hand with a small, tight smile. “Thank you for coming out on such short notice.”
“Well, you caught my attention, Doc. That’s sayin’ somethin’.”
“So I’ve heard.” Leahy eyed the hounds. “Those dogs housebroken?”
“They do fine. And they stay with me.”
“Of course. Come on in.” The gray-haired man held the door open and gestured for him to step inside.
“Johnny, there’s some serious smell coming out of that room,” Rex muttered.
“Yeah, were you supposed to be at a solo meeting?”
He snapped his fingers and both hounds fell in line behind him to enter the office. The doc shut the door behind him and pointed across the cluttered room scattered with books and loose papers. “Please have a seat, Mr. Walker, and I’ll make a few introductions.”
“Naw, just Johnny.” The dwarf headed toward the third metal folding chair in front of the cluttered yellow desk in the back.
Standing behind the other chairs were Doc Leahy’s two other guests. The first was a huge, muscular man in a duster and boots, his hair closely cropped and his expressionless face covered in layers of what looked like oddly shaped scars. The second was a Jasper Elf with dark hair cut just above her shoulders. Both of them studied him with appraising glances, and the woman raised an eyebrow at the hounds sniffing around the sunken couch at the side of the room.
“This is James Brownstone,” Doc Leahy said and gestured toward the large man as he took his place behind his desk.
“Woah.” Johnny studied him as he paused at the third chair. “I’m guessin’ you ain’t the kinda fella hears, ‘Hey there, handsome’ all that much, huh?”
The muscular man nodded brusquely at the knife hanging from Johnny’s belt. “I’m guessing you’re the kinda guy who carries a blade like that around tryin’ to compensate for something.”
“Yeah. Like a bigger knife.”
“Tell him what you brought in the car, Johnny,” Rex muttered.
“Bozo has no idea who he’s messing with,” Luther added.
The dwarf snapped his fingers again, narrowed his eyes at the man, and raised an index finger. Both hounds sat and shut up.
The Jasper Elf folded her arms over her dark jacket and frowned. “The doc called a meeting, not a pissing contest. You guys can compare knife sizes later.”
Doc Leahy cleared his throat, and all three of them turned to look at him. “Leira Berens. And Johnny Walker. Now you know each other and I want to thank you all for agreeing to meet me here. Have a seat.”
His guests all sat at once, and Johnny sniffed. Already off to a fine start.
“So I’ll get straight to the point.” The doc nodded at Leira and sat behind the desk. “We have something of a minor problem in LA. Beneath it, to be more precise—a fairly large community of wayward minors living beneath the city, all of them magicals. A few prefer to keep to themselves, staying under the radar and out of trouble. But the majority of these kids have a knack for causing trouble. Now they’re not the worst we’ve seen around here, but I can’t help thinking that if we could find some way to provide them with a little direction—more of a purpose beyond scrounging beneath the city for their survival—we’d be doing both them and LA’s streets an invaluable favor.”
“I don’t see why you called us in for a couple of kids,” Brownstone muttered.
“It’s rather more than a couple, Mr. Brownstone. At the last count I received—and it was only an estimate, mind you—there were close to a hundred.”
“I reckon you already know what I do,” Johnny added and squinted at him. “But I ain’t seein’ the connection either.”
Doc Leahy gave Leira a knowing glance, then nodded. “I called the department’s Level-Six bounty hunters together because I’m hoping the three of you can help.”
The dwarf snorted. “In my experience, doc, magical kids runnin’ ʼround on their own with no supervision ain’t exactly keen on bein’ rounded up and brought in as a bounty.”
The other two visitors both gave him calculating glances.
“There’s no bounty on their heads, Mr—” Doc Leahy inclined his head. “Johnny. I merely hope to open an avenue to offer these kids a little more…structured guidance, if you will.”
“Why not send them to my grandmother’s school?” Leira suggested.
“Ah. The School of Necessary Magic is an excellent institution, yes. But as I’m sure you can imagine, these young magicals beneath the city don’t exactly have the kind of background and life experience to qualify them for enrollment. They’re smart enough, yes, but rough around the edges. With a certain aversion to authority, if you catch my drift.”
Like us. Johnny cast the other two bounty hunters a sidelong glance.
“It’s understandable,” Doc Leahy continued, “but not exactly suitable for an already established school. Not to mention the fact that the School of Necessary Magic most likely can’t support an influx of a hundred magical kids all needing a little…extra attention.”
“Why are we here, doc?” The Jasper Elf folded her arms.
“All three of you have had experience raising children,” the man said and slid his hands onto the desk. “And I’ve heard a thing or two about the Bounty Hunter Department running a little short these days on available bounty hunters.”
“Who told you that?” Johnny asked.
“My sources. Which have also expressed to me that these kids, generally speaking, have what it takes to follow in a bounty hunter’s footsteps. With the right discipline, of course. And that’s where I believe the three of you would be particularly useful.”
The office fell silent.
Damn, Doc.
Johnny scratched the side of his face. “You ain’t gonna come on out and say it, are you?”
Leahy raised his eyebrows. “Say what?”
“You want us to start a damn Quantico for magical kids with no roots and turn ʼem into baby bounty hunters.”
Brownstone grunted. Leira turned wide eyes onto the doc.
He gestured with a wide smile. “It’s an excellent suggestion, Johnny.”
A knock came at the door, which then opened to reveal a thin man in overalls who peeked into the room. “Sorry to interrupt, Doc. We have a live one just came in. You mind takin’ a look?”
“Sure. Thanks, Leo.” The man stood and nodded at the bounty hunters in his office. “Excuse me. Never a dull moment here, but I shouldn’t be too long.”
When he left and closed the door behind him, Johnny, Leira, and James stared at different points of the desk, and the room filled with a thick silence.
The dwarf’s phone buzzed and he pulled it out to see another text from Amanda.
Can I take the big gun with me?
He snorted and texted back quickly.
No.
“Are we holding you up from some other important meeting?” Brownstone asked.
Johnny slid his phone into his pocket. “It’s my kid—ward, actually. But she might as well be mine.”
“That’s a big undertaking,” Leira commented.
“One way to put it, yeah.” He sniffed. “Both of y’all got kids too, huh?”
They both responded with noncommittal nods.
Yeah, and I reckon kids of other Level-Six bounty hunters ain’t exactly the type to listen and follow rules left and right, either.
“What’s her name?” Leira asked.
“Amanda. Smart kid. Shifter. Little rough around the edges too, like the doc was sayin’. But she’s gettin’ better. I just ain’t got the time to give her what she needs right now. Beyond the necessaries, mind.”
Brownstone raised and lowered his eyebrows. “Sounds like she’d fit right in with these LA hoodlums underground.”
He snorted. “Yeah, she’d have a time. Call it all in good fun.”
“That was an interesting way to put it.” Leira shrugged. “Quantico for magical kids.”
“But to be bounty hunters?” Johnny shook his head. “That road ain’t for everyone, and from the looks of ya, y’all know exactly what I’m sayin’.”
The large man leaned back in the folding metal chair, which groaned beneath his weight. “It worked fine for us.”
“It might be the only thing that works for us,” Leira added.
“Y’all are serious?” He glanced from one to the other. “You gonna entertain this hippie doc’s idea?”
The woman smiled. “It’s not the worst suggestion he’s made.”
“I’m sure the feds would take your ward if you wanted her off your hands,” the other man muttered.
He narrowed his eyes at him. Mr. Funny Guy over here, huh? “I didn’t say I wanted her off my hands. And I don’t trust the feds half as far as I can throw ʼem.”
The others both smirked and nodded.
They know exactly what I mean.
“But if you had a say in a new school…” Leira shrugged. “Bounty hunter school or whatever, would you feel safer placing Amanda there?”
The dwarf frowned and rubbed his mouth. “Depends on how far away from home she was.”
“And where’s home for you?”
“The Everglades.” Merely saying it brought a tiny smile to his lips. “Home to the kid now too.”
“Huh.” Brownstone cocked his head and searched the stuffed shelves of Doc Leahy’s office. “Considerable open land in the middle of nowhere down there.”
“Sure is.” He nodded slowly. “I own a good deal of it.”