by TR Cameron
The newcomer smiled at all of them. “I’m Kayleigh. Let’s get you finished up, Agent Sheen.”
She led them back into the main room to a table that was cleaner than the rest. Before Diana had a chance to examine it, Kayleigh said, “So, I hear that you made some terrorists upset with you on your first day.”
From inside her purse, Rath spoke the clearest words he’d said so far. “That happens when you kill four of them.”
The woman looked surprised. Michael clearly suppressed a laugh. Diana rolled her eyes with a sigh. “I absolutely should not have let him watch Assassins.”
Kayleigh leaned in. “So it’s true. You’ve been adopted by a troll.”
Michael confirmed it. “He’s in her purse.”
Diana shot him a look and he gave an unapologetic smile. “I told you we scan for everything. Expectations of privacy were abandoned the moment you signed your nondisclosure agreement, Agent Sheen.”
“It’s the same for all of us.” The other woman nodded. “Fortunately, the computers only display things out of the ordinary.” Her voice took on a note of excitement. “Can I meet him?”
Diana set her purse on the table. “Come on out, Rath. The jig’s up.”
He emerged slowly—only his purple hair at first, then his ears, and finally, the rest of him. The tiny creature wore a mischievous grin.
“He’s amazing,” Kayleigh said and extended her index finger to him. “Pleased to meet you, Rath. I’m Kayleigh.”
The troll blinked a few times before he took her finger in his hands and shook it. With great seriousness, he said, “Kayleigh, Rath.” Michael repeated the process, and Rath said, “Michael, Rath.” Diana simply shook her head. Once the greetings were complete, she put her palm down and the troll scampered up her arm to sit on her shoulder and lean against her neck.
Can this life get any weirder?
“Anyway….”
Kayleigh laughed. “Right, right. So, we have some stuff for you. First, your AR glasses. They’re wireless and provide data here and in the field. The feeds only work in proximity to one of our encoders, so you’ll get a repeater for your car and home before you leave.”
Diana tried them on. Tags appeared briefly on people, then faded. Information scrolled on the left periphery of her vision, and an empty space remained on the right. “Can I customize the content?”
The woman nodded. “There’s an app for that. We had the techs clone your phone when you entered, and we’ll give you an identical secure one before you leave. Don’t let it out of your sight, though, and don’t let anyone play with it without disarming the security first.”
“Or?”
Kayleigh smiled. “Or, it’ll explode and take out the hand—or troll—playing with it.” She stared at Rath, who echoed, “Explode.”
She reviewed the rest of the gear, which included a device that could disarm most alarm systems and electronic locks, a nondescript set of earpieces that would work with her phone and the Agency’s comm system, a smartwatch that acted as a panic button and locator, and the promise of an implantable tracker to be inserted between the bones in her arm before she left.
While Diana had acquainted herself with the gear, Emerson crept up on her undetected. She jumped when he spoke from a foot away. “Does the little guy ride around in your purse?”
Rath’s voice was sad when he replied, “Purse.”
“Well, my friend, that will never do. Diana, please bring your partner to my office.”
The troll said, “Rath.”
The scientist nodded. “I’m Carl Emerson. Everyone calls me Ems.”
“Emerson.” The troll sounded definitive that he would not use the nickname. Diana shrugged and followed the man back to his office. He rummaged in the boxes behind his desk and finally exclaimed, “Aha! There it is.”
He drew out a cylinder roughly twice the size of the troll and turned toward his desk with it. “It’s a gunpowder canister. If I move the latch and the hook from the outside to the inside, Rath should be able to pull it closed and hide if he needs to protect himself. I’ll line it with foam and vinyl. It’ll do as an emergency capsule, anyway.” He located a soldering iron, a few pieces of metal, and a giant magnifying glass, then got to work.
Rath ran down Diana’s arm to stand on the desk beside the man and watch his progress. At one point, he stuck his head under the magnifying glass and looked back at her, causing her to crack into laughter at the sight of his enormous eyes and smiling face.
“You’re something else, Rath.”
He gave a toothy grin and returned to watching.
Michael coughed softly. She had forgotten he was there. “I have to return to the main desk. My replacement has other tasks. Kayleigh, can you take Diana and Rath from here?”
The tech nodded. Michael gave Diana a parting handshake. “Good to have you here, Agent Sheen. And you, too, Rath.”
Diana stepped closer to Kayleigh and lowered her voice. “Can I see you outside for a second?” The woman nodded, and they left the scientist to his task and the troll to his show.
The other woman led her to an empty space near the gun range out of earshot of the other techs in the room and handed her spare magazines for her weapon. “Go ahead and load them up. You can make sure it’s sighted true before you go.”
The agent nodded, and her hands worked at that familiar task without the need for conscious direction. “I came up against some harsh magic last time. Do we have anything that’ll work against magical targets? They seem to have an answer to bullets.”
The serious concern looked out of place on Kayleigh’s face. “They do. Sometimes we use grenades when there’s no fear of collateral damage, but we haven’t found the right solution yet either, aside from counter-magic.”
Diana gave a rueful laugh. “Well, I’m a little short on that at the moment, I’m afraid.”
Kayleigh nodded and looked in both directions like she was a confidential informant in a detective movie. “Okay, I do have something I’ve been working on, but it’s not been fully tested.”
“I’m happy to be your guinea pig if it’ll ruin a bad guy’s day.”
The tech crossed to a tall locker set into the wall and unlocked it with her handprint and a code. She extracted a clear plastic box with several rounded rectangles inside, each about the length of her hand. “These are pepper gas grenades. I couldn’t make them strong enough to be fully debilitating in case something goes wrong and our people are caught in the cloud, but it should at least distract them.” She took three out, one smaller than the others. “The smallest is for a key chain or everyday carry. The larger ones aren’t quite as concealable. They can fit in a magazine pouch.”
That explains the shape.
“They sound perfect. How do I use them?”
Kayleigh pointed out the release catches and the plunger on top that would activate the grenades on a delay so Diana could throw them. The same button would spray a stream out of the smaller one.
“Perfect.”
The woman’s joy at someone appreciating her work was obvious. She stored the bigger ones in a small plastic container and handed them all over.
Diana had just tucked the grenades into a zippered pouch in the purse and the spray bottle in her front pocket when Emerson reappeared. He held the troll in one hand and the canister in the other and proffered both. “This should keep him safe.”
“Safe,” echoed Rath.
The agent set the two gently into her purse. “Honestly, I think I’m the one who’ll need protection from his adventures.” The troll gave a gleeful laugh that sounded like agreement, quickly punctuated by the click as the canister latched.
Awesome.
“So, how about we take care of the weapon test and the tracker? By my fancy new watch, I have twenty minutes before my meeting with the SAC.”
Chapter Ten
Before she entered the SAC’s office, Diana opened her bag and peered into it. Rath sat comfortably in a nest of her s
ocks with his open canister beside him and stared at her. He smiled, and she grinned. “You be quiet, crazy man.”
“Crazy,” was the only response. A rush of fear washed over her at the responsibility she carried for his well-being, and she realized she couldn’t keep him with her all the time. He certainly couldn’t come on emergency responses or the more dangerous missions. It wouldn’t be safe for him. She shook her head as the door opened and an aide ushered her into the room. It was smaller than she would have expected, but that fit the operations focus of the place. Her own area closely resembled a walk-in closet.
The Special Agent in Charge stood to shake her hand and introduced himself with a gruff “Carson Taggart,” then motioned her to sit across from him.
She wasn’t able to resist. “Finally, I get to meet the person crazy enough to hire Bryant to their staff. Did you lose a bet or something?” With flawless timing, Bryant walked into the room. She turned to him with a raised eyebrow and said, “Again? Are you still stalking me?”
Taggart transitioned from chuckle to outright laugh and came to his defense. “No, I invited him to be here.”
The agent gave her an aloof look and sat in the other chair. His smile looked goofy. She almost told him so but turned back to the SAC instead. “So, am I off probation?”
He nodded. “The paperwork is on its way. You’ll work here with our team. Although, since we’re fully operational, you get to be more or less a free agent.”
“Nice.”
A short silence ensued while he reached for a box of mints on his desk and offered them around. Diana took one and peppermint blasted through her nasal cavity as she put it in her mouth. She didn’t quite choke, but she came close enough.
Bryant laughed. “He does that to everyone. It’s a rite of passage.”
When she could speak again, she asked, “When do I meet the rest of the team?”
Taggart clicked his own mint against his teeth with no apparent negative effects. “In due time. You’ll train with them on a fairly regular basis.”
She nodded. “I look forward to it. Do you give the orders in the field?”
He held up a hand and rocked it back and forth. “When it’s an emergency response, I do. When it requires the coordination of multiple agencies, I do. And when we think there might be something exceptionally weird going on, I do. Otherwise, I leave it to the team lead.”
“And who’s that?”
Diana realized her instincts had failed her when Taggart pointed at the chair beside her. She put her face in her hand. “You’re telling me Bryant is the best you have? I’m sorry. No wonder ARES is looking for new blood.”
They both laughed at that. The agent shook his head. “Can I make her change the oil in the bus or something?”
“Denied.”
“How about clean the locker rooms?”
“Denied.”
“Strip the rifles and oil them.”
“Denied.”
Bryant sighed. “Damn it.”
Taggart turned to face her squarely across his desk. “So, you’ll be with us temporarily, until everything is in place to open the field office in Pittsburgh. Then we’ll send you up there to get things running.”
She frowned. “Not that I have anything against Pittsburgh, but I was promised I’d have some say in locations.”
Taggart smiled. “Yeah, Bryant told me he said that. He likes to lie.” There was a chuckle from her right, and she narrowly resisted the urge to slap the agent silent. “Seriously, though, you will have a choice eventually. The Pittsburgh office will be the first that’s ready, so we’ll start you there. After it’s up and running, if you decide you want to transfer to another of our startups, we can put someone in to replace you.”
“Why Pittsburgh first?”
“ARES has another Ultramax prison there, codenamed the Cube. It’s different than the others and it’s only for our use.”
“That’s ambitious. It seems like you’re doing a lot at once.”
The SAC nodded. “Definitely. Maybe too much. But we’re in it now and there’s no going back.”
Diana grinned. “So, new unit, same as the old unit. Seems like the FBI was running at full speed to cope with the implications of magic, too.”
There’s no getting away from it. Everything is changing.
“What’s the day-to-day going to be like?”
Bryant took over. “You’ll work closely with me to learn the way we do things at the team level. It’s a little different than what you’re used to with the FBI. One day a week, you’ll be with Lord Taggart over there, learning Special-Agent-in-Charge-stuff. Finally, one day a week, you’ll be in school, refining your knowledge of magic. You’ll learn how to use it, how to defend against it, that sort of thing.”
Her eyes widened with each new task listed. “It sounds like a busy schedule.”
They both nodded. Taggart added, “You’ll work some long hours, and usually at least one weekend day.”
She kept her face expressionless but inside, she scowled. The thought of Rath at home alone didn’t sit well, and not only because he would destroy the place if left unsupervised. She was distracted from her thoughts when Bryant spoke again.
“And then, if you’re good enough, you’ll be off to Pittsburgh.” He said it like it was a prize.
“Why do you say that with such glee? What are you not telling me?” She turned to Taggart as suspicion dawned. “Why isn’t Bryant making the move from team leader to SAC Pittsburgh?”
Both men laughed and the agent said, “I told you she was smart.”
“You certainly did. Well, Diana, that’s the one negative to the job I haven’t really mentioned yet. Bryant will take the position of regional SAC for the Northeast.”
“So my direct report will be to him?”
“Yep.”
Bryant clapped his hands together. “And since you’ve already signed the papers, if you decide to bail, it’ll go down on your permanent record.”
She scowled at him. “I will have my vengeance. In this life or the next.”
His lips twitched. “Are you not entertained?”
Bastard. Yes, that was funny, but you’ll still need to be taught a lesson.
She was distracted by a kick inside her bag and the low growl that emanated from it. Hastily, she coughed to cover it and changed the subject. “So, tell me about that stupid wizard we fought. Do we know what he and his pawns were up to?”
Taggart nodded. “It turns out they were tunneling toward the Starbucks at the end of the street. They planned to blow it up.”
“That’s an odd choice.”
Bryant had adopted that oh-so-punchable smirk again. “Not really. Many good people who use magic tend to frequent Starbucks, just like everyone else.” She buried the desire to slap him as her bag growled again.
“Okay, so why did international terrorists want to do that?”
The agent dropped the levity and took up the story at a gesture from his boss. “That wasn’t their goal. That was whoever hired Guerre. The actual target was the magical rail system that runs below it. It turns out the terrorists had the experience to dig the tunnel and no pretensions about being too important for manual labor. They merely wanted enough explosives to ram a car bomb into the Saudi consulate. Fortunately, the survivor sang like a diva when we got him to the med folks.”
The unsettling images her mind conjured must have registered on her face because Taggart spoke quickly into the silence. “We don’t do torture. We do have an excellent knack for pharmaceutical manipulation, however. Plus, one of our medics is an Empath.”
Concern transformed into curiosity. “A what?”
“She can sense emotions—much like a magical lie detector.”
Diana was momentarily jealous. I wish I had that talent. “That is handy. How’d you find her?”
Taggart shrugged. “Dumb luck, really. She was a cadet at the FBI Academy, and one of her instructors noticed that she seemed adept at helpi
ng other cadets cope with the stress of the training. He kicked his observation up the ladder. When we took a closer look, we determined it wasn’t merely skill but magical talent.”
“How did he know to contact you?”
“He didn’t,” Bryant said. “We intercepted the message and deleted it from the FBI systems.”
She frowned as she considered that, then let it go. “That makes sense. She’d be way more useful here. Okay, back to the important stuff. Who hired the magical merc?”
“The terrorist couldn’t tell us. Guerre contacted them with the offer. But our prisoner heard enough boasting from the scumbag to judge that there was more than one person behind him. He’s also sure they are people of magic and power. Or magical power. He was unclear on that.”
Some sarcasm made it past her controls. “Well, that certainly narrows it down.”
Bryant replied, “That’s what I said.”
The SAC sounded confident. “He has more. Our folks will get it out of him.”
The troll in her purse shifted around, and she pictured him preparing to do another gymnastics routine. Diana wasn’t sure she was comfortable revealing him or letting him reveal himself to Taggart just yet. She stood abruptly. “Okay, it sounds like everything is organized. Do I start tomorrow morning?”
Her boss nodded. “You’ll be with me for the day.”
She turned to Bryant. “Don’t be too sad. I’m sure you’ll have the chance to stalk me again soon. Or, as you no doubt consider it, ‘dating.’”
He grinned and tapped his arm in the same spot where her own locator beacon had been implanted. “No need. We always know where you are now.”
“Awesome.” She rolled her eyes.
Taggart’s smooth baritone advised “Go out, have a meal, and celebrate a little. Tomorrow, the hard work begins.”
She wove the ʼVette adroitly through traffic and considered taking some of her anger out on her heavy bag.
Maybe I’ll put a picture of Bryant on it. It’d be more fun like that.
Rath sat in his canister, which was wedged into the center console cupholder with one of the booklets that came with the car. The cylinder wouldn’t go anywhere for anything short of a crash, and she was confident he could yank the latch down in that unlikely circumstance. It was easier to keep an eye on him this way. She glanced down at him whenever it was safe to do so.