Federal Agents of Magic Boxed Set

by T. R. Cameron

  She didn’t realize it was a trap until her friend had locked out her arm and wrapped her legs around her knee. Lisa bent against the elbow and Diana tapped the mat with a grin. She rolled off and clapped as the other woman rose. “Damn, girl, nice job!”

  The blonde nodded. “I am awesome.”

  It struck her for the first time how similar Lisa was to Kayleigh. They shared a sassy attitude that encapsulated an optimism she envied. Her mind wasn’t wired for that sort of relentless positivity, apparently. Which is probably why I’m drawn to them both when you come right down to it.

  She shook the thoughts away with a grin. “Okay, awesome woman, let’s see if you can do it twice.”

  They sat at the bar of the Beagle in the same chairs they used to virtually own. Diana had been shocked to find them vacant when they arrived but caught the wink the bartender threw at her friend and realized she must have arranged it in advance. Lisa ordered, but Diana didn’t get the chance to speak before Julia appeared and gave her a glass and a hug. A taste of the drink proved that the server’s skills in selecting beers she’d like had not atrophied, and she thanked the woman, who retreated into the crowd.

  Lisa shook her head. “This place never changes. I don’t come here nearly as often since you moved away.”

  “Where do you go instead?”

  She shrugged. “Nowhere, really. It turns out, now that I have a nice house that’s not under and over annoying neighbors, I like chilling at home.”

  “Not alone, I hope.”

  She laughed. “Not always. But I’m a little gun-shy after Steve, to be honest. I don’t get serious as quickly as I used to.”

  Diana swiveled to lean one elbow on the bar and face her. “That might be a good thing, given your checkered past.”

  She made a face at the insult but sounded okay with the situation. “Agreed. I think for a while there, I believed I needed another person in order to be happy. Now, I feel like I can probably be happy either way. Not that I’m closing the door or anything. Especially if Jackson ever leaves his wife. Damn, that man is gorgeous.”

  “You are not kidding.” Diana laughed. “But maybe the dojo should be a refuge for you like it was for me.”

  She nodded. “I get it, now. I mean, I always got it, but before I dated Kenneth and made things at the school uncomfortable for a while, I hadn’t really realized what having that safe space to simply focus on me was all about. Now I do, and I want to keep that protected.”

  Yeah. It would be nice to have that again sometime. But there’s stuff to do before that can happen. She grinned. “Rath will be so impressed when he hears you were able to take me down once.” The rest of the bouts had all gone Diana’s way as a result of her depth of experience both in and out of the training space.

  Lisa pouted. “You could have let me win at least once more so everyone didn’t think it was a fluke.” Her pout evaporated into a relaxed giggle.

  “First, I never let anyone win. It’s not in me. Second, no one paid any attention. And third, someone watching you train would know you’re the real deal.”

  “Honest?”

  “Cross my heart.” She touched the necklace, and Lisa laughed.

  “I went past one of those vending machine stands in the movie theatre—the ones with the candy and the stupid trinkets and stuff—and there was a box that had jewelry for a dollar. I happened to have four quarters, and I thought I’d give whatever came out to one of the kids hanging out nearby. But that was what I got, and I decided it was a sign that it was meant for the two of us.”

  “Big spender, you.”

  She laughed. “You know it, sister.”

  “Are you a partner yet?”

  Lisa frowned and motioned for a refill of their drinks. “No. And it’s looking more and more like I won’t ever be. I tell you, there’s something happening there. I have no clue what it is. Hell, maybe all the partners are having affairs or are in a polycule or involved in some swinger group and they simply don’t want to ʼfess up. But it’s like secrets on top of secrets now.” She took the new drink as it arrived and swallowed a third of it. “I really thought I would be there forever, but these days, I honestly doubt it.”

  Diana’s spirit dropped a little, even though Lisa seemed less upset that she would be if the situation were reversed. “I get the secrets thing. When we’re someplace private, remind me to tell you about the senators. They suck, with a capital S.”

  Lisa raised her glass. “To sharing secrets, but only with those we trust.”

  Diana clinked it. “To best friends.”

  At the corner of the bar, unobserved by the two women, a man in a business suit watched them using a hidden camera on his phone that pointed sideways instead of forward. He’d been ordered to track them while the brunette was in town and deliver all the information he gathered to his boss, who would then send it on to his boss. The person at the top of the chain was a mystery to him. All he knew was that his superior referred to him as Spock when they talked about him, and always with a laugh.

  He recorded the time they entered and noted that they were on their second drink. His fingers moved rapidly as he made a show of texting and tried to portray himself as a man waiting for a date and, eventually, a man who was stood up by his date, if needed. When the women left, he followed a couple of minutes after and saw them climb into the blonde woman’s car. They headed a few blocks up and took a turn, and he smiled.

  He called his boss, who picked up after a single ring. “They’re on the way home to the location you mentioned earlier.”

  “Perfect. Our part is done. Come on down and have a drink.”

  He killed the call and put the phone back in his pocket with one last look in the direction the women had gone. I don’t know what’s in store for them, or when it’s supposed to happen, but I can’t imagine it’ll be good. It’s too bad, too, because they’re both fine-lookin' ladies.

  Chapter Eighteen

  With Diana out of town, Rath and Kayleigh had spent quality time together, both at the office and at home, and discussed his particular needs for gear. He had pushed for a suit of armor like Iron Man’s—the cool one that came out of the briefcase in the second movie—and had evidently decided that he could wear something that would hold it. At least until nanotechnology is ready for Iron Troll.

  Kayleigh had suggested it might be something of an overreach given their budget and staffing, and Rath had grudgingly surrendered on the matter during their drive to the HQ building. Once they were comfortably seated in her domain, the conversation turned to the flight gear. The tech asked, “So, is the interface between Gwen and the equipment fast enough? The data I’ve reviewed looks good.”

  He nodded. “All things Gwen are shiny.”

  “Are any improvements needed?” She smiled.

  “More grenades.”

  Kayleigh shook her head. “You’d have to give something up for them. There’s no space and no weight to spare.” She’d suggested he might want to remain a touch smaller so the wings could carry more load. Rath was unwilling to change from what he considered optimal, so they’d moved on. “Okay, how about the grappling hook?”

  The troll shrugged. “Cables are a little floppy. Otherwise fine.”

  “Yeah, that has been a problem for everyone. I think I have a solution for them but I’m not sure how we can do that for you. Creating a breakaway tunic is more difficult than it seems.”

  “Velcro. Works everywhere else.”

  She nodded. “That’s the idea, but you’re last on the list for that, I’m afraid. It’s a minor issue anyway, right?”

  “Yep.”

  “Okay…so AI, flight, and grapnel gun are all good. Three boxes checked. How are the batons?”

  “Bigger shock is great. Fewer shocks is not awesome.”

  The tech shrugged. “It’s all about the weight. If you want to carry more batteries, I can make the charges last longer.”

  He shook his head. “Have to be able to move.”


  “Then you get what you get. Quit complaining.” They laughed together. She pulled out a wide black strap secured with Velcro at the front and a host of other things attached. “But I have done some work to optimize your utility belt, so that’s something.” He leaned forward eagerly as she spread it flat on the table between them. “We still have the essentials. Here and here are the loops for your holsters. Flashlight, zip-ties, air supply for the grapnel gun, and comm repeater are all in the usual places. I’ve managed to shrink version two of the compressor a little.”

  Rath nodded. “Excellent. Every bit helps.”

  She gave him a smile in return. “That’s what I like about you. Always looking on the bright side of things.”

  “All problems can be solved with Maximum Effort.”

  “From Serenity to Deadpool. Quite a shift there, my friend.” She shook her head and pointed at an item on the belt. “This is an even smaller version of the computer interface I designed for the others. If you use it, you’ll need to stay reasonably close as it doesn’t have the range.” She looked up. “Tradeoffs, right? Always tradeoffs.”

  He nodded, and she slid the device back into its pouch and pushed the Velcro seal down to secure it. She retrieved a flat black rectangle and showed it to him. “I’ve been concerned that you don’t have a fallback weapon like the others, but clearly, a Ruger isn’t the proper choice size-wise. I asked Ems for help, and he created this.” She handed it over.

  Rath accepted it and turned the object over in his palms. It wasn’t particularly heavy but was clearly composed of metal. Two buttons adorned the top, left and right near one end, and a groove that a curved finger fit into perfectly had been shaped on the underside.

  Kayleigh pointed at the front. “You have two shots. The range is fairly short since the barrels are so small. The indentation in the bottom is the safety and it must be filled to fire. Pressing the button shoots. It takes standard anti-magic rounds.”

  “Ooh. Nice.”

  Kayleigh looked uncomfortable. “Be careful. It’s gone through a fair amount of testing, of course, but is probably less safe than a larger gun would be.”

  He nodded. “Gotcha. Thanks to Emerson.”

  “I’ll tell him you said so.” She accepted it from him and slid it into its narrow pouch, then pointed at two other thin receptacles. “For potions, if Diana ever gets her act together and finds you some.” She sighed. “I know. It’s not her fault. Troll physiology is different. But you’d think that since the damn things are magical and you’re magical, acquiring one would be easier rather than harder.”

  Rath tilted his head. “Are you okay?”

  The tech crossed her arms on the table, set her chin on them, and looked him in the eye. “I’m fine. But sometimes, it’s a little hard to be safe here when y’all are out there and risk your lives. I want to be sure you’re as protected as possible.”

  “Doing all you can.”

  “Yeah. I know. But I’m coming to the uncomfortable conclusion that I might not be able to handle all this myself, despite my total awesomeness and all.”

  The troll laughed, and after a moment, she joined in. He patted her on the arm. “It takes a village. Not a Batman.” Her chuckles turned into real laughter and she raised her head again.

  “All right, movie man, I get your point. So, we’ve been over the holdout pistol. It doesn’t have a field reload—you basically have to take it apart to rearm it. So use it wisely.” He nodded. “One last item for the belt, and I think you’ll like it.” She retrieved a thin tube, about as big as a collapsed baton, with a cap on one end, a hole on the other, and a button on the top. “You wanted an invisible tracking method and you got an invisible tracking method.” She pointed the open side toward the far wall and pressed the button. There was a soft puff of air, then nothing. She handed him another device, which resembled a half-size smartphone. On the screen was a map with a small dot.

  “Nice. Truly invisible?”

  She shook her head. “We can see the trace with our glasses as long as they’re in the proper mode. It’s a harmless radioactive liquid. The carrier evaporates almost immediately when the tiny bubbles that contain it burst and leave the signature behind. You have to be reasonably close to detect it, and the residue only lasts an hour or so, but it’ll do what you want. I’ll upgrade the drones as they cycle through maintenance to add detection capability. They should provide good coverage once we have them all reconfigured.”

  He nodded. “Excellent. Could not be better.”

  She grinned. “Oh, you’re wrong there, it could be better. Which is why I made these for you.” She reached under the desk and pulled out a boot, which looked like it would reach just under his knee. “Yes, I know, weight. This is obviously only one of a pair. But they’re really light, all things considered. They have armor plates on the shin and instep to make your kicks hurt more. Throwing knives are tucked in the back, just in case. But neither of those is the best part. In fact, there are two best parts.”

  She set it down on the desk between them, grabbed the sides, and pulled. It telescoped apart and the metal frame extended in all directions. “They’ll grow with you, unlike the rest of your gear, if you need to go big.” Rath reached out to touch it, impressed at the construction.

  “Still strong?”

  Kayleigh shrugged. “Not as strong as when in compact mode but still substantial enough that they shouldn’t fail under most normal situations. And yes, normal includes kicking and punching and jumping and all the other crazy stuff you people do.” She wore a wide grin now, and he couldn’t help smiling with her. She’s happiest when she’s doing good things for us. A perfect teammate. The push of a button on the side shrank it down to a size appropriate for his most common form again.

  She paused and looked him in the eye. “Here’s the best part. And before I show you, know that Diana will likely hate this, and we’ll probably have to work together to convince her that it’s a safe thing and a good idea.” She grabbed the matching boot from under the desk and set the two beside one another, then snapped the inner sides of the heels together like Dorothy clicking her ruby slippers.

  A pop sounded and both boots bounced up simultaneously. Rath put his cheek on the desk to look, and his eyes widened. “You didn’t.”

  “I did.”

  He grinned. “Roller troll! How many wheels?”

  “Four on each, big enough to keep you moving but not enough to hinder you setting down your toe or your heel. You’ll need to practice with them.” He nodded and pushed back the urge to grab the boots and put them on right there. “Also, they’re wireless, so Gwen can deploy or retract them for you if needed.”

  “Amazing. Awesome.” He looked toward the door, and Kayleigh laughed.

  “Take them and go. I’d suggest practicing in the tunnel. It’s fairly flat and there isn’t too much stuff around to destroy if you crash into it.”

  He snatched the boots and hugged them to his chest, then turned to the tech. “Thank you.”

  She waved at him. “Get out and quit bothering me. I have work to do.” She couldn’t hide the huge grin on her face, though, and Rath knew she felt good about this accomplishment. As he left the room, he shouted “I feel the need. The need for speed!” Kayleigh’s groan followed him into the hall.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Rath checked with Max to ensure that the new belt wasn’t too heavy for him, but the dog seemed fine with it and barked happily once he was fully outfitted. The Borzoi’s harness now held the quick-draw holsters for his batons, tie-downs for his folded-over utility belt, and the collar rings for the troll to use when riding. His interface necklace was carefully stored in a pouch on the side with his full-sized comm gear.

  They were running at the moment, purely for fun. The world passed by in a blur as Max dashed along in the grass between the University buildings, headed for the antique shop again. Rath looked forward to seeing Manny and had received an invitation to visit by actual mail a
t the house. Diana had asked how anyone knew his address, and he’d shrugged. “Professor Charlotte has her ways.” Or maybe Emanuel considered me another lost thing he somehow magically found, and the address is part of that.

  In any case, the man had expressed a desire to see him whenever his schedule allowed, and today was mostly free now that Rath had tired of testing his new boots in the parking garage tunnel. He regretted that they were too heavy for Max but knew they’d be valuable additions to his nighttime solo patrols. As they emerged onto the sidewalk on the far side of their shortcut, a small chime sounded in his earpiece.

  Rath frowned and jumped down. He grew to his three-foot size, put away his tiny earbuds, and donned his headset and AI interface. As soon as he settled it into place, Gwen’s feminine tones announced, “There’s a problem in your area.”

  She’s never alerted me like this before. That’s weird. I thought when she wasn’t being worn, she wasn’t active. Guess not. “What is?”

  “Silent alarms from the bank nearby. One indicates a break-in. The other says there are hostages involved.”

  “Not good.”

  “Agreed. The authorities are on their way.”

  He turned to his partner. “Should probably leave it to police. Right?”

  The dog growled, as clear a negative as Rath had ever received from him.

  “Excellent. Agree. We go in.” He looked around. “Gwen, which direction?”

  “Thirty-seven degrees to the right, two blocks. That will bring you in from the back of the building.”

  “Perfect.” He donned his belt, pulled the batons free from the dog’s carrier, and slid them into the holsters on each leg. “Let’s move.”