“Sorry,” Pecker said, patting me on the shoulder.
The laser sprang to life and began removing the old tattoo.
Bee stings, anyone?
It was all I could do not to cry out in pain. Seriously, whoever originally designed this fucking thing should have come up with a way to make it not hurt. Or they should have had to test it on their balls…assuming it was a guy, anyway.
But I wasn’t one who liked allowing others to see my agony, so I swallowed the anguish and focused directly ahead at the image on the screen.
Fortunately, removing the tattoo was a fast process. It was already mostly gone, in fact. Drawing a tattoo, however…not so fast.
“Did you guys learn anything while up there?” Pecker was asking Reaper as my mind fought the pain. “I’m assuming you saw something?”
“We were ambushed by wolves,” Reaper replied.
“Oh?”
Reaper went on to a full diatribe regarding everything that had happened, including the part regarding the clerk and how the wolves we were chasing had turned into a pool of goop.
“Whoa,” Pecker exclaimed. “So the guys melted? That’s badass!”
“It did not look like a pleasant way to go,” Reaper countered. “In fact, I’ve never seen the likes of it in all my years.”
“That’s saying something,” Pecker said. “I’ll bet Piper got a kick out of watching that, though. She’s my kind of gal, ya know?”
I groaned inwardly, trying to remain focused on the tattoo’s completion rate. It was just over halfway done. Another five minutes of this and I’d just harbor the memory of the pain instead of the realtime feeling of it.
“The stun item that you provided me only allowed for two shots,” Reaper said. “That made things rather difficult.”
“Only two shots? Damn it. I must have missed something. As soon as she’s done, I’ll fix it.” Then, he added, “Something is confusing me about your story, though. How were they able to trap you all in the first place?”
“Ah, yes,” Reaper replied. “They had somehow stopped our tattoos and connectors from working, much like how the runes impeded us when we were chasing Gallien Cross before. This time, though, they even managed to knock out my personal abilities, which I found rather disturbing.”
“Wait,” Pecker said, sounding very lost, “they blocked everything? Not just the basics?”
“Yes.”
“Shit.” He reached over and slapped a button on his computer, stopping the drawing of my new tattoo. “Sorry, Piper, but this new information makes things worse than I thought.”
“What does that mean exactly?” I asked with some trepidation.
He winced and took a step away from me.
“I’m going to have to reprint you again.”
“Oh, fuck me!”
“Seriously?” he said, wide-eyed.
I glared at him. “It’d probably be less painful.”
“Not if we do it right,” he said, flashing his teeth.
“Ew.”
Chapter 13
Reaper and I headed back to Fisherman’s Wharf to study the area. I assumed that there was no longer a threat of being attacked, but I didn’t want to take any chances. That meant we started across the street again.
“Sorry you had to go through tattoo printing again,” Reaper said. “I’m sure Pecker feels bad about that.”
“Not as bad as I do,” I countered, still feeling the burn. It’d pass soon enough, but for now it wasn’t very pleasant. “Something tells me he found a little bit of joy in that, too. I know he acted like he didn’t, but…he did.”
“I can’t imagine that’s true,” said Reaper. “He’s a very nice person.”
“Uh-huh.”
“It’s true, Piper,” he said, clearly catching on to my sarcasm this time. “Don’t get me wrong, I know Pecker can be pretty hard at times, but that’s also when he’s at his best.”
“That’s it,” I said, “I’m buying you a tape recorder.”
He frowned. “Why?”
“Never mind.”
I couldn’t spot any wolves in the area, but I couldn’t last time either.
We were going to have to be careful, especially since my new tattoo was going to take a little getting used to. Everything was laid out differently than before.
Plus, it just looked different.
It made me even more jealous of Reaper’s ink. His had a far more interesting design and did more stuff than mine. Not that my new tat wasn’t better looking than my last one; it was. But it still wasn’t as spiffy as Reaper’s.
“Your scanners working on the Wharf now?” I asked before we got any closer.
“Yes. I can sense everything all the way to the end of the pier. There are a few people milling about.” He paused. “They’re normals.”
At least we had that going for us.
Still, I was taking it slow, keeping my eyes open for runes. For all I knew, Keller or Bane or whoever the hell was running the local show could have left a notification rune behind to signal our arrival. I would do that if I were in their shoes. The likelihood that an officer would come back to retrace the scene was pretty high, after all. Even they had to know that.
“Keep your eyes open, Reap,” I said. “Something tells me that these naughties aren’t about to give up on us already, and they have to expect our return.”
“Agreed,” he said, keeping to the same steady pace as me. “I have scanned pretty far out, though, and none are within the area. Plus, I sense no dark areas.”
“Dark areas?”
“Places that I can’t penetrate,” he explained. “Like before when they blocked the Wharf.”
“Ah, right.”
We walked the length of the pier, looking for clues, runes, or anything we could use. The wolves had cleaned up the bodies I’d left earlier, including the blood left in their wake. That was actually rather surprising.
“Why do you think they would clean up the bodies?” I asked Reaper as we stood near the spot where I’d fought the wolves earlier. “Seems odd, doesn’t it?”
“I’m not sure, unless maybe they were afraid we could use their tattoos like they’re using ours?”
I gave him an appraising lift of my eyebrow.
“Well done, Reap.”
“I do try.”
“Doesn’t explain the blood, though,” I said before he got too high on himself.
“What blood?”
“Exactly my point,” I answered, motioning toward the ground. “Why’d they clean up the blood?”
There was no answer from him on that, which left me a bit disappointed. One thing I’d been learning about my new partner was that he tended to have an interesting take on things. This was no doubt due to his being a reaper.
“Wait,” I said, squatting down as I caught sight of something.
“What is it?”
“A piece of a shirt, I think.”
I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small plastic baggie. Then I went to pick up the cloth, but I didn’t really want to touch it.
Reaper tapped my shoulder. I looked back to find he was holding a pair of tweezers.
“You carry these things around wherever you go, Reap?” I laughed as I dropped the material into the baggie.
“Apparently,” he replied, taking them back from me and returning them to his pocket. “One can never be too prepared, Piper.”
Actually, one could be overly prepared.
Planning everything to the finest detail often meant you’d miss the bigger picture. But in this instance, I think it worked out for us as partners. He was Mr. Details and I was Ms. Seat-Of-My-Pants. That was great for me because I tended to suck at the details.
“I’ll tell you what, Reap,” I said, “you keep to the details and I’ll keep winging it. It seems to work for us.”
“At least it does for you,” he said.
I stopped. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That I’m the on
e who works hard to be well-informed, and you do not. If I didn’t do that work, we would both be lost.” It wasn’t said with animosity. He was just being factual. “My end of the job is clearly more complicated than yours since I’m the one who is required to have all the answers when you have questions.”
“Oh, I see,” I said with a mocking nod. “So, you would have been able to work around that clerk at The Wharf Inn with no trouble, then?”
“Well, I—”
“And what about the fact that you don’t carry a gun? Who does all the shooting, Reap?”
“I put up shields and—”
“Let’s talk about experience here, too,” I continued my tirade. “You have next to none, and I think you’ve been learning pretty quickly that reading case studies doesn’t exactly prepare you for the realities out here.”
“I’m a reaper, so—”
“…So you’ve seen a lot of death,” I finished for him. “Yes, you’ve said that…a lot. But you’re still learning about what it takes to stop the bad guys from giving your pals in Reaperland more and more business.”
“You give them plenty of business,” he reminded me.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“The fact is that I was doing just fine before you showed up.” I turned and walked back toward the entrance of the Wharf. “If it weren’t for me, you’d still be completely green.”
“I won’t argue that point,” he agreed, “but I would suggest that my presence has improved your ability to do your job.”
“How do you figure that?”
“The wolves would have killed you had it not been for my personal transporter.”
“So then the thanks really goes to Pecker,” I reasoned. “True?”
“True, but only because he had my particular energy capabilities to work with.”
There was no point continuing this argument. The bottom line was that I didn’t need Reaper along. Yes, he had helped me do my job more effectively, and I can’t argue that I’d be wolf-food right now were it not for him. No, that’s not right. I would have found a way out without him, too. I always did.
Still, as much as I hated to admit it, there was something nice about having a partner who had your back.
“Fine,” I said with a groan, “you do bring a lot to the table, Reap, but you don’t have to be a dick about it.”
“Nor do you, Piper,” he replied with a wan smile.
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. Come on.”
“Where are we going?” he asked as I double-timed it.
“Red Jack Saloon,” I answered. “I want to talk to somebody I know.”
Chapter 14
He was seated in the back at his usual table, almost as if he were expecting someone from the Retrievers to arrive.
I’d only run a few missions in the area, but that’s all it took to get intel on the locals, especially because Retrievers tended to share this kind of information with each other. Who to seek out for intel was paramount in cases like these.
He was a thin guy with a full-on Bob Marley look, including the dreadlocks. Whether or not he was actually Jamaican, I couldn’t say. He didn’t have the accent for it, but he could have joined a Reggae group on his looks alone. What I did know was that he was a vampire who was once at odds with the law. But that was long ago. He’d paid his dues and, as far as we knew, was fully rehabilitated. There’d been no complaints against him anyway, and he always returned on schedule for reintegration.
“Officer Shaw,” said Tiki, wearing a big smile, “can’t say I’m surprised to see you.”
“Tiki,” I said with a nod, not really knowing if that was his actual name or not. I doubted it was, but in the grand scheme of things I didn’t really care. “This is Officer Payne.”
“Great name, man.” Tiki laughed and then gave me a serious look. “New partner for Officer Shaw, though? I’m surprised.”
“For now,” I said, peering back at Reaper. “Anyway, you obviously know why we’re here, so how about we cut to the chase and you give us info?”
“This is the problem with people today,” Tiki complained, shaking his head at Reaper. “They just don’t take the time to play nice with others. It’s always rush, rush, rush.”
“You know the deal, Tiki,” I said, pulling out my wallet and flapping a wad of cash on the table. I then glanced over at Reaper as if I’d accidentally stepped on his proverbial toes. “Oh, wait. Did you want to do the payoff for information, Reap?”
He appeared confused as he looked at the money.
“Maybe you didn’t bring any cash?” I asked in a tsk-tsk voice. I then held up a finger at him. “I have an idea.” With a quick look away from Reaper, I said, “Say, Tiki, you wouldn’t be willing to forego the cash and maybe take a pair of tweezers as payment instead, would you?”
“What?” Tiki said, looking even more confused than Reaper.
“I didn’t think so,” I said, putting my eyes back on my partner for a moment before turning back to Tiki. “Anyway, here’s the normal payout.”
“What just happened?” Tiki asked.
“Nothing for you to worry about,” I answered. “We’ve got work to do here.”
Tiki shrugged and then scanned the room before deftly sliding the money into his pocket. He then leaned forward and put his elbows on the table.
“All I know is that there is a new wolf in town who has been stirring up the local den,” he said, glancing back and forth between me and Reaper. “Name’s Bane. Lucien Bane. Thinks he’s a god or something.”
That matched what we already knew, which was good. It meant Tiki knew what he was talking about.
“Know where he is?” I asked.
“No,” he answered, “but I know where some of his clan hang out.”
“Go on.”
“The place is called Sweeties. It’s a couple blocks down on Francisco,” he added while pointing. “They play pool there a lot.”
“Anything else?” I asked pointedly. “I just dropped a stack of twenties there, Tiki.”
He sighed and shook his head.
“That’s all I got.” He reached back into his pocket. “Want a refund?”
I studied him for a moment. We had a list of informants that we knew to be on the up and up and those who weren’t. Yes, we even rated them. He was a five-star, which meant he’d never feed me a line of shit. Of course, he may withhold information, but that wasn’t likely in this case, especially seeing that we were dealing with werewolves. Tiki wasn’t a fan of werewolves.
“Keep it,” I said as I pushed away from the table. “I’m sure we’ll meet again.”
“Hopefully under more laidback circumstances,” he replied, holding up his drink in salute. Then he added, “Be careful, officers, and remember to smell the roses once in a while.”
We walked back out and headed toward Francisco St. I’d never been to Sweeties, but I knew it was away from the pier because of the direction that Tiki had pointed.
Reaper was notably quiet.
“What’s up, Reap?” I said as we walked.
“It seems I have underestimated you, Piper,” he admitted. “I would not have considered bringing bribe money or seeking out an informant.”
“It’s called a payout, not a bribe.”
“My mistake.”
I stopped at the corner of Francisco and turned to him.
“Look,” I said with some difficulty, “the fact is that you and I are quite different. Just like I said before, there are things you’re good at that I’m not. That goes both ways.”
“You’re right. I apologize for what I said before.” He looked down at his shoes. “The fact is that I rather enjoy information gathering and I feel completely out of my element when we are ‘winging it’.” Yes, he used finger quotes. “I also know that we cannot plan for every detail, so I’m learning a lot from watching how you improvise.”
That was probably the best apology I can recall receiving…ever.
�
�It’s all good, Reap,” I said, resuming our walk. “Your information gathering has been making my life easier, too. I’m not bound to learn from you on how to do that, because I honestly hate that part of the job, but I’m definitely learning that it’s nice to have someone around who enjoys it. Plus, your special skills are pretty damned helpful.”
“Thank you,” he said. “So we are good?”
“Yeah, Reap,” I replied. “We’re good.”
We continued the rest of the way in silence until we started to close in on the place.
Sweeties seemed like a nice little joint. It was described as being a neighborhood bar, a pool hall, and an art gallery. Honestly, it looked like the kind of spot I wouldn’t mind hanging at for a few drinks and some relaxation.
But now wasn’t the time.
“Anything on scan, Reap?”
“Three wolves.”
“Jeez,” I said with a groan. “Do they always travel in threes?”
“I don’t know,” he replied, even though my question was rhetorical, “but I would imagine it’s just coincidence.”
“Right.” I took a breath and leaned back against a wall next to the bar. “We can’t just roll in there. We need a plan.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m sure you don’t want me to start shooting up the place, and I’m sure that Chief Carter doesn’t want to ask his wife to clean up what I blow up, and I’m absolutely sure that the people who own this bar would rather it stayed in one piece.”
“You’re right,” Reaper said after a moment. “We need a plan.”
Chapter 15
There’s no way I’m doing that, Reap,” I said to his suggestion that I put on a wig and go in to try and seduce one of the three wolves. “It’s actually pretty damn sexist that you even suggest I do something like that.”
“It is?”
“Of course it is,” I said, shaking my head at him. “Twenty years living with us? You should know better.”
He didn’t reply.
“There has to be another way,” I said.
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