And he was going to be a dead one as soon as I got close enough to show him the joys of a Death Nail.
“We should go out and have a drink to discuss any ideas you may have,” Pecker suggested, his wry smile creeping back on his face. “Just a thought.”
I sniffed and shook my head at him while rolling my eyes.
“I do have a request, actually,” I said a moment later.
He lit up.
“No,” I quickly clarified, “not about that! I’m talking about getting a weapon that allows us to fire stun rounds like you gave Reap. I know his is done through his ink, but I’m talking about bullets or something.”
“Hmmm,” Pecker said, looking thoughtful. “Interesting idea, actually.”
“Would also be cool to get some miniature Empirics like you did with the launchers,” I added. “These damn runes are a pain in the ass to deal with.”
At this point, Pecker was jotting notes down on his data pad. Obviously, he was making some plans. Again, I wasn’t a tech person by any stretch of the imagination, but one thing I did know was that tech people loved to be challenged.
“These are brilliant ideas,” he said. “You’ll probably have to carry around a Batman-style belt to deal with it all, but even that’d be cool, right?”
“Uh…sure.”
“Pecker,” Reaper said, leaning in, “I don’t suppose you can do anything to help the rest of us see the runes, too? Right now only Piper can see them.”
“Nothing that I’m aware of,” he admitted. “I’ve actually tried cracking that code since the last board you guys brought in. The machines can do it, but even they take some multilevel scanning to get the job done. To do that realtime isn’t going to be easy.”
“No worries.”
“There is one thing I have been working on for you, though, Reap,” Pecker announced and then ran back through his office while throwing papers all over the place.
I seriously couldn’t comprehend how the little goblin managed to find anything in this mess.
“It’s here somewhere!” There was a bit of banging and then, “Got it!”
He came back out and handed a small silver case to Reaper. It had two cylinders on the top that were etched with ridges. The bottom was smooth with a black line running around its edges.
“This is nice,” Reaper said as he studied it from various angles. “Thank you. I shall treasure it always.”
“The case isn’t the important thing here, Reap,” noted Pecker with a furrowed brow. “It’s what’s inside that matters.”
“Oh, right.”
Reaper started opening the case slowly, but Pecker snatched it from his hands and spun the first cylinder free.
“Take off your shades.”
Reaper did.
“Now, put your finger in here and you’ll find a little contact lens. Pop that in your eye.”
It took about thirty seconds, but Reaper finally managed to insert the lens. His eyes almost went completely dark. There was a pin-hole sized red light shining through.
“Looks great,” I said with a laugh. “If he ever needs to do a presentation, he won’t need to bring along a laser pen.”
“Shit,” groaned Pecker. “Okay, okay, so I have to tweak that. I thought having that hole would help you see better, but that was dumb. I’ll fix it.” He shrugged as Reaper took the contact back out. “Point is to make it so you don’t have to wear those shades anymore. I may even be able to put some tech in these to help you see better at night and such.”
“I want that,” I asserted. “That’d be useful as hell, Pecker.”
“Yeah?” He scratched his head. “All right, I’ll put it on the list! I’ll be working night and day if this keeps up.”
“Join the club,” I sighed.
Chapter 32
Brazen and Kix went off to do a round of training with their new ink. Using the Retriever tattoo was a bit different than what they were used to. There was more functionality and, with changes likely coming due to Keller and his recent hacking, I wanted to make sure everyone on my direct squad knew what they were doing.
I’d also told them to get in and start practicing with Death Nails. They used standard bullets mostly, but Nails required more accuracy. You didn’t want to kill every perp you were chasing, after all. Again, we lived on commissions here.
Those two assignments would keep Brazen and Kix busy for at least a few hours, which gave me time to speak to Reaper unfettered.
“Reap,” I said, spinning toward his desk, “got a sec?”
“Sure,” he replied, turning to face me. “What do you need?”
“It’s about Keller. What do you know?”
“I’ve already told you what I know.”
I sighed and crossed my arms. “You worked in the records room for twenty years, Reap. You know what happened and why he was the target of the largest manhunt in recent history. I don’t know why that is and the records have been sealed.” I pointed at my computer. “I just checked.”
“Piper, you have to understand that—”
“He killed my parents, Reap.”
He looked at me and threw his head back to stare up at the ceiling.
“I’m sorry,” he said finally, “I can’t tell you anything.”
Just as I was about to complain at him, he direct-connected.
“This information is classified, Piper. Telling you anything could result in my losing this job. I could even face disciplinary action for it.”
He turned back to his computer and acted as if he were working.
“But you’re my partner now and so I will tell you what I can. However, you must understand that what I’m about to say has to be kept secret. More importantly, there are some things that are better left unknown.” He hesitated. “Are you certain you want to hear this?”
“Not even slightly,” I replied softly, “but I need to hear it.”
His nod was almost imperceptible.
“The reason that Keller was hunted as he was isn’t because he had a bunch of crimes attached to his name. Obviously that was part of it, but it was the level of crimes he committed.”
He picked up his tea and began drinking, really making a show of the fact that he didn’t want anyone to know we were speaking about this. That made me think it’d be better for me to look at my own screen than at the back of his head.
“He killed all of the witnesses to his crimes.”
“I knew about that.”
“Yes, but it was how he killed them that matters here. You see, he did something worse than kill them. He voided them.”
“What?”
“Like I told you before,” Reaper explained, “when a person dies, a reaper takes them to the Vortex. There they merge again with the collective consciousness. Their experiences are saved. Their lives count for something.”
“Right, okay?”
“What Keller did was remove that possibility. He voided your parents and countless others. It was as though they never existed.”
My mouth went dry at the thought of that.
“This is why there is so much fear surrounding him by the older guard, Piper,” he stated. “They know what he’s capable of.”
“He claims to be a god,” I said, not wanting to broach the subject of my being one, too.
“Yes,” said Reaper. “He believes himself to be the Norse god Odin, and he has historically told those who serve him that they have descended from other gods in Norse mythology as well. This is how he keeps his hold on them.”
“Lucien Bane,” I said.
“Precisely. It’s completely asinine, but Keller is a master at twisting minds, Piper.”
I nodded and then caught myself and started running my finger across the screen in order to pretend I was studying something. I didn’t actually suspect anyone was watching, but why chance it?
“Anything else?” I asked.
“No,” he answered,“and you must promise to keep that to yourself. We can’t allow
a full-out panic to run through the supernatural community. Many of them were around the last time Keller was a recognized name. It would be chaos.”
“So I am the one who lived,” I sniffed. “The kids in school were right. I’m fucking Harriet Potter.”
“I suppose, except that I don’t think it was your parents’ love that saved you. They were already voided by the time Keller made it to your bedroom.”
“Thanks, Reap. That makes me feel so much better.”
“You’re welcome.” A moment later I saw him jolt out of the corner of my eye. “Wait. Was that sarcasm again?”
“Quite.”
“Oh.”
So the world was not as cut and dried as I’d thought. I’d known the basics about my parents, yes, but all this newfound information seriously changed my perception on things.
The primary one being that Keller was in serious need of dying.
Unfortunately, we wouldn’t be able to exact that plan until he reared his godforsaken head again.
I sincerely hoped that would be soon.
Reaper stood up and pushed his chair in before turning to me.
“I’m going to go and feed Agnes now,” he said. “I will see you tomorrow, unless something urgent comes up.”
“Sounds good,” I said and then looked up at him. “Thanks for saving my life, Reap.”
He smiled gently. “You’re my partner, Piper.”
“Yeah.” I sniffed at how fascinating that fact truly was. “I know.”
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John P. Logsdon
www.JohnPLogsdon.com
John was raised in the MD/VA/DC area. Growing up, John had a steady interest in writing stories, playing music, and tinkering with computers. He spent over 20 years working in the video games industry where he acted as designer and producer on many online games. He’s written science fiction, fantasy, humor, and even books on game development. While he enjoys writing lighthearted adventures and wacky comedies most, he can’t seem to turn down writing darker fiction. John lives with his wife, son, and Chihuahua.
Christopher P. Young
Chris grew up in the Maryland suburbs. He spent the majority of his childhood reading and writing science fiction and learning the craft of storytelling. He worked as a designer and producer in the video games industry for a number of years as well as working in technology and admin services. He enjoys writing both serious and comedic science fiction and fantasy. Chris lives with his wife and an ever-growing population of critters.
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This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by John P. Logsdon & Christopher P. Young
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
Published by: Crimson Myth Press (www.CrimsonMyth.com)
Cover Art: Jake Logsdon (www.JakeLogsdon.com)
Bane's Edge: A Piper & Payne Supernatural Novel, #2 (Netherworld Paranormal Police Department) Page 11