Round Trip Fare

by Barb Taub

  Carey dropped her extinguisher and reached into the fleeing bodies to snag a familiar figure, now white with fire-extinguisher powder. “Your ride’s here, Leigh Ann.”

  The ghostly figure in front of her coughed, wiped her eyes, and coughed again. “No!” More coughs. “I’m not leaving Null City, and you can’t make me go.”

  Carey raised a questioning eyebrow to Poppy, who shook her head and jerked a thumb toward the train behind them.

  “Seems my cousin here, the Null City Anchor, isn’t real excited about having you stay. And for reasons that completely escape me, Director Jeffers has arranged for your return. So I really only have one question for you.”

  “Wha…?”

  “Do you want to grab that stupid-assed giant trunk you came with, or…” She paused to point out Zach at her side. “Do you want my other cousin to carry you aboard without it?”

  Leigh Ann tilted her head back to look at Zach’s face towering more than a foot above hers, then slowly moved her gaze down over broad shoulders and chest barely contained by his Metro logo shirt. She turned round eyes back to Carey. “You didn’t tell me your family was part Hulk.” Zach grinned and handed his sister the empty fire extinguisher. Hoisting the trunk with his left arm as if it weighed no more than a newspaper, he hefted a sullen Leigh Ann under his right arm and disappeared onto the train.

  The other passengers had finished boarding and the train’s bells-voice was announcing its departure before Carey finished giving Poppy the bullet-point update of events since they’d last met.

  Poppy looked thoughtful. “You know, it sounds like Yosh…” At Carey’s frown, she corrected herself. “It sounds like Iax made a bad choice and he regrets it. I’m assuming the reason you’ve still got a mad going on is because you’ve never made any bad choices yourself?”

  “Hey! Don’t go all logical on me,” Carey groused. “You’re my cousin. You have to be on my side. I’m pretty sure it’s in the rules.”

  Poppy laughed. “No, that’s the BFF Code. Cousins and sisters get to tell it like it is.” She looped an arm around Carey for a quick squeeze before hopping off the already moving Metro.

  Back in the little bedroom car, Zach looked pained and Bain stoic as they listened to the yelling coming from the tiny bathroom. “I told her she needed to shower because I didn’t want that fire extinguisher powder all over the Metro.” He grimaced at the pounding on the door. “I used the Metro tattoo to lock her in. But I think it was that tat’s last gasp.” He held out his wrist. “Ink’s gone.” At a particularly loud fusillade of bangs and shrieks, he decided it was time to take the food trolley through the train. Just before he left, he paused. “She’ll have her gift back any minute now. What does she…”

  “She’s a Leannán Sí.”

  “Yeah? And at home that’s a…?”

  “It’s kind of a cross between a muse and a succubus. She enhances your creativity but then eats your soul.”

  His frown vanished. “My older sisters always said I haven’t got a creative bone in my body. I’d starve her. So no worries!” Whistling, he headed for the kitchen car.

  Carey rapped on the bathroom door. “I’m making dinner. Zach eats everything that can’t run away first, so if you want any you’d better get out here.” She waited until she heard the shower running, turned the doorknob to make sure it was now unlocked, and headed out to scramble eggs.

  Carey had to laugh as Leigh Ann stared at the mountain of eggs disappearing from Zach’s plate. He finished and looked from the empty pan on the stove to the eggs remaining on Leigh Ann’s plate.

  The younger girl wrapped an arm protectively around her food and lifted her fork. “What? The human vacuum isn’t full yet?”

  “Nope.” He pulled out two packs of chocolate chip cookies and mounded the first boxful onto his plate. After pouring milk into what Carey had always assumed was a vase, he began dipping cookies and popping them into his mouth. It looked more like a production line than a snack. As he ate, Zach fiddled with his ever present phone. He tapped an icon, and the sound of maniacal laughter filled the car. Another tap, and it was fright screams and ominous organ chords. Next came the sound of a mad scientist’s lab.

  “Cookies dipped in milk and freaky sound effects? What are you, six?” Leigh Ann snorted, but Carey noticed she reached a hand out for a cookie. As he pushed the second package across the counter, she shivered, then gasped. “My gift! It’s back…” Ignoring the cookies Zach was holding out, she reached for his arm, leaned forward, and inhaled.

  Leigh Ann frowned, and sucked in a bigger breath. “No! It’s not working. What did you do to me?”

  “Nothing.” He leaned away from her but held up his hands. “It probably just doesn’t work on me because I don’t have any creativity.”

  Carey nodded. “That or you just have to give it more time. Or find someone else to try it on.” When the younger girl turned to her with a speculative look, Carey showed her the hand. “Don’t even think about going there. Not unless you want to spend the rest of the trip locked in the bathroom.” She reached for the shopping list and squinted at Zach’s handwriting. “Does this list already have eggs on it?”

  He eyed it. “I think so. But that doesn’t mean it’s what we’ll get. I can’t tell you how often I’ve asked for cinnamon candies, and they never show up.”

  Carey was still laughing at the source of all the cinnamon-scented candles as the bells-voice announcer trilled, “Between Station next stop.” Leaving Leigh Ann glaring while an oblivious Zach opened another package of cookies and turned back to his sound effects app—wolf howls this time—Carey loaded up the food trolley and headed to the passenger cars. Two young men got on, along with a crowd of imps and six tall, silent men in the white robes of Watcher Court. Looking without expression at the imps, they headed for the empty car further down.

  The imps acknowledged her return with a demand for chocolate. “Bargain?” Zach, they informed her, wasn’t as good at bargaining. Or chocolate.

  She held up the foil-wrapped box of with the Fran’s fleur-de-lis logo. “Chocolate caramels.”

  They didn’t say anything, but their eyes glowed red.

  “Salt chocolate caramels.”

  There was a quiet group sigh, before one imp held up a bag of coffee beans. “Bargain.”

  “Sorry, boys. Today’s price is information. I’m looking for a tall guy with an Irish accent who goes by the name of Rian.”

  The imps took a step back. She wiggled the chocolate box. “Oh, look. It’s the Gray Salt Dark Chocolate Caramels.” She thought a few of the imps moaned.

  “Not coffee?”

  When she shook her head, they just returned to a pair of bench seats near the front of the train car and didn’t meet her eye.

  “Did you say Rian?” One of the young men looked up at her from a bench seat a few rows back. His hazel eyes were red-rimmed, and the other man tightened the arm around his shoulders. “Big guy? Irish? He’s the one who told us about Null City and sent us to the Metro. And there’s one other thing…”

  Pushing the trolley level with them, Carey offered refreshments to the two men. The taller of the pair had long dark hair and the beautiful face of an angel. Eyeing his leathers, tattoos, and various piercings, she decided the angel had fallen pretty far. The shorter young man who’d spoken to her had trendy dark-framed glasses, a shirt sporting a tiny designer logo, and ruthlessly styled short blond hair. As he reached for the cup she held out, she spotted the inflamed, puffy-edged tattoo on his wrist. “You’re the new SA?”

  He pulled back his wrist and stared at her.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s just that your tattoo looks brand new. Did you just accept a Service Agreement with the Metro?”

  The two men looked at each other, and then back at her. Finally, the blond with the train tattoo nodded. “I did. My name is Jacob. This is my partner, Anton. He’s heading for Null City.” The dark-haired man gave her a level look and jerked hi
s chin. At Jacob’s muttered, “Tone!,” his lips curved into a slight smirk, but he held out his hand.

  “I’m Carey.” She shook both men’s hands. “Okay, you’d better come with me. We don’t have much time because I’m getting off at the Seattle stop and there’s a lot you should know. Let’s get you a bandage to cover your new ink first, Jacob, and you can tell me what you know about Rian.”

  As they exited the car, Carey felt Bain press against her leg with a tiny whine. Bending down to flick the dog’s ears, she followed his gaze back to the end of the train car. Two of the men in Watchers Court robes were standing in the far doorway, staring at her. Well, well…

  She pushed the trolley back up the car until she was level with the imps. Her voice was very quiet. “Those two back there. I don’t think they’re really from Watcher’s Court. Could you keep an eye on them?”

  A wordless signal passed between the four imps before the first one replied, “Bargain?”

  “One box now, and one later if you have more info when they get off.” The imps buzzed quietly among themselves for a moment and then nodded. She handed over the Fran’s chocolate box. “Bargain.”

  »»•««

  As she covered Jacob’s new tattoo with an adhesive bandage, she asked him about Rian.

  “He told us we’d find you on the train, and gave us a message. If you’re the right person. He said your dog would be a poodle puppy.” Jacob looked doubtfully at Bain.

  “My other…dog…is a poodle. More or less.”

  She pulled out her phone and showed them a picture Claire had taken of Carey with Bain and Hellen.

  “That’s not a dog.” Speaking for the first time in a low, softly accented voice, Anton shook his head. “Maybe a confused guinea pig?

  “Tone!” Jacob hissed. “I can’t take you anywhere.”

  Anton gave her his little smile, but it didn’t reach his dark eyes until they turned back to Jacob.

  Jacob turned back to her. “Anyway, Rian wanted us to tell you that you need to go back to where your path forked.”

  She stared at him. “Huh?” Again with the path forking?

  “Where your path forked. Isn’t that what he said, Tone?”

  Anton looked bored, but nodded.

  “I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean, but for now I think you’d better let me give you a quick tour while my cousin Zach packs his stuff. Are you both staying on board?”

  Jacob and Anton exchanged sad smiles. As usual, it was Jacob who spoke. “Anton had some…difficulties…with other demons from his House because he got together with a human. He has anger issues, and I didn’t want him to end up damaging his brothers.”

  Carey raised an eyebrow. “I never heard that demons were particular about who other demons linked up with.”

  Anton’s soft voice was calm. “Normally, no. But I was the top assassin for our House, and they didn’t want me hesitating if a target was human. I knew it was only a matter of time before they went for Jake.”

  Jacob nodded. “When we decided to go to Null City, we could only afford one ticket. But then Rian told us about the Service Agreement option. Anton is going to the City so he doesn’t have to hurt anyone else, and I’ll join him as soon as my Agreement is over.”

  Jacob followed her as she showed him where everything was located. His eyes opened wider at the assortment of things in the freezer, and she was attempting to explain the peculiarities of supply ordering as practiced by Zach when the announcement came for the Seattle stop.

  Zach came out with his backpack on one shoulder and Leigh Ann’s massive trunk on the other. Carey wished Jacob and Anton good luck, before ushering a sullen Leigh Ann off the train. As they stepped onto the Seattle platform behind the four imps, Leigh Ann gasped while Bain began to growl.

  Carey looked up to see three men holding Tasers blocking their path. A sound behind her had her glancing over her shoulder at the two men in Watcher’s robes, guns trained on Leigh Ann and Zach. Bain snarled again, and she couldn’t have agreed more.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  July 2011: Seattle

  “Listen, boys—” Carey’s fingertips skimmed Bain’s head as she slid a half-step aside to give the dog more room. “—my Director back at the Academy used to tell me that just because trouble comes visiting doesn’t mean you have to offer it a place to sit down.”

  “You will answer only our questions and not speak about things that do not make sense.” Moving around to face her, one of the two gunmen in fake Watcher Court robes glared. His accent reminded her of Anton.

  “He used to say something else too.” With her most feral grin, she turned until she had the attention of the second gunman. “Life’s tough. It’s even tougher if you’re stupid. Bain! Defend.” Oops! What he actually said was if they’re bigger than you, go for the legs first. My bad.

  She dropped to the ground, swinging a leg to swipe the feet from beneath the man nearest her, before sending two shuriken darts into the neck of the other man. Blood oxygenated to an impossible red fountained from the artery severed by one of her shuriken, but he was still raising his gun. Carey heard a shot echo against the brick walls of the Metro station as Bain fastened jaws around the wounded man’s gun arm.

  Rolling to the man she’d tripped, her hand was already smashing against his throat as her other hand crunched into his nose. A glance to her side showed Bain standing over his opponent. But the bright arterial spray had already subsided, and his eyes stared sightlessly at her. As she came up in a defensive crouch, her gaze passed over the fallen bodies of Leigh Ann, Zach, and one of the imps. She relaxed when she saw the trailing wires of the Taser probes that had brought them down, and looked up to meet Iax’s dark eyes.

  He shook his head as he stood over the bodies of two of the Taser-wielding assailants.

  “So much for letting them grab you so we can tail them. My knives took them down, but that damn poison they always take killed them.” He retrieved his knives from the two men bleeding on the floor. “We each got two, but Bain helped with yours. So I win.”

  “Yeah, but mine didn’t shoot anybody before they went down. That means I win.”

  They both turned to stare at the three imps sitting on the remaining assailant like a row of carnival teddy bears waiting to be won—if carnivals gave out four-foot-tall red bears with scaly skin and bad attitudes. With identical looks of disgust, the imps got to their feet and turned to Carey. “Poisoned.” She stepped over to the man she’d throat-chopped, but he was already as dead as his companions. Damn, Frankie. With you gone, how are we ever supposed to figure out how to stop that poison?

  “Tone…No!” The shout from behind her had Carey and Iax swinging in tandem to face the train, weapons up and ready. A body pitched bonelessly from the train to the platform below, his white robes splashed with red. On the Metro’s steps, Anton stood with a knife in each hand. Ignoring their stares, his dark eyes lifted to Jacob. “Jake…I know. I promised no more killing. But they saw you talking to that Warden, and they were coming for you.” He dropped the knives and stood with chest heaving. “Jake.” His low voice dropped to a whisper. “I’m only sorry you saw me. I told you I would always protect you, always choose you over my brothers. Please…don’t hate me.” Jacob met his eyes for a long moment, wrapped arms around him, and drew him inside the train car.

  As Iax helped a still-shaky Zach and Leigh Ann to a bench on the platform, Carey pulled out her phone to text Claire.

  Carey: We need six trash pickups at the Seattle Metro Station.

  Claire: Please tell me one of them is Leigh Ann?

  Carey: You wish.

  She sat next to Zach and jerked her chin toward Iax. “You called him?”

  Zach looked wary, but nodded. “I called from Null City. He said he was already in the Seattle station, waiting for you.”

  “No, you did good. I might have been able to handle the two the imps didn’t get, but I don’t know if I could have stopped the rest of you f
rom taking a bullet instead of a Taser.”

  Leigh Ann gasped. “You’re bleeding!”

  Immediately, Iax was shoving Zach aside, eyes dark and jaw clenched as he ripped her shirt to bare the long groove slashed across her upper arm. Even as he gently pressed her wadded sleeve against the sluggishly bleeding cut, he leaned forward to murmur in her ear. “Apparently somebody did get shot. So I win.”

  He slid his free arm around her shoulder and held her close to his chest while he kept the pad pressed to the wound. She figured she’d regret it, but she relaxed against him and closed her eyes. The cut wasn’t serious, but he just felt so damn good.

  Claire arrived only minutes later with Peter and the rest of the cleanup crew, one eyebrow raised as she spotted Carey leaning into Iax. She’d brought Anderson with his field medic kit. Since all their assailants were dead, he went to work on Carey’s arm. It was a straight, shallow clip, he pronounced, and she waved off his offer of stitches in favor of a row of butterfly adhesives holding the edges together.

  Grudgingly shrugging into a spare hoodie offered by Leigh Ann—a pink number sporting a mercifully blurred graphic of something called a “Belieber”—Carey realized for the first time that the four imps were still gathered at the edge of the train platform. Seeing her gaze, they moved to stand in front of her.

  One held out his hand. “Bargain.”

  She shook her head. “No, the bargain was that you would let me know if you heard anything about what they were up to.”

  “We were going to tell you, but then they pointed their weapons at my brothers.” He sniffed. “They said they had a truck parked outside the station to take you away with them. They were going to use the rest of us as hostages to make you cooperative.” He held up a set of car keys. “We took these from the one who shot at my brother.”

  Carey reached into her bag and pulled out the remaining box of chocolate. “Anything else?”

  The imps looked at each other before the first one spoke again. “They said when they had you, they would not need your brother.”