“What exactly was taken?” asked Chase when we stopped near a shelf with no obviously missing boxes.
Quan took out his mobile phone and tapped a few buttons. “I’ve transferred you a PDF of the item part numbers and relevant shipping information. As you’ll see, the sixteen boxes were from a variety of different factories and vendors. The contents ranged from inexpensive mobile phones to custom components destined for local businesses.”
“Vector Zero?” Chase asked after scanning the list. “The quantum computing lab?”
Quan nodded. “Trang Enterprises holds the contract for supplying custom components for Vector Zero. The majority of their shipments are stored in a secure vault three aisles over. The items stolen from this location were of little value to anyone but Vector Zero. It is my belief that they were mistakenly taken along with the more easily sold mobile hardware.”
“And this secure vault,” I asked. “Has it been compromised as well?”
Quan looked almost offended, insofar as someone so in control of his expressions could possibly look anything other than completely neutral.
“All inventory in the secure storage unit is accounted for,” he stated bluntly. “In any case, it would not be possible for these thieves to breach the vault. Mr. Trang has spared no expense in outfitting it with the best security system money can buy.”
“I imagine your reputation with clients like Vector Zero is very important to winning and retaining contracts,” I mused. “Must not look good to have break-ins happening so close to the valuable merchandise.”
“Hence our desire to resolve this matter as quickly and quietly as possible,” said Quan. “Our cameras recorded nothing suspicious on the nights of the intrusions, and there was no sign of forced entry. As I said yesterday, we are completely confident that none of our employees were involved.”
“I’m still not sure how you can claim that,” Chase said as he began wandering down the aisle. “A job like this almost always involves an inside man.”
“I’m afraid I cannot divulge our methods for ascertaining innocence among the employees. Suffice it to say this is not a line of inquiry that Mr. Trang or I feel would be a valuable use of your time.”
Not sure what to do with a crime scene that was completely cold, I followed Chase around the warehouse. I watched him inspect the building with a practiced eye, admiring how well he seemed to be mapping out entrances, exits, and camera locations in his head. I still hadn’t quite come to terms with the fact that my geeky and overweight friend had been working as a thief for years, but seeing him in his element like this made it easier to appreciate just how good at it he really was. Within fifteen minutes, he’d broken down no fewer than six different ways the thieves could have entered the building without triggering any of the alarms. He’d then gone on to dismiss each method, pointing out details like unbroken paint seals on ventilation cover screws that meant they hadn’t been removed since the last coat of paint had been applied sometime long ago.
“It’s not that it’s tough to break in here,” he said after Quan showed us the security footage from the night in question, “but there’s not a sliver of evidence to suggest that anyone did. It’s tough to tell from these monitors, but my gut tells me those tapes haven’t been altered in any way. There’s no extra static, no signs of looped footage, nothing out of the ordinary. The timestamps never glitch out. There’s no angle that’s not covered by at least one camera. The missing boxes are just there, then suddenly they’re not.”
He rewound the recording several seconds, then tapped the button to play back one frame at a time. The camera showed an unobstructed view of the aisle, the front face of the shelves just visible on the side of the screen. In one frame all inventory was sitting securely in sight. In the next, several gaps were suddenly visible.
“This is why Mr. Trang asked that we bring you in to consult,” Quan explained. “We are aware of your special talents. Perhaps you are able to uncover something that our mundane senses cannot.”
“I scanned the whole warehouse with my mage sight already, and if there was any trace magic in the area, it’s long gone by now.”
“What about in the security footage?” asked Chase.
“Doesn’t work like that,” I said. “I can only view the magical spectrum in real time.”
We watched yet another angle of the scene, this one more oblique and even less informative than the others.
“Wait a second,” I said, noting the time and date marked in the upper left hand corner of the screen. “Notice anything about that date, Chase?”
It took him a moment, but I saw from the widening of his eyes that he’d managed to put the pieces together.
“You think they’re related?” he asked.
“Hard to say for sure. With the power they were packing last night, they’d definitely be able to pull something like this off.”
Quan cleared his throat softly, reminding us of his presence.
“You believe you have information relating to this matter?” he asked.
“Possibly,” I told him. “I’d rather not say anything until I’ve verified a few facts.”
“I am sure you can understand our desire to resolve this matter in a timely fashion. Perhaps it would be better for you to share your information with us so that we might apply our own resources towards tracking down any potential suspects.”
Something about Quan and the mysterious Mr. Trang made me hesitate. The last thing I wanted was to spook the kids by having a guy like Quan snooping after them. For all I knew, he’d go in with a hit squad to take them out before I found out more about where they’d picked up the ability to harness the power of a nexus. As important as it was to crack this case, I wasn’t ready to give up my extremely weak lead just yet. Besides, explaining everything to Quan would mean admitting how easily they’d gotten away from me.
“I’m not quite ready compromise my sources on what may be a simple coincidence,” I said. “Rest assured I’ll let you and your boss know the second I have proof.”
Quan frowned ever so slightly, but didn’t protest.
“Anything else you want to see before we go?” I asked Chase.
“All good here.” He turned to face Quan. “You were right to hire us though. Even though it’s been a month since the break-in, I’m almost positive no ordinary thieves compromised your security. I’ll compile a break down of the flaws I spotted so you can patch them against future intrusion. In the meantime, you may want to contact someone about installing a few wards or something.”
Clearly unhappy at having someone like Chase comment on the warehouse’s lack of security, Quan merely grunted in response. His professional aloofness was beginning to show cracks, and I thought it best to be on our way before we did or said anything to further impugn his abilities as head of security.
Quan followed us as far as the loading bay door. We left with assurances that tracking down the thieves would be our top priority. Given how this job was lining up with Chase’s dead old guy pet project, that wasn’t much of a stretch. I wanted to know more about these kids and who’d been teaching them to perform rituals like the one we’d witnessed at the nexus. Working for Mr. Trang was turning into the perfect way to get paid for doing just that.
“You think it’s possible those kids could make it from the SkyTrain station to this warehouse in the timeframe between that video footage and when we lost them?” I asked Chase when we were back at the car.
“In those cars? No problem. If they weren’t worried about being tracked through traffic cams, I’d bet they did double the speed limit most of the way here. The roads around here would be dead quiet at that time of night.”
“This still doesn’t put us any further ahead on tracking them down though. When we get home, I’m going to need you to see if you can get into the traffic cam system. We won’t be able to run plates, but I’ll bet we can find enough photos of the cars to get at least a rough location that will help us narrow down the searc
h.”
Chase looked up from his phone, staring at me like I was some kind of idiot.
“What?” I asked.
“First, I can’t just dip into the traffic cam system whenever I want. That’s next level shit, and I’d have to trade some serious favors to get someone else to do it.”
I didn’t consider myself computer illiterate or anything, but I will admit to just maybe having watched a few too many movies where people hacked into all kinds of systems with little more than a few keystrokes.
“And second,” he continued. “I already told you I have a date tonight.”
Chapter Nine
“A date?” I asked, yanking on the door handle and wondering why it wouldn’t open.
“Yeah, you know those things where two people who are attracted to each other meet somewhere to hangout together in a romantic fashion? I told you all of this when we got in the car to come here.”
“I know what a date is.” Never mind that I hadn’t been on a proper one in at least four years. “Can you at least get me set up with some of your advanced search programs before you leave on this date?”
Chase sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“You don’t remember me telling you that you were going to have to call a taxi to take you home after our meeting with Quan, do you?”
There had been vague noises coming out of Chase’s mouth while I’d dragged myself out of the house and into the car ninety minutes earlier, but there was no graceful way to admit that I hadn’t been paying even the slightest bit of attention. I let go of the handle, understanding why Chase hadn’t unlocked his door in order to reach across and flick the old-school manual lock.
“You’re meeting this mystery girl here?” I asked as I hurried to catch up with where Chase was already walking towards the street. “Are you taking her to a warehouse rave or something?”
“It’s barely seven o’clock,” he said. “What kind of rave starts that early?”
“All ages? She’s not in high school, is she Chase. Where did you meet this girl?”
“She’s my age, and we’re going to the Summer Night Market. It’s just a few blocks from here down by the river.” We walked on a few more blocks before he added, “And not that it’s any of your business, but I met her through a dating app.”
He held up his phone. The screen displayed a series of messages he’d exchanged with a smiling girl named Lailani. I didn’t get enough of a glimpse to read any of it, but the obscene number of emoticons and animated gifs on both sides of the conversation were enough to give me an idea of how well they were getting on. A part of me wanted to make a snarky comment about resorting to meeting a stranger from the internet for a date, but truth be told, I was more than a little jealous of Chase. The last meaningful relationship I’d had with anyone was with Lorelai, a woman I only later discovered to be a succubus. That had been as short-lived as it was passionate and ultimately devastating. Something as normal as going on a date felt like the kind of thing only people in cheesy romances had time for. As much as I wanted him by my side while I went home and tried to find some clue that would reveal the location of the kids and their fancy cars, I was happy Chase was able to find at least some sense of balance in his life.
“You remember you can’t tell her about any of this, right?” I asked as an afterthought.
“We already had this conversation,” he said with no small amount of indignity. “Obviously I won’t tell her that my best friend is a mage.” He stopped walking and turned to face me. “I promised I’d keep your secret, and I’m not going to break that promise just to impress a girl.”
“That’s not what I meant.” I tried to stop talking, I really did. I couldn’t afford to ruin my only semi-normal friendship because of my own paranoia. “You can’t tell her about the investigation stuff either. It’s all too closely linked together. The safest thing is to just pretend you’re the trust-funded gamer nerd I always thought you were.”
“Yeah, because that’ll be sure to impress her.”
“Don’t even start with that. You didn’t have to tell girls you were a thief to get them interested in you in the past, did you? You’re a good guy, and you don’t need to make yourself seem any cooler or more dangerous to get people to like you.”
Chase snorted and shoved his hands into his pockets.
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll keep quiet about the whole consultant thing. We’ll probably mostly talk about anime anyways. We connected over Shokugeki no Souma. Have I shown you that one yet? It’s probably my favorite of all the cooking anime. There’s this one epis—”
“Uh, aren’t you going to be late for this date of yours?”
“Crap.” Chase tapped out a quick message to Lailani, punctuating it with what looked like four different emoji. “Catch you later. Don’t wait up!”
I smiled as I watched him hurry off down the street, the smile quickly fading into a frown. It was annoying as hell to have to call a cab to pick me up from this part of the city. I considered following Chase to the night market just long enough to pick up something to eat, but then I caught sight of a large yellow and blue sign that gave me another idea.
“Ninety-nine cent hot-dogs and ice cream it is,” I said as I began walking towards the Ikea.
It wasn’t the classiest of dinners, but it was cheap and would go a long way towards combating the queasiness my Oxy hangover had saddled me with. Besides, it would give me a chance to stroll through the kitchen section. Chase had been generous to let me move into his place after what had happened at my old apartment, so I couldn’t really complain about the fact that he lived like a slob.
That’s a lie; I’d actually complained quite a bit.
Rightly so, Chase had told me that if I wanted ridiculous things like matching cutlery and tableware, I should go and pick them up myself. With the paycheck from this job with Quan on the horizon, I might finally be able to afford to do just that. Maybe I’d even pick up a twenty piece Dofstam as starter set to keep me motivated. Once we had a bit of hard evidence connecting the kids from the nexus to the theft in Trang’s warehouse, I’d be able to toss every disgusting thrift store knife and fork back into the nearest donation bin it had probably come from.
Before I even made it a block closer to the store, my dreams of pristine white plates and bowls were dashed by a glimpse of a shadow flitting in Chase’s direction. When I turned my head to focus on it, there was nothing to see but an empty sidewalk. Call it a sixth sense for the supernatural, or call it plain old paranoia from years of living on the streets, but I was sure I’d seen something detach itself from the long late afternoon shadow of a building right near the corner where I’d split off from Chase just seconds earlier. It had been nothing more than a dark blur in the corner of my vision, but it had been enough to put my overactive imagination on high alert. There were any number of creatures that might take advantage of an event as popular as the night market to feed on an unsuspecting soul. Wandering alone in an area with few pedestrians made Chase an easy target. There were plenty of stretches between this major street and the night market where it would be easy for something to grab Chase and haul him into an empty warehouse so it could feast upon his innards.
Wondering if maybe I was overtired and hallucinating, I continued on for another block before turning off on the next side street. This part of the city wasn’t exactly built for people on foot. The imposition of big box stores forced me to hoof it on a detour through alleyways and back streets in the direction of the market. Slowing my pace as I rounded the final corner, I caught sight of Chase just as he stopped to awkwardly shake hands with a girl I figured to be Lailani.
“Smooth, buddy,” I murmured from my vantage point behind a parked truck.
The sun shone brightly between the buildings, casting sharp shadows along the street. Chase and Lailani stood in a stripe of honey warm sunlight, oblivious to the cold shadow lurking somewhere behind them. Then again, as I scanned the area with my mage sight, I w
ondered if I wasn’t imagining the threat. Other than what looked suspiciously like a nest of pixies on the roof of a nearby warehouse, there was nothing threatening to see. Either the shadow I thought I’d seen had the ability to cloak itself from my sight, or there really was nothing to be concerned about.
Deciding to give it a few minutes, I leaned against the back of the truck as casually as I could, pretending to play with my phone while I watched Chase and Lailani make small talk. Eventually, Chase nodded towards the night market entrance and they began walking towards it. I slipped my phone back into my pocket and watched closely, squinting through the hazy rays of sunlight for any sign of the mysterious shadow.
There. A distortion about as noticeable as a piece of cling wrap blowing in the wind crossed one of the patches of sunlight between buildings. It emanated no visible magical energy, but it was definitely real. Tracking its most likely path through the next block of shadows, I caught sight of it again when it flitted across the large open space between the end of the block and the entrance to the night market. There was no doubt in my mind now; something was after Chase. Given the timing of it all, I had to believe it had something to do with our investigation into Trang Enterprises. I didn’t intend to leave the area until I’d figured out whether or not my friend was in danger. For all I knew, it was some supernatural agent Quan had sent out to spy on us. It didn’t seem likely, but at this point I wasn’t ready to rule anything out.
Trying to keep myself from being spotted by Chase or Lailani, I slipped out from behind the truck and followed them into the night market. I had to scrounge quarters and dimes from my pocket in order to pay the three dollar entry fee, but once inside it was easy enough to stay close to Chase and his date without being spotted. The market consisted of several long rows of event tents selling everything from bejeweled phone cases to ninety-nine cent pantyhose. People milled everywhere, snacking on a variety of street-vendor food while perusing the goods for sale. If I had any fear of being spotted, all I had to do was glance at Chase’s face to see how smitten he was with the girl walking next to him. He seemed so besotted with Lailani, I figured I could probably walk up to him and slap his ass without him realizing it was me.
Black Market (Black Records Book 2) Page 8