by Martha Carr
“Damn.” Bhandi rubbed the back of her neck. “We could use that against them too if he had a way to prove it.”
“We don’t have to prove shit.” Rhynehart kicked another spray of sewage across the room, then stomped to the side table again with his firearm in hand. Instead of returning it to the drawer, he slammed it down beside the untouched laptop. “I’m done with that asshole. He only fired me to make it legal and by-the-book. Then he tried to take me out for real and make it look like…what? Some kinda fucked-up accident? A break-in?”
Yurik snorted and stared at the hole in the ceiling. “Dude, nobody breaks into houses through the shit pipes.”
“Unless they have these machines and don’t have to do it in person.”
“I wanna know how these magical shitbags found you.” Todd folded his arms and jerked his chin at Rhynehart. “You’re not in the system anymore.”
“Todd.” Tate hissed out a sigh and shook his head. “Totally went over your head, didn’t it?”
“What? You think Colonel Thomas handed over your address and told those assholes to take you out?”
“Most fucking likely.” Rhynehart glared at his destroyed living and dining room, his nostrils flaring. “I need some air.”
He spun with a smaller splash and stormed through the kitchen to the back door.
“For real? After everything you’ve done, you think he’d turn on you like that? A fucking colonel?” Todd raced after his friend, shouting in surprise and disgust when an extra slosh of sewer water sprayed on his pants and into his boots. “Fuck, man.”
Rhynehart didn’t bother to close the door behind him when he shoved it open and stomped out into the backyard. Their conversation drifted inside, louder than either man intended.
“Do you hear how crazy you sound, man?”
“I’m not crazy, Mike. This hole just keeps getting bigger.”
“And you’re gonna take her word for it? L’zar’s daughter? The halfling, Brian? Come on!”
“Don’t fucking say my name,” Rhynehart hissed. He shot a wide-eyed glance through the door, with a straight line of sight into the destroyed living room and the six magicals standing there staring back at him, then slammed the back door shut and stalked down the side of the house.
Yurik raised his eyebrows at Cheyenne. “Ouch.”
Bhandi shrugged. “He’s human. They don’t know shit. Don’t worry, Cheyenne, he’ll figure it out.”
Cheyenne tilted her head to give the troll woman an expressionless stare. “I don’t give a shit what he thinks as long as he doesn’t screw this up for the rest of us.”
“Nah. He probably won’t.”
A fast, steady lapping sound rose from beneath the table as Tammy’s canine curiosity got the better of her.
“Oh, fucking gross.” Bhandi sloshed backward and peered under the table. “I bet he lets that thing drink outta the toilet too.”
“So.” Jamal clasped his hands together and looked around at each of them. “We gonna eat before we do this or what?”
“Dude.” Yurik shook his head at the ogre, his eyes wide. “Worst timing.”
Jamal grunted. “I don’t like going in on an empty stomach. Gotta eat somethin’.”
Bhandi gestured at the floor. “Well, if it’s good enough for the rat-dog…”
“I’ll order takeout.” Jamal pulled a cell phone from the pocket of his black fatigues and took off to the back of the house, his thick finger stabbing delicately at the screen. When his boots clomped across the kitchen, Tammy whined and sloshed through the muck after him, the tags on her collar jingling.
“Man, it fucking stinks in here.” Bhandi shook her head and slogged after the ogre and Rhynehart’s dog.
“Sucks to be Rhynehart, right?” Tate took a quick look around and nodded at the back door. “If the big guy gets food on the way, we’re eatin’ outside.”
“You comin’?” Yurik asked as he followed Tate to the kitchen, turning around to look at Cheyenne and Ember.
“Yeah, in a minute.” Cheyenne wrinkled her nose, trying to ignore the smell, which hit her at least ten times harder than anyone else. When the back door shut again behind Yurik and Tate, she turned to Ember and sighed.
“You feel responsible for this, don’t you?”
“Can you blame me?”
Ember shook her head. “Not really.”
Cheyenne gazed around the destroyed room, and at the same time, inspected the command prompts the activator pulled up in her vision. “I can’t believe I’m about to do the guy a favor just because I can.”
“See? You can be nice.” Ember raised her hand, and a halo of violet light flared around it. “And if nothing else, it proves you’re not like L’zar, this does.”
With a snort, Cheyenne stepped out of the rippling puddle of muck on the floor and pointed at the mess before selecting the spell she wanted from the activator’s options. “Sure. But if Rhynehart thinks he owes me big-time again after this, I won’t argue.”
Twenty minutes later, Rhynehart jerked open the back door and poked his head inside.
“There must be something seriously wrong with you.” He blinked, opened the door wider, and stepped into the kitchen. “What the fuck?”
“Oh, hey. Yeah.” Cheyenne dropped the last piece of shredded metal on the pile of segmented war-machine fragments in the corner with a flick of her fingers. “You’re welcome.”
“How did you…” The man walked slowly into the living room and couldn’t stop staring. “Help me out here, halfling.”
“Well, you might wanna put a new seal up there. Maybe a fresh panel. I don’t know how long that’ll hold.” Cheyenne pointed at the ceiling, which was mostly restored but didn’t look very stable. “And I don’t know shit about plumbing.”
Ember floated back through the front door and closed it behind her, then dusted off her hands and grinned at the stunned ex-agent. “What do you think?”
“I have no fucking clue.” Rhynehart peered under the table, then pointed at the still-severed couch. “Couldn’t fix the furniture?”
“Meh.” Cheyenne shrugged. “That’s an ugly couch, man. Good excuse to get a new one.”
Bhandi came in through the back and barked a laugh. “You finally picked up cleaning-crew duty, huh?”
The other agents filtered in behind her, looking as dumbstruck as Rhynehart.
“How the hell did you do this?” Yurik asked.
Ember laughed. “Seriously? I mean, I know none of you are fae, but magic is a thing. So are spells.”
“Huh?”
Cheyenne and Ember shared an exasperated glance. “And you wanna give them activators.”
“There’s gonna be a serious learning curve with these guys, yeah.”
“Wait, Cheyenne’s not fae, either. Don’t tell me you know spells too.” Tate squinted at the halfling. “But if you do, you should say that.”
“Kinda.” Cheyenne almost tapped the activator behind her ear but realized none of them would understand what that meant. “It’s all part of the O’gúl tech I have on me. Helps with a lot of things.”
“Yeah, no shit.”
“So when do we get our own? Whatever they are?” Bhandi asked.
“It’s on my list. But let’s stay focused on one thing at a time, huh?”
“After we wipe out these machine-controlling assholes, then?”
“It’s gonna take a little more time than that.” Cheyenne shrugged. “They don’t exist on this side. Yet.”
“No kidding. So you’re gonna bring us our own secret stash of whatever lets you do all this?” Yurik frowned at the clean floors, then glanced at the pile of destroyed snake-machine parts. “Where’d you put the mess?”
“Oh, yeah.” Ember stuck a thumb over her shoulder at the front door. “Your front garden got some extra fertilizer. Hope you don’t mind.”
Rhynehart gave her a blank look and shook his head.
“Great.”
A knock came at the fron
t door, and everybody turned to stare at it.
“Food’s here,” Jamal grumbled and stuck a hand in his pocket to pull out an illusion-charm ring and stick it on his finger.
“Masks on,” Bhandi muttered.
The room of two humans and six magicals transformed into six almost-regular-looking people seconds before Jamal opened the front door.
“Order for Jamal.” The kid in the Jimmy John’s shirt gave the huge, ridiculously muscular man with brown hair flopping into his beady eyes a nervous smile and lifted the bulging plastic bags in each of his hands.
“Yep.” Jamal reached through the door to take the bags. “I tipped on the website.”
“Oh. Yeah, okay. That’s cool.”
Tammy came racing through the house, yapping as her nails clicked across the floor.
“Hey, by the way.” The kid wrinkled his nose and glanced at the front garden. “Not trying to get in anyone’s business, but it smells out here. You might wanna check for a backup in the pipes or something, you know?”
“Sure.” Jamal jerked his chin at the delivery driver and turned, pulling the door closed with a huge elbow.
Rhynehart’s dog stopped in the doorway and barked furiously at the kid as he turned to head down the drive. The kid’s smile faded when he saw the white Maltese covered in brown sludge. “Uh, cute dog.”
“Uh-huh.” Jamal elbowed the door, and the Jimmy John’s kid turned around two more times to stare at Tammy before the door shut and muffled her barking. “Food.”
Everyone gathered around the table as he brought in the plastic bags.
“Tammy. Hey.” Rhynehart headed to the front door and stopped. “You cleaned my whole house, halfling. Would it’ve killed you to do the same for my dog?”
Cheyenne snorted. “She was outside with you, and I’m not a groomer.”
Bhandi and Yurik burst out laughing as they sifted through the plastic bags on the table. Jamal bit off a quarter of his sandwich at once and grunted again.
Grimacing, Rhynehart bent to pick up his soiled Maltese and shook his head. “Leave me a sandwich, huh?”
“Where you goin’, man?” Tate called through a mouthful.
“To give Tammy a bath and change my clothes. If you didn’t bring any, don’t expect me to loan you extras.”
As the agents dug into their late lunches or early dinners, Cheyenne grinned and pulled out her cell phone. He can act pissed off all he wants. Anyone would be grateful for not having to clean sprayed sewage off their walls.
Bhandi slid a wrapped sandwich to her across the table. “Unless you don’t wanna eat. Then I’ll take care of it for you.”
“Hey. You can’t call dibs on someone else’s sandwich.”
“I can if she’s not gonna eat it, Greenskin.”
“Yeah, I’ll eat it. Give me a sec.” Cheyenne turned away from the table to send Byrd a text.
Where are you guys? We said 2:00.
She didn’t get an immediate reply, so she stuck her phone back in her pocket and grabbed the sandwich.
“Hey, you know what?” Todd swallowed his food and jerked his chin at the other agents. “This gives a whole new meaning to shittin’ where you eat, right?”
The magical agents stared at him, and Bhandi scoffed. “You should stick to lasers, man. Comedy’s not your thing.”
“I thought it was funny.” He bit into his sandwich again and chuckled.
Cheyenne and Ember glanced at each other, and the fae lifted her sandwich in a silent toast.
Yeah, another day hanging out with FRoE agents. As long as they have their heads in the game when we roll into that meeting.
Chapter Forty-Four
Rhynehart emptied a scoop of dog food into Tammy’s bowl and scratched behind her ears as she sniffed her dinner. “Good girl.” He stood, glanced at his tactical watch, and turned around to look at his lounging guests in the other room. “6:15, people. Time to move out.”
Yurik grinned at him as the man rejoined everyone else. “Hey, they didn’t take your watch.”
Tate snorted and shook his head.
“Nope, they didn’t take my watch.” Rhynehart stuck his hands in his pockets and frowned as he headed to the front door. “Tried to take my life. No big deal.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Yurik sighed and gave up when the human agent disappeared through his front door. “Damn.”
“What’re you tryin’ to do, sayin’ shit like that?” Todd shook his head as he zipped up the duffel bag with the fell laser inside.
“What? I’m staying positive.”
Cheyenne clapped a hand on the goblin’s muscular shoulder. “Maybe stay on task with this one. I bet he’ll find a silver lining once the man who used to be his boss and ordered his murder falls off his high horse.”
“Yeah, but what about before then?” When nobody answered, Yurik turned around with a scowl and picked up the second duffel bag. “Can’t be gloomy and shitty all the time.”
“Have you ever seen Rhynehart laugh?” Bhandi asked.
“No.”
“Then, there’s the hole in your logic.”
Jamal grunted and stooped to pat the top of Tammy’s head when she padded up to him with a whine. “Bye, dog.” After slipping on his mask on again, he put one crate on top of the other and picked them both up before turning to the door.
“Time to roll.” Tate slipped on his mask too and grinned at Ember as he passed her on the way to the door. “Don’t be nervous, fae. We’ve got your back.”
“I’m not nervous.” She shot Cheyenne a confused smile and floated along beside the bald, tattooed troll. “Why would you think that?”
The others followed them through the front hall. Jamal grunted when the corner of the top crate bumped the wall.
“Watch it, big guy. This way.” Bhandi tapped his huge arm and directed him around the corner out the door.
Tate held the door open for everyone and chuckled when Ember stared him down. “No, seriously. Do I look nervous?”
“I mean, not now. But you did.” He puckered his lips and blew Tammy a quick kiss before closing the door in the dog’s face. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Ember. Everyone’s a little nervous their first time.”
“Ha!” She turned around and grinned at him as he caught up to her on the driveway. “That’s what you’re trying to do. I’m the fae who used to ride through Peridosh in a wheelchair, which means I’ve never been in a fight before.”
“I mean, kinda. Yeah.”
The cobbled-together team stopped at the two black SUVs parked in front of Rhynehart’s house, and Ember met Cheyenne’s gaze. “Tate thinks this is my first fight.”
“Huh.”
“Okay, maybe it’s not.” With a nervous laugh, the troll man rubbed the back of his bald head. “But you haven’t gone on an op with us before. Not like Cheyenne, anyway. So that’s a first, at least.”
“You know what I think?”
“Huh?”
Ember folded her arms. “I think this is your first time doing anything with a fae.”
“Pshh. So?”
“So don’t be nervous, Tate.” She patted his shoulder. “I’ve got your back.”
Ember climbed into the back seat of one SUV after Bhandi as Yurik went around the front to the driver’s side. Tate frowned at Cheyenne and spread his arms. “But she hasn’t done anything like this, right?”
Cheyenne slipped into the back seat and grabbed the door handle. “Ember’s been in more high-level raids than you have, man. I promise.” Then she shut the door and fought back a laugh as the troll man stood beside the car in disbelief.
“This isn’t a damn videogame,” Tate muttered. “Raids?”
Yurik gently honked the horn, and the tattooed troll jumped and yanked open the passenger door.
Todd, Rhynehart, and Jamal got into the second SUV, then the drivers started the engines and both vehicles pulled away from the house, leaving Rhynehart’s black Jeep and Matthew Thomas’ Mercedes
behind.
Cheyenne pulled out her cell phone again and sent Lumil a text this time since Byrd still hadn’t replied.
We’re heading out now. Couldn’t wait for you. Meet us there.
She added the address of the meeting location and sent it before slipping her phone back into her pocket. They’re more likely to get themselves into trouble than out of it. Whatever’s holding them up, I hope they figure their shit out.
Ember looked at her with raised eyebrows. “Still nothing?”
“Nope. They’ll be there or they won’t. I’m not gonna worry about trying to figure it out.”
“Right.” The fae’s gaze dropped to the neckline of Cheyenne’s shirt. “What about your shoulders?”
Cheyenne glanced down at where one of the dart wounds was still open beneath her shirt. “Well, they’re not breaking any records at least, for the worst or the best.”
Bhandi snorted. “What are you talking about?”
“Nothing.” Reaching into her pocket, Cheyenne pulled out the injection canister and handed it to Ember. “You mind?”
“Sure.”
“Whoa. Shit. What the hell is that?” Bhandi laughed and stared at the canister as Ember turned it over in her hand. “You bring your own weapons, Goth drow?”
Cheyenne moved her trenchcoat out of the way and lifted her shirt to give Ember a clear shot. “Have you ever seen me bring weapons?”
“I mean, not yet.” The injection canister hissed when Ember pressed it against Cheyenne’s side. Bhandi threw her head back and cackled. “No fucking way!”
“What?” Tate turned around in the passenger seat as Cheyenne closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the headrest. “I missed something.”
Bhandi pointed at the canister in Ember’s hand. “The Goth drow brought herself an extra boost, man.”
Yurik snorted and looked into the rearview mirror. “Bullshit.”
“Yeah, that’s what you’d think.” The troll woman slapped her hand on the door’s armrest. “She’s fucking juicin’ over here!”
“Damn, Cheyenne.” Tate raised an eyebrow and glanced at the halfling before turning around again in his seat. “Never would’ve pinned you for the type.”