“Their goal is probably the same—expose the Para world to the normal world and force a joining. I just don’t know how this all plays into it. It doesn’t really seem to fit. Not at all. Which means I’m missing pieces, or this isn’t connected at all.”
“And either of those answers is a scary one,” Gus said. “Yeah… I know. And I agree. But that’s how it goes. We report our findings, push it up, and let them all handle it. We’re not leading the investigation; we’re just cogs in the machine that’s working on it.”
“I hate being a cog,” Melody said. Then she grinned. “Well, I liked being a cog between you and Trish. That was heavenly.”
Rolling his eyes, but grinning nonetheless, Gus shook his head.
“You’re so stupid, but I love you,” he said. “I’m going to go check on Ness and Trish. See if they got a hold of Mark and go from there.
“You’re confident they’ve pulled out?”
“After this bust, they won’t be putting anything through the military again,” Melody said. “They’ve definitely pulled out. Exactly the opposite of what you did.”
Sighing, and feeling a weird flutter at the back of his skull at the memory of last night in the hotel room with Vanessa, Trish, and Melody, Gus waved a hand and left.
The last thing he needed right now was his mind going down that road.
When he got to the top of the ship, Gus found Vanessa and Trish off to one side. Vanessa was talking to someone on her phone while Trish looked like she was contemplating feeding the fish.
Then she did, spewing out everything in her stomach in a violent fashion.
I’ll need to remember that. Dryads don’t belong on boats.
“Oh, honey,” Vanessa said, laying a hand on Trish’s back. Then Vanessa looked up to find that Gus was right there. “Ah! Gus is here. Talk to him. I need to take care of Trish.”
Handing the phone off to Gus, Vanessa immediately started attending to Trish.
“…what? Okay. That’s not a problem. I do love me some Gussy,” Mark said on the phone as Gus put it to his ear.
“Hey,” Gus said.
“Hi sweetie, how’s work?” Mark asked.
“’S alright,” Gus said, walking away from Vanessa and Trish. “Though I get the impression this is probably the end of the road for the case. Not the problem behind it, though.”
“Yeah, that’s what I got from Vanessa,” Mark said. “What does Melody think? What do you think?”
“Melody’s positive this one is done. They won’t use the same method of transport now that we’re aware of it,” Gus said. “I mean, we wouldn’t take the same patrol route if they knew where we were coming from, ya know? Same thing. No reason to ever use this shipping method again unless they figure out a better way to disguise it.”
“Yeah,” Mark said. “Pity. I was hoping we’d actually be able to make a bust. Shutting it down is almost as good.”
“Did Vanessa mention that the value of the drugs we found is already something like a hundred million in street value?” Gus asked.
“Ah…” Mark said, then went silent.
Gus grinned, walking to the edge of the boat. Staring out at the water beneath him, he waited quietly.
He didn’t get to surprise Mark with good news as often as he’d like.
“No, she hadn’t gotten to that part yet,” Mark said finally.
“Yeah. Probably going to be somewhere between two hundred million and five hundred million,” Gus said. “All designer Were, Vamp, and Para stuff is my bet. It’s high value and easy to sell.”
“Mmm,” Mark said, the sound of his chair squeaking loud over the phone.
“You didn’t actually take your stupid chair, did you?” Gus asked, laughing.
“It’s my chair. I like my chair.” Mark sounded defensive. “They can buy a new one. Fuck them.”
Closing his eyes, Gus laid his free hand over his brow. He was surrounded by people who needed to be on a sitcom.
“So, what you’re telling me is my budget is going to get bigger, and I might get another commendation, a promotion, or something else,” Mark said.
“See if Fin will blow you,” Gus said.
“Alas, even though I know she would, I cannot allow it,” Mark said. “Kelly would never let me have another wife. It’s a pity, isn’t it? A man as handsome as I am, committed to only one woman.
“Though I can only imagine how aggressive Fin would be about it. Mm. Mm mmm. Love me some aggressive.”
“Right. Anyways, am I done here now?” Gus asked. “I get to go back and do silly easy crap around home?”
“Well, no. Actually, that’s not happening,” Mark said. “Because I can pretty much tell you what’s going to happen next. In fact, I bet you could even guess it if you tried hard enough.”
Gus didn’t bother to respond. He didn’t really want to play this game with Mark right now.
He really wanted to go home and tell his mom, dad, and sister they should be getting emergency packs ready. A planned route away from the city, go-bags, and a location they could settle into for a while to survive what might become a Para Armageddon.
All things he wouldn’t risk saying over a phone line, no matter how many times someone could swear to him it was clean and no one was listening.
“You’re going to have to play babysitter,” Mark said. “I’ve no doubt that Fin, Bennett, and probably someone in a political position will want to come bask in the glory you’ve wrought.
“Just have Melody be your point person and let her handle all the ass and ring kissing. She’ll handle it better than you could ever even attempt to.”
“Right,” Gus said, shaking his head in frustration. “Right. Because… right. I honestly should have expected that, I guess. It’s not something that can be ignored from a headlines point of view.”
“Exactly,” Mark said. “They’ll claim it was a civilian ship, not military, and that it’s cocaine, not Para drugs. One massive moment for photography, headlines, and voter trust.
“All for the low, low price of a day’s salary for a handful of agents.”
“Fine, fine. Got it,” Gus said. “It’s all stupid.”
“I know. I even agree with you, but that’s the world we’re in,” Mark said.
“Durh,” Gus said, deciding to broach the subject. “I want to leave. And I want you to leave, too. I’ve got a feeling this is going to go sideways harder than anything ever has before.”
Mark didn’t respond. He was silent and unmoving.
“Positive?” Mark asked.
“Positive,” Gus said. “Beyond positive. Need a plan.”
“I understand. I can’t leave, though,” Mark said. “But I can plan. When you get back?”
“Yeah, that’d be fine. Just start thinking about it. I really don’t think this’ll be fun for anyone,” Gus said. “And it’s going to get real bad.”
“Yeah, got it. Alright, see you when you get back in a week then, give or take,” Mark said. “Be sure you give it real good to Janelle for me. Those eyes were amazing. I bet she’d look great giving h—”
Gus disconnected the line, wondering why he even bothered with Mark sometimes.
Chapter 23 - Twists and Turns
Standing there like a useless pillar, Gus really didn’t know what to do with himself. In the end, there really hadn’t been anything left to do with the case.
Melody had identified a number of crates of interest. They had become exceedingly easy for her to pick out given their lack of problems.
Except that every time someone went to go check on one, they came back with nothing. Didn’t matter who they sent, in what state or at what time, every crate was gone.
As if they’d never been there.
No one knew anything. There was no paperwork, no video, no witnesses.
Nothing.
There was an ever-growing number of missing personnel, though. People who had been there one day and gone the next.
Gus didn’t
feel the satisfaction of having shut down the entire ring and put its people into lockup. What he did have was the warm feeling of knowing he was causing whoever was behind this quite a bit of harm. These people would have to be picked up, moved, erased, and covered up as quickly as possible.
That was resources lost and spent, all for something his department had done.
And now that Janelle got that database backup safely secured, they can start figuring out who went where. That’ll be a lovely starting point for a wanted list.
Which means they’ll have to burn all those agents, or never let them work in a forward-facing position again.
Yeah.
Not the win I wanted, but a win I’ll take.
“Agent Hellström, another splendid outcome from you and your team,” said Fin, walking up to him. She stuck her hand out between them, and Gus reacted instinctively.
Giving her a firm handshake, he forced himself to smile at her.
“Just doing our jobs,” he said.
Let’s… take a peek into her head. It’s worth the risk. Isn’t it?
It is.
It’s just to be sure. To be absolutely certain she’s on our side.
For all I know, she’s part of this whole conspiracy. The enemy clearly has some high-ranking people working with them.
For them.
Taking a wispy bit of power, he stuck it into Fin’s mind. He imagined gravity pulling it down into her mind all on its own, rather than him putting it in there.
“If you were just doing your job at an average level, I think you’d still be on your first case,” Fin said, letting go of his hand. “Not having turned a coven leader into an asset and shut down a military-run drug ring for what seems to be a multi-billion-dollar business.”
True. This is all revenue they’ll never be able to access in such a way again.
Sinking ever deeper into her mind, Gus began to see her thoughts.
It was different this time, though. With how he had entered to how he was using his power, it was more like what his father had always described to him.
He felt like a bird soaring over a highway.
Below him were Fin’s thoughts, racing along without anyone the wiser. On each side of the freeway were parking lots.
Filled to the brim with parked cars. Some looked mundane, some were armed and armored, and a few others seemed to be on fire or burnt to nothing.
Taking a look at one hot-pink sedan as it zoomed by, Gus found it was indeed a thought.
A stray one.
Or so he guessed by the fact that she seemed to be thinking of a man. Her lover, to be exact.
And that they’d had a very wild night of passion the night she’d gotten on the flight that had taken her out here. On top of that, she was looking forward to tonight.
Except that was the extent of what he could glean from it. There were no details about the act, or the man.
Then it was gone faster than he could keep up with, zipping along the road.
Yeah.
Definitely a lot more like how dad always described it.
It’s… different.
Limited but also more useful, in a way.
“Yeah, well, just doing our job,” Gus said. “That’s really all it is.”
“Just like when you were deployed?” Fin asked.
“Yeah,” Gus said with a shrug. “You do the job and whatever you have to do to get back home. That’s the extent of it.”
“I’m not sure I completely buy that,” Fin said. “Come with me. There’s no reason for you to be standing here waiting. I know for a fact where the congresswoman will end up.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Gus said.
He’d been waiting quietly by an office door that was supposedly going to act as the reception for their guests. When no other instructions had been given to him, he’d figured that’d be the best place to wait.
Everyone else had been given other things to do. Like running down lists of names, cross-checking against inventory lists, and anything else under the sun.
Apparently only Gus was acting as their intermediary in the end.
It all felt rather odd to Gus, but he wasn’t going to question it since it had come from Mark. If it had been anyone else, he’d have been expecting a trap or worse.
Mark had said all of this had been Fin’s choice in the end. That and Mark wasn’t about to fight it. Even if it meant Gus would be uncomfortable.
Leading him along, Fin guided him toward a large office building on the other side of the naval yard. Which just happened to be right next to the warehouse where all the drugs were being held.
The hell…? Is this…? Were they testing me?
Testing my department?
When he focused in on Fin’s mind, there was a massive eighteen-wheeler parked off to one side. It looked brand new, was covered in guards, and seemed like something out of an apocalypse movie.
Easing in closer to it, Gus got his answer.
The congresswoman Fin had mentioned was the same one Gus had inadvertently saved. The one who’d been targeted by Humanity First.
Since then, there’d been multiple credible threats on her life.
Some of them originating from unexpected places and people. Several of which ended up linking back to the Fed, the military, or the PID.
Fin wanted to know just what he knew. Where his loyalties lay.
She’d tried to orchestrate for psykers to be on hand. Halfway through that process, though, she’d realized it would only push a loyal resource away if Gus was innocent, and it might risk injury to the few psykers they had working for them.
Either situation wasn’t something she really wanted to happen.
If Gus was loyal, he was one of the best agents she had on hand in the country. If he wasn’t, there was the distinct possibility of the psykers being harmed.
For the time being, she’d trust Gus, but her awareness of him was tenfold right now.
It was one of the reasons he was acting as the sole meet-and-greet functionary from his team. All the tasks Fin had assigned were just busywork to keep them away.
All of which she’d told Mark. To his face.
Because she wasn’t going to hide such a thing from him.
Which means Mark wanted to tell me but couldn’t, and he likely has a raging hard-on for Fin. An attractive woman in power, being direct with him and not pulling any punches?
Super hard-on.
“If you don’t mind me asking, ma’am,” Gus said as they got closer to their target. “Do you know where Mark will be sending me and my team after this?”
“I do indeed,” Fin said, giving him an easy smile. “I’m assigning you to this whole thing. Clearly there’s an organized group behind all this. Why not have the organized crime department handle it?
“It’s not as if I have that many agents at this point in time, and it isn’t as if you haven’t already earned your keep. After you meet the congresswoman and a few photos get taken, we can send you back home to work. After a week off, I’d say.”
“Oh. Oh, alright,” Gus said. He was rather pleased with the answer. He knew Melody would be incredibly happy about it as well. She’d been an eager little monster about everything piling up into one giant group to take on and figure out.
“The week off will give me time to have everything we have sorted and sent your way,” Fin continued, stopping in front of the door they’d been walking toward. “Admittedly, almost all of it was gathered by you in one way or another, but still… I did have a few analysts look it over. They’ll include their notes and anything they found relevant.”
“Great,” Gus said.
Fin smiled at him, then opened the door. “After you, Agent.”
Nodding his head, Gus entered ahead of the director.
Immediately inside, he found the congresswoman surrounded by men and women who were very clearly not human. They were also all armed.
The congresswoman herself looked to be in her late thirties or e
arly forties. Young for certain to be in a government position.
Her hair was short, brown, and styled. Her eyes were a hard gray-blue that seemed to be weighing him as he walked through the door.
Beyond all that was her mask.
It didn’t just obstruct him from seeing what she truly was. In fact, it prevented him from even getting a hint about what she was. There was no magic leakage, no smells or scents, nothing that would give him a clue.
Which was strange, given what he was.
Additionally, there was a second barrier around her. One that radiated outward with what felt like a mental barrier.
Gus figured there’d be no one that could get into her head for any reason. Even his father probably couldn’t get through it.
He’d heard of such a thing before but had never experienced one. Whoever had done her mask must be beyond a master’s level.
And she would have had to get it done privately. There was no way something like that would ever be picked up by the government.
The cost would be astronomical.
“Agent Hellström!” said the congresswoman, walking over to him quickly. “I am so glad that you were able to take time out to see me.”
That’s… not quite right, is it?
Maybe Fin doesn’t trust the congresswoman, rather than the other way around. Thinking that perhaps she’d try to convert or corrupt her best agents.
She’s willing to use me because I’m a psysker but also Mark’s friend.
Is that it?
“Of course,” Gus said, shaking her outstretched hand. “Director Dresch said it was important to meet you, so I made certain to book the appropriate time to do so.”
He wasn’t above pitching a bone to his boss’s boss in a situation like this.
For her part, Fin ended up standing next to Gus, though she did look rather pleased right now.
“Glad to hear it, glad to hear it,” said the woman.
Gus still didn’t actually know her name.
If he’d heard it in the past, he didn’t remember it now.
Swing Shift: Book 2 Page 25