Agent Dark- Vegas Page 5
Judah’s smile looked more genuine this time. “I can do technical assistance.”
“OK. What I want to do is buy an old beater vehicle. Like a real classic, either a hot rod or a truck, and then fix it up Extreme Makeover style. Turn it into an electric vehicle, update the interior... the works.”
Judah nodded. “I’ve seen documentaries on TV about doing that. It is actually relatively easy to convert a vehicle from gas to electric. And if we applied the same technology and magic I used in making my supercomputers, we could do some really neat things.” Judah paused. “But you already have the Dodge Demon. Are you sure you want to dump your money into another vehicle? I thought you loved your car?”
“I do. The Demon is sex on wheels.” Oops, don’t lead the conversation towards sex when you’re trying to get him not to think about your roommate’s hot new bed buddy, stupid girl, Kat thought. “It is a great car, but it belongs to the MBI, and chances are it is going to get destroyed at some point. I mean, it is practically a tank, but with the number of attacks I’ve already had against me, I wouldn’t bet on the Demon surviving forever.”
“That is a good point. The number of attacks against you have been far greater than one would expect. Even the agents like Daemon don’t get attacked like you do, and he’s pissed off a lot of people. It must be that you’re draia. But I see your point. A personal vehicle makes sense.”
“I don’t want a car that makes sense. I want a ride that makes car enthusiasts drool. I want that super sleeper car.”
“In that case, we take your old classic and do a rust patina theme. But instead of using rusty metal, we replace all the sheet metal with carbon fiber and graphene panels and then paint them to look rusty. Drop the weight of the car by a few hundred pounds but keep the old beater look.”
“I like it!” Kat said. “How will it do performance wise?”
“Depends on the engine we put in it, but it wouldn’t be hard to make it just as fast as your Demon. Electric engines are fantastic, it is the batteries that make them a pain in the rectum. But with a little magical enhancement, we take that issue out of the equation. I can also whip up a control panel and wheel sensors to give your old beater handling as good as a new vehicle.”
“This is going to be awesome.”
“Hey guys, what’s going to be awesome?” Vesper asked as she stood at the living room doorway.
“Judah is going to help me build the Beast.”
“The Beast?”
“A high-performance sleeper car with a magically modified electric engine.”
“Sounds like fun. Sorry I can’t stick around and visit, I have to head to the shop. Great seeing you, Judah.” She then turned and left the room without waiting for a reply.
“Have you picked out a car yet?” Judah asked, ignoring the interruption by Vesper.
“No. I really want an older pickup, something from the late forties to early sixties, but most of the ones I’ve seen for sale have already been restored or are total rust buckets. I need something in the middle.”
“Well, if we do custom panels, you can go more rust bucket. It just would need to have a good frame. And it would be better to replace as many original parts as possible. We’ll need a good mechanic, but I will organize all the electric work. Once you find your truck, we just need to put it all together.”
“Sounds great. Thank you, Judah.”
“No prob.” He paused for a moment. “So Vesper has a new guy?”
“Very new, this is the first I’ve seen of him.”
“Good for her. She needs someone, and he certainly is an attractive werewolf.”
Kat frowned. “He’s a werewolf? How could you tell?”
“I can sense magic. I’m surprised you can’t smell it.”
It was strange. She was basically a human bloodhound when it came to tracking demons, but she’d never paid much attention to trying to decipher the scents of magical beings before. “I’ll have to start paying more attention. Maybe I can do it but just never knew it.”
“It could just be a demon thing, but from what Henry tells me, you have an acute sense of smell that goes beyond demons. I don’t actually know if magic has a smell, but I sense magic almost like color.”
“That is cool. You should be a field agent. That could come in handy.”
“Except it doesn’t work for me when someone has a strong glamor. It’s great for party tricks but terrible for investigating. Besides, I would find field work terribly boring. I’m a techno mage. I like combining the two. Chasing down bad guys would get old really quick. I find the idea of working on your Beast far more interesting than chasing down wayward vampires.”
“Speaking of vamps, I met the local queen bee. She is... interesting.”
“I’ll bet. It takes a strong vampire to rise to the top of a clan. They follow bloodlines, but they also don’t tolerate weakness. Although they do keep a lower profile than they did before the Ruton Incident.” Judah looked at his watch. “I should really get moving. I have to get to the airport and drop off my rental car.”
“Thanks for dropping by with my new laptop, and for your help with my new project.”
“Always glad to help. I’ll be in Boston a lot more now, so we can go for coffee and talk about your Beast.”
“Sweet. Why the extra time in Boston?”
“Henry is trying to convince me to move here. Our company has been growing, and we tend to have more interesting and inspiring conversations in person. Live video calls are great, but don’t seem to trigger the imagination like sitting around in person and BSing.”
“That would be great. We could hang out more too, then.”
Judah smiled. “I’d like that.”
“And don’t give up on Vesper just yet. Who knows how long the wolf will be around.”
Judah nodded, but she could see that he wasn’t buying her optimism. “Talk to you soon, Kat. Let me know when you find the right truck.”
As Judah left, Kat slouched down in the couch. She felt bad for Judah, but she felt equally bad for Vesper. There was nothing wrong with her having a guy over. Vesper was a grown woman who could do as she pleased. She sighed. She was glad she didn’t have any guy issues.
Well, that wasn’t totally true. There definitely was a spark of something between her and Thomas, but he was away doing gods knew what for Dexter, and she had no clue if their chemistry was going to lead to anything or not.
Kat grabbed the remote and was just about to zone out to some HGTV when her phone buzzed. She checked the call display. It was Dexter.
“Lilliana’s house of Loving, Lilliana speaking,” Kat answered.
“Yes, I’d like to order the house special,” Dexter answered, not missing a beat.
“That’s pretty expensive. I don’t know if you can afford that,” Kat said with a laugh. “What’s up, Dex?”
“Are you busy today?”
Kat looked at the TV screen. She’d been looking forward to a little mindless TV today. That, and she’d finished her book from Lola and was going to order the rest of the series. “Nothing that can’t wait. What’s up?”
“Meet me for lunch at Sam’s Diner.”
Kat sighed. The universe was not cooperating with her lazy plans today. “OK. See you there.”
She had some time to kill before her meeting with Dexter, so Kat started searching the web for a project truck. She had grown up a bit of a Ford girl, but once she started driving she had realized she loved different models of all the different auto companies—well, when it came to trucks, anyway. For her project vehicle she was looking at old Fords and Chevys. She liked the old square-body trucks. But she also liked the older models that had some curves to them.
A truck caught her eye. A used car dealer in Vegas had a ’62 Dodge for sale. The model fit right in her range, but what caught her eye was that the body was supposedly in good shape, but the engine was seized. Kat didn’t give a shit about the engine, other than the fact that it lowered the pric
e significantly. Enough that she could afford to ship the truck to Boston. The problem was she wanted to see the truck first.
The next truck on her list was a Chevy c10. There was one in Albany, but it had already been partially restored, so the price was significantly higher that the Dodge in Vegas. Kat put both in her saved file. There were a couple other trucks she wanted to consider as well, but so far those were the two best options. She figured if she waited long enough, she could get one reasonably at an estate sale, but she was impatient to get started.
Closing her apps, Kat headed to the diner.
8
Kat
Kat entered the diner. She nodded at a few familiar faces that she knew were either MBI or FBI, and then went and sat with Dexter, who was already at a booth, sipping on a coffee while reading a newspaper.
“Anything interesting in the news?” Kat asked as she sat down.
“The Red Sox are on a hot streak, crime in the city is down eighteen percent this year so far, and several stocks that I’ve invested in are performing rather well. I’m not sure if that qualifies as interesting or not, but it is the kind of news I enjoy reading.”
“That sounds like a good day to me. I wouldn’t know a good stock from a bad one, and I’ve never had any spare money, so I don’t really follow the stock market.”
“You’re young. The sooner you start investing, the better, especially now that you have a relatively well-paying job. You should talk to Henry sometime. He’s very talented when it comes to the markets.”
“Henry and not Judah?” Kat asked. Dexter knew both computer geeks well, so she was curious to see how he saw them.
“Judah is a builder. He can build you a supercomputer or a program to do all sorts of things, but Henry is better at data management. He is the one who notices trends and errors in data. Plus, Judah isn’t really motivated by money. Henry understands and enjoys finances. They are both computer savants, but they have their own areas of expertise. It is why they work so well together; they have complementary expertise and skillsets.”
Kat nodded. That made sense. She sort of knew that before, but Dexter’s explanation made it much clearer, which was very helpful. Knowing the strong suits of your team was important. “Good to know. Perhaps I’ll take Henry for coffee and see what he suggests.”
“If you really want Henry’s help, learn a little bit about the markets first. Yes, he can be bought with donuts, but the amount of effort he’ll put into helping you will be exponentially increased if he sees you actually putting effort in on your own.”
A waitress came to the table. Kat ordered coffee, a double burger, fries, and a slice of pie. The perks of being a magic user was how many calories she burned in a day. All she had to do was practice her magic, and she’d burn all the calories and then some.
Done with her lunch order, Kat turned back to Dexter. “I spoke with Lola Arvel last night. Interesting lady... for a vampire.”
Dexter scoffed. “Lola is an interesting lady for any race. What did you discuss?”
“I had another run-in with the Blood Runners; this time a vampire was involved. I wanted to confront her, make sure she wasn’t behind the vamp’s involvement.”
“Yes, I saw that you were attacked. I do think it is highly unlikely that she was involved. Lola runs things with an iron fist, and I doubt she’d do anything to provoke us.”
“That’s what she said. I got the impression she’s rather into you, but at the same time somewhat afraid of you. She mentioned the Incident, and some friends of yours.”
Dexter smiled. “I’m not so sure she’s afraid of me, but yes, my friends would make her very nervous.”
“She said something about a gargoyle?”
“Dante De Bello. Funny that you mention him. I was actually going to bring the De Bellos up myself.”
Kat raised an eyebrow. “You were?”
“Yes. That’s why I asked you to lunch today. How would you and Vesper feel about a road trip?”
“Depends on the trip, I suppose,” Kat said warily.
“You’d fly into Santa Fe, and then drive to Vegas.”
“That sounds like it could be interesting. What is the purpose of this little road trip?”
“How much did Lola tell you about the De Bellos?”
“Only that he’s a gargoyle and she’s a vampire and that the two of them helped stop the vampires from destroying the world.”
“The story is a little more involved and complicated than that, but that is the basic gist of it. Erica De Bello was married to my old business partner. Together, her husband and I helped paranormals adjust to human life, and in some cases protected them from humans or other paranormals. The Ruton Corporation, which was basically a large multi-country clan, murdered him, along with several other humans who were helping paranormals to fit into human society. Ruton wanted Erica killed as well to make a statement. To stop that from happening, I bought an estate in Italy and had the building shipped to America.”
“Because it had a gargoyle,” Kat said, enthralled by the story.
“Yes. I couldn’t watch over Erica myself, and an entire clan of vampires is too much for most beings to deal with. Now Erica is a vampire, and she and Dante started a hippy commune for shifters and other paranormals. At the time, the threat was vampires trying to take over the world. Now the issues are less dramatic, but still as real for the paranormals suffering. They also do jobs for the MBI now and again, witness protection being one of those jobs.”
“Witness Protection Program for paranormals?”
“Exactly. And the reason for our little visit. Chuck Ringle is a half-fae mage who has evidence that his former employers were smuggling paranormals into Vegas to work as sex slaves. The Unreha council and the International Magical Courts, or IMC, have arrested his boss, Karsova, and several of his underlings and are holding a trial, and Chuck is one of the star witnesses. I want you and Vesper to fly to Minneapolis and pick Chuck up. Drive to Vegas and deliver him to his court appearance. Stick around in Vegas while the trial goes on. That should be a three- or four-day holiday on the company dime, and then drive him back to Minneapolis.”
“Why drive from Minneapolis to Vegas? Why not just fly him there?”
“Airports are easy to watch. We need to keep a low profile. There are multiple criminal organizations, including the Blood Runners, who don’t want to see Chuck Ringle make it to trial.”
“I suppose a road trip wouldn’t hurt, and I was actually thinking about flying to Vegas to look at a truck anyway. Kill two birds with one stone. But I can’t promise Vesper will be on board.”
“Vegas, the strip, dancing...”
“OK, you’re right, it won’t be hard to convince her.”
Dexter laughed. “Don’t worry about Vesper. She owes me one. In fact, she owes me several. She’ll be an easy sell.”
“She’ll be nervous leaving her shop for that long.”
“She has Aldo, and I’ve made arrangements for another witch to help out while she’s gone.”
Kat eyed Dexter carefully. “Did you already talk to Vesper?”
“I may have stopped by the shop on my way here.”
Kat laughed. “You don’t leave things to chance, do you?”
Dexter sipped his coffee. “Not the important things. This trial is big. A lot of good can be done by putting away Chuck’s old boss. It’s going to be a dangerous assignment, but I’m confident the five of you will do just fine.”
Kat raised an eyebrow. “Five?”
“Daemon will be joining you in Minneapolis. You’ll drive up to meet Dante and Erica, who will be accompanying you.”
“How come you’re not going?”
“I’ll be flying to Vegas tonight, to help with the security there. Thomas is already there keeping an eye on things.”
“Woah. You’re not messing around.”
“Like I said. There are a lot of bad guys, human and paranormal, who don’t want Chuck Ringle testifying in any cour
troom, and will stop at nothing to prevent it from happening.”
“OK. Super dangerous mission with a couple Vegas side quests. I can handle that.”
“I thought you might say that. How are things going with your magic studies? I read both the FBI report and your MBI report on the latest attack. In the future, you may want to consider leaving your ice cream off the reports.”
Kat frowned. “Ben and Jerry were almost victims of a serious crime.”
Dexter shook his head. “Just keep those comments in the comments section of the report. Listing them as witnesses makes things confusing. Especially since you probably ate said ice cream and they cannot be called to verify your reports. Now, about the magic that you describe as... Well... I’m not actually going to repeat what you called it.”
“First you tell me I can’t list Ben and Jerry as witnesses, and now I can’t describe my magic as an eighteen-year-old boy’s jizz web? Jeez, so politically correct.”
“Like I said. Just keep the commentary in the comments section. I’ll filter the reports so they look like a professional agent wrote them. But what is your issue with your magic? It sounds useful.”
“It’s icky and sticky and looks kinda like j—”
“I get it. But aside from that fact, you’ve used it twice, and both times it has been effective. Perhaps you should be using it more often, not less.”
“That’s the thing, though. I’ve tried practicing with it, and it didn’t work. It only seems to work when shit hits the fan.”
Dexter frowned. “Interesting. Have you tried using it without your ring on?”
Kat looked at her hand. The magical ring given to her by Bern Mevdi of the Unreha Council was meant to help her develop her magic, but it also worked to limit her in case she couldn’t control it. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? I don’t want to blow anyone up because I couldn’t control my magic.”
“Good point. Why don’t you wait until you get to Safe Haven? Daemon can work with you.”
“Safe Haven?” Kat asked.
“That’s what shifters call the De Bello Estate. During the vampire crisis, it was one of the only safe places for shifters and humans being hunted by the Ruton Clan or Corporation. Many of his followers were there just for the paycheck and weren’t true believers in the concept of remaking the world so that vampires ruled it.”