Lindsay Buroker - Torrent

“Gold’s all right,” Simon said, waving a dismissive hand. “If that’s all you’ve got.”

“One ounce now.” Eleriss laid the coin on the table, the desk lamp highlighting its luster, along with the long elegant fingers of his hand. “One ounce when you have the location of the cavern for us.” He started to step back, but paused, his gaze snagging on Simon’s T-shirt.

I frowned, doubting he’d recognize the movie reference for the “You killed my father, prepare to die” quotation on the chest. Indeed Eleriss’s uncertain glance at Jakatra made me think he was wondering if he needed to draw weapons. Of course, they’d subdued us just fine without weapons before…

“Two ounces,” Simon said, oblivious to his T-shirt and the look, “and we get to go with you to the cave.”

“No,” Jakatra barked.

Eleriss stepped away from Simon and lifted a hand toward his comrade. “We will pay you two ounces if you can locate this cavern for us, but that is all. We must travel alone when we visit it.”

“Then how do we know we’re not helping you set up some subterranean evil overlord lair from whence to launch nuclear weapons or rockets full of biological toxins?” Simon asked.

I tried to get his attention and wave for him to let go of his barter demands-as long as that tracking device was in tact, we could follow them again. Admittedly, an invitation and a guide would be nicer than trailing after them and worrying about being noticed or eaten by monsters roaming the area. But maybe we could wheedle our way into their exploration gig after we’d proven our worth to them.

“Nuclear… weapons?” Eleriss asked.

“We’ve seen your glowing sword. How do we know if you’re trying to help the city or if you’ve got something nasty planned?”

Jakatra’s violet eyes closed to slits. He whispered something to Eleriss. I wanted so much to know what that language was-I’d send the sample file off for analysis as soon as they left.

“It is not unacceptable,” Eleriss said to Jakatra, though he made a point to speak in English. “They are merely demonstrating that they are crafty and that we were right to come here.”

Nothing on Jakatra’s sour face suggested agreement. He raked us all with a gaze that doubtlessly meant he believed us about as crafty as domestic turkeys.

“For now, I can offer only our preliminary payment.” Eleriss pointed at the coin. “If your research is successful, we can negotiate over the information.”

Jakatra’s lips tightened. I wasn’t sure if it was a sign of displeasure or a sign that he looked forward to negotiating the information out of us with his fists-or perhaps with his new sword. Either way, I plucked up the coin before Simon could object and said, “We accept.”

Eleriss inclined his torso in something resembling a bow. Jakatra stalked outside without another word or gesture.

“Can’t we follow them on our own?” I asked Simon once the door had shut. “What was all that angling to go along about?”

“Because-” Simon held up his phone, his expression glum, “-according to my tracker, they never left the Vendome. They must have found it and tossed it into a pile of dog poo.”

“Not necessarily,” Temi said. She’d pushed the curtain aside to watch the retreating riders. “They’re walking to the street. It doesn’t look like they brought their motorcycles.”

“Oh.” Simon brightened. “Well, so long as these caverns aren’t within walking distance, we may be able to follow them after all.”

“Am I the only one here who doesn’t know what’s going on?” Autumn asked. “And who’s now missing a slide?”

“More or less,” I said. “But I have another baggie of blood and dirt in the van if you want to make up another slide. Or take it for that DNA analysis.”

“Unless they already found it,” Simon said. “They do like to make themselves at home in our van.”

“It’s in the fridge.”

Simon’s eyebrow quirked up. “Thus insulating it from extrasensory blood-tracking abilities?”

“Well. It’s buried behind cans of Mountain Dew and sticky jars of strawberry jam. That ought to insulate it from… something.”

“Health conscious thieves?” Temi murmured.

“I don’t know.” I waved away the all-too-legitimate objections and told Autumn, “I can go check if you want it.”

“The closest DNA sequencer that I know of is at U of A,” she said.

“Know anybody there that will let you use it?”

“Maybe, but you’re not sending me off on another errand without feeding me first, are you?”

“I think we can afford to buy you those fries now. Maybe even a glass of wine.” I smiled and nodded toward the coin, though I planned to run extensive image searches before handing it over to a dealer. “We’ll explain a few things over dinner too,” I added. Given that Autumn had access to a lab, she’d be good to have on the team.

“Lots of patrol cars cruising the street,” Temi said from the window.

“I hope that monster stays in the woods tonight and doesn’t harass us or anyone else,” I said. “We have a lot of research to do.”

“Sounds… stimulating,” Temi said.

“Hey, you wanted to join us,” I said. “It can’t be all spelunking and monster battles.”

“Oh, I know that,” she said. “I’m just not certain how I can be of assistance in the research arena.”

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll handle the research, and you sling the fire extinguishers.”

“So I’m your heavy?”

“You’re tall enough for it.” I grinned. “We can set you up with a RealmSaga character in case you get bored.”

“Yes,” Simon said with an enthusiastic snap of his fingers. “What are your thoughts on playing healers?”

The doors at the downtown library were locked. I checked the time on my phone. The building should have opened a few minutes ago.

“Why do I have a feeling the library is on Monster Holiday?” I asked.

“Because we haven’t seen a soul since we left the hotel?” Simon asked.

“I wonder if something else vile happened last night.” I took out my phone to check the news from the local papers. After the previous day’s over-stimulating events, I’d slept like a fossil buried in sediment twenty feet deep. If strange predators wearing plastic armor had terrorized the city, I hadn’t heard it.

Simon removed his computer bag and plopped down with his back to the front door. He pulled out his MacBook and propped it on his thighs. He was only wearing jeans, a long-sleeve T-shirt, and of course his white socks and sandals. The morning sun had little warmth, and I could think of more appealing places to do research, but maybe he believed someone would be by with the keys eventually. He’d wanted to find big paper maps of the area that he could spread out on a table. While everything was online these days, there were times when real maps were nicer to deal with. But if we weren’t going to be able to get in…

I glanced at the street. Temi had driven off in her Jag to get us some breakfast from an organic grocery store she’d recommended and to drop Autumn off at a veterinary office that handled livestock as well as pets. I felt bad sending her on errands, but she hadn’t been confident in her ability to help us research. I thought she was selling herself short-just because she hadn’t finished school didn’t mean she wasn’t bright-but if she was more comfortable helping in other ways, that was fine. If nothing else, I knew we’d get something superior to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for our morning meal.

“Nobody turned off their router for the night,” Simon said. “We’ve got good wifi here.”