Брайан Макклеллан - Uncanny Collateral

“Whatever it takes. I’ll start with our big seven right now, so don’t worry about them.”

“Understood. Good luck.”

I stopped at the next Starbucks and charged a cappuccino to the company credit card before claiming a corner table and setting my phone on the table in front of me.

You think they’ll actually answer your questions? Maggie asked. Nadine was right – they hate talking about their clients.

They will if they want to find their missing souls, I told her, and started my first call.

I spent the next several hours talking to what felt like every secretary in Hell. Lucy was in meetings all day. Satan’s people told me they didn’t have any Cleveland execs in their records. Modius claimed they didn’t do business in Midwest, though I knew for a fact that they did. ViaTech, Leviathan Industries, and BeelzMart all came up with nothing. Mammon hadn’t been in the soul business for centuries, so I didn’t bother calling him. And – no surprise – Belphagor wouldn’t answer his goddamn phone.

I finally hung up after trying to get through to somebody at LuciCorp who could give me a straight answer and rubbed the gums below my bottom canines. I had no word from Nadine, which meant she hadn’t gotten any further than I had.

Any idea what you’ll do if this is a dud? Maggie asked. She’d been quiet since I’d started my calls – probably reading a book or something.

I shook my head. It was something I hadn’t had time to consider. I’ll start hitting the rest of my contacts and see what I can drum up. I’d begun with Zeke because he came through the most often with me, and despite his mercenary behavior, he wouldn’t say a word about my investigation to anyone once he’d been paid. I couldn’t say the same thing about most of the other snitches in town. If we can’t come up with a solid lead, I’ll go back to Ferryman and press him for more information. He held back something. If I need to, I’ll make sure he tells me what.

Maggie laughed. You’ve got balls; I’ll give you that. If I ever meet Death, it’s gonna be all, “yes, sir,” and “no, sir,” for me.

You did meet him, I pointed out. He just didn’t know you were there.

I got up and ordered another cappuccino, then returned to my seat and watched as the last of the lunchtime stragglers finished their coffees and headed back to their offices or gyms or homes or wherever people go during the middle of the day. I spun my phone on the table with one finger and tried not to think about how long this week would be if I couldn’t track down Ferryman’s thieves quickly. It wasn’t just that I wanted to finish the job – I wanted to get free of Ada for a few days so that Maggie could enjoy her anniversary. And I damn well needed a break too.

Heads up, came a whisper from Maggie.

Huh?

Something’s not right.

I raised my head and looked around the Starbucks. Other than me and one lady in the opposite corner, the place was empty. Two workers cleaned equipment behind the glass case of snacks.

The black Caddie that just pulled in to the parking lot, Maggie said.

I leaned back to get a good look out the window. A black Cadillac had, indeed, just pulled into the parking lot. Three people got out. One of them did a circuit around my truck, then all three headed toward the front door of the Starbucks.

Two of them looked like identical twins. They were tall – easily six foot six – and gaunt, wearing sunglasses, baseball caps, hoodies, and jeans. The third was maybe five foot eight, wearing a black sports jacket over a black T-shirt with black slacks and slicked-back black hair. He was clean-shaven and baby faced, and he wore a scowl that gave me the impression that he wanted to look tough.

I think that Zeke’s amateur necromancer just found us, I told Maggie. How the hell did he figure out where I was?

Beats me. Keep your guard up. That kid looks like a piece of shit, but he’s got some serious raw power. And I can’t read his two spooks at all.

I pushed my chair back from the table and slid my notes into the bag beneath my seat, adopting a casual pose as I sipped my drink. The trio entered, looked around once, and headed straight for me. The amateur necromancer slid into the chair across the table from me, while his companions took up positions to block my escape route to the door.

I ignored the kid for a moment and gave the big guys a quick up and down. This close, I could see cracked, sallow skin and fingernails blackened with age. They stood unnaturally, stiff and unresponsive like the model of a skeleton in the corner of a doctor’s office. No wonder you can’t get a read on them, I told Maggie. They’re fucking draugr. Undead are always a little tricky to detect with sorcery. They occupy a place between our world and the next in a way that gives them a sort of false sorcerous aura.

What kind of prick brings draugr out in broad daylight? Maggie demanded.

Hold on; I’ll ask.

I turned my attention to kid sitting across from me and fixed him with my best annoyed stare. “What kind of a prick brings two draugr out in broad daylight?” I asked.

The kid opened his mouth, closed it again, and scowled. “Give me the location of your jinn, and this doesn’t have to get unpleasant.”

Give him what? Maggie asked.

“Give you what?” I said aloud at the same time. My mind suddenly kicked into overdrive, and I felt myself tense involuntarily. Not a soul in the world knew that I had a jinn ring on my finger. Maggie might have been trapped in there, but she still had access to no small amount of power, which she used to keep herself hidden. She wanted to keep from falling into the wrong hands almost as much as I wanted to keep people from knowing I had an ace up my sleeve.

“The jinn,” the kid repeated. “Don’t play coy. I know that you have the vessel containing Margarete Abaroa. It is not your property, and I’ve been tasked with returning it to the proper owner.” His scowl disappeared into a businesslike look of disdain.

He certainly knows how to play it cool, I told Maggie.

He’s an asshole, Maggie snarled. My ring is no one’s property but my own.

I was taken aback at the anger in her voice. Maggie was not prone to hysterics, so for her to become genuinely furious about something took some doing. Of course, I don’t like it when people upset my friends.

I gave the two draugr a sidelong glance. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. A jinn? Where would I even keep such a thing?”

The kid seemed to take my question literally. “Traditionally in a lamp, but other vessels have been known. Rings are popular.” His gaze flicked to Maggie’s ring, but nothing about his posture told me he knew that I had her with me right now. “You can hand it over,” he continued, “or tell me where it is. Otherwise, I’ll be forced to kill you and reanimate your corpse so it can tell me where to find the jinn. I would prefer you make your decision quickly. I don’t have all day.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but he cut me off.

“Don’t try to run. You seem to already know what the gentlemen beside you are, so…”

I cut him off in turn. “Yeah, I know what a draugr is, buddy. And look, I’m crazy amounts of impressed that you’ve managed to raise and keep control of them. In broad daylight, no less. But this is a Starbucks in a crowded city. It’s the worst possible place to kill a dude.”

A hint of uncertainty crossed the kid’s face. “If you choose to be difficult, you will forfeit the lives of everyone in this shop. I will not leave witnesses.”