P. Stormcrow

That’s not possible…

Damien shook his head as he rode shotgun in silence. But the memories came rushing back before he could shake it off.

“Let go, Day.”

“No fucking way. Your dad would never forgive me. I—” A blast of air hit him hard, taking away his next words.

“I know. But one of us had to stay alive. Tell him—” 

“No! You tell him!” With a growl, Damien made another attempt to lift his arm to pull her closer to the ledge he clung to with his other hand. He could do it. The heavy coy sweetness of magic swirled around him, threatening to choke his senses, and made his eyes water.

He would not lose her. For his own sake, as much as for Gerard’s.

He tried to focus on his breathing, reaching for inner calm, for the present rather than the past. But the horror movie in his head continued to play.

But his grip on her wrist was slipping. 

Lift her up. Lift her up. Lift her up.

The mantra played over and over in his mind as he let out a primal scream and tried again.

“Goodbye Damien. I love you.”

He looked down in time to witness her release her hold on him, to see her fall into the swirling vortex below. Saw the serenity on her face, her hair steaming in streaks of gold before the darkness swallowed her whole.

The air grew thin and heart drummer in his ears. The interior of the car had already been too small, but now the walls seemed to press in on him.

He had no words. No voice. He was never able to say it. And he never would get the chance again.

His hands clenched into fists of their own accord.

For a moment, he contemplated letting go. But she was right. Someone had to live on to tell her father what happened. But what if she was still alive on the other side? He couldn’t just abandon her, no matter how slim the odds were.

He squeezed his eyes shut as tears trickled down his face. But before he could make up his mind, the winds died and the rift below closed with an audible pop, taking away his decision and shattering his heart into a million pieces.

“Jackson? Jackson!” 

Her voice echoed in his head, and he stared straight at her. For a moment, she hovered over him with a teasing smile. Then his vision cleared, and it was Reed’s face that came into view. Her brow crinkled, and she pursed her lips into a thin line. Worry darkened her countenance.

But it was the warmth of her hand through his light shirt that provided a tether for him to find his way back from the nightmare. He focused on her and noted the dark rings under her eyes. She had not been sleeping and here she was, worried about him. 

“I’m here,” he breathed out and rubbed his face. Great. The doc was going to have a field day with this one. 

“Come on. We’re here.” 

He glanced at Olivia through the side-view mirror before he followed her gaze out. The building was more run down than he expected. The neighborhood was not quite in the ghettos, but it was damn close to it. He made a mental note to talk to his partner about this later. The pay wasn’t great, but it wasn’t that bad either. 

“Anyone have any active magics?” Reed turned to the two of them.

He reviewed the list of belongings in his head and shook it. But next to him, Olivia nodded more hesitantly.

“Leave it in the car.” Reed swung around to open her tiny trunk.

Olivia didn’t question it, but set her bag inside. His partner closed it with a thunk and pivoted to take lead.

It took three flights of stairs through a ghost town to arrive at her apartment. No, that was not true. Damien sensed people in the units, even glimpsed one neighbor opening a crack just to slam the door shut fast. It was as if everyone went out of their way to not get caught in someone else’s business. 

What was Finley Reed doing living in a building like this?

She stuck her key in her lock and pushed her way inside. But there was something wrong with her body language. It took a moment for Damien to place it. On the day they met, beneath the facade of professionalism, Reed had vibrated with indignant anger. Understandable. It was a reaction he had seen from other new agents before that found out just what kind of department they were. As they both got caught up in their first case together, though, the thrill of the investigation had set her more at ease.

But it looked like Reed’s fury ran deeper than that. As they stepped across the threshold, her back became stiff as a board and her movements grew jerky with tension. But as he entered and surveyed her apartment, he began to understand why.

A few boxes scattered around the mostly empty place, some opened but most still taped shut. Take-out containers sat on the same kitchen counter on which Reeds threw her keys. A couch stood at the center of the living room, alone and adorned save for a folding table along the far brick wall. An oversized curved monitor with rainbow backlighting perched on top with an inert keyboard and mouse. The tower it connected to remained on the ground, also silent, but the router on it winked with its green lights. Despite the beer cans and dirty glasses piled on the edge of the desk, it was nevertheless the most set up area he saw.

“Fuck off, you piece of shit. Don’t call me again.”

“Asshole ex.”

Context. Some pieces of the puzzle that was his partner fell into place.

“Just… Whatever.” Reed walked past him with a shrug. It made him wonder if they were the first people she’s had over since she moved into town.

“Oh my God. Is that a thirty-four inch curved monitor?” Olivia breathed out in awe.

“Yeah.” 

The sudden change in Reed’s voice, so full of pride now, caught him off guard. Before he got a word in edgewise, though, the girls shuffled closer to the ridiculous computer station. 

The itch to explore was strong. But he needed to respect his partner’s privacy, even if jasmine and sandalwood filled the air. His senses as The Hound was going off the charts. But that wasn’t what shocked him. No. It was how good it smelled that did.

“Here we go.”

Curious, he drew closer and was surprised to see that Reed had pulled out an old beaten up laptop rather than booting up her fancy tower PC. She didn’t plug it into any of her peripherals, either, and Olivia had to peer over her shoulder. He did the same while trying his best not to crowd them.

“Here’s the website for SIDDelivery.” His partner jabbed a finger toward the monitor. “And there’s the listed address that matches Inguz Tech. But…” Reed trailed off as she brought up another browser window and typed with her fingers flying across the keyboard. “Ah ha.”

Damien blinked and stared at the new screen. But he did not know what he was seeing.

“Oh.” Olivia breathed.

He wasn’t too proud to admit his ignorance, especially in front of these two brilliant women. “Someone’s got to explain this to me.”

Reed pointed again at the tiny line that looked to be an email address. “Here. This is a common website host and domain registrar. If it was Inguz Tech, there’s no way they would use a company like this one. See how it says redacted for privacy here? They can filter out whoever registered for the domain but they can’t hide who they did it through.”

“So someone is framing Inguz Tech?” he asked, bewildered. 

“It sure as hell looks like it,” Reed muttered.

Fuck. It was another dead end then. No. He wouldn’t give up here. “So how do we trace this back to the real ones that set up this site?” 

“Not without a warrant. And getting one is going to be…” Olivia worried her lower lip. 

“Difficult? Not necessarily.” Options popped into his head, and he spoke a little slower as he considered them. “If we go in with the reason that we need the information from the ISP to identify fraud, that may do it. We can prove with what we’ve already found alone.”

Olivia threw her hand up in the air. “Oh, oh, oh! May I? I always wanted to do this!”

He and Reed turned toward the younger girl, jaws dropping with incredulity.

“You want to be the one to convince Ms. Callaghan to talk to a judge about a warrant?” he asked at last.

“Yups!”

“Why can’t we just call?” Reed questioned almost at the same time.

“No CB radio. It’s fine. I’ve been away too long. Besides, I booked a car already!” Olivia held up her own phone with a vehicle sharing app on the screen, to Damien’s bewilderment. He wasn’t even aware that she had one of those or used it outside of work. “Ciao!”

Before either of them protested, she left.

Been away too long. He recalled the anxiety he picked up from Olivia all day. Out of the two of them, she was closer to the office, playing a much bigger part in the daily operations of it. No wonder then. The close call must have been weighing on her despite her eagerness to experience work in the field.

“Okay. Great.” It was admirable how much sarcasm Reed put in those simple words. “That’s going to take the rest of the day. What are we doing in the meantime?”

He swept his gaze across the apartment. “Well, do you want some help to finish your unpacking?”

“What?”

For the first time since head office almost exploded, he felt his humor returning. Not because he enjoyed her discomfort, but because that flabbergasted expression on her face was so damn cute.

“Come on. It’ll be fun.” He grinned at her.

In return, she stared at him, then groaned and facepalmed. But once more, she surprised him by moving to the kitchen and yanking a drawer open to pull out a utility knife. “Fine. Here.” 

His smile widened as he crossed the room to take it from her and turn toward the boxes. “Which one first?”

She rubbed her forehead and waved a hand without pointing at anything in particular. “Whatever.”

Oh, this was going to be fun.