The Oakland police and a fleet of ambulances blocked the road to the shopping center. Eddy turned on her emergency lights and approached the barricade. An officer flagged for her to halt, and she rolled down the window. “FBI Quad Supervisor,” she announced, showing off her FBI badge and pointing in my direction.
“You’ll need to move your vehicle and park down the street. We’ve got casualties on the sidewalk and street.”
“Number of deaths?” I asked.
“Two.”
“Injured?”
“A hundred and eleven unresponsives and rising.”
Unresponsives? I unbuckled my belt, grabbed my purse, and got out of the SUV. “Eddy, get parked and notify the boss we’ve got a mass incident on our hands. If that detective is still at the agency, put in a request for his file. You know how I feel about strange coincidences.”
“You hate them, I know. It could just be a strange coincidence. They do happen.” Eddy grimaced. “Rarely, but they do happen.”
“I don’t believe in coincidences,” I grumbled. “Especially when I’m the one who has been accused. Tell your brother I’ll have a hissy fit over it if I don’t get my way.”
“All right. I’ll tell him you’re tired, ready to have a hissy fit, and to figure out what’s going on with the cop. I’ll go park. Don’t wander, don’t get into trouble, don’t toy with the nice police officers, and stay with them. Remember, they’re the nice police officers. You got to play with an officer today. You’ve reached your quota.” My boss’s sister waggled her finger at me. “I mean it. Be nice.”
“All right, all right.” Shaking my head over Eddy’s pushiness, I showed the cops my FBI badge before slipping through the barricade. “Give me the brief version.”
The cops, all veterans looking ready to retire, exchanged long looks. That they’d brought out the experienced officers worried me.
Then again, with over a hundred victims, I bet the police department had called in every officer possible to handle the mess. As soon as my boss found out about the incident, he’d be doing the same—and asking me to get my ass in gear and get my quads on the move.
To my surprise, the only woman present cleared her throat and replied, “Two hours ago, there was a mass incident. We’re flagging it as a possible terrorism attack, possibly some form of nerve gas with quick dissipation. Our scanners aren’t picking up any radiation.”
No radiation, no magic—and no quads. Still, I had to try. “Have you called for a quad?”
“It’s not registering magic, whatever it is. No nuclear residues, either.”
Despite the complete banning of nuclear devices following the conclusion of World War III, some idiot found the necessary materials and tried to build a bomb to strengthen the magic flooding the world. Sometimes, they got it just right, detonating them in a public place and creating a new batch of survivors with few fatalities.
It was when they got it wrong that things got bad. People like me happened when the bomb techs got it wrong. Determined to avoid wallowing in the past, I lifted my chin and directed my attention to the police officer, who challenged me with a narrow-eyed gaze.
“Scanner sensitivity?”
“Mid-grade.”
“You can miss a lot with a mid-grade scanner. Are there any conscious witnesses?”
As one, the cops shook their heads.
What looked like magic, acted like magic, and lacked explanation was often magic. I’d give them the benefit of the doubt for the moment; just as I’d danced with Detective Raymond, they’d dance with me to avoid losing their spot as top dog on the case.
Ultimately, it would end up on my lap; I wasn’t buying nerve gas. Nerve gas would’ve left witnesses. I considered the problem, debating if it was worth going over their heads to order a high-sensitivity scanner. Magic came in many forms, but all magic came bundled with nuclear radiation of some sort or another. Geiger counters served as primary detectors, usually falling into the mid-grade range. Unless one of their scanners detected something, the police opted against involving the FBI.
My next words would annoy the hell out of them, and for a rare change, I didn’t like delivering the potential bad news. “It could be a new type.”
No one wanted to find a new type of supernatural, especially not one the mid-range scanners couldn’t detect. World War III had changed everything, every nuke dropped adding to the chaos of magic exploding into the world. Instead of the world dying to fallout, the ashes either killed or birthed powers.
For a lack of anything else to call it, it’d been dubbed magic.
The new supernatural absorbed the radiation, allowing life to go on and the planet to recover from the treacheries of man.
I should’ve died the day New York City had vanished, flattened by the largest bomb ever developed. Less than a percent had survived.
What should’ve been a college research trip had turned into a disaster. I shivered, clenched my teeth, and hated myself for sliding back into a past I wished I could change.
Reliving the worst day of my life could wait until later.
Since the cops weren’t talking, I’d have to push and hope for the best. “I’ve got a missing quad on my hands, so maybe we can help each other out. How large of an area does this incident cover?”
The woman relaxed, and she offered a sympathetic smile. At least the police and the FBI got along on that front; nobody liked when we had people go missing in the field. “We’ve got casualties down a ten block stretch and in several stores so far. The two deaths were the result of unconscious drivers. There are injuries from other accidents, but it could’ve been much worse.”
I’d take any silver lining I could. “Estimate on possible fatalities?”
“We don’t expect any more fatalities from injuries, but we can’t wake any of the non-responsive victims,” the woman replied, turning and pointing down the street. “The paramedics are checking on them, so if you’re going deeper into the zone, please don’t touch anyone. They only look dead.”
“Vitals?”
“All strong; to all appearances, there’s nothing wrong with any of them. It’s like they’re asleep. Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like it. If it wasn’t for the scanner not detecting anything, I’d claim it was magic.”
I’d never seen anything like it, either. “Could be a haunter or another incorporeal; mid-range scanners won’t pick them up. Got a medium handy? If not, give me the go-ahead to help your investigation, and I’ll call one in. We’ll call it even for letting me poke my nose around where it doesn’t belong.”
While grim, the woman smiled. “I can authorize that. All right. No, we don’t have a medium on our teams. Mediums typically wash out of the force, especially when it comes to violent crimes.”
Ironically, when it came to the odd cases I wanted to blame on haunters and other incorporeals, I would’ve called Adrianna’s quad. When it came to incorporeals, they could handle just about anything. Retrieving my phone from my purse, I called Luke.
“I didn’t miss a check-in, did I?” he answered.
“No. I’m at the city center. I’m stalking you because I’m a helicopter boss with overprotective tendencies. Has Ethan had a look yet? I’m assuming you’re aware of the incident. If not, come down to the street.”
“We’re aware. He threw up trying. Something’s going on, and whatever it is, it’s big. He’s never felt anything like it.”
Damn it, damn it, damn it. “Any luck finding Adrianna and her quad?”
“There’s a lot of vics up here, boss. We’re looking, but it could take a while.”
“All right. I’m on the street. I’ve made an offer for the police to consult with a medium, but if Ethan’s getting sick trying, I’ll see about a high-grade scanner and someone with lower sensitivity. While I wait on you, I’ll get the cops to start talking. Maybe they’ve—”
“Hold that thought, boss. I think we’ve found them.”
“I will smack you around if you repeat this, but I’ll be happy if you find them conscious in a nail salon sipping mimosas and not answering their phones.”
“Ethan?” Luke asked. “Any response?”
I waited, so tense I trembled.
Luke sighed. “Adrianna is unresponsive, but the others are groggy. Conscious, but groggy.”
In good news, having one of my quad members a vic would dump the investigation on my lap; I was the biggest hitter the FBI had available, she was one of mine, and I didn’t share with others very well.
That, plus I could handle almost anything anyone threw at me on the right side of a nap.
“Get Adrianna to the FBI clinic, flag it as a potential supernatural terrorism attack, and offer the cops any help they might need until the case is bumped our way. Is your backup here yet?”
“They’re on the way; they were near the piers handling a request.”
“Assign them to Adrianna. I don’t want her without a quad member at all times. Get the rest of her team to the office for questioning, and call ahead and warn security they might be at risk.”
“And you, boss?”
“Eddy’s here. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“We’ll be on the street as soon as Adrianna is on route to the clinic. You shouldn’t be alone.”
As Luke wasn’t the kind to give me pushback without a good reason, I reined in my urge to snap at him and took a moment to evaluate the situation. When I came up with absolutely no reason for him to give me pushback about Eddy handling my security, I asked, “What’s got you rattled?”
“It’s a horror show up here, boss. Most of the vics are in the hall or the entries of stores. They’re just lying on the ground, dropped like they were tapped in the head. Suddenly.”
“And Adrianna?”
“She was waiting for a massage. I think they were coming down from a bad shift. They went in to unwind; the rest of her quad was deeper in the spa. The employees who weren’t affected tell us it’s normal for clients waiting to catch a nap. Everyone in the waiting area is comatose except for the receptionist. She’s groggy like the rest of Adrianna’s quad, but she’s a little incoherent.”
“Incoherent how?”
“She’s rambling.”
“About what?”
“She’s terrified a giant ghostly fish is going to devour her soul.”
I hated, hated, hated whenever someone said something was probably a strange coincidence. Without fail, it ceased being a strange coincidence the instant someone was foolish enough to make the damned claim. “Please tell me the fish isn’t a koi.”
“How’d you guess, boss? Had I mentioned it?”
“No. Call it an educated guess. Take care of Adrianna and make certain the rest of her quad makes it back to the office. I’ll ping you if I venture off the street.”
“Are you sure you’ll be all right? Ethan’s about to have a conniption over here. Whatever happened here has gotten him in a tizzy. I haven’t seen him like this in years.”
I tried to forget the incident from a few years ago when a new type of haunter had taken up residence in Ethan and led his quad on a merry chase for a week. It’d taken Eddy and I working together to exorcise the haunter.
She’d scared it out assuming her dragon form, and I’d masked the true nature of my magic with water magic to cage the damned thing until the rest of Ethan’s quad could lay it to rest.
Fortunately for all of us, after its residency in Ethan, it’d been willing enough to accept its memento mori and move on.
“I’ll be all right,” I promised. “Take care of Adrianna and her quad first, Luke. That’s an order.” I hung up and turned to the cops, who watched me. “It’s supernatural. One of my quad members is a vic, and the quad sent to find them has a medium. He about threw up trying to identify what’s going on. You should call in Detective Raymond Davis. He should be at the Oakland FBI resident agency. I have reason to believe this incident is related to a case he’s assigned to. Tell him one of the witnesses upstairs claims to have seen an incorporeal aquatic.”
The cops gaped at me, and once again, the woman took the lead. “An incorporeal aquatic?”
“A ghost fish. This should be right up his alley.”
Without waiting for them, I marched into the fray and got on the phone with California’s main FBI branch to report a probable supernatural terrorism event involving more casualties than I wanted to think about. Because I played by the book despite my serious case of cranky at Detective Hunk, I gave him his owed credit and my recommendation he should be assigned the case due to his stolen koi statuette.
If the man was worth his badge, he’d make the most of his chance to work in high-level investigations. Either way, he’d be out of my hair soon enough, as he’d have a much bigger problem than little old me on his hands within ten minutes.
No matter what anyone might say, while I was a bitch, I was a fair one. Hopefully, Detective Hunk wouldn’t hate me too much when he found out how hard life could be when sleep was a luxury no one on the front lines could afford.
Why the hell hadn’t a quad been called in? There was nothing natural about the situation, and I didn’t need magic to tell me that. Something had taken a stroll down the street and knocked everyone out in a ten to twenty foot radius. I stole measuring tape from someone in forensics and calculated distances.
At the broadest point, everyone in an eighteen foot radius had fallen comatose. Inside the shopping center, the area of influence had petered down to five feet, which was where Luke and his quad found me. To add to my troubles, they had Eddy with them.
When had she abandoned ship and joined the dark side?
Luke glared, got in my face, and grunted. I grunted back. The stand-off lasted a few minutes before he snapped, “You were supposed to be on the street.”
I held up my measuring tape. “I was mathing. I went where the math took me. The math took me here. You can’t question math, Luke.”
Eddy snatched the tape out of my hand. “The forensics guys wouldn’t give her the radius of the event, so she decided to measure it herself. A cop tried to stop her, and she put him in time out.”
I had? If I’d put him in time out, which involved a bubble of water and just enough air inside to make my victim nervous but alive, I would’ve been enjoying peace, quiet, and much-needed rest in a specialized cell in prison. “I ignored him, Eddy. That’s hardly worth telling Luke about.”
My boss’s sister matched Luke’s grumpy expression. Muttering curses, she turned to Luke. “Make her stop.”
Luke took a step back to look me over head to toe. “You’re worn out, boss. Isn’t it time for you to go home?”
“There are, at last count, how many victims?” I gave Luke a dose of his own medicine and got into his face. I even grunted, which he echoed.
“Three to four hundred.”
“I don’t have time to go home. I need information about why one of my quads is out of action, and that lawn-mowed moron from the Oakland police department wants to get into a territory dispute over this.”
Luke sighed, and his quad echoed the sound. Eddy reached for her shoe. “Don’t even think about taking off your shoe and hitting me with it.”
“Or what? You’ll drop a bucket of water over my head? That’s about all you’re capable of right now. I could take you out with my shoe.”
I held onto the scraps of my dignity and refrained from informing her I believed a kid with a popsicle stick could take me out. “Please don’t.”
Luke sighed. “Don’t beat Olivia with your shoe however much she deserves it for being stubborn.”
“Fine. But if she puts up a fight leaving, I’m taking her out and making her go home. My brother said I could.”
Damn it. When my boss joined Eddy in her harebrained schemes, I lost. “It’s just as well, as the lawn-mowed moron isn’t cooperating with me anyway.”
Luke sighed. “Lawn-mowed?”
“He needs a new barber. Badly.” I rolled my shoulders and grimaced at the creaking and popping in my neck. “Terrorism is FBI jurisdiction, damn it. Supernatural or otherwise. And when one of my quads is involved, only a lawn-mowed moron gets in my way. They don’t have anyone else with the right ranking or experience in the entire damned state. Fuck, they try to ship me out whenever they get an incident.”
The last time I’d been shipped out, they’d sent me back to the ruins of New York City. Most of the area had been rebuilt following the bombing, except for the detonation point, which remained a decayed husk of its former glory. Some of the buildings still stood, proof of the magic that’d been unleashed during the blast.
Only a water elementalist could take out a fire elementalist of the strength of the one that’d taken up residence in the death zone. He’d terrorized—or incinerated—anyone else who’d gotten too close.
“They’re not going to ship you out anytime soon unless it’s a truly major incident,” Eddy soothed. “And they’re not going to cut in on your turf. You just need to play nice with the police because one of your quads was involved. I know the rules suck, but you’ll still get to work the case. You just have to work the case with Chief Kirkland. You should be grateful you haven’t been kicked off the site yet. Luke? Are you sure I can’t beat her with my shoe? We’d get her home faster that way.”
“You can’t beat her with your shoe. If you want to beat her, you can transform like a sensible dragon, pick her up, and fly off with her. That’d get her home even faster.”
“But then you wouldn’t be able to come with me because I can’t carry her and your entire quad. Your quad would be pushing it. I’m magnificent, but I’m a dragoness of reasonable size, thank you.”
“There’s nothing reasonable about you as a dragon,” Luke muttered.
I had to give credit where credit was due. “While unreasonable, she is magnificent.”
“She’d also destroy half the shopping center if she tried to transform in here,” Luke countered.
“Come on, Luke. Help a woman out,” Eddy whined.
“Why are you asking impossible things of me?” he whined back.
“You’re almost six feet tall, run marathons for fun, and use your magic to subdue rowdy supernaturals. You can even take out death zone survivors.” Eddy pointed at me. “Like her.”
Luke looked me in the eyes and said, “I will call your mother and tell her you flirted with Oakland’s Chief of Police if you don’t cooperate and go home quietly—with an escort. My quad—”
“And me!” Eddy blurted.
“—in case you weren’t certain. Are we clear, boss?”
When the overpowered minions got uppity and threatened to arrange a matchmaking session with my mother at the helm, I had no choice. I surrendered, holding up both hands. “I’ll go quietly.”
“Eddy, where are you parked?”
“South of the cordon.”
“I’m closer. I’ll take the boss and meet you at her place. We’ll order something for dinner, make sure she actually eats it, and do a sweep before we camp out in her living room and watch movies. We can paint our nails and gossip about the boss’s love life as a not-so-subtle warning of what we’ll do if she puts up a fight.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not a target, Luke. You’re going overboard.”
Eddy giggled. “I got a new bottle of nail polish in the car. It’s called ‘The Blood of My Enemies.’ As I’m a kind, generous soul, I’ll even share with you ladies.”
“Hello?” I asked, waving my hand in Luke’s face. “I’m not a target.”
“Maybe not yet, but someone caught a full quad flatfooted fresh off a shift when we tend to be jumpy. Let’s not take any risks.”
My apartment had a cop infestation, and I contemplated murder. “Seriously, it’s like Alameda county doesn’t monitor what it does.”
On days like today, I hated living in Berkeley.
Since delaying would only make matters worse, I got out of the SUV, retrieved my badge, and strolled to the cruiser, tapping on the driver’s side window. “To what do I owe the pleasure, gentlemen?”
I was so tired it took a shameful amount of time to recognize Berkeley’s Chief of Police. “Special Agent Abrams. It’s been a while. Chief Kirkland told me he’d just gotten you out of his hair.”
“Chief Kirkland wasn’t all that eager to get rid of me. He let one of his forensics guys give me a measuring tape.”
“He knew you were tired and didn’t want one of his officers to take an unexpected bath.”
“Your sarcasm is in good form today, Chief Brewer. What can I do for you?”
“We’ve been called in to supplement Oakland, and Kirkland suggested I talk to you and make certain you made it home.”
I turned and pointed at the quartet getting out of Luke’s SUV. “I got a quad plus Eddy. They’re determined to annoy me. Do me a favor and tell them they don’t need to have a sleepover party at my house.”
“No can do. The fastest way to lure you out is to go after one of your quads, so it’s entirely possible you’re a target. We’re here to do a full sweep of your block and make sure you got here all right,” he replied.
Luke strolled over with a grin plastered on his face. “I like this. At the rate we’re doing sweeps of this place, nobody will be able to take a piss without us knowing about it. It’s good to see you again, Chief Brewer.”
“The FBI is still trying to work Abrams to death, I see. Hasn’t anyone told her that she needs to take a break sometimes?” The chief smirked at me before giving Luke his full attention.
“All right. Get it out of your system. I’m woman enough to handle some ribbing from an uppity. Since Luke’s already planning on tattling to my mother, I’ll just have to whine over how mean the cops have been getting to my old man.”
Luke laughed. “It’s a genetic malfunction, Chief Brewer. She’s a chip right off her old man’s block. I’ve never seen a man look so hurt in my life when she told him she was going to work with the FBI rather than join the force in his footsteps. Hey, since you’re here, what do you have on Detective Davis?”
“Detective Davis? From Oakland? If you have an important robbery you need solved, he’s your man. I’ve borrowed him a time or two on a tough case. Why?”
“He’s got the hots for Olivia; he strolled into her office and accused her of stealing a fish statuette because she’s a mix. Add in her status, and a few unfortunate assumptions were made,” Luke replied.
Why couldn’t Detective Hunk have the hots for me in other ways? No matter what my father said, sleeping with the enemy was completely legal. I could corrupt as many of his cops as I wanted. Some corruptions would be more enjoyable than others.
I bowed my head and sighed at my idiocy. “He doesn’t have the hots for me, Luke. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Boss, you were posing on your desk and giving him a show of your legs. You probably did it to prove you were the one in control of the situation. It’s ruthless,” Luke complained. “Ray’s a good guy. Usually. Most of the time. Except when he gets a dumbass idea in his head.”
“I see Eddy was tattling on me.”
“Your boss, actually. He called me before I found you in the shopping center and filled me in.”
Chief Brewer chuckled. “I’ll warn Kirkland his detective is skating on thin ice. Let me guess. You were working at the time of the crime?”
When wasn’t I working? Oh, right. When I was sleeping, which was not nearly often enough. “Obviously. It looks like whoever stole the koi took it on a walk and did something to those at the Oakland City Center. I’ve got a quad lead likely in a coma, and her team is conscious—barely. We haven’t gotten anything from them yet, or so I’ve been told.”
“And you’re not heading the investigation yet? Sounds like your turf to me.”
“Chief Kirkland likes screwing with me because he can,” I complained. “Their current theory is some form of mundane gas, which will just delay the investigation from landing on my desk. Their mid-range scanner didn’t pick up any radiation signatures.” I shrugged, and since I looked like an idiot holding my badge in my hand, I returned it to my purse. “I suggested Detective Davis should be involved with the investigation to the FBI when I called the incident in myself.”
“Do you like him or hate him?” Chief Brewer asked, canting his head.
“He barged into my office like he owned the place. I figured if he was going to interrupt my work, I might as well have fun with him.”
“What did you do, Olivia?” According to the chief’s tone, he expected the worst, had already resigned himself to a mess, and just waited for me to confirm it.
I relaxed at his use of my first name. “I asked if I’d missed a blind date with him.”
“I shouldn’t be surprised, yet I am. Why would you do that to the poor man?”
“Well, he had just barged into my office thinking I’d stolen some fish just because I’m a death zone survivor.”
“He probably isn’t aware you’re a death zone survivor; you’re just listed as a high-ranked water elementalist in the main files. He doesn’t usually jump to conclusions like that, though. That’s odd. He’s always been the image of professionalism when I’ve worked with him.”
“I’d hope so, or he wouldn’t be a good detective. I figure he wanted to catch me off guard. I was tired, Benjamin. Missing a blind date was the only thing I could think of at the time.”
“He’s incurably single. Married to his work and incapable of talking to a woman who might be a good match for him without making a mess of it. If you want a good time, watch him work with the lady officers. There’s never been a more self-conscious man.”
“What does that even mean? Come on, Ben. I’m tired. You gotta explain this shit to me.”
He laughed. “I better tell him not to waste any chivalry on you. He’s awkward and will go out of his way to be polite and considerate.”
Were we talking about the same Detective Davis? “Huh.”
“You probably intimidate him. Go get some rest, Olivia. I expect you’ll be in the driver’s seat of the investigation in the morning. Luke? Make certain she doesn’t get any urges to meddle until tomorrow. She’ll need the sleep. Despite what she thinks, her magic isn’t a substitute for real rest.”
Like hell it wasn’t.
“You got it, sir. Come on, Olivia. Dinner for you, then bed.”
Any other day, I would’ve been a great deal more offended by being managed by a police chief and one of my quads, but the truth kept me quiet. A wise woman took advantage of the calm before the storm.