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Rick flashed his badge to the guard at the gate of the shipyard, who nodded them through as if he was expecting them. Director Leon said that he’d make some calls, so they probably were.
“Finnegan never gets his hands dirty, but he heavily implied he watched all the murders from a distance.” Rick addressed the men in the SUV with him. Agent Milton was driving, since the PNI issue car was signed out to him and he was apparently familiar with the shipyard. “So we need a place he can observe without being spotted coming too and from.”
“Well leprechauns can teleport, so, that’s basically anywhere with a view.” Agent Milton scoffed. One of the guys in the back had a disdainful look, like he couldn't imagine how such an obvious noob like Rick could have a higher rank than him.
“Oh, joy. So that means as soon as he realizes something is off, he’s gone.” Rick rubbed the bridge of his nose. He didn’t know the first thing about leprechauns or any of this . He was a terrible noob. Lord, help my inexperience not cause the mythic war of the millenia. “How long do we have before he starts to suspect he’s compromised?”
“The VP isn’t supposed to arrive for another twenty minutes, and is notorious for being late. So, thirty maybe.” Agent Milton parked the car and shrugged.
“We split up then. Teams of two – one mythic, one human. You spot him, you fall back to report to me and stand down until I get there.” Rick twisted in his seat to look back at the rest of the team behind him. “Vikas promised not to stop until Dante is dead-dead, and Finnegan won’t stop until a bloody human-mythic war is assured. Catching him and getting Vikas’s spirit ball is the only way to stop them both.”
"You realize that catching a leprechaun used to be a really big deal, a nearly impossible task." Agent Milton glanced sideways at him. “So much so that people expected a pot of gold if they did it.”
“I’d be satisfied with a kitsune spirit ball and my partner’s life, thanks.” Rick scanned the shipyard and the crowds gathering at a dock harboring a massive ship. “Can he teleport in the murderer?”
The team shook their heads in unanimous uncertainty. Delightful.
“All right. Here’s the plan. I see three possible locations. There, there, and there.” Rick pointed out the windshield at some tactical observation points. One he wasn’t sure how a team could get to without teleporting. “The VP’s team can take care of protecting him. We’ll focus on stopping Finnegan so he can’t kill again.”
Lord, give us your grace to succeed and give Dante the strength to hold out until we do.
The three teams split up and headed into different directions. Agent Milton left his phone with Rick so they could contact him, and Rick waited in the car so he could back up whichever team found Finnegan. No offense to Director Leon’s hand picked backup team, but he wasn’t sure he trusted any of these men with Dante’s life, much less the power to control a powerful immortal and avert a civil war. Once someone spotted the rogue leprechaun, Rick would move in to close the deal. Maybe these psychos could get the point that his partner was off limits as well.
In the meantime, waiting was terrible. His mind replayed the last moments he’d spent with Dante – Finnegan’s attack, his partner paralyzed and helpless, and what he’d had to do to save him – in very vivid detail. And he’d allowed Dante to persuade him to leave him behind to face a kitsune bent on his destruction alone. By the time the cell phone rang, his hands were trembling at the memories.
He cleared his throat twice before he managed to answer firmly, “Agent McCoy. Do you see him?”
“We do. He’s standing on the flight deck of the new USS Enterprise in dry dock watching the proceedings.” The voice on the other end of the phone paused. “You’ll never get to him without spooking him.”
“Let me worry about that. Just don’t let him see you.” Rick hung up and stared at the partially constructed aircraft carrier. Various cranes and scaffolding surrounded the vessel, so getting up itself wasn’t necessarily impossible. Getting up without being seen by a suspicious supervillain with a bird's eye view was. He needed help. He dialed the director again.
“Agent McCoy, do you ever use your own phone?” Director Leon asked the moment he answered.
“Well, apparently these nuts you send me after think destroying my phone is a sporting event. At this rate, PNI is going to have to budget cell phone replacements into my expense allowance like you do Dante’s suits.”
“Who told you we–”
“Unless you’re paying him way more than you’re paying me, there's no way he’s replacing all those fancy suits himself.” Rick laughed at the director’s slip up. “That’s obviously not why I called. I need a distraction in about fifteen minutes. Nothing serious. Just something that will hold Finnegan’s attention while I sneak up on him.”
“I can manage it. And just so you know, the Vice President is out of danger. Take that jerk down.”
“I intend to.” Rick hung up, called in the other two teams as back up, stuffed the phone in his pocket, and slipped out of the SUV.
“I’m going up after him by myself.” Rick told the leader of the team waiting on him as soon as they rendezvoused. “But I need you right behind me in case it goes south. I’m not facing a ticked off leprechaun without backup.”
The pair nodded, the agent with the disdainful face looking at him doubtfully, but silently.
Rick sat on the edge of the scaffolding nearest the point they had indicated Finnegan waited, slipped off his shoes, and handed Agent Milton’s phone to the skeptical agent. He didn't need anything that might give him away. Then he started climbing, counting down to when the director’s distraction would take effect and praying it didn’t scare his opponent away.
He reached the top and cautiously peered over the rail at the little red-headed man sitting on the front edge of the flight deck, his legs dangling over. There was probably the length of a football field between them. He'd have to be swift and silent to grab the treacherous leprechaun before he vanished.
The crowd grew silent, and Finnegan leaned forward as if watching something intently. Director Leon's distraction? Loud music, like the cross between a marching band and a rock concert, rose up from the docks. Finnegan seemed captivated, so Rick made his move.
He pulled himself up onto the flight deck, then dashed toward Finnegan, his socks cushioning his footsteps and the music covering any other noise he might have made. Halfway there. The leprechaun was enthralled by the music, his legs swinging in time to the beat. Three quarters. The leprechaun stiffened as if suddenly aware something was wrong. Rick dove, praying he didn't take both of them off the side. The leprechaun could teleport to safety, and he'd be a smear on the bottom of the dry dock.
Finnegan's face registered surprise just as Rick closed his hand on the leprechaun's arm and skidded to a stop at the edge of the flight deck.
"So you captured me. Lucky you. By rights you've earned my treasure." The leprechaun's eyes were bitter and cold as Rick dragged him away from the edge.
"The only treasure I want from you is Dante's life and Vikas's freedom." Rick panted to catch his breath as he squeezed the leprechaun's arm tighter. "Give me the spirit ball."
Finnegan hesitated, then eyed the edge of the flight deck as if considering pitching either the spirit ball or Rick himself over the edge. Rick pinned the leprechaun to the flight deck, remembering Dante’s words about loopholes as his back up team clambered over the rail onto the deck.
“That’s how it works, doesn’t it? As long as I don’t let go, you can’t disappear and you’re obligated to give me the treasure. You know what I want.” Rick thrust his free hand into Finnegan’s pockets as he dug for the ball. His hand closed on it and he pulled it free. “Bingo.”
He kept his hand closed tightly around Finnegan’s arm as he sat back on his heels and stared at the ball. This was the key to everything, but he had no idea how to use it.
“Just say his name.” The disdainful agent suggested, less contemptuously than Rick expected.
“Vikas, I summon thee.” Rick spoke to the ball, ignoring the eye rolls from the three men watching him. “Hey, you guys aren’t being super helpful here, so if I have to be left with what I learned about mythics from movies, that’s on you.”
The other two agents had the decency to look embarrassed as Vikas appeared out of nowhere, his expression startled and his hands bloodied. He also appeared to only have one tail remaining. He took one look at the spirit ball in Rick’s hands and his eyes narrowed angrily.
“You can teleport. Good.” Rick lifted the ball and his captive. “These are yours. I want my partner in return.”
Vikas hesitated, and for a moment Rick feared it was because there was nothing left of Dante for him to retrieve. Then, in a blink, the kitsune was gone. Rick held his breath. Dante had been left with the vengeful kitsune for a long time. More than enough time for the kitsune to activate whatever his creative backup plan was to “mercifully euthanize” his partner.
Another blink and they both appeared. Vikas shoved Dante forward and the agent stumbled to his knees in front of Rick. Rick tossed the ball to Vikas and released Finnegan without a second look at either of them as he knelt in front of his partner and lifted his chin so he could get a better look at his injuries. Blood, bruises, and cuts mottled his body, one arm was clutched awkwardly to his chest, and a matted lock of red hair fell over one swollen black eye, but a relieved grin met Rick’s concerned gaze.
“Looks like I owe you that steak dinner.”