After they finished their coffee, Caina volunteered to drive, and Nadia agreed.
“So, if you’re the branch director for a private security company, why don’t you have a nicer car?” said Nadia, looking at the blue four-door Lone Star Motors sedan that Caina had driven to the House of Agabyzus. The car had seen both a hundred and fifty thousand miles and better days.
“No one pays any attention to an unremarkable car,” said Caina, unlocking the doors. The interior was upholstered in an inoffensive shade of industrial gray. “Also, it’s a lot easier to get into the parking spots here with a car like this. You need to have the hands of a neurosurgeon to fit into some of them.”
Nadia snorted. “True enough.” She settled into the passenger seat, wrapping her coat around her even though it was hot in the car. “Do you mind if we stop by my SUV first? I need to feed some more quarters into the meter.”
“No problem,” said Caina.
She drove to the SUV, and Nadia hopped out and dumped another handful of quarters into the parking meter. Once that was done, Caina set off for the Ghost Securities office in Queens, Nadia riding in the passenger seat. Nadia, Caina noted, was a bit twitchy. At first, Caina thought she had drunk too much coffee, but then Caina realized the other woman simply could not relax. She never stopped looking for danger, her eyes wary, and she glanced at every passing vehicle and every pedestrian as if they were potential threats.
Whatever had happened to Nadia Moran to make her so powerful, it had left its scars upon her.
But Caina knew all about scars, didn’t she?
“So,” said Nadia, staring out the window. “How does a valikarion wind up working as a private investigator?”
Caina hid a smile. No, Nadia wasn’t a fool. She might have been twitching, but her brain was still working.
“Technically, I’m a branch director, not a private investigator,” said Caina.
“I don’t suppose too many branch directors wait tables while wearing skin-tight shorts and tank tops,” said Nadia. “Though given that most private investigators are middle-aged men, maybe we should be grateful for that.”
Caina laughed aloud, and Nadia grinned at her.
“Thank God for small favors,” said Caina as they came to yet another red light. “If you must know, my mother fell in with the Rebels, and she murdered my father and tried to murder me. It...didn’t quite take. My predecessor recruited me when I was barely a teenager, and I’ve done this kind of thing ever since.”
“Alexander Halfdan,” said Nadia.
Caina blinked. Yes, Nadia had done her homework.
“That’s right,” said Caina. “I’ve been with the company ever since he found me. Formally since I’ve turned sixteen, though I lied about my age and said I was eighteen.”
“Mmm,” said Nadia. “I’m sorry about your parents. Mine died when I was a child.” She blinked and straightened up. “Is your office near the JFK airport?”
“Actually, yes,” said Caina.
“God, that must be annoying,” said Nadia. “All that traffic.”
“Sometimes,” said Caina. “It does come in handy, though.”
A few minutes later, they reached the New York branch office of Ghost Securities. It was a former warehouse and still looked like a warehouse from the outside, dull gray cinder blocks topped with a corrugated metal roof. A chain-link fence encircled the warehouse yard, twelve feet tall and crowned with barbed wire, and various vehicles were parked outside. Caina pulled up to the gate, waved her keycard before the scanner, and the gate slid open. She pulled into the manager’s spot and shut off the engine.
The heat struck her like a fist when she got out of the car. September 1st, and it was still this hot. Black clothes had been a poor choice today, but Caina was grateful that her suit was so light.
“Your own private little fortress here?” said Nadia, looking around.
“Sometimes, if necessary,” said Caina. “This way, please.”
Nadia followed her to an unmarked metal door in the cinder block wall. Caina unlocked it with her keycard and opened it to reveal a comfortable reception area. A blue carpet covered the floor, and chairs lined the walls. A large desk stood against the back wall, and a scowling middle-aged man in a blue Ghosts Securities uniform sat behind it, glaring at a display of camera feeds. He had thick, scarred hands, and a rough face with an oft-broken nose.
“Good morning, Director,” said the man, looking over Nadia.
“Morning, Desmond,” said Caina. “Any messages?” She gestured at Nadia. “She’s with me.”
“Bunch of messages, but they’re all on your office computer,” said Desmond. He squinted at Nadia. “She’ll need a visitor’s badge.”
“Gosh, I feel so special,” said Nadia.
Caina took the offered badge and gave it to Nadia, who clipped it to the lapel of her coat.
“Also, Strake’s been looking at that phone you gave her,” said Desmond. Nadia’s gaze swung back to him. “I don’t think she’s left the server room since.”
“I’ll talk to her in a few minutes,” said Caina. She looked at Nadia. “Strake’s my cybersecurity expert, and I’ve got her looking at the phone we discussed. I just need to stop by my office to pass some messages, and then we’ll talk to her.”
Nadia gestured. “Lead the way.”
Caina nodded to Desmond, stepped behind his desk, and opened the door. The hallway beyond was uncarpeted, polished concrete, the walls built of cinder blocks, with more steel doors every few yards. Caina walked to her office door and unlocked it.
“Have a seat,” said Caina, pulling open the door. “Help yourself to coffee if you want some. This will just be a minute.”
Her office was fairly large (rank had some privileges), though she had never gotten around to furnishing it properly. Her desk was a plastic folding table that supported a trio of flatpanel monitors and a pair of computer towers. One complete wall held shelves stuffed with as many books as Caina could fit onto them. The other wall held cabinets storing weapons, ammunition, clothing, and equipment, and a battered little table that held her coffee maker.
“That is a lot of books,” said Nadia, who did not sit down.
Caina seated herself at her computer, unlocked it, and started sorting through her messages. “Everyone needs a hobby.”
Nadia started looking at the books, and Caina scrolled through her messages. There weren’t too many, which was good. The investigation of Sulzer had taken up all her time for the last two weeks, and she was relieved that nothing major had come up. There were a few minor administrative matters, and she signed off on them. One of the hospitals in the Bronx that the company provided security for was having personnel problems again, so Caina directed the site manager to fire whoever he thought best. Kardamnos Memorial Hospital was notoriously picky about their employees.
“Malcolm Lock?” said Nadia as Caina locked her computer and stood up again.
“I do enjoy historical novels,” said Caina. “Like I said, everyone needs a hobby.”
“My husband likes to read,” said Nadia. She slid the Malcolm Lock book back onto the shelf. “It’s safe to tell you that because I’m sure you’ve deduced that already.” She glanced at Caina. “You’re very cautious around wizards, aren’t you?”
“I’ve had some bad experiences,” said Caina.
Nadia grinned. “Is that why you have that shotgun bolted under your desk?”
Caina blinked. “How did you know about that?”
“Reflection on the glass of that map of New York City behind your desk,” said Nadia. “See, you’re not the only one who’s observant.”
“My mother could use magic,” said Caina, walking around the desk. “When I was younger, I wanted to kill all humans who could use magic.”
Nadia gave her a wary glance. “What changed your mind? I’m hoping something changed your mind, seeing as how I’m standing three feet from you.”
Caina shrugged. “I got older. Magic’s like money, or elected office, or power, or even charisma. It’s just another form of power. It isn’t even really ‘magic’ in that it’s something we don’t understand or something supernatural. It’s just aetheric radiation from the Shadowlands, and it can do good things or bad things. Some people abuse it, and some do not. And it seems that Joseph Sulzer is abusing every form of power he can find. Let’s go talk to my cybersecurity expert. She likes to camp out in the server room, I’m afraid.”
Nadia nodded, and Caina left her office and led the way to the door at the end of the corridor. She unlocked it, and they took another flight of steps down to the basement level. The HVAC equipment was down here, along with the armory, long-term file storage, the gym where Caina both exercised and worked out her frustrations, and other supply rooms. She walked to another steel door, unlocked it, and stepped into the server room.
Immediately the whine of hundreds of computer fans filled her ears, and a blast of cold air washed over her face from the air conditioning. Two dozen server racks filled the room, thousands of green and blue LEDs blinking. Thick bundles of wires dropped from the backs of the servers and disappeared into ducts in the floor or ran along the ceiling in wire baskets. There was a plastic folding table facing the server racks, sagging beneath the weight of a half-dozen monitors, their surfaces covered with green text on a black background.
A gaunt red-haired woman sat cross-legged in a desk chair before the monitors, her feet bare. She wore tan cargo pants, a black tank top, and a gray sweater that could have held three of her. Nadia looked a bit underfed, but the red-haired woman had the gaunt appearance of a recovering drug addict. Her ragged red hair hadn’t been cut evenly, and her green eyes were fixed on the monitors. She hummed a tune as she typed, from time to time taking a drink from the enormous travel mug of coffee next to her keyboard.
“Hello, Nerina,” said Caina. “I keep telling you to work in your office. It’s not freezing in there.”
“But I’m right next to the servers down here,” said Nerina, not looking up from her screens. “If there is a drive failure in one of the hard drive arrays, I can replace the failed component at once. That can result in faster computational times of up to three point four percent.”
“Have you started working on that phone?” said Caina, hoping that Nerina hadn’t gotten distracted. Nerina Strake was the best cybersecurity expert that Caina had ever met, but she did tend to get distracted.
“Yes, of course,” said Nerina. She gestured at the phone in the mirroring case, which was plugged into one of the servers. “I have been recording everything since you brought it last night. Mr. Sulzer’s activities have been most interesting, and...”
She turned in her chair and blinked up at Nadia, who watched her with bemusement.
Nerina jumped to her feet, the chair spinning behind her.
“Nerina...” started Caina, but it was too late.
“You are sixty-three inches tall and one hundred eleven pounds of weight,” said Nerina. “When expressed in pounds and inches, your weight is approximately one point one seven six one times larger than your height.”
“Um,” said Nadia. “Okay?”
“Oh!” said Nerina. She slapped her forehead with the heels of her hands. “Oh, I forgot, social graces! I always forget those. But mathematical equations are so much more precise and elegant. Social graces are always so sloppy and imprecise and do not chart to accurate mathematics.”
Caina looked at Nadia, wondering if she would be offended, but she only laughed.
“Do you always greet people this way?” said Nadia.
“Yes, regrettably,” said Nerina. She sighed
“Yeah,” said Caina. “We don’t let her meet clients anymore.”
Nerina sighed. “The mayor’s wife was very offended. But there was no way she weighed only one hundred and forty-one pounds, as I attempted to explain to her mathematically.”
Nadia held out her hand. “I’m not a client. And I’m not a politician’s wife, thank God.”
Nerina blinked at her, then smiled and shook her hand. “You have an unusually strong grip. Your muscle mass ratio is at least one point four times stronger than average for your height.”
“Thanks,” said Nadia. “I think.”
“Oh, it was a compliment,” said Nerina. “I need to work on my grip. Caina keeps telling me that I should exercise more, but there is never enough time, and I get distracted by the fascinating mathematical problems inherent in network security, and then...”
“We should talk about Sulzer’s phone,” said Caina.
“What?” said Nerina. “Oh, yes, of course.” She dropped back into her chair and started typing. Two of the monitor’s displays changed to show an enlarged image of a phone screen. The phone’s wallpaper showed Congressman Joseph Sulzer with his arm around the waist of one of the dancers from the Cattleman’s Pride, a dancer who was wearing only a few strips of strategically placed silk.
Nadia barked a laugh. “Subtle.”
“And characteristic,” said Nerina, typing more commands. Files appeared on the other displays. “Congressman Sulzer uses this phone a lot. Last night he employed it to send several payments to various escort services.”
Caina looked at the screens. “Probably for some of the women who were on the stage at his party.”
“Ew,” said Nadia. “Our tax dollars at work.”
“Do not worry,” said Nerina. “It doesn’t look like he used any tax money, but instead kickback funds from various businesses.”
“Oh, good, he’s just corrupt,” said Nadia. “Big improvement.”
“Not really,” said Caina. “Did he use any other applications?”
“He did,” said Nerina. “I thought you would find this interesting. Sulzer accessed several banking apps repeatedly.” A list of the banks appeared on the screen. “He has accounts at all of these banks, and he checked all of them tonight and again this morning.”
“Paranoid, isn’t he?” said Nadia.
“If he wasn’t, Homeland Security would have arrested him years ago,” said Caina. “He has accounts at seventeen different banks...”
“Yeah,” said Nadia. “Wait, wait, wait. Let me check something.”
She drew out her phone, unlocked the screen, and pulled up a file. Caina glanced at the screen and saw that it was a picture of a financial statement. Nadia flicked through several more pictures of financial statements and then nodded in satisfaction.
“Got something?” said Caina.
“Yep,” said Nadia. “According to his phone, Sulzer has accounts at seventeen different banks. But my information sources include his tax returns for the last couple of years, and according to those, he only has accounts at twelve different banks.”
“Then he does his off-the-books business at those five banks,” said Caina. “Nerina, can you bring up that other screen capture? No, that other one.”
Nadia leaned closer as the image appeared. “And according to those apps...Mr. Sulzer has safe deposit boxes at all five of those banks.”
“Wonder what he keeps in those,” said Caina. She looked at Nadia. “Want to help me rob some banks?”
“It’ll be just like the bad old days,” said Nadia with a smirk. Caina wondered what that meant. “I haven’t robbed a bank for a couple of months, so why not do it now?”
“Great,” said Caina. “Let’s plan some robberies.”
***