Chapter 11

By 7am I’d already called-in a personal day at work and gotten a ration of shit from Gerry, the supervisor. Hopefully, Rodrigues would give me some sort of ‘get out of jail free’ card so I wouldn’t have to burn one of my holidays. I was finishing my first coffee of the day when a Weapon approached my door. Flanged mace and a small kite shield.

I opened the door before he knocked.

“Just trying to save my door in case you decided to use the mace” I said to the giant black man in a boring brown suit.

“What mace would you be talking about?” The yet-unnamed Weapon/Cop asked warily.

I know it was stupid, but I pulled his weapon and handed it back to him, it must have weighed three kilos. “This one, you really shouldn’t leave this thing lying around”. He snatched it from my hand with a glare that probably scared the shit outta most people.

“That ain’t the only weapon I carry...” and he let the threat hang in the air. I wasn’t impressed. He had no reason to draw his sidearm, or even his weapon, I hadn’t threatened him. (I later found out that anyone just having a weapon was considered by the cops enough reason to draw their sidearm).

“Coffee?” I asked innocently, there were a few cups left in the pot, and they’d be nasty by the time I got back in.

“Sure” he grunted and I stood aside as he entered the room with a quick look about, covering all corners and behind the door. That sort of stuff wasn’t at patrolman levels, maybe they taught detectives that, or he may have been (ex-)military.

I poured it into two travel mugs I could afford to lose and stepped back, gesturing for him to pick one. He wasn’t very nervous at all and I didn’t even bother to offer him cream or sugar. I’ve still never yet met a cop who takes their coffee any way but ‘black’. I took the other one and immediately had a slurp.

I was betting the guy wasn’t Rodrigues’ partner at all, I’d bet he was an inspector or an adjunct officer of some sort. Peeking through his inventory I decided to be cheeky.

“You sure that you don’t want to put your ring on? Ring of protection might help if I happened to poison you”. It was the best thing in his inventory. And he had some good stuff.

“You poured the coffee from the same carafe.” He said with a slurp from ‘his’ cup.

“I’ve spent the last few years building up a resistance to Iocane powder” I said laughing.

“The Princess Bride, good one” he said over another slurp. “But are we really in a battle of wits?”

“I doubt I’d win.” I sighed. “Look, the odds that both you and your ‘partner’ Rodrigues were granted a weapon is astronomical, then you pass the door frame like you’re clearing a room, and lastly you’re in way too good shape to be a detective. So who or what are you really?” I asked in an exasperated voice. I’d known that it wasn’t going to go down exactly like Rodrigues said, cops are like that.

“Let’s go, I’ll explain in the way. We still want you to strip those two perps, just make sure they stay stripped Ok?” The huge unnamed officer of something-or-other said with his own exasperated tone and pushed back from the counter.

We trooped out to his car, a white Ford Taurus and I rolled my eyes. “Rodrigues told me you’d be subtle ... giant guy in a suit, drives up to my townhouse in an intentionally bland car, then follows me out of the house and opens the rear door? Come on, why not just roll up in a patrol car with the cherries on?”

The Black giant in brown chuckled darkly and opened the back door. So this was how it was going to go down. At least there weren’t any manacles.

Contrary to my worst expectations, the giant was chatty for the 20 min trip downtown. We pulled into the parking lot under the station and I learned that this was an ‘off the books’ operation and my ‘interview’ and the trip in here wouldn’t have a record. So much for my ‘get out of jail’ card. At least I could get a chance to steal the crossbowman’s Silver this time. I was led to an office, not an interview room and the giant looked at his watch.

“Sometime in the next 30 minutes those two are going to walk past, grab their stuff and keep your mouth shut and telephone on. Text ‘On’ of you got them both, or ‘Off’ for anything else. Got it?” He asked, sliding a card across the desk. It was Rodrigues’s not his.

“Got it. What if I find someone else with a weapon?” I asked, hoping to get clearance to loot any perp in the building.

“Weapon only, we can sort it out afterwards. If I even hear a question about someone’s Silver or inventory I’ll lock you up ‘till it reappears. Capish?”

Hearing a 50’ies mob term from the agent really struck me as funny and I couldn’t help but laugh. “You got it, Capo!” I managed between fits of giggles. I got another glare and then he left, shutting the door, which closed with a far-to-solid solid ‘Clunk’.

I concentrated on my pickpocket screen and watched as it popped out of existence when the agent with the ‘Mace’ walked out of range. Not fifteen minutes later it popped up with two familiar weapons. I stole them both and even had plenty of time to steal the crossbow asshole’s Silver. I grabbed the phone and texted ‘On’ just as another Weapon walked into range. It wasn’t a mace or a cutlass, but a bow made of a black wood. Per agent Mace’s agreement I took it but left the pile of Silver and the goodies alone ... though I was pretty fucking tempted.

That target walked out of range, and I had no more ‘pings’ until about an hour later when the Mace guy, the guy who’s bow I stole (I recognized the rest of his inventory) and Rodrigues approached the door. Mace guy was first, followed by a cute brunette who looked mad enough to spit nails, with Rodrigues at the rear.

“Gregory Hensen, this is Commander Florence O’Day, temporarily assigned to CSIS. I believe you have something of hers? The huge black guy said in a sweet tone that was just baiting me to do something about it.

“Of course,” I replied evenly, and stole her inventory, then proceeded to give it back to her, one item at a time. If she looked ready to spit nails earlier, then she was seething with rage by the time I handed the ‘Candle of Darkness’ back to her for the second time.

“This too perhaps?” And I handed over the bow. She had to yank it from my hand, since she couldn’t store it while I was still touching it. We both learned that one.