Dragon Gate (2 page)

“It isn’t bragging. Just stating a fact.”

“Stating a hypothesis,” I said. “You aren’t even up to a theory yet. Shall we test it?”

Brand practically raced from the office. Evidently the prospect of getting to hit someone was better than sex for him. He wasn’t allowed to hit the women Kelly trained, and he wasn’t fast enough to connect with Kelly, so I was the only living opponent he could strike on a regular basis. When I entered the training area, he stood waiting for me on the tatami mats. He was a Sekutar—a magically engineered assassin—so he didn’t need to warm up or stretch.

I’d already worked out that morning, but I figured I should warm up a bit before facing off with a warrior. I went through a few stretches, and it felt good. I slipped off my shoes and socks and stepped onto the mat.

“You don’t want to change into sweats?” he asked.

I looked down at my jeans and button-up shirt. “I don’t think I’ll work up a sweat before Kelly comes out.”

“You want to get blood on your pretty white shirt?”

“You expect to bleed on me?” I asked.

Brand laughed. He knew he was faster and stronger, and he had the advantage of not feeling pain. “You crack me up,” he said and approached.

He threw his first punch, which I easily blocked, but as I slid off the attack, I darted in faster than he expected and punched him in the face. His head snapped back and, for a moment, he froze. That’s a common reaction to being hit. Brand wasn’t used to someone slipping past his defenses. Before he could recover, I swept his feet and planted him hard on his back. I rode him down, pinning him to the mat.

“Lunch is on you and I’m famished.”

“How the hell did you do that?”

I rose to my feet and helped him up. “I’ve been training.”

“Bullshit. You just got lucky. You’d need years of dedicated training to get to this level.”

Of course, I’d had those years, but I couldn’t tell him that. He hadn’t lived them.

He reached for my throat, and I caught his hand and twisted him back to the mat. He tried to pull free, but I didn’t let go. I dropped my weight onto his wrist, and the snapping bone gave me a satisfaction I didn’t want to admit.

“Impossible,” he said, staring at his broken wrist. It would heal in a few hours. Being magically engineered has some obvious advantages.

Kelly exited the office, and her eyes widened a bit when she saw Brand on the floor.

“Ready?” I asked.

“What happened here?”

“Nothing exciting,” I said, reaching for my shoes. “Let’s go eat.”

She waved me off and walked over to Brand. “Did you underestimate him?” she asked.

Brand twisted his wrist into place and cradled it. “What was your first clue?”

“You getting your ass kicked. Something you want to tell me?”

Brand shrugged. “He’s a lot faster and stronger than I remember.”

“Go sit down, Brand.” Kelly pointed toward the bleachers that lined the wall. The other wall had floor-to-ceiling mirrors. She stared at me for a moment, kicked off her shoes, then assumed a fighting stance.

“You too?” I asked.

“Just a quick run-through.”

“Don’t hurt me too bad.”

I dropped my shoes, stepped back onto the mats, and approached her. I bowed then took up a fighting stance. We circled each other while Brand watched. Kelly kicked at me, but I stepped back to avoid it and slapped her foot away. She grinned.

“You
have
been training.”

“A bit.”

She darted forward with a few quick strikes. I dodged the first one, but she tagged me with the second. It hurt but I didn’t let on. Instead, I snapped a low kick. Kelly easily avoided it, but I almost got her with a quick punch. She slapped my hand away, tried to catch it, but I was just fast enough to break her grip. She tilted her head to the side a bit, and I knew from her look that she was impressed.

We circled again. I focused all my attention on her. I kept my eyes mostly on her feet and midsection, never looking into her eyes. I needed to rely on touch and speed and anticipation. Looking at an opponent’s face tends to be distracting.

The door to the dojo swung open, and when I turned to see who was there, Kelly grabbed me, flipped me, and slammed me down onto the mat so hard, the thud echoed off the walls. My breath burst from my lungs, and before I could blink, Kelly twisted me into an arm bar and her knee jammed into my jaw, forcing my face to the mat.

I heard clapping.

Kelly released me and I rolled over to see Mike Endar standing at the edge of the mat, wearing his standard black business suit and sunglasses. He kept clapping his hands.

“Bravo!” he said.

I got to my feet and worked the kinks out of my neck. “Mike,” I said. “What brings you here?”

“I have a job for you, and since you owe me one, you can’t refuse.”

CHAPTER TWO

JONATHAN SHADE

Mike removed his sunglasses when we entered the restaurant. He’d refused to speak on the ride over, so Kelly turned on some music to fill the silence, in this case, it was an Imagine Dragons CD.

Mike didn’t bring up anything business related during the meal either because that would be rude. When the waitress approached with the check, Mike tossed a credit card on the tray before she could set it on the table. She thanked him and walked off.

“Business expense,” Mike said.

“Works for me,” I said.

“Where’s your pretty little ghost?”

“Esther is at my place watching a marathon of
Being Human
on TV.”

“British or American?”

“Does it matter? You said you had a job for me.”

“I do.” He looked at me then at Kelly. “For both of you and your friend back at the studio.”

“Will we get to kill anyone?” Kelly asked.

“Definitely.”

“I’m in,” she said. “I’m off to the ladies’ room.”

When she left, I said, “What’s the job?”

“Have you heard of Graham Noble?”

“Sounds familiar but I can’t place him.”

“His family owns The Steam Room and a few other businesses in Boulder.”

“That weird spa I see advertised on TV all the time? What’s their slogan?
No Pain, Still Gain
or some shit?”

“Yes, and
Let Off a Little Steam.
”

“The girl in the commercials is cute,” I said.

“That would be Rayna, Graham’s sister. Their father was murdered this morning outside his office building.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“The killers will be after their entire family. Stephen Noble’s brother is part owner of the spa, and Stephen’s wife runs a hospice.”

“You want me to find the killers? Shouldn’t that be a job for the Boulder Police Department?”

“I want to hire you and your team to protect the family. Graham and Rayna in particular, but the rest if they’ll cooperate. Graham and Rayna do a lot of charity work and public appearances. They’re wealthy and popular and they’ll need a protective team.”

“Why are you doing the hiring, Mike? Shouldn’t they hire a firm?”

“Stephen was a friend. He asked me to provide protection for his children.”

“So they don’t even know about this?”

The waitress returned with Mike’s credit card and thanked us, so Mike didn’t answer until she wandered off to another table.

“They know.” He signed the check and added a less-than-generous tip—typical. “They don’t think they need protection, and they don’t trust wizards, so they won’t allow us to send anyone who’s part of the magical community. In order to serve Stephen’s wishes, I need you.”

“You knew this was coming when I hired that skinny girl last year.” I pretended not to know her name was Darla or that I’d gotten her killed that day before I found a way to set things right. I’ll never forget the look on her face when she died, but I try instead to remember her relief when she didn’t have to do much beyond a simple summoning spell on the reset.

“I suspected you’d be the right person for the job if it came up.”

“So this is for you and not for DGI?”

“Stephen was on the board for DGI.”

“He was a wizard?”

“No.”

“I thought only wizards could serve on the board.”

Mike shrugged. “We make exceptions in certain instances.”

“He paid you.”

“What?”

“The only thing that matters more to you guys than a magical pedigree is cold, hard cash.”

I wasn’t a big fan of the folks at Dragon Gate Industries. They charged for their services when they make plenty of money from their legitimate, nonmagical engineering firm, not to mention their real estate holdings and investments. However, I did owe them for loaning Darla to me and for a few other little things.

“Graham and Rayna need your help, Jonathan. And we’ll pay you a nice fee for your protection services.”

“We’re not normally in the protection business.”

“Nonsense. Our files indicate that you’ve had training as an executive protector through a well-respected firm and that you occasionally provide these services for visiting celebrities.”

“Protecting a TV star making a convention appearance is a lot different than protecting someone who has active death threats from a credible enemy who’s already proven their abilities by killing someone close to the target. The Nobles should hire a firm that specializes in this sort of thing.”

“Are you saying you think you, Kelly, and Brand can’t protect two people from a few bad guys?”

“What I’m saying is that counting Esther, there are only four of us. To provide a proper protective detail would require a larger team.”

“They won’t go for that.”

“Do they realize that in many cases, simply having a team visible will make an assassin give up? Most assassins don’t want to get caught.”

“These assassins may or may not have magical abilities.”

“I’m sorry, may or may not?”

Mike adjusted his collar, which looked perfect to me. “We don’t know for certain. Shouldn’t Kelly be back by now?”

“She’s waiting in the car.”

“She said she was—”

I shook my head. “She hates business meetings.”

“So why did she come along?”

“Free food. What can you tell me about the killers?”

“Alas, not much. You should talk to Graham Noble this evening. I told him to expect you.” Mike pulled a piece of paper out of his jacket and slid it across the table to me. “This is his address. He said he could see you at six but that he has only a few minutes, so don’t be late. He has a banquet to attend tonight.”

Great. We’d have to drive through rush-hour traffic all the way to Boulder.

“All right, Mike. I’ll talk to the guy.”

Mike slid an envelope across the table. “This should cover your retainer.”

I opened the envelope and looked at a sizable check. It was more than twice what I’d normally charge. I frowned.

“Problem?” Mike asked.

Mike knew my rates, so the large check told me he knew this was extremely dangerous. I shook my head. “We’re cool.”

oOo

We took Mike back to his car and returned to the dojo. I saw Brand leaning against the wall, clenching and unclenching his fist. His wrist was already healing.

Kelly had a class to teach in half an hour. I nodded toward her office. “I need to talk to you.”

“So talk,” she said as she followed me through the door.

I took the check out of my pocket and handed it to her. “What do you make of this?”

Kelly raised an eyebrow. “You’re one hell of a negotiator.”

“No, that check was made out before Mike came out here.”

“What’s the job?” she asked.

I filled her in.

“Maybe Stephen Noble told them to pay you more when he set this up.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, the assholes at DGI aren’t this generous, so maybe they’re saying this job is more dangerous than we think and we need to take it seriously.”

“Yeah. For DGI to pay this much without any hesitation, there’s more to this than what Mike told us.”

She grinned. “Isn’t there always?”

GRAHAM NOBLE

Graham looked at the body of his father, which had been released to the mortuary at Graham’s insistence. Normally a homicide victim would automatically be autopsied within forty-eight hours, but while Colorado law dictated that the coroner did not need permission to perform an autopsy, the Noble family had a team of lawyers on speed dial. Graham was able to have a court order in a matter of a few hours to secure the release of the body. Stephen Noble died just after eight in the morning, and the body was delivered to the funeral home before two. The police weren’t happy about it, but Graham didn’t care. After all, the cause of death was obvious.