Nice Dragons Finish Last (Heartstrikers) (12 page)

Since she’d driven them down here, Julius expected Marci to turn them into one of the huge chain restaurants, but she didn’t even look at them. She just kept driving until, eventually, they drove right out of the Underground and into the dense factory district that butted right up against it.

Before, when they’d driven out of the city, it had been all open space and plants and strange magic. This time, it was a very different landscape. In a deal that had brought dozens of multinational corporations to the DFZ, Algonquin had ceded the entire south western corner of her city to the new technology of magical fabrication. Even now, fifty years and two monetary overhauls later, the vast majority of the world’s magically integrated consumables—five sense projectors, the mana contacts on phones that made AR possible, even enchanted paper like the stuff Marci’s contract had been printed on—was still made in the massive factory complexes that had transformed what used to be the city of Dearborn, Michigan into a bleak landscape of monolithic, windowless buildings and canyon-like roads.

Huge at it all was, though, the factory park definitely didn’t seem like the sort of place you’d find a restaurant, and the longer Marci drove, the more uncomfortable Julius got. “Um,” he said at last. “Are you sure this is the right way?”

“Positive,” Marci replied. “I looked this place up on my way over before I had to chuck my phone. Best rating in the city.”

Julius didn’t see how a restaurant could survive out here, let alone be good, but he was even more curious about why she’d had to chuck her phone. He was dying to ask about a lot of things, actually, but he forced himself to wait. This job was already much more complicated than he’d anticipated, and as much as he wanted to push his lead on Katya, he wasn’t ready to charge recklessly forward without solving Marci’s puzzle first. Besides, he hadn’t eaten anything since he’d gotten off the plane this morning, and now that she’d reminded him about food, eating suddenly seemed much more important than following a tip that might well be the start of a wild goose chase. Or wild dragon chase, in this case.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait much longer. Despite the seemingly endless wall of identical industrial complexes, there were actually several smaller business squeezed in between the factories wherever there was room. Marci’s restaurant was one of these, a squat wooden shack built right up against the wall of a factory that made enchanted glass for AR displays. According to the back-lit sign, it was a BBQ joint. According to Julius’s nose, however, this place served greasy, sauce-covered heaven.

“We’re lucky it’s between shifts,” Marci said as they got out of the car. “I tried to come here yesterday, but the factories had just let out, and the line was around the block.”

Julius could see why. Despite the delectable smell drifting out its screen door, the inside of the restaurant was barely big enough to hold twenty people. It was empty now, though, and he took advantage of that to get them a prime booth in the corner that put his back to the wall and gave him a good view of the front door.

“Order whatever you want,” Marci said as she plopped down across from him. “Everything here is fantastic”

Julius bit back a grin as he picked up the one page laminated menu. Marci had no idea the trouble she was inviting, telling a dragon to order whatever he wanted. Hungry as he was, though, he was determined not to use more of her clearly limited funds than was absolutely necessary to make her feel better. So when the waitress came out of the tiny kitchen to take their order, Julius kept it small, just two plates of pork, three sides, a half order of cheese fries, a basket of cornbread, and a banana pudding.

Marci’s eyebrows were nearly up to her chopped-off hairline by the time he finished, but she didn’t comment as she ordered her own dinner of a pulled-pork sandwich and a beer. When the waitress asked her what kind of beer, Marci shrugged and told the girl to surprise her.

“Honestly, I don’t even like beer,” she confessed as the waitress vanished back into the tiny kitchen. “But a day like today demands a drink.”

Julius couldn’t argue with that. “So,” he said, resting his elbows on the red checkered tablecloth. “Do you want to start, or should I?”

Marci waved her hand. “Fire away.”

“Who is Bixby?”

“One of my dad’s old clients.”

The anger in her voice was all the hint Julius needed. “Bixby was involved in your father’s death?”

Marci sighed, but the waitress returned with their drinks before she could answer. “It’s more complicated than that,” she said when they were alone again. “Dad was one of the first wave of mages born after the comet. He never had a formal magical education because there wasn’t any such thing back then, but he taught himself how to break curses, which was a booming market in Vegas at the time. Business was good when I was younger, but my dad was very bad with money, and soon we were in a lot of trouble.”

She took a long swig of her beer, then made a face and set the bottle aside. “I didn’t actually know how much trouble until I was thirteen. That was when my mom got fed up and left us, and I learned that Dad was up to eyeballs in debt thanks to his moocher family and terrible money skills. I’d also tested positive as a mage by this point and enrolled in the best private magic school in the area, so there was that to pay as well.” She heaved an enormous sigh. “My dad was so proud of me. He would have cut off his right arm before he took me out of class. He was desperate, and Bixby knew it.”

Julius rolled his water glass between his palms. “I’m guessing Mr. Bixby isn’t exactly a legal sort of person?”

“I’m sure some parts of his business are legal,” Marci said. “But he definitely leaned more to the shady side. He knew my dad needed money, so he proposed a racket. Bixby’s mages would curse someone, and then my dad would use the good name he’d built up over the years to come in and break it for an exorbitant fee.”

“They wagged the dog,” Julius said.

She nodded. “It didn’t seem so bad at first. The debts were getting paid and money was coming in again, but Dad was miserable. He had this thing about being a hero, rescuing people from evil magic, that sort of stuff. It was the whole reason he got into curse breaking to begin with, and turning that mission into a scam was killing him. He hid it from me while I was a teenager, but as soon as I found out, we started working on an exit strategy. I was just an undergrad at the time, but I already knew enough to work with him on expanding the legal parts of his business—the wards and magical consulting and so forth. The idea was to get away from curse breaking and Bixby all together, but just when I thought we were clear, Bixby wouldn’t let him go.”

Her shoulders slumped as she spoke, like she was sinking into the table. “He threatened to have Dad arrested. There was more than enough evidence to convict him, and Bixby had cops on the take as well. Dad knew it, too, so he folded and went back. I tried several times to get him free over the years, but every time, Bixby would come up with some threat to make Dad stay until he finally hit his limit.”

“What pushed him over the edge?”

“I don’t know,” Marci admitted, taking another drink. “But last Tuesday morning, he marched into Bixby’s office and threatened to expose the whole operation unless Bixby paid him the final amount he was owed and let him go. But Bixby isn’t the sort of man who responds well to threats. He told my dad to try it and see what happened. Of course, I didn’t know about any of this until I came home from class that afternoon and found my dad packing up the house. He said we were leaving that night.”

At this point, Marci’s expression turned so sad, Julius was amazed she didn’t start crying. “What happened?”

“We fought,” she said, eyes on the table. “You have to understand, I always knew Bixby was bad news, but I didn’t know
how
bad. I didn’t know my dad’s life was in danger, and I was only twenty credit hours away from finishing my doctorate. If I’d known what was really going on, I never would have argued, but he wouldn’t tell me anything. He wanted me to leave school, just dump my
whole semester
, and run away with him.”

She stopped, pressing her palms over her eyes, but Julius didn’t push. He just sat there, waiting, until Marci continued. “I stormed out. I knew it was a childish thing to do, but I was just so
angry
. When I came back an hour later, he was already gone. I never saw him alive again.”

She did start crying then, little sniffles she quickly hid behind a long sip off her beer. “Sorry,” she whispered, wiping her eyes.

“Nothing to be sorry for,” Julius said, handing her a paper napkin.

She took it without a word, wiping her eyes. “It just all happened so quickly. I left for the DFZ that same night, and I’ve been running ever since. I don’t even know where I’m running to anymore, other than away.” She balled the napkin in her fist and shot him a watery smile. “Some professional I am, huh?”

“Professional doesn’t mean superhuman,” Julius said quickly. “And for what it’s worth, I think you’ve done amazingly well considering what happened. I have no complaints at all about the work you’ve done for me, and it was my pleasure to send a few thugs packing on your behalf. Good exercise, too. I haven’t done anything like that in years.”

He finished with a wide smile, but Marci was staring at him in wonder, like she was seeing him for the first time. And then, without warning, she smiled back. A warm, radiant, open smile he wasn’t quite sure how to respond to. Fortunately, the food chose that moment to arrive, and they both seized on the distraction.

As Julius’s nose had predicted, it was all delicious. He wolfed his first plate down while Marci was still putting sauce on her sandwich, but the second took him much longer. By the time he was ready to start on his sides, Julius was astonished to find he was full.

“Eyes bigger than your stomach?” Marci asked.

“Guess so,” Julius grumbled, trying not to sound as upset as he felt. Apparently, even his appetite was limited to a human scale now, which meant he’d lost food
and
flying to his mother’s seal. That realization almost made him weep. He
loved
eating.

There was no point in wasting good food, though, so he offered his untouched sides to Marci. She took them gladly, eating the fries so quickly he started to wonder when she’d last had a proper meal. But as he watched her eat, the story she’d told him circled around and around in his head, and the more he thought about it, the more he realized the ending didn’t add up.

“Marci?” he asked, leaning on the table. “Can I ask you a rude question?”

She shrugged. “Go for it.”

“If your father wronged Bixby and died for it, why is Bixby still after you?”

Marci looked down, poking at the fries left in the basket. “I know a lot about his operations in Vegas.”

“We’re a long way from Las Vegas,” Julius said. “Not to say your knowledge isn’t valuable, but unless you’ve got material evidence against him that could be used in a court of law”—he paused until she shook her head—“I don’t understand why he’d send men all the way up here just to hush you up.” Maybe he did have a plotting draconic talent in him somewhere, because the more Julius thought the situation out from Bixby’s angle, the less sense it made. “And the fight,” he continued. “The man who grabbed you could have just as easily broken your neck instead, but he didn’t. They clearly wanted you alive. Why? Do you have information Bixby wants? Something to do with your father, maybe?”

“Not that I know of,” Marci said, keeping her eyes locked on the fry she was stabbing into a glob of cheese sauce. “My best guess is that this is about pride. Bixby always made a huge deal about how no one who wrongs him gets away with it. That’s probably why he’s putting in so much effort to catch me. If he lets me run, other people might start thinking they can get away, too.”

Now
that
Julius could understand. Dragons were just the same. Unfortunately, pride was a much more troublesome enemy than greed or fear. If Bixby was determined to make an example of Marci, he couldn’t be reasoned with and he wouldn’t give up, not until his ego ran out.

Considering what Marci had said so far and his own observations of Bixby’s penchant for employing giant, suited men to do his dirty work like he was the villain in a crime drama, Julius didn’t see that happening any time soon. If it had been any other human, he would have said she was screwed. But Marci was clever and resourceful, and she had him now. As she’d said, they made a good team, and Julius was determined to hold up his end. So long as he was here, Bixby wouldn’t touch a hair on her head.

Just thinking that made him feel worlds better, and he gave Marci a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out to get him off your back. In the meanwhile, the DFZ’s a very big place.”