Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (2 page)

“Ah, yes,” he said, motioning to the bartender. “Your wayward father. He worked for a different sort of organization, I’m afraid. And I believe he’s paying for it now, is he not? Left you and your poor godmother in an awful spot. How is she, by the way? Sofi, I mean. Still in the hospital? Getting worse, I hear.”

I’d shrugged on my coat, and had been about to leave. I stopped to glare at him. “What is this, some kind of threat?” I said. I felt the Beretta in my coat pocket. Usually I kept it on my body, but walking around in the cold with my hands in my pockets, it was much more handy to just keep it in a pocket. I didn’t want to use it, but if this guy was threatening my family, I’d do what I had to do. No one threatened Sofi.

The guy smiled his creepy smile again. “You misunderstand me, Niki. Please let go of that little thing in your pocket. You would only embarrass yourself. I’m what you might call imperturbable.” I stared at the guy. I couldn’t tell if he was pulling my leg. Maybe it was true. There were weird rumors going around about magic these days. Rumors that weren’t entirely muddied with obvious government propaganda. I wasn’t sure if I believed in it all, but seeing as how I was an Abnormal, and I knew my power was real, it was possible some of the other stuff the politicians preached could have an ounce of truth. I took my hands out of my pockets and showed the guy they were empty.

“Fine,” I said. “Talk. What do you want?”

“First, let me introduce myself,” he said. “Call me Sam.”

“Sam what?” I said shaking his hand reluctantly.

“Just Sam.”

“Doesn’t seem fair,” I said. “You know all about me, and all I get is a first name.”

“It’s not necessary for our purposes for you to know about me,” he said. “It actually might be to your benefit that you don’t know more than you need to.” A loud clink startled me, and I looked to see Janis walking away, leaving behind a sizable glass of amber liquid. No ice. I picked it up and took a sip. It went down smooth and warm, just the way a whiskey should. It relaxed me a little, though not too much. I turned back to Sam.

“Okay,” I said. “So you work for some mysterious, powerful organization, you’ll only tell me your first name - and that might not even be your real first name - and you know all about me and my family. Does that catch us up?”

“So far,” said Sam.

I took another slow drink, watching Sam all the time. He didn’t seem to blink. “So what is this?” I said. “What do you want?”

“I hear you’re looking for work,” he said.

“Oh.” I took a breath. “Shit.” His smile faded and for the first time he looked at a loss. “You’re undercover, aren’t you?” I said quietly. I sat back. “No way. I am not falling for that again. I didn’t struggle all year to have you jackasses drag me through the courts again.” My voice was rising. I couldn’t help it. I felt panicky, which was not usual for me. “What else do you want to take from me, anyway? I’m already on the Registry, I can’t work, I can’t take care of my sick Baba, all because of New Government bullshit and because Hugh Perry has a goddamn stick up his ass.” I cupped my hands around my mouth and looked toward the ceiling. “Hear that officers? I, Niki Slobodian, am not working as that would violate Federal Law. Suck it!” I glared at Sam, hopping down from my stool. I slammed the rest of the Jameson and headed for the door.

“Niki, don’t be ridiculous,” said Sam, his voice as calm as ever. “I have nothing whatever to do with the police, nor any American government agency. Though they do quite respect me.”

“I’m not stupid,” I said as I walked toward the door. “I know a setup when I see it.” I walked past the pool table.

“Niki, I am trying to offer you a job,” Sam called, exasperation finally taking over. I turned around. He slid off his stool and smoothed the front of his jacket. He walked toward me.

“Why?” I said. “So you can get me put away? Matching cells for father and daughter?”

“Certainly not,” he said, annoyed. “I would never do anything so crass.”

“Why should I believe you?” I said. He was standing in front of me now. He was tall and slim with broad shoulders.

“Don’t tell me you don’t need the money,” he said. “I know about your debts. All those hospital bills add up. How long will they keep treating Sofi after you can’t pay any more? I can pay you very well. Better than any case you’ve worked.”

“I don’t know how you know about me, buddy,” I said, poking him hard in the chest. “But you stay away from me and my family. My debts are my own. None of your goddamn business.” I headed toward the door, gritting my teeth, trying not to think about the fact that he was right.

“I can get you off the Registry,” Sam called.

I stopped. I turned. “What?”

“I have the power to get you off the Registry,” he said. He wasn’t smiling, he’d gone back to solemn. After all, no one joked about the Registry any more. People barely dared to talk about it.

I tried to laugh, but it came out as a strangled sort of cough. “Now I know you’re crazy,” I said weakly. “No one gets off the Registry. No one ever has.”

“You’d be surprised.”

I just stood there stupidly, torn between leaving and staying, on the verge of anger and tears. I shook my head. “How?”

“Please, Niki,” Sam said. “Sit with me for ten minutes. If you don’t like what I have to say, you can go. Or we can do business. Either way, I’ll drive you home. You look exhausted.”

I hesitated. I looked from the door to Sam. I wanted to believe him. I wanted to be off the Registry, to work for money, to pay my bills. “Okay,” I said. “Ten minutes.”

I woke before dawn the next morning. I said a little prayer as I flipped the switch on in the kitchen, and breathed out in relief as the light came on. They hadn’t cut off the power yet. They would by the end of the day, though. I made the coffee and went into my room to dress while it brewed. Pictures from the night before flashed through my mind. I shook my head. That was some dream. Mysterious guy in a suit, creepy bar, job offer to catch a wayward spirit from Hell.

When I came back into the kitchen I saw the light blinking on the answering machine. Sofi and I had never quite made it to modern technology. We both agreed that if it still worked why bother. My only allowance had been an old second-hand cell phone that had been necessary for my job. I was on the last month of service. Though I wasn’t working, I still carried it around in case the hospital called. I pushed the button on the answering machine and listened.

“Niki, it’s Karen,” came a sickly sweet voice. I groaned. Karen was Sofi’s niece from Connecticut. “Sweetie, this is only the fourth time I’ve called. I really do need to be kept in the loop here. Please call me back when you get a chance. I’d hate to have to drive all the way down there.”

“That’s a chilling thought,” I said out loud to the machine as it beeped. I poured a cup of coffee and sat down at the table. I loved early mornings. Even if I rarely was up this time of day, it was among my favorite things to be up before everyone else. The world seemed so still and quiet. I took a drink of coffee. Could be worse. Could be out of coffee.

I heard the squeak of the mail slot followed by a heavy thud. I frowned. It was far too early for mail. I walked through the cluttered living room and picked a heavy manila envelope off the floor. I opened the door and stepped out into the hall. Not a sound, not a soul. I stepped back inside and bolted the door. I carried the bundle to the table and examined it. It was bulging with whatever it contained and had packing tape wrapped around it to keep it from falling apart. An envelope was attached outside the several layers of tape. There was no address, just
Ms. Slobodian
in ornate handwriting. I pulled off the envelope and opened it while walking back to the kitchen, extracting an oddly thick piece of paper with the same frilly handwriting. It read:

Dearest Niki,

I so enjoyed our talk last night. Thank you for giving me a chance. You will not regret the service you have agreed to. Enclosed is your fee. I think you will find it is more than sufficient. I have also included a temporary badge that you may use as necessary. I trust you will exercise the utmost discretion in this matter. Also as agreed, I am sending you someone that will no doubt be of great use to you. He is adept in the art of magic and can help you. His name is Robert Gage.

I look forward to having this small matter cleared up. I have the utmost faith in you. Please do not hesitate to visit me at the Deep Blue Sea when you have finished the job.

Sincerely,

Sam.

Oh, Jesus. I read the letter again, then a third time just to be sure. I staggered on my feet a little, so I sat down quickly at the table. It was real. All of it. Not a dream. I stared at the letter for a long time. I tried to recall all the details of the night before. I shouldn’t have had that second tumbler of whiskey, but Sam had insisted.

Sam. Who the hell was this guy? He had known everything about me, and there was something vaguely otherworldly about him. And his bar, out in the middle of nowhere. I racked my brain for more information.

There was a seal or a gate, I remembered. An opening into Hell. Someone had cracked it open and the bigwigs in Hell couldn’t see who it was or what he got out. All they could see was that something had escaped, something dark. I frowned. Not something dark, Sam had called it A Dark. Some kind of spirit that regular people couldn’t see. And I specifically remembered Sam saying it liked to murder things.

“Christ Almighty,” I said out loud. “What did I agree to do?” I would just have to go back and turn down the job. I sighed. He’d said he could get me off the Registry. If that was true, maybe there was some other way to get off. But it wasn’t worth getting off the Registry if I was dead. Sam seemed reasonable. He’d understand if I didn’t want to round up freaky spirits that went around murdering people. I remembered the package and picked it up.

It felt dense and slightly heavy. It wouldn’t matter if I just took a peek. I could just go back to the Deep Blue Sea and return it. I got the scissors from the drawer by the sink and cut the envelope open and poured the contents on the table.

“Holy shit,” I said, staring at it. I dropped the scissors on the floor with a clatter, but didn’t pick them up. I couldn’t stop staring at the pile on the table.

It was money. Not just money, cash. A lot of it, all bundled with paper bands that said
$5,000
. There were ten of them. I touched them to make sure they were real. I smelled them. I spread the piles out to look at them. I took the bands off with shaky hands to count the individual bills. There was fifty thousand dollars there. Even in the good years when I was running my own agency, I never went over forty-five thousand. And that was for the entire year. I caught my breath. I would be able to pull myself out from under this crushing pile of debt with one job. Even if it was dangerous, it would be worth it. I could have my life back. It was a fresh start. Off the Registry and out of debt.

I picked up the metal badge that sat there as I goggled at the cash. It was an odd sort of thing. It looked a bit like a police badge, only circular-shaped with a six-sided star inside it. Around the edges of the circle it read
Department of Order and Chaos.
Not something you saw every day. I turned the badge in my hand. It was warm to the touch. When I looked away from it, the corner of my eye caught a slight shimmer, as if the badge had light coming out of it. But when I looked at it directly, the effect disappeared, and it was just a piece of silver metal. I set it on the table. I gathered up the money and put a handful into a freezer bag, which I slipped into my purse. I put the rest into a paper bag, which I then put into a garbage bag, tying a tight knot in the top. I grabbed a screwdriver from a drawer by the sink and took a kitchen chair into the living room. I stood up on the chair and unscrewed the face of the receiver vent, coughing at the dust. I carefully pushed the bag back, making sure I couldn’t see it from below. Then I put the face back on. Sofi and I had never been robbed, but we had been searched by the police. I have to say, I’d rather be robbed. Criminals are more thoughtful than most cops these days. And to tell the truth, I wasn’t entirely sure that what I was going to be doing was strictly legal.

I clipped the Beretta inside the waistline of my jeans and pulled my shirt down over it. I put on my coat, unsticking a peanut shell from the sleeve, grabbed my purse and walked out the door and down the faded red carpet that lined our hallway. I stepped outside and breathed in the cool air. As I headed down the sidewalk to pay my electric bill I dialed Sofi’s number at the hospital.

“Hello?” she answered after six rings.

“Sofi, it’s Niki. You’re not going to believe this.”

On my way back to the apartment, I stopped by the landlord’s place just inside the main entrance. I paid the bewildered man two months of back rent and three months in advance. He wordlessly wrote me a receipt, looking with disbelief at the pile of cash I’d put in his hands. I smiled at him. He’d always been nice to us, even when everyone else, recognizing me from the papers, yelled or swore at us or gave us the evil eye.

I shrugged. “Ran into a bit of good luck.” I turned to leave.

“Niki?” he said. I turned to look at him. “I am very glad for you and your grandmother. She is a good woman. I’ve known her since we came here. I was not looking forward to evicting either of you.”