text: Johnny tapped the earpiece that synced with his spy bug and scowled at the plain brick wall as he listened in on the private meeting inside the staffing agency office. I oughtta head right in and wring that fucker's neck, whoever he is. Make him rat out the Red Boar right here and now.
  
  He took a deep breath and pressed a hand against the wall. This isn't the time. She did it right. After this, we'll either find the asshole knocking on the wrong hotel door, or she'll get all the details on his next move. And we'll be ready.
  
  The shifter's voice continued in Johnny's headset. "And I could be wrong, but I assumed everyone in this room would be a little smarter than they were when a fucking dwarf with an overinflated ego tossed you behind bars the first time. On camera."
  
  The shuffle of slow footsteps rose from behind the dwarf, and his hand went to the hilt of his utility knife at his belt. A whole city full of idiots.
  
  Johnny whirled, drew his knife, and flicked it out. "You picked the wrong night, asshole."
  
  "Whoa, whoa." The man Johnny recognized from the film crew took one hand off his phone—which he kept aimed at the bounty hunter's face—and raised it in surrender. "Hey, man. I'm only here to catch the action."
  
  "Are you fuckin' kiddin' me?" Johnny stormed toward the man and tried to slap the phone out of his hand. "Turn that shit off. You ain't even supposed to be out here."
  
  "And you aren't supposed to leave without telling us. That's the deal, right?"
  
  "Deal's off. Gimme that."
  
  "No." The guy ducked away from Johnny and lifted the phone again. "What is this place anyway?"
  
  "None of your business. Dammit, you… What's your name?"
  
  The guy raised an eyebrow. "Todd."
  
  "I swear on Sheila's diesel engine, Todd, if you don't get that damn phone outta my face and hightail it back to that hotel, I'll—"
  
  Static crackled in his earpiece, then multiple voices rose again from inside the meeting.
  
  "You hear that?"
  
  "Someone's outside."
  
  "I bet this Light Elf bitch brought backup with her."
  
  "Hey," Lisa said, her voice even and level. "I've been nothing but straight with you guys."
  
  "Then go check it out," the shifter said. "Alone. We'll wait."
  
  "Shit." Johnny hissed and lunged for Todd. He managed to wrap an arm around the guy's neck and pulled him close. "Gimme that fuckin' phone."
  
  "No! Get off me!"
  
  The front door to the office building opened, and Lisa stormed outside. She rounded the corner to see Johnny holding Todd in what was almost a sleeper hold. "Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?"
  
  Johnny frowned at her, and she nodded toward the building with wide eyes.
  
  Yeah. We're puttin' on a show, then.
  
  "Hey, I just came to see what's going on in there," Todd started. "And now this—"
  
  "Shut up," Lisa spat. "I don't know who you are, but you picked the wrong night and the wrong place to play super spy."
  
  "What are you—ow! Ah! Get off me! I'm—" Todd choked and crumpled when Johnny stabbed a pressure point at the base of the man's neck with two fingers.
  
  Lisa shot a fireball at Todd's feet for added effect, and the unsuspecting cameraman stared at her with wide eyes.
  
  "Why are you—"
  
  The click and hiss of Johnny's tranquilizer gun unloading a full dose into the guy's neck were fortunately quiet enough to not travel through brick walls. Todd thumped to the sidewalk beside the building when Johnny released him and the dwarf looked at Lisa and shrugged.
  
  "Stupid," she muttered.
  
  The front door burst open again and this time, released the full dozen criminals gathered to bash on Johnny Walker and plan his demise. The dwarf darted into the shadows and used the thugs' clamoring footsteps to hide the sound of his own as he headed toward the back of the building.
  
  "Did you get him?"
  
  "Who the fuck was it?"
  
  "I bet she let him go. She's too soft."
  
  Lisa snatched Todd's phone from where it had toppled to the sidewalk and turned and raised an eyebrow at the criminals. "Some dipshit thought he'd come take a look at what's happening. I got him and his phone. So we're good."
  
  "Is he a friend of yours?" the witch asked with a scowl.
  
  "Yeah, I wipe out all my friends with magical attacks and leave them dead on the side of office buildings," Lisa quipped. "Come on. I've never seen him before."
  
  Kellen guided the front door closed gently and peered at Todd. "So you got him."
  
  "It sure looks like, doesn't it?" She folded her arms and glared at the shifter. "Does anyone else want to keep questioning whether or not I am who I say I am?"
  
  "No, you're all right." The gnome with the eyepatch hawked and spat and the wet glob landed just in front of Todd's face. "Now you get to clean up your mess."
  
  "Yeah, and I will." Lisa turned toward Kellen. "So what's next?"
  
  "The rest of you fuck off and wait to hear from me." He sneered at Todd, then turned and roared at the criminals, "Now. Do I need to throw you out on your asses or what?"
  
  The dozen thugs scattered away from the office building and disappeared into the shadows beneath Baltimore's city lights in the middle of the night.
  
  Lisa sighed and rolled her eyes. "I need at least ten minutes to get rid of the body."
  
  "Do what you gotta do." The shifter stepped toward her and handed her a burner flip phone. "Then wait for the call."
  
  "Do you hand these out to everyone else too?"
  
  "No. You're the one with Johnny Walker eating out of your hand. Lemonhead will wanna talk to you. So take the phone, Stephanie. Wait for the call. And don't fuck this up."
  
  "Yeah, I get it." She took the phone and stuck it in her back pocket beside Todd's smartphone. "Anything else?"
  
  Kellen nodded at the body on the sidewalk. "Make sure no one sees you."
  
  "This isn't my first time, but thanks for the tip." She waited for the shifter to leave, but he stood in front of the building and made a call on his phone instead. Shit. He wants to see me toss a dead body that isn't even dead too?
  
  "It's Kellen." The shifter shot Lisa a sidelong glance, then stepped away across the front of the building. "Yeah, all of them."
  
  Lisa turned toward Todd as the man's fingers twitched and he groaned quietly. No, no, no.
  
  "Yeah, hold on." Kellen turned toward her with a questioning frown. "Is there a problem over there?"
  
  "No. The skinny asshole's heavier than I thought." She waved him off and tried not to stare at Johnny creeping toward the corner with his tranquilizer gun in hand. When she took Todd's arm, he groaned again.
  
  "All right, what the hell?" The shifter strode toward her.
  
  "Back off. I got it." She snarled belligerently to cover up the sound of Johnny dosing the cameraman with a second tranquilizer. Kellen fortunately didn't seem to notice.
  
  "Have you ever done this before?" he asked.
  
  "I said it wasn't my first time. I'll handle it."
  
  Johnny whipped a disk from his belt, activated it, and launched the explosive with a sidearm toss up and over the side of the office building.
  
  "Do you know any severing spells?" the shifter asked.
  
  "What?"
  
  "I have a good one for choppin' up big hunks of meat and making them disappear a hell of a lot easier than—"
  
  Johnny's disk exploded on the other side of the building, rattling a trashcan and setting off the alarm of a car parked on the other side of the cross street.
  
  "What the fuck?"
  
  Lisa gritted her teeth. "I'd offer to come check it out with you, but I have my own cleanup right here."
  
  He growled and turned toward the site of the explosion. "Hurry the fuck up already. And keep that phone on you."
  
  "Yep."
  
  Kellen jogged across the front of the building toward the car's blaring alarm and lifted his phone to his ear again. "I don't know. Some asshole playing with homemade explosives, probably. You never know in this city…"
  
  His voice faded away as he went to investigate.
  
  Lisa looked up at Johnny as he crept toward the twice-unconscious Todd. "We need to hurry," she whispered harshly.
  
  "And I gave us a diversion. You're welcome, darlin'." He squatted beside the cameraman, slung the man's torso over his shoulder, and stifled a grunt as he stood. "Now, we get the hell outta Dodge."
  
  Two dogs started up a furious round of barking across the street, accompanied by the car alarm that still blared in the middle of the night. The partners took the cross street on their side of the building to get out of sight. From there, they stuck to back alleys and stayed far away from open bars and restaurants and the pools of light from the streetlamps as they headed toward the hotel.
  
  By the time Kellen returned to the front of the office building, they were already three blocks away. "No, it's fine," he said into his phone as he peered into the shadows. "It's taken care of. Yeah, I'll be there in a while."