The Great White North

It had become clear that Vancouver was going to be too big an issue for Max to deal with alone, so I told Emmy that I needed to go up there for a week or so to sort things out.

“I have never been to Canada,” Emmy said when I told her I was going. “I have heard Vancouver is very pretty.”

“It is,” I agreed. “I know you didn’t get to go last time I went up there, because you had your recording sessions planned. Can you go with me next week?” I asked, hopeful we could have some time together.

“I wish I could, Leah, but we are going to film our music video next week. I am certain I told you about it, no?”

“Oh, yeah,” I admitted. “I’d just forgotten that it was coming up so soon. Bummer.”

“I’d love to go!” Grace chimed in. “Now I have my passport I can go to Canada!”

Emmy nodded to show she was O.K. with Grace going with me, so I said “Sure, why not? You’ll like Vancouver, but I’m not sure how much sight-seeing we’ll be able to do.”

After dinner, while Grace was straightening up, Emmy said “I will ask my parents if you may use the plane. It would make things very much easier for you, since you will be bringing a few people with you.”

“I’ll bring Eddie, but Michael doesn't need to come up. Max seems to have a pretty good handle on the scene up there- and it should only be a few days to straighten everything out.”

“Can you take Grant Henry? I would feel better about it if you could,” Emmy said, a touch of worry in her voice.

“No, he has another month almost before he musters out and comes to work for us,” I answered. "Besides, I can’t imagine needing his help for this. Irritating paperwork is all I’ll have to fight up there, and anyway, I’ll be bringing Eddie and Jakob if I need a little more muscle.”

“Still, three or four people traveling on short notice to Vancouver may be hard to arrange. With the family plane, it is much more simple.”

“Sure, twist my arm,” I said, laughing. “Anyway, Grace doesn’t even know your parents have a plane at all, much less ridden on one. In fact, I’m not even sure she’s ever flown at all before.”

“Then this will spoil her,” Emmy agreed, laughing.

Sure enough, when I broke the news to Grace that she could go and we would be traveling on the family jet, she just about lost it, she was so excited. “Can Patty go, too?” she asked, hopeful.

“No way am I taking somebody else’s kid to another country,” I replied, crushing her sudden hopes.

“Well, I guess that makes sense,” she admitted. “I still want to go, though.”

Grace was completely blown away by the jet. “This belongs to you and Emmy?” she asked, gaping at the jet waiting in the hangar for us. “Why haven’t we been flying all over the place?”

“It’s not ours,” I said, laughing. “It actually belongs to Emmy’s parents. They’re just letting us borrow it because they are in California and won’t be needing it for a while.”

“We should, like, totally fly to Europe or something while we have it,” she gushed as we climbed the stairs.

“Hello, Henri,” I said to the waiting steward.

“Bonjour, Madame Farmer,” Henri replied. “Bienvenue à bord.”

As we all settled into the comfy seats, it occurred to me that I was the only one in our group that had ever actually flown on the Lascaux jet before, and looking around, I could see amazement in the eyes of the others. It wasn’t as if I had flown in it all that often, but enough to not be overawed, that’s for sure. I’d actually crunched the numbers at one point and given up on the idea of Emmy and I buying something similar- it just doesn't make any sort of financial sense. Still, it was nice to have available for this trip, and it was a treat for Grace and the guys I was bringing along.

We picked up our two rental cars- a Dodge Challenger and a Chevy Suburban. Realistically we could have gotten by with just the Suburban, but it would be convenient to have two vehicles at our disposal for all the running around we had to do.

That first night Grace, Eddie, Max and I ate at a nice Japanese restaurant there in Fairview, not too far from our AirBnB. Max filled us in on what was going on, the difficulties he was having finding jobs and housing for the Strays in the area that had opted to come into our fold, and so on. It seemed as if I’d tasked him with a bit too much, and I was going to have to do a lot more than I’d expected to get things under control.

Last of all, Max finally got to the issue of Rahsett, the guy who had been the self-elected chief of the region’s Night Children before we showed up and offered them a better life.

“Rahsett has been… difficult, my queen,” Max said, unsure how to break the unwelcome news. “He has continued to make trouble, including threatening several of your people and doing things to make life difficult for some of the others.”

“Like what?” I asked.

“He has called the employers of several of your people to try to get them fired, for one thing. He has called the police and told them that Jayii was armed and had abducted a child, which caused the police to break the door of his apartment and rush in with guns ready, only to find no child, no weapons, nothing.”

“I’ve heard of that kind of thing. It’s called ‘SWATting’,” I told Max. “Why didn’t you call me when it happened?”

“I did not know about it until several days later, and since there was no evidence of any crime, the police let Jayii go with no charges against him. They even fixed his door,” Max said. “By the time I was told, the incident was already past. It was only a few days ago that I heard that Rahsett claimed responsibility. He bragged about it, and said that he would do it to others if they did not leave your shadow and return to him.”

“I have put up with far too much shit from that guy,” I said. “Max, set up a face to face meeting with him. I need to make it very freaking clear that his shit will not be tolerated any longer.”

“I will do that, my queen,” he replied. “When would you like to meet him?”

“The sooner the better. I need to get this over with.”

The next morning Max called. “My queen, Rahsett agreed to meet you tonight.”

“Good. That asshole needs to get straightened out,” I said, not really looking forward to the encounter.

That day Grace and I did some sightseeing, walking around Granville Island and taking the boat tour. It was nice, and I wished that Emmy could be there with me. When we’d visited the city last time we had no time for sightseeing or relaxing, so this was a pleasant change of pace.

After dinner, Max, Eddie and I met with Rahsett in a park in a run-down part of town. Just in case, I was wearing the stab-proof hoodie I’d bought following Grant Henry’s suggestion. It was made out of some sort of kevlar weave and padded on the inside to help blunt any bruising. It was a little thick and awkward, but the night was cool anyway so it turned out to be just fine. Paired with my Doc Marten stompers, I was ready to intimidate.

I’d never actually met Rahsett before, but had somehow pictured him as a more imposing figure. He was only about five foot eight maybe, and built somewhat slender. I had half a foot on him in height and maybe twenty pounds, and what he had wasn’t a lot of muscle. Clearly he had something going on, though, since he’d managed to cow nearly two dozen Strays into accepting him as boss and paying him protection money before Emmy and I showed up.

“You are Leah?” he asked as he approached. “Tell them to stay back,” he said, pointing at Max and Eddie.

Waving my guys back, I stepped forward and into Rahsett’s space. Grant and I had practiced a lot of the physical intimidation and domination techniques he taught, and I was going to put them to use. As expected, Rahsett stepped back, giving himself more room. I didn’t push it just then- it needed to seem natural, not intentional on my part.

“I’m Queen Leah,” I answered.

“You are no queen of mine,” he sneered.

“That is a choice you have made,” I answered, leaning into him a tiny bit. “Your life could have been a lot easier if you’d accepted my shadow.”

Unconsciously he stepped back a bit, and I knew I was winning the psychological war. “You do not intimidate me,” he said, despite the obvious fact that I was doing just that.

“If you don’t want the protection of my shadow,” I said, “that’s fine. But you no longer have any right to harass those who have. They are my people now. Mine. And I don’t take well to threats or intimidation leveled at those who have accepted my shadow. If you don’t stop I’ll have to put you in your place.”

“You do not frighten me,” he said, drawing himself up. “I have resources you cannot imagine.”

“Bullshit,” I said. “Take your imaginary resources and leave town. Go someplace far away and I won’t bother to chase you down. Stay here and your life will be short and unpleasant.”

“I have warned you,” he said, puffing up. “This is my town, and these are my people. I will not give them up to an interloper who isn’t even one of us!”

“They came to me of their own free will, Rahsett. I offered them a better life and they accepted. They are not your people, and really, never were. I’m going to say it one more time- get the fuck out of here. Get the fuck out of Vancouver. Hell, I’ll even give you some money to use to do it. Just go.”

“You do not know who you are dealing with,” Rahsett said, trying to regain the advantage.

I stepped in close again, forcing him to back up another step. “No, you are the one who doesn't understand the situation,” I said in a low voice. “I’m done playing nice. If I see you one more time I will feed your body to the fishes in the harbor. That offer of go-away money? It’s off the table. You’re on your own now. Go while you still can.”

“This is not over,” Rahsett said as he stepped back and turned, fleeing.

“You should have killed him,” Eddie said from behind me. “He will only make more trouble.”

“Yeah, maybe,” I said, knowing that Eddie was probably right.

The next few days were completely Rahsett-free, giving me some hope that he had made a run for it. None of the local Strays heard or saw anything of him, to my relief. This gave me time to meet with them all again individually and see what it was they needed. Most of them were in pretty sorry shape, with living conditions I’d consider quite poor and a fair number without the jobs I’d promised them, just living off the stipend I’d set up for them. Obviously I need to do more for these people, or I’d be going back on the promise that Emmy and I had made them when they accepted our shadow.

Three days passed like this, but on the fourth day Max didn’t show up for our morning meeting. Eddie and I went to Max’s little house to see what was keeping him. When we entered, we were hit with the smell of blood. We found Max in the kitchen, his throat cut from ear to ear. The killer had used Max’s blood to write something in the Night Children’s language on the floor near the body.

“It is a place, an address,” Eddie said, reading it. “It says to come at two in the morning.”

“Was it Rahsett?” I asked.

“It doesn’t say,” Eddie said.

We looked around the house and everything seemed undisturbed. I called Emmy, but the call went straight to voice mail, and I didn’t leave a message.

“O.K.,” I said. “We’re gonna go back to where we’re staying. You’re going to bring Jakob back here and look everything over really carefully. You’re going to clean this up,” I said, indicating the blood. “And while you’re doing that, I’ll find a mortuary that won’t ask questions for the body. We need to bring him back home.”

Nodding that he understood my instructions, Eddie made sure the doors and windows were locked before pocketing Max’s keys and locking the front door behind us as we exited.

“Fuck,” I said as we drove back to the AirBnB. “I really should have killed that fucker the other night. If I hadn’t been so set on trying to resolve this bullshit without bloodshed Max would still be alive.”

“You cannot accept responsibility for what others have done, my queen,” Eddie said.

“Yeah, maybe not, but I damned sure feel as if this was my fault,” I said. “I guess all I can do now is get some retribution on Rahsett’s ass.”

After Eddie and Jakob left to clean things up at Max’s place, I started making some phone calls. I’d gotten pretty good at dancing around the subject in just the right way to feel out people who might be willing to let cash take the place of ethics or morals, and it was only a few calls before I had the name of a small funeral home in the Eastside area that was in no hurry to ask any questions and would fill out the correct paperwork to list Max’s death as a heart attack. I called Eddie and told him to meet me so I could give him cash to pay the funeral home. I also called up Michael, and told him he was needed up here right away and had Sana book him a flight for that afternoon. After those calls, I did a little research for the shopping I would have to do for a few things I needed for the night’s events. I waited for quite a while, but Eddie and Jakob were taking their sweet time with their tasks, so armed with my shopping list, I left Grace surfing the internet on her iPad.

I couldn’t have been gone for more than an hour, but when I got back to the AirBnB, Grace was missing, and a note scrawled in the Night Children language lay on the floor of the entry. I looked around, but saw no blood anywhere.

Eddie and Jakob finally showed up while I was looking for signs of violence, and thankfully not finding any.

“What does it say?" I asked, handing Eddie the note.

Reading it, he said “Be at the warehouse at two and she will be unharmed.”

“Is it Rahsett?” I asked, but pretty sure it was. I was also pretty sure he must have had some help- Grace would have put up a fight if she thought she could have won, and Rahsett wasn’t an imposing guy.

“It doesn’t say,” Eddie answered. “But whoever it is, they will die tonight.”

“We’re on the same page, then,” I agreed. “These fuckers are going to suffer.”