Gun Elf

TEN

The Steinadler Job, Part Three

“What now?” Duke asked as soon as he and Edelweiss exited the Freelance Guild Headquarters. The courtyard outside was quite spacious, so he took the opportunity to stretch his legs by becoming visible to his partner. He trotted alongside her, seated atop his grand skeletal mount. His rusted lance hung loosely in his right arm, and it's bent, jagged point would be trailing upon the ground were he not in an incorporeal state.

“Now we make a phone call,” Edelweiss told him. She stopped next to one of the courtyard’s many information kiosks. It was a tall, blank structure about seven feet in height with three sides that contained holographic emitters. The holograms projected around the display told information about the Guild HQ, its history, along with various other factoids that tourists may have found interesting. One side was even interactive, allowing the visitor to speak to the kiosk’s spirit and ask it questions about the Guild.

Edelweiss waved away some of the holograms that had gotten too close, then nonchalantly leaned onto the display kiosk’s side. She reached into her inner coat pocket and pulled out an almost-empty box of cigarettes.

“Who are you gonna call?” Duke and his horse stopped moving when she did, his tall form atop his mount all but looming over both the kiosk and the elf.

Edelweiss pulled a cancer stick out of the box with her lips then reached into another pocket to get her lighter.

“I’m not calling anyone,” she said as she struck the flint of the lighter, causing a small flame to rise from the device. After puffing a few times with the cigarette against the flame, the end finally lit and she closed the lighter’s lid. “You’ll be the one who’ll be making the actual call.”

“I see,” The spirit rubbed the stubble on his chin with the back of his free hand. “So who should I be calling?”

“Squire Lerner of House Mittag,” Edelweiss answered while taking a long hit from the cigarette. She then let out her breath slowly, imbuing the air around her in white smoke and the spicy scent of tobacco.

“You mean that little scum sack at the train station who was so full of himself?” Duke asked, confusion evident in his tone.

“Yup, that’s the guy.” She puffed on the cigarette more, adding to the cloud surrounding her. Every time a nearby hologram ventured too close to the smoke, the image would destabilize into static.

Duke sighed. “Fine, fine. I’ll get him on the line. Just get your grimoire ready, I’m not sure how strong House Mittag’s angels have gotten since I last infiltrated their systems.”

Edelweiss raised an eyebrow upon hearing his reply. “You’ve invaded House Mittag’s systems before? When was this?”

The former demon grinned. “That’s a story for another day.” With a tip of his hat, Duke and his boney stallion vanished.

Edelweiss waited. And waited. While waiting, she took the time to savor her cigarette. Several Guild Freelancers passed by, most giving her a dirty look, but she ignored them.

When her cigarette had burned itself out and as she was stomping down on its embers with her shoe, the unmistakable ring of her grimoire sounded. The elf grinned and took out the small device, which was a dull gray in color, constructed of metal and plastics, and about the size of a paperback novel. She pushed a button at its side which caused a holographic screen to pop up and hover a few inches above the device. On the screen was the face of Lerner von Mittag, who was looking utterly confused at the moment.

“Hello, Sir Squire,” Edelweiss said and gave a respectful nod to the hologram.

“W-what? Who is this?” the Squire Herald sputtered. “And how did you get this number?”

“That’s not important.” Edelweiss gave the man a wan smile. “All you need to know is that I’m the Freelancer who’s going to find your golden eagle.”

“Freelancer? Ah.” Lerner sneered. “You’re one of the broken ones. It’s frankly appalling that you chose to live instead of honorably killing yourself when you had the chance. Bah, no matter. What does the Freelance Guild want with me? You’ve already made a royal mess of things, what other-”

“I am not a member of the Freelance Guild,” Edelweiss interrupted.

“I see.” Lerner’s sneer took on a less malicious air, now looking more like a disgusted frown than a true sneer. “And what is it you want with me?”

“Careful. They’re trying to trace this call,” Duke suddenly said in her head. “I’ll keep ‘em snagged up, but you’ll need to be fast.”

“I just wanted to ask you if you knew of any members of House Mittag that would be likely to steal the Steinadler?”

“A member of House Mittag stealing the Steinadler? How preposterous! None of our number would betray our great House. To even insinuate that such a thing could happen is the greatest of ins-”

“Ahem,” Edelweiss interrupted his tirade. “Perhaps I had misspoken. Let me rephrase. I want to know if you know of any former members of your House that would hold a grudge large enough that they would commit this crime. A disgraced member, but one that isn’t broken.”

As soon as she had said the last word, the squire’s eyes widened in some type of realization. Yeesh, House Mittag really should train their officials better; Lerner was about as readable as a children’s book.

“This conversation is over,” Lerner said before the screen went blank.

“Well,” Edelweiss stuffed her grimoire back into her pocket. “I guess that answers that. Hey, Duke. What happened to the trace?”

“They called it off. Somethin’ you said spooked ‘em mightily.”

“Right.” The elf stepped away from the display kiosk and swiftly strode across the courtyard towards the parking lot.

“Okay, I don’t get it. What was all that about? Calling that weasel and all?”

“Nothing much, I was just seeing if I was right about something.”

“Oh? And were you?”

Edelweiss smiled. “Oh yes.”

*****

Avery Hill was a part of the Downtown residential area. It housed numerous blocks of middle-income apartment complexes in between small blankets of parkland and recreational areas. All in all, it was a very pleasant place to live. Which was probably why the Freelancer Gunther chose to rent an apartment there.

“And you’re sure this Gunther guy is the one we’re after?” Duke asked as they entered the apartment building.

“Well, he’s the only lead we have at the moment,” Edelweiss looked at the names on the mailboxes in the lobby. There, on the box marked room 308, was the name Gunther. No surname, as broken elves lost the right to a last name when they disgraced their house.

“Third floor, room 308,” Edelweiss told Duke as she made her way towards the stairs. Once in the stairwell, the elf raced up the steps, sometimes leaping three to four steps at a time, until she reached the third floor.

“Careful,” Duke said. “There ain’t no cameras or sensors up here, so I can’t warn you if there’s trouble.”

“Gotcha.” Edelweiss reached behind her and placed a palm on Riflebird’s grip. She then opened the door of the stairwell slowly and stepped into the hallway. This floor seemed deserted, but Edelweiss made sure to keep a careful eye out as she crept through it. When she reached room 308, she drew her weapon and flattened herself against the wall to the side of the door.

She noted that the lock was an electronic one. She nodded at Duke, and within a breath, the lock turned green and the door opened.

She rushed inside, her revolver’s barrel leading the way. She quickly swept through the apartment, going through the living room and kitchenette, over into the bedroom and bath, and found no one there.

“We’re clear,” she said, reholstering her weapon. “Nobody home.”

“Well, the guy is supposed to be on vacation or somethin’ right?” Duke said.

“I wonder.” Edelweiss began searching through the living area. It didn’t take her long to find some pretty damning evidence. On the kitchen table were various maps, plans, and files, all from the Freelance Guild, if the documents’ headers were to be believed. What’s more, all of the documentation had to do with the Steinadler job. From the train schedules to the security measures, all of it was there. It even contained files on the three Gold-level Freelancers that had guarded the cargo.

Duke let out a whistle. “Well, I guess Gunther did do it. Very sloppy of him to just leave evidence lying around.”

Edelweiss nodded. “It’s very convenient, isn’t it?”

“You thinking it’s too convenient?”

The elf nodded again. “Either someone got here before us and put all this here to set Gunther up, or… he left all this for us to find.”

Duke rubbed his chin. “The door didn’t seem tampered with. I saw no signs of demonic intrusion, either.”

“Hmm.” Edelweiss searched through the papers on the table until one caught her attention. “Huh. This is a receipt for a boat rental. From Canton Beach Boat Rentals. Looks like he rented a Marlinger Zinger, which cost him two hundred and fifty bits for a day’s rental.” She read further down the document. “And wouldn’t you know it, that rental was scheduled for today.”

“Well,” said Duke. “I guess we’re going to the beach.”

*****

Edelweiss was descending the stairwell of the apartment complex. She had just reached the ground floor landing when Duke spoke up.

“Careful. There are two people in the lobby. The surveillance cam’s pretty shit, so I can’t identify them.”

Edelweiss nodded. She proceeded towards the door to the lobby carefully. Slowly, she pulled open the door just a tiny bit, then looked through the crack. Inside the lobby were two men (one human, the other orc) who had their backs to her. They were watching the elevators, hands in their jackets, which were most likely holding arc wands.

They were also very familiar.

The elf rolled her eyes. She widened the opening in the door and then stepped through, making sure it didn’t bang shut behind her. She then drew her weapon and crept towards the human, who was closest to her. Once she was right behind him, Edelweiss pressed the barrel of the gun against the back of the man’s head. She then cocked the hammer back, the loud click bringing both men’s attention to her.

“Damn it,” Zhang muttered. He didn’t seem to be too happy to find a gun pointed at his head. He raised his hands above his head. “You were supposed to watch the stairs, Huss.”

Huss also cursed, raising his hands, too. “I did. I mean, I was. I-I only turned away for a second!”

Edelweiss sighed. She really didn’t have the time to deal with these two idiots. “So, you followed me?”

Zhang nodded.

“I’m impressed. I didn’t spot a tail at all.”

“Well, it might not seem like it at the moment, but we are professionals,” the human said.

“I thought your boss told you guys to leave me alone,” Edelweiss said.

“That was before the notice came up,” said Zhang. “Six mil is a lot of money. And since you aren’t part of the Guild…”

“You’re fair game,” finished Huss.

The elf nodded. “I figured as much.” She reached into Zhang’s jacket and pulled his arc wand from its holster. She then tossed it into a far corner right by the stairs. “You, too, orc. Slowly. You try anything funny and your friend’s brains are going to be decorating the ceiling.”

Huss slowly reached into his jacket and grasped his weapon. There was a look of indecision on his face, as he seemed to be struggling between whether to do as she said or to try his luck and shoot her. In the end, his concern for Zhang’s well being won out, and he tossed his arc wand over to the far corner.

“Now your grimoires.”

The two men pulled out their devices, then tossed it to the corner to join their weapons.

“Good.” Edelweiss pulled out a set of handcuffs. There was a pipe on one end of the lobby, behind a potted plant, which ran from the floor all the way up to the ceiling along the wall. She tossed the cuffs onto the floor right beside the pipe. “You two, cuff yourselves to that pipe.”

She shoved Zhang towards it. The human stepped over to the pipe and picked up the handcuffs. Huss stayed where he was, seemingly content to just glower. Edelwiess aimed her gun in his direction, which soon had the orc moving quickly to join his partner. Zhang clicked on one manacle to his left wrist, then wound the chain behind the pipe. Huss took the other manacle and clicked it to his right wrist. Now both Freelancers were stuck, held in place by the pipe.

“We’ll get you for this,” Huss told her with a gruff grunt.

“Not before I get that six million,” she replied with a smile. “Any more outside?” she asked Duke.

“Yeah! There’s dozens of us!” Huss said.

“Nope. All clear.”

Edelweiss nodded, then waved goodbye to the two. “I’m sure someone will saw you two out of those cuffs. Eventually.” With that, she exited the lobby.

*******

The Marina was located along a large stretch of beaches that ran along the eastern coastline of the city. Unlike the Docks, the Marina was purely for recreational use, with private pleasure boats and watercraft found cruising through its waters. Every day thousands of beachgoers would flock to the Marina to board their boats and yachts, as well as partake in the pleasures of the beach. Weather permitting, of course.

Canton Beach was in a nondescript part of the Marina. Usually, the beach would be packed with people trying to get in some sun, swim, and sand. But today was an unusually cool day, so only a few beachgoers were out.

The boat rental was located on a dock next to the beach. It housed all sorts of watercraft, from jet skis and speedboats, all the way to the more seaworthy Zingers. Edelweiss parked in the lot nearby, then walked onto the pier. The scent of the ocean was different here than at her place; it felt colder, more serene. Plus it didn’t have the pervasive aroma of raw fish from the fishing boats that were docked outside her window.

“There it is,” Duke spoke up just as they were passing a docked boat.

“What?” Edelweiss asked.

“Marlinger Zinger, number 2. That’s the boat that the invoice at Gunther’s apartment said he rented.”

Edelweiss looked the boat over. It was a small craft, not much bigger than a speedboat. Its hull was painted completely white except for the center of the port and starboard sides which had Canton Beach Boat Rentals stenciled in black paint. A number 2 was painted near the bow at the front. Overall the craft looked clean and relatively new.

“I suppose finding Gunther will be a bit more difficult than finding his boat,” Edelweiss replied.

“Look on your six.”

She turned around and saw the end of the pier. There were seating areas with several benches there. Sitting at one of them was the unmistakable figure of an elf. He had long, dark blonde hair and was wearing a skin-tight black outfit that hugged all his curves. He also looked pretty haggard, with thick bags under his eyes and his posture while seated was drooping. It was like he hadn’t slept or eaten in a few days.

“That him?” Edelweiss asked.

“Yup. That’s him,” Duke answered.

She drew her weapon. “Let’s go say hi.”