Cashing Out by SM Reine

Author:SM Reine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Red Iris Books

Charmaine didn’t roll up to the receiving bay with her sirens screeching, though she was tempted. Las Vegas traffic was nasty. The fourth time she got cut off, she started fantasizing about flipping the switch for the sirens to watch traffic part like the Red Sea.

“Now’s the time if it ever is,” Anthony said. He’d caught her longing gaze.

“Vaguely suspected theft of department resources doesn’t qualify as an emergency,” Charmaine said. “I lecture my boys about being irresponsible with the sirens. Have to set a good example.”

They pulled off the freeway at one of the LVMPD’s office buildings, where they had the biggest loading bay. That was where they received the big equipment. Everything that the OPA needed in order to function in Las Vegas wasn’t individually big, but collectively, the manifests showed that they’d be expecting a dozen semis.

Daylighting a city wasn’t easy, it turned out.

“Now, depending on what we find here, we’ll have to be subtle about investigating.” Charmaine rolled down her window, leaned out, and swiped her badge for the gate. “It can’t look like an investigation at all, in fact, or else I’m going to catch shit for bringing you around. Got it?”

“You’re saying no Buffy, huh?” Anthony asked.

“No Buffy,” she said.

There were indeed a dozen semis at shipping and receiving. Charmaine counted them twice through the window just to make sure everything was there.

The pilot driver was inspecting his drone fleet one at a time, checking off each item on a digital manifest under the supervision of LVMPD officers Charmaine didn’t recognize. It was a laconic day—partly cloudy and warm, but not as hot as Vegas liked to get—and the relaxed weather seemed to translate to relaxed workers. They were chatting. Taking their time with inspections.

After seeing the victims who’d been killed over iron previously, Charmaine had expected to show up and find the whole place drenched in blood.

She got out, strolled toward the semis. “Hey!” Charmaine called to the guys, waving over her head.

She might not have recognized the cops, but they recognized the police chief. All hints of casualness vanished as they snapped to attention. “We didn’t know you’d be here,” said the man on the left, Shearwater.

“I’m expecting some new targets for the shooting range,” Charmaine said, which was true. What wasn’t true was the next part. “Forgot that today was the day these were gonna show up.” She nodded toward the big black trucks. Like everything that the Office of Preternatural Affairs owned, they were an absolute shade of matte black. “Everything’s intact?”

“Looks like it,” said the trucker, heading to the next vehicle in the line.

“You know, uh…” Shearwater scratched the back of his neck. Looked uncomfortable. “The undersecretary asked us to keep an eye on this. He told us we’re not supposed to let anyone near until his agents arrive.”

“Sure.” She eyed the manifest over the trucker’s shoulder. He hadn’t gotten to the semi with the silver bullets in it yet.

“Anyone,” Shearwater said.

Anyone including the chief of police, who wasn’t Undersecretary Hawke’s favorite person.

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