Risky Goods: Arcane Transporter 2 by Jami Gray

Author:Jami Gray [Gray, Jami]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781948884426
Publisher: Celtic Moon Press
Published: 2021-02-09T05:00:00+00:00

Both Tempe and Scottsdale were cities that had decided light pollution was worse than crime, so instead of streetlights that actually discouraged illegal behavior, people who slunk in the shadows had plenty of nooks and crannies to call their own, bathed in a dull amber glow. Which meant that by the time I arrived, the last rays of the setting sun had been replaced by a mix of grays and blacks broken by weak pools of light.

The address sat in the not-so-great area of North Tempe and South Scottsdale. A couple of miles to the south or north, I’d hit either college nirvana or high-end shopping, but this in-between place had not aged well. It was an unsettling mix of well-used apartments, older homes no longer watched over by HOAs, and strip malls long past their prime. There were budget car lots and abandoned shopping centers that had once housed bulk food stores. If the recent wave of development by the university held steady, in the next ten years, this area would be swallowed up and left unrecognizable.

But for the moment, I was loath to park my car there. I circled the block of the address, trying to find a corner store or somewhere I could park without worrying about coming back to find my baby’s frame on blocks. About a half block down, near the corner, there was well-lit lot next to a car wash that looked promising. The business was a combination of self-serve and automated roller washes, but even better, it included well-lit parking spots. There were a few people taking advantage of the wash-it-yourself stalls, and traffic was fairly steady on the nearby street.

I pulled in, got out, and made sure to activate the car’s warding as a backup to the standard electronic security. Still a little light-headed but much steadier than earlier, I backtracked to the address that matched a strip of shops, most of which were long abandoned while a few held on by their fingertips. None of them were currently open, which ensured that my visit would stay low-key.

As I passed darkened windows and barred doors, I kept an eye out for security. There were a couple cameras that I doubted discouraged much of anything. The first one had a broken casing, and the second and third were aimed down at doorways, so swinging out toward the parking lot meant staying out of camera range. I strolled past the shop I wanted, noting the tagged plywood over two large windows and the heavy-duty lock and chain wrapped around the doors. Dust and grime coated the chain, lock, and doors. If it was used for parties, no one was coming through the front, which made sense if that action was going down at the back.

I kept my head down, just in case one of the cameras got lucky, and walked steadily. I got to the end of the building and went around the corner, aiming for the back. Garbage was piled up against an overflowing trash bin, and the stench was eye watering.

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