Chapter 271: It Would Be Weirder If Magic Wasn’t Responsible (1/2)

Annabeth Tilden was woken by her phone.

“Damn it, Anna.”

So was her wife. Annabeth snatched the phone off the night stand and stumbled into the bathroom, closing the door before turning on the light and answering.

“What?” she answered grumpily.

“Boss, I was going over the grid feed for the night and I found something. The monitoring agent passed it off as a glitch, which is why I’m only seeing it now, but I took a closer look and I think it warrants investigation.”

Annabeth groaned but nodded to herself.

“Alright. Run me through it, Keti.”

Ketevan wasn’t in the habit of making unfounded leaps, with Annabeth placing a lot of trust in her analytical abilities.

“We got a hit on the grid on the Mid North Coast but it definitely wasn’t an event. It was incredibly localised and lasted for less than a second.”

“That sounds like a random reaction spike. What makes this different to the ones we see all day, every day?”

“Two things,” Ketevan said. “One is that there was an almost identical hit in France at the same time. The other is the strength of the reaction. The grid registered it as being above category five.”

“There is no above category five.”

“No, ma’am.”

“There’s only been the one category four and the Poms needed a Brimstone missile to deal with it.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Actually, they needed several.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Alright,” Annabeth said. “Send an investigation team. If there’s something there, look into it personally.”

“Shade,” Jason whispered. “Bring the car around. Make sure there’s room for our hefty new friend.”

Several shadow bodies discreetly separated themselves from Jason’s shadow as he made his way outside, where Growl was taking over from Taika on the door.

“It’s not like we’ll get a lot of traffic just before lock up when it’s coming down like this on a weeknight,” Growl was saying. They glanced out as the rain continued pouring down on the street.

Jason nodded a greeting at the pair of huge men, and held a hand out for Growl to shake.

“No hard feelings, mate?”

Growl clasped Jason’s hand in his own meaty paw and shook it.

“I’m just glad I didn’t handle you in the alley,” Growl said. “Mr Asano wouldn’t have been happy once he realised you really were family.”

“No worries,” Jason said. “I wouldn’t have beaten you up too badly.”

Taika laughed and Growl nodded at the door Jason had just emerged from.

“What did you do to the guys inside?” Growl asked. “You scared the crap out of them,”

“It’s a body language trick,” Jason said. “It triggers instinctual fear reactions.”

“I told you, bro,” Taika said. “He learned secret kung fu in the mountains. I’ll go get a car.”

“We’ll take mine,” Jason said, nodding at the black car pulling up in front of the bar. Unlike Shade’s previous sports car form, he was now in the shape of a sleek but roomy four-door sedan, although it still maintained aggressive lines.

“That’s a choice ride,” Taika said. “You got a driver or something?”

“Or something,” Jason said.

In the dark and the rain, the windows looked like black glass and they couldn’t see inside. Jason went around to the driver side door and Taika opened the passenger door. He looked around the interior of the car.

“You got one of them self-driving cars,” Taika. “I didn’t know you could buy them yet.”

“I know a guy,” Jason said. “It’s not strictly allowed, though, so keep it under your hat, yeah?”

“No worries,” Taika said and clambered inside. The massive Māori man was a snug fit, but settled in comfortably. “This is nice. These seats are really plush.”

Taika directed Jason on a short drive to what looked like a dilapidated brick building, but the heavy security door had a gleaming keypad beside it. Taika punched in a code, telling Jason what it was so he could come and go freely. The interior was a stark contrast with the outside, the old brick storehouse had been renovated into a modern, open-plan townhouse. The downstairs was divided into sections by furniture, gym equipment, free-standing bookcases and a quartz top kitchen island. The floors were polished wood and a set of stairs led to a mezzanine upper level.

“There’s one bathroom through that door,” Taika pointed out, “and one more upstairs with the bedrooms.”

Taika pointed out the computer tablet on the wall.

“All the smart home functions go through that tablet,” he said. “There’s a computer upstairs, but I’ll bring a laptop and phone in the morning. There’s food in the fridge and you can order delivery though the tablet.”

“Thanks. I’ll have to thank Uncle Hiro for putting me up somewhere nice.”

“I think he’ll be happy having you around for a bit,” Taika said. “I know he regrets being estranged from family.”

“I know the feeling,” Jason said. “Do you have family nearby, Taika?”

“I do, yeah. Me and my brother got caught up in some gang stuff back in New Zealand. Dad got us out and brought us over here. Now I do security for Mr Asano.”

“You like working for my uncle?”

“It’s honest work, mostly,” Taika said. “Mr Asano runs the legit businesses. It’s good to have someone out front with clean hands, yeah? We even work with the cops sometimes.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, bro. If a rich white kid takes some dodgy eccies and has a seizure, that’s as bad for the cops as for us. There’s no stopping the party drugs, so they look the other way and we make sure they find the blokes flogging off the bad stuff. The cops get to make some arrests and we stay out of trouble.”

“Good to know. Thanks, Taika.”

“Boss said that I’m at your disposal for as long as you’re in town. I’ll have that phone and computer for you in the morning. If you need anything tonight, I’m in the apartment building next door, in 2C. Your uncle lives in the penthouse.”

Jason waited until Shade, who had a body hidden in Taika’s shadow, told him that the big man had arrived in his apartment.

“Alright,” Jason said. “Lets go out.”

When Taika entered the townhouse in the morning he found that Jason had moved the dining table to create a central open space, which he was making use of. Wearing loose pants and a plain tank top, Jason went through a graceful and deliberate kata with an impressive sword in his hand. On the sound system, some kind of meditative music was playing.

Jason gave no indication of having noticed Taika’s arrival, which was novel to Taika. Most people reacted to the arrival of a hundred and fifty kilos of Māori. Taika moved over to the lounge area and placed the phone and laptop boxes he was carrying onto the coffee table. He glanced over at the gym equipment in the corner, noticing it had been moved since the previous night. All the weights had been set to maximum, which even Taika would have trouble with.

Taika had taken the laptop and phone out and was setting them up when Jason walked over. Taika looked around but no longer saw the sword.

“I knew I was right about the secret kung fu. That was a sweet looking kata.”

“It’s more of a meditative sword dance,” Jason said.

Taika gave him an assessing look, glancing at the door.

“I didn’t see your car outside.”

“It’ll be there if I need it.”

“You’re a mysterious guy, bro.”

“No, I just fake it for the ladies,” Jason said, flashing a grin.