Full Circle (The Moonlight Monsters Detective Agency) Read online

  ‘You’re crazy,’ Tina said, ‘there’s scores of these guys and only two of us. I’m not going to risk those kinds of odds.’

  Parker stared at her. The guy even had the nerve to look angry with her.

  ‘No,’ Tina said, ‘you’re not crazy, you’re stupid. I can’t believe I trusted you enough to let you lead me blind into battle like this. Come on let’s go.’

  Tina stood up and darted back to the exit.

  ‘Tina,’ Parker called after her, ‘Hey Tina I’m sorry, ok?’

  They escaped from the compound without much hassle and returned to the car. Tina was still furious.

  ‘Ok Sam,’ she said, ‘it’s time you gave me some answers for once. I want to know who that asshole is and what his relationship is to you. And don’t even think about lying to me here.’

  ‘He’s a demon,’ Parker said, ‘one of the old families, but you knew that already, right?’

  ‘Right,’ Tina said. She started up the car and turned around back in the direction of the city.

  ‘Yeah well he goes buy the name of Draco Aiolfo,’ Parker continued, ‘and he’s one of the coldest scumbags I’ve ever met.’

  Tina glanced at him for a second and then looked back at the road. She wasn’t giving up on her frown for a second. ‘Keep talking,’ she said.

  ‘Draco’s the reason I’m in this backwards country. I’ve been tracking him here since I left London.’

  ‘Because he stole your money?’ Tina asked, ‘the quarter of a million dollars?’

  ‘No,’ Parker said, ‘I mean, yes partly, but that’s not the main reason. He killed my best friend Tina. My best friend in the whole damn world… and one way or another, I’m going to make that bastard pay.’

  ‘What the hell were you involved in?’ Tina asked.

  ‘Oh don’t look at me like that,’ Parker frowned, ‘I’m just a petty crook, right? You shouldn’t be surprised.’

  Tina said nothing. She’d never seen him so worked up like this before. It was hard to stay angry now that she knew the real reason behind his reckless behavior.

  ‘It was nothing serious,’ he continued after a while, ‘we ran a little gambling racket, me and my mate Jimmy – that was his name. Sometimes we moved dodgy goods as a favor for friends but we never got mixed up in any violence or anything. I made a promise about that to someone very important to me, a long, long time ago…’

  ‘And Draco?’ Tina asked, ‘when did he come into it?’

  ‘At the end of August last year,’ Parker said, ‘this smooth-talking bastard turns up. He had a proposition for us. I never trusted the scumbag for a second.’

  ‘What was the proposition?’

  ‘Draco wanted to take over the London crime scene. Or at least that was his story anyway. He probably took us for a couple of gullible proles who’d believe anything said by a man in suits as fancy as his. He claimed that if we joined forces with him we’d all become millionaires. All we had to was front the cash…’

  ‘And did you?’

  Parker stared at her. ‘Of course not,’ he said, ‘I said no way, not a chance – but Jimmy, he wanted to follow through. I told him to take a few days to think about it and hoped he’d see sense in the meantime. Two days later he turned up dead. He’d been tortured Tina. The stupid bastard must have agreed to meet Draco behind my back. Needless to say, the safe where we kept our funds was completely cleared out too.’

  ‘Jesus,’ Tina said, ‘and you’ve been following him ever since?’

  ‘Right up until the day you and Comrade Furball arrested me for practicing detection without a license.’

  ‘Wow,’ Tina said, ‘you must have been pretty pissed when we stopped you.’

  Parker smiled for the first time since they’d left the docks. There wasn’t much humor in it. ‘Nah,’ he said, ‘I’m a pretty patient guy Tina – that’s one thing immortality teaches you – and I knew I’d find him again one way or another, just as soon as I dealt with you two. Even now I know I’m going to get that bastard. And then I’m going to kill him.’

  Tina dropped Parker off at his office after making sure that he’d be ok for the night. She promised him she’d let him know what the next move would be as soon as she did.

  It took a couple of days of frantic phone calls and form filling to get the clearance – not to mention the delicate process of liaising with the normals’ police department, since they technically weren’t even supposed to know the SDA existed. Tina’s contact at Homicide served as the go-between while they organized the bust, while meanwhile the higher-ups at the Byron Shelly Institute furnished the proper documentation that would allow her and Boris to stand beside the officers of the MCPD as one of their own. As a member of the old demon families, Draco Aiolfo had a lot of a sway with the Institute, but all the same, a crime of this magnitude would not be tolerated. Punition was to be swift and painful.

  By Sunday night, it was set in stone; the raid on Draco’s compound would take place at dawn on Tuesday morning.

  ‘I’m coming with you,’ Parker said.

  ‘God dammit,’ Tina sighed as she strode back into her office, ‘do you know how much hassle I had to go through just to get it set up that me and Boris could tag along with the normals?’

  ‘A lot!’ Ernie the Egghead shouted, as he scuttled out from under her desk with a huge pile of paperwork on the hub of his walker. ‘I’ve been working overtime all week on this crap, so thanks a shit ton, Dracula.’

  ‘Yeah, well sorry about that Ernie,’ Parker shrugged as he followed Tina into her office.

  ‘Whatever,’ Ernie muttered and scuttled out into the hallway.

  ‘So?’ Parker said, ‘I’m a licensed private detective, it’s not unheard of that I’d be working with the fuzz.’ He looked at Tina coyly as she sat down on her desk. ‘And I am the one who brought the heist to your attention in the first place…’

  Tina looked up at him. ‘You’re not going to take no for an answer on this, are you?’

  Parker’s blue eyes twinkled as he smiled. ‘Uh, duh?’ he said, ‘obviously not.’

  ‘Fine,’ Tina sighed, ‘you ride with me, but you better be on your best damn behavior out there.’

  ‘You’re a star, darling,’ Parker grinned.

  ‘I’m serious here Sam. We’re taking Draco in alive. Whatever bad blood is between you two it doesn’t come out when we take down his crew. Alright?’

  ‘Absolutely,’ Parker said.

  ‘Good,’ Tina replied. She picked up one of the mugs half-filled with cold coffee on her desk. ‘Now make me a refresher, will you? I’ve still got a mountain of paper to file through before we pull this off…’

  Tuesday morning came and Tina pulled up outside Parker’s office. The scruffy young vampire was already waiting by the steps, furtively dragging on a cigarette.

  ‘Hurry up!’ she called to him as he walked around to the side of the car.

  ‘Yeah, yeah,’ Parker sighed climbing into the back seat, ‘I’m looking forward to this just as much as you are.’ He nodded to Boris in the passenger seat beside Tina. ‘Alright Baz?’ he said, ‘How was the porridge this morning? Too hot? Too cold?’

  ‘Was good,’ Boris replied with a wave of his huge hand, ‘how was the blood of innocent virgins?’

  ‘Disappointing,’ Parker said, ‘it usually is, but hey what can you do?’ He smiled at Tina. ‘And how are you this morning love?’ he asked, ‘all ready for the big one?’

  ‘You bet your skinny English ass I am,’ Tina smiled and started up the car.

  The industrial area around the docklands was alive with activity this time around, as the factories and warehouses fired up for the day of produce and the work force poured in in their pick up trucks and battered old station wagons. Tina reached down to the radio and picked up the transmitter.

  ‘This is TP One,’ she said, ‘we’re approaching the target now. Request advice.’

  ‘Affirmative TP One,’ a crackly voice replied, ‘approach
the formation on Wait street and get into line.

  ‘Roger,’ Tina said and drove towards the reconnaissance.

  Down a discreet side road, a couple of SWAT vans and cop cars waited in the shadows. Tina pulled the Mercedes into the alley and drove down to the end. She flashed her papers at the officer and he waved her on through. She parked up and she and Boris stepped out of the car.

  ‘Hey!’ Parker called, knocking on the window as they walked past him, ‘what about me?’ The backdoors were fashioned with one way locks.

  Tina approached the detective in charge.

  ‘Daniels?’ she said, ‘Detective Peterson, this is my partner.’

  ‘Glad you could make it,’ Commander Daniels answered, ‘this is quiet the bust you hit on here.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Tina nodded, ‘Hopefully it all goes off without a hitch. So what’s the plan?’

  ‘The Swat teams will go in first,’ Daniels said, gesturing towards the two trucks, ‘squad A will go incognito around the outside and B team will take the front. After they’ve ensured everything’s safe and sound, we’ll move in and sequester the big boys.’

  ‘Sounds like a plan,’ Tina smiled.

  They climbed back into the car and sat down.

  ‘God damn right you came back,’ Sam accused from the back seat, ‘I thought you were going to leave me here.’

  ‘Relax,’ Tina laughed, ‘besides, it’s not like you’re going to see any of the action anyway.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Parker asked.

  ‘You see these SWAT guys?’ Boris said, ‘they get all the fun today. I knew we shouldn’t have bothered with the normals.’

  ‘That’s exactly what I said!’ Parker nodded, ‘I mean, we’re the ones with the super powers, right? What do we need human backup for?’

  ‘Oh please,’ Tina sighed, rolling her eyes, ‘typical male bravado…’

  Up ahead Commander Daniels barked an order and the SWAT vans opened their doors. The SDA detectives watched as the special officers filed out and then set off out of the alley way. Daniels turned back and nodded to Tina. It was about to begin.

  Five minutes later, she knew something was wrong. Commander Daniels was speaking heatedly into his phone pacing up and down outside his car. Occasionally, he would glance back over his shoulder at Tina and the others. He didn’t look happy when he did.

  ‘This doesn’t look promising,’ Parker observed from the back seat.

  ‘Shut up a minute,’ Tina said.

  Daniels began striding towards the car. He tapped on the window.

  ‘What’s up?’ Tina asked.

  ‘Follow me,’ Daniels said, ‘we’ve got a problem.’

  The detectives stepped out of the car, Tina releasing Parker from the makeshift prison in the back of her company car, and then they headed off after the police commander. He hadn’t bothered waiting for them as he walked out of the alleyway.

  They crossed the street towards Draco’s compound and immediately Tina knew that the operation had failed. Some of the SWAT guys were hanging around the gates smoking cigarettes and looking pissed off. The guys in the high viz jackets with the smirks on their faces walking around them were obviously Draco’s men.

  ‘Oh bloody heck,’ Parker muttered as they approached, ‘they’ve cocked it all up, haven’t they?’

  Tina didn’t answer. At the gates Daniels was waiting for them.

  ‘Come on,’ he said, ‘follow me.’

  They walked across the lot to the warehouse. An armed SWAT man waited at the doorway. ‘Commander,’ he nodded as Daniels approached.

  The commander turned back to face the others. ‘This warehouse was supposed to be filled with cocaine, right?’ he said. He stepped back to allow them through.

  Inside the warehouse was empty, save for a few reels of copper wire.

  ‘But I saw it with my own eyes,’ Tina said.

  ‘I believe you,’ Daniels answered, ‘not that it matters now either way.’

  ‘The ships,’ Tina said, ‘did you search the ships?’

  ‘Nothing,’ Daniels said, ‘nothing that is, except copper wires.’

  ‘What about Aiolfo?’ Tina asked.

  ‘Yeah, he’s inside,’ the commander answered. ‘Let’s go up and see him, shall we?’

  They stepped into the warehouse and walked up a set of metal stairs. At the end of a boardwalk was a door to an office. It was already open.

  As they approached, Draco rose from his desk inside the room and smiled widely. ‘Ah Miss Peterson,’ he said, ‘we meet again.’

  ‘Where’s the gear, Draco?’ Tina asked.

  ‘What gear?’ the demon replied, ‘the only gear is wires – that is my business.’

  Before Tina had a chance to respond, Sam arrived at the office door behind her. Draco’ face dropped when he saw the vampire.

  ‘Draco?’ Parker said, ‘remember me?’

  Slowly, Draco smiled again. ‘No,’ he said, ‘no, I’m afraid not. Have we had some business perhaps? I do so much business, I can’t remember everybody I deal with you see.’

  Tina could feel the rage building inside Sam before he acted on it; that was how angry the vampire was.

  ‘You son of a bitch!’ he shouted, ‘you killed the only person in the world I really cared about!’ Parker darted forward and tried to get into the office, his fangs spiking out and his eyes turning blood red. Boris grabbed him before he tried to tear the demon to pieces.

  Draco backed away slightly but the cool smile on his face never faltered. ‘Commander,’ he said, ‘are you really going to let this reprobate threaten me like that?’

  ‘Shut your damn mouth Aiolfo,’ Daniels barked. He turned to Tina and in a quieter voice said: ‘get him the hell out of here, will you?’

  ‘Sam!’ Tina shouted, ‘cool down, for Christ sake. You’re only making things worse here.’

  Parker shook himself loose from Boris’s grip. He was still enraged, but at least his fangs had disappeared now. ‘Oh really?’ he said, ‘and just what the hell is there left to solve around here anyway Peterson?’

  Tina said nothing, she could feel the pain radiating off the man.

  ‘You screwed it up Tina,’ Sam continued, ‘I told you we should have moved when we had the chance and now it’s too God damned late!’

  Daniels stepped forward. ‘Just who the hell is this guy anyway?’ he demanded.

  Tina ignored him. ‘Sam,’ she said, ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘Yeah? Well me too,’ Parker said and stormed off down the staircase.

  Commander Daniels was still worked up beside her on the boardwalk. ‘Dammit I asked you a question?’ he said, ‘who the hell is that guy?’

  Tina stared at him. ‘Oh shut the fuck up,’ she said, ‘Sam was right. There’s a leak in your department somewhere Daniels and now a whole warehouse full of cocaine has slipped through the cracks and out into the city we’re supposed to be protecting. Come on Boris, we’re out of here.’

  Before leaving she turned back to Draco. The demon prince nodded slightly as he smiled.

  ‘Miss Peterson,’ he said, ‘will there be anything else?’

  ‘Not this time,’ Tina snorted, ‘but soon. Watch your back asshole.’

  As she walked down the steps with Boris behind her, Draco Aiolfo called out after them. ‘Oh I always do!’ he laughed, ‘a pleasure as always, Miss Peterson…’

  When they got back to the car Parker was nowhere to be seen. Tina guessed he’d decided to make his own way back to the city.

  ‘Ah Christ, what a screw up,’ she sighed as she pulled out of the alleyway.

  ‘These normals,’ Boris shrugged, ‘what can be done? If they are not corrupted, then they are completely incompetent.’

  ‘I’ll say,’ Tina nodded.

  She was upset about letting parker down sure, but it was impossible to ignore the bigger issue at hand. If all those narcotics were intended for sale in Moonlight City then an epidemic of massive proportions was on the horizon. An
d they’d missed the tiny window of opportunity to kill it before it grew into the monster it was likely to become. Trouble was coming, for the paranormals and normals of Moonlight City alike.

  It all made sense now, she observed. That freak incident over Christmas with the Krampi – and the massive bank heist that had gone beside it – that was Draco Aiolfo’s doing. Hell, he’d probably used that money to fund his burgeoning drug enterprise. He’d been setting himself up in the shadows this whole time, right under her nose, and now it was too late to stop him.

  And Parker, when he’d told her about the Krampi, he must have known the full score. She’d known there had been something he wasn’t telling her. All this time, he’d been trying to stop Draco.

  Dammit, she thought, if only he’d been straight with her from the beginning. It was his own fault. It was his own damn fault.

  ###

  About the author:

  Maggie Harper is a writer and musician from Massachusetts. When she’s not penning fantastical tales or bowing her fiddle, she enjoys cycling and cookery. (They say she makes a five bean chili that’d knock your socks off…)

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