Chapter Six

Go go go!

In his dire weredog form, Tucker bounded on all fours through the abandoned rail yard. He"d left his comms unit behind, since even when suppressed by Julia"s ward, Germaine was a strong enough mage to still work smaller castings. Nude and accessory-less, Tucker chased him through a deserted patch. Where was Maxim with his sleeping siren"s song? Where was his backup? Sniffing, he didn"t smell any of his nearby allies.

He found Germaine with his fingers pressed up against the ward Julia had crafted that suppressed his geomancy and prevented him from escaping. As Tucker approached, he turned towards him, his open shirt and long hair whipping in the wind. Germaine gave him a guileless smile.

"Detective Johnson!" he said over the wind. "It"s good to finally attach a face to the name, and a handsome one, at that."

"Please, stay put! I am bringing you in, yes. Lie down, please."

Germaine obeyed to a degree, casually getting into a kneeling position as Tucker strode over, shifting fully into his weredog form. He went behind Germaine, putting a knee against his side and wrapping his arms around him, preventing him from escaping. Lifting his head, he howled long and loud, letting the others know his position.

He did it, yes! He just had to keep Germaine in place until Deimos or Maxim or Angie could arrive with warded restraints. He wagged his tail, unable to help himself.

Or… was it maybe because he was getting scratches on his chin? Lowering his head, he sniffed at the side of Germaine"s head, trying to get a read on him. The criminal seemed unafraid.

"You got me," he said jovially. "Good job! What an amazing dog you are, so big and fluffy, and oh, so brave."

Tucker froze, concentrating on keeping himself still. No wagging! This was a bad guy. Well, a somewhat bad guy, he didn"t really have any violent crimes on record. But Tucker had a job to do, gotta do the job. Rahul was counting on him!

Germaine started running his hands across Tucker"s torso, which felt nice but was also distracting and confusing.

"Stop petting me," Tucker whimpered. "You are captured, and I am bringing you in."

"But your fur feels so soft," Germaine said, shifting around slightly and laying his head up against Tucker"s chest."And you don"t really want to bring me in, do you?Not a nice dog like you!"

"No.I mean, yes?I mean..."

Tucker whined. What should he do? He wrapped himself more fully around Germaine, trying to stifle the criminal"s movements without crushing him, but Germaine could still move his fingers.

Distracted by Germaine"s efforts, Tucker was taken off guard when a series of explosions rocked the area. Reflexively, he wrapped himself protectively around the comparatively frail Germaine, and was knocked off-balance by a nearby shockwave. He felt himself being moved in the next moment, falling jarringly to the ground and rolling a couple yards.

A second later, Tucker"s arms were forcefully pried away from Germaine, who climbed off of him.

Opening his eyes, Tucker checked around. Germaine was getting away! He tried to get to his paws, but found that his arms and legs were wrapped in earth and stone. Did the ward fail?

No. Tucker could smell it, a couple feet away.

"Oh, not good, no," Tucker said, then whined as he realized.

He"d done it himself. Germaine couldn"t walk through the barrier, not since Julia had it specifically keyed to him, but he could be carried past it. And when Tucker had rolled while holding him…

Grunting, he strained against Germaine"s bindings, making scarce headway. Thinking quickly, he instead shifted into his beagle form, slipped out of the bindings, then shifted back into human form. He was about to start chasing Germaine, powers or no powers, but past the ringing in his ears he heard a high-pitched screaming in the distance. Angie!

Snarling, Tucker shifted into his larger canine form and began running towards his distressed squadmate, and away from Germaine"s retreating form.

◆◆◆

Breathing heavily, Tucker sat bolt upright in the bed, experiencing a moment of confusion. He looked around, feeling oddly disturbed at the sight of an empty room before memory caught up to him.

"Right. Leif and Rahul are still in North Dakota."

Whimpering just once, he allowed himself a moment to bury his face in their pillows, smelling their lingering scents that bled through the freshly laundered pillowcases. Duty called, though, so with a determined huff he abandoned the bed and the dreaming memories and made for the bathroom to get ready for his shift.

It was Thursday, which meant it was time to present the finalized plans on Germaine. After a quick protein shake for breakfast and a check for any last minute messages from Rahul and Leif, he donned his favorite powder-blue suit and drove his truck in to DOMA headquarters.

Julia arrived shortly after he did, giving him a pat on his shoulder as she took a seat at her nearby work desk. Tucker smelled an undercurrent of mild concern as she studied him, sipping at a coffee.

"I"m perfectly fine," he said. She just arched an eyebrow, so he added, "Maybe a little anxious to get things underway, but that"s all."

"Mmm. Alright, I mostly believe you. Relax your shoulders, though, they"re almost up to your ears."

Tucker did as she asked, surprised that they were as tense as they were. He worked his jaw while he was at it, making sure that he wasn"t clenching his teeth.

She nodded."Better."

"Thanks, Julia. I"m going to find Deimos and finish setting up. See you in a few minutes?"

Julia waved at him before returning to check through her daily inbox. Tucker double-checked that he had his papers and computer files in order, then gathered everything he needed and headed to one of the conference rooms.

As he stood at the podium, talking with Deimos in quiet tones about particulars in the summary report they"d sent out the day before, his sense of smell let him know as each new person arrived. Julia, of course, as the department"s foremost mage. Rickert and Lilithian, as part of the task force. And then Rebecca Woods, Jamie Cohen, and Rosa Fontaine. Ashley and Dodson had the day off—they were taking part in an out-of-state gaming tournament of some kind—but Tucker had talked at length with them the last few days, ensuring that Minniapolis had all the available information. As his fellow operatives took their seats, he took a quick head count. Nearly everyone was present, so the only one that was missing was…

"Detective Johnson, good morning!"

Executive Director Clairmont nodded his head to him, then indicated with gestures to have Rickert move a few chairs down, allowing him to sit closest to Tucker.

"Sir," Tucker began. "I thought it would be Director Wu in attendance?"

His supervisor shrugged, smiling apologetically. "I"m afraid that she won"t be attending. She called me this morning to say that she was feeling a bit under the weather, so she asked me to fill in for her today."

Tucker took a few breaths. Beneath Clairmont"s strongly masculine and natural scent—like Tucker, he almost never wore artificial sprays—it smelled like he was telling the truth, but something tickled the back of his nose that he couldn"t pin down.

"Hopefully she"ll get better soon," he said instead. He looked to Deimos for a final confirmation, then clicked the first slide of his powerpoint.

"Orlan Germaine," Tucker began without preamble, watching as the others flipped open the dossiers he"d laid out, "has recently resurfaced and seems to be resuming his thieving activities. His full history was detailed in yesterday"s report, and is summarized in the papers in front of you, but highlights include more than sixty felony charges, mostly grand larceny but with a few aggravated batteries and destruction of property thrown in."

"He"s currently being tracked by a special art squad from the FBI with help from local municipalities, as well as North Dakota"s branch of DOMA, but we strongly suspect that he"s going to want to hit up his old stomping grounds here in Minnesota. If he does, then no matter which agency manages to track him down, it"ll likely fall to us to actually apprehend him, owing to his magical talents.

Tucker indicated for Deimos to change slides, showing a large museum. "As far as doing our part to find him—"

"Oh, hey!" Jamie said. "Isn"t that the Museum of History or something?"

Deimos stood up on his hooves, taking over. "The Harriet Museum of Living History, yes. This was Germaine"s intended target before an arrest attempt was made two years ago. Ultimately, we did not manage to bring him in, but the mounting pressure was enough to force him into hiding."

Tucker could feel his own face heating, but he kept his expression neutral while Deimos carried on in his slow, deep voice.

"The museum currently has an exhibit of Orcish crafts from the Gorten tribe, some of which date back to the early 1800"s. Some of them were donated legitimately, but other pieces passed through the hands of either slave owners or feudal lords, and there have been a few online petitions to have the descendents traced and the items either returned, or else simply given back to one of their tribes if no relatives can be found. This makes them perfect targets for someone with Germaine"s ideologies, so we"ve reached out and are ready to install tracking devices in a few of the items."

Deimos crossed his arms. "Germaine"s geomancer senses makes it difficult to hide any kind of device, but a couple of the pieces contain the right kind of metals that will mask a hidden transmitter. Ideally, we"ll catch him before that happens, but if not, we should be able to track him through the stolen artifacts, or at least recover them from wherever they turn up."

Director Clairmont raised a finger, and Tucker nodded towards him. "Yes, sir?"

"What if he hits a different location?" he asked. "It sounds like we"re putting all our eggs into one basket."

"There aren"t many baskets left, sir," Tucker said. "Thanks in large part to Germaine"s activities and the publicity he"s garnered, there"s been enough public outcry and successful petitions that most of the museums in the surrounding states have been forced to update their ethical standards, and subsequently remove controversial exhibits. The Harriet Museum is one of the last outliers, though there are a few private collectors that could also be targeted, and we"re in talks with several. Most likely, we won"t gain ground with the latter until one or two gets robbed."

Clairmont nodded. "Sound reasoning, but give me the names and contact info of the collectors after this so I can throw my own weight around. Rich and arrogant types, I"m guessing? You can leave them to me. I spent twenty years climbing the police ranks as a myth, I know how to kiss ass in all the right ways."

"Hey now, sir!" Jamie said, chuckling. "You sure that"ll work? I hear some of them might like it a bit too much, if you know what I mean."

The executive director turned in his chair, gesturing. "You might be right, Detective Cohen. For those types, I"ll probably bend them over a knee and give them a proper spanking. One or the other usually works."

"Of course, sir," Tucker said distractedly. "Moving on. Apart from laying bait and assisting with the federal investigation, we"re keeping tabs on his known haunts in the state, which should give us a chance to intercept. That brings us to the next major point, apprehension."

Tucker took a breath, and was about to talk plans when he smelled a tense scent rolling off of the executive director. "Sir? Was there something else?"

Clairmont met his gaze, then held it. "Yes. Detective Johnson, you say "apprehension," as if your intent is to arrest Germaine, am I correct?"

Tucker tilted his head to the side. "As opposed to letting him remain free? Sir, if you don"t have confidence in me, then why would you appoint—"

"Not what I was getting at." Clairmont paused, then continued crisply. "I am obliged to tell you, that as of this week, law enforcement has labeled Germaine as a perpetually armed and dangerous terrorist, owing to the potential volatility of his magic. The police and FBI are authorized to use lethal force as an alternative to capture, if it would prove less risky to their personnel."

Tucker set his clicker down, trying to read Clairmont"s intent. He saw a few agents exchange glances, but even the usually loquacious Jamie had fallen silent. "I know things might have been different when you were with the police, sir, but begging your pardon, that"s not how we do things here at DOMA."

The director tapped a finger on the table. "And if I were to order you to consider a takedown as an option?"

"Then I"d tell you that you"ll have to appoint someone else to take the lead on this case." Tucker looked over at his friends, seeing the hard glare Jamie was giving to the back of the executive director"s head, and Rickert just looked flabbergasted. He barked a short laugh. "I don"t know who you"d even get, though."

As the executive director sat up in his chair, expression still inscrutable, Tucker took in a deep breath. Steeling himself, he braced for the inevitable suspension. Had that been Clairmont"s intent all along? To just bide his time until a reasonable excuse came along?

Clairmont nodded, breaking into a smile, and Tucker was taken aback by the faint smell of pride that came off of him. "Good. That"s the answer I"d hoped for when I made you primary. This does complicate the issue, though, because it means our priorities no longer perfectly align with the other agencies.I expect that means we"ll end up butting heads. Fortunately for us, since the case involves stolen mythic goods, the perpetrator is mythblooded, and he"s a magic user, DOMA has clear jurisdiction. If we can find him first. Now, let"s hear your plan about capturing him."

"Um, sure, sir," Tucker drawled, then shook his head as he flipped forward a few slides, while Deimos patted him encouragingly on his back. "When it comes to capturing him, our department has three general strategies available, each with their complications…"

◆◆◆

An hour later, as most of the other agents shuffled their way out of the conference room, Tucker stayed behind with Julia, Rickert, and Clairmont, writing down final changes in a pocket notebook.

"It depends upon the skill of his new accomplice," Julia was saying. "I can do what we did last time and build a ward around an area to block his geomancer abilities, but even a single crack in the barrier could give him at least partial access to his magic. It would be better if we could bring the accomplice in first, or otherwise ensure that the two are apart."

Clairmont was nodding along, running a thumb against the corner of his bearded chin. "It"s a complication we"ll have to figure out. Tucker, how accurate is this information about the wardbreaker accomplice?"

"Virtually guaranteed," Tucker said. "There"s a chance we"re being played, and Germaine is the real ward-breaker, but the hired consultant that Angie vouches for doesn"t think so, and he managed to scrounge up video surveillance from both the museum and a private residence that gave us our I.D."

Rickert pumped a fist. "Aw, yeah, Rahul"s still got it! He and mage bro are coming back today, right Tucker?"

Tucker tried to hold in a sigh, but the director simply laughed, waving his hand dismissively in the air. Rickert looked over at him, wincing as his wings dropped.

"I already knew." Clairmont looked up at Tucker, tapping the dossier he held. "I"m well aware that you and Basu are dating, and I oversaw enough of his missions to know that he"d find his way to insert himself into the case somehow, once it became clear that Germaine was active again. I heard you mention yesterday that he was out of town, and then suddenly Angie happens to be working with a "nameless" private investigator? I took a look at the NDA paperwork, and saw his name. You have a lot of fine traits, Detective Johnson, but subtlety isn"t chief among them."

"Ah." Tucker swallowed heavily, and the urge to tuck his tail was so strong he nearly shifted into his were form.

The director sighed. "No need to look so ashamed, it"s honestly kind of refreshing. But now I need two more things from you before I return to my office. First, I need you to tell me that Basu isn"t involved in the case."

"Sir? Weren"t we just saying—"

"No, we weren"t. Humor me, please."

Tucker sniffed, but the executive director"s scent still proved enigmatic, as if he were dancing around a subject. Rickert seemed just as lost, though Julia smelled as if she were working through a puzzle. "I reckon I can do that, I suppose? Sir, the Minneapolis Department of Mythic Affairs has not employed Basu in any way involving the Germaine case."

"Perfect! And you worded it so that it"s the honest truth, too, if I"m asked about it." Clairmont grinned wolfishly at him, but soon lost his good humor. "Second favor. I"m sorry, but as the mission leader, I do need you to consider permanent solutions to handling Germaine. I don"t expect it as the first, second, or even tenth option, but two years can change a man. If he begins attacking and killing civilians or agents indiscriminately, we might not have time to deploy Winters or Somerset. You understand?"

"I do sir. Off-hand…" Tucker considered quickly, running through the available agents. "Without prep, sir, I think only you and I are capable. Us, and a certain nameless investigator with his fire magic."

"Fair, and that"s good enough, I don"t need any concrete plans. Oh, and Johnson? I know things didn"t turn out like we all might have hoped last time, but let"s see if we can"t do better this time around."

"Yes, sir."

As Clairmont left the conference room, shutting the door behind himself, Tucker turned to set his hands on the table, leaning heavily upon it. Rickert came over, throwing an arm around his back.

"Sorry, bro, I didn"t mean to screw you over like that—"

"No harm done, but thanks."

"—especially since I totally know how you actually want me to screw you."

Tucker made a choked laugh, and he pulled away from his friend and gave his shoulder a shove. "Oh, come off of it!"

Julia cleared her throat, and both Tucker and Rickert fell silent. The gargoyle actually toed the floor with one of his clawed feet.

"Sorry, Julia," Rickert mumbled. "That wasn"t workplace appropriate."

"The three of us each have procedures that we need to refine," Julia said, sidestepping the issue. "So we should get on it. I know Germaine isn"t expected to make an appearance for at least another week while he does his normal handoff of his recent gains, but we should be ready in case he"s changed his habits."

"Roger that, ma"am!"

As Tucker watched Rickert head off back to his desk, he stepped up closer to Julia and spoke in low tones once his shifter hearing confirmed that nobody was eavesdropping.

"Julia, tell me. Is Director Wu avoiding me?"

"Why would you say that?"

Tucker sighed. "That"s not a no."

"It isn"t. It"s not a yes, either." Tucker turned up the puppy-dog eyes, and she rolled her eyes. "You know that"s never worked on me. But fine, yes, I have maybe noticed that she puts off passing through the main office until after you"ve stepped out. Did something happen between you two?"

"I don"t know! I caught her in the archives last weekend with the old Germaine paperwork. I"m thinking maybe she feels guilty about me being put front and center on the same case I entirely screwed up last time?"

"It could be that," Julia said. "Sounds like it"s something you should work out. Until then, just let me know if you need mission help."

"Mmm.Thanks, Julia."

She nodded, then gathered her papers and left.

After ensuring that the conference room was properly tidied up, Tucker returned to his desk and began reading through the notes that he"d made over the course of the meeting. His thoughts kept returning to the two directors, though.

Director Wu was something that he needed to fix. Was he reading too much into it, and she was actually feeling ill, or was there more to the situation?

And then Clairmont. The man"s emotions didn"t quite line up with the words he used. It seemed like he had Tucker"s back, but the executive director was too shrewd to not have some kind of secondary objective.

Tucker checked his phone. Four more hours until Leif and Rahul were back. Hopefully they"d be able to help him untangle this knot.