Opening Gambit...Part 1

“So how do we look?” Ravyn bounced and twirled before pulling her best Vanna White pose pointing to the similarly attired Zenny Al Farhan standing next to her.

Both women were dressed in all black, from the snug, form-fitting black hoodies to the soft-soled black leather boots that came half way up the shins of their sleek, black lycra-laced tights. Each of them also wore a military style black nylon utility belt that held closed pouches of varying sizes and shapes.

Ravyn’s hair had been pulled back into the long pony-tail that was customary when she was expecting action. Her normally bright and smiling face had been smudged with some sort of dark charcoal-like substance that only dulled her natural radiance. A pair of fine, black deerskin gloves was stuffed into her belt.

Zenny’s face had also been darkened with the same substance, clouding her fine features from easy recognition. In addition to the hood on her sweatshirt, her hair and ears were obscured by a dark blue hijab that had been wrapped tightly and pinned into place to prevent it from slipping loose.

Jim turned to admire their handiwork and whistled in appreciation. “Wow, I think I can verify those ‘health club’ expenses now.”

Zenny looked down at her shuffling feet in embarrassment.

Ravyn took the compliment in style as she sidled up to Jim, hopped up on the seat of the chair next to him and planted a peck on his cheek. “You ought to know better by now, dear, than to question my expense sheets!” She dropped back down to ground level and danced away before Jim could recover.

Her smooch left a smudge of charcoal on his cheek that only smeared further as he touched the spot, slightly red-faced.

“I like working out, it makes me happy and you know Jim, that there are all sorts of side benefits to making me happy.” Her wink to me as she skipped back over to Zenny showed me that she knew exactly how her flirting would affect him. “C’mon Zenny, let’s go grab a bite to eat and let these guys recover from our radiance.”

I shook my head, smiling as the gals slipped back towards the kitchen. “I’m still not sure that taking Zenny is a good idea. She’s suffered through so much. I’d hate to be responsible for something else happening to her.”

Jim was wiping the charcoal off his cheek with a clean handkerchief. “Well, she’s the one who volunteered. We can’t keep holding her back from things that she wants to try just because they might be dangerous. Besides, her talents could prove to be very useful in finding the clues to where El Diablito is hiding the core of his new organization.”

“Yeah, I know all of that. But I still can’t get the images of the way I found her in that house in the desert out of my mind. She wished that she had died.”

Jim nodded. “True enough. She didn’t die, though. Ravyn and the Frau have spent a lot of time and energy getting her back on her feet. She’s a very strong woman, Rusty. She’s healed from those wounds. Ravyn wouldn’t let her go if she didn’t think Zenny was up to the challenge.”

I held up my hands in surrender. “OK, you win, again. So how confident are you in these addresses that we are going to go check out?”

Jim reached into his pocket and pulled out a paper, unfolded it and handed it to me. There were four addresses listed on it.

“This first address is the corporate headquarters for the Mercury-Unlimited Group in the Bahamas. That is where Dick Arnold has at least an office for himself. It is an office building that has been built within the last year under very tight security on privately owned land, so we don’t have any eyewitness accounts just yet. It’s still too new to have had many ex-employees working inside of it, and the security was too tight to come up with any actionable intelligence. Ravyn and her people have tried to scry inside, but they’ve been blocked by some sort of magickal shield.”

I nodded. “They’ve using Caster as well.”

Jim grunted in agreement and pointed to the second address. “This one is the US headquarters for Bone Financial in Delaware. This building is also brand new and someone or something is shielding it as well, but we have a little more information on the lay out of that building, thanks to the local zoning commission. Ravyn has that information with her.”

“These last two address, they look familiar. Where have I seen them before?”

“You should recognize both addresses. The first, 25343 Covington Way, was the address that Nick was going to visit in the memory orb that you just viewed. It’s in a suburb of Atlanta. We would like you guys to investigate that location and see if you can discern what portals may be in use there and if you can activate them.

“That last address is El Diablito’s shop in Hialeah, NextWorld. It has been supposedly closed down for the last year or so, but who knows, there still may be something of use there.”

Hearing the name NextWorld brought back a rush of memories of that first, fateful visit to that place in South Florida where I first received my Chakra. I had met El Diablito for the first time that night. He had drugged me into a stupor with that tea he had made and used that opportunity to bind my Spirit form to that damnable device that kept me imprisoned in this unfeeling body after I had been killed.

I smiled. “Yes, I’d like to see that place again.”

Jim held up his hands. “Whoa there, Rusty. Remember, this is a scouting mission that we hope ends with us in possession of a few items and a lot more information about Bone Financial and the principles involved in all of this, we’re not looking for a confrontation, unless it can’t be avoided.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ll try to be good.”

“I’ve seen that look before…”

Ravyn’s voice cut through Jim’s softer tones. “And so have I.” She stalked up to me, leaving the somewhat befuddled Zenny behind. Her finger was wagging as quickly as she was talking. “We’re going to slip in, grab what we need and slip out with as little disturbance as possible, do you hear me?”

I nodded, backing up a step and holding my hands up in surrender. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Get this through that thick Zombie skull of yours—this is no foolhardy revenge strike against an old enemy. We’ll fight if we have to, but we need to know more about our foe before we go blundering into battle.”

Backed up against the far wall by this time, I dropped my arms and looked down. “Alright already. I’ll be good!”

She gave me one more of those looks, dropped her finger and turned to face Jim and Zenny. “OK then, are we just about ready?” Her tone was a sweet and light as it had been when she had been teasing Jim earlier.