“Let’s try again,” said Josie. She glanced at her watch. It was recharging to full

power. When it did, she had already decided that would be the end of her patience.

“Why are you here? If you say tax bill when there is no tax bill, someone will be used

as a pinata.”

“What’s a pinata?,” asked one of the collectors. He didn’t seem to be taking being

hung upside down in a giant spider web cocoon as seriously as he should be.

Josie gritted her teeth. She looked around. She found a table leg laying on the floor.

These idiots had broken her dining room table, and it was one of the things that she

had liked putting together for the place. She picked up the table leg. She tested it for

weight. It was already a column about the right size for a baseball bat. She looked at

the clown. He looked like he didn’t think his situation was so funny now. She

whacked him across the chest and sent him swinging through the air.

“I would like to do that next,” said Elaine.

“So would I,” said Beatrice. “I haven’t hit anyone in a long time. I need the practice.”

“Arrows,” said Alicia. She waved at the swinging collectors. “I have a shooting range

now.”

“You can’t shoot us with arrows,” said one of the other collectors.

“You were warned,” said Josie. “How many arrows do you think you need, Alicia?”

“One,” said Alicia. “I can pull it out and shoot it again.”

“I like that,” said Josie. “Very frugal.”

“We might need a sheet on the floor,” said Melanie. “I don’t want to clean up any

blood.”

“That’s a good idea,” said Josie. “When we’re done, we’ll wrap them in it and drop

them in the forest. I heard some of the adventurers say the local monsters will eat

anything, living or dead, in a few hours.”

“It depends,” said Matilda. “Some only eat the dead, but others like chasing living

things. It’s some kind of instinct pattern according to my reading.”

“Somebody better hope they’re dead when we drop them over the wall,” said Josie.

“Do I have to state the options again, or do I have to give Alicia the bow and an

arrow?”

“There was a tax bill,” said one of the Guards who looked the youngest and least

hardbitten. “It was a shadow tax bill.”

“Elaine?,” asked Josie. She whacked the clown again. He tried to hold down his

stomach contents.

“I have never heard of any shadow tax bill,” said Elaine. “What is it?”

“A commission is signed to be collected with conditions,” said the guard. He eyed the

table leg. “Either the bill is paid, or we take everything.”

“Is that why Aile died?,” asked Josie. “He was trying to collect the commission?”

It made sense if the commission acted like a job for the adventurers. Something got

posted and somebody tried to take care of it to get some kind of reward.

“I guess,” said the Guard. “I didn’t know Aile was dead.”

“I told you before you broke in that the other tax collectors had been killed, and what

would happen to you if you kept going,” said Josie. “Were you not paying attention?”

“They didn’t believe you,” said Angelica. “They thought Aile had given up and

retreated. They didn’t take you as seriously then as they are now.”

“I wonder why,” said Josie. “Who signs these shadow bills?”

“A magistrate,” said the lead collector. “The gold is to go to the Duke.”

“The dead Duke, or the living but about to die Duke?,” said Jack from the living room

border. “That is a real distinction.”

“It goes in the treasury of the Duchy,” said the collector. “Whomever has keys to that

has the gold.”

Josie frowned at the hanging Guards. How did she want to vent her anger? She really

wanted to turn them into candles and hang them from the walls. Her expression made

it clear that was what was going through her mind.

“If you kill them, you can’t torture them,” said Jack.

“They wrecked my place, threatened my girls, and made our job harder by

vandalizing our work space,” said Josie. “I am having a hard time thinking of a reason

they should live. And they did all this after I told them there was no gold, and the last

group of tax collectors had been vaporized out in the street. I’m thinking that they

should be targets for Alicia until she gets tired of shooting at them.”

“Will never get tired,” said Alicia.

“I like the pinata thing myself,” said Beatrice. “It reminds me of tenderizing meat

before you cook it.”

“I might have to stop eating meat after that,” said Angelica.

“I was thinking maybe we should visit the Duke and the magistrate who signed off

on the bill,” said Jack. “Unless you really want to shoot these guys over the horizon.

That might be fun too.”

“If you tortured these men, and hung them from the walls, that wouldn’t stop the

tax collectors from coming as long as this shadow board was offering money,”

said Elaine. “The next group might be smarter and more persistent about their

goals and endanger the girls.”

“So we should talk to the Duke before we make a decision,” said Jack.

“I’m willing to let these mooks live if they leave the city,” said Josie. “They don’t

have the Montrose Mark yet, so I am willing to let things slide. Fixing the place

back up to the way it was should be okay. On the other hand, I’m really angry

right now, and putting bullets through their heads is also looking good.”

“I’m thinking the other tax collectors got off too easily and we should have allowed

one of them to warn anyone else what would happen,” said Elaine.

“That was a mistake,” said Josie. She eyed her trapped captives. “I wonder which

one I should let go to let everyone else know they should not be mixing with

my business.”

“Let’s talk to the Duke,” said Jack. “I’m really interested in this shadow board. It

reminds me of Person of Interest.”

“There’s no Team Machine here,” said Josie.

“We’re Team Machine,” said Jack. He smiled at her. “We’re going to let you guys

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live if you behave. I think you need to be put somewhere that you can’t cause trouble

for the girls and my beloved until I get back.”

“Beloved?,” said Matilda. “Who’s that?”

“He means Elaine,” said Angelica. “She’s his beloved. I approve of the sentiment.”

“I do also,” said Elaine.

“Where do you think we should put them?,” asked Josie. She imagined Jack had some

ready made prison. When could he have made it?

“Icebox,” said Jack. He got a cup from the kitchen. It was one of the few left intact.

He came back and became Magik. He gestured and the prisoners shrank and

dropped into the cup.

“I’m going to put you somewhere safe, but it will be dark,” said Jack. “When I get

back, we’ll let you get back to robbing other people. Don’t come back here again, or

you will get to be targets for the kid.”

“Or I might think about using you for my own practice at setting things on fire as

slowly as possible,” said Josie. She crossed her arms as she glared at the men in the

cup.

“Don’t try to go anywhere if you know what is good for you,” said Jack. He put a dish

on the cup and put the whole thing in the icebox. It was a good thing that it wasn’t

keeping anything inside of it after the rampage the collectors had done.

“Why are we letting them live?,” asked Beatrice. “Other than avoiding attention?”

“Never confuse kindness with mercy,” said Jack. “One is not the other.”

“I’m missing something, aren’t I?,” said Beatrice.

“Just because we have them stored like rats in a cage doesn’t mean they will get away

scot free,” said Josie. “I think I want to see what this shadow board looks like in case

we have to rip it up before we try to handle the rest of our business.”

“Please don’t set them on fire on our doorstep,” said Laura.

“We won’t,” promised Jack. “I think it’s time we talk to the government about some

change.”

“This is exactly what you said we shouldn’t be doing,” said Josie. She felt her eyes

twitch at the thought.

“I thought about it,” said Jack. “And I agree with Number Two. Some people need

to be used for targets.”

“So you want to talk to the Duke?,” said Elaine.

“I just want to see what he thinks about this,” said Jack.

“I would like to talk to him about what has happened,” said Josie. “Maybe treat his

house like ours has been.”

“I would like pictures,” said Melanie.

“All right,” said Jack. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Will you girls be all right while we handle this?,” said Josie. “I don’t think this will

take long. I still have to meet Fass’s group in the morning.”

“I will get my crossbow,” said Elaine. “Your wee men will still be in the ice box

when you get back, or they will have holes in them.”

“Either is fine with me,” said Jack.

“You’ll have a lot of work sanding the edges off that loon, Elaine,” said Beatrice.

“We’ll see,” said Elaine. “Let me find my crossbow in this mess.”

“I’ve got it,” said Jack. He flicked his hand and the numbers of it summoned a light

crossbow out of thin air. He handed it and a stack of bolts to her and Beatrice. “We

have to go, and we’ll check the show after dinner with our guests tomorrow.”

“I will pick something with a lot of romance,” said Elaine. She handed the bolts she

held to Beatrice. She loaded the crossbow with quick motions of her hands.

“If you have people come by, retreat up to my room,” said Josie. “You can get out the

window up there.”

“Or you can use the door to the jet,” said Jack. “Laura will show you how to work

it. The number for the pad is six sixteen, then the star. Don’t bunch up when you go

through.”

“When did you put that in?,” asked Josie.

“When I got home,” said Jack. “Shall we? The night isn’t getting any younger.”

Josie became Zatanna and used her cleaning spell on the area around her. Things

began dancing around as they put themselves back together.

“Why don’t you do that all the time instead of making us do it?,” asked Melanie.

“I’m building your character so you aren’t lazy if Jack and I have to leave,” said

Josie. “Besides you don’t pay me enough to help you out.”

“You’re rich,” said Melanie.

“But you’re not,” said Josie. She smiled at the younger woman’s expression. “What

kind of job would you like to have to pay me for cleaning up after you?”

“It’s a trap,” said Beatrice. “Be silent and let it go, or your part of the cleaning will

get worse.”

Melanie looked at Josie smiling at her. She remembered what Jack had said and knew

that while Josie could be kind, she didn’t have much mercy. She decided it was better

to complain at a later date when her guardians were done with their current tasks and

not looking to take their anger out on anybody in their way.

“All right,” said Jack. “Now that we have that settled, I think we should talk to the

Duke and dig into what we can about this situation.”

“All right,” said Josie. “We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

“We will hold our quarters,” said Elaine. “The next tax collector will go home with

a hole in his nether regions.”

“See if you can show Alicia how to shoot,” said Jack. “That will be good for her until

she can use a bow of her own.”

“I can do it,” said Alicia.

Josie smiled. Adopting the kids had been a good idea. She had thought she should

send them to somebody better than she was, but they were lifting her up in this

strange place. She might not be able to do the job without them.

“To the Duke,” said Jack. He pointed in the air. “Where is he? I don’t know where

he is now that he doesn’t have a mansion.”

“You are such a weenie,” said Josie.

“Go ahead,” said Jack. “I can’t wait to see this.”

“I’ll show you something,” said Josie. She called on Zatanna. She threw out a scry

bird. “All we have to do is follow the bird.”

“I need to learn how to do that,” said Jack.

“I need to learn how to do the magic technology you do,” said Josie.

“I’ll show you some tricks,” said Jack. Still garbed as Magik, he waved his hand. The

two of them vanished in a collection of sparks.

They appeared in a room in the dark. Josie waved her hand and candles lit

themselves. Jack let the Magik persona go. He wanted the ability to slice and dice if

he wanted.

“Is this the Duke?,” asked Josie, stepping back from the bed. She let Zatanna go.

Karate Kid, or Richard Dragon, might be better for what they wanted.

The Duke sat up at the strange voice in his bedroom. He caught a fist to the face. He

clutched his face as he collapsed back into his pillows.

“How’s it going, Duke?,” said Jack. “I have some questions. This is my partner.

She’s a little ticked that your goons wrecked our place, and she’s been talking about

setting you on fire.”

“I remembered a thing where I can rip the skin off a goon with a fingersnap,” said

Josie. “I have been wanting to try it out, but I haven’t had a reason until now.”

“I didn’t send anyone to your home,” said the Duke. “I have been trying to figure out

the charges rendered by my uncle before he died. I don’t have time to get revenge on

you for your bragging.”

“Let’s talk like reasonable people then,” said Josie. She sat down in one of the chairs.

“One of the Guards I took said there is a shadow board for extra income. Jobs are

posted and the guards take them. Then they get paid. The jobs aren’t legal as far

as we can tell. Ours was to seize whatever gold we had, and take the women to the

Duke. I am going to assume that is your dead uncle since he seemed to be deep

into human trafficking. How do we find this board?”

“How do you expect me to know that?,” asked the Duke. “That is for my captain

of the Guard to know.”

“I think your old one is dead,” said Jack. “Who’s in charge now?”

“Captain Grif,” said the Duke. “I moved him up into the command slot when I saw

that I had holes in my staffing. He is supposed to be recruiting men to fill those empty

spaces.”

“You’re being very kind with your time, Your Grace,” said Josie. She leaned forward.

“Let’s apply your knowledge of the system to our wee problem. That will make me

less inclined to treat your home the same way mine was. If you were paying guards

under the table to carry out duties of search and seizure, how would you pay them

assuming they were getting paid through official channels?”

The Duke did not trust this suddenly placid face in the light of his candles. There was

something in the eyes that told him this was a monster in human form.

“I would arrange a bonus to the monthly pay through the treasury,” said the Duke.

“But since I have only just started, any payment that would be authorized under my

uncle would have to be given out by the Chancellor who has authorization to make

the budget and cover expenses through the public funds.”

“Would you mind taking us to the treasury?,” said Josie. “I would like to see the

books.”

“Why would you like to see the books?,” said the Duke.

“I would like to find out everyone involved in this criminal ring and have words with

them,” said Josie. “And the logical way to do that is to find out who is taking jobs,

and who is commissioning them. And once I know that, I will visit them and express

my displeasure. If you are not involved, I am willing to keep the peace with you as

long as you stay in your lane. But I have to leave the city in the morning, and if I have

to start turning people into exploding pulp to get what I want before I leave, one of

us will not be worried about how the city is going to go on without them. I am not

your judge, I am your judgement, and the best thing you can do is cooperate so you

can gain some leniency.”

“Let me get dressed and we will go to the archives,” said the Duke.

“Thank you, Your Grace,” said Josie. “We will try to keep this as short as possible

so you can go back to bed with a clear conscience and a better hand on your ruling.”