Jack switched back and forth as the Falcon to follow their patsy across the city. The

watch constantly recharged as he moved as himself across the roofs. He used the

Falcon to cross gaps he couldn’t jump across but only long enough to land and

change back. He didn’t want to get ahead of Dudley in case he was lying about whom

was his boss.

The small stab wound and the threat of a horrible death might have been enough to

wring the truth out of the man, but torture was unreliable and people will say anything

to get out of trouble.

Jack would have said anything to get away from Josie when she was wearing the

fangs and hair himself.

But Dudley was heading towards the Adventurers’ Hall according to his inner

compass.

That much had been the truth. So which of the buildings around the Hall contained

the slavers? And what did he want to do when he found it? What happened if he

didn’t wait on Josie?

She would be mad as a wet hen, but he could live with that rather than tell her mom

that she had got killed raiding some guy’s house in an extradimensional scavenger

hunt thrown by mysterious backers. He was not doing that at all. Josie would have

to talk to her own mother.

Jack paused to watch Dudley skirt around the Hall and head for a set of walled houses

on the other side. He nodded as that part checked out. He wondered what the

transporter would say to explain how he had lost his cargo.

He doubted the man would say he had been attacked by a vampire and an assortment

of cutlery. That would be too outlandish to be believed. He would probably say that

a gang of bandits had attacked the wagon and stole everything.

Jack would do the same thing if he was in the same position.

Jack flew across the large cleared gap around the Hall to land on the roof. He changed

back and watched the wagoneer move through the neighborhood toward a house at

the end of the row. Was that the Lord’s house? He could probably check with

someone on the street, but he watched to make sure Dudley was allowed inside the

house.

Dudley was allowed inside the gate by two more men with the Jack Makeover. He

walked down the driveway, and headed for the back of the place. It looked like he

could enter as a servant, or as some kind of salesperson.

Did Lord Endwright know what was going on suddenly became a relevant question.

He checked the power on his watch. He had enough to watch from a distance as the

Vision. Then he could worry about what he planned to do. He was tempted to try out

Nitro on the house and see what happened.

And he was also tempted to go ahead without Josie. He didn’t need her to take part

in something she shouldn’t be doing. The Army had already given him enough skills

to blow into the house without her. The watch just made that easier.

He dialed the Vision and watched Dudley make his way to a waiting room set up like

a living room off the kitchens. A woman appeared with the Montrose markings. She

and Dudley exchanged words about what had happened at the hole in the wall. The

woman seemed placid on the surface to the watcher. She apparently told her servant

to wait in the parlor until she decided what to do.

Jack regretted the Vision didn’t allow him to hear what was going on.

He looked through the rest of the house. He noted that two men were bedridden

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

in separate rooms on the top floor. He wondered what that was about. Obviously the

lady seemed to be running things. Why keep the men around?

He decided that wasn’t his problem until he broke in.

He noted the staff moving around. He frowned at the amount of unmarked servants

mixed in with the marked guards wandering the house. He thought maybe ten

noncombatants in the house.

That meant taking care not to cut people up that didn’t deserve it.

He had personas on his watch that he could use as workarounds. The main problem

was chasing people down as someone else and not being able to wall them with

the Vision at the same time.

The two sick guys interested him in the questions they posed. Why keep them around

when you were a despicable human trafficker? He doubted for love. Maybe keeping

them alive kept the money flowing somehow.

He stepped back and returned to normal. He could get in through the roof. Gravity

could help him sort through the people he was going to get rid of from the people

who didn’t seem to know what was going on. Then he could think about fixing the

two sick guys with Doctor Strange, his medician.

Did he want to do the raid right now before Josie could get in the way? He didn’t see

why not. She could handle trying to get the kidnaped victims back to where they

belonged.

He could put up with a little anger over a done deal. His four sisters had taught him

that much.

He decided to let Josie know he was going in so she wouldn’t use that against him.

He just wouldn’t tell her directly.

“Elaine?,” Jack said into his new phone watch. “Can you hear me?”

“Yes, milord,” said Elaine. “These watches are something new. I don’t know if I

like it, or not.”

“Tell Josie that Lady Endwright seems to be running the show, and I am going in,”

said Jack.

“I don’t like the watches,” said Elaine.

“I have to change up,” said Jack. “I’ll let you guys know when it’s over.”

He changed to the Falcon and flew across to the roof of the house. He dropped down

to a window ledge as Blade and cut his way inside. He walked across the bedroom,

noting how luxuriously appointed it was compared to the two sick guys. He sliced

through the door.

The next few minutes were bloody as Jack carved his way down through the house.

The regular staff had the sense to run from him. The soldiers tried to fight back at

first. Then they started to run as Blade’s floating swords hacked through anything

that got in his way. The only one he wanted to question was Lady Endwright. The rest

were cannon fodder.

He wondered how the city authorities were going to take this usurpation of their role

after he was done. He certainly wasn’t going to be covering it up.

Jack ran out of power halfway through his search. He frowned as he backed up to an

empty office. He had to wait for the watch to recharge now. Had anyone gone upstairs

to deal with the sick men? He should have thought they would need a guard from the

rats in the house.

He might have to fight without the watch if it didn’t charge up fast enough.

He thought he heard an explosion below him. He wondered if Josie had decided

to show up instead of getting the others settled. He grinned. He shouldn’t have called.

Now she would be mad and looking around to do things to people.

A serious of snaps echoed below. They sounded like gunshots to him. What was she

using? He didn’t remember the Arrow making noise when she shot up that

warehouse.

Someone slammed open the door. He punched the face before realizing he had

punched one of the maids. He directed her to a chair as she clutched her face. He

noted she didn’t have the Montrose Makeover. That was enough to let her live for the

moment.

“Stay in here and you might be alive when this is over,” said Jack. “Don’t step out of

here until I get done.”

“Lord Endwright needs protection,” said the maid.

“How’s he going to get that if you’re dead?,” asked Jack. He switched back to Blade.

“Stay out of the way, and I’ll see what I can do about him.”

He stepped out in the hall. His swords rotated around him as he looked for targets.

He spotted something made of marbles coming up the stairs. He doubted anyone

else could do what he and Josie were doing.

“Hey, Josie,” he called.

“Don’t hey Josie me, buddy,” said Josie. “How many are supposed to be here?”

“Dudley, ten guards, and the Lady Endwright,” said Jack.

“That’s twelve,” said Josie. “I only got notifications for eleven.”

“There’s a maid in the office here,” said Jack. “She wants to check on the lord of the

manor. Apparently he is sick.”

“Not a Montrose?,” asked Josie.

“Nope,” said Jack.

“We still have to find the last one,” said Josie. “We need the Vision for that.”

Jack nodded as he switched bodies. He looked over the house. He frowned. He

dropped the persona.

“She’s with the Lord,” said Jack. “Let’s go up and see what kind of deal she wants

to make.”