Hank Mossberg, Private Ogre: Murder in the Boughs Read online

  “Look, I don’t know nothin’ about Anthony Kaiser,” he said nervously. “I just wait tables, that’s all.”

  “Oh, I know you do,” I said in a sarcastic tone. “In fact, you waited on Anthony just before he died.”

  Shulzy gulped loudly. “Look, I wasn’t the only one waiting that night… there were three of us!”

  “But you’re the one who poured his wine, Shulzy. You’re the one who poisoned Anthony.”

  “No. Why would I do that? I didn’t even know him!”

  “Really?” I said. “That’s interesting, because I heard differently. I heard that the Orzo family has become quite a little syndicate.”

  “My family?” he said. A mystified look swept across his face. It quickly turned to anger. “What do I care about my family?” he said. “Why are you bringing them up?”

  I was surprised. I glanced at Butch and saw his eyebrows shoot up. “Don’t hold out on me, Orzo,” I threatened. “I know that your family has been moving in on the Kaiser’s turf.”

  “Yeah? So what?”

  I leaned forward, pressing into his comfort zone. “So you decided to give them a helping hand, didn’t you? You knew that with Anthony out of the way, the Kaiser family would fall apart.”

  To my surprise, Shulzy broke out in laughter. “Look Steward, you got this all wrong. My family isn’t at war with the Kaisers. They’re in business together. Besides, it’s got nothin’ to do with me anyway. Two years ago, my family kicked me out and I haven’t talked to ‘em since.”

  Butch sat up. “Aw, come on Orzo,” he grumbled. “You don’t expect us to believe that do you?”

  “It’s true!” he said. “You know why they kicked me out? ‘Cause I wanted to be a cook! My old man wanted me to follow in his footsteps, running distilled ambrosia and pixie dust, but I just wanted to be a cook.”

  I took a deep breath, slowly digesting that. “When was the last time you had contact with your family? Remember, I’ll be checking up on you.”

  He snorted. “I just told you. Two years ago.”

  “And you haven’t talked to any of them since then?”

  “Are you kidding? I’m just glad they haven’t put me on a hit list. I’m my father’s biggest disappointment.”

  I settled back against my desk, arms crossed over my chest, staring at him. I couldn’t be sure, but he seemed to be telling the truth. I decided to push him, to try and find out just how disassociated he was. “Your family’s been making a lot of trouble,” I said. “Yesterday, I found a briefcase full of pixie dust in the Kaiser’s car. Did the Orzo family supply it?”

  “Most likely,” he said with a shrug. “There ain’t no other pixie farms around that I know of.”

  “Pixie farms? Are you saying that your family is actually raising pixies?”

  “Yeah, they have been for years.” Orzo had a disgusted look on his face. Suddenly I believed him completely. I felt my guts churning.

  I leaned forward, staring into his eyes. “Orzo, you have to help me. That pixie dust is dangerous. It’s the most addictive substance in the universe for the fae, and to the humans, it’s poison. People are dying.”

  “I know, Steward, but what can I do? My family won’t stop. It don’t matter what I say, they’ll never stop.”

  “Yes they will,” I said. “Tell me how to find them. I know you don’t want to betray your family, but believe me, they’ll be better off in the long run if I can stop them now.”

  Orzo considered that for a long moment. “If I tell you, they’ll kill me,” he said.

  “Not if they’re in jail. I promise you Orzo, they won’t know it was you. I’ll say I got an anonymous tip. As far as I’m concerned, this conversation never happened.”

  Orzo took a deep breath. “Okay,” he said quietly. “I’ll tell you.”

  I gave Butch a dark look. “Call S.W.A.T.,” I said.

  “That might not work,” he said, his brow furrowing. “We need an Elder’s approval to release S.W.A.T. We called an emergency meeting of the Elders last night, and look how that turned out.”

  I thought about it. “You’re right,” I said, stroking my chin. “Call the Bolger twins. Gnomes are more closely related to pixies than any of the other fae. Tell them what we’ve got here. That should light a fire or two.”

  Butch picked up the phone and started dialing. I grabbed a notepad from my desk and turned back to Orzo. “Okay… start talking.”

  Two hours later, I was on a helicopter flying out of SFO. I was on the first of two choppers, actually. I was with Butch and the S.W.A.T. team. The second was for the prisoners we would hopefully be hauling back. Butch and I were crammed uncomfortably behind the pilot’s seat with the rest of the crew. The team commander, a female wood-elf named Talia sat in the co-pilot’s chair. Butch was amazed by the whole thing. He’d never seen the S.W.A.T. team before. Dwarves don’t usually like flying, but he didn’t seem to mind it. I think he was intoxicated by the rush of adrenaline.

  I was just trying to keep my lunch down. I don’t like flying much either, especially when I’m in a tight confined space like a helicopter. I can’t help but wonder how a machine manages to keep something as heavy as me in the air. I know it’s all about physics and horsepower, of course, but if I think about that then I have to think about the tiny little engine powering it all, and the tiny little nuts and bolts and rivets that connect it all together, and the million things that could go wrong. If I’m distrustful of magic, I feel at least the same about technology. Ogres belong on the ground, their feet planted firmly beneath them.

  “We should be there in thirty minutes,” Talia said through the intercom. She glanced back at me over her shoulder.

  “Sounds good,” I said, trying not to hyperventilate. I glanced at Butch and saw him wearing a starry-eyed expression.

  “When we get there, I want you two to stay out of the way,” she continued. “My team works best without interference. Remember, this is a Federal matter. We’ll take the subjects and evidence into custody. You are here as witnesses.”

  “Agreed,” I said. “Unless you find something that incriminates Anthony Kaiser. The Kaisers are mine.”

  Talia smiled at me over her shoulder. Butch leaned over and whispered in my ear, “I think I’m in love, Hank.”

  I cocked an eyebrow and glanced at the headset he was wearing. I didn’t bother reminding him that she could hear him. Butch smiled wisely and produced a small flask from inside his jacket. He tipped it back and winked slyly at me. Talia stared straight ahead, a smile tugging at her lips. I turned to look out the window lest my attention encourage Butch to say anything more.

  It was almost two a.m. when we landed on the Orzo property. They never saw us coming. Talia’s swat team rushed the farmhouse armed with ultraviolet lights and phase blasters, a sort of pulse rifle that knocks fae creatures unconscious. Butch and I followed close behind, our hearts racing as we closed in on the compound.

  Talia and one of the other team members moved out front. Being elves, they had a heightened sense of night vision that not even delver-dwarves could match. Talia caught a glimpse of something and made a motion across her eyes, pointing to one of the other team members. He crawled forward in the grass with a long sniper-looking weapon draped over his shoulder. He stopped a few yards ahead. I could barely make out his dim outline as he activated his weapon and located his target. A few seconds later, a burst of electricity shot out of the barrel and zapped across the field like a bolt of lightning.

  I heard a grunt in the distance and saw a shadowy body roll down the roof of the barn. Before the first guard hit the ground, the sniper took his second shot. This one was on the balcony of the farmhouse. The guard tumbled over the railing and crashed into a pile of boxes below. The sound of breaking glass filled the night, and the lights went on inside the farmhouse.

  “MOVE!” Talia said in a loud whisper. She broke into a run with the rest of the team hot on her heels.

  Several of the S.W.A.T. me
mbers branched off and headed for the barn while Talia and the rest of the team surrounded the farmhouse. I could hear the sound of weapons discharging inside, and I took cover behind an old tractor at the edge of the field. I glanced up and saw Butch standing there in plain sight.

  “Get ‘em, boys!” he hollered, throwing his fist in the air as he took another swig from his flask. I reached out and caught him by the sleeve, yanking him to the ground.

  “Get down, you moron,” I snarled. I think I scared him a little because a look of shock swept over his face. Then he pulled himself together and said:

  “Sorry, Boss. Not used to all this excitement.”

  In the distance, I heard Talia shout, “Federal Agents! Drop your weapons!” Then she kicked the door in.

  The next few seconds were a blur of screams and flashing lights as the swat team fought their way into the house. I heard shouting voices and explosions here and there as the firefight broke out. It didn’t last long. Within five minutes, the swat team had secured the house and rounded up the whole Orzo family. Talia led them out in a long train, bound in special shackles and chains designed to resist magical tampering. She guided the prisoners to the middle of the front yard and forced them to sit on the ground in a circle. Then she put several guards on them. She threw a glance at Butch and me.

  “You boys ready?” she said.

  Butch and I followed Talia and two of her team members back into the house. We started by searching the main level and then the second floor. The place was a mess, but we didn’t find anything suspicious. The Orzos had dirty dishes piled up so high they were spilling across the counter and onto the floor. The furniture was all stained and filthy, and the place stank like something rotten and dead. Fast food wrappers and pizza boxes covered the floor, along with piles of garbage oozing with worms and maggots. I almost puked just walking through the place.

  Talia kicked aside a pile of cheeseburger wrappers and grimaced. “I can’t believe they eat this trash,” she muttered. “Is this really the food that humans eat?”

  “The smart ones don’t,” I murmured.

  Truth be told, I’ve been known to enjoy an occasional cheeseburger and fries myself, but this was beyond revolting. This was sick, gluttonousness at best, more like pure self-destruction. I wondered if the Orzo’s lifestyle was any reflection of the business they’d chosen to get into. Food can be a drug, they say. Looking at the way the Orzos had been living, I believed it. Only a drug could reduce a person to that sorry state.

  When we got back outside, my eyes were watering and I was promising myself I’d never eat another cheeseburger or pepperoni pizza in my life. I wanted a few minutes to recover, but Talia wouldn’t wait. She scanned the Orzo family and began grilling them. “Where’s the stuff?” she said.

  “We don’t know what you’re talkin’ about!” said an elderly female. I took her to be the mother, the family matriarch. In goblin families, the females run the show. By the age of thirty, most females have chosen a mate. From that point on, it’s his duty to make her happy. The male doesn’t have much say in the matter. It’s almost like an arranged marriage, but without the benefit of caring parents who want the best for their child. With the goblins, the ladies get just what they want.

  The female’s chin jutted in the air defiantly and she glared at Talia. She didn’t speak, she just glared, like a creature who’s gotten its way for so long that it can’t remember what it’s like to hear the word “no.” There are very few things about goblin culture that I don’t find repulsive. Mama Orzo was no exception.

  “You ain’t gonna find nothin!” the father chimed in. He was skinnier than the mother, and bald with a thin goatee on his chin. “This is an invasion of our privacy!”

  There were several younger ones, the equivalent of human teenagers, and then the two older brothers who’d been posted as guards. They were shackled with the rest, but still unconscious from being zapped by a pulse rifle. Glancing around the circle, I could definitely see the family resemblance. Shulzy looked just like them.

  Talia eyed them one by one. “I know what’s going on here,” she said in a threatening voice. “I can smell it! And when I find the evidence-”

  “I think we’ve got something,” one of the S.W.A.T. members called from the barn. The Orzos exchanged nervous glances. Talia smiled.

  “Don’t get comfortable,” she said to them. “I’ll be right back.”

  The barn didn’t look any different than any other barn, at first sight. The Orzo family had a few head of cattle and a sheep. The animals appeared somewhat emaciated, but not worse for wear. There were a few saddles resting on a bench near the outside wall, though I didn’t remember seeing any trace of horses on the farm. Goblins are known to have a fondness for horsemeat though, not to mention their love for human flesh. I got a sick feeling as I wondered what had happened to the original family who’d owned the farm. The goblins certainly didn’t build that place, and I doubted they’d purchased it legally.

  The elven warrior led us through the barn and stopped before an open stable. Hay covered the floor, but he had shoved the pile aside to reveal some sort of trap door. “This is it,” he said.

  “Interesting,” said Talia. She drew her weapon and pointed it at the opening. “All right,” she said. “Open it.”

  The elf yanked on the rope, and as the trap door swung back pale green light flooded up from below. A narrow set of stairs led down into the ground and disappeared into the earth. “Stay behind us,” Talia warned. She started climbing down and her teammates went in after her. Butch and I followed at a safe distance.

  “I wish I had my forty-five,” I whispered as we crept down into that dark, narrow hole.

  “It wouldn’t do you any good,” Talia’s voice rang down the tunnel. “These are fae, not humans.”

  “Maybe, but at least I’d feel better,” I said.

  The stairway dropped a good fifteen feet below ground level and then opened into a long, narrow tunnel. The green light grew brighter as we approached the door at the end, and I realized that the light was actually coming from the room beyond. As soon as I saw that light creeping around the edges of the door, I knew what we would find. Pixies glow like that.

  Talia motioned to one of her companions. He twisted the handle and shoved the door open. They both leapt inside with their weapons raised. Talia turned back and forth, eyes roving for any sign of a threat. Then she lowered her pistol and motioned Butch and me inside. We stepped in, gawking at the scene. The horrid scent of dirt, decay and death washed over us, mingling uncomfortably with the pixie’s usual odor of cotton candy. Talia started to gag. She had to leave the room. Butch and I stood there, neither of us able to speak or even comprehend what we were seeing.

  The Orzos had hollowed out an underground cavern nearly fifty yards in diameter. It was jam-packed with pixies, and the conditions were horrible. The poor creatures skittered about wildly, colliding with each other as they flew through the air, occasionally crashing into the walls with bright bursts of green light. Thousands of pixies lay scattered across the ground, no longer able to fly because they had damaged their wings after months, maybe even years of hammering into the walls, the ceiling, and each other. The defenseless pixies must have been easy picking for the Orzos. The family probably came through once every week or two, scooping the creatures up into bags for processing.

  A large machine sat in the center of the room, something of a combination between a grain silo and moonshine still. It was made of tin with a large burner at the bottom and a series of copper pipes winding in and out through the walls. It wasn’t burning at the moment, but it was easy to guess what the machine was for. This was where they did it, right there in front of all the other pixies. This was where they roasted them alive and ground the remains into a potent drug to sell on the streets.

  It was beyond comprehension that one creature could do that to another, even more so that anyone might use the drug knowing where it had come from. That was the
problem, though. The consumers were either ignorant of the drug’s origin, or too addicted to stop it even if they wanted to. I turned away shaking my head, my hands clenched into fists at my side.

  I found Talia back in the tunnel, her back pressed up against the wall.

  “Are you okay?” I said.

  She nodded and wiped tears from her cheeks. “I’ve never seen something like that,” she said. “Not in ten years of doing this job.”

  It must have been especially hard for her, being a wood-elf. Talia’s race has an empathetic connection with woodland creatures like pixies. Imagine a human watching his dog die a horrible, painful death. It was that bad for her. In that aspect, I had an advantage over Talia. Being a non-magical creature, I didn’t have that relationship with the fae.

  Still, I got the same gut reaction that I would have if the pixies had been birds or some other poor mistreated creatures. My reaction wasn’t emotional, it was visceral. I wanted to go find mom and pop Orzo and rip their arms off. Lucky for them, their helicopter had already taken off.

  Chapter 8

  I didn’t get much sleep that night. I couldn’t get the things I’d seen out of my head, and every time I started to think about it, I got so angry that I wanted to punch something. I tried to calm myself down by thinking about other things, like the fact that I owed Shulzy a big thank-you. He’d busted the pixie dust case wide open, and from what I could tell, he hadn’t withheld anything. I was impressed. He may have been a goblin, but he didn’t act like it. He’d been honest and upright from the moment he started talking. I almost felt sorry for him, knowing that he was doomed to be related to the Orzo clan for the rest of his life. No matter where he went, their reputation would follow him.

  Eventually, my thoughts turned back to Roxy Paton and her case. She hadn’t left any voicemail or faxes while I was gone, so I had to assume that the kidnappers still hadn’t contacted her. By now, assuming Jenny really had been kidnapped, that could only mean one thing. The kidnappers didn’t want ransom. They didn’t want to blackmail Roxy or get money from her. They wanted the girl. That was a dark thought, and it changed everything. It made me feel like I’d wasted the last twenty-four hours waiting for something to happen; as if I’d given Jenny’s abductors the extra time they needed to get as far away as they could.