Free Mercury Shrugs by Robert Kroese Page B

forward, planting her right elbow on the spool.
    “Fine,” said Burton. He holstered his gun and rolled up his sleeve. “Watch her.” Rogers and Dexter held their guns steady on Tiamat.
    “Only one condition,” said Tiamat, glancing down at the Balderhaz cube next to her. “You have to get rid of this.”
    Burton shook his head. “No sale. My boss said to keep that thing near me at all times.”
    “And you’re always the good little special agent, aren’t you?” Tiamat said. “You always follow orders, no matter how silly they are. Your boss tells you to apprehend a crazy woman spouting ridiculous world domination schemes and you do it. He says, ‘oh, and make sure you have your magic box with you, or there’s no telling what she might do!’”
    “You did just threaten to turn me inside out,” Burton noted.
    “And how on Earth would I do that, Special Agent Burton? Voodoo? You’re smarter than that.”
    “A lot of strange things have been happening lately,” said Burton. “The Anaheim incident, the Moon imploding, the Myrmidon project... Also, there’s the fact that there’s no way you could have known I had this—he glanced at the cube—Balderhaz whatsit on me. I don’t believe in magic, but something isn’t right. If you don’t want that black cube around, then I’m for damned sure keeping it in sight.”
    Tiamat sighed. “You honestly believe that little black cube is the only thing keeping me—a woman half your size—from beating you at arm wrestling? And you’re so certain of this that you’re willing to forgo the possibility of obtaining critical information on an active terror threat?”
    Burton shrugged. “If you’ve got that kind of information, then my boss was right about you being a threat. And if he’s right about you being a threat, then he’s probably right about this cube. Logically speaking, you’re either completely harmless and therefore useless to me, or extremely dangerous, and therefore not to be trusted.”
    “I suppose that’s true,” she said. “All right, then. Take me in.” She held out her hands as if expecting to be handcuffed. “But first, tell me if you would: if you had to say, what would be your guess? Am I extremely dangerous or harmless?”
    Burton regarded her for a moment. “I get the feeling,” he said, “that you could be dangerous under the right circumstances. It follows that you could be useful under the right circumstances. But at present, your circumstances don’t favor you.”
    “You’re dodging the question, Special Agent Burton. Do you believe in demons?”
    “Beliefs are a liability in my job,” said Burton. “They get in the way of facts. I will tell you this, though: I hope there are demons.”
    “And why is that?” asked Tiamat.
    “Because the greater the evil out there, the more necessary a man like me is.”
    “Ah,” said Tiamat, smiling, “so you’re an opportunist.”
    “Exactly,” said Burton. “Word around the office was that this meeting was a fool’s errand. Following up on a Craigslist ad for demonic henchmen. Nobody wanted to do it. But my boss insisted it needed to be done.”
    “And that made you suspicious.”
    “Yeah,” said Burton. “Made me think there was more to it than he was letting on. I had heard through the grapevine that he was looking for someone to head up a special division having to do with... unusual threats to national security.”
    “A real-life X-Files .”
    “Something like that. Anyway, I put two and two together. Figured worst case scenario, I waste a few hours apprehending some harmless nut. Best case, I neutralize one of these threats and put myself at the head of the line for the new division.”
    “So you do believe in demons.”
    “I suspect my boss believes in demons. If I act like I believe in demons, I’ve got an in with him. Like being a member of the same lodge, but without the silly hat.”
    “Quite the schemer, aren’t you, Special Agent Burton?”
    “I