Free Hazardous Goods (Arcane Transport) by John Mackie Page A

Officer, I was robbed at gunpoint. What did they take? Harry Potter’s wand and a magic lantern.”
    “Harry Potter’s wand was stolen? That’s gotta hurt.” Chili was the perpetual smartass among my group of friends, which is saying a lot, when you consider the company I keep. “Yeah. No cops. Not that we’re doing anything wrong, but it just gets a bit weird.”
    “You should talk to Amy, she’s pretty cool about that stuff.”
    Hm. That was an interesting thought. Jin’s cousin Amy was a police officer in Toronto. Quite attractive too, I seemed to recall. Might not hurt.
    “You don’t think she’d mind?”
    “Nah. You can do it off the record, if you want. Cost you lunch, though. And she eats like a heifer. Why don’t I get her to give you a call?”
    “That’d be great.”
    “Yeah,” Chili with that sly grin on his face again, “that’d be great, alright. Donnie-boy’s hoping to get some uniform action . Nurse, check. Stewardess, check. Maid – nah, I’ve been to your place, you don’t have a maid.”
    Like I said. Perpetual smartass.
    Just before we left, Jin handed me a plain white file folder. I glanced inside and chuckled.
    “We had everybody sign it. Never had a chance to say goodbye, so we figured this was the next best thing.”
    “Ha! That’s great. Thanks guys.” I stared down at one of the few mementoes from my days at TechnoSoft. It was a good reminder that it wasn’t all bad memories. “He still pissed?”
    “Oh yeah. No one can even say your name around the office without him losing it.”
    “Good.”
    We said our goodbyes, and agreed to get together again in a few weeks. When I got to my car, I dropped the file onto the passenger seat and headed over to the hospital for a quick visit with Clay and Harper.
    I had a nice surprise at the hospital when I ran into Kara there. I paused at the door, a little hesitant about adding to the crowd, but Harper waved me in.
    “Hey.” I shook hands with Clay, who sat propped up in bed. His color was back to normal, and he seemed in good spirits. I mouthed “Hi” and gave Kara my best smile.
    “Hey yourself. Kara was just bringing me up to speed on things. Sounds like I’ve left the place in good hands.”
    “Well, Kara can take most of the credit for that. She’s the one keeping us from destroying the place.”
    “Oh, she did that for me, too. It’s always been that way.”
    I took a few minutes to update Clay on my visit with Helen Findlay at Sun, and the drop-in by BOA.
    “These BOA guys – what do you think of them?”
    I had my own significant reservations, but I wasn’t about to share them with Clay yet.
    “Oh, they’ve been around for years. Tend to stay out of our way, but they’ve had some changes at the top in the past year and a half. May see more of them, if they decide to play a more active role. I would cooperate with them, but don’t go out of your way. It’s never been real clear to me where they fit in the overall scheme of things.”
    That jibed with what I had seen and heard.
    “Any other players I should know about? People who may not have our best interests in mind?”
    “Hm.” Clay took a sip of water, glancing at Harper for a moment. “It’s maybe not a bad idea for you to do some reading. Kara, can you pull a few of the reference texts from storage? Also, there are a few file memos, and that history that was written by Charlie Carter.”
    “The author?”
    “Yes. He wrote a book called The History of Occultism in Toronto a few years back. It’s a decent overview of some of the older players, not a bad introduction to some of the basics as well.”
    “Hm.” Charlie Carter. Cool. He was one of my favorite authors. When the Axe Falls was on my top five list of scary reads.
    “That one’s in my office, bookshelf just inside the door.”
    “Great. Thanks.”
    We chatted for a while longer, and Harper invited me to a barbeque she was hosting the following weekend. Sort of a welcome home party