Free Legendary Detective at the World's End (Volume 1) by Kaye Wagner Page A

sidewalk, looking enormous in stature even with his short height.
       “Hey Karl,” Kirin said standing on the sidewalk idly. “You have a jeep?”
       “Why ask me?” he laughed hesitantly.
       “Because you dress like you don’t walk, and you walk like you don’t ride anything. So you must be driving something.”
         Karl smiled at his words before pulling out a pair of keys from his pocket. “Behind you.” He said pointing to a low riding vehicle without a roof or tires below standing it up. It just had a base that laid flat on the ground where Kirin was oddly already standing by as if he knew it belong to Karl.
          Karl cracked a smile. “How convenient for you to be standing by it already.”
       “Educated guess.” Kirin shrugged his shoulders as he turned around and looked intrigued at the jeeps odd build. “Don’t tell me this is what I think it is, is it?”
        “It’s exactly that.” Karl smiled confidently. “It’s a street hovercraft, freshly tuned from the junkyards.”
         Lee’s eyes widened at the sight of the vehicle. “Whoa, a real Street Craft right in front of me.” Lee shook his head as he rushed over to the car and touched its old rugged surface. “You can’t be for real about this. This thing is rarer than gold out here, I mean, you barely see any of these out here in the Common Sectors, and if you do, they’re owned by some High-End Sector jerk. How did you get this?”
       “Yeah,” Jake nodded with concern. “This thing is hard to find.”
       “With the right contacts and friends, you can get anything in this world.”
         Kirin smiled. “Especially if you steal it.” He said opening the passenger side door of the Street Craft.
       “Huh?” Karl said as he approached. “Did I leave the door unlocked?”
       “No, I just opened it up myself. You have weak locks Karl, you should get them changed lest you want your car stolen.” He said slipping into the passenger side of the jeep and slamming the door shut. “C’mon, let’s go.” He called everyone over.
         Karl narrowed his eyes in suspicion before walking over to the driver’s side. As he did, Jake and Lee followed in rhythm as if hypnotized by the pace Kirin set with his words and energetic style. Even Karl found himself sitting in the driver’s seat, compelled to chauffeur him for the moment.
       “So,” Karl said bewildered by the way he was catering to this strange boy. “Where do you want to go?”
       “I want to go where you would go.”
       “Where I would go?” Karl asked, confused for a moment. “I’m not following you.”
       “I mean,” Kirin said adjusting the recline on his seat until it squished into Lee sitting in the back seat. “You know this place better than anyone.”
       “Why would you say that?”
       “Because you dress the part, you look like a man who enjoys a night on the town and his fill of conversation with many different people in the world. Tell me, where would you go to enjoy a night of relaxation after a successful day of work or non-work? Whatever you do…”
       “Well,” he said lifting his head in thought. “After my days of successful non-work,” he chuckled as he looked back at Kirin sitting upright in his recline chair. “I would go to the ‘Magic Lady’ hall in the Downtown Sector.”
       “Hmm…” Kirin said standing up from his seat and pointing out towards the streets. “Then off we go, Haha…” He laughed before sitting back down in his seat.
       “Hey,” Jake said tapping Karl on the shoulder as he watched the strange behavior of Kirin. “You don’t have to listen to him, you know? You can leave us here.”
       “No.” Karl replied. “It’s fine, I’m interested in what he’ll do next.”
       “You might not be if the night ends with you in a brothel with a naked man chasing you with a butcher knife.”
       “What?”
       “Don’t ask.”