Free Night's Pawn by Tom Dowd

"Unlikely, unless they're nearby. There is little to trace. I can try, though."
    Chase winced. "Damn." He reached down and touched the pair of small canisters mounted on the wall. He pushed aside a panel cover and placed his fingers on two unlit buttons.
    "What're those?" Cara asked.
    "CNX II gas. It's nerve gas."
    Cara stared.
    "It's not lethal, barely more than tear gas, but it makes life hell. We're safe in here, but it should incapacitate them long enough for me to do something."
    "How long will it last?" Cara's voice was very low.
    "Less than a minute. It's very short persistence, breaks down right away, so there's no chance of it getting to the other apartments."
    Cara grimaced, her hand tightening further on Chase's arm. "Do you think it's wi—"
    Roja's arrival from the other room silenced her. The red-haired woman was smiling. "No worries, chums. I pulled lotsa hair out of the bathroom drains." She flipped a small plastic baggie to the elf. "We can trace them with magic."
    Chase smashed his fist angrily against the wall. " Damn !" Victor's eyes flicked toward them, then back at the woman. "No choice now." Chase pressed down on the buttons.
    The elf held the bag up to one of the windows and looked at the specimens. "I can't tell if it's both of them, or—"
    A loud electronic squeal from beneath Victor's coat cut him off. " Nerve gas !" he howled. The elf let the bag drop and quickly traced something in the air in front of him. A faint trail of violet light followed his motions. Roja's eyes widened, then snapped shut as her body twitched. She looked like she'd smelled something horrible.
    " Damn ," whispered Chase. What the hell were they doing carrying gas-detection gear?
    Victor stepped around the elf and grabbed Roja as she twitched again and went limp, gagging. The elf finished his motion and snapped his left hand opened. A sphere of misty, violet light expanded quickly outward from it and through the room as a radiant shock wave. The elf turned and grabbed both of his teammates. Victor had a stunned expression on his face. "Help her, Se'arlas," he said.
    The elf nodded and took Roja from Victor, lowering her to the ground. "The toxin in the air has been neutralized. Now I must deal with what has already entered her bloodstream," said Se'arlas. He held his hand over the woman's chest as her body spasmed again and she continued to gag. "How do you feel?" he asked Victor without looking up. The strain was evident in his voice.
    "Fine." Victor kept his eyes on Roja. "We must have triggered some security system."
    "Perhaps," said the elf.
    Chase could see that same violet glow strobing between Se'arlas' hand and the woman. Her body began to calm. Chase released his breath.
    "Is she…?" asked Victor. His gaze began to roam the apartment again.
    "She'll be fine." As the elf lifted Roja up, her eyes were still closed but she grabbed on to his coat with what little strength she had. "We must leave."
    Victor nodded and picked up Roja's dropped weapon. He turned to follow the elf, then stopped after a few steps. He grabbed the baggie of hair and darted after his companions, giving the apartment one last look as he closed the door behind him. Chase could see his anger.
    Slowly, Chase bounced his head off the wall of the little room just loud enough to make a faint thump with it. Cara watched the monitors for a few moments, then looked up at him. Neither said anything.
    "Damn," he finally said, again. " Poputano ."
    "What?" she asked.
    He looked at her. "Fucked up."
    "I don't understand. They left…"
    Chase nodded. "Yes, they left, but they took hair samples with them."
    Cara looked at him uncomprehendingly.
    "The way it was explained to me was that mages can use pieces of a body, like hair, fingernails, blood, semen, and so on to trace the person of origin. The fresher the better. It takes a few hours, but it's like the finger of God pointing at you from the sky."
    Chase glanced at his watch, then pushed up on the lever