Chapter Seventeen—Not-a-Douche-Hess

The ivory spiral was located in the East Lake section of Life City. Kyle would have said that was to be expected. It’s where the “overlords” all live.

And he would be right, but John wasn’t automatically suspicious of Mr. Hess simply for living here. Not like Kyle might be.

The lift ascended and the elevator opened to a floor of black marble tiles polished to a high sheen, the Neon districts of Life City visible through the panorama of high windows.

“Daddy!” Kelly screamed and ran to the man in the suit. She hugged him hard and he put an arm around her.

“I’m so glad you’re safe,” he said. “When you left, I didn’t know what to think.”

John distinctly remembered Kelly Hess calling her father some harsh words. It seemed that wasn’t really the case.

“I’m sorry, daddy. I won’t ever do it again. I was being stupid and… I realize that now.”

But she could be playacting.

It was a very cynical thing to think. That wasn’t John. That was Kyle.

 “Did you get into trouble?”

“Oh, absolutely—”

“None to speak of,” John said, interrupting Kyle from snitching on her. When Mr. Hess looked up, John smiled. “There might have been a small bump or two, but we drove past them.”

He couldn’t help but glance for Kyle’s reaction to the pun. Max smirked.

Interspersed between the white marble sea creature statues were Hess’ private security guys, each standing stiff-backed with their hands crossed over their belts.

“I am very glad to hear that,” Hess said with a sigh, but the look in his eye said he wanted more of the particulars later. He came forward and put out his hand, “Please, I must thank you for everything you’ve done.”

John shook his hand. “It was nothing.”

“Yeah,” Kyle said flippantly. “Absolutely nothing.”

“Yes, well… if there’s anything I can do—anything at all, you have but to ask.”

Kyle nodded. “We may have to take you up on that, Hess. Be sure to send over your contact details so we can get in touch.”

Hess smiled awkwardly with a nod. “Of—of course.”

“Yeah,” Kelly said, her hands behind her back.

John could see that she felt self-conscious. She glanced toward her father. “Thank you for everything. Both of you.” She hugged John and he embraced her. She even gave Kyle a hug, if somewhat stiffly and he rolled his eyes at John over her shoulder.

“There’s more,” John said, “but we think it’s most appropriate that May and her people debrief you on the particulars.”

“Very well,” Hess said.

Turning with a last wave, Kelly smiled at them as the elevator doors closed, Kyle bending as he hissed out the word “hussy” at her.

Kelly’s eyes widened and her face contorted for an invective, but the doors shut.

“Was that necessary?” John asked.

“Hells yes!” Kyle said defensively. “Did you see the way she hugged me—like I’m some kinda weirdo.”

John shrugged diplomatically.

“To be fair,” Lexa said, her voice coming from Kyle’s wristlet as John did a double take of surprise, “from her point of view of the past events—“

“Oh shit—Lexa, shut up!” He smacked his wristlet and the voice stopped.

“So you did download her.”

Kyle cleared his throat. “Yeah. Well… had to rip off the Chylaxium, you know?”

“Yeah.”

The elevator descended.

Suddenly John’s wristlet started pinging.

“That May?”

“Yeah,” John said. Then he answered the call. May’s illustrated avatar appeared before them. “You’re very quick,” he said.

“Is this line secure?”

“As always.”

“I’m not quick—I’m informed,” May said. “You two did good work. You returned Miss Hess and you didn’t leave any bodies.”

“On the Chylaxium at least,” Kyle added.

May said nothing.

“We appreciate what you’ve done,” May said, “but most of all, Mr. Hess is thankful to you both for rescuing his daughter.”

“What was the big deal about all that anyway?” Kyle asked as they walked out of the lobby into the evening air. It was muggy out tonight. “Just the babysitters, huh?”

“Does it matter?” May asked. “We asked you to perform a task. You did it. And you did a good job.”

John spoke up. “We just want a little transparency, May—that’s all.”

There was a long pause.

“May?”

“Let’s just say that Kelly Hess has magical abilities that far surpass most innate mages. Her types are often targets of the magical establishment—either by recruitment through intimidation or outright coercion.”

“Yeah,” Kyle said. “They’re valuable. So you saying Scorr was going to kidnap her?”

“We’re not entirely certain what his motives were,” May said, “but we do know Scorr has been talking to a wide variety of disreputable types, including smugglers, traffickers and extractors.”

“Extractors,” John said. “That puts things into perspective. Thank you.”

“Is that all?”

“Are we in the clear?” John asked. “Your guys have wiped and reprogrammed all of our biometric scan data?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” John said.

“How about that date, May?” Kyle asked.

“Dream on.”

“Wow,” Kyle said with a laugh. “That’s downright flirtatious of you. May? May?”

“She already clicked off,” John said, shaking his head. “You’re incredible.”

“I’ll bring her around,” Kyle said with a satisfied nod.

“You’re desperate.”

“At least we got to shoot stuff, huh?” Kyle asked. “Hey where’s the car?”

“We also prevented Kelly Hess from a potentially dark fate.”

“Yeah.”

“It was fun. Now let’s get back to the penthouse and take a nice good look at Scorr’s files.”

“I hope it’s somethin’ good,” Kyle said. “We didn’t even get to tear down an overlord this time.”

“Next time, Max,” John said. “Next time.”