Page 47 of Outfoxed

“Right you are. So, will you sign?”

Right. I still held the papers, which would cause me many difficulties down the road, but at least if I did lose my general freedom, I’d be with an enemy I knew—or paid exceptionally well to face my fate. With money, I might be able to change the system from within. It helped he didn’t seem to enjoy the realities he faced.

If he deceived me, he did a damned good job of it, and I deserved to pay the price for accepting his sincerity.

“Don’t make me regret this,” I warned him.

“I will do my best to make certain you do not regret your choice.”

I sighed, considered the paperwork, and wondered what the hell had happened to my life, which had gone right off the rails. “I’ll sign.”

All I could hope was that I could continue to keep one step ahead of the other bounty hunters until I figured out what I could do about my situation—if I could do anything at all.

I would find out soon enough.

Monday, May 4, 2043.

Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The Alley.

Several hours after being dragged into City Hall, I escaped with a carry permit, a pass into Asylum, and an annoying contract that trapped me in the system while offering me limited protections. The amount Sandro paid stunned me, and I needed more time than I had to come to terms with how much he felt I was worth.

We belonged to two different worlds, and the casual way he’d paid the government confirmed it.

How far would he go to keep someone like me? Why? He’d transformed himself from a hot-ass bounty hunter out for my living head to an intriguing mystery.

Batbayar intercepted me at the bottom of the staircase, and he held out an envelope. “Your latest paycheck. It is going to be a few days until I am set up in Asylum, although we are taking everything down before the storms hit tonight. I told them you work hard, have lost many friends, and need a few days, too. I got them to give you a bonus pay so you can handle your personal affairs. Do you have your pass?”

I held up the card, which could be tapped or swiped at the locked doors leading into Asylum, which I’d never used before. “I’m to ask a guard to make certain my pass is active or let me in if it doesn’t work. I’ve a note for that if needed.”

I would make use of the pass, too, and preserve my precious secrets allowing me to come and go from Asylum as I pleased.

“Excellent. My new location within Asylum is inside the envelope, so if you need a place to stay, find me there. Did you make a deal with that gentleman?”

“A provisional one. I told him if he wanted me, he’d have to earn me.”

Batbayar smiled at that. “A treasure should be properly won, not hastily purchased. Good. Hold your ground. You deserve nothing but his best.”

“Your thoughts on him?” I wondered what Batbayar knew that I did not, and while my life was full of uncertainties, I could rely on him holding more secrets than I anticipated.

“He has more integrity than most, and he will keep you on your toes. His reputation is good enough, although you will find he has even more secrets than I.”

“Bite your tongue, Batbayar! No man has more secrets than you. You live and breathe secrets, and you enjoy life the most when you know what everyone else does not.”

He smiled at me. “You are, as always, a most astute student. I would like you to retrieve two or three extra pieces of wood like the one you brought me. Four would be sufficient to properly teach you the art of your katana, although I think you will find you are adequate enough with the blade to protect yourself from most.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Do. Hurry about your business. The storms will be particularly dangerous tonight, or so I have been told.”

Yes, now that I understood the storms were guided by human hands, I expected they would be even more dangerous than usual. Would they return to my dead neighborhood to destroy my defiant house, or would they move on to bring death and tragedy to more of Tulsa? Tomorrow, I would find out.

I wished Batbayar well, hoped he found safety within Asylum before the storms came calling, and left at a brisk walk, debating my next move. With a check to cash, I would go to the bank first. I rarely went to the bank, and I never went to the bank on a Monday, as I was typically paid on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. If any bounty hunters were attempting to tail me, they’d get a surprise when I went deeper into Inner Tulsa before heading out for a bite to eat and descending into Asylum for the night.

In the morning, I needed to find out if Tulsa was the only place besieged with storms, or if Mother Nature played her part as much as those who somehow manipulated her to summon tornadoes to destroy my home.

With my magic, assuming I could force it to cooperate with me, I might learn more in Owasso, located sixteen miles from the northern outskirts of the city. I’d also bring back wood for Batbayar, as the City of Storms had plenty of broken wood to spare and nobody living to care who took what.