10. Cal #2
He almost dropped the slab in surprise when golden runes flared to life across its surface.
They quickly scrawled out an account number, along with other identifying information.
He hesitantly touched the runes with his fingers and found that he was able to scroll through the record like he was flipping pages, new information appearing to replace the old.
“Nifty,” he said.
Griff grunted his agreement. He watched over Cal’s shoulder with a frown. “I don’t think that’s the right account.”
“Nope,” Cal said. He flicked through the tablet and discovered a meticulous record of every transaction this particular account had ever made. He let out a low whistle. “But look at all this information. I could do so much with this…”
“I’m sure you could,” Griff said with a slight edge to his voice. He snatched the tablet from Cal’s grip. The golden runes on its surface faded as he carefully slid it back into place on the shelf. “But we’re only here for one account in particular. No snooping around.”
“Fine,” Cal sighed. He cast one last glance toward the returned tablet, mourning the lost opportunity. So many potential targets and blackmail opportunities…
His heart fell as he took in the endless rows of stone slabs. “How the Void are we supposed to find the one we need in this labyrinth? There must be well over a thousand of them there to search through. We’d be caught long before we made it through a single shelf.”
A sudden flash of light emanated from behind them. Cal whirled, starting to fall into a crouch to attack before recalling his current disguise as an attendant.
Rising, he straightened his uniform and cleared his throat. “Apologies. Is someone…”
He trailed off, his words dying in his throat. Instead of another attendant, he found himself staring at a ball of golden light hovering in midair near the center of the room like a miniature sun.
An archon, he realized. That’s what it had to be—a magical construct forged from dawnflame.
Given its unshaped, amorphous form, this one was probably a lesser archon, for which Cal was grateful.
While he’d never had much cause to interact with the beings directly, what little he’d heard hadn’t made him eager to start.
They tended to be devoted to one of the five Dawn Virtues…
and not take kindly to anyone who violated it.
Cal glanced at Griff, who like him, was studying the archon uncertainly. The little ball of light hadn’t attacked them yet. Perhaps it worked here in the archive? It seemed worth a shot.
He stepped forward, raising his voice. “Excuse me. We’re looking for the file for a specific account.” He rattled off the account number. “Can you help us?”
The archon bobbed in place for a moment before abruptly zipping across the room in a beam of light. Cal stared after it, then shrugged and followed.
Griff fell into step beside him, his brow furrowed. “It doesn’t feel right, duping a Celestial servant like this.”
“I’m pretty sure archons don’t actually serve the Celestials,” Cal said. “Men created this particular servant. It would be a shame not to put their hard work to good use.”
Despite the archon’s speed, the bright halo of light it gave off made it easy enough to track. They found it hovering in front of one of the stored tablets. As soon as they approached, the archon raced off in another blaze of radiance.
Blinking away the afterimage, Cal reached up. His fingers hesitated over the indicated tablet. It couldn’t possibly be this easy…could it?
He expected alarms to blare or for the tablet to refuse to activate. Yet it came to life just like the last one, golden text appearing across its surface.
Griff leaned in, scanning the account number. He flashed Cal a triumphant grin. “This is it! Whoever owns this account paid Bald Locke to smuggle in that void orb.”
Griff’s grin opened up his stern face in a way Cal hadn’t seen before. Finding it difficult to look away, he held the tablet out. “Well, then—shall we do the honors together?”
Griff took the other side of the tablet to hold it between them as they browsed through the information. “I don’t recognize the name registered to the account,” he said with a frown. “Do you?”
Cal shook his head. “Jumic Enterprises doesn’t ring any bells. Let’s see what else they’ve been up to.”
Browsing through the recent account history didn’t offer much help.
If anything, it only confused them further.
Cal recognized a few of the businesses listed, but they seemed to span everything from manufacturing to entertainment, spread across all sections of the city.
Whoever this was, they had deep, deep pockets, and their hand in a lot of different pots.
Griff glanced up from the tablet toward the closed door. “We’ve been gone a long time. We should get back.”
“You’re right. But I’m taking this with us.”
Both his thief’s marks were full, one with his tools and the other with the void orb, so he settled for carrying the tablet the old-fashioned way. Tucking it under his uniform as best he could, he started toward the door.
He’d barely taken a handful of steps from the shelf when the archon reappeared. It zipped in front of him, barring his way. He tried to step around it, but it shifted to block him, buzzing with obvious agitation.
“I don’t think it wants us to take the tablet,” Griff said.
“Oh, really? I couldn’t tell.” Cal crouched down, glaring at the archon. “Well, I’m not about to be outdone by a little…ball…of gas…”
As he spoke, he tried to juke the archon and make a break for the door. But the archon was too quick, flitting in front of him to thwart each attempt.
He clenched his jaw. “Think one of your enchanted bullets can take this thing out?”
Griff shot him a horrified look. “I’m not murdering a divine servant to help you steal something, Cal!”
Part of Cal relished hearing his real name on the inspector’s lips. He was pretty sure it was the first time Griff had used it.
Focusing back on the archon, he reached beneath his shirt. His grip tightened protectively around the tablet. “In that case, I’m going to see how good a job my fists do.”
“Morality of slaying an archon aside, I suspect killing it would attract far too much attention.”
“Oh, yeah?” Cal pulled out the tablet and waggled it in Griff’s direction. “Well, we need the information on this thing for your case, and I’m not leaving empty-handed. So unless you’ve got a better idea, I’ll take my chances.”
“As a matter of fact, I do.” Griff reached into his pocket and pulled out a pad of paper, along with a Vantoric pen.
Cal stared at the inspector, his cheeks heating. He cleared his throat. “Oh. Right. Well, er, carry on then.”
He held the tablet for Griff, flicking through the stored information while Griff jotted down what he could. The tablet’s records were far too extensive for Griff to get everything—not without keeping them here way too long.
But he grabbed the most pertinent leads for them to follow up on. At least, Cal assumed he did. This sort of thing was more Griff’s area of expertise than Cal’s. Breaking into a bank was more his speed.
Once they’d decided they’d pushed their luck as far as they dared, they returned the tablet to its spot and started toward the door. Cal kept a wary eye on the archon, but the Void-cursed thing made no further move to block them.
Griff bowed his head to the archon as he passed. “Thank you for your help, little one.”
Cal rolled his eyes. “It’s a construct. It doesn’t care.”
Griff shrugged. “That’s no reason not to be polite.”