Elfhome

Four and Twenty was in the Strip District, giving Tommy reason to suspect that the tengu village was north of Pittsburgh. Tengu would fly in out of the dark on wings of glossy black feathers. With a word, they would cancel the spell that created their wings and walk into the bar. While Tommy masked them from the tengu coming and going, Bingo sniffed around both the front door and the back.

“Riki doesn’t seem to be here, Tommy.” Bingo drifted back into the shadows across the street. “Be careful. If you need me, just yell.”

The bar was crowded, but dim. Tommy avoided the bar. The people sitting there looked in too many random directions, and the mirror behind the bartender doubled his danger. Tommy slipped back to the corner of the room, trying to keep focused on his appearance while listening in to the conversations that he passed. He found an empty table without hearing one mention of racing. He wished he could take the hat off; it was muffling his hearing. Still, he could make out conversations that the various parties thought were under the general level of noise. He focused on each discussion around him in turn.

In the corner booth, four males were discussing the weather report for the next day. They made travel arrangements without indicating where they would be heading, but Tommy listened with interest. There were few places in Pittsburgh where tengu would find driving easier than flying. The racetrack was one. He didn’t recognize any of them, but as three got up to leave they called the fourth by name. Kenji. Babe’s cap bet was placed by a Kenji Toshihiko. Was it the same person?

Tommy caught Kenji as he counted out money for the tab. He slid into the booth and put out his leg, trapping the tengu into his side. Tommy said nothing, only glared; waiting to see if this male knew Riki.

Kenji’s eyes went wide. “Shoji, what are you doing here?”

“I’ve been worried about how things are going.” There, nice and vague.

The tengu male got a slightly guilty look on his face that he banished away. Oh, what is this? Something that Shoji — and ultimately — the spiritual leader wouldn’t like?

“The city is a powder keg.” Tommy poked at the tengu’s conscience. “One little thing and it’s going to blow to pieces. If it does, I’m afraid a lot of our people will be hurt.”

“Most of our people don’t go into the city,” Kenji said.

“The race tomorrow is sure to pull some of them.” Tommy said.

Again, another guilty look.

“I heard what you’ve done and I don’t like it,” Tommy said.

“Does your uncle know?”

“Not yet.”

“It’s only the one time. The only ones hurt by the phones going down were the oni brats. It was the only way to sucker them into a big payoff. They wouldn’t have taken a big bet at the long odds, and with each small bet, they would have adjusted the odds down.”

Damn right he would have. Unlike the people making the bets, Tommy didn’t gamble. Only outright fraud like the tengu could have forced him into losing money. He controlled the urge to rip Kenji’s throat out. He still had to find out how they planned to win the race.

The waitress came to collect Kenji’s bill.

“Let’s talk about this where we will not be overheard.” Tommy let Kenji lead him out the door, concentrating on keeping his appearance through the crowds. Once outside, he caught hold of Kenji’s arm and urged him toward where Bingo was hidden. His cousin gave a wolfish grin but stood silent as Tommy kept him invisible from the tengu. Once they were past him, Bingo quietly followed.

“You’re putting our people’s safety on the line to cheat on a race?” Tommy talked to distract Kenji as he led the tengu even father from the bar, where cries of pain wouldn’t be heard.

“We checked carefully. The rules allow you to switch out bikes up to the last minute.”

They’d found a loophole. Tinker had invented the hoverbikes, and up till now, was the only one that understood the blend of magic and technology enough to improve on the basic design. It was such common knowledge when Tinker sold one of her custom Deltas, Tommy could easily adjust the odds.

“I don’t see how you’re going to get your hoverbike past the oni brats.” Tommy hated using the words to describe himself. He spat them out in anger.

Kenji mistook his tone. “The dogs won’t be able to do anything. It took careful manipulations, but the Wyverns will be there — seeing what the newly found baby sekasha does in his spare time. We’re going to show up just before the first race, wipe everyone off the track with our bike, collect our winnings and leave.”

With the Wyverns unintentionally protecting them every step of the way. If Tommy didn’t get to the bike before they got to the track, there would be no stopping them without getting the elves involved.

Kenji finally noticed that they’d walk for several blocks into a warehouse district. He laughed nervously. “Are we walking back to the Nest?”