Ghost of a Chance

That had been the last missing piece of the puzzle for Alex. With Jimmy Cortez leading the crew, it was a cinch how they’d got onto Barton’s traction motor, but Alex hadn’t been able to figure out how they’d picked Leroy Cunningham, draftsman, as their mining expert. It was a small detail, but Alex felt better for knowing it.

“Give me a minute,” Alex said, stepping into one of the booths and fishing a nickel out of his pocket. “I need to make a call, then we’ll call your wife.”

“She is okay, right?” Leroy said, worry blooming in his voice. “They said they had someone watching her and that they’d hurt her if I gave them any trouble so I… I just went along.”

Alex grinned at that. Leroy was a good kid, the kind who wouldn’t jaywalk, and the idea of being part of a heist didn’t sit well with him, even when he had no choice.

“You did the right thing,” Alex said, dropping the nickel into the phone. “Hannah’s fine. I got her stashed at my secretary’s place for safekeeping.”

Leroy closed his eyes and sighed, his body starting to tremble as the pent-up stress of the last week finally broke. Alex clapped him on the shoulder, then turned back to the phone and gave the operator the number of the brownstone.

“Iggy,” Alex said when the old man picked up. “I need you to get over to the Mount Sinai Hospital quick, Danny’s been shot.”

“I’m sure the doctors there will take good care of him,” Iggy said. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Alex said. “Well, I took a bullet to the hand, but it’s not too bad. Shield runes stopped the rest, but that’s not the point. Danny got hit three times, twice in the side and once in the arm. Before they took him away, he said he couldn’t feel his fingers.”

“Possible nerve damage,” Iggy said. “He’ll need a major restoration rune; how long has it been since he was shot?”

“About ten minutes, so you’ll need to get going.”

“All right,” Iggy said. “But I want you to meet me over there, so I can take a look at your hand, understand?”

Alex grinned.

“Yes, sir. I’ve got to let Leroy talk to his wife, and then we’ll be right over.”

“I’m glad you found him,” Iggy said in his gruff, official-doctor voice. “I want to hear all about it later, but for now, get going.”

He hung up and Alex fished his last nickel out of his pocket. He called Leslie and told her to bring Hannah over to the hospital, then passed the phone to Leroy so he could assure his wife that he was fine.

Alex couldn’t help grinning as he listened to Leroy try to calm his wife. He’d dreaded the thought of having to tell Hannah that he’d been too late. Now he could feel the knots in his neck and shoulders finally loosening.

“Well, hello,” a familiar voice said. “You sure seem to turn up in exciting places.”

Alex looked up to see the young reporter with the dimple and the brown suit approaching.

“What happened here?”

Alex resisted the urge to roll his eyes. The last thing he wanted was to deal with the press. He’d had enough of that over the last week. Still, if this reporter was here, there were bound to be others.

“Looks like I’m not the only one who shows up where they’re not expected, Mr. — ?”

The young man smiled and stuck out his hand.

“Tasker,” he said. “Billy Tasker.”

A surge of anger ran through Alex at the name. This little punk was the reporter causing him all the trouble with the police.

“You’re Tasker?” Alex said, stuffing his anger down into his gut. He shook the man’s hand but couldn’t manage a smile. “What’d I ever do to you?”

Tasker’s smile actually faltered, like he had no idea what Alex was talking about.

“I do a lot of work for the cops,” Alex explained. “You made it look like I’m some kind of crime solving genius and they’re my bumbling lackeys.”

A slow smile spread across Tasker’s face and he shrugged.

“Isn’t that pretty much how it works?” he asked in an amused voice. “The cops get in trouble and then you lead them around town till you solve their case?”

“You followed me,” Alex said, remembering when he first met Tasker. “That’s how you knew about the trucks.” He’d been on his way out of the Central Office to meet Danny when Tasker accosted him. Later that day, the story about his leading Danny and the cops to the factory full of stolen trucks appeared in the Sun.Tasker shrugged again.

“I saw you meeting your cop friend, the oriental, over at Gino’s,” he said. “When you left, you looked like you knew where you were going, so I followed. Worked out pretty good for me.”

Alex wanted to strangle the smug fool, but he thought better of it. Tasker used him, but maybe he could return the favor.

“I’ll tell you what,” Alex said. “Not only will I tell you exactly what went down here tonight, but I’ll get you an exclusive interview with someone who was on the inside.”

“If—?” Tasker asked, catching the conditional nature of Alex’s invention.

“Two things,” Alex said, holding up his fingers. “First, you keep my name out of it — no mention of the runewright detective.”

Tasker nodded.

“Your loss, but okay. What’s number two?”