Dead of Night (Ghosts & Magic #1) by M.R. Forbes

shrug?"
    "And an apology, and credit for a future inquiry."
    "But no money back?"
    "No. He did confirm that I'm right to be concerned."
    I looked out the window of the plane. We were approaching the gate. It was raining. "Stuck between a rock and a Black House." I was screwed the minute I touched that card. "I don't do this, we spend the rest of our lives trying to evade a kill team. Clean already said he would turn us in without batting an eye."
    "I know. I'm not trying to throw your game. I just want you to be extra careful. If they're meaning to hit you, hit them first, and then take whatever the hell that thing is and get out. Hell, if you make it through a trap alive, you might become the next Quidsy."
    I laughed at that. Quidsy was a ghost legend. A legend that retired young with all the cash he had earned, only to wind up feral. The rumor had it that his lover had put him down and then gone to collect the thousand dollar 'containment' reward. "I don't think I want to be the next Quidsy."
    "You know what I mean."
    The airplane doors opened, and everyone stood up around me, rushing to get their carry-on and get off. I sat patiently in my aisle seat, putting my hand to my mouth to stifle a cough. "We're at the terminal. I'll call you when I get to Fairfield."
    "Okay. Let me know if you need anything."
    "Thanks for worrying about me."
    "Everybody deserves to have someone to worry about them."
    "Even assholes like me?"
    "Especially assholes like you."

CHAPTER TEN
    Pit stop.

    The rain was coming down hard when I pulled over at a gas station in Fairfield. It was still early in the morning, which gave me lots of time to get myself together before the run. I navigated the Ford Focus I'd been assigned to a spot in front of a convenience store and pulled out my phone.  
    I stared at it for a minute. I told Dannie I'd call her, but I had nothing to say, and after her earlier pep talk I wasn't feeling like anything we chatted about would be helpful. I also knew she would worry more this way, and maybe a part of me preferred that. I pocketed the phone and got out of the car, lifting the hood of my sweatshirt up over my head to keep from getting too wet.  
    The look I got from the clerk told me I wasn't their typical clientele. His eyes followed me while I cruised the aisles, grabbing a Coke and a package of Twinkies. It was pure sugar, but I'd found that sugar helped after a treatment. It might have been a placebo thing, but I took what I could get.  
    I was headed for the counter when a redhead in a sharp suit yanked the front door open and ducked inside, dragging her umbrella behind her. She gave me a cursory glance and made her way through the store, quick and easy, sure of where she was headed. The clerk and I watched her go, and gave each other a knowing eye. She had that look to her, the one that made men dream. The one that could take that dream and run it right into the ground, or ram it back into your throat.  
    "Three-sixty," he said after he scanned my junk food. We had bonded over the woman, but he still seemed a little uncomfortable with me. I was willing to bet he didn't get too many half-dead guys in long trench coats and hoodies in these parts. This was a rich neighborhood, where thousand dollar suits and Mercedes held court. I was moving on up.
    I found a five in my pocket and dropped it on the counter. I smelled the woman before I felt the heat of her behind me. She was wearing some fancy perfume or other.  
    "Some weather," she said behind me.  
    I turned around.
    "I think I passed an ark a few miles back," I said. I gave her a closer look. Narrow face, huge brown eyes, plenty of makeup. Her red hair was the real deal, and flowed smoothly across her shoulders.  
    Her laugh was a little bit raspy, more scratchy than sultry. "I like that. I'm going to use that one, if you don't mind?"
    The clerk held out my change. I took it and jammed it into my coat, and then picked up my stuff from the counter. "You