Spiritwalk by Charles De Lint Page A

now we know who snatched Button. His name’s Chance. He’s a biker that rides with the Dragon and if he’s involved, then his partner Joey Martin is, too. Maybe the whole local chapter.”
    “Bikers?” Emma said. “What would they want with me?”
    THEY MUST BE WORKING FOR THE WOMAN IN YOUR DREAM, Jamie said. IF SHE IS FAERIE, SHE’LL NEED HUMAN AGENTS.
    “And what better than the Dragon?” Blue said. He handed Emma back her package of letters. “I’ve got to go check this out.”
    “I’m com—”
    Blue cut her off. “Trust me in this. You don’t want to get involved in what’s going down. The best thing you can do right now is wait here for me. Nothing—and I mean
nothing’s
going to hurt you while you stay inside the House. It’s got ways of keeping undesirables out.” And keeping other folk in, he added to himself. He hoped Jamie knew enough to keep Emma here until he got back because he didn’t want to have to go out tracking down Emma just when he got back with Button.
    “But...”
    “Will you just do this one thing for me—trust us that far? You can talk to Jamie or explore all you want, just stay inside the House.”
    “All right.”
    “Thanks. Believe me, soon as something comes up where you can help, I’ll be the first to ask you to step in, but with what’s going down right now, I’ll be able to do a better job by myself where I don’t have to worry about anyone else.”
    The words BE CAREFUL appeared on Jamie’s screen.
    “Count on it,” Blue said. “You just take care of things here, Jamie.” As he got up to go, Emma caught his arm.
    “If... if something happens to... Button,” she said, “what’ll it do to me?”
    Blue glanced at Jamie’s screen, but the message BE CAREFUL hadn’t changed. “Let’s hope to Christ we never find out,” he said. Then he stepped out of the room and was gone.
    6
    The address that Tucker gave Blue was in Mechanicsville. Been a long time, Chance, Blue thought as he pulled his bike up in front of the house. He left his helmet hanging by its strap from the Harley’s handlebars. The Mustang wasn’t in sight, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. He meant to go in hard and fast—Chance would just have to take the hand he’d dealt himself and that’d be all she wrote.
    When he reached the front door, he kicked the heel of a boot against the paneling by the lock. The door sprang open with a crack like a gunshot and then Blue was inside, roaming through the house. Come on, he thought. Be here, for Christ’s sake. But the house was empty, upstairs and down, with no clue that Button had ever been brought here.
    Outside again, Blue looked up and down the street, but no one paid him any attention. Chance’s neighbors had probably seen the Dragon’s bikes pull up too often to get involved with any weird shit going down here.
    Okay, he thought, putting his helmet on again. Where now?
    He kicked the Harley into life and headed downtown to make the rounds of the bars and bike shops. He didn’t get lucky until late in the afternoon when he got to Judy Kitt’s place in Sandy Hill. It was a biker’s garage, run out of the garage in back of her house. Judy looked up from the old Norton she was working on at the sound of his motor.
    “Hey, Blue,” she said, wiping her hands on her greasy jeans. “How’s it hanging?”
    She was a skinny little thing with a frizz of blond hair held back with a hairband. Blue liked the way she handled herself. Even the biggest badasses backed down when she got on their case.
    “I’m doing okay,” he said. “Nice bike—yours?”
    “Nah. I’m fixing it up for Hacker. I like the way these English bikes ride, but I hate the way you have to baby them.” She checked out his Harley with an experienced eye. “Don’t tell me you’re bringing that in to me.”
    Blue laughed. “No. I’m trying to run down a guy—name of Chance. Runs with the Dragon.”
    Judy nodded. “Yeah. I’ve seen him around.