Chapter 10
Midnight. The city around Blue was all shadow and light. Stark contrasts that hid untold things of beauty and dread. He could sense the unease of the men in him. They were keyed up for action. Malone kept licking his lips nervously which kept sending little dribbles of donkey saliva onto Blue's floorboard. It was gross but Harry was too focused on what he was planning to take notice.
"You're clear on what you have to do?" Dresden asked as they pulled into the parking lot of the little league field.
"Yeah. I know," Malone replied with yet another lick of his lips.
Dresden shut off the engine and taking his staff, got out. Malone took a couple of deep breaths and did likewise. The two men walked to the edge of the field and a shape shimmered and coalesced into Monaghan standing on the pitcher's mound.
"You're punctual, Dresden," Monaghan said trying to sound more sure of himself than he was.
"I used to deliver pizza in thirty minutes or less," Dresden said flatly. Blue had heard him use better lines but the set up hadn't been all that good either. "Let's see the cage."
Monaghan produced the small cage with Toot still inside it. The faery light was a little dimmer than usual. Perhaps that was caused by the cage or it could have been Toot's condition. Either way he was still trapped.
"The coins?" Monaghan said.
"Right here," Dresden produced two metallic discs between finger and thumb. Then he walked out to the mound like a manager going to council with his pitcher. As Dresden stepped onto the mound Monaghan eased off the far side with his hands slightly raised as if unsure how close he wanted Harry to get.
"That's far enough, Dresden. Let me see the coins." Monaghan said. Reaching into his pocket he came out with a small flash light. He snapped it on and flashed it right into Harry's eyes. As Harry threw up his hand to shield his face Monaghan dropped down and quickly touched the dirt of the pitcher's mound. Blue felt the snap of a containment circle and saw the flickering sparks of an inexpertly crafted spell.
"You bastard!" snapped Dresden.
"What?" Monaghan nearly laughed. "Did you think I was stupid enough to let a wizard of the White Council come up to me and maybe throw some kind of spell? Was I supposed to just accept that you would stick to our agreement? Not just no, Dresden. Hell no! I didn't come this far to end up in the hands of the Wardens. I doubt they would have done anything to me but then again they might. You'd know more about that sort of thing than me."
"Let the faery go," Dresden growled. "Do you really think your circle has enough power to hold me?"
"Yeah, Dresden. I think that," Monaghan snapped back. "I think I've got enough power right now to be more than a match for you or any ten wizards you could name. Now where are the real coins?"
"Right here you idiot," Dresden spat.
"Those?" Monaghan really did laugh this time. "That's a couple of washers with a glamour on them. Nice try but we're way past parlor tricks. Three seconds, Dresden."
Blue watched as Monaghan lifted the little cage up in front of himself and glowered at Harry. Monaghan was shaking like a junky ready for his next fix. Suddenly that familiar feeling crept up on Blue again. He couldn't quite place it but he knew that it had been there at the office on Park and he was certain he'd felt it before that. Could it be Monaghan calling up power? That didn't sound right but Blue had never been around anyone tapping into the power from leprechaun gold before.
"You really don't want to play it like this, Monaghan," Dresden warned.
"Yeah? I think I do," Monaghan scowled at Harry. He screwed up his face in concentration and the cage shrank ever the slightest bit. Inside Toot Toot screamed in sudden fright and pain. "The coins! Now!"
"I warned you," Harry's voice was low and deadly. Mayhem had returned to the light in his eyes. Blue was almost physically quivering from the stress. He felt he had to do something to help but what? With unexpected speed Dresden drove his staff diagonally into the dirt at the edge of Monaghan's circle.
"Ventas servitas!" Dresden shouted. The ground around the tip of his staff burst like a miniature bomb. Wind rushed up and carried the little cage out of Monaghan's grasp right to Malone. Monaghan panicked. He forgot all about Harry and rushed after the cage. Malone had the cage in one hand and heavy lineman's pliers in the other. He was working the jaws through the fine silver laced bars even as Monaghan tackled him. The two went down in a heap of kicking legs and scrabbling hands. They rolled across the ground and finally came to a stop. Monaghan was on top and wrenched the damaged cage from the bookie's grip. He was grinning wildly holding the cage away from the smaller man beneath him. Then he was blinded by lights and noise. Blue had finally seen his chance to help. He had thrown his will into getting his lights on high beam and inadvertently sent feed back through his horn which hadn't worked in over a year. Now with the sudden noise and light to distract Monaghan, Malone snatched the cage back and pealed the top open.
Looking up with wide eyes Monaghan gasped in a voice that had gone two octaves higher, "Oh SHIT!"
Toot shot from the ruined cage and hovered a few feet above Monaghan's head. His nimbus was glowing so bright it was painful for eyes to look upon. The glare of Blue's high beams was as nothing to the flare of the enraged faery.
"Timothy Alan Monaghan," Toot roared in a voice that was far to loud to come from such a small thing. "You have pained me! You imprisoned me! You INSULTED me!"
Malone might not have been the smartest of guys but he knew when something god awfully bad was going down. The bookie scrambled out from under Monaghan and ran into the dark. For his part the rogue practitioner could only stare at what was coming.
"For all these woes I damn thee!" Toot screamed. There was a sudden flash of light and where Monaghan had been crouching on the turf there was now a very confused looking black pig. "Be thou the swine you truly are until you have suffered as I have."
If Blue had had eyes he would have blinked. "Damn. Remind me never to piss off a faery."
"Charles David Malone," Toot called into the darkness. "I return you to what you were."
With those last words Toot threw a salute to Harry and shot off into the night. Harry stepped off the pitcher's mound and strolled over to the Blue Beetle. He reached in and switched off the lights then jiggled the wires under the steering wheel until the horn shut off. By the time he turned back to the field three figures were coming across the lawn.
"I'm back," Malone stammered unbelieving as he touched his rather ordinary human face.
"Glad you could show up, John," Dresden said to one of the men accompanying Malone. The other was Hendricks.
"Good evening, Mr. Dresden," Marcone said with a casual smile. "You told me you would demonstrate the reason I should hand the coins over to you. As I see it that reason just flew off into the night."
"That?" Dresden gestured in the direction Toot Toot had flown. "That was only a faery. You're going to have a leprechaun to deal with pretty soon."
"Really?" Marcone didn't quite scoff.
"Aye, laddy," Said a voice from the darkness. Out of one of the dugouts stepped a small, wizened little figure in a red sports jacket and a red ball cap. "I'll be having me coins back if ye please."
Hendricks took two long strides and interposed himself between his boss and the small person.
"Hendricks, I wouldn't do that if I were you," Harry warned in a low, serious tone. "He CAN kill you with magic."
"Aye, big mhan," confirmed the leprechaun. "An' I will too."
Hendricks looked down at the small creature then back to his employer. Marcone waved him aside.
"It seems that these coins will be of less value than I had hoped," Marcone produced two cardboard backers like the ones collectors would store their rare finds in. He gave a brief smile to Dresden then handed them to Hendricks with a motion toward the leprechaun. Hendricks in turn very carefully handed the things to the small creature.
"Thankee, kind hosts," the leprechaun said with a tip of his hat.
"You'll be wanting this one too," Harry said pulling the penny from his pocket. "I don't know where the others are."
"Nay, Master Dresden. Keep that as a memento," the leprechaun said. "I've attended to t'other coins a'ready."
With another tip of his hat and a wink the leprechaun turned to leave.
"Why did you give me this?" Dresden asked before it could disappear.
"Fer good luck o'course, Master Dresden."
Harry half smiled with a raised eyebrow. "Well... Thanks. And thanks too for the lights and horn. It helped."
"Lights an' horn?" the leprechaun was puzzled. "Nay. Not I, Master Dresden. It was just luck."
The leprechaun with a knowing smile turned again and disappeared into the dark.
"I suppose I should thank you, Master Dresden, for looking out for my interests," Marcone said laconically.
"I'm just glad those coins are off the street, John," Harry replied. "Come on, Charlie. I'll buy you a cup of coffee before we go see Detective Murphy."