Page 86 of Steel & Thunder
“We have worked together for a few years.” He thinks for a moment. “I would not exactly say we are friends.”
“Is he a hard worker? Difficult to work with at all?” He seems to think he might have a lead.
“He always gets his job done, and we get along fine.” The man shrugs. “He’s always seemed nice enough.”
“Thank you for the answers. I am afraid I will need to speak with him next.” Sir exits the unit. “Would it be possible to get his address?”
“Yes, sir. I can get you that back in the office.” The man closes and locks the gate on the storage unit before leading us out.
“You think this Thog guy did it?” I ask under my breath.
“I do not know, but it is the only lead we have at the moment.” He pauses. “If the ward spells were all removed from the unit, that means whoever did this is either an employee or working with a powerful magic user.”
“Are there a lot of strong wizards in the area?” I wonder if that is something you can even keep track of.
“Not many that I know of.” He sighs. “Hopefully the forensic mages will be able to pull traces of something.”
Back inside, the employee walks back around the desk, grabbing a pen, ink, and a sheet of paper before pulling out a thick book. Must be some of the business’s records. He’s flipping through to find something in particular.
“Here we are.” He spots it and begins jotting down words. “Here is the address I have on file, sir.”
“Thank you very much, Mister...” I think he just realized we never got the guy’s name.
“Kurdt Swiftrun.” He hands over the paper. “I hope this helps. Please let us know if there is anything else we can do,” he repeats his boss’s line to us.
“Thank you. I hope the rest of your day is a pleasant one.” He gives the man a quick bow of his head. “Rumk’r avon.”
“You as well. Rumk’r avon.” Kurdt returns the bow as we walk out of the building.
“Is that our next stop?” I indicate to the paper in Khazak’s hand as we start walking north.
“Not yet. I want to go back to the station first.” He looks bothered by something. “If they are the magic user we are looking for, this may be more dangerous than anticipated.”
“So backup might be a good idea.” Hadn’t considered that. I might be fast and Khazak might be strong, but a wizard just needs one well-timed spell and we’re finished.
“I am sure it is nothing we cannot handle.” He turns to grin at me. “Much more exciting than your first day, eh?”
“Looking good so far.” I have to agree, though I still haven’t done anything except stand around gawking. Hopefully I’ll be of more use when we meet Thog.
Chapter Twenty
The sun is high in the sky by the time we make it back to the station, and if we weren’t in the middle of something important, I’d ask to stop for lunch. Searching for a shipment of missing and possibly stolen weapons is admittedly a pretty great reason for working through it though, so I keep it to myself. Our first stop is to the forensic lab, where Khazak asks the mages to inspect the storage unit. Then we walk straight into Ragnar’s office.
“How did it go?” He looks up when we enter.
“We confirmed the items were delivered, but there was no sign of them when the militia attempted to retrieve them this morning.” Khazak stands behind one of the chairs in front of the desk.
“So they were stolen?” Ragnar sighs.
“That is the assumption.” Khazak nods, standing in front of his desk. “All the wards on the storage unit had been dispelled and not a single alarm triggered.”
“Shit.” Ragnar sits up straighter. “Any leads?”
“I have the address of the worker who signed for the shipment. We were going over there to interview him next.” Khazak holds up the paper with Thog’s information.
“You want backup?” Ragnar sounds hopeful to get out of the office.
“To be on the safe side.” Khazak nods.
