I was five minutes late to partner assignment but no one seemed to care. They all looked like they were fighting off the symptoms of hangovers to even notice I was late. Or that I was glowing.
“Alright,” Tom smiled at me, “now that our ‘valedictorian’ has decided to join us, we can get on with this. Most of you will be assigned to the department that asked for you. In addition to the partner I’m assigning you, you’ll have another, older member of the Guild to answer to.”
Oh shit.
“Valedictorian,” he looked at me, “several departments asked for you but Lena decided to let you stick with the Security Office. Your partner is,” he lifted the top sheet, “Cody and your senior Guild member is…Jesse. You know him right?”
I nodded, sighing internally with relief. “When do we need to report in?”
“Now,” he chuckled, “go.”
I knew Cody, not very well but enough to know he was ok. We walked side by side down the hall. I noticed he was scratching the back of his neck.
“You shouldn’t do that,” I said. “Didn’t you put on that ointment they gave us?”
The corner of his mouth turned down. “Ointment?”
I sighed and pulled my Chap Stick sized applicator. I pulled him to a stop.
“Crouch down.” He did as I asked and I applied the ointment to his tattoo. He sighed in relief and stood back up.
“Thanks, Gee.”
“Did you forget to pick some up?”
“You know I don’t remember them telling us about that.”
I smiled and started walking again. “You need to pay attention, Cody. Or you’re going to miss something important.”
I knocked on the door and peered in. James looked up and smiled, buzzing us in.
“Hey, Vertigo,” he said, resting back in his seat. “You’re five minutes late.”
“Sorry. Where’s Jesse?”
“Right here.” He jogged over with a wooden box in his hand. “These are for you.” He handed the box to Cody who looked more than thrilled to receive them. “Yours are still in Captain’s office.”
“I thought I was getting new ones?”
“You are but you’ll have to use your old ones until the new ones are ready.”
Cody looked at me. “Am I missing something? You’ve been using real weapons? The whole time?” He looked at Jesse. “Why?”
“She has experience, man. You got lucky. Congratulations.”
Cody turned to look at me. “What kind of experience?”
“Does it matter?” He obviously hadn’t seen the back of my neck or heard the rumors. I looked at Jesse. “I’ll…”
He nodded. “Go get your weapons. We have somewhere we need to be.”
I jogged over to Gregori’s office and knocked.
“Come in.”
I opened the door and poked my head in. Gregori was sitting at his desk with the phone cradled against his shoulder while he flipped through paperwork.
“No, that’s not what I’m saying…” He waved me in. “Just get the job done, will you? Or I’ll find someone else who can.”
I smiled and he rolled his eyes at whoever responded to his comment. He opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out my wooden box. He tossed me his keys.
“Look, Dem, it’s not that hard. He broke the law, bring him in for sentencing or sedate him if he resists. It’s not that hard.”
He slammed the phone down on the base and sat back, closing his eyes. I undid the lock on the box.
“Hard day?” I asked, slipping my stakes into their holsters.
He opened one eye and looked at me. “Let’s just say I’ll be glad when it’s over.”
I smiled, knowing what that meant, and secured the gun. I still only had one bullet and I was fine with that. I was more than happy to kill someone with a knife or my stake before the gun.
“Who’d they stick you with?”
“Cody.” I took out one knife and tested the end for sharpness. I tended to use them more than anything else, just like always. “I’m not sure how great it’s going to be. He didn’t even know to put ointment on his tattoo.”
“He sounds like a real winner.”
I grabbed the other knife and sat in my usual seat. “So what are you going to do now that you don’t have me trailing around after you?”
He grinned. “The same actually. Having you along never changed my routine…well, other then the training sessions.”
I slipped the knives into my boots and stood up. “Well, have fun. If you need me, call.”
He snorted. “Shouldn’t that be the other way around?”
“No. I’m pretty sure what I said was right. You’ll be lost without me today, I promise.” I winked and turned to leave.
“Geo.” I paused and turned back. “Remember to bring those back.” He pointed at my belt.
“You know technically I don’t need you to lock them up anymore. I’ve been fine for a whole month.”
His face turned serious. “A month isn’t that long.”
“Gregori…”
“When you can go six months, then we’ll talk. Until then, weapons go in the box, in the bottom drawer, at the end of the day. Got it?”
“Fine.”
I walked out of the office and over to where my new partner-in-crime was waiting for me.
“Ready?” Jesse asked.
“Yup. I’m armed and ready.”