“The hell you doin’ here?”
The punk leaned against a dirty wall on a street corner, arms folded. Two others sat by a doorstep, one reaching into a jacket pocket. If they’d meant to intimidate JJ, they’d failed.
“I’m looking for some people,” JJ said.
The standing punk scoffed, shaking his head so his greasy hair swayed. “You found ‘em. But don’t expect an easy beat-down like you did to our boy.”
One man pulled a knife from his jacket pocket. The third man – muscular, with bound dreadlocks – stood and flexed his arms, veins popping along his biceps.
Oh, so scary.
“I’m not here to pick a fight,” JJ said. “I’m looking for a representative from Serene.”
Greasy Hair opened his mouth, confused. “So why the fuck you walkin’ round here?”
“There’s a rumor that Serene’s base of operations is in Howin.”
“How’d you know that?”
Because Howin was where all the criminal scum of the city lived. There was no rumor, just an educated guess. One that, apparently, had been confirmed by this idiot.
“Like I said, I’m following a rumor,” JJ said.
“What business you got with ‘em?” Greasy Hair said.
“I want to join them.”
“Bullshit.”
“It’s true.”
“Earlier you sent my boy to prison.”
“I’m not here to sell or consume drugs. Unless you’re suggesting Serene is joining the drug market.”
“I ain’t suggestin’ shit, ‘xcept that you a liar. Why’s a goody lil church boy wanna join Serene?”
Dammit, Paul! But... maybe JJ could utilize his friend’s interference.
“I’m done with them,” JJ said. “They’re a bunch of cowards who won’t fix our problems. I’d rather join an organization that’s taking action.”
Greasy Hair frowned.
“Look, if you don’t believe me, ask the guy who’s been following me for the last ten minutes. He’ll tell you about my fight with my old friend. Unless he’s not one of yours.”
Greasy Hair glared, then raised his hand and waved. A scrawny man with sunken cheeks appeared, one JJ had noticed tailing him since he abandoned Paul.
Good, so he would have seen the fight. Now hopefully he’d report the event accurately.
“You believe what this guy’s sayin’?” Greasy Hair said, then explained the situation. “You see that fight?”
“Yeah,” Sunken Cheeks said. “Pretty brutal, actually. Blasted ‘im in the face with that wind o’ his. Left him practically cryin’.”
“You ain’t shittin’ me?”
“Never, boss.”
Greasy Hair put his hand over his chin, his fingers brushing a cheek as oily as his hair. “I ain’t Serene, but I may know a guy who is. Why should I introduce you to them?”
“I’ll help get your boy out of prison,” JJ said.
“Bullshit.”
“Serene’s lost members to the police. All I need is to convince them to raid the station and bust them out. Your boy can get free, too.”
Greasy Hair scowled. “If you lyin’, then I’ll let Franky have fun with his favorite toy. And he’s real good at sneakin’ behind people.”
The guy with the knife – Franky, JJ presumed – was standing behind JJ. JJ had seen the man stand and mosey behind him a minute ago. But, he’d tried to be sneaky? Looked like Greasy Hair needed a new definition of ‘real good.’
Not that mentioning the truth would help. “It’s a good thing I ain’t lying.”
“Yeah, sure,” Greasy Hair said. “Come back in an hour. I’ll show you my guy. But if he ain’t havin’ you, never show up on my turf again. Unless you want a knife in the back.”
Maren sat on the hospital chair at the side of Diego’s bed, watching the panting acolyte. There were several ways to respond to Paul, but what mattered most was that his friend had decided to take on an entire terrorist organization by himself. So the most direct, concise response seemed the best course of action.
“Explain.”
“What, exactly?” Paul said.
“JJ,” Maren said. “Who is he? What can he do? Where’d you last see him? How does he think he can take down Serene? And why’s he doing it now?”
“Shouldn’t you go as soon as possible? He could be in danger.”
“I won’t have us run headfirst into a terrorist organization without info. If you want us to accept the job, we need details.”
“It’s a reasonable request, Paul,” Diego said.
Mav, now standing near the window, crossed his arms, one of his fingers tapping his bicep. Clearly, he wanted to find JJ, likely looking for an excuse to take down Serene himself. Thankfully, he held his tongue. A touch of gratitude fluttered in Maren’s chest; it was nice that he wasn’t undermining her authority.
Paul took a breath, closing his eyes. “JJ is my best friend and a Wind Weaver. Been that way since we were four. He’s a morally upright guy with a good heart, but his talents have given him a big head.”
“Which is my and all his teachers’ fault,” Diego said. “He’s talented and we lavished him with praise every chance we had. It clearly overinflated his ego.”
“Don’t blame yourself, Holy Father. We deacons-in-training did the same.”
“But there’s a huge leap from always getting complimented to thinking you can take down an entire terrorist organization,” Maren said.
“For one with average ability,” Diego said. “But JJ is a special case. There’s not a single task we’ve given him where he didn’t succeed.”
“Research, debates, and combat practices,” Paul said. “He’s never failed at any of them.”
“So he doesn’t know his limits,” Mav said. “And he’s good at what he does. Yeah, I see where he’s coming from.”
Maren sighed. Sounded like JJ was just like Mav, only without the life experience of being surrounded by danger. God help us all.
“So why now?” Maren asked. “First bomb went off three weeks ago.”
Paul shifted, eyes on the floor. “He had a... disagreement with Deacon Mark. He’s always wanted to bring criminals to justice, so he walks around the bad parts of town. Today, he busted a drug deal. When Deacon Mark chewed him out for it, JJ left the temple. I met him going back into Howin, where he... told me his plans and that I shouldn’t get in his way.”
Paul’s eyes misted. Seemed those words weren’t given philosophically.
“Why does he think he can do better than the Peace Keepers?” Maren asked.
“Respectfully, Honored Leaper, the Peace Keepers haven’t done anything useful. They spend most of their time around Wilkins’ CEO and have never gotten to a bombing site before the paramedics. He feels frustrated with their lack of results.”
Mav, arms still crossed, flexed, his mouth chewing on nothing. He must hate how useless the Peace Keepers are here.
“We can’t officially go against Serene, as we’ve been warned many times,” Maren said, glancing at Diego. “But no one said we can’t talk some sense into JJ.”
Paul beamed. “You’ll accept the job?”
Maren nodded. “Give me a picture of him, the location of where you last saw him, and the direction he was going. We’ll talk about price after we see how difficult it is to bring him back.”