Chapter Fourteen—Overlord’s Lackey

“Is this a secure line?”

“Yes,” John said simply. “May, we need your help.”

“I’m busy.”

“But it’s about Strogaus Industries and its test tube killer.”

There was a pause on the other end.

“What is it?” May finally said.

John glanced at Kyle, then said, “We need the location of the personal residence of one Georin Styne.”

“The mage scientist?”

“That’s the one,” John said.

There was a pause, then something blipped on their wristlets. It was a text message with an address.

“Good luck,” May said, then disconnected.

“Wow,” Kyle said. “Did she just say a ‘goodbye’?”

“Maybe she meant it more as a wish of wellbeing to two doomed fools.”

Oh crap, Kyle thought. That’s not good. What if it’s true?

“Chill out,” John said. “I’m messing with you.”

Kyle narrowed his eyes at the other Anarcho. Finally he asked, “You think he’s there?”

“Let’s go check it out,” John said. “If he’s not, at least we’ll have time to come up with a battle plan.”

“I got a plan,” Kyle said as he picked up his duffle bag and followed John to the rooftop landing pad. “We go in, we get the test tube’s location and we let our boy say hello to a bullet.”

John stepped into the elevator. “He’s probably got guards all over the place.”

“Good,” Kyle said. “I need to shoot something.”

“Me too.”

They laughed.

Coming out onto the roof, Kyle and John walked under the verandas to the enclosed car port. There was a remote door system, so when they were ready to leave, they could fly out easily without navigating their way to open airspace.

Kyle led the way.

“Of course you take us to the Corvo. You always do.”

“Best to stay in style,” Lexa said. “Do you not agree, John?”

“Yeah, John,” Kyle said. “You’re Staxx, aren’t you? He does things with style.”

“Get in the car.”

Georin Styne’s house was in a ritzy area on the other side of town. His residence was an actual manor house called Styne Manor.

Kyle perused the information Lexa had found for them on the censored holo-net. “So apparently Styne is the son of Karl Styne the Sixth. He was sent to Envision at the age of eighteen where he graduated with honors. He went on to get four PHDs in various sciences, including a degree in genetics.”

“That’s a lot of schooling.”

“Get this,” Kyle said, his face heating. He almost wanted to snarl. “He then attended the House of Imperial Mages where he spent the next fifteen years learning various magical aptitudes.”

“How old is this guy?”

“He’s seventy-three,” Kyle said.

“Damn,” John said. “He looks like he’s fifty.”

“Yeah, well, you know what they say,” Kyle said. “He’s probably injecting himself with the genes of infants and being infused with other necrotic magic.”

“If I didn’t want to kill him before,” John said, “I’ve made up my mind now.”

“But you don’t know that last part is even true,” Lexa added cheerfully. “Are you certain you don’t want to do more research to find out the validity of your—“

“No,” Kyle interrupted. “The fact that this overlord’s lackey is conducting unethical experimentation resulting in the lost lives of innocents is enough for me.”

“I guess you have a point, Kyle.”

“Damn straight I do.”

“We’re there,” John said.

Kyle glanced out the front viewport as rain droplets traveled up the windshield and over the transparent roof. With the rain and the storm, the only thing Kyle could see were half-obscured structures and colored mist from various neon advertisements.

“Can’t see anything.”

“Perfect,” John said.