Bad News

San scowled as he stalked off, rotating his shoulder. Anger was rising from him in waves.

"Are you sure this was a good idea," Court asked, glancing at Lucy and Aarti who were sporting grim faces.

"No, but it was the only idea we had," Lucy replied. Aarti nodded. "It's getting out of hand."

"And we still don't know where he's getting that stuff," Rena added from a nearby sofa. She frowned at the little pile of silver boxes on the main coffee table. "How did we not notice this?"

Court scooped up one of the boxes and carefully pried it open. The powder within was still that same, floury concoction. Only this time, the flecks within were a strange orange color instead of blue or green.

"What I want to know is didn't he notice that the stuff's changing? Or is it some other thing that's being added that he's not aware of?" Court said, closing the box gingerly.

"Well, whatever it is, it's not good for him." Lucy plopped down next to Rena. "That was so much harder to do than I thought it would be. Do we have an ETA on Dawnie or Don?"

Aarti walked to the kitchenette and pulled out a couple containers of cookies. She returned to the sofa that Lucy and Rena was sitting on, handing Rena one of the containers.

"Well, we know it's bad because you're not baking at all," Aarti said. "That seems to be your go-to thing when you're stressed."

"Beyond stressed," Lucy admitted. She snuck one of Aarti's cookies and chewed thoughtfully. "I don't think I've been this stressed in a long, long while, actually."

They munched on cookies for a few minutes, studiously ignoring the pile of snuffboxes.

Jebediah finally exited his lab, a rather solid section walled off with breakfronts and china cabinets. He held a sheaf of papers in his hand. His hair had returned to its usual bird's-nest appearance, a sure sign of anxiety.

"Did you get all of it from San?" He abruptly asked as he stood in front of the coffee table and swept the three girls with a slightly frantic look.

"We got everything he'd squirreled away here. Which was probably everything he has now," Aarti continued, fishing out another cookie.

"A. You're all going to get fat if you keep eating all these cookies and B. There's something seriously wrong with this stuff." Jebediah flipped through the sheaf. "The first box you gave me showed that this is a derivative of Quell, but it's mixed with some weird methamphetamine. The second box I got an hour ago showed that the mix lacked the first additive, but instead whoever it was added in some sort of opioid."

"Gateway drugs," Lucy breathed out. "They're intentionally trying to hook him on something, and they're starting him with gateway drugs."

"I would think opioids are already bad enough," Rena said. She closed her container and set it on the coffee table. "We don't know how many of these boxes he's gone through. This is just what we found when we searched."

"So, you're saying that someone is drugging San?" Aarti asked. She put her cookie down. "I think I'm losing my appetite."

"What if it's a plot?" Court asked, reaching down and finally catching the little robot vacuum cleaner as it sped towards the crumbs by the sofa.

They'd missed it the last two times they'd tried catching it. The first time, it had already vanished back into the depths of the warehouse when Court and Jebediah had rushed back after Lucy's hint. The second time, it had simply gone into what they referred to as the 'evil fortress of chairs.'

"A plot?" Lucy looked at the small electronic as it whirred indignantly.

"Give me a minute," Court said.

He held the vacuum cleaner up to his face and eyed it intently. There was an almost invisible and inaudible wave that pulsed from him. Court drew in a sharp breath.

Rotating the device, he pressed a spot, causing a hatch to pop open. He withdrew a sim card.

"Someone was spying on us," Court said.

"For how long?" Rena asked. She shared a worried look with Jebediah.

"Not a clue, but I haven't been chasing this thing for that long, have I?" Court asked Lucy who shook her head.

"I'd say it's been a couple weeks since it showed up. We haven't really been doing anything really dodgy. I mean, Aarti and Rena have been mostly shopping and you two were busy moving stuff." Lucy leaned back against the sofa, her head hitting the headrest repeatedly. "Why is being a leader so hard?"

"Because you're the one who got nominated, and I refuse to lead anybody," Aarti promptly replied.

"And that's got to do with it, how?" Rena asked, shaking her head.

"It's a reason. If she wasn't the leader, her life would be rainbows and puppies," Aarti replied.

"And on that note, let's call Don and Dawnie, and find San before whoever gives him more stuff that might kill him," Lucy said with a sigh. "Puppies, hah!"

*****

San paced restlessly in the alley. He was near the usual coffeeshop. His contact hadn't been that cheerful to hear from him, especially when he'd admitted that he didn't have the little spy device they'd had him plant.

"So, you want something without payment?" She asked, walking up to him. Her usual smile was absent.

"I can give you payment. What do you want?" San replied. He could feel the sunlight as prickles on his skin, even here in the shadowy alleyway.

"I don't know what you could possibly give me that's worth another box," the girl replied. She ran a hand through her curly brown hair, her expression cool.

"Are you looking for information?" San smiled bitterly as she failed to hide the spark of interest. "I have a lot of information that isn't common knowledge."

"If you're talking about the whereabouts of Court, Rena and Jebediah, then we already know roughly where they are," the girl responded expressionlessly.

"I'm not talking about those traitors," San snarled. "I'm talking about people you might want to know about."

"Keep speaking."

"How about if I tell you I know where Leilani is hiding?"

San dismissed the slight dismay in his heart as the girl reached into her purse and pulled out a gleaming, silver snuffbox.

"We might have a deal."