Full Moonster [BUREAU 13 Book Three] by Nick Pollotta Read Free Book Online Page A

Da . But you good teacher."
    The mage gave a cocky smile. “Yes, I am. Okay, go for it."
    "Mindy!” Katrina called, her staff starting to visibly pulse with power.
    Sword in hand, the slim woman turned from slicing apart a particularly determined bit of ragweed. “Yeah?"
    "I will be point."
    "Be my guest,” Mindy said waving her forward.
    After consulting her pocket spell book, Katrina adjusted her top then started chanting and spinning her staff in the manner of a drum major's baton. Steadily, the speed increased until the wand was only a blur. Then the Russian mage removed her hand and the steel length continued to twirl in place, going faster and faster, until into the rod hummed from the sheer raw velocity of its violent rotations.
    "Forward!” Katrina boomed in a Voice of Command, and the staff levitated towards the town.
    As the smear advanced, everything in front of us was instantly reduced to flying splinters and dust. Some of the greenery tried to make a run for safety, but each was annihilated. The saps. Single file, we followed the wizard and her wand, staying in the trail of bare dead earth of her wake.
    Occasionally, some fanatic bush would try to run close anyway, and we shot it to pieces. Brought a whole new meaning to the term ‘crabgrass'.
    As the team progressed, I could only catch an occasional glimpse of the street beyond the row of houses. There did not appear to be any wrecked vehicles or bodies, but I wasn't sure. Definitely a lot of damage to the buildings. Maybe this whole incident was only a horticultural experiment gotten entirely out of control, or a lunatic killer wearing a bad toupee. Intelligent werewolves? Nyah.
    Exiting the forest, Katrina reclaimed her staff and allowed Mindy to take point again. Only dried mud, gravel and a flimsy wire fence stood between us and Hadleyville. We moved closer. It was a hurricane wire fence, topped with an array of thin wire resting on insulated posts.
    "Electrified?” Mindy asked, furrowing her brow.
    "Detection wire,” I answered. “Works on proximity, same principle as the warhead on a missile. However, with two mages near by it should be dead."
    Boldly, I touched the wire and nothing happened. Just like with radios, TVs, computers and guns, mages were just a wet blanket on the fire of technology. Whenever we had to use a commercial airline, getting Raul and Katrina past the security scanner was always a royal pain in the butt. Banned under official edict, we weren't ever allowed to visit Dulles Airport anymore. Plus, I don't even want to think about the problems we experienced getting cable TV installed!
    Set in a sturdy iron-pipe framework, a simple hinged door with a commercially purchased lock barred our use of the fence. A key lock? Trying not to laugh, I reached for a lock pick in my shirt, but Mindy cut off the restraining bar with a swipe of her sword. The metal pieces tumbled to the ground, the ends mirror bright. Raul scanned for magical runes, while George checked for booby traps before we swung the gate aside. It was clean. Beyond the fence was a wide expanse of plush lawn, deep green and smooth as a billiard court. Or was that a pool table? Golf course? Cricket? Aw, sports were not my forte.
    With her sword in hand, Mindy started through the fence.
    "Freeze,” George growled, his eyes reduced to mere slits.
    Everybody went motionless.
    Silently chewing the inside of his cheek, George stared at the manicured lawn. “Ed, got an EMS with you?"
    I patted my hip. “Of course."
    "Do a full spectrum scan, will ya?"
    What an incredible paranoid the man was. But then, that's how you survive in the Bureau. I once got bit ‘where the sun don't shine’ because I thought a banister was safe to sit on. I had been very wrong.
    "Natch,” I said in agreement, holstering a gun.
    Reaching into the jacket of my sports coat, I removed a portable electromagnetic scanner and started a general sweep of the lawn. The readings went off the scale.
    "Land