Dust

By A.G. Carpenter

Half-Fae cop, Jonas Flannery has lost enough partners in his years on the job - to drugs, to corruption, to the monsters that prowl the streets. When his current partner, Lola Rodriguez, is whammied by a dying pixie queen, he finds himself in a race against time to find the drug producing Dust farm, free the other Corlun, and save Lola before the magic breaks her mind.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A.G. Carpenter
• Release date: Jul 28, 2015
• ISBN: 9781513035109

A.G. Carpenter

A.G. Carpenter writes fiction of (and for) all sorts. Her short stories have appeared in Daily Science Fiction, Abyss & Apex, and Nature Magazine - Futures. She prefers Die Hard to When Harry Met Sally and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly over Animal House. Her favorite color is black. Repped by Bob Mecoy.

Book preview

Dust

A.G. Carpenter

Published by A.G. Carpenter, 2015.

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

DUST

First edition. July 28, 2015.

Copyright © 2015 A.G. Carpenter.

ISBN: 978-1513035109

Written by A.G. Carpenter.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dust

Also By A.G. Carpenter

About the Author

The call comes just as I'm nodding off to the half-hearted laughter of late-late-night programming. I fumble the phone up to my ear before thinking to check the caller ID.

Yeah?

Flannery. It's Lola.

Shit. I glance at the clock. It's one in the morning, Rodriguez.

I know. I'm sorry, but I've got a special problem I need help with.

Can't it -

No. I'll pick you up downstairs in five minutes.

I'm not... Hello? The phone beeps sadly, indicating the call is ended. Damn. I pry myself out of my chair and shuffle into the bathroom. Take a piss, clear the film out of my mouth with a couple swallows of whiskey, tuck yesterday's shirt into my pants, collect my sidearm and head downstairs.

There are only a handful of things one cop will call another cop for help with. Friend/lover/brother OD'd. Killed some shithead perp and need a place to dump the body. Gambled away money out of the evidence locker and need to find a way to replace it quick.

Rodriguez is fairly new, not just to my precinct, but to the force, and as far as I can tell, she isn't dirty. Not that being new is a guarantee. Some of 'em come out of the academy already bought and paid for. Still, seeing as how we've only been partnered up for a few weeks, it's unlikely she'd come to me for help with any of those things anyway. More logical she'd go back to someone at her first precinct or handle it on her own.

I've got a special problem, she'd said. Maybe she's dragging me into something an ordinary cop, dirty or clean, can't handle.

The overnight doorman, more bouncer than concierge, with carefully maintained muscles to match, gives me a friendly nod as I stuff a few quarters down the throat of the instant coffee machine.

Late night, sir?

Looks that way.

Jumper? he says by way of conversation.

It's not a bad guess. I'm supposed to be on a rotating shift for jumper duty, but somehow, any time dispatch