After another twentyish minutes of driving, we ended up outside the city at a slick steel-and-glass office building in a place called Troy. David parked the SUV in an underground lot, and I followed him and Victor to the nearby elevator.

        Victor pressed the button for the top floor.

        Penthouse. Fancy.

        As I stepped out of the elevator, the place honestly caught me off guard. We were in a glass-roofed atrium that was two or three stories high, with palm trees, balconies, and a couple of bubbling water features scattered around a hardwood reception desk. The whole thing had a decidedly tropical feel, like the lobby of a resort in Hawaii.

Behind the desk sat a horrifyingly attractive brunette.

        “Hey, Victor,” she called out, bored. “Who’s the new guy?”

        “This is the Murder City Avenger himself: Jack Fox,” Victor announced with a hint of sarcasm.

        “Oooooooh, Victor says you’re a hero,” she teased me with a laugh, dragging out the last word. “Oh. Victor…she is waiting for you in your office.”

        “Thank you, Clara,” Victor said, with a small nod, and continued on his way. Without a word, I followed.

        Who was this she that Clara seemed so disgusted by? I supposed it wouldn’t be long before I found out.

        We approached a set of mahogany double doors at the far end of the atrium and Victor let us in with a quick biometric thumbprint scan.

        Let’s stop here for a second.

        Remember when I said the girl behind the reception desk, Clara, was “horrifyingly attractive?” Well, that was before I found out who the aforementioned she was.

        Waiting for us in Victor’s office was the angriest, most extraordinarily gorgeous redhead I have ever seen in my life. My brain momentarily short-circuited and I had the inexplicably out-of-character urge to make a “red hot” pun, but I didn’t because I’m not a douche bag and I figured this pissed off ginger could absolutely kill me if she felt like it. The gun on her hip scared me less than the look in her eye.

        Then she really looked at me.

        And I could tell she hated me.

        Goddamn, those eyes—two huge orbs of green Wildfire, like she could burn Blackwater Bay just by looking at it.

        “Is this him?” she snapped, with a lazy wave in my direction.

        “Jack Fox: bumbling idiot,” I announced, stepping forward and offering my hand.

        Surprisingly, she shook it. I figured she’d just hiss and maybe spit at me. I might even have liked it.

        “Marla Keene,” she offered with a deep, steadying breath and a slightly apologetic smile. “I’ve heard a lot of good things about you.”

        Maybe she didn’t hate me, after all. Marla Keene was an interesting name. Old-fashioned, I liked it. Sounded like something out of The Great Gatsby. I wondered how old she really was. I’d probably never find out, because I feared loss of limb far too much to ask.

        “Why is he here?” she asked Victor.

        Hold on—maybe she did hate me. Women are hard to figure out.

        I opened my mouth to answer, but luckily Victor saved me. Which was good, because I had nothing of value to say. Maybe I’d have just vomited all over her. Who knows? It had already been a long and strange day.

        “I was actually just about to tell him why he’s here. I didn’t expect you to be waiting for us—you’re an hour early. Still, this might be for the best, you can help us explain what it is we do here.”

        Marla grinned.

        “Wait, you’re recruiting him?” she asked.

        “That was the plan,” Victor confirmed, seemingly irritated that the news had been broken to me this way. “If he agrees.”

        “Recruiting me for what?” I asked, slightly confused but also curious and interested.

        “You know, I had this planned out differently,” Victor complained, with a somewhat annoyed glance at Marla. “But maybe this is for the best, as I still need to take care of another matter before we go over the details. In the meantime, you’re going to show him around, Marla. Give him a good idea of what it is we do and answer any questions he might have. Come back in a half hour, I’d like to talk to both of you then.”

        With that, Victor walked to his desk and David silently followed.

        Marla sighed, then turned to me with a polite smile.

        “Come on, new blood. Let’s get the grand tour over with.”