Brian pulled up to the address in disbelief. The GPS had led him to an exquisite gated community. The fountain at the entrance rivaled some of the fancy fixtures he had seen in Vegas. Each of the mansions had a gate as well, with a keypad and intercom to page the house. He rolled down his window and pressed the call button.

  “Hello?” A cheerful female voice greeted.

  “Yes, this is Brian. I’m here on behalf of the Federal Government, representing enhanced-ability personnel.”

  “Yes! Of course, Mr. Brian, we’ve been expecting you. Come on through.”

  Exiting his black sedan, he looked unbelievingly up at the mansion. There were massive hanging garden plants and landscaped trees three stories tall. Not wanting to be caught gawking, he marched to the front door and moved to ring the doorbell, but before he pressed it, the massive door cracked open.

  The person on the other side of the door only reached his chest, but his presence was threatening all the same.

  “Tax man.”

  “Nerf kid.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I have a meeting with your Ms. Taylor.”

  “You don’t need to bother Mom. I’m enough to deal with you,” the 10-year-old said challengingly.

  “Are you now?” Brian asked, adjusting his tie. As he did, he used his sleight-of-hand skill to toss his sheathed dagger over Darin’s head through the crack in the door.

  Brian teleported to his dagger, bypassing the kid completely. He continued walking into the living room as if nothing had happened, placing his dagger back in his belt line.

  “So lame,” the kid muttered, following Brian.

  “Your house is truly astonishing,” he complimented, looking at the double curving staircase. He felt like he was in a hotel lobby more than a house.

  “It’s okay, I guess… Sit right there. I’ll go get Mom.” Darin pointed at the smallest wooden chair in the room as he jogged off.

  Brian sat in the luxurious sofa next to it instead.

  A few minutes later, the lovely, dolled-up Ms. Hilary Taylor walked into the room, trailed closely by Darin.

  “Good morning, Mr. Ortes! Lovely to have you swing by for a visit. We don’t have nearly enough guests these days,” she said, shaking his hand and holding on to it.

  Darin shot him a glare, and he released Hilary’s hand, but not so quickly that it implied disinterest.

  “Thank you for having me. This is a lovely home; I love the decor, and your landscape is breathtaking.”

  “Oh, you must see the gardens in the back, then. Business or pleasant company first?”

  Brian looked at Darin as he said, “Why, pleasant company, of course,” with a confident glint in his eye.

  As Ms. Taylor led him to the backyard, she showed him a garden that wandered through tree canopies and hedges that mesmerized. It was a full garden pathway that was almost maze-like. After a few minutes, Darin took the lead, and as his mother bent down to fix a plant, he locked eyes with Brian and, walking backward, let a branch pass over him before disappearing.

  Oohhh, that little brat.

  What Darin didn’t know is that Brian had been working to locate and clear threats non-stop for the past two weeks straight. He was a rare asset to the Federal Government, and they wanted his skills analyzed and used as much as possible.

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  Pop.

  The sound of the plastic gun was muffled, but Brian moved his head to the side, anticipating the head shot. The bullet bounced harmlessly off the tree behind him. To his relief, this was a game, and the kid was formidable, but Brian was excited to meet the challenge.

  Ms. Taylor continued walking, either oblivious or not caring about her son’s antics.

  “Over here is where my girlfriends and I have tea parties on each of our birthdays. The cards we get for each other are absolutely dreadful,” she giggled.

  Just the girlfriends?

  Pop. Pop.

  Brian rolled to the side for the first and blocked the second with his dagger.

  “I suppose that’s enough of the garden garden; I don’t want to bore you. DARIN!”

  “Yes, ma’am?” Darin asked, jumping out from a tree next to Brian.

  Ms. Taylor put her hands on her knees and looked Darin in the face. “Can you go get us some tea ready? We will move back to the living room to talk about your future.”

  “Okay,” he said meekly as he rushed off.

  “He seems like a dutiful son.”

  “He is, and twice the brat when he chooses to be.” She turned to smile at Brian.

  As they settled back into the living room, Brian started into the business.

  “The Government is grateful for your cooperation in editing your footage. I think several of the participants would also extend their gratitude.”

  “Of course! We didn’t want to out anyone that didn’t want the attention, and that poor Ridley girl would have come out of that looking terrible. Though she would have certainly had some fans despite how she attacked you. Lots of boys are into the crazy redheads.”

  “Yes, well, her wiping the floor with me wasn’t my best angle either.”

  “You handled that just fine; you have a good mind for strategy, and you were working with pure wild cards. Next time, I don’t doubt you will be better prepared.”

  “I appreciate that.”

  Pop.

  A Nerf bullet stuck to Brian’s forehead. As Brian pulled it off, he saw it had a little suction cup attachment on the end.

  “Speaking of next time…” Brian continued as if nothing had happened, “Darin has been cleared for low-risk targets as long as he is supervised by myself or other qualified personnel.”

  “Oh, that’s great!”

  “No thanks,” Darin chimed in at the same time as his mother. “I can find high-risk targets myself.”

  “Dear, you must plan the path for your success. Small steps lead to big things, remember?”

  Darin shrugged, relenting immediately. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “I, for one, would love to see you and Mr. Ortes fight together again.”

  Darin looked from his mother to Brian. “I suppose I could teach him a few things.”

  “Thank you, dear; it’s high time you learned to be a team player.”

  After moping for a minute, Darin brightened up. “Can I show Brian the arsenal?”

  “Why, sure, darling! Let me just clean up the tea while you do that.”

  Darin turned a far-too-menacing smile on Brian as he said, “This way! You will absolutely love the arsenal.”

  Brian felt a sinking feeling as he stood and brushed himself off. “Sure, that sounds interesting.”

  Darin walked to the side of the living room and pushed open a set of double glass doors. They moved into a library that boggled the mind before Darin looked at Brian and pushed on one of the bookshelves. Beyond was a dark room that slowly lit up with accent lights.

  On the wall hung nearly a hundred Nerf guns of every variety. There was a wall of Nerf cannons, Nerf bows, machine guns, and dart launchers.

  “Impressive,” Brian smiled and nodded, relieved that Darin was just a kid showing off his collection.

  “Oh, this isn’t the arsenal. My parents just let me do this when I was a kid.”

  ‘Was a kid’—that’s cute.

  “THIS is the arsenal,” Darin said, putting a code into a keypad.

  A door at the end of the room made a loud clanking noise as heavy internal bolts moved.

  Darin opened the door for Brian to go in first. As he passed through hesitantly, he saw a museum-level display of several hundred weapons. An antique Gatling gun sat in the center; to his left, every variety, size, and age of handgun—from Colt Peacemakers to World War II Lugers to a Desert Eagle. To his right were assault rifles, shotguns, and break-open barrels for dove hunting. Looking about the room, he was overwhelmed.

  As he craned his neck upwards, he saw animals hanging on the walls of every variety.

  “Was your father…”

  “Nope, this is Mom’s collection,” Darin said with a grin. “I’ve only gotten proficient with the lower calibers, but now that seems to be a moot point. By today’s logic, the room behind us should awe you more.”

  “Well, thank you for showing me… the arsenal,” he said, backing out of the room.

  As he backed away slowly, Darin called after him, “My mom is a huntress, you see, so you better not stick around long enough to let her catch you.”

  Brian turned and started making his way to the front door, where Hilary was waiting for him.

  “Thank you for coming by; I hope you can guide my Darin through these treacherous years.”

  “My pleasure.” She leaned over and whispered, “I think he likes you.”

  Brian nodded, unsure if that were true. As he walked out the door, he felt his butt get pinched. Shocked, he looked back to see Ms. Taylor blushing.

  “There was a spider,” she said mischievously.

  Brian smiled politely. “Good to see you, Ms. Taylor.”

  “Please, call me Hilary,” she smiled with a knowing grin.

  Brian moved to his car, wondering when he would meet someone sane again. Pulling out his keys, he unlocked his door.

  Pop.

  A foam dart bounced off the back of his head.

  He turned around to see Darin on top of the mansion roof, looking through a Nerf sniper scope. Darin looked up from the scope, lifted one hand, and waved.