The Blood Moon Pirate (The Carmsborough Vigilantes #1.5)

Part 2: Dancypants

"What's your name, darling?"

The girl looked at the bouncer with slightly uncomfortable eyes. It was obvious she'd never done anything like this before. She probably wasn't even on the list.

"Roscoe Moon," she said, flashing some sort of ticket, which she revealed from a leather jacket that barely fit her.

"Roscoe Moon?" the bouncer repeated, flipping through a list.

"Yeah. Sorry, I've never been to one of these. I'm looking for my boyfriend."

"I don't see a Roscoe Moon. Get out of my line and stop wasting my time."

"That can't be right, sir. My name should be right there. Roscoe Moon. With an 'e' at the end."

"At the end of 'Roscoe' or 'Moon?' You know what, never mind. Either way, you're not on the list. Move it or lose it."

"Hey, hey, what's the big deal, bossman?" a guy a few spots back said to the bouncer. "Why you holding her up?"

"Her name's not on the list, so she's not getting in."

"She's with me. Elka Rosin."

"Mr. Elka? I'm very sorry. Please, both of you, come in and enjoy the night."

Elka approached Roscoe and prompted her to go ahead in front of him. She smiled and stepped through the open door and into the lively atmosphere of the converted diner.

"We don't actually know each other, right?" Roscoe asked, tossing her hair a little.

"The name's Elka. I'm kind of a big deal with the regulars around here. Tell me, Roscoe, what's a doll like you doing in this scene?"

"Not much, really. I wanted to see what it was like. You know, to be at a rave like this."

"Well, let me tell you, you've stumbled into the greatest rave with the greatest navigator at your side. Come, let's go get some drinks."

Elka led Roscoe to what seemed to be as sophisticated of a bar as you could get at an underground party like this, with unlabeled drinks and mystery drugs both more than readily available. People were already off the walls with the cocktails, or, more often than not, over trashcans.

"Any chance there's vodka?" Roscoe asked.

"Oh, hell yeah. I'll take you to my buddy, Sputnik. He gets it straight from the Soviet Union. You like to party, girl?"

"Number one at every frat party I've been to." She gave him a knowing smile. That seemed answer enough for him. If he hadn't already been thinking about getting lucky that night, he certainly was now.

They descended some rickety stairs to the main floor of the rave, where dozens more people could be seen in various stages of dissociation. The place was completely bordered in concrete, except for a few offshoot rooms and hallways.

One of those had to lead to Dancypants.

It wasn't often the crime boss left his base in Italy, so when she'd heard the news from some S6 radio waves, she wasted no time in plotting his demise. The only thing standing between him and her was some sketchy dude named Elka and a dozen doors.

Well, that and the possibility of S6 agents coming in and busting the whole building.

Especially if it's Ike.

She didn't understand how their jurisdiction worked—they were an American agency, after all—but that didn't stop them from being a serious threat to almost every plan she made against Bijabers and his conglomerate. More than once, she was forced to derail or end a mission because S6 got involved.