Moore For Less Investigations: The Kid

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

   My first stop after that adventure was a little bar known as Adrian's Place. It’s a little spot in Middle City known to be the local haunt of the shady crowd. More specifically it’s the local haunt of a trusted contact.

   I parked the Athena in the lot across the street from the bar. I took my time getting across road. There was no point in getting it by a random car or horse drawn carriage. As I had hoped; several steam powered cycles were parked.

   Adrian's Place sits under one of the cities many over passes. It is between a law firm and a dry cleaner. The place was humble little bar. Inside there are a few gambling tables and billiard tables and booths for dining. I saw Tobias shooting pool with one of his mates.

   Tobias Moore is leader of the street gang the Lurkers. He's also my first cousin on my father’s side. I place my hat and cloak on the rack near the entrance and pull my goggles down around my neck. One of the nicer things about Adrian’sis they don't have in gun rules.

   That of course and if anyone is stupid enough to pull a weapon in Adrian's Place they better be aiming for Adrian himself. Adrian was a soldier back during the last war. And he never gave back his munitions. From what I heard when he opened the place up, he had turrets install in the ceiling. Then he enchanted them to fire on drawn weapons.

   As you would have guessed people learned rather quickly that Adrian’s Place was the best place to have a neutral conversation. Big Francis by the door kept the brawls under control. The guy was built like a Clydesdale. Near seven feet tall, big broad shoulders biceps the size of watermelons and to add to that he wore armored sleeves with that utilized steam to augment his strength. Imagine getting hit by a charging bull.

   I walked over to the bar and ordered two bourbons and headed to Tobias's table. Tobias is about my height just under six feet. He had his brown hair cut short and it flared up in the front. His eyes like mine had a golden tint to them. Like I said, it’s a family thing. Today he was sporting a gallant mustache thin curled on the ends and mutton chops both cut close. I placed his glass on the table's edge with a couple sovereign underneath.

“Long time cousin,” he said to me picking up his glass and the money.

“That it has. I don't need to call help when tracking down cheating husbands and lost dogs.”

“Sure enough, I still say you aren’t charging nearly enough for your services.”

“I do well enough without price gouging. Anyway, enough about my business practices today, I need some information. What do you know about a kidnapping out of the park about three days ago?”

   He touched his index finger to his chin. He always did that to be dramatic or something.

“Hmmm. A little bird may have said something about a snatch job. It wasn’t in my territory so I didn’t think much of it. A young woman and an eight year old kid was snatched and tossed in a white Hermes.”

“Do you know who grabbed them?” I asked taking a sip of my drink.

“Like I said it was not in my territory. That’s orc country over there. And the pack knows not to lurk over there if they can help it.”

   I let out a curse. I did not want to venture into the part of town known as orc country. I have nothing against orcs don’t get me wrong. I dated an orc once and boy I’ll tell you they can do things to a man. Sorry. Let us just say I may have crossed paths with the orc boss one too many times.

“How about any rumors dealing in complex machinery or powerful magical artifacts?”

“Now that you mention it. The orcs just sent out a request for engineers to study something they obtained. No details on the item just that Morntok is willing to pay top dollar for experts.”