Banish all the World Ch. 02

Sure the ammo box was smaller than most guns and lighter, but I hadn't relied upon either of the two Ley lines focused directly across the street at the El Marvelo. I was scared that grabbing too much extra power might cause the ammo to fire off accidentally. That would not have been good.

A Wizard would need to mark the item to be translocated first, but at a big show where several thousand people were touching and handling guns openly displayed on tables, this would be nearly impossible to detect. I'd have to winnow down the suspect pool first, then I'd have some options.

This focused my attention now twice over upon the other dealers. This still left me with over two hundred suspects, but I had a way to winnow this list down fast. Good, because guns were disappearing right and left and the afternoon was nearly half over.

"Walton, think real hard about this and check your PDA, your secretary or other notes if you need to. I'm 98% sure that your thief is another dealer. Either a relatively new arrival to your show or else it's an older company that has recently been bought out and has a brand new boss. Get me a list of any gun seller here that has only started doing your show circuit in the last six months or less. I'm sure they were smart enough not to start stealing right from the very start so there should be at least a month between when they first joined and when the thefts started."

He knew most of this information right off the top of his head but made a quick phone call to his administrative assistant to get a confirmation. Three names came right to mind and he told me where to find their booths. Now that I only had a few suspects I had a lot more options.

I couldn't pretend to be a customer, as I'd already been introduced around yesterday as being part of the security team. Still, being the proud owner of a well-used .38 revolver myself, I could show it around and feign interest in upgrading it to something a bit livelier.

My first suspect, Raymond of Ray's Guns, was a very small time dealer just getting his start in the gun resale business. He was a retired ex-Marine doing the gun show circuit with just his wife for a helper while they enjoyed their retirement. He didn't think much of my revolver, but admitted that it was solid and ultra-reliable. He suggested the time honored Colt .45 1911 for a replacement and I had to admit that this was a more than adequate weapon. When I told him I preferred a revolver he smiled and showed me a massive Callahan .50 caliber Special. It weighed a ton and was way too large to be concealed, but it would put seriously large holes into my enemies.

He didn't seem to fit the master thief role; especially being ex-GWAMC, completely with old sun fadedSemper Fitattoos on both arms. I decided to give my other suspects a closer look instead.

The next, James Prutte was a famous ex-radio shock jock who did have a flag in his GWA records for possible weapons smuggling in the 1970's (not proven). He still had a fairly famous weekly radio call-in talk show where he'd espouse ultra-liberal political philosophies, anarchy, and firearms. He was short and round and had a wild beard that nearly fell to his waist. He looked like one of those kooks who live isolated up in the mountains of Pacifica, 'getting back to nature' or holding a grudge against the entire modern world. This didn't stop him from being an extremely personable and likeable man.

James was already a major player and top weapons dealer and his tables had suffered some of the worst losses at recent shows. He always had the 'good stuff'', he remarked. Even with the thefts he was buying and selling guns right and left and making a decent profit. Somehow, he didn't quite fit right for the role of magical sneak thief either. This was way too subtle for him. He laughed at my .38 and suggested replacing it with a Smith & Wesson .40.

"A jack of all trades, master of none." He said. "40 S&W's are for people who are ashamed to be seen carrying a 9mm, but don't have what it takes to man up and carry a .45!" I wasn't quite so amused, but he probably had a point. I kept him on my suspect list, but didn't quite think that he was my man.

My last candidate for a good old fashioned Texas 'necktie party' was Adrian Smith of Smith Tactical Firearms. A nice plain generic name, Smith and their booth didn't stand out at all from the pack either. No 'booth babes', gals dressed in just micro bikini's, high heels and a smile, and no flashing lights or big banners saying "Get your tactical nukes here!"

Adrian's specialty was high performance hand guns and he derided my current weapon and proposed alternatives with scorn. The .38 was a 'toy' and the .45 was 'obsolete'. He wore a Beretta 9mm at his side and praised its smooth features and fine esthetics. This made me suspicious right from the start, no one wears a gun to look 'cute'... except for a booth babe I'd seen earlier who wore a tiny camouflage colored bikini and sported a 'Hello There Kitty' pink assault rifle.

He liked the idea of a S&W .40 even less. "It's like putting a 454 engine in a VW Beetle." He sneered. "Sure, it may work, but it's kind of overkill for the frame." His idea of a manly firearm was the .357 SIG-Sauer P229 with a peppy over-achieving bullet round perfectly capable of blasting through a car engine. Massive overkill - no thanks. That was all I needed, for a bullet to shot straight through my target, and their hostage... then drill an innocent little granny two blocks away for good measure. I guess I'll just stick with the .38 for awhile longer.

I couldn't pin anything on Adrian. He claimed to be from northern Greater Arizona, quite near the wild desert border with Deseret but not suspiciously so. It was obvious that he didn't quite take a shine to me, but some wankers are just immune to my natural charm and wit. Unfortunately, when I next questioned other nearby dealers I learned that Adrian almost never leaves his booth during a show. If someone was marking items and translocating them, it wasn't him... probably.

Great, now I was out of suspects and had less than an hour of the show to go!