by M. K. Gibson
“Where you going, Officer DeLeon?” the redcap asked in an amused yet sinister voice. “Nice trick with the lights, but it’s over. Say goodnight!”
Jessie dove over the kitchenette’s bar just as the shotgun blast took out one of her high-backed bar stool chairs. The sudden leap knocked several skillets and pans loose from the overhead hanging pot rack. Jessie and her cookware fell into the sink, breaking the faucet, then crashed onto the porcelain tile floor in a painful, clattering heap. Cold water sprayed down, making the floor slick with water and her blood.
“Aw . . . you knocked your gun off the counter. So sad for you,” the redcap taunted.
Jessie looked and saw that she had indeed knocked her weapon off, and she couldn’t see where it had landed. She grabbed a hand towel and pressed it against her left shoulder, trying to stanch the flow of blood. The buckshot in her leg would have to be dealt with later.
If there was a later.
“Looks like you’re out of options, Jessie,” the redcap said, then chuckled. “Good thing, too. You’d never get your deposit back.”
“Oh shut the fuck up!” Jessie called out from the kitchenette’s floor. Her mind raced, looking for options. The knife block was on the counter, but he’d shoot her before she even did anything. She reached under her sink and grabbed two bottles. The first was a bottle of liquid dish soap. Holding it above her head, she squeezed it hard into the spraying water, creating a quick-growing fog of bubbles.
“That’s all you got?” the redcap asked, leaning over the kitchenette’s counter with the shotgun.
Dropping the bottle of soap, Jessie twisted the nozzle on the second bottle and squeezed several hard streams of bleach cleanser into the redcap’s eyes.
“Ahh!” the gunman screamed.
Jessie slid across the wet floor as the shotgun went off, blowing a hole in the stainless steel refrigerator. Grabbing one of the cast iron skillets with two hands, Jessie got to her feet and swung hard. The skillet connected with the barrel of the shotgun, knocking the weapon free.
The redcap immediately went for the ACP on his hip, but Jessie brought the improvised weapon down in an overhead chop. The edge of the skillet broke the goblin’s wrist and the weapon clattered to the ground. As the goblin reached for her with his good hand, Jessie sidestepped, and with a backhanded swing, cracked the goblin in the side of the head, knocking him to the floor.
Jessie stood over him, angry and breathing hard.
Damn it. Now I have to thank Mother Superior Frances for making me take tennis lessons, Jessie thought.
She liked to think that the ball-breaking bitch was either retired or dead, but anyone with that much spite in their blood doesn’t have the decency to die.
“Who sent you?!” Jessie demanded.
But before the redcap could answer, her front door busted in. Jessie turned to look . . .
And she nearly dropped the skillet in shock.
A middle-aged black woman stepped in. The newcomer was wearing a white leather trench coat and was holding a hand cannon and . . . Gabby stood behind her?
“Freeman?! Gabby?!”
Gabby ducked as she stepped inside. The elf gave her a wide, dopey smile while waving. Freeman held her weapon on the assassin.
“Hey there, Superstar,” Freeman said, looking around the apartment at the spraying water and bullet holes. “Wow. You are not getting your deposit back.”
********
14 May - 9:40 pm
1st Precinct Detention Facility, Interrogation Room 3, District of Axis Mundi
Messer leaned back in his chair. “So what are you saying? That he somehow can keep tabs on everyone and everything? This is a big city.”
Vulcan laughed. “No. Not him specifically. But he does have money and power. That can buy a lot of eyes, ears, and influence.”
“Like a lawyer?”
“More like an entire law firm.”
“That’s not new,” Messer said. “All especially smart and powerful crooks manipulate the law.”
“I don’t think you’re seeing it clearly,” Vulcan said. “I’m not just talking about the law. I’m talking about the kind of influence that gets you answers to many questions.”
“So does Google,” Messer said. When Vulcan went to say something, Messer waved his hand. “I understand what you’re intimating. That because of his power, he has reach. Reach beyond the underworld.”
“Yes.”
“And that’s why we operate in teams.”
“I’ve seen your team,” Vulcan said. “I’m amazed they’ve survived this long.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
14 May - 9:45 pm
Boreas Bungalows, Building #14, Apt. 404, District of Windport
Ted kissed the back of her neck and began to unzip the top of her bodysuit, but Cassy stopped him.
“No,” Cassy whispered. “Just do it like before, from behind.”
“But I want to see you.”
“Use your imagination,” she purred.
“Please,” he said, rubbing his hands across her chest.
“No,” Cassy said as she pulled his hands away and guided them down, past her waist. She lay on her side and arched her back, pressing her backside into Ted’s jeans. “Just take off your pants.”
“Don’t you want to go to the bedroom?”
“I like the couch just fine,” Cassy said while she continued to rhythmically grind her hips against his growing erection.
From the coffee table, Cassy’s phone rang and vibrated. She reached out and picked up the phone.
“You need to take that?”
Seeing DeLeon’s name, Cassy sighed and silenced the call. “No.”
********
14 May - 9:46 pm
1st Precinct detention facility, Interrogation Room 3, District of Axis Mundi
“My team is rough, true. But they’re solid cops.”
“If you say so,” Vulcan said.
“I do,” Messer asserted. “You may see them as mundanes—”
“They are,” Vulcan interjected. “Stupid, arrogant, sloppy mundanes.”
“Good, keep thinking that,” Messer said. “Don’t forget, it was man who outgrew you. Outgrew you all.”
“You don’t think we couldn’t take it all back?” Vulcan asked.
“I know you could. Which is why I have this,” Messer said, patting his knife.
“How many people had that before you?”
Messer narrowed his eyes. “Enough.”
“That’s what I thought. You and your little MORTAL group are going to eventually fail. Because that is the way of you mundanes. You die. You try and pass on your knowledge, but you eventually forget why you do what you do. Our time will come again.”
“What did you say?”
“I said our time will come again.”
“No,” Messer said, shaking his head. “MORTAL. I never mentioned that.”
Vulcan smiled. “The Laughing Man knows.”
********
14 May - 9:48 pm
Boreas Bungalows, Building #9, Apt. 202, District of Windport
“Damn it,” Jessie cursed, canceling the call. “She’s not picking up.”
“Don’t blame her,” Freeman said while Gabby pulled the last of the buckshot from Jessie’s leg. “You’re kind of an asshole.”
“So I’ve been learning,” Jessie said while wincing. “Ow! Damn Gabby, gentle please.”
Gabby rolled her eyes and continued her work, dropping the pellet into a stainless steel mixing bowl and adding the last of the bandages on Jessie’s leg.
“I still can’t believe you’re an agent.”
“What’s so hard to believe?”
“You tried to kill me! Gabby, you stopped her?”
“Did I try and kill her?” Freeman asked. Gabby shook her head.
“That was what it looked like. It was an initiation. One which you passed,” Freeman said while she checked the rest of Jessie’s injuries. “You’re p
retty messed up.”
“I’ll be fine,” Jessie said, waving her hand away. “And stop changing the subject. Those vamps were going to kill me. You took me there to die.”
“We had it under control,” Freeman said while Gabby nodded. “We needed to see what you were made of.”
“To see if I was tough enough?!”
Gabby nodded.
Freeman sighed. “Yes and no. We—well, I—needed to see if you’d try and bargain your way out of it. We knew about what happened on the Zombie Squad. That’s why I picked you to work with. I needed to know.”
“Know what?”
“If you’d make a suitable replacement.”
“A what?” Jessie asked.
“I’ve been doing this job a long time, kid. One of the first Messer picked. And I was looking forward to retirement. Which I was enjoying, until Ito called and said that Gabby and I needed to keep an eye on you all. Messer suspected something like this might happen. Whoever this Laughing Man is, he’s taking out everything and everyone connected to him. Stood to reason he’d arrange a hit on you three.”
Jessie started to say something, but she simply stared at the woman. The sheer volume of questions and emotions racing through her mind caused a form of mental gridlock.
“Shut your mouth, makes you look dim,” Freeman said as she checked on the redcap. The goblin assassin was still bound by several zip ties and was lying on his side with a gag in his mouth. Satisfied, the woman pulled a small acorn out of her jacket and stuffed it into one of the redcap’s tactical pouches. She then pulled out her phone and dialed.
“It’s Freeman. One for pickup.”
A moment later, the goblin vanished in a flash of magical blue-white energy.
“Okay, let’s go help your partners. Gabby, you ready?”
The elf produced her wand from inside her coat and gave a thumbs-up.
********
14 May - 9:49 pm
1st Precinct Detention Facility, Interrogation Room 3, District of Axis Mundi
Messer narrowed his eyes. “What does he know?”
“You’d have to ask him,” Vulcan said with smile.
“Then how do you know about MORTAL?”
“I was given a little insight.”
“What insight?”
Vulcan shrugged. “More like instructions. You see, he planned for something like this. If his network was ever compromised, he made sure we knew just enough. We all know about you and your alliance with the elves. But he knows about your network. Your secret little group of agents. The thing is, he didn’t know who they were specifically. We were tasked with passing along any information we may learn. And it’s funny that you roll up with a group of fools who didn’t come across as elite. It’s almost like you wanted them to be attacked.”
********
14 May - 9:50 pm
Boreas Bungalows, Building #14, Apt. 404, District of Windport
Sex. It wasn’t anything more than that. Just sex. But the distraction of the act let Cassy feel . . . pretty. Wanted. If only for a time. A brief moment when she could let go and feel free.
Gripping the edge of her couch, Cassy arched her back and let herself be in the moment. The rhythm of flesh on flesh was matched by the moans and grunts of consenting adults. The living room was filled with the smell and the heat of two sweaty bodies.
The front door to her apartment suddenly busted inward.
“What the hell?!” Ted yelled mid-thrust.
Distracted by the commotion at the door, Ted lost his balance and one knee slipped off the edge of the cushion. He tumbled off the couch, crashed into her coffee table, and landed in a naked heap on the floor.
Cassy didn’t bother to look back to see if Ted was okay. Instead she kept her eyes on the door. She was less shocked and more angry to see a bloody and bandaged DeLeon step inside. Behind her, she saw a middle-aged black woman who was followed by Gabby. Both the women were wearing tactical vests and were armed with sidearms and shotguns, while Gabby had her wand at the ready. They scanned the apartment, looking for something.
Cassy sighed. “Yes, please come into my home.”
“Cross, are you okay?” DeLeon asked. “You didn’t answer my call.”
“You are such a twat-blocker,” Cassy said as she got off her hands and knees and sat on the couch. She nudged at the near-unconscious Ted with her foot. “Hey, put your dick away and go get dressed. I think the night is ruined.”
“S-sure,” Ted grunted as he started to stand while Gabby sneaked a quick peek and smiled.
“Tell that naked white boy to stay put,” the other woman demanded.
“Why, you want a turn?” Cassy asked as she slipped her panties back on. “If you do, make sure it’s several districts away. DeLeon is hellbent on preventing anyone from having an orgasm.”
“For once would you just shut your mouth and your legs,” DeLeon snapped. “You’re—”
“The fuck you say to me little girl?!” Cassy said, jumping up from her seat to get into DeLeon’s face. “Who the fuck do you think you are to come into my home and—”
“Who the hell is that?!” Ted yelled.
“Jessie! Gabby!” Freeman screamed. “Contact!”
“Cross, down!” DeLeon shouted.
In the blink of eye, Cassy felt herself hit the ground. DeLeon had put one foot behind her and shoved her in a standard academy takedown. From flat on her back, Cassy heard a gunshot and then saw DeLeon fall backwards. From the other side of the couch, Cassy heard several quick shots fired. Rolling to her side, she saw that the other woman had fired. But at what? Gabby hissed and released a spell from her wand.
The lights were suddenly turned on, and Cassy saw the body of goblin redcap in her hallway. The goblin was wearing black tac-gear and had been armed similarly with an ACP sidearm and a pistol-grip shotgun.
Oh, oh no.
“Jessie? Jessie!” Cassy yelled.
Moving to her side, Cassy saw that the younger cop was still breathing. The redcap had shot her in the tac-vest, which had stopped the bullet, but the .45-caliber round had knocked the wind out of the smaller woman and put her on her ass.
“You—you called me . . . Jessie,” DeLeon croaked. Despite being bloody and shot, she had a smile on her face.
Cassy sighed. The younger officer had taken a bullet for her. AND she had used DeLeon’s first name. Damn it. There will be no living with her now.
There was a flash of light from behind her. Cassy turned to see that Gabby had taken a photo with her phone.
“You’re Detective Cross?” the other woman said as she inspected the body of the redcap.
“Yeah? Who the fuck are you?”
“Tasha Freeman,” the woman said. “An agent for MORTAL.”
“My old p-partner,” DeLeon said.
“The one that tried to kill you?”
“Yeah, but we’re on better terms now,” Freeman said as she confirmed the kill. “Okay, you, skinny naked white boy with the big dick and the balance problem.”
“M-my name’s Ted.”
“Don’t care,” Freeman said. “Call 911. Tell them everything you saw here. Tell them that Officer Tasha Freeman told you to call. Badge number 387. Repeat that.”
“Tasha Freeman, badge 387,” Ted said.
“Good. Cross, here,” Freeman said, tossing the spare shotgun.
Cassy grabbed it, then helped DeLeon to her feet. “Where are we going?”
“Hitters came for the pair of you. Who else do you think they’re going after?”
Cassy’s eyes widened. “Arby.”
********
14 May - 9:51 pm
1st Precinct Detention Facility, Interrogation Room 3, District of Axis Mundi
Messer said nothing. Vulcan leaned back, a smug smirk on his face.
“You set them up, didn’t you?” he asked. “You sent a uninitiated team out there to stir up trouble so you wouldn’t have to sacrifice your other agents.”
Messer
remained silent.
Vulcan just shook his head. “You knew that whoever was behind the Vitae would come looking for anyone snooping. That’s cold. Well, I hope they have life insurance. Because if it’s as bad as you say out there, then the Laughing Man will be coming for them.”
Messer nodded. “I know.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
14 May - 9:55 pm
1157 Old Oak Drive, District of Brightway
Eric had his Ch’Über-Cab’ra drop him off by the all-night convenience store near his house. After grabbing a bottle of water, he started walking home. He needed to stretch his legs and just . . . think.
He didn’t want to come down that hard on Jessie, but she needed to hear it. She needed to understand what being a cop meant. A rite of passage. The cop version of the birds and the bees.
But there was more to it than Jessie. It was the case. There was something off. Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. The leads were solid, but at the same time dead ends. This Laughing Man had covered his or her tracks well. That meant that they were exceptionally skilled at what they do. Which begged they question: Why them? What did a trio of hard cases bring to the investigation?
Eric reached his modest three-bedroom house and walked up the small stone walkway to the front porch. Mentally he laughed. If the guys he ran with back in the day saw him now, and saw this house, they’d either laugh or rob him.
As he put his keys in the door, his phone rang. Turning the knob and walking in, he looked to see that the call was from Cass. He smiled. She had likely kicked poor Ted out for the night and was looking to talk. He silenced the call. As amusing as it would be to hear all about her latest conquest, he wasn’t in the mood.
Eric walked into the home immediately sensed that something was off. There was a smell. He took a couple more sniffs. Someone had been here. Someone bad.
