Hard Corps (Quentin Case Book 2)

by John Hook

  “We find them people. They let us have them first. Women mostly, though some like men.”

  “Some…? Demons? Dark men?”

  “Both.”

  “So you grab mostly women for the demons.”

  “We get them first. Force them to do whatever we want. Then they become whores on the other side of the wall.”

  I caught Blaise out of the corner of my eyes. His eyes darkened and went to a very angry place, but nothing else changed in his face. Anyone observing him casually would think he wasn’t listening.

  “What about your women?”

  “We do this because they will leave us alone if we do this.”

  “So it is okay to exploit, rape, torture, and essentially traffic in humans to save yourselves?”

  His face grew tighter and he sucked his lips in. “We take care of ourselves. If others are too weak to do the same, then so be it.”

  I could feel it, just as I knew Blaise could. This was the sort of white hot anger that came up in my belly when I first got here. Back then I had pushed and prodded the group of citizens I found—Saripha, Izzy, Kyo and the others—for being too complacent while the others suffered. It now occurred to me that staying in the context of our recently liberated Rockvale had done the same thing to me. I saw how easy it was, once you find a relatively safe perch, to not let anything else disturb you.

  I also realized that while the anger served a purpose, to keep one fighting, now was not the time and this lowly dark man was not the one to pick a fight with.

  “What now?” Tyndel asked.

  “Get up.” He did. “Take us to your leader.”

  I saw a half smirk appear on his face. “Be careful what you ask for. I’m going to enjoy this.”

  I shoved him. I shouldn’t have as it let him know he was getting to me, but I didn’t much care. Blaise and I walked with him in the lead. Izzy and Rox came up just behind. We headed across the city and crossed a bridge over a narrow ribbon of lava that ran through Zaccora. On this side of the city, things were still dark and dingy, but a little less so. Things seemed better kept and there were no people around on the streets. That should have immediately aroused suspicion.

  Finally we came into what might have been a town square. From every street and alley came a group of bat-wielding dark men, essentially surrounding us with an army and nowhere to run. Even if they didn’t have clubs, we would have been hopelessly outnumbered in any fight. Our “prisoner” walked away from us and walked over to the dark man who was in the lead. They clasped shoulders and he joined the ranks.

  I nodded to the others. Rox put down her pistol, Izzy his club and arrows. Blaise even put down his walking stick.

  The man that had clasped Tyndel walked over to me. He was the one I spoke to in the bar. He obviously was a command figure. He walked like one in charge. He was probably not the boss, more like a field commander of some sort. He came up and stopped short, meeting my eyes with his patented silent stare treatment. I figured maybe now would be a nice time to not give in to childish wise ass remarks.

  “You killed several of my men.”

  “Technically, you can’t kill people here. They were turned into protos.”

  Without saying another word and with surprising speed, he thrust his bat into my midsection, knocking the wind out of me and then some. As I went down he swung his bat again and I heard a couple of ribs crack. As I rolled on the ground in a painful haze, I could sense the tension in both Blaise and Izzy. They wanted to jump in, but wisely knew that was no option surrounded as we were.

  The dark man stepped over to me and looked down, holding the bat passively at his side.

  “My name is Roland and I would like nothing more than to beat the life out of you. I am told we attacked you and for that reason I will refrain from doing more unless you give me reason to.”

  “Heck, we just met. It usually takes getting to know me to get someone so pissed at me.”

  “The boss will have to decide your fate.” Roland looked up at Rox. “He will certainly take the woman.” Rox curtsied while giving him her best “you want some of this?” taunting expression.

  He turned to Izzy and Blaise. “Get him up and bring him.”

  Roland walked off. Rox bent down and whispered in my ear. “I think I have a plan.”

  “Oh good, because I don’t think mine is working all that well.”

  “It will depend on my being able to quickly identify the boss when we get there.”

  “Just look for the one who kills me and takes you.”

  Rox kissed me on the cheek. Izzy and Blaise pulled me up.

  “If you guys see an opportunity, leave me and run.”

  “We’re surrounded, if you haven’t noticed,” Blaise noted as he helped me keep my weight off the side with the cracked ribs.

  “You were surrounded that other time too.”

  “Yeah, but then I’d miss watching the fun when you keep being a wise ass.”

  “Might not be fun.”

  “Not for you, probably.”

  We walked for quite a ways down a main avenue. We remained surrounded, but I wasn’t sure all the dark men stayed with us. Enough did. Given the lack of regular people and that some of the buildings had dark men out in front of them, I surmised this was the part of town where they lived. We were right behind Roland.

  “I don’t see any of your women here. Do they stay inside?”

  “They are not here. We leave them in our true home.”

  “You are not from Zaccora.”

  “No.”

  Roland didn’t seem to mind answering questions. It was as if he thought everything was over. We were handled. We were no longer a threat. It wouldn’t hurt to have idle conversation on the way to the boss.

  “How do you become a dark man? Can I join?”

  That actually got a snorted laugh.

  “We don’t recruit. You have to be born.”

  I looked at Rox. “Born” more or less meant one thing in this place.

  “Where you are from… it’s a border town.”

  “Yes.”

  “This is how you have achieved autonomy in your border town. Like we have in ours.”

  “You should have stayed in your border town.”

  “Holy cow!”

  “What?” Roland snapped. I don’t think he liked me making an excited expression.

  “You guys are the mob.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I bet this whole thing started out as a way to band together and protect your group and your town from the demons. You even moved here to do the demons’ dirty work and therefore kept it out of your town. However, as time has gone on you have become more violent and more cruel. Mistreating the others here—those that aren’t part of your group—has just become easier and easier.”

  “Now they actually enjoy what they are doing,” Blaise commented.

  “And they will do anything to anyone to protect themselves.”

  “The demons require the cruelty. They want people living in fear,” Roland snapped.

  “And they must love your work because it now comes so naturally to you.”

  I could see that charge got to Roland a bit, but he didn’t let himself react.

  We walked on in silence. Glamours didn’t put you in shock when pain hit, but they healed relatively quickly if not damaged too much so I was already starting to feel better. I didn’t want to tempt Roland to take a few more whacks. Besides, trying to make him feel guilty about their approach to protecting themselves probably wouldn’t work. The impression I had, the one that made me think of the mob analogy, is that all authority was handed down from the top. The “boss” was some sort of chief who gave orders to a trusted inner circle who ran the troops. Everything was at the whim of the boss. That was likely why Rox wanted to identify him, but I had no idea what she had in mind.

  We passed a row of what might be called clubs. Dark men milled about. There were women and some men loiterin
g in doorways. Some were scantily clad and smiling, trying to appear come-hither, but in their eyes was unmistakable terror. I realized the enormity of what they were subjected to as, by and large, I had never seen “scantily clad” as part of anyone’s glamour. They had changed how they thought of themselves. Some were more modestly dressed, but they weren’t even pretending to smile. Newer “recruits” I imagined. Some were on leashes.

  I was relieved when we passed this area. The anger was becoming almost uncontrollable and nothing I could have done right then would have helped anyone. The demons may have been forcing them to do this, but these “men” had become as bad or worse than the demons themselves. Worse, because they were doing it to other people.

  We finally arrived at what was the closest I’d ever seen to a mansion. It was large and sprawling, though there was nothing but stone in the yard. It was mostly square as everything here was built out of stone blocks. It made me wonder if humans were once used as quarry slaves. There was an attempt at a wood roof, although it didn’t look terribly professional. There were three floors and, from the size, might have up to ten or twelve rooms on a floor.

  Roland led us up a set of stone steps and we went in. The front had a foyer with a hallway going off in both directions. In the middle was a stairway that climbed to a second floor. The second floor hallway, where it traversed the foyer area, had a banister and more dark men were lined up there. Roland brought us to the top of the landing. There was an open arch across from the stairs which led into a large auditorium with bench seating around an open center area. This room was about two stories high. Above was a balcony from the third floor and a set of steps that came down to a point near the center area.

  The dark men filed in, taking seats on the benches. We were brought to the center area. It was obviously show time. Whatever was going to happen was about to happen. If there was any way out of this, now was when we needed to figure it out. I looked at Rox. She smiled mysteriously.

  All the dark men suddenly looked up. A figure stepped out on the balcony. He was a huge bull of a man. Although he wore the same dark jacket, turtleneck and slacks of the other dark men, there could be no mistaking that he was the “Boss.” He was big but solid. I had no doubt his glamour had changed as he became more powerful and bought more into his role of privilege provided by his cruel service to the demons. The body was a reflection of the ego required to somehow justify what he did to others to protect his own. He really was like an old mob boss in the movies.

  He started down the stairs. He moved with surprising grace and confidence for such a large man. He showed no real expression. The way he walked also suggested he could move his bulk quickly. If I had to fight this man, I would need some extra tricks because he had me out-classed physically. Actually, that wasn’t hard to do. I could get in some good punches or kicks with the element of surprise, but I wasn’t a fighter. I was stubborn and I had a lot of anger, but that didn’t generally win fights when I was over-matched by sheer physical prowess.

  He reached the bottom of the stairs and walked over to us. He looked at me.

  “You are the ones who killed my men.” His voice was soft, intimate. He wasn’t performing for the crowd. He didn’t need to.

  “Guilty as charged, although I should point out it wasn’t as if we ambushed them. We were defending ourselves.”

  The boss looked at Roland. He shrugged. “Near as I can tell, he’s right. They interfered in a collection and our men turned on them. Honestly, if they weren’t so disrespectful I’d say they could be useful.”

  The boss turned back to me.

  “You interfered in something that wasn’t your business.”

  “Yeah, we have this funny idea that people shouldn’t be hurting other people in this place.”

  “A waste.”

  “Pardon me?

  “Nothing good happens to people in this place. You take what you can. Any way you can.”

  “The only waste I see here are strong men too cowardly to stand up to demons.”

  If that had an impact he didn’t show it. Then again, he didn’t show much of anything. He probably would make a good poker player. He looked at Rox and his eyes brightened cruelly.

  “You will learn that interference has consequences. If the demons doubt our strength they will turn on us, find other humans to give them what they want. Is that what you are trying to do?”

  “What I am trying to do is find a way into the walled city. I plan on stopping the demons.”

  “You will not get that chance. I will turn you into protos. But first I will take your woman so that will be the last thing you know before you are torn apart.”

  “Watch it, big boy. I might be too much for you.” I could see Rox’s more evil persona subtly emerge. Rox was neither good nor evil, but there was an atavistic energy inside her that walked hand in hand with her softer self. She had learned to control it and it was part of what attracted me to her. It was also probably how she had survived so long. Saripha had worked with her to help her control that power.

  Without changing expression or saying anything, the boss flat-handed her to the ground. I’d seen baseball mitts smaller than those hands. She smiled with blood running off her lip. “Now you’re getting me hot.”

  He yanked her up off the ground and started to take her upstairs. I noticed she wasn’t resisting. She looked back at me and winked.

  “Boss, do you really think...” Roland was uneasy. I suspected he may have had misgivings about the boss’s growing cruelty before I stirred things up. Being in a command position, he probably didn’t see as much of what went down on the streets and had distanced himself or rationalized it. This was triggering something in him, but he was still loyal.

  The boss paused and looked back. “Bring them.”

  I knew he was doing all this as a demonstration of his power. He didn’t need to. On the other hand, we were all being taken upstairs by Roland and two other dark men. If we were going to be able to do something, this was going to be our best shot. We didn’t have much to lose by trying. I kept wondering why Rox kept acting like she had a plan. What could she possibly have in mind?

  We came down a third floor hallway with only two doors off the side of the hall. We stopped in front of the double doors at the end of the hall. The boss looked at Roland.

  “Make sure they stay here.”

  Rox stepped closer to the boss. I was a little surprised. So was he, but he didn’t react. He was in “everything’s under control” mode. He particularly wasn’t concerned about a woman.

  “My, you are a big man,” Rox cooed. I almost started giggling because it reminded me of an old Mae West film. What was she up to? Did she think relaxing his nervous system would make him less cruel?

  Rox planted both hands firmly against his chest. His pupils suddenly enlarged and his face turned white.

  I realized Roland hadn’t immediately picked up what was going on because he was intent on me. He let his attention drift.

  “Boss, is everything…”

  I snatched the bat out of his hand. I made the decision not to use it but to simply stop with momentarily having more control. I didn’t want a fight because, unless something miraculous happened, we still couldn’t battle our way out of the house. I was just giving time for whatever it was Rox was trying to do to unfold.

  Blaise and Izzy also reacted instantly. Blaise had his escort spun around and braced against one wall so he couldn’t use his bat. Izzy spun and held his guard against the wall with a sharpened stone arrowhead at the man’s throat. He must have broken it off one of his arrows.

  The boss was paralyzed with a horrific expression on his face. He whispered something, almost like someone whispering in awe. The only words I caught were “…black angel…”

  “Boss! What has she done to you?” Roland started to lunge but I raised the bat.

  “Roland, unlike you, I’m not looking to cripple anyone. Goofy as it may sound, I’m still hoping we can all walk away f
rom this.”

  Roland looked at me. Our eyes held. Something stirred in there, but I wasn’t sure what. Whatever it was, he backed down.

  “I think you need to sit down,” Rox said quietly.

  “Take me to my chamber.” It was a request, not a demand. Rox helped guide him. He was still partially withdrawn and his body moved awkwardly like it was some kind of robot being guided from elsewhere. His head turned to Roland. His face was drawn, but I noticed his eyes had a strength reflecting from them. They were hard to read, but they weren’t cruel now.

  “Wait here. Don’t do anything until I call for you.”

  With that, the boss and Rox went through the double doors.

  7.

  I turned and looked at Roland. I could see on his face what I was feeling. I saw Blaise and Izzy still had their dark men pinned to the wall. On instinct, hoping I wasn’t making a mistake, I held the club out handle first to Roland. I nodded to Blaise and Izzy. They weren’t totally comfortable, but they stepped back, letting their dark men go. Roland’s eyes met mine and he took the bat, letting it drop passively to his side.

  “Roland, what should we do with them?”

  Roland turned to his men. “Stand down. You heard the boss. We wait. Sardu, go down and tell the others to stay down there until the boss gives them instructions.”

  “Roland, there are three of them,” the one called Sardu complained.

  “Do you think I can’t handle this, Sardu?” Roland’s voice was quiet, steady. The coiled challenge in his tone was unmistakable.

  “No, of course not.” Sardu made a hasty retreat down the hall.

  Roland turned back to me. “What just happened?”

  “I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but I have no idea.”

  “If she has bewitched him…”

  I shrugged since I didn’t have any idea if she had or not or what that meant. Blaise and Izzy joined us. The other dark man stayed back, wary.

  “Why did you give me back my weapon?” Roland asked.

  “I was kind of wondering the same thing,” Izzy added.

  “Roland, I think what you are doing is wrong, but I get the feeling you have a head on your shoulders. And it is still the case that if what goes on behind those doors is bad, we can’t get out of this place with all those others waiting below. You’re having a club won’t make much difference.”