by M. R. Forbes
The red light had paused the traffic behind us, leaving an open space on our side that carried only us and them. Amos put his window down and turned, trying to angle his mass so he could aim the Mark Six.
Thunk!
He pulled the trigger, and something launched from the gun, the rear end of it flaring to life once it was clear. I heard the high-pitched scream again, and the roadway exploded next to our tail.
"Tax payers ain't going to like that," Amos said.
The Mazda returned fire, bullets catching the rear glass and working their way towards the passenger side. Amos brought his meaty arm back in right before the side mirror vanished, ripped away by the assault.
We were almost back on top of the traffic flow, bearing down hard on a Subaru at the rear end.
"One more shot. Don't miss."
Amos grunted and shifted his bulk again, putting his arm out the window.
Thunk!
Another missile launched from the weapon, again going wide, hitting the ground away from the car.
"Fuck!"
"We're out of time." I was almost on top of the Subaru, ready to weave around him.
"Screw this," Amos said. He used his free hand to draw his pistol, and fired into the back of the car. The glass was hardened from one side. Taking hits from both caused it to shatter.
The gunfire from the Mazda began climbing the trunk, bullets bouncing off and threatening to hit us, sinking into the leather seats and padding. Prithi rolled down to the floor, and Amos leaned back with his arm extended, able to sight the weapon with the better angle.
Thunk!
I could feel the heat of the bullet's exhaust when the motor activated and it whined its way out of the car. I followed its contrail in the mirror, guiding it with my eyes into the grill of the Mazda.
The car exploded.
I cut tight around the Subaru and accelerated, at the same time Amos whooped his pleasure next to me.
"You see that shit? Fuckin' ghosts. Nobody shoots at Amos and gets away with it."
Prithi lifted herself up from between the seats, settling back and putting on her belt.
"I liked all this stuff better before it was real."
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
No, really. Know your enemy.
We ditched the Ford. We didn't have a choice. There was just no way to ignore a shootout like that, or an exploding car. I knew word of it would get back to Black pretty fast, and I wondered what he would think of it.
He wouldn't be happy. We were supposed to stay out of the spotlight, not cause trouble. Trouble was for thugs. So was public violence.
We didn't have a choice in that either.
The car wound up hidden in some brush and trees in a conservation area. We switched over to a brown Econoline van that Amos bought after I dropped him at a used car dealer, reconnecting later once he secured a ride. He'd paid a premium to get it off the lot without spending time filling out paperwork, and he made sure to let me know he expected to get his money back. He also made sure to let me know how comfy the seats were.
Prithi nearly fainted when we transferred Dannie from the trunk of the Ford. I had tried to keep her from seeing it, and in the end had failed. After she recovered from her shock, she sat in the back row of seats and stared at Danelle's lifeless face with tears in her eyes.
"I guess that's why she liked the Machine so much," she said, motioning towards Dannie's legs.
We were on I-84, headed west towards Poughkeepsie. It turned out that the yard Prithi had pointed us towards had been abandoned six months earlier, the 'patients' transferred to other facilities after an undercover expose had revealed some pretty shitty conditions there. Overcrowding, malnutrition, and a crooked director had combined to make a great news story, and to conveniently give Tarakona a base of operations that was close to his targets, but far enough away to go unnoticed.
I wasn't dumb enough to think there was anything convenient about it.
We were a three hour drive away from what I expected would be a showdown between Matwau, Tarakona, Veronica's brother, and any number of skinwalkers and other ferals they had supporting them. It was obvious charging in was going to be a stupid thing to do, and given any kind of choice I wouldn't have gone near the place at all.
Going was most likely suicide.
Not going was definitely suicide.
Mr. Black would see to that.
I still owed them for Dannie, and I let that feeling of revenge and anger help fight against my sense of desperate dread and hopelessness. Even so, it was a tough attitude to master.
I was sitting in the front row of bench seats, laying across them and trying to think. I glanced back at Prithi. "She liked it a lot more after, yeah, but she never let her disability get in the way. She could always take care of herself. And me."
"I got that impression. I wish I could have known her... outside I mean."
It was hard for me to come to grips with the fact that Prithi and Dannie had a relationship of sorts, even if it had been limited to the Machine. It had nothing to do with Prithi's gender, and everything to do with the fact that Dannie never told me about it until she had to. We were best friends, and she thought I would be jealous or something?
"Dannie wasn't into girls."
She smiled. "We could have just been friends. What happens in the Machine stays in the Machine."
Right. I didn't really want to talk about Danelle.
"Tell me more about Black's son."
"I didn't get as much as I could have with more time. From what I did get, it seems like whatever is going down has been in the planning stages for years. Have you ever heard of Moutohora?"
The look I gave her caused her to shrink back against the seat.
"What about it?"
"It came up in the indexing a few times. That must be where Tarakona and Matwau met. The phrase around it was 'back on Moutohora' or something like that. It stood out because I'd never seen the word before. There was also mention of '12 years'."
If Jin was here, I would have asked her if she knew who led the team that had picked up the archaeologist with the stone. Without her here, I was pretty certain I could guess.
"Moutohora is a volcanic island off New Zealand. Black sent a team there to recover an artifact, which I can only assume belongs to Tarakona. Or at least, Tarakona believes it belongs to him. Black takes it, he gets pissed and wants it back. I can understand that. What I don't get is why he would be hanging out there in the first place? What is he, a hermit, or a castaway or something?"
"A wizard," Amos said. He'd been oddly quiet until then. "Maybe he didn't want to deal with the House bullshit, so he exiled himself or something. You know, thanks but no thanks, stay off my lawn. Except Black doesn't give a shit what anybody else wants."
I could buy into that line of thinking. "He knows House Red doesn't have a wizard, and he knows there's this magic rock that has some kind of power that's good enough to keep Red from being gobbled up by the other Houses. He wants to help because he's got the hots for Mrs. Red."
"He also doesn't want to lose an ally," Prithi said. "I've been trading information with the different Houses for years inside the Machine. They have all kinds of secret alliances and treaties, and half of them contradict one another. A good sexual relationship is probably the best way to keep a truce going."
"Mr. Black is powerful-"
She shook her head. "Many of the Houses fear him, yes. He's still only one person. The most powerful one-on-one. Against the combined weight of the rest of the Houses..."
"So Black takes the rock. You think he knew it was Tarakona's and didn't give a shit, or you think he only found out after?"
"It doesn't matter. There was no way once he had it he was ever going to give it back. I think in the beginning he figured Tarakona didn't have the balls to confront him. Except he did. He killed Jin's parents, to show both of them that he could do it right under their noses and they couldn't stop him. He also got to Black's son. Mayb
e even from day one, before the stone had even left the island."
"Power," Prithi said.
"What?"
"Matwau isn't Mr. Black's heir. His second son, Kotori, is. It could be that he felt slighted."
"Or it could be that he's just a dick," Amos said.
Kotori was the one in Dannie's old photo. I'd never met him, but she always used to talk about what a kind, gentle soul he had. Maybe that was why he'd tried to make an heir with science, because his other kids were failures of a different kind.
Prithi moved from the back seat to the front. I sat up straight so she could take her place next to me. "Either way, the treasure has power. Enough that Mr. Black believes it can save House Red. What if Tarakona offered Matwau even a portion of that power? What if he enticed him with House Black? There was a mention of something they called the 'bonded'. Do you know what that is?"
"No."
"Come on, Baldie, you don't know what bondage is?"
I shifted my gaze between both of them. "When I was with Black... I knew he could kill me with little more than a thought. Let's say Tarakona offered Matwau enough power to challenge Black. Maybe he already even gave him some of it, enough to convince guys like Carlyle and Campbell to join their cause."
I paused, because it hit me then, harder than my sickness ever had.
"Tarakona didn't kill Jin's parents. Matwau did."
"That's an awful giant leap off an awful short pier," Amos said with a snort.
It was a stretch. A big stretch. It also made sense. "Look, Black has been after this Tarakona for years, right? Mr. Fucking Black. Ten years since he killed Jin's parents, Red's sister, and he can't find him. The most powerful man on the planet, and he can't find him? How the hell does that happen?"
"He joins forces with Black's son, who does the dirty work?" Prithi asked.
"Yes. Black has a statue of himself and his children. He also kept an eye on Dannie even after he kicked her out. He told me how much he cares about his kids, and maybe some of that is bullshit, but I don't think all of it was. It could be he isn't paying attention to what Matwau is doing, or he's looking at the wrong things, and overlooking the fact that he's been planning a coup."
"Wait a second. Dannie is Mr. Black's daughter?" Prithi glanced back to where she was resting.
"She was. It's a long story. "
"Let's say you're right, Skeletor. Let's say Matwau has been taking his pops through the back door. He's got Jin. He's got the stone. He's got these big toothy bastards that shrug off bullets like they're spitballs. He's got whatever shit makes him think he can make his move and survive Black's reprisal." He turned his head so he could look me in the eye. "You get what I'm saying?"
Prithi's face paled. I met his eye and returned the stare until he put his attention back on the road.
He didn't want to say what we all knew was true.
We were going to die.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Nice evening for a stroll.
Somehow, the situation managed to go from impossible, to more impossible. I was counting on the element of surprise, of infiltrating the yard in the darkness, and sneaking my way through. I was planning to make use of Mr. Timms, on sending him out into the night to use his natural curiosity, hunger, and skittishness to find a clean path through the walls and into the area.
My plans fell right to shit. There was no cover around the yard. No trees, no buildings, no tall grass or shadows. There was a straight line of sight from two miles away in every direction. It was perfect for spotting escapees and mowing them down before they could disappear.
It worked the same way for anyone trying to get in.
"What the fuck are we gonna do?" Amos asked. He had pulled the van off the road a couple miles out, into one of the last runs of trees before it became a wide open space.
We couldn't see the yard from here. It was a suggestion on the horizon, the lights of the place casting a small volume of luminescence into a misty night sky. Rain was pattering on the hood, and trees were smacking their branches against the sides with regularity.
It felt like a warning from God.
A warning I was still going to ignore.
I was dead either way, and I had a feeling Matwau and Tarakona would be more forgiving than Black would.
"I don't have a choice. You do."
"Don't do that shit."
"Amos, it's suicide. We both know it. Take Prithi and get her out of here. Help her disappear. You might not have been able to protect them all, but you can save one. Bring Dannie back to Chicago and give her the burial she deserves."
He stared at me for a long time, conflicted. For all his talk, he didn't want to throw his life away. I didn't blame him. I wouldn't have done it either.
"Shit." He reached over to the passenger seat and picked up the Mark Six. "At least take this badass."
I shook my head. "No. It won't help. You wasted all the shots with your shitty aim."
He smiled. "Thought you were an asshole the first time I met you."
"I am."
"I know. You're my kind of asshole though." He held out his massive hand. I took it in mine and shook.
"Prithi, Amos will help get you out of the spotlight of the Houses. You're going to have to stay off the Machine, at least for a while. I know it's supposed to be anonymous, but I think we've proven that isn't always true, especially if the right people are looking for you."
She nodded and leaned over to hug me. "Thank you for saving my life."
It brought back so many memories. How many lives had I saved, before all of this? Enough to balance out the ones I had taken, I hoped. "You're welcome."
"You got a plan, Baldie, or you just gonna knock on the front door."
"I've got a plan."
"You shitting me?"
"Maybe."
I opened the door of the van and stepped out into the rain. I went around back and into the rear, finding my suitcase resting below Dannie. I unzipped it just enough to grab the photo. I took it out, looked at Karen and Molly one last time, and tucked it in my pocket. Then I leaned over and kissed Danelle on the cheek. "I'll see you soon."
I closed the doors and walked back around to the side.
"Amos, thanks for everything. Now get the hell out of here."
He lifted his hand in a wave, which vanished behind the closing door. I moved away from the van, and Amos backed it out into the street, turning it the other way.
Then they were gone.
I stood there for a few minutes, my eyes closed, my senses tuned to the cold moist of the rain slapping my bald head, running down my nose, and from my nose to the ground. I made sure to take the time to savor life.
I put up my hood, and started walking.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Smells like teen spirit.
Veronica's brother met me at the gate.
He looked just like his avatar in the Machine, right down to the wisp of red hair that fell in front of his right eye. He was all smiles when the heavy iron doors parted, the churning of the chains rising above the soft growls of the ferals on the walls. He was backed by a pair of vampires, their bodies stiff, the motions jerky, as though every instinct told them to attack me, but something was holding them back.
"Out for an evening stroll?" he asked.
I put my arms out to the sides. He punched me in the gut. I bent over, but didn't make a sound.
"That feels so much better in real life. I'd turn you to ash where you stand, but he wants to meet you. He's impressed with you, not only for surviving this long, but also for having the balls to show up here. To walk right up to the gate, no less." He laughed at that. "First, the coat, and your weapons. You can keep the hoodie. We wouldn't want you catching pneumonia before you meet the boss."
I shrugged out of the coat and tossed it to him. Then I slowly took the two guns from their shoulder holsters and handed them over.
"Not in the mood to chat?" he asked.
I stared at him wi
thout saying anything.
"You aren't going to bother me by not talking. This way."
He led me into the yard. There were a dozen or so ferals spaced throughout, mostly werewolves but also a few vampires and one solitary wendigo. Most were sitting on their haunches, staring at one another, or running their claws through the grass, or being otherwise docile and calm.
He might have been controlling them, or they might have had free will. Either way, they looked... bored.
"You like the pets? It's hard to bring a feral under control. No magic in the world can do it."
I kept looking at them, remaining silent.
"Science. Science is the key to filling the gaps where magic fails. Or perhaps it's the other way around."
We finished crossing the yard, turning left at the base of a thick stone building and walking along the perimeter. We started crossing another part of the yard, towards a tall, square structure on the northern side.
"To think. All of these years of plotting, all of these years of planning. The lies, the deception, the money." He shook his head and laughed. "And a single necromancer who isn't smart enough to die when he's supposed to almost fucked it all up." He looked over at the vampires flanking him, as though he expected them to join him in his mirth. Their reaction combined with mine made him uncomfortable. "Will you say something?"
I turned my head and smirked. That was the best I was going to give him. I could see it was getting under his skin.
He shoved me from behind, making me stumble for a couple of steps. Then he moved in front of me so he could open the door to the building.
It fed into a large, open inner space. It was a gymnasium. I hadn't realized the yard had been a human prison before it had gone to the ferals.
The lights were off, a dim illumination sourced from a circle of candles in the center of the room. Jin was laying strapped to a gurney in the middle of the setup, her profile visible in the candlelight, covered by a light blanket. She probably would have liked to turn her head to see who had just come in. A strap across her forehead prevented that.
