by Gary Jonas
I rolled off the side of the bed away from the warriors and grabbed hold of the mattress. I jerked it up and charged at the intruders, trying to drive them back into the hall.
A sword poked through the mattress, nearly skewering me. Kelly threw herself against the mattress, and we pushed the five Sekutar backward.
“Ideas?” I asked.
“Run,” Esther said.
“Not much chance of that now,” I said.
Another sword punched through the mattress and drove right through Kelly. She had her back to the mattress, so she looked down at the sword protruding from her stomach.
“Goddamn it,” she said. “I liked this shirt.”
Naomi stood behind us. Her hands glowed.
“Let them through,” she said. She looked pissed.
Kelly pulled herself off the sword, and we tossed the mattress into the bathroom. We both hit the floor. As soon as we were out of the way, Naomi let loose with a powerful blast.
The warriors flew backward like fleas in a hurricane.
Naomi dropped to her knees.
“She needs some time,” I said.
“Let’s give it to her,” Kelly said.
I grabbed a blanket from the floor and tossed one end to Kelly. We used it to sweep a warrior from his feet. I twirled an end around him, trapping his arms, and kicked his head through the wall. It slowed him down for a moment, but he tore off the blanket and joined the fray long before we were ready.
Kelly snap-kicked a kneecap; then they were on us. We punched, kicked, bit, and clawed. But it was two against five, and those aren’t good odds even if the five aren’t magically engineered assassins who feel no pain. Kelly was lucky; she didn’t feel pain either. I, on the other hand, felt every jab, kick, and punch. I tried to use open-hand techniques because punching these guys, I was likely to break my hands. I used the edges of my hands, chopping, and tried to grapple with one of them. He laughed at me and kicked me through the wall.
I tried to pull myself out, but he grabbed me and slammed me against the ceiling then threw me to the floor. I lost track of what happened at that point. I know Kelly kept fighting, and she gave as good as she got.
By the time I could shake the cobwebs free of my skull, I saw that four Sekutar warriors held Kelly off the ground, each of them gripping a separate limb, and still they struggled to keep her. The fifth warrior had me pinned to the floor with a heavy boot on my chest.
I watched helplessly as a man who looked like a grown-up fat kid from Gary Larson’s The Far Side cartoons walked toward us. I knew from the way he held himself that it was Ravenwood possessing an engineer.
“Shall we kill them?” one of the warriors asked.
“In due time,” Ravenwood said. “I want Jonathan to see this.” He stood in the doorway.
He smiled as Naomi threw everything she had at him. He stepped aside as the blast tore a hole in the already damaged hallway wall. He kept smiling as he entered the room. I couldn’t see him now.
I heard him say, “Oh, the pretty, little ghost is still among us. How nice to see you.”
I couldn’t hear Esther’s reply, but I suspect she told him where to stick it. Next thing I knew, Ravenwood dragged Naomi into the hallway.
She fought him every step of the way. Once they were both within my line of sight, Ravenwood nodded at me. “Watch how she stops struggling.”
Sure enough, she stopped struggling, and the engineer dropped to one knee.
“Oh,” Ravenwood, now in Naomi’s body, said. “This is much better. I can use magic again.”
The engineer looked up at Ravenwood. “Am I free for real this time? My wife will be worried.”
“This time?” I asked.
The engineer looked at me, took in the warriors, then held my gaze. He looked scared. “He made those old men shrivel up and die while I watched.” He looked back at Ravenwood. “You’re going to kill this woman now too? Why?”
Ravenwood shrugged. “Sadly it seems that the wizards today are unable to handle the levels of magic I want to use. Perhaps this body will be better.”
“Can I at least say good-bye to my daughter?” the engineer asked.
“No.”
I watched helplessly as Ravenwood folded his index finger over his middle finger. He drove them through the engineer’s glasses, shattering the lenses. His fingers plunged through the man’s left eye and into his brain.
“Now that’s just nasty,” the Sekutar who held me said. He smiled. “I like it.”
“I appreciate that, Brand,” Ravenwood said.
Ravenwood knelt before me, and it was a little disconcerting to see Naomi and to hear her voice speaking the words. “It was so nice to see you, Jonathan. I wish I could remain here to witness your death, but the authorities will no doubt arrive soon, and I have better things to do than waste my time on them. Look at it this way. At least you know your girlfriend got to live longer than you.”
He ran Naomi’s bloody fingers over my cheek then stepped past us toward the hall. “As soon as I’m gone, kill them.”
“With pleasure,” Brand said. “We’ll meet up with you as planned.”
Ravenwood gave them a salute then took the stairs.
I tried to turn a bit.
“Oh, yes,” Brand said. “Struggle all you like. It makes no difference to me. How do you want to die?”
“You’re giving me a choice?”
“I’m a good sport,” Brand said. “Shall I break your neck or drive a sword through your heart?”
“I have a better idea,” I said, trying to get my feet against the wall. “Let’s just call this a draw and all go to the Outback Steakhouse for dinner. My treat.”
Brand laughed. “A bloody rare steak sounds good. Under different circumstances, I’d take you up on that offer. You’ve got spunk. Alas, I’m under orders to kill you.”
“Hey, it was worth a try,” I said. “If I have to choose, I’ll go with the sword.”
“Good choice,” Brand said.
As he moved to draw his blade, his weight shifted just enough so I could finally get my feet flat against the wall. I grabbed his legs with my arms and pushed off the wall as hard as I could. I hoped my feet wouldn’t just go through the plaster.
Luck was with me. Brand toppled backward, smashing through the drywall.
I swung around and scissor-kicked one of Kelly’s captors’ legs. As soon as Kelly’s foot touched the ground, she bounced up and kicked the guy who held her other leg.
About that time, the elevator doors opened and revealed six police officers, guns drawn.
“Hold it right there!” one of the officers shouted.
Kelly ignored the shout and drove the two warriors who held her arms back into the hotel room.
I started to get up but dropped to the floor when one of the warriors drew a sword and started toward the cops.
“Shoot them in the head!” I shouted.
Brand pulled free of the drywall and tried to grab me, but I kicked at his legs, and he had to jump aside to avoid having his shins pulverized.
Gunfire filled the hallway. I chanced a look toward the elevator. Two warriors strode toward the cops, who kept firing at the chest as they’d been taught.
“Head shot!” I yelled.
One of the cops listened. He shot a warrior in the head, and the warrior fell down. Another cop shot the second warrior in the head, and down the old boy went. By that time, the first warrior sat up.
My hands were full with Brand, who grabbed me and tried to throw me through the wall again. This time I kept my balance, twisted, and flipped him instead. He hit the ground hard and tried to roll with it, but I kept hold of his wrist. As he tried to pull free, I twisted harder and tried to snap it, but he was too strong. I wished I had my gun, but the damn thing was down in the car.
I tried to break Brand’s neck, but bullets zinged past me. “Fuck this,” I said and dived into the hotel room.
Kelly had managed to disable one of her
warriors and as I entered the room, she tossed the other through the window.
“Behind you,” she said.
I spun to see Brand thrusting a sword at me. I blocked with the outside of my arm. The blade cut deep and hard, but the wound was superficial. It hurt like hell but I’d live.
By the time I hit the floor, Kelly took hold of Brand and sent him out the window after his brother. She took a moment to pick up a dropped sword and decapitated the other warrior.
“Where’s Esther?” I asked, holding a pillow to my injury.
She walked through the wall. “I don’t like watching violence,” she said.
Gunfire still filled the hallway for a moment. Then I heard screams and bones snapping.
“I think our other two playmates are coming back,” I said.
“How’s your arm?” Kelly asked.
“It hurts.”
“Poor baby,” she said. She nodded toward the hall. “Guess I owe those two an ass-kicking.”
She stepped into the hall.
“Shit,” she said. “They’re gone.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“I’m afraid,” Esther said.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” I said. “Ravenwood has a major head start, and I need your help to find him.”
We were in my car, cruising down I-25. It was late afternoon, and traffic was gearing up for another slow commute. We’d lost much of the day answering questions for the police. Fortunately a few of the officers in the elevator survived and were able to back us up. We played stupid about the Sekutar because it’s easier for the police to accept guys who are hopped up on drugs than those who are magically engineered to be virtually indestructible.
Eventually they let us go. On the positive side, I got medical attention for the gash on the arm. It throbbed a bit, but I was fortunate not to have lost too much blood and not to have gone into shock, which often happens with wounds from bladed weapons. The wound was nicely stitched up and bandaged. With a little luck, I wouldn’t tear out any stitches as we hunted Ravenwood.
“Esther,” I said. “All you have to do is pop over to Naomi, see where they are, then pop right back here.”
“What if he sees me?”
“You’ll be gone before he can do anything.”
“I don’t know,” Esther said.
“He can’t do anything to you.”
“He can scare me.”
“But he can’t hurt you.”
“Says you! He blasted me into a thousand pieces.”
“And yet, here you are.”
Kelly ignored the conversation and stared out the window at the other cars.
“What if he can use the typewriter key to hold me there?”
“I doubt he can do that. And certainly not if he doesn’t know you’re coming.”
“Maybe he will know. Maybe Naomi told him.”
“While it’s possible he might have culled the information about the key from her head, it’s unlikely. Do it for me. Please?”
Esther frowned. She gave me a sigh then popped away.
A moment later she popped back. “I don’t know where they are,” she said. “Some house.”
“Can you go back and look around please?”
“I just went there.”
I pulled off the interstate to stop at a gas station. “I know you were just there. He didn’t see you, right?”
“So?”
“So go back and see if you can step outside. Check for landmarks or an address.”
“I’ll try,” she said and vanished again.
“You want something to drink?” I asked Kelly as I eased up to the gas pump.
“Water.”
“You all right?”
She looked over at me. “Get your gas.”
I climbed out of the car and shook my head at the outrageous gas prices. I wondered if wizards could power a car with magic. If so, it would save a fortune.”
I swiped my credit card and grumbled about having to buy premium. While the tank filled, I went into the little convenience store and bought a couple of bottles of water.
When I stepped outside, Esther stood before me.
“Anything?”
“Not really. Naomi—Ravenwood is talking to the torpedoes. He wants to know why you’re still alive.”
“What about the house, Esther?”
“I couldn’t reach the front, so I can’t tell you much. It’s just a house. Nothing special. There’s a big backyard, though. It could be anywhere. Sorry.”
“That’s all right. You tried.”
“I can go back and listen some more. See if he tells those guys to come after you.”
“It’s up to you. If he spots you, though, I want you to get out of there fast.”
“You know it.” She disappeared again.
I gave Kelly a bottle of water. “You’ll get another shot at your brothers,” I said.
“Whatever.”
I topped off the gas tank and got my receipt. As I entered the car, I said, “Whatever? You don’t want to rain down holy hell on them?”
“I can do that, but unless we can strip Ravenwood of his magic, it’s pointless.”
I wheeled the car over to the street and waited for traffic to clear. “Yeah, but it could be fun.”
“I want Ravenwood dead and gone forever,” she said. “The dojo can be rebuilt, but the lives he’s taken can’t be replaced.”
I’d been thinking much the same thing. Ravenwood had killed hundreds of people trying to get to us. I couldn’t wrap my mind around that concept. All I could think about right then was that poor engineer. The guy had been minding his own business when Ravenwood took him. Then he’d been forced to watch as Ravenwood used several wizards to try to kill us. And finally Ravenwood had killed him more casually than your average person swats a fly. I didn’t even know the engineer’s name, but his death affected me more than the hundreds who died earlier. Part of that was because I watched him die and couldn’t do anything about it. Part of it was that hundreds of people come off as a statistic while a single person is more personal. Most of it was because I couldn’t help thinking about his family—his wife and daughter—who would know only that they’d lost a husband and a father.
Kelly and I didn’t speak as I drove across town. We were both lost in our personal thoughts, though I suspect they weren’t all that different.
I rolled up to Lina’s house. “You coming in?” I asked.
“I’ll wait here,” Kelly said. “Anybody looks suspicious, I’ll kill them for you.”
“I can always count on you for murder and mayhem.”
“That’s not funny,” she said.
I nodded. She was right.
Lina was surprised to see me, but Cantrell, who looked much better now, offered to shake hands. “I figured you’d stop by sometime today. How goes the war?”
“We’re losing,” I said.
Lina motioned for us to sit down in the living room.
“What happened to your arm?” she asked.
“Cat scratched me.”
She laughed. “Must be one big kitty. Wish I could help you out.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
She went to the kitchen to fetch some snacks. When she returned, I filled them in on Naomi’s plight.
“Shit,” Cantrell said. “You know who we need to talk to? Guy named Mike Endar over at DGI.”
“FBI-looking dude?”
“You know him?”
“We met,” I said. “I ran into him after Anselma died.”
“His specialty is spirits. If anyone knows how to get rid of ’em, it’s Mike. Let me see if I can get him on the horn.”
I had Endar’s business card in my wallet, but Cantrell already had the number in his phone. He placed the call.
Lina leaned back in her chair and wolfed down a package of Twinkies. “I hope you can save Naomi,” she said around a mouthful.
“Me too.”
Cantrell got up and
started pacing. He favored his right leg a bit but seemed to be doing much better. “Mike,” he said after a minute. “This is Frank. Give me a holler when you get this message. Got a question for ya. Professional question. Thanks much.”
