Hammett led them down the hall toward the rear of the station, while the other two officers took up the rear- as though one of them might try to attempt an escape at any minute. The station was relatively dead at this late hour, but the few officers on duty stopped what they were working on and stared at the group as they marched by. Serene ran her long fingers through her blonde hair, the roots now returning to the extreme contrast of black, in an attempt to fashion it into something more alluring. She also made sure to wink at the male officers as she trudged along, at least the ones she deemed attractive. Eventually they reached a door that led down three flights of stairs, well below ground. This basement area appeared to be very old, and in the dim light you could barely make out the dirty stone floor and rusty cells lining the damp walls.
“In here.” Hammett opened a cell door. Three bare cots had been set up within, and the space was otherwise entirely bare except for a filthy toilet without a seat positioned at the rear.
Serene peered over her nose into the cell and took a couple of testing sniffs. “I am not stepping into that filth. I demand—”
“You will do what you are told, Necrosia.” Hammett firmly grasped the woman by the arm and shoved her inside.
“I don’t understand,” Alex pleaded as he stepped inside. “Moody and I haven’t done anything. Why do we have to be punished like this? Will you please explain what’s going on here?” All he got back from the Cyclops was an emotionless stare.
“You suck,” Moody growled, giving the inspector an elbow in the gut as she passed.
The cell door slammed with a loud clang, and Hammett turned around without another word and proceeded toward the stairwell, the two officers dogging his steps.
“You’ll rue the day! You … you … one-eyed oppressor!” Serene shook her clenched fist vigorously at Hammett’s back, and spat through the metal bars for good measure.
“Inspector Hammett, would you please come back? Can’t we talk about this?” Alex grabbed the bars, then quickly released them, a slimy substance now covering his hands. The sound of a door being shut above them signaled that Hammett had returned to the station above, leaving them alone in this miserable dungeon. “Wonderful. I hope you’re happy with yourself.” Alex shook his head at Serene and shuffled over to one of the cots.
“That one-eyed despot. Oh, he will … I swear he’ll regret this. No one treats a Necrosia in such a manner. He won’t … oh, he’ll get it … that insufferable, uncouth miscreant!”
“Why? Why do you always have to make everything so freaking difficult?”
“Me? I’m not the one being difficult! It’s all because of that goose-stepping swine! I’ll have you know that when we are released from here I shall file a formal complaint. How dare he?”
“Serene, all you had to do was follow a few simple rules that Hammett laid out. That’s it. But no … you’ve got to be the rebel … you have to go and antagonize these people. You have to act like you’re above all the rules. That you’re too high and mighty to be bothered by them.”
“I do believe that Cyclops has warped your mind, my dear boy.” Serene turned to Alex, looking as though she’d been stabbed through the heart. “Trying to turn my Alex against me. That’s low, even for the despicable UEL. Mark my words … he’ll pay for this. Oh, he’ll pay dearly … ”
“This has nothing to do with Hammett,” Alex argued.
“Don’t speak that loathsome name in my presence!”
“I can’t believe it. We had a reasonably comfortable place to sleep. A TV—I mean Visi-Screen. Friendly, sane people to visit with. And now look where we are! Freaking … every time … every freaking time something starts going well in my life, which is a rare, rare occasion since I’ve met you two, you go and screw it up.”
“Shut up, little man. We’re all tired of your constant complaining. You sound like a spoiled little girl.”
“Okay, you listen here, Moody. I have a right to be pissed off. And I’m going to say my piece, and I don’t give a crap whether you want to hear it or not.”
“You watch it, little man. I will take you down.”
“You know what, Moody? You can kiss my ass,” Alex muttered.
Eyes burning with rage, Moody charged across the cell and tackled Alex, sending the two onto the damp, foul-smelling floor. They rolled about for a bit, snarling and making a great deal of noise, tossing about numerous profane and immature insults. Eventually Moody managed to overpower the man, and ended up sitting on his back, with her knee pressing his face against the floor. Throughout this whole scene Serene never turned around to interfere, but instead stared in the direction Hammett had exited, continuing her tirade against the great injustice inflicted upon her and the Necrosia name, as well as a great deal on the woe and calamity soon to befall the “one-eyed tyrant.”
Chapter 6- The Demon Toilet
It was not until Alex had huffed, puffed and kicked himself into exhaustion that Moody finally released her hold on the young man. Even then, the atmosphere did not improve greatly. For the better part of an hour Alex and Moody sat on cots positioned at opposite sides of the cell, engaged in a vicious stare-down of epic proportions. All the while Serene continued to curse Hammett, even after her voice gave out and she could utter nothing more than a spiteful croak with her face pressed against the bars. Needless to say, with the room choking under this tempestuous swirl of bewilderment, rage, frustration and anxiety, nobody slept much at all that night. Not that a change in mood would have made a significant difference. The cots provided were hard as steel, not to mention soiled by highly dubious stains of varying colors. No pillows or even blankets were provided, and the room felt uncomfortably chill and drafty.
“I’m sorry.” It may have been morning, or only several hours after their incarceration, when Alex at last decided to break the miserable silence. In a room without windows, or any connection to the world beyond the bars, time had become wholly immeasurable.
“What?” Moody asked from across the cell, her tone of voice making it perfectly clear that there were more beatings in store if she disapproved of his next few words. “You have something to say, little man?”
“I said, ‘I’m sorry.’ I was angry and tired and freaking … I didn’t mean to take it out on you. I apologize. If we’re going to be stuck in here, the last thing we need is to be at each other’s throats. I’m sorry for lashing out at you like that.”
Moody sighed and shook her head in irritation, which was the closest thing to a reconciliation Alex could hope for.
“What about you? You doing okay, Serene?” he asked.
The inventor sat on the ground, back against one of the cell’s corners, knees under her chin. “They can chain my body, lock this physical vessel in an impenetrable monolith, bind my flesh in irons, but they can never quell my spirit. Fire! Fire and death be upon them all! I’ll take Spleen Cleaver and chop them into bits, scattering their entrails to the antipodes! They’ll rue the day they treated a Necrosia thusly. Hell hath no fury like a Necrosia pissed! And I need a drink.”
“Okay. Um … right. Just … checking in.” Alex stood and paced back and forth across the cell several times, stretching his arms and legs. “Well ... maybe we’ll get lucky and we won’t have to spend too much time in here. God I hope not.” He stepped up to the corroded toilet and peered in with a grimace. “It looks like there’s about twenty years of fossilized goblin puke and or crap covering this thing … and worse. Ah jeez, I don’t think it’s even connected to plumbing of any kind.” Balancing on one foot, Alex used the tip of a shoe in an attempt to flush the toilet. “No. I think the … stuff drops straight into a pit below. This is freaking third-world nasty.” He lightly kicked the base of the toilet and then stepped back to his cot. “And thus concludes the grand tour of our new digs. Hands down the worst place I’ve had to stay overnight since meeting you guys—and that’s saying one hell of a lot.”
A light scraping noise began to echo about in the cell, coming direct
ly from the location of the demon toilet, and then stopped abruptly. The three inmates turned and stared curiously. With a loud crack the entire toilet dropped through the ground, swallowed by a hole two feet in diameter, and from the sound of things burst into a thousand pieces somewhere below. Alex gaped at the hole with his mouth wide open.
“Bravo, little man. Brav-O.”
“Hey, you should be grateful. You might have sat on the damn thing and fell to your demise,” Alex defended. “That’s just great. This place keeps getting better and better. When this is all over, Serene, you’d better fork over a seriously large freaking bonus.”
“My boy … my darling man,” Serene began, creeping toward the hole, her eyes burning with the infamous “Necrosia gleam.” “My, my, my … I do believe fortune smiles upon us this hour.”
“What? Oh, no. Wait … Serene … you can’t be thinking … ah, hell no! That’s a bad idea.”
“On the contrary, dearest. It’s a capital idea!” The inventor licked her lips, drawing ever closer to the newly revealed exit.
“I’m telling you, if we try to sneak out … I mean, look at the mess we’re in now. Look at this hellhole! What do you think they’ll do once they catch us after an escape attempt? Think about it. Besides, it probably only leads to a massive mound of goblin crap and you’re most likely to break your neck getting down there.”
“One way to find out, eh?”
“I volunteer the little man to investigate,” Moody suggested with a smile.
“Once more the hand of fate has stepped in, revealing the inevitable path set before me. They cannot stop us, Alex. Don’t you see? The very earth conspires against those UEL scum and their oppression. It’s destiny. No matter what he thinks, that one-eyed bastard has no hold on me. Oh, ho ho! I bid thee farewell, Mr. Hammett. May we never meet again.” Serene had now drawn to the lip of the hole, triumph oozing out of every pore.
“Did I just hear my name?” Hammett’s head popped up from the hole, covered with dirt and grease, a great smirk on his lips.
“You!” Serene recoiled, her faced twisted in abject horror.
“Yes. Me. And a good morning to you, madam,” the Cyclops replied cordially.
“You-you—” Without warning Serene swung her open palm at the Cyclops’ large crown.
“Now, now, that’s rather un-lady like.” Hammett caught the woman’s wrist before her hand could smack his head and held it in an iron grip.
“Unhand me at once!”
“Gladly.”
Serene tumbled backward onto the cell floor. “I demand you remove yourself from my presence immediately!”
“No doubt,” Hammett replied with a grunt. “Now come along, we haven’t much time.”
“The hell’s going on here?” Alex asked.
“I’ll explain on the way. Now come. And watch your step; it’s a fair ways down.”
“I refuse to crawl down that wretched hole, you lecherous tyrant,” Serene protested, crossing her arms.
“You were happy to jump straight in a minute ago.” Alex shook his head.
“That was before he showed up.”
“Necrosia, you either come with me willingly, or I’ll have you bound, gagged and tossed down on your damned head. Now come.” Hammett’s head disappeared back down the hole.
“Anything’s better than this crappy place.” Moody slid her feet into the hole and began clambering down.
Once Moody’s form had fully receded below ground, Alex approached the hole and peered down cautiously. A small light revealed the figures of Hammett and Moody standing ten or twelve feet below. A rickety ladder ran from the floor to just under the hole, and with a shrug of his shoulders Alex slid his own feet in, searching for a rung to step on.
Alex coughed upon reaching the base of the ladder. “Jeez, it smells down here.”
“What did you expect?” Hammett laughed. The inspector no longer wore his suit and overcoat, but what appeared to be work clothes instead. The Cyclops’ shoes were encased in dried mud, with a great deal more smeared on his clothes. In his hand hung a sort of lantern, a rectangular implement with a handle on top, pure white light emanating out of the device’s four sides. “Come along, Necrosia. We’re waiting on you.”
A spattering of spiteful muttering came first, followed by Serene’s exceptionally skinny, long, pale legs. “You have a great deal of explaining to do,” the inventor wagged her finger in the Cyclops’ face.
“I don’t owe you a damned thing, woman. But if you come along without causing any additional turmoil, and keep your mouth shut, I’ll divulge the details of our little ruse.” Light in hand, Hammett motioned for them to follow his lead, deeper into the darkness. “Centuries ago, an underground river flowed through these tunnels. Eventually this flow was diverted, and in point of fact is still used as the primary water supply for the citizens of New Brasov to this day. For a time this underground network was expanded, and people used it for transporting goods about the city. Now, however, few even know it exists.”
“Enough with the history lesson,” Serene huffed, “what’s the meaning of your uncivilized behavior?”
“It’s imperative that everyone, our enemies as well as allies, believe you are being held in the station for as long as possible. Many members of the press are still camped around the station, anxiously awaiting the next development of their story, not to mention CN agents and god knows who else. Additionally, while I believe most of the officers can be trusted, it’s entirely likely that the Cosa Nosferatu have eyes and ears within the force that we are unaware of. Under these circumstances, it would be virtually impossible to transport you out of the city through traditional means without it being known by our enemies. However, if the world is under the assumption that you three are being kept in isolation, well then, all eyes will be squarely focused precisely where we want them. Which is, of course, away from your actual location. To help sustain our ruse, Officer Lee has agreed to deliver food to your cell twice daily, she being the only person allowed access to your cell. She shall continue to play her part until advised otherwise … or until the enemy catches on.”
“And what makes you so certain that you can trust Officer Lee?” Serene asked.
“I have … questioned her. Thoroughly.”
“Ah, man … you didn’t interrogate the poor woman, did you?” Alex asked.
“Don’t worry; she experienced only the mildest of discomfort … if at all. But in these times such drastic actions have become a necessity. Thankfully, Lee’s a good woman, and a damn fine officer. I trust her completely. If we’re lucky, Vega and I shall have all three of you in UEL headquarters long before anyone realizes the truth.”
“When have we ever been lucky?” Moody growled from the rear.
While Hammett explained the situation, the group snaked through the tunnel system, taking a confusing number of turns along the way. Several times they stepped through passageways that appeared to have just recently been excavated, and Alex wondered if Hammett and Vega were the ones responsible. A good half hour had passed before Hammett finally brought the group to a halt. They now stood in a narrow passage, and leaning against one of the walls was a simple ladder, very similar to the one they had climbed down earlier. The exit above, however, had been blocked by a large metallic object. Hammett climbed up the ladder and banged on the covering with his knuckles a good dozen times, creating a sort of rhythmic code. The heavy sheet metal slid to the side and Vega’s smiling face greeted them from above.
Hammett exchanged glances with his partner, then called out to the others, “Come on up. So far, so good.”
The group now found themselves in some manner of workshop or garage. Numerous tools littered the worktables placed around the room, while piles of wood and metal of all shapes and sizes swallowed up the vast majority of the floor space. Chains with hooks dangled from the ceiling, and the area had a strong odor of oil and chemicals. The room was well lit with electric lights, which proved a nice change from
the dark tunnels, but all of the windows had been boarded, ensuring none from outside could spy on the activity within. On the far end of the room there sat a vehicle, which immediately reminded Alex of an old, battered work van.
“We are now a good half mile away from the station. It’s highly doubtful anyone is watching this location closely, so it should provide an excellent point of departure. Now in you go,” Hammett grunted, opening a swinging door at the back end of the vehicle.
“This will be a riot,” Moody grunted. A handful of coarse blankets, possibly moving blankets, were tossed about in the back. Otherwise the back of the vehicle was completely bare, and devoid of windows. “We all get to lie on this itchy crap in the dark for who knows how long.”
“And you will do so without so much as a peep,” Hammett snarled. “I have no problem finding even less comfortable places to stash you if need be.”
Vega passed by Alex, patting him on the shoulder. The Spaniard had changed into a grease-stained jumpsuit, and slipped on an equally dirty, and rather unusually shaped hat. He glanced once more at his Cyclops partner, and then hopped into the vehicle’s driver’s seat.
“Everyone in. Time is of the essence,” Hammett barked, motioning with his hand.
Alex and Moody reluctantly crawled into the vehicle, and began stretching out the blankets for some minor comfort. Serene eyed the space suspiciously, a large frown on her lips.
“Do I need to get the restraints?” Hammett asked Serene sternly, grabbing her shoulder.
“Unhand me, swine!” Serene shot the inspector one last filthy look and climbed aboard.
Hammett joined the three fugitives and closed the door behind him. Absolute darkness enveloped them for a moment, before Hammett’s lantern lit up with a gentle glow. The Cyclops took a deep breath and looked over the group one last time. Then, as if he had done everything in his power to prepare, he knocked hard against the wall separating them from the cab.
The vehicle rumbled as the engine started, followed by a creaking, groaning noise as a garage door slowly opened. Vega stepped on the gas and casually drove out.
The Eville Protection Plan Page 3
