by J. Thorn
“No.” Martha stepped out of the car and into the frigid night.
She scuttled down the sidewalk and stood at the front door before Fred or George could catch up. She banged on the door with both fists, yelling Sonya’s name. Martha did this several times before turning and facing the men standing behind her.
“With every passing second, we risk losing her. Where would he take her if they’re not here? I didn’t see the delivery truck around here. Did you?”
“His apartment,” Fred said.
“No. Johnny knows George would have come down to bail her out, or at least speak with her about getting an attorney. By now, Johnny knows we’re on to him. He would not have brought her home.”
“She’s right,” Singleton said. “And if we don’t get to her soon, I can’t imagine what’s going to happen.”
“I don’t know Johnny that well,” Fred said. “I don’t know what he’s capable of.”
Martha turned to walk back to the car, leaving George and Fred staring at each other with quizzical looks.
“Let’s go where most delivery trucks end up after the day’s shift. We need to get to Johnny’s dispatch building,” she said.
Chapter 33
Sonya awoke with a jolt. She looked around, disoriented and confused. Her hands were fastened to a set of rails on the wall of the delivery truck normally used to secure cargo. Three strips of duct tape kept them in place and squeezed the blood into her fingers. Her ankles were taped as well. Sonya’s vision in her left eye was blurry and she tasted blood dripping from her nose into her mouth. She started to speak, but winced instead, feeling as though there was a cold knife lodged in her temple.
“Wha?” was all she could muster.
Johnny’s grinning face appeared in front of hers. His eyes and teeth cut through the darkness and made it appear as though he was nothing but a floating, disembodied face. Even through her battered nose, Sonya could smell his sweat. It was as pungent as rotting garlic.
“Sorry about the sucker punch. I would have preferred to drug you, but I wanted you awake when we fucked.”
Sonya closed her eyes and opened them bringing another surge of pain. It pulsed through her skull like a wave on a distant shore, ebbing back into the recesses.
“What are you doing?” she asked, this time in a complete sentence.
“Teaching you the rules, like I do all the bitches. You’re a smart one though, so you need an extra-long lesson.”
Even in the dimly lit delivery truck, Sonya could see him grab his crotch.
“What’s this about, Johnny?”
“You can’t go around embarrassing men. It ain’t right. Bitches get stabbed for less than that. I had that Gaki, goddammit. I didn’t need your help.”
“Is that what this is about? If I hadn’t stepped up and killed that thing, we’d have a hunt on our hands. The demon would have escaped and then we’d be chasing it across the state or maybe even the country. Is that what you wanted, Johnny? A hunt?”
“I don’t give a fuck about that. I had it and I didn’t need you. Didn’t need a woman to save me.”
Sonya licked a drop of blood from her upper lip. She figured he hit her twice, a glancing blow to the eye and then one square to the face that broke her nose. It was that punch that knocked her out long enough for him to tape her down. Johnny had his hands on his knees and was crouched down so his face was inches from hers.
“Singleton thinks Hank is going to conjure a summoning for Michelle,” Sonya said. “Her death map comes full in a matter of weeks. We can’t afford this now. Whatever it is you have planned for me, we can negotiate. I’ll leave the Order, move to Arizona. Whatever. What we can’t do is get sidetracked. If Hank summons her, that transformation will be vicious. That Gaki will make the one I hit with the bat look like a puppy.”
Johnny stood up, his head almost touching the roof of the delivery truck. He stomped his foot and spun in a circle.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
Sonya continued.
“Not only does that thing turn from Michelle into a fucking demon, but it can hold the portal open for more to come through. Those things feast on flesh, blood and shit. I’ve had visions. I’ve seen it firsthand. If I’m not there to fight it, if you’re not there, we’re all doomed.”
“Shut the fuck up,” he said, backhanding her mouth. “I’m trying to think.”
Sonya turned her head and spat. The throbbing pain inside of her head grew as the power of his slap radiated through her entire body.
“Okay. You think about it.”
He put both hands on his head and spun in a circle before sliding down the wall opposite of her. The entire delivery truck shimmied with the motion.
“If I don’t teach you respect, you’ll never learn. You’ll never know your place. You got your fancy degrees and awards and you think you’re hot shit. Well, you’re not. I’m here to prove it. I’m here to show you the power of the alpha male and teach you what it means to be a woman. Yep, gonna show you how to take it.”
“You’re going to rape me? Is that it? You think that with my hands and legs tied, you’re proving your superiority over me? That’s chicken-shit cowardice and I doubt you can even get it up to do the deed.”
He snarled and began to laugh. Johnny held his stomach and wagged a finger at her.
“Oh, no you don’t. You’re not using your mind games on me, bitch. I know what you’re doing. They call it reverse psychology.”
“Not at all,” she said. “I’m saying you’re a pansy-ass bitch that couldn’t get a hard on with a hot white chick tied up in the back of his truck.”
Sonya waited, expecting a blow to the face. Instead, Johnny took out a knife.
“You’re right about one thing,” he said. “I can’t get a hard on with you tied up. I’m gonna beat the shit out of you and fuck you the old-fashioned way—with my hands on your throat.”
He reached down and sawed through the tape on her ankles. Johnny stood and cut through the tape on Sonya’s left wrist and then her right. He stepped back and held both hands out, challenging her.
“If you’re tougher than me, prove it,” he said.
He dropped the knife where it clanged on the cold, metal floor of the delivery truck.
Sonya brought her knees up and used each hand to massage the skin on the opposite wrist. She touched a finger to her nose, the searing pain like molten lava in her head.
“How about you let me punch you in the face twice like you did to me? You think you’re tough enough for that?”
Johnny tilted his head back and smiled before shaking it.
“You’re a woman. I’m a man. If you want a free shot before I take what I want, you go right ahead.”
Sonya stood and cantered to one side as the truck’s suspension wobbled. She drew a breath through her mouth, trying to avoid the pain in her nose.
“C’mon, bitch. Land it right here.”
Johnny stuck his chin out at her.
“How many women have you raped, Johnny?”
“Lots. And they were all stronger than you.”
“That’s what I thought,” Sonya said.
She pulled her arm back, her eyes locked on his. She stepped forward as if to strike before dropping to her knees and lunging for the knife on the floor.
Johnny’s eyes followed her and he reacted by stepping on her hand. Johnny crushed her fingers beneath his boot. Sonya cried out, but did not stop. She used her other hand to reach for the knife. Johnny lifted his shoe and delivered a toe-kick to her jaw. The blow was hard enough to spin her around but not powerful enough to knock her out.
Sonya’s eyes rolled, but she crawled forward on her stomach, now only inches from the knife. Johnny took a step behind her and stopped. He bent down and grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked it back. He knelt between her legs and stared at the rest of her blond hair fanned across her shirt.
Sonya clawed at the floor, but his hold on her hair prevented her from reaching th
e knife. She cried out and Johnny yanked her hair harder.
“I’m going to make it hurt,” he whispered.
Johnny let go of her hair and Sonya’s upper body collapsed to the floor. She sobbed and did not move. Sensing her surrender, Johnny smiled and unzipped his pants. When she heard the sound of his zipper, Sonya made one last lunge for the knife. She felt the cold handle in her palm and wrapped her fingers around it.
In one motion, she twisted her hips and spun at Johnny, her right arm spinning in a long arc with the blade side out. Johnny lost his balance and stumbled to the side as the blade cut through the fabric on his left arm and then the flesh. Sonya’s motion brought the blade across his chest, opening a shallow wound there as well.
Johnny turned away from her slash and stumbled backward into the cab of the truck. Sonya was up and moving at him before he had time to roll. She jumped and landed on his mid-section, knocking the wind from his lungs. Johnny gasped and his eyes bulged. He had one last moment to look into Sonya’s face before she buried the knife in the left side of his neck, just beneath his jaw.
He froze as the steel sliced through his carotid artery, spilling warm blood down his neck. Johnny put both hands to his throat. It came in spurts with his rapid heartbeat. Sonya let go of the knife and stumbled backward. She sat on the floor of the delivery truck watching Johnny bleed out. He rolled to one side, his eyes staring at her, but becoming glassy. He gurgled and his body spasmed one last time. The blood oozed in a slow, steady stream.
Sonya wiped her face with the back of her hand and cried.
“You fucking asshole, Johnny. You goddamn fucking asshole.”
He stared back at her with dead eyes.
Chapter 34
She knew she had to call someone, do something. But she couldn’t remember if her phone was in her pocket or her purse, and she didn’t have the desire to check. A million thoughts ran through her head. She would have to answer to the police. She killed the man who bailed her out on felony drug charges.
“That’s going to be easy to explain,” she said.
Then Sonya would have to explain to Singleton why his best new recruit was bleeding out on the floor of a delivery truck. Singleton found Johnny Jackson by accident and she could remember the sparkle in Singleton’s eyes when he told her about the man. He was an immigrant and alone but he had the sense.
Sonya didn’t dispute that. If the doctor believed Johnny could be a guardian, maybe even a hunter, she supported it. There wasn’t a hint of the disease festering inside the man. Sonya had no indication he was a violent rapist.
“But none of that matters now,” she said. Sonya climbed into the driver’s seat to smoke a cigarette from a soft pack on the dashboard. “Now we’re all fucked.”
She turned around in the seat, half-expecting Johnny to be standing there with a silent scream on his face, lunging at her like a zombie. But his body remained where it fell.
Sonya exhaled as if attempting to bury him in smoke. She grabbed her purse from the floor and saw the pulsing green light on the corner of her phone. She reached in to grab it, unlocked the screen and hit Singleton’s number in speed dial.
“Oh my God, are you okay?” Singleton asked.
“I’m fine,” Sonya said. “Well, not fine, but I’m alive.”
“Where are you?”
Sonya pushed a lock of hair from her face and flicked the butt of the cigarette out the door. She leaned out and turned her head in both directions.
“The warehouse. Dispatch. I’m in Johnny’s truck, around back in the loading dock area.”
“Where’s Johnny?” Singleton asked.
“He’s here,” Sonya said. “He’s not going anywhere.”
Sonya heard voices and a shuffling of the phone. She heard a breathy gasp and knew Singleton had the phone back up to his ear.
“Fred says he knows where you are. We’ll be there in ten minutes. Don’t move.”
Singleton hung up before Sonya could reply. She dropped her phone into her purse and reached for another cigarette. Ten minutes later, Fred and Martha climbed out of the car first as Singleton killed the engine and fumbled with the keys. Sonya was leaning against the side of the delivery truck with her arms across her chest.
The frigid air plumed from her lips as she sighed. She had her hair pulled back in a high ponytail and dark specks were on her face. Martha approached Sonya on her toes as if the young woman would flee if she came too close. Martha looked at Fred and then back at Sonya. Singleton walked toward the door of the delivery truck.
“I defended myself,” Sonya said to Martha. “He had me tied up.”
It was as if her words released the fear she had been holding inside. Sonya stumbled forward into Martha’s arms and sobbed. George stepped forward and Fred reached out and grabbed his elbow. He gave Singleton a look and the doctor stopped.
“Everything’s going to be okay. Where’s Johnny now, hon? Did he run?”
Sonya shook her head, the ponytail swaying back and forth. Martha nodded at the truck. Fred grabbed the handle mounted on the outside of the door and pulled himself into the cab. Singleton was right behind him. The raw, metallic smell of blood sat below a thin mask of cigarette smoke. Fred looked at the jumper seat and turned around to face Singleton. The doctor’s eyes moved to the back of the truck where the darkness hid a most unpleasant scene. Fred took out his keys and pushed the button on his tiny flashlight dangling amongst the silver rings.
“Let’s go,” he said to Singleton.
Fred aimed the thin beam into the truck. Light bounced off fragments of duct tape stuck to the walls, but the beam locked on the dark puddle oozing out from beneath Johnny’s body. Singleton pushed Fred to the side so they were standing shoulder to shoulder, looking at the floor.
Johnny’s head faced them, his blank eyes staring straight and unblinking. His hands were clamped around his neck as if he was choking. A faint drip echoed as the blood found a seam in the floor and dropped on to the guts of the truck. A knife handle stuck out of Johnny’s neck, the blade buried deep in his dark flesh, to the hilt. Neither Singleton nor Fred made a move to check his pulse.
“He’s dead,” Singleton said. “We’ve lost a potential hunter.”
“He bailed her out and brought her here to rape her,” Fred said.
The single sentence snapped George from his own thoughts. He nodded at Fred and then spun around to exit the truck. Fred followed.
“Are you okay?” Singleton asked Sonya.
Martha stood next to her, both women now leaning on the side of the delivery truck. Whatever outpouring of emotion occurred before the men entered the delivery truck was now gone. Sonya stood with her arms folded and her eyes puffy but dry. Martha was next to her with her arms crossed and chin up.
“Yes. I protected myself and I’ll have no problem proving it in court.”
Martha nodded.
“But we have more important stuff to deal with right now,” Sonya said. “The death map will orient soon. The anniversary is almost here.”
Singleton’s analytic mind overrode his emotions and even the tone of his voice changed.
“Correct. And if the recent readings are any indication, this portal is going to open and it's going to be one of the worst we’ve ever seen. There could be dozens of Gakis included in this summoning.”
Fred listened to what Singleton said but remained quiet.
“Even if there isn’t a summoning, we’re still going to have our hands full with the shit that thing spews out. And now we’re down a man. It's like trying to cork a volcano. Even a little eruption could be catastrophic.”
“Maybe we need to rethink the skill set for hunters. Johnny was physically strong, but he clearly showed mental weakness,” Martha said.
“He blamed me. He wanted retribution for the bruised ego I gave him when I killed the demon he couldn’t. That’s what this was all about. But it doesn’t matter now. We need to figure out what we’re going to do next.”
&nb
sp; Singleton was focused on Sonya as she spoke, but his mind was churning over what Martha said.
“There isn’t time to acclimate or train another guardian and let’s hope we don’t need a hunter. However, I think there’s something to be said for exploring other approaches. We might have the ability to keep this portal from blowing open but we have to figure out how.”
“Corey,” Fred said.
Sonya, George and Martha looked at Fred. It was the only word he spoke since coming out of the delivery truck.
“That young man is key. We’ve all felt it. We know he’s at the center of this crisis. It's his mother that could be summoned and he’s shown abilities beyond what any of us possess. Isn’t that right, George?”
Singleton nodded. Fred continued.
“He could help us manage Hank and, God forbid, the portal if the man opens it. We only have a few weeks left to work with Corey and we have to do it without Hank knowing. If he finds out, he could hide with Corey until the anniversary and then the summoning is a certainty.”
“I’ll take Sonya home to clean up and then we’ll need to go to the police,” Martha said. “We’ll tell them Jackson bailed out Dr. Lisander after setting her up with the drugs. His intent was to rape her because he had been stalking her for weeks. She fought him off and he fled in his delivery truck. That will get us through the anniversary and then we’ll have to deal with the police and their evidence. For now, that buys us some time.”
Fred smiled at his wife and looked at Singleton. The scientist and visionary looked confused, his eyes darting between Fred and Martha.
“We need to make the body of Mr. Jackson and his truck disappear,” Fred said to Singleton.
Martha shivered and led Sonya to the passenger side of the car, helping her inside.
“You think you boys can handle this?” Martha asked. “I’ll meet you at the east entrance of Lake View in three hours.”
Fred popped the trunk of Singleton’s car and retrieved a tarp, a few rolls of duct tape and two small shovels—equipment he had put there after they disposed of the demon that had come through the portal most recently. Fred nodded and watched as Martha climbed into Singleton’s vehicle. She drove out of the lot leaving her husband and Dr. Singleton with a dead body, an empty truck and several hours of darkness in which to work.
