The Evolutionite Chronicles Book Two: Dagger and Shadow Ninja in: Welcome to Las Vegas

by Timothy P. Callahan

  Daniel barely looked up from the bed. “It’s over. Put the sword away.”

  Tanaka did what he was told. “Smells like burnt wire and hair.”

  “Yeah, that would be Kate over there,” he pointed toward the room where he fought the robot. “She’s one of Destructo’s creations. Just tried to kill me.”

  “Hold on, wait a second,” Tanaka said. “She’s a robot?”

  “Yeah, sure is.” Daniel replied.

  Tanaka stood there, unable to think. His mind tried to wrap itself around the new information. He didn’t even know where to start. “What the hell is going on here? Why is Nancy’s roommate a robot and what does this have to do with Turing and the strip club?”

  “All very good questions,” Daniel said sitting up. “I have no idea.”

  “So, okay, let’s recap then,” Tanaka said, thinking hard. “Nancy calls us because she’s afraid that David is after her. David isn’t and helps us. You get recruited by Turing which, as it turns out, is a ruse to see if his plan to destroy Vegas will work.”

  “Let’s also not forget that Nancy had a one-night stand with Turing, and she found something out about him.”

  “Right. How can I forget that?” Tanaka replied. “What does it all mean? How is Turing connected to Destructo, and who sent Pop and Water Witch after us? Ugh, this is making less and less sense.”

  Daniel sat up on the bed and pointed at Tanaka. “You know what I’ve always had a time sensing? People with pace makers or any machine that regulates their bodies. My senses can’t detect the machines, only their outputs.”

  “I know,” Tanaka said. “I remember that one guy you thought was innocent because he told you and you didn’t detect any deceit because his heartbeat stayed the same.”

  “Right, because he had a pace maker.”

  “And he was guilty as hell. Almost got away with it too, if it wasn’t for some good old-fashioned detective work.”

  Daniel nodded, remembering that case. “When I met Turing he lied to me, lied right to my face about wanting me to help him. I didn’t detect any shift in his face, in his heart, nothing to indicate he might be lying. But he was. When I shook his hand, all the spy equipment we had died. He sent some sort of shock through my body to the equipment. I could never figure out how he did either of those things.”

  “Maybe he’s a robot,” Tanaka joked.

  Daniel’s eyes grew wide at his brother’s joke. He jumped up from the bed, excited. “My god, you’re right.”

  “No, I was joking. Ha, ha.”

  “It makes sense.”

  “It makes no sense at all!”

  “No, listen. What if Nancy found out during that one-night stand that Turing was a robot. What if he threatened her, and she called you using David as an excuse because she knew we had just fought him?”

  “But David was here.”

  “Coincidence?”

  “We don’t believe in those.”

  “Okay, fine. What if she did see him and was scared? What if it was just too much for her? We both agreed she could take care of herself, but what if this was a threat she couldn’t deal with?”

  “Why not tell us about Turing?”

  “Why should she?” Daniel replied. “Probably too scared he would do something. Protecting her from David would be enough to keep us around, and if Turing did attack, we’d be there to protect her as well.”

  “That didn’t go so well,” Tanaka replied. “Tracker shot her.”

  “Yeah, that must have been a mistake. I still can’t figure out why she went into the building.”

  Tanaka glared at Daniel. “Either you’re being nice to me or you missed the obvious.”

  “That she’s working for Turing and Destructo,” Daniel said. “That might explain the robot roommate. She would need some muscle to protect her. But that wouldn’t explain her calling you to get you here.”

  “Yeah, it would.” Tanaka replied bitterly. “She knew about your power. Knew that you could help see if the plan was going to work. What if she called me to get you here?”

  “She didn’t know I’d come here with you.”

  Tanaka shook his head and laughed. “Everyone knows we travel together.”

  “True,” Daniel replied. “That doesn’t explain Pop and Water Witch, or why David is here.”

  “Pop and Water Witch were probably trying to kill me, or at least get me out of the picture. Pop said that was told not to kill me; he almost did, but he was told not to. What if his involvement was supposed to get me away from you? To distract me?”

  “There would be other, less spectacular ways to do that. What about David?”

  “I think he’s on the up and up,” Tanaka said. “He hired the detective and tracked Nancy down. Just got here at a bad time.”

  “Coincidence?”

  “Well, this time, yeah,” Tanaka said. In the distance he heard the sound of the police siren approaching the building. “Should we stay around?”

  Daniel looked over at the robot Kate. Then at Nancy’s laptop computer, which had somehow survived the fight. “Take the computer and get us out of here. Maybe we’ll find something to either confirm our thoughts or put us on another course.”

  Tanaka grabbed the computer, the grabbed Daniel and the two teleported out of the room.

  They appeared a split second later at the hotel room. A startled Grace jumped up from the couch and screamed.

  “Hey, calm down,” Tanaka said.

  “Damn it. That’s startling.”

  “Sorry,” Daniel said. “Forgot you were in here. How are you feeling?”

  She held her hands up, they were shaking. “Going numb now. That’s not a good thing. You?”

  “My head hurts, but that could be because of the robot I just fought.” Daniel was smiling.

  “Okay, Romeo, enough flirting.” Tanaka said. “What’s with the numb hands?”

  “That’s how her danger sense registers,” Daniel replied. “I’m still not feeling the danger, but she could be more in tune with the city, since she lives here.”

  “Maybe,” Tanaka replied, placing the laptop on the table. “You good with computers?”

  “No,” Grace said. “Sorry.”

  “All right. I’ll look through it.”

  Daniel started pulling stuff out of his pocket. He felt a business card and looked it. “Office Jeremy Lee,” he said. “You know what kind of bugs me?”

  “What?” Tanaka asked.

  “The Kate robot told me she was a card dealer. What if that’s true?”

  “My vision! Card dealers with red LED eyes,” Grace replied. “God, I can’t believe I just said that like I know what I’m talking about.”

  “She looked so real,” Daniel said. “If she hadn’t attacked me, I never would have guessed. Had a heart beat and everything.”

  “You worried she was modeled after someone?” Tanaka asked. “That there might be a real Kate?”

  “Yeah, sort of.”

  “You want to talk to the officer who helped us?” Grace asked.

  “Tanaka, will you be okay here?”

  “Yeah, I’m just going to go through Nancy’s stuff. No plans on going out until we can figure out where she is. You want me to teleport you guys there?”

  “No,” Daniel replied. “I need Grace to be in top form. You teleporting us will make her sick for a while. We’ll take a cab.”

  Daniel let Grace get into the cab first then followed. He felt oddly nervous sharing a cab with a woman he hardly knew, yet he felt as if he’d known her his entire life. Daniel was never one who believed in love at first sight. Seeing how quickly he came to like Grace might change his mind.

  She really didn’t look like someone he could have a relationship with. She was much more alternative than he thought he was comfortable with. He did find her purple hair appealing to his heightened senses. He easily saw the different shades of purple, places where the hair dye might not have gotten just right. To those with normal sight, no
thing would seem to be wrong; her hair would look perfect. He found the imperfections interesting, even charming.

  “Can you take us to the police station?” Daniel asked the driver. The car took off from the Circus Circus taxi port and onto the main street.

  “You sure you want me along?” Grace asked.

  “Yes,” Daniel replied. “But I need to ask you for a favor.”

  “Sure, whatever you need.”

  “I need to make sure you’re not a robot.”

  A thin smile formed on her lips. Daniel was happy to see she was amused more than angry. “Excuse me?”

  “Destructo seems to be able to make perfect human robots. Ones I have a tough time detecting. I don’t sense anything from you, so I’m pretty sure you’re not a robot, but I need to know for certain.”

  She sat up higher in the seat. “Okay. How can I prove to you I’m a human?”

  “The easiest way would be for me to slice your arm up to see if your bones are metal.”

  Her eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped. Daniel sensed her heart beating rapidly, her skin temperature dropped slightly and her breathing shallowed. She was human, no doubt. “Or I can just scare you to see how you react.”

  “Well, that was one heck of a scare. Did I pass?”

  “With flying colors,” he replied. “Congrats.”

  She laughed and touched his shoulder. “I didn’t think you meant that, but come on. I just met you. How do I know you’re not a psycho? I mean, you are talking about killer robots and stuff.”

  “Right about that. I hate to harp on it, but can you go through your vision again? There is no way this isn’t connected to what you saw. It could help us find my friend.”

  “Well, I’ve been thinking. Knowing it’s a robot kind of makes the red eyed card dealers of my vision makes much more sense.”

  “What else can you tell me?”

  “I told you all I know. That’s it. I’m sorry.”

  “That’s fine,” Daniel said, placing a reassuring hand on her knee.

  There was a knocking on the window next to Daniel. He looked at Grace who pointed behind him. “Someone wants to talk to you, I think.”

  Daniel turned to see David Lee running next to the taxi along the highway. They had to be going at least sixty. He didn’t seem to be bothered by the run and made a motion for Daniel to lower the window. “Open the door. Let me in.”

  “Shouldn’t we stop first?”

  “Nah, I’ve done this plenty of times.”

  Daniel opened the door and moved over. He found himself even closer to Grace now. Close enough he could smell what soap and shampoo she had used earlier that day. She didn’t move away. She seemed to move even closer to him. The cab driver looked back and yelled, “What’s going on?”

  “Keep driving,” David said as he grabbed the door and took a short leap next to Daniel. The cab sagged to his side as his massive weight hit the seat. He closed the door and took a deep breath. “Saw you guys get into the cab at Circus Circus, was waiting for a phone call, and when I didn’t get it, I decided to track you down. You found something out, didn’t you?”

  “Yeah,” Daniel said, then told him the story of his fight with the robot and how Turing was also Nancy’s landlord. “We think Turing is working with Destructor, or maybe is Destructor.”

  “Here I thought only the weird stuff happened in Haven.” David looked around Daniel and at Grace. “Hi, have we met?”

  “No,” Grace said holding her hand out. “I’m Grace, friend of Daniel’s.”

  “David. Um, acquaintance of Daniel’s.”

  Grace smiled. “Don’t let me get in the way of your conversation.”

  “I did some digging myself. Found a few things out.”

  “What did you find?”

  “I remember what you told me about those two goons, Water Witch and Pop. Found out from an old friend how to get in touch with them. Paid them a visit and got the scoop on what they’re deal is.”

  “Are they still alive?”

  David laughed. “Yeah, just scared them. Both are pretty wimpy and seeing a huge black man asking them questions nearly made them both pee their pants. Don’t think they’ll bother you guys anymore. Anyway, they told me they got the offer to attack Dagger... I mean Tanaka, through an ad on a site where people are willing to sell their powers. Once they saw the target, they jumped at the chance. They’ve been holding a grudge for a while now. They didn’t know who the client was.”

  David looked out the window as the car pulled into the driveway of the police station. “Probably not a good idea if I stay around. I’m still a wanted man.”

  “Go,” Daniel replied. “Thanks for the information. If you can find anything else out, let me know.”

  David opened the door before the taxi came to a stop, jumped out and ran down the street like a train.

  Grace looked at Daniel. “Nice guy.”

  “Not really,” Daniel replied. “But as long as he’s good and helping us... Well, we’ll see what happens down the road.”

  After the taxi stopped, the two walked into the police station. At the front desk, they asked for Officer Lee. They took a seat and waited.

  Moments later, the rough looking mug of Office Lee turned the corner. He looked at Daniel and Grace, sighed, and said, “Follow me.”

  The two followed Officer Lee through the police station and to his desk. “Take a seat,” he said, pointing to chair.

  Daniel sat down while Grace stood over him. The officer looked at Daniel, waiting for him to say something. “Thank you for seeing me.”

  “Look, I don’t have much time here. We’re very busy. Got a lot busier since you and your brother arrived. How funny is that?”

  “Not very,” Grace said under her breath.

  Daniel suppressed a smile. “There are things happening that I did not anticipate. Me and my brother came here for a vacation and to visit a friend, but we somehow go tied up in... Well, in something that we had not anticipated.”

  “I guess fighting a robot in the middle of a crowded apartment building wasn’t on your to do list?”

  “It was not,” Daniel replied. “How did you know—”

  “Not many people walking around looking like you,” Officer Lee said pointing to Daniel’s ninja outfit. “I should arrest you right now, but I’m not sure what to charge you with. So talk. Let me know what’s happening.”

  Daniel reached out with his senses. Office Lee was a human; his heart strong, changing speed with his emotions. His stoic face hide a softness under it. “We believe that a mad robot named Destructo kidnapped our friend, and we are trying to track her down. I went to her house, wanting to talk to the roommate when I was attacked. We suspect the Kate robot was actually modeled after a real person, perhaps the real roommate. We were hoping you could help us see if the real Kate Scallin was missing.”

  Office Lee never took his eyes off Daniel. The officer’s skin grew a little hotter, his heart beat just a tad faster. A few facial tics on his face showed Daniel he was thinking, absorbing the information he was just given. After a few more seconds he turned to his computer and started typing. “Scallin, Kate or Katherine?”

  “I’m not sure,” Daniel replied.

  Office Lee moved the mouse around and did some typing. His eyes moved up and down as names and information scrolled across his screen. After a few moments he said, “No, I don’t see anything about her missing. She did get in trouble when she was nineteen. Prostitution, it looks like. Some drug arrests too. Nothing recent though, all about ten years old.”

  Daniel leaned back and thought hard. “Ten years ago. There is no way she could have been a robot for that long.”

  “I agree,” Office Lee replied. “Which means what in your crazy world?”

  “That she was probably kidnapped and replaced recently.”

  “So, where is she?”

  “Bunkers?” Grace said. “Remember my vision saw bunkers in the desert.”

  “Vi
sion?” Office Lee asked. “What’s this about a vision?”

  “Long story,” Daniel replied. “The important thing is Kate, the real Kate, must be in danger.”

  “Or dead,” Officer Lee said flatly. “I’ll see how many Jane Doe’s we have, see if any of them match Kate’s description. Can you tell me how far back I should look?”

  Daniel thought about it. According to the report the Detective gave him, Nancy went missing for some time. That was five months ago. That might be when the swap was done. Might even be why she went missing. So many things Nancy didn’t tell them. “You may have to go back five months or so. Nancy went missing around then. Kate filed a report. That might have gotten her on the radar of Destructo, might be around when the switch was made.”

  “All right, I’ll take a look. In the meantime keep your noses clean, understand?”

  Daniel nodded and stood. “Yes. I understand. I’m still going to find my friend.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Tanaka scrolled through e-mail after e-mail, looking for some clue which might help him. After several hours and way too many links to cat videos, he gave up and lowered the laptop lid.

  Daniel lay on the hotel room bed, taking a nap. Grace lay next to him sleeping as well. Both careful not to touch each other. Both trying so hard not to show any affection. Tanaka understood. They haven’t known each other for long and Daniel was always about doing the right thing. Acting on some primal attraction wasn’t something he would do. Tanaka would have to tease him about it at some point, but for now he was going to let them sleep.

  He walked over to a pair of discarded pants and pulled out the wad of money he had. Five hundred bucks, still there, still waiting for the casino to take it. He placed the money in his pocket and walked out of his room. He thought about teleporting but the pop sound would wake Daniel and Grace.

  He took the elevator down to the casino level and stepped out. It was late afternoon and busy. The sounds of hundreds of people walking down narrow hallways lined with shops sent a wave of guilt through Tanaka. He really should be doing something to help find Nancy. He didn’t know what though; every lead was a dead end. Daniel didn’t know anything new. The computer was no help. He couldn’t believe his only hope might be a cop he didn’t even know or David Lee. Neither he nor Daniel had any answers. A distraction was what he needed.