by LC Champlin
Chapter 46
Inside Job
Halo - Starset
Albin’s grip tightened on his SIG Sauer. The urge to rap on the window made his knuckles tingle, but he could not engage Mr. Serebus at this time. The entire neighborhood would come to their leader’s aid. If Albin kidnapped him, chaos would descend upon Redwood Shores. They would eventually recover, but in the meantime, they might fall to cannibals or looters. Also, Mr. Serebus would rebel all the more against abandoning his obsession.
Albin continued to the front of the house. Standing in the shadow of the hedges provided a clear line of sight to the upstairs windows yet still maintained his concealment.
He shied the first pebble at the windowpane, following with four more. The window opened; Denver’s face materialized from the murk, a pale oval in her tangled, multicolored locks.
Albin stepped into the moonlight and motioned for her to come downstairs.
Her face turned joyful. “I thought you—”
“Shhh!” He held a finger to his lips. Again he waved for her to join him.
She nodded before disappearing into the darkness. He moved to the living room window where, after thirty seconds, the girl appeared. She lifted the sash. Then she pried the screen out before Albin could do more than step forward to stop her.
“Ms. Denver—”
“Albin!” She scrambled out, her feet barely touching the ground before she leapt at him. She embraced him about the neck, wrapping her legs around his waist simultaneously.
Stance wide and knees bent for balance, he patted her lightly on the shoulder.
“Albin, you’ve been gone so long!” Thankfully she dropped to the ground rather than following young David Serebus’s usual course of action and scrambling onto the host’s back. “We’ve missed you so much! Taylor said you weren’t coming back, but I said you were. I—”
“Slowly, Ms. Denver, and keep your voice down. It is a pleasure to see you as well.” He gave her a nod and slight smile.
“You look so cool in that trench coat. Ooh, wait until I tell Taylor you’re back! And Nathan will be so happy to see you. He misses you.”
Ah, the naïveté of youth. “Do not tell him I was here. I . . . want to surprise him when I meet him. You see, we had a bit of a quarrel, but I wish to rectify the situation.”
“Rect . . . rectify? What’s that?”
“To put right. Tell me, what has everyone been doing in my absence?”
“Well.” Shaking her bangs from her eyes, she cleared her throat. “They’ve got tents that make water and salt.”
“Fresh water. Very good.”
“They’re teaching us how to fight. We had a few attacks from cannibals, but everybody was really brave and killed them all. I want to be on the guard team too.” Assuming a fighting stance, she threw a jab and a cross. Then her ear-to-ear grin returned. “But we’ve got new friends now.”
“Oh?”
“They’re across the water. Um, Redbird Road? Waterbird? I dunno what it’s called, but they live by the building Nathan wants to go to. I heard him and Mom talking about it. We’re all really excited to see our neighbors. A few people aren’t, like Mrs. Wong, but she doesn’t have many friends.” Mingled sympathy and satisfaction filled her expression. “Nathan and some other people are working in the building. Tomorrow, the scientists—hey, some of them are our neighbors. Cool, huh?”
“Quite.”
“Anyway, they’re going to start working there. Nathan thinks they might be able to do something about the cannibals.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I don’t know. He’s done everything he said he would so far. He really likes us.” She nodded with the complete assurance only children and the inebriated possess.
“What do your neighbors think?”
“I dunno.” Her shoulders lifted in a shrug. “They just want to get food and water. We got some from the empty houses and stuff.
“The scientists say they’re making discoveries about the cannibals, but they don’t say what. Mom says to wait and she’ll tell us when the time is right.” At the last sentence, she puffed her chest out in pride.
“I see. And Mr. Serebus is going to visit his friends across the Belmont Channel tomorrow, correct?”
“Yep! He’s supposed to bring them some food as a thank-you present, I guess.” Or a bribe.
“Do you and your family have enough food and water?”
“Yeah, we’re okay. I’m getting sick of spaghetti in a can, though.”
“Do you like beef jerky?”
She nodded. “My dad used to get it for us.”
“Here.” He pulled a vacuum-sealed packet of the snack from his pocket.
“Thanks! Hey, are you going to meet Nathan in the morning?” Her grin manifested again.
“You might say that. Tell no one, though.” He held a finger to his lips. “It will be a surprise.” The smile he forced held reassurance. “Now, go back to bed.”
“Okay.” Her shoulders drooped. Then she brightened. “You’ll feel better when you guys make up. What were you arguing about, anyway?”
“We . . .” As a Conrad, he could not lie to a child, for a child who believes dissembling is acceptable will soon lie to you. “I did not believe he was doing the right thing. It . . .is difficult to explain.”
“Is this like when Mom says I’ll understand when I’m older?”
“I do not know at what age, if ever, we truly understand what is right. However, we must condemn what is repulsive.”
“Re . . . pulsive.” She spoke the word as if tasting it.
“It means to push another person away or to be offensive.”
“Oh.”
“Good night, Ms. Denver, and thank you.” Straightening, he inclined his head in farewell.
He and Kuznetsov reunited at the fence beside the parkway. “Well?” Albin murmured. “What did he say?”
“Don’t worry, Badal will tell Mr. Serebus everything.”
Albin smiled, cold and thin. “Excellent.” At last Shukla’s open mouth would prove useful.
“Let’s go.”
A box of sidewalk chalk lay in the driveway of a nearby house. Albin paused. “Wait a moment.”
“What is it?”
“Remain here.”
Chapter 47
Si Vis Pacem
Beg for Mercy - Oceans Divide
The morning marked one week since Nathan had arrived in Hell, or rather the Bay Area. Life had changed monstrously in that span, but hopefully in another week it would stabilize. R&D already made headway with their experiments; soon they wound unlock the mystery of controlling the cannibals.
Also, another day down of his two weeks grounding. Soon his lung would heal fully, permitting air travel above 8,000 feet, and his ribs would feel less agonizing.
Squinting against the morning sun, Nathan stepped out the front door—and almost collided with Badal. The Indian had the harried look of someone who’d spent half the night wrestling with anxiety.
“What’s the matter, Badal? Did you discover something new in the files?”
“I—” Furtive glance. “I have to tell you something.”
Obviously. “Go on.”
Badal ran a hand over his hair to slick it back as he let out a sigh. “Last night I had a visitor. It was Mik.”
“Mick?” Nathan shook his head in confusion. “Who—Wait, do you mean Mikhail Kuznetsov? What was he doing here?” The words fought his efforts to deliver them in a calm tone. “Well?”
The engineer bounced from foot to foot. “He said he wanted to leave Albin. And he wanted to warn us that Albin wasn’t going to let us have the building. Then there was something about friendship being easily broken, and friends turning into enemies.”
“He’s not going to ‘let’ us have the building?” The cocky son of a bitch. “How the fuck does he plan to keep us out?”
Rage surged
as Fenrir’s red-gold eyes blazed. What could he throw? What could he slam into the ground? He snatched up a stone from around a flowerbed. “Motherfucker!” He hurled it into the street. Crack! The rock split.
“Fff!” Pain sank knives into his sides, twisting, sawing. Breath came in a rasp. He wrapped his arms around himself.
The two halves of the stone stared at him in accusation.
“He’s sorely mistaken if he thinks he can take my people from me.”
++++++++++++
Albin brought the boat as close to shore as the terrain would allow, passing Redwood Shores Elementary near the tip of the peninsula.
“I probably shouldn’t say this,” Bridges began, employing the time-honored opening to acquire listeners, “but if we really wanted to get our point across, you could have taken that girl you talked to last night.”
One hand on the wheel, Albin rounded on him. “Are you suggesting abducting a child? Have you taken leave of your senses?”
“Whoa!” Wincing, Bridges raised his hands to fend off the argument. “Hear me out. I don’t mean scare her. I mean just take her on a field trip for a little while. In the meantime, we put Nathan in the uncomfortable position of giving up the kid and looking like a monster, or giving up the neighborhood and coming with us.”
“I will not put Amanda or Taylor through the hell of believing their loved one had been kidnapped.”
“But it’s only for a little while, and it’s for their own good.”
“I will not make Denver my pawn.” As Mr. Serebus had made him a pawn.
Bridges looked down for a moment. “But . . . North Redwood Shores is our pawn.”
“Denver and I fought side by side.” Albin turned back to guide the boat, bringing it to shore two hundred meters south of the school. “I will no longer manipulate her or her family, nor will I lie to them.” He had committed those crimes against them enough.
“All right, all right, though I still say it’s something to consider.” Waving his hand, Bridges dismissed his heinous idea. “But tell me, can we trust the information you guys got from Badal and Denver?”
The question of the moment, truly. “We do what we can with what we have.”
From a seat compartment Albin withdrew a white T-shirt, which they had scavenged from one of the offices, and affixed it to a length of pipe. He held it high as he disembarked.
“Take care,” Kuznetsov called after him.
Albin made his way onto Marine Parkway, proceeding southward along the edge of the pavement, deeper into North Redwood Shores.
Bridges and Kuznetsov would take alternate routes to avoid detection. Even so, they would remain at a distance in case the locals spotted them. As the neighborhood’s weapons likely came in the form of kitchen knives or improvised clubs, little risk for a sniper attack existed. Even if they possessed ranged weapons, they may not have the skill or wherewithal to use them. Then again, hellish situations often turned people into demons.
“Hello!” he bellowed. “I’ve come to speak about Nathan Serebus and your neighbors across the channel. I have information about supplies.” He repeated the line as he walked down Shorebird Circle, following it past the gray, two-story buildings. Merlot garage doors occupied the bottom story of the apartments, which held all the architectural interest of cardboard boxes.
Reaching the bend of the street, beside a parking area and the community pool, he paused. No signs of life. Had Denver erred in her information?
A male voice hailed him: “Hey! You’re from Redwood Shores? No, don’t turn around!”
With effort, Albin restrained the urge to whip toward the speaker. “I have an update regarding the supplies Nathan Serebus promised you.”
“Yeah? And why is he sending you instead of coming himself?”
“Mr. Serebus is a busy man. I need to speak with the leader here.”
“Wait there. Keep your hands where we can see them.”
These people showed a healthy skepticism of outsiders, as well as caution even with those who appeared to come from friends. Those traits would serve his mission well.
Moments later, a blond man with his hair tied up in a ridiculous bun, the international symbol of questionable masculinity and probable veganism, approached from between two of the buildings on Albin’s left. “What update do you have?”
A half smile tugged at Albin’s mouth as he turned to face the leader. “An extremely significant one.”
++++++++++++
“Let’s go!” Nathan called to the convoy as he climbed into the Sierra. He slammed the door and settled into the driver’s seat. That bastard traitor would find a surprise when he attempted to keep Nathan Serebus out of his rightful territory.
Josephine belted in beside him. “I don’t understand why Mikhail didn’t stay here if he was deserting.”
After ramming the truck into drive, Nathan roared down Marlin. “Badal said Mikhail came here to warn us. Then he was going to the authorities.” Ah, the government: the net to catch all who fell from the trapeze of life. Or who simply let go.
“Don’t you feel it’s odd, though, that Mikhail would leave Albin? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Mikhail . . .”
“Of course I think it’s odd, and of course I know Mikhail—” Ah, how to word it? Had a crush on the attorney? Blast it all. A vague wave sufficed for whatever above-average care Mik felt for Albin. “But even if this is a trap, I can’t let Albin’s challenge go.”
“Challenge?” she scoffed. “Are you going to fight a duel?”
He shot her a sidelong glare. “We’ll see.”
++++++++++++
Albin watched the convoy of five vehicles rumble across the channel’s bridge. The line vanished from sight as it passed behind another apartment complex. When the vehicles reappeared, four vehicles remained. They proceeded down Shorebird Circle before halting near the swimming pool where the street began to turn back on itself.
The location placed them thirty meters from Albin as he watched from an apartment window. He exited the room and trotted downstairs. His pulse pounded in his ears, driving nails of pain behind his eyes.
Mr. Serebus would see reason, whether he wished to or not. He refused the advice of his counselor, but perhaps he would receive it from those whom he claimed to lead.
Albin drew a deep breath before opening the door to the pool deck. He skirted the edge of the blue rectangle, striding to the fence. Keep your head.
The black Sierra that had belonged to Eduardo’s partner Loto rumbled to a halt. After three breaths, the doors opened. Behrmann emerged from the passenger side. Mr. Serebus rounded the front of the vehicle, looking about with the alertness of a beast on the hunt.
When he spotted Albin, the dark man turned even darker, his face flushing with the fires of Hell. His fists clenched as his shoulders retracted in a posture of dominance.
Composing himself, he raised his hand to point at the attorney. “Albin Conrad.” The glint in his eye indicated he would rather point a firearm than his finger. “You claim to care about these people, but that’s a lie. If you cared about them, you wouldn’t be trying to keep me from stopping the cannibals. Come face me if you’re so righteous and I am so evil.”
“I am facing you now. Unless you wish the entire neighborhood to hear our exchange, I suggest we speak privately. I have matters I would like to discuss with you concerning your family.”
After a moment of hesitation, Mr. Serebus marched forward, irritation flashing in his glare. Behrmann moved to follow, but he waved her back. “I can handle this.”
Chapter 48
Para Bellum
Gunnin' For You - Nick Nolan
Albin moved toward the Jacuzzi, keeping his attention on the man. Turning one’s back to a wolf invited attack.
Mr. Serebus halted across from him, the pool a disc of cold blue between them. “I’m normally willing to give people a second chance, but your behavior has forced me to make a
n exception. I won’t allow you to get under foot. Leave. Now. Before I force you.”
“As you forced Kenichi-san to leave his own home?” Albin cocked his head, eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses. “Why did you attempt to murder him?” In his pocket, the smartphone recorded.
“He designed the system so that the only way for me to take it over was to kill him.” The man began to saunter along the perimeter of the pool.
“I see.” Albin moved in the opposite direction, keeping the water between him and the fire of rage that burned within Mr. Serebus. “Tell me, what differentiates you from the Red Devil Goats and the organization that created the cannibal contagion? They too wished to use Redwood Shores’s resources for their own ends. As for your claim about stopping the outbreak, you do not truly care about a cure; you simply want to control the cannibals.”
“Isn’t that an acceptable goal until we find a cure?”
“But that is not your intention. Rather than acting to help the affected, you are endeavoring to weaponize them.”
“Sometimes an army is necessary to protect others. They lay down their lives, even involuntarily.”
“When you came here with the Red Devil Goats, acting on behalf of Esau Seir the Red Chief, you had a plan, did you not?”
“One which you were a part of, don’t forget.” Smirking, Mr. Serebus continued to circle the Jacuzzi.
“Your aim was not to simply lead and protect Redwood Shores; it was to become the lord of a fiefdom.”
Mr. Serebus snorted. “Had you remained loyal, you would have been my second-in-command. Now I’m left to protect them alone. Rest assured, I will do whatever it takes.”
“Even if it is detrimental to some?”
“Some must sacrifice for the greater good. No nation was built without struggle.”
“Leave them to the government and to Amanda Muster. We are not residents here, nor should we be. Our place is in New York with our family.”
