by Stephen Cole
Now Tom could see that the wall at the back of it had been knocked through.
‘Emergency exit, huh?’
‘Gotta be prepared. Cops, ’wolves … all kinds of assholes want a piece of us.’
‘Where does it lead?’
‘Next door,’ muttered Jasmine. ‘Rico came this way. Boy’s sick with his asthma. We gotta get after him.’
‘You go,’ Tom told her. ‘I’m going back to find Kate.’
Jasmine was squeezing her body through the hole in the wall. ‘She already got chased out the front way with Ramone, I think.’
The fallen thug was rising, a low growl building in his throat. A sudden feral stench filled the room, along with the sound of heavy stitching ripping apart. He was turning ’wolf, Tom realised. The lupine in Tom responded. A shot of excitement tore through him. He shook his head. He had to hold on … He could control this crap – he was a wereling, wasn’t he?
Jasmine was now through into the room beyond. ‘Get in here!’ she hissed at him.
The heavy was no longer human. He was a dark, crouched misshapen figure, panting and snapping his heavy jaws.
Tom darted for the closet door while the creature was still disorientated. He gasped as he landed heavily on the damp debris that littered the floor.
Jasmine helped him up.
‘Jas, that you?’ Rico sounded lost and small somewhere in the darkness ahead. His hoarse breath had an unsettling rasp to it.
‘Stay still, Ric. We’re coming.’
‘Where’s Ramone?’ He broke into a coughing fit.
Jasmine shushed at him desperately. ‘What happened to your inhaler?’ she demanded.
‘Don’t work,’ Rico gasped between awful, whooping coughs. ‘Threw it away.’
‘Jesus, Ric,’ Jasmine began – then an exultant roar sounded behind them.
Tom spun around to find the werewolf that stalked them had pushed its great, bestial head through the hole in the wall. He saw the sick yellow gleam of its eyes, flicking this way and that around the ruined room.
‘Out of here!’ shouted Jasmine, scooping up Rico in her arms and running for the only chinks of light in the darkness. ‘Door’s this way!’
But the doorway was boarded up, great wooden planks placed horizontally across the gap. Behind them, Tom heard wet masonry crumble under the onslaught of the ’wolf’s massive paws.
Tom gestured at the planks. ‘This is prepared?’
Jasmine turned and dumped Rico on to him. The kid locked his arms around Tom’s neck, shaking and wheezing, and the two of them watched as Jasmine knocked two of the planks out with a few savage well-placed kicks.
‘They’re only tacked over the window,’ she muttered. ‘What, you want anyone getting in?’
‘It’s us getting out I’m worried about,’ Tom replied, kicking the last two planks away himself.
A split-second later, Jasmine was leading the way out into the cold dark street. Tom followed close behind, panting with the exertion of carrying Rico.
‘We’ve got to find Kate,’ he hissed at her. ‘Is there a place you go to regroup after a bust or—’
‘Ric’s really sick,’ Jasmine snapped, crossing over to a beat-up old Lexus over the street. ‘We need transport.’
The kid was squirming and coughing in Tom’s arms, struggling for breath. ‘He’s having an asthma attack?’
‘It happened before. He nearly died. Little bug won’t use his inhaler.’ Somehow she’d forced open the driver’s door of the Lexus and now she was busy working at the wiring inside.
Tom watched her. ‘Wait a second – you’re stealing that car?’
‘Guess I am,’ she said dryly while she worked. ‘Hey, d’you think Jesus will still want me for a sunbeam?’
The hunting roar of the ’wolf floated eerily down the dark street, and Tom cast an anxious glance back over his shoulder. ‘We might find out sooner than you think.’
The Lexus suddenly growled into life. ‘Get over here,’ Jasmine insisted. ‘We gotta get to Doc Woollard’s, fast.’
Tom opened the rear door and placed Rico inside. ‘I can’t come with you,’ he said. ‘I have to find Kate.’
Jasmine stared hard at him. ‘Get your sorry ass in this car now. Look at that kid! He could stop breathing. You want me to give him CPR while I’m driving?’
Tom heard the sound of heavy lupine footfalls tearing down the asphalt, saw a dark, massive blur moving up behind him.
‘In!’ Jasmine shouted.
With no time to agonise further, Tom ducked inside and Jasmine was speeding away before he’d even pulled the door shut. Rico was struggling for breath, his dark eyes bulging as the coughs kept coming. Through the rear windshield, Tom watched grimly as the hideous creature pelted after them, huge head low to the road like it was scenting the exhaust.
Up ahead was a red light, and a big truck queuing, blocking their way. Jasmine swore as she hit the brakes.
Tom was thrown forwards. Rico gripped tightly on to his hand, wheezing and choking. Tom turned and checked on the lupine. It was almost on top of them.
‘It’s still coming!’ he yelled.
As it readied itself to pounce, the creature opened its great, slavering jaws in triumph.
g
g
CHAPTER FOUR
Kate practically shoved Ramone along ahead of her. ‘You’ve got to keep going,’ she urged him, but she knew he couldn’t last much longer. His ankle was bad and his head was worse. He had a sticky gash on the back of his skull from Swagger’s blow with the bat. Blood had run down and soaked through the collar of his thin cotton shirt.
When he stumbled and nearly fell for about the fourteenth time, she steered him over to rest against the nearest doorway.
While Ramone caught his breath, Kate looked around for any sign of Swagger or his thugs. But the street was silent and empty.
Where was Tom? Kate could’ve punched the wall with frustration. She’d have been with him now if that hand hadn’t curled around her ankle back in the darkened room before she could take off after him. It was Cicero, or Puff, or one of them, sprawled and hurting on the floor – reaching out, confused, scared in the darkness.
Join the freakin’ club.
She’d managed to pull away, but then someone small – Rico? – had pushed past her and she’d stumbled and lost her balance.
An oily flame had sprung from Swagger’s lighter, inches from her face. Kate flinched from the heat, the big man had grabbed for her, but Ramone had recovered enough to punch him. As Swagger fell backwards, Ramone had grabbed hold of her and together they’d bundled out of the room, through the wreck of the kitchen and the shattered front door, and out into the cold, damp November night.
They’d barely gotten a block away and they’d already reached a standstill.
Ramone’s dark eyes were scrunched up in pain and frustration. The scar on his cheek was ugly white against his sweaty olive complexion. ‘Why don’t you leave me?’ he muttered.
‘What, and shatter your faith in human kindness?’ Kate shook her head. ‘No, we’ll just rest here for a few seconds and—’
‘Don’t matter, anyhow,’ he interrupted. ‘Swagger’s won. My people all split, my home’s smashed up. It’s over.’
‘Your brother’s out there with Jasmine and Tom,’ Kate told him. ‘They got away, I’m sure of it. They’ll be back.’
‘Well, well,’ a low, unpleasant voice called out. ‘Didn’t get very far, did you?’
‘Looks like someone else is back first,’ muttered Ramone.
Kate felt her stomach sinking into her shoes. She turned to find Swagger standing at the end of the street with one of his ‘little helpers’. The streetlight overhead cast a sick sodium glare over his zombie complexion, making him look even nastier than before.
‘I ain’t going down like this,’ hissed Ramone, bunching his fists.
‘Very macho,’ Kate breathed.
‘Come on, little girl,’ Swagger
called, ‘we ain’t finished talking to you, yet.’
Kate realised that Ramone, sunk back in the doorway, must be hidden from Swagger’s view. ‘Stay here, rest, get back to your hideout,’ she whispered. ‘I’ll lead them away.’
She turned and attempted to saunter down the empty street towards Swagger. ‘The reason I didn’t get very far,’ she announced, ‘was so that you wouldn’t take so long to catch up with me.’
Swagger looked at her, hooded grey eyes beady with suspicion. ‘Is that a fact?’
‘Yep,’ Kate said, forcing herself to look up at him and smile. ‘Those losers tried to make me go with them. But I prefer to be on the winners’ side.’
Swagger smiled. ‘Winners’ side is the howlers’ side. You like ’wolves?’
‘Uh … sure.’ She nodded.
A different gleam came into Swagger’s eyes. ‘Just who are you, sweetheart? You don’t look Ramone’s type.’
Kate shrugged. ‘Don’t hardly know him. Me and my friend were just hanging.’
Swagger nodded thoughtfully. ‘Hanging at Ramone’s, huh? You there to score, maybe?’
It was as good a story as any. ‘Maybe.’
‘Well if you want to get high, baby,’ Swagger grinned, ‘you just got to come back with me tonight.’
Kate willed her smile not to shrivel and die. ‘But it’s almost morning.’
Swagger nodded excitedly. ‘And the action kicks off at dawn. My soldiers have been getting psyched all night. Soon they get to play.’ He took her by the wrist and led her away. His ape in the denim and leathers moved up close to flank her.
‘Where are we going?’ she asked, trying to sound casual, up for anything.
‘Oh, baby,’ said Swagger, ‘I am going to give you a high you ain’t never gonna forget.’
g
‘Here it comes!’ Tom shouted to Jasmine, as the drooling ’wolf leaped through the air, claws outstretched, ready to smash its way through the rear windshield to get them.
‘Screw this!’ yelled Jasmine. She revved the engine and shot forwards, yanking hard on the wheel to avoid the truck in front.
The ’wolf fell short of them, skidding to a halt, its claws raking up the asphalt. It howled in anger as its prey moved out of reach.
Tom swore as they almost hit a car coming the other way. It swerved aside and crashed into a row of trashcans awaiting an early morning collection.
Jasmine ran the red light, and now swerved hard to the left to avoid a delivery van taking the corner. It blared its horn and Jasmine gave him the bird. But the ’wolf was back up and running for them.
Tom could feel his own change starting to rise up inside him, more insistent than ever. The fear, the panic, the craving for release seemed to have been pumping and pounding through his veins for hours, wearing away his human self. He could taste the sharp tang of blood at the back of his throat. His mouth was flooding with saliva, so fast he could barely swallow it down.
‘That thing’s not giving up!’ he shouted hoarsely, clenching his fists.
‘Me neither,’ Jasmine replied calmly. Wheels screeched and rubber burned as she steered the car around in a tight arc to turn right on to the next avenue.
Tom saw the delivery truck screech to a halt as the dark shape of the ’wolf bolted out in front of it and caught a glancing blow. At the next block Jasmine took a left and floored the accelerator, and the carnage was hidden from view.
Tom felt the tension that racked his body lose a little of its grip. He realised he’d been holding his breath. He unclenched his fists and saw his palms were scored with nail marks. The taste of blood at the back of his throat soured, turning his stomach. The danger of the change taking hold was fading. For now.
‘I think we lost the ’wolf,’ he said shakily.
Jasmine nodded, apparently satisfied.
Rico had stopped coughing, and was breathing a little easier now, in shallow wheezes. Tom squeezed his hand. ‘It’s OK,’ he told the kid. ‘Everything will be fine soon.’ For a second he could almost make believe he was talking to Joe, riding through the night to Seattle in the back of Dad’s old Chrysler before this whole nightmare started. He thought back to the press conference on TV. Now his whole family was snared in Marcie Folan’s twisted plans … and where the hell was Kate? He shut his eyes, wished he could think of some clean way through all this.
‘You falling asleep back there?’ Jasmine enquired.
He sighed. ‘I can’t imagine ever sleeping again.’
‘Good. ’Cause now we gotta go wake up Doc Woollard and get Rico fixed up. Then we can check back with the crew and your uptight little girlfriend. OK?’
Tom just nodded, feeling a strange unease that went beyond the horror they’d just experienced. Jasmine had just seen her home wrecked and her friends beaten up, been shot at and then chased by a hungry ’wolf. And yet here she was, driving along in her stolen car, so calm and so in control. Taking it all in her stride. He couldn’t help but shudder. Just what messed-up crap did you have to live through to get that way?
g
‘This is our rink,’ said Swagger proudly, leading the way down the central aisle through the tiers of seating. ‘Shaun, stay on security.’
‘Check.’ Shaun the bodyguard stayed by the exit doors, but gestured that Kate should follow Swagger down into the auditorium.
Kate did her best to look impressed as she stared around the ruined expanse, hidden away beneath a cordoned-off derelict warehouse building on East 91st. It was hard to believe this dilapidated, echoing arena had ever been an actual ice rink, a place of brightness and music and fun. Now its surface was damp, grimy concrete, spattered and stained with stubborn pools of dried blood. Dim lights burned high above the endless, empty seating, casting distorted shadows over the arena. If there was any ice left in the place it must be in the air; each breath Kate took chilled her insides, then ghosted out of her mouth in a fine cloud of freezing mist.
Swagger eased himself on to the front row of rotting wooden benches and looked at her expectantly. Clearly her opinion was being sought.
‘So,’ she managed at last, ‘this is all yours, huh?’
‘It’s Takapa’s.’ Swagger’s chest puffed up with pride. ‘But I get to run the events here.’
‘Just who is this Takapa?’ she asked. She couldn’t let Swagger think she knew anything about this.
‘Maybe I’ll introduce you. I think he’d like you.’
Kate tried to keep the alarm from her voice. ‘He’s coming here?’
Swagger nodded. ‘Tonight.’
‘Tonight … Well. Cool.’
Swagger looked at her strangely. ‘You all right, honey?’
Sure, she thought. I can’t wait to say hi again to the murdering freak I screwed over. The murdering freak who wants to get with me. The temperature suddenly seemed a couple of degrees colder, and she knew she had to change the subject. ‘You seem to know Ramone’s people, were you part of their gang?’
‘Had a girl once who was,’ said Swagger. ‘So I used to hang with them sometimes.’
‘When you were just human?’ she asked lightly.
He spat on the floor. ‘When I was nothing.’
Suddenly the door above them that led to the auditorium was flung open with a reverberating crash. A half-dressed black man greeted Shaun and then came shambling down the steps. As he approached, Kate recognised him as Swagger’s other sidekick from Ramone’s place.
Swagger didn’t seem impressed to see him wearing only a pair of ill-fitting trousers. ‘You went ’wolf on them?’ he said quietly. ‘You lost control?’
The man looked severely pissed off but said nothing.
‘Takapa said not to kill them,’ Swagger went on. ‘You kill them, Eric?’
The big man shook his head. ‘Lost them. The little kid, the whitey and that skinny bitch, Jasmine.’
Swagger looked at Kate sharply. ‘Seems your boyfriend’s got himself some new buddies.’
It was all
Kate could do not to collapse with relief. Instead, she just shrugged, kept her face neutral. ‘That’s cool. So do I.’
He nodded at her approvingly, then turned a more critical eye on the black guy. ‘You lost control, Eric. I don’t know if I can trust you on my personal staff no more.’
Eric held himself stiffly. ‘Sorry, Swag.’
Swagger fixed him with a stare so cold it made Kate shiver. ‘Tell you what. Why don’t you go get our gladiators down here?’
Eric turned to obey, but as he walked down on to the floor of the rink, Swagger called to him again. ‘Oh, and Eric? I want you to fight down there with them. For me, huh?’
Eric froze for a few moments. Then he carried on walking without turning around. The heavy slaps of his bare feet on the concrete sounded around the arena, lingering long after he’d been swallowed up by the shadows.
Swagger patted the bench beside him, indicating Kate should sit down.
Kate forced herself to do so. ‘What did you mean, gladiators?’ she asked casually.
‘I’m an emperor here,’ Swagger said proudly. ‘We bring people here to fight. Fight for their lives.’
Kate knew he was watching her intently, but couldn’t meet his stare. ‘For your entertainment?’
‘You don’t think that’s a good enough reason?’ Swagger slipped an arm casually around her shoulders. It was all Kate could do not to cringe. ‘But, you’re right. This ain’t about bloodlust. Not just about bloodlust, anyway … We got plans. Big plans.’ He grinned nastily. ‘Let me tell you, babe, there’s gonna be some changes coming to this city. Everything’s gonna be up for grabs, and me and my boys are getting a big share.’ Then he looked at her meaningfully and added in a softer voice, ‘Everything we want’s gonna be ours to take.’
Kate pushed a weak smile out of her mouth, but her mind was a whirl. Just what was it that Takapa was planning? Since her mother was here in New York too, chances were she was involved in it somehow. Marcie had been sickeningly impressed with Takapa when they’d met in New Orleans. Whatever, if Swagger wasn’t just shooting his mouth off and Takapa really was coming here sometime soon – with or without her mom in tow – Kate knew she was in mortal danger.
