“Apprehended.”
“Took me into custody. You must have seen or heard something.”
Gaskin looked at Bertelli and shook her head.
“I don’t believe you.”
“I left you there.” Gaskin bit her lip. “As soon as I zapped you and you were down. I left you and ran back to find Bertelli.”
“You didn’t see anything?”
Her face was blank. “No.”
David leaned his head back against the car. “Why didn’t you just call him?”
“I did. I had been, but he didn’t answer and I was worried about him.”
David looked at Bertelli. “So where were you?”
“Out front of the store.”
Where the taco stand was, David thought. Elaki coffee. Popcorn balls.
“My radio wasn’t working right,” Bertelli said.
David scratched his chin. He wished he didn’t believe them. He wished their story of goofy incompetence didn’t ring true.
Where was Rose now?
David felt dizzy suddenly. He leaned against the squad car and took a deep breath.
“You okay?” Gaskin asked.
“Never better,” he said through clenched teeth. “Just explain one thing, Gaskin. Why the hell are you just sitting here now?”
“Roadblock, Detective,” Gaskin said. “All available units, SEP.”
Special emergency procedure. David rubbed his face in his hands, then looked up. They were at the corner of Bran and United. All cars had been frozen in their tracks. Anybody moving would stick out.
“How long’s this been going on?”
“Two hours. They got a cop …” Gaskin faltered.
David sat down on the street beside the squad car and put his head in his hands. “Yeah, right. They got a cop missing.”
THIRTY-SIX
Captain Halliday steadied the coffee cup in David’s hand. “You sure you’re okay?”
“He don’t smell okay,” Mel said. He’d taken off the plaid sport coat and rolled up the sleeves of the ill-fitting polyester shirt.
“No sign of either of them?” David asked. It was dusk now. The bad smells in the alley had taken on a sweetish whang that made his stomach churn.
Mel was chewing gum. He shook his head. “Everything went to shit about the same time. We lost track of Rose and the Nipper when we lost track of you.”
David studied the limp corpse of the dog. The eyes looked like black marbles; the jaw was open wide. The dog’s throat had been torn open, and blood and tissue stiffened in the coarse black fur. Even now, David was taken aback by his wife’s savagery.
Mel bent down and peeled a triangle of black cloth from the dog’s bloody yellow teeth. David frowned. Rose had been wearing a black sweater.
Halliday glanced at David. “She’s probably okay, David.”
Mel shrugged. “Either way”—he looked down at the dog—“the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are going to toss her ass.”
“Those two cops,” Halliday said.
“Gaskin and Bertelli?” David looked over the captain’s shoulder and watched a cockroach zip up the brick wall.
“I can file a grievance,” Halliday told him.
“Why should they cause me trouble? I got cho killers to deal with.”
“They’re bad cops,” Halliday said.
“Make phone calls,” David said. “Unofficial. I don’t want reprimands, I want to give them real trouble. I want to make their life hell for a while.”
Mel stuck a finger in his ear. “Not pissed are you, David? Get thrown up on a few times, you get hard about it. Gaskin, you know. She’s probably just getting her period.”
David stared at him.
Mel took the gum out of his mouth, stuck it absently on the brick wall, and smiled. David took a swallow of coffee. Elaki coffee, cinnamon coffee, superior to any coffee made by mere humans. He resented and craved it.
“She hasn’t called in,” David said flatly. “Nobody’s seen her.”
The captain squatted beside him, nodding patiently.
David stared at the puddle of blood, drying in the dirt, still sticky. “Animal blood.”
“Oh, sure.” Mel leaned up against the wall, scraping his foot along the brick. “Doggie blood, you know, it’s different. Your human blood looks more highly evolved.”
“The lab’s on it,” Halliday said quietly. “But look at the splash patterns. It’s mostly from the dog.”
“Mostly,” Mel said.
“You’re a lot of help,” David said.
“Yeah? You’re not. How’s about we go find her, instead of farting around here? Unless.” Mel wrinkled his nose. “’Less you want to go somewhere for a shower.”
The door from the market stall opened and String rolled into the alley.
“She has called in,” he said, skirting the body of the dog.
Halliday stood up. “She got Biachi? Where are they? What happened?”
“Message cryptic,” String said. “Just says for husband to meet at home for dinner.”
“They’re okay, then,” David said.
“You think Biachi well?”
“Far be it from Rose to let us know,” Mel said.
David shrugged. “Let’s go and see.”
“Yeah, maybe she’ll surprise us. Maybe she’ll cook.”
THIRTY-SEVEN
It was dark when they got to the farm. The outdoor security lights were up and every room in the house was lit. David’s girls ran through the cold, dew-wet grass, chasing the calf from one end of the yard to the other. David stopped the car halfway up the drive.
Haas’s Jeep, side door hanging open, was parked next to the house. Mattie ran straight for it, then veered left suddenly, out of harm’s way.
“Thought she was going right into that goddamn door.” Mel took a deep breath. “Police work’s okay, David, but you got to be an action junkie to have three kids.”
Kendra, Lisa, and Mattie bunched around the door of the cruiser, attracted, as always, by an official squad car. Mel flipped the side door open. The calf bawled and zigged sideways, trotting across the yard.
“Uncle Mel.” Lisa put her hands on her hips. “Now we’ll never catch him.”
“Hey, kid.” Mel opened the back door for String, but kept his eyes on Lisa. “That any way to say hello to your favorite uncle?”
“Good a way as any. Phew. What is it? Daddy?”
“Hi, girls,” David said.
His daughters ran screaming from the car.
“Going to have to get it fumigated,” Mel said.
String thumped out onto the lawn, shedding scales on the grass. David saw movement from the corner of his eye. Something large came from behind the Jeep.
“Oh, no,” he said.
String hissed and scrambled up onto his fringe. “The beast! Behind you, Detective David.”
Mel backed up a step. “Is that—”
“Ostrich,” David said.
The ostrich moved past Mel and stretched its neck out toward String. It opened its hard beak, showing a thick black tongue. String seemed to swell and get larger. He hissed.
“Gahwon!” Mel waved his arms. “Outta here!”
“Beware, Detective Mel.”
The ostrich twisted its head sideways toward Mel, squawked, and ambled off. David rubbed his temples. Girlish screams made him wince. His headache was getting worse.
String slid across the grass to the house. He folded suddenly, leaning sideways to the ground. He backed up and stopped by the open Jeep, caressing the front seat with an extension of his left fin.
David caught up with him just as he held up a fin smeared with gluish yellow blood.
“It is Elaki in trouble,” String said. “Elaki hurt. Biachi hurt.” He moved swiftly toward the house.
The Elaki was folded backward over the couch, sagging so loosely that David thought it must be dead. Rose stood behind the couch supporting the Elaki’s head. Her hands were torn and
raw, though David could see the tears had been cleaned and sealed.
“Biachi?” String said softly.
The Elaki did not respond.
“David,” Rose said.
Her sweater was torn and stiff with dried mud. Her cheek was deeply bruised, most of her hair had come loose from the clip that held it back, and her face looked drawn and thin.
Haas was bent awkwardly over Biachi, and David smelled the harsh, clean odor of liquid antibiotic. Haas peeled a wet towel off the Elaki’s midsection. David winced. The wound he had seen earlier had swelled and torn wider, and grey-yellow flesh bulged from the edges.
String moved close to Haas. “Is sign of the hot microbe spread?”
Haas turned sideways. His hair stuck up. He was muddy, like Rose, and well splotched with yellow. Elaki blood, David thought. Haas hadn’t been watching the kids all day. He’d been backup for Rose.
He looked it.
“I have never seen such infection,” Haas said, voice hushed. “It is virulent and very fast.”
David looked at Rose. “Why didn’t you take him to Bellmini?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Same place you left Dahmi?” She glanced at Haas, then back to David. “Kids okay?”
He nodded.
“My God, what a day.” She arched her back. “Anybody see an ostrich out there?”
“What is it that happens?” String said.
“Dog.” Rose frowned and glanced at David.
He met her look steadily. “It’s not like you had a choice.”
“How would you know?”
“Who do you think fired the shot?”
“That was you? Where’d you go? You know you almost hit me?”
“It’s the thought that counts.”
Rose looked at String. “I’m sorry about this. Biachi shouldn’t have gotten hurt. I didn’t plan on the fucking dog.”
“Hands okay?” David asked.
She shrugged.
“Bad technique, to rip a dog’s throat.” Haas sounded irritable. “I have told her. Fold head back and snap the neck.”
“Somebody want to tell me what did happen?” Mel asked.
“Could we please not have this hopping from subject to subject?” Haas was pale. He looked tired, and there were grooves from his nose to his lip. “I am veterinarian, not Elaki doctor.” He looked at String. “This unconsciousness is very deep. I am not sure of the proper vital signs. We must get—”
“Elaki, yes,” String said. “Aslanti, medical.”
“I’ll get her,” Mel said. “You stick here and look after Gumby Junior.”
“I come,” String said. “Call van to meet at hospital. The medical must not be cramped into back of squad car.”
“You romantic devil,” Mel said. “Sure you don’t want to reconsider? You could fold up in the back seat together. Maybe shed a few scales.” Mel headed for the door, then glanced over his shoulder at Rose. “See you, kiddo. Get your story polished while I’m gone. And no exaggerating how many people you killed.”
String slid out on the porch after Mel. The screen door slammed. David heard a loud, prolonged hiss.
“Go on, you,” Mel shouted. “Stupid bird.”
“You think we should get the girls in,” Rose asked.
“Leave well enough alone,” David said.
She nodded. She looked tired. “It’s a long story.”
He inclined his head toward the Elaki. “You want me to hold his head for a while? Give you a break?”
“Maybe,” she said. “Maybe you better take a shower first.”
“Burn the clothes,” Haas added.
THIRTY-EIGHT
The night had gone cold and crisp, and David shivered, his hair still damp from the shower. He handed around blankets, ever the considerate host. Rose was on the porch swing, one leg hooked over the side. Haas was on the other end, and Kendra and Lisa were sprawled between them. Haas and the girls were asleep. The perfect family grouping, David thought.
Haas had deep circles under his eyes. David draped a blanket over him.
“You cold?” he asked Mel.
“Nah. But you’d better cover up the munchkin here.” Mel patted Mattie, who was curled up in his lap.
David spread a blanket over his youngest. Her hair was curly on one side, straight on the other. The wires or whatever it was they were using weren’t working out. David pulled the blanket up till only the top of her head and the tip of her nose were exposed.
The wicker chair creaked as he settled in. The living-room curtains were open, the lights inside bright. David could see String and Aslanti bent over Biachi. Aslanti had brought a cot that made the S shape favored by sick Elaki. She was treating String like a particularly stupid trainee. String was cowed in a way David had never seen.
“What we need,” David said, “is coffee. Elaki coffee. With cinnamon.”
“Don’t look at me.” Mel patted Mattie’s back. “I’m pinned down. Kid’s getting big here.”
Rose stretched her legs and settled them in David’s lap.
Mel pointed a finger at her. “Let’s hear it. And no exaggerating.”
Rose pushed hair off her shoulders. “They kill them,” she said flatly. “That’s what’s been happening to your Izicho.”
David glanced at Mel.
Rose stared out into the darkness. “They hustle them into a shop, like it’s that extortion scam. But then they take them right out the back.”
“Is it the same people?” Mel asked. “I mean they’re doing it all over the place. Hustling the rubes right from the EDC into the shops. Intimidating them into spending. Plus then, they push them into going to hotels these shopkeepers are connected too.”
The front screen opened and String slid slowly onto the porch. The Elaki moved to one side, poised on the edge of his fringe.
“Don’t sweat it, Gumby,” Mel said. “I ain’t seen the bird in a while.”
“How’s the kid?” Rose asked.
“I believe he will recover,” String said. “Aslanti is to finish the clearing. I am hearing the conversation, and must comment. This crime, this pressure of Elaki from EDC. It is Elaki to Elaki the victim. Is this you impression also?”
“Looks like it,” David said. “With special treatment for Izicho.”
“They took him to three different places,” Rose said. “There was one Elaki in particular who stayed with him. Plus the dog.”
“Why’d they sick the dog on him?” Mel asked.
“The kid broke. String, did he know I was watching out for him?”
“He knew he was to be protected.”
“Um. He got scared, and split for the alley. That’s my fault, I didn’t expect him to freak, so I wasn’t close. He made it out, but they called the damn dog on him. By the time I got there he’d been mauled. They hustled him back in one shop, then went back out through another.” She shook her head. “It’s a goddamn maze back there. Anyway, I got closer, and saw them take him back through the alley again, and load him into the van.”
“I am too slow,” Haas said. He sat up and rubbed his legs. “I am supposed to drive close, but did not get there in time for this.”
Rose shrugged. “We followed them to Little Saigo. Picked them up again inside, down in the tunnels.”
David shivered. He’d grown up in the tunnels, living in the dark underground community.
“They go all the way down,” Haas said.
David leaned forward. “To the pump?”
“Yeah,” Rose said. “The sump pump. Not working, as usual, but it smelled to high heaven.”
“Then what?” Mel said.
“They were going to throw him in.”
“Throw him in what?” String asked.
“Down into the pump mechanism. Into raw sewage.”
“What is the sewage?” String cocked an eye stalk. “This is human waste?”
“Yes,” David said. “What did you do, Rose? What happened to the perps?”
Rose glance
d at Haas. “They left Biachi with a couple of Elaki. The one in charge, a kind of thick, ratty-looking one—I think he wanted to hang around for the finale, but something happened. There was some kind of message that came through, and he left. That’s when we went in after Biachi. I’m sorry, David. They had him up, and almost over. We left it as long as we could.”
“Too long,” Haas said.
Rose nodded. “Yeah.”
“You didn’t call it in? You didn’t ask for backup?” David gritted his teeth. “What happened to the Elaki that were left?”
“Have you ever wrestled an Elaki?” Rose said. “It’s like tangling with a giant squid or something.”
David closed his eyes.
“There wasn’t time to call for backup,” Rose said. “We’d stopped for that, Biachi would be soup. But I didn’t kill them, David.”
“Then what?” Mel said.
“They are dead,” Haas said. “We have them pinned and trussed, but alive. Maybe hurt some.” He glanced at Rose. “But alive. And then, not alive.”
Mel looked at David. “You understanding any of this?”
“I am understanding it,” String said. “Do you know that Guardians”—he looked at Mel—“will self kill to protect integrity of organization?”
“And you just left them?” David asked.
“We had to get Biachi out,” Haas said. “This is Little Saigo, David. I do not need to tell you that police need police to get out of tunnels. Better to get out quiet.”
“I hid the bodies,” Rose said. “In case you want them.”
“In case—”
“That was thoughtful,” Mel said.
David closed his eyes. He was tired. Very tired. And he would have to go to Little Saigo now—tonight. The last place he wanted to be. He stood up and stretched, then opened the screen door to look into the living room.
Aslanti was bending over Biachi, her silhouette quivering on the wall.
“He all right?” David asked.
“He look all right?” The Elaki turned, flexed the muscles under her scales. “He will recover most well. Not as bad as look to the human. Proper medication has been administered. Now the requirement is rest. Will take him to hospital.”
Alien Eyes Page 18
