“Yes Detective, most cultures have their own language.” Yuric was smiling. That smile was still unnerving even without him showing fangs.
Ren blushed a little. She’d gotten caught by Yuric’s enhanced hearing.
“Detective Michaels, I believe you can ask your questions now. I will translate for you,” Marsala offered.
Not that anything he says can be trusted. He is still a prime traitor suspect after all. But, it’s better than nothing.
Ren and Cassie joined Marsala as Yuric ushered me out to the penthouse entrance with a silent gesture.
“Please tell me what all has transpired since we spoke last. Do you have any new leads on Jacob?”
I told him about the new murders. Then I told him about the other night in River Park.
“So, it would seem that he has some new followers. And, what interesting choices they are. I have something for you that should come in handy then.” He reached under the security desk, handing me the box he fished out from under the desk.
More gifts!?! Don’t get me wrong now, I love getting toys from Yuric, but this damn vampiric generosity of his is becoming smothering.
“What’s this?”
“Something you may need.”
I opened the box. There were two oversized revolvers inside. They were huge! The bullets were each bigger then my finger. What the hell are these for?! Elephant hunting?!
Yuric explained, “500 caliber pistol grenade launchers. We call them ‘Tank Killers’. Each gun holds only five rounds. The regular depleted uranium ammo that is normally given out with them will punch a hole the size of a grapefruit in the best tank armor. However, the ammo you have there is a specially designed explosive warhead. Meaning that one shot will make a hole the size of a semi-trailer in anything you shoot. I would not recommend using it on individuals. There would not even be enough left to scrape off the walls. Instead, use them to open doors and destroy vehicles, or whatever you see fit.”
“What in the hell do you think I’d need these for?” I gasped at him, afraid to pick up the large guns.
“Honestly, I have no idea Child. With these you will have ten other options that you did not have before. It may give you quite an edge. There are beasts in this world so nasty that they were never even spoken in lore, never written about in legend or fairytale. Creatures that will not be harmed by regular or even enhanced weapons. These guns may help you against such beasts. Jacob is adding to his ranks, and is apparently widening his membership to include new species. It is possible that he will employ the services of some particularly nasty beings. Besides, we still do not know who your traitor is yet. It is better for you to be as fully prepared as possible.”
“Well, thank you Yuric. I’m sure I can find a use for them somehow.”
The new gun holsters attached to the sword rig. The guns rode high on each thigh just at the hip. Because the skirt was so short I could wear the holsters with it. Otherwise I would have to of had pants on for the thigh belts to go around. The guns were heavy. I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold them up one handed, or even very long with both hands. The barrel opening was over a half-inch wide. I could stick my thumb inside the barrel with ease.
This is one hell of a monster cannon. I hope this doesn’t mean I’m going to meet the monster that goes with them though.
Ren and Cassie came running up to us. They both had serious looks on their faces.
“We got an address!” Ren practically screamed.
* * *
Alright, this is the break we needed! The only problem with it was that Marsala translated for them. I still sort of suspect him of being the traitor. Can we really trust him now? Is he sending us into another trap?
We were leaving Adams with Yuric. Yuric still had some other questions for him. Fine by me. Cassie and Ren were going with me in my Hummer. We agreed that it was the better vehicle in the snow then Ren’s little, rusty sedan. It only took a few seconds to gather to leave. We were ten feet from the elevator when the doors opened. Tanaka stepped through.
His right arm’s in a sling!?!
“Did I miss the party?” he asked with a shrug of his good arm.
My stomach knotted up then dropped. I’d suspected that he was the white werewolf we were after. The one I had shot the night before in the right shoulder with a silver bullet. Technically the werewolf wouldn’t have been able to heal from that wound yet. The wolf’s arm would be in a sling . . . just like Tanaka’s. Instantly I felt weak and sick.
He’s the traitor!!! He has to be! It’s too close to be coincidence.
I stumbled as we walked. Then I fell to my knees. Tanaka rushed up to me and tried to help me up by my elbow.
How dare he touch me!
I jerked my arm out of his hand so fast I ended up on my butt on the floor. Then I scooted away from him. Everyone was staring at me. I hadn’t told any of them other than Yuric who I thought the traitor was. Yuric was suddenly behind me lifting me to my feet. I didn’t cringe under his bony touch. Right then Yuric, the creepy old master vampire, was the lesser of the two evils.
“I would guess that you have confirmed one of your traitors.” His voice was so soft of a whisper it was like I could hear his thoughts. No one else around us acted like they heard him.
“Thank you Yuric. Yes, I believe I have had too much to drink tonight.” I nodded to him with the yes.
He gave me a single barely noticeable nod of his head. I somehow knew that he understood.
“My dear Tanaka, I hope you have not been seriously injured. Or is there another reason you are sporting the sling tonight?” Yuric asked without missing a beat.
“Oh this, I was, uh . . . injured last night while out on a job. Just a scratch really. It should repair itself in a few days.”
“Ren could you drive me home now?” I asked her, practically begging.
“Sure, good evening all. Thank you again Yuric.” She never questioned me, she just played along. Good girl.
In the main elevator I started to explain after we were halfway down to the lobby. I lied and told her that Tanaka had lied to me about working last night. Her only reaction was that she hoped I wasn’t leaving Vicki for him. I told her that was not going to happen.
I’m not! There’s no way I’d ever let that traitor touch me again! That bastard’ll pay with his life as soon as I have just a little more solid proof.
Chapter 17
The address was for a slaughterhouse. We pulled up in the snow to the warehouse. There was a moving van parked near the front doors. It was just like the one that had been back at the park.
Did Ren look into who rented the vans? I’ll have to ask her.
A frail looking old man was fighting with the lock on the doors.
“Backup is on the way. I still don’t see why we couldn’t bring Marsala and Tanaka though. I realize Tanaka pissed you off, but we could use the help here.”
“I know Ren, but I just don’t trust Tanaka right now. Or Marsala for that matter really. We will just wait here for your backup. Are you warm enough Cassie?”
“I’m fine.” She had changed on the ride over to jeans and a thick sweatshirt under her heavy coat.
I guess she doesn’t want to be outside freezing again like last night. Not that I blame her.
The old man left the lock and walked straight towards us with a determined glare on his face. This can’t be good. I pulled out the pulse gun. Keeping it out of sight while I lowered the window.
“Are you the cops I called?” he asked.
Ren held up her badge. “I’m Detective Michaels St. Carver P.D. Did you call for a patrol car?”
“Yeah, ‘bout three hours ago. I own the building there. Got people calling me complaining about smelling rotting meat. Usually I just let the business run itself, but if the meat is rotting we have a problem. Especially in this cold. Only thing I can think of is that those damn fools left the heaters on before going on vacation. I came down to check it out myself, but someone put a da
mn padlock on the doors. Are you going to help me or not?”
“Sir, we have reason to believe that your building is being used in illegal activities. We have backup en route. If you will just let us handle this we will find out what is going on here.”
“You got a warrant? None of you are getting in without a warrant.” He suddenly became suspiciously defensive.
“Didn’t you call the police for help?” I asked.
“No, no you aren’t allowed on my property. Now get out of here! You’re trespassing!”
Huh?! I looked at Ren. She was shaking her head and shrugged her shoulders. I pulled my badge from my pocket. The old man’s eyes grew impossibly wide when I showed him the badge.
“I’m sure you know what this badge means. Now sir, please remain calm and allow us to handle this.”
“You, you . . . I-I’m calling my lawyer! Until you get a warrant you’re trespassing. Get off my property!”
I opened my mouth to argue. Ren stopped me by putting her hand on my shoulder.
“Fine sir, we will relocate until our backup arrives with our warrant. Let’s go.”
Following her lead I drove off and parked in the lot across the street. We could barely still see the building from there. The falling snow that had surprisingly let up enough to see through. At least it’s not snowing as bad as yesterday. Cassie popped up, sticking her head between the seats.
“He’s hiding something.”
“I think you’re right Cassie. Ren, you know that I don’t need a warrant, I have an open warrant for Jacob already. Why are we waiting for your warrant?”
“I don’t have one coming. But, think about this. . . . That man’s been rattling that door for the last three hours. Anyone inside would be full aware that he’s there. And, it would be a good guess that they know we’re here too. Besides they may have left already, they certainly had the time to sneak out the back, or else dig in preparing for a fight. I really don’t want to press our luck until SWAT arrives to back us up this time.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
Ren called for an ETA from the SWAT team. They should’ve been here by now. We sat and watched the old man as he went back to rattling the door in an attempt to break the lock.
After her short conversation Ren slammed her phone closed and groaned, “SWAT’s not coming. They got into an accident on the way. There are three patrol cars on the way though. I don’t know how much help they’ll be, but it’s all we’ll get for a while.”
For as large as the city is, there’s sure a shortage of police officers around. Even more so when you actually needed one.
We settled back in our seats and watched the old man while we waited. A full hour passed and nothing changed. The snow fell, no cops were in sight, and the old man was still trying to break the lock. In fact there hadn’t been another car drive by since we arrived.
Wait a minute? That can’t be a good sign.
“Ren, have you noticed the lack of traffic?”
“Well it is the night before Christmas Eve, and it’s late, not to mention the weather. But, you’re right. We should’ve seen at least one car by now. Let me call and check on those patrol cars.”
She was back on her cell phone again.
Cassie leaned forward pointing out the window. “Look.”
The old man finally had the lock off the doors. He glanced around then snuck inside like a thief breaking into a vault.
What’s he trying to hide? And, why didn’t he see us sitting here parked across the street? He watched us park here.
Ren stepped out into the snow, peering at the open doors. A second later screams from the doors filled the night air. Ren took off running across the road. Cassie and I bailed out and followed.
“What about backup and you’re warrant?” I asked Ren when I caught up to her.
“No need for a warrant if someone is calling for help from inside. And, backup isn’t coming. More accidents in the snow.”
“Wonderful! Your plan is what then?”
“I was hoping you had one.”
I have a feeling this is going to get interesting.
* * *
The smell inside the warehouse was like leaving raw hamburger on the sidewalk in the sun for a week in July in the Sahara. It was bad even before we stepped past the doors. But inside, well I was glad my shields could keep out the smell. Passing through a set of offices, Ren had to stop. Her dinner was disagreeing with her and the dinner won. Cassie stood guard in the hall guns in hand, strangely unaffected by the smell, as Ren got sick in an office trash can. I was the good friend and held her hair back.
This has got to be one of the worst jobs that you have to do as a friend.
Once she was done tossing her cookies, and her sandwich, and other things, Ren sat against the desk with her head on her knees. I stood by glancing between her and Cassie out in the hallway. Suddenly Ren had an intense look on her face. I followed her gaze to the cooler that had been shoved under the nearby table. Something that looked like baking soda had been spilled all around the blue plastic box.
Using my foot, I drug the cooler out from under the table. The powdery stuff covered the sides like it had been hastily poured into the container. I lifted an eyebrow at Ren. She nodded at me, and I flipped the lid open with the barrel of my gun. A cloud of white dust rose from the open cooler which was filled to the brim with the white powder. I leaned over it to see better. The cloud swirled around me. Then I did the dumbest thing they always warned you about in chemistry class. I dropped my shields enough to inhale some of the cloud out of curiosity.
The smell wasn’t anything I could recognize, not that I was an expert on smelling powders or anything. Almost instantly I felt awake and alive in a way I never had before in my life. My heart raced, colors became more vivid, every touch was an electric sensation. I didn’t know what it was, but I instantly wanted more!
Ren caught the look on my face. Her hands flew up covering her mouth and nose as she started to scoot out of the room as fast as she could with just her feet pushing her ass across the floor away from the glowing cloud. Reacting to her I slammed my shields shut. Then I used my psionic shower to push whatever poison I had just inhaled out of my system. My head cleared instantly, and my body calmed down.
“What is this shit?” I asked Ren.
She never spoke as she breathed lightly through her gloves to help filter the air. Using one hand she searched her coat and tossed me something that looked like a film can. She nodded to the can and backed further out the door, bumping into Cassie. Cassie glanced back at me once then turned back to keep watch in the hall.
I looked at the cylinder in my hand. NARCOTIC IDENTIFICATION KIT, was stamped on the side. The instructions on the label were simple; open can, fill with suspected substance, add three drops of activator to test strip, dip strip in substance, check strip color against chart to determine identity of substance. I did as the instructions said to, all the while keeping my shields up to filter out the air so I didn’t breathe in any more of the dangerously addictive powder. Even though part of my mind was still craving it. Seconds later I had a dark green color on the end of the strip.
“Dark Green,” I called out to Ren.
She sighed in deep relief and dropped her hands, “Cocaine. It’s only cocaine.” The way she said it made it seem like the cooler full of narcotics was nothing more than a box of sugar. “Thank god. The way you reacted through your shields I was afraid it was anthrax or something worse.”
“Oh, sorry about that. I kinda dropped my shields and took a whiff. Stupid move, I know. I forced it out of my system though, I’m fine now.” Except for the deep desire, in a small corner of my subconscious, reminding me how good I felt for that few seconds before I forced the drug out of my system. No wonder people get addicted to that shit so easily.
“That’s probably what the old guy was hiding from us. Is that thing full?”
“Looks like it to me. Can’t really tell. Feels heavy th
ough. Twenty pounds or so.”
“Christ! That’s worth a small fortune if it’s full. A million dollars or more out on the street. No wonder that guy didn’t want us looking around in here.”
If that’s true, then why in the hell did he call the cops in the first place? That old guy sure isn’t a good druggy if he’s calling the cops to break open the door to his stash. Yeah officer, I need you to let me in for my drugs, but don’t look, okay? What an idiot!
It took a few minutes for Ren to settle down and make some notes about the cooler full of cocaine, then we were off to search for murderous vampires and monster spiders again. Cassie took point and I brought up the rear behind Ren. We turned down the hall from the offices. Cassie stopped dead in her tracks.
“What is it Cassie?” I asked keeping my voice low.
“Spiderwebs.”
Spiderwebs? Why stop just because of a couple of webs?
I looked past the others down the hall. It was white! A white tunnel. The entire hall was covered in webbing. My body began to shake and my skin crawled.
I guess we found where the giant spider stays when it’s not out eating the locals.
“Are you okay? You’re white as a sheet.” Ren was looking at me with concern.
“Big Sister is afraid of spiders.”
Ren lifted an eyebrow, “Really? I figured nothing scared you. Why didn’t you say something earlier?”
“I-I never really thought about it. Much. Tonight anyway. Let’s just go kill this thing and get it over with. I really want to get out of here,” I answered her with my voice shaking as bad as I was.
This is worse than the Bestiary. Much worse. At least in the Halls of Horrors the monsters are all behind glass.
We continued on without another word. All the way down the creepy spider tunnel one agonizingly slow step at a time. The entire way I kept waiting for the walls to come alive after me. My back kept spasming like I was having a mini-seizure, as the creeps ran up and down my spine the way a track team ran laps.
Can I go home now? PLEASE?!?
Halfway down the hall Ren stopped to wipe the sweat from her forehead. “It’s like a sauna in here.”
Revenge's Web (Kieran Grey Psionic Hunter) Page 15
