His aggravation finally swollen so large that it popped, Sneed smacked his hand on the edge of the table. “Listen old man, blaming your crimes on corporations and politicians is offensive enough, but at least it doesn’t insult my fucking intelligence. Now, making this a yarn about body snatchers? This doesn’t sit well with me. Do you think I’m a complete idiot? Or are you still trying to sucker me into declaring you insane?”
The Lagoon Watcher slumped to his side. He raised his hands so he could bury his face in them, but the shackles limited his reach. Instead, he wiped his nose on his shirt. The man’s theories had been ignored for decades, yet he apparently had never lost the impassioned belief that he stood on the right side. This time, Aaron believed that he did.
Those “hybrids” could serve as the missing piece that fills the enormous hole in this case, Aaron thought. Moni had described a gator with the two snakes growing out of it. Aaron had seen that video of the dolphins with human hands. These mutations went beyond what bacteria alone could do. The murder victims had organs removed cleanly from the inside almost as if they were disassembled from their bodies. Aaron had first compared it to tiny construction workers. Maybe those early impressions were right on the money. If they could remove organs, they could carve off a head just as smoothly.
Sneed signaled to the officer standing behind Trainer. The husky man approached the inmate’s back. If they dragged him out that door, they wouldn’t see him for a long time.
“Hold on a second. I’ve got another question,” Aaron said.
“Will this episode of the X-Files ever end?” Sneed remarked, as he waved the officer back into the corner.
“I only wish it was fiction,” Swartzman said. “I’m afraid that what Mr. Trainer described might be all too real.” Almost giddy, the shackled man tapped his feet. Then the professor delegated the next move to his student. “Didn’t you have a question for the gentleman?”
Despite the gravity of the moment, Aaron couldn’t contain his goofy grin at having his professor finally recognize that he could actually help him in a tight spot. It counted as more than a tight spot, really. The task was stopping a false conviction of one of Swartzman’s friends—the man who had saved his career. And then they had this little issue with the heinous water quality in the lagoon.
Aaron cleared his throat and dove right in. “When you saw these hybrids, what were they made out of? What exactly has been blended together?”
“I’d call it nanobot, but it’s not anything like we know it. I could call it a highly adaptive virus, but it’s not completely organic.” The Lagoon Watcher held his hands in a ball as if he were molding a new form of life. “It’s nanobiotechnology. We’ve only begun to scratch the surface in this field, or that’s what I thought until I saw them. Someone has advanced it centuries into the future. Part of it is a composite metal. I’m not sure if it’s a shield or a battery pack or a mini computer. It might be all three. This metal can slice and dice its way through anything in the body, even bone. Then it has interfaces made of biomaterial that work sort of like keys. They unlock a genetic code and change it. When they need some bacteria soldiers, they pop one out and it starts dividing into an army.
“Remember the Borg on Star Trek? It’s kind of like that, but a tiny version of those cyborgs.”
Wearing a serious expression, Sneed leaned in close to the man. “I had no idea it was so serious. Are the Klingons involved too?” The detective threw his head back and guffawed. “What about the guys with the pointy ears? I bet they’re inside our bodies blasting their phasers.”
As the officer behind him joined the laughter, the Lagoon Watcher’s face burned so hot that Aaron could see the red through his over-crisped tan.
“Stop it! This is no joke,” Trainer said. “The hybrids are real. If you’re looking for who’s responsible for the polluting of my lagoon and all the murders, blame them, not me. Want evidence? Look into a microscope for once in your life, and you’ll see.”
Sneed got in the man’s face again. This time he didn’t seem so jovial. “I don’t need to search the globe looking for the killer who poisoned the lagoon. I’m looking right at him. If you’re an innocent man, why’d you kidnap that child?”
“Kidnapping? Please. I was trying to save her,” Trainer said.
“From the real killer?” Swartzman asked.
“From herself,” he replied. “Or, what’s inside her. I heard that she hasn’t said a word since spending the night along the lagoon. That’s consistent with the behavior of the infected animals. None of them can vocalize. The hybrids are in that girl. I’m not sure how strongly they’ve taken hold, or whether they can control the human brain, but they’re doing some damage, or else she would talk. I was looking for a blood sample so I could at least see how potent the bacterial infection has become.”
When Aaron thought of the diminutive girl, he couldn’t compare her to the frenzied snake that tore through the window screen after him, or the dolphins drowning those teenagers in the harbor. She didn’t bath in sulfuric acid and eat bowls of iron for breakfast. But at the same time, he knew the girl didn’t come anywhere close to acting like a normal kid. He had assumed that the apprehension that backed her into a silent corner came from her fear of being victimized again. Perhaps what really scared Mariella was dwelling among people and socializing in a culture she didn’t understand. How could little bio-machines make sense of a second grader’s world?
He couldn’t say for sure whether the Lagoon Watcher had just blown open the case. For Mariella,and Moni’s sake, he wished that he hadn’t. Not this way. But if Trainer was right, Aaron couldn’t let the girl succumb to the invaders inside her body.
“You believe me, don’t you Herb?” the Lagoon Watcher asked.
“It certainly is plausible. But it’s not important whether I believe you. It’s all about what this man right here believes.” The professor pointed at the detective seated beside him.
“Damn straight,” Sneed said. “And if I were you, I wouldn’t get my hopes up.”
Trainer hung his head.
“Then it’s a good thing we can test this hypothesis,” the professor said. “We’ll go over some live samples from an infected rat tomorrow and see if we find what you described.” Trainer nodded eagerly. His face beamed as if he were one step away from leaping out of his seat and clicking his heels together as a free man. “I didn’t say it would completely exonerate you. But it might lead us to the real inventor of this bizarre technology and help us clean up the lagoon.” Swartzman faced Sneed. “What do you say? Can we have another day or two to examine the suspect’s claim?”
Sneed gazed upon the pencil-pusher as if he would rather yank his tie until his windpipe caved in than give him the privilege of yet another scientific jaunt.
“You’ve got two days until I start lining up a grand jury,” the detective said. “If you find anything, you better get it on video or else I’m liable to accuse you of forgetting.”
Swartzman nodded in spite of the obvious slight. With that, Sneed had the other officer pull the Lagoon Watcher from his seat, and drag him away. The moment before his head passed out the door, the man stopped and faced his three former interrogators.
“Since you’ve only got two days, I figure I better tell you.” Trainer planted his feet and resisted the guard’s tugging on his arm. “The most startling stuff is at the bottom of the lagoon. Not at the sea grass beds, but deep in the Intracoastal channel that runs down the middle. Show the detective a few photos from there. That’ll be proof enough.”
Catching the look in Swartzman’s eye telling him that a certain lucky student would be taking that dive, Aaron groaned. He better make sure his wetsuit doesn’t have any holes. Too bad he didn’t have one that was mutant gator proof.
“What exactly will I find down there?” Aaron asked.
“It’s a colony. God knows who it’s for. Just make sure that you…”
The officer finally dislodged the Lagoon Watch
er from the doorway and slammed the steel frame shut. As Aaron watched his professor’s sullen expression, he chewed on a dreadful feeling that Swartzman would never see his friend again.
Chapter 37
Moni couldn’t get out of the Enchanted Forest fast enough, but when she parked in the dark lot around her hotel, she couldn’t leave her car. Too much weighed on her mind.
Gazing into her rearview mirror, she saw Mariella awake and alert. The girl should have fallen fast asleep after wandering through the steamy forest all day, Moni thought. It had truly been a miracle that she had found the girl in those endless woods. Yet, she didn’t feel so overjoyed. Moni knew that Mrs. Mint wouldn’t come out of that forest alive. She had no idea how she knew, but she felt so certain of it that she might as well have buried the body herself.
The teacher had meant well. She just lacked the toughness required for a special girl like Mariella. The girl didn’t seem all that distraught over losing her teacher. As she tugged futilely at the door handle, which had been locked from the inside, it seemed that leaving the car as fast as possible concerned her more. Moni reached for her own door handle and pulled it halfway before her thoughts interrupted her again. She had arrested the Lagoon Watcher, so he couldn’t have hurt Mrs. Mint.
Can he control his mutant animals from his cell? Are they still hunting us?
Shaking her head as she finally yanked the handle and pushed open the door, Moni realized that it didn’t matter either way. She wouldn’t put Mariella back in school. She wouldn’t take her by the police station either. The urge to hurry up and move somewhere, anywhere not familiar, tugged at Moni.
Moni finally stepped out of the car. Her sore legs buckled. She steadied herself by posting a hand on the window. Moni sent Mariella a reassuring smile. The girl didn’t even pay attention to her. She sat up on her knees and arched her head to face something off to the side. When she saw the girl’s startled expression, Moni realized that she better turn around. She glanced over her shoulder. Moni met the silver nozzle of a gun. Through the cloak of darkness, she saw the whites of Darren’s eyes transfixed on her. His gold grill of teeth glimmered. She felt like a gazelle the moment before a leaping lion buries its fangs into its neck.
“Sit yo’ ass back in the car,” her ex demanded.
Moni didn’t move. His words were muffled by the mind-blowing shock. She pondered whether if she had gotten back together with him, or even returned some of his calls, she could have avoided this moment. It wouldn’t have mattered. With her or not, Darren wanted more than she could give and he broke what he couldn’t own.
“Quit ignoring me!” Darren barked. “Get in the car. Unlock the doors.”
His voice reached the same pitch it had the last time he smacked her—a tone that dredged up horrific memories of her father’s brand of punishment. Moni complied. After returning to the driver’s seat, she silently begged Darren to walk around the car to the passenger side. Her heart nearly choked on a pint of blood when the sculpted mass of muscles and tattoos crowded into the back seat besides Mariella. The girl’s face contorted with fright. She scooted as far away from him as she could get. Without thinking, Moni drew her pistol.
“Put that shit down, cunt!” Darren jammed his gun against the back of Moni’s neck. The cold barrel cracked into her spine. She tossed her pistol down on the seat beside her. He eased up on the pressure on her neck, but only a little. “If you try that again, the next outfit I buy you is gonna be a body bag.” He glanced at the frightened little girl beside him. “Better make that a double order.”
As she felt Darren’s hot breath on the back of her neck and ear, she recalled how that breath had once been so gentle. It had lathered her when they showered together. It had caressed her when their sweaty bodies danced under the hot lights in the clubs and she ground her booty into his hard crotch.
That whore must have felt Darren’s breath on her back when he fucked her doggy style in the car, Moni thought. Instead of apologies pouring out of his lips after she caught him, he peppered her with curses and pigheaded demands.
She should have seen it coming. She had pursued Darren, despite her mother’s warnings, because she couldn’t imagine a tougher man—someone her father would never mess with. Only now Moni realized that the brutal way he smashed his rivals on the streets would apply to anybody who Darren hated on, especially his ex girl.
Mariella shouldn’t pay for her mistake. She has already suffered enough.
“I’ll do whatever you want. Just leave the girl out of this,” Moni said.
“Mmm hmm, that’s what I like to hear. You’ll do whatever I want.” Darren flashed a gold-toothed perverted grin as he no doubt fantasized about scenarios that few willing woman short of porn stars would subject themselves to. “Now why didn’t you say that before? You been doin’ whatever this kid wants, huh? I bet that’s why you left our house.”
“I didn’t leave the house on my own, honey bear.”She cringed as she forced out her pet name for him. It proved worth the effort, as Darren removed the gun from her neck and pressed it against the seat cushion behind her back. That hurt a little less. “Two people were murdered there. I barely escaped with the girl. It’s a crime scene.”
“So the killer’s after you and they put you up in this hotel. Yeah, you’re a princess in her palace with a royal guard, right? Too bad your buddies didn’t bother show’n up tonight.”
Darren had been stalking her the whole time. He could spot a cop from a mile away. The “undercover” officers that were waiting for the Lagoon Watcher had kept him at bay. After the freak’s arrested, Sneed took everybody off Mariella guard duty except Moni. And he would have fired her from that job in a second if he could.
This lion had waited until his prey strolled alone with her cub. Then he pounced. She knew the odds of both of them surviving were frightfully slim, but Mariella might make it if she could distract him.
“You got that right, baby. We’re all alone. You and me,” Moni purred in the most seductive voice she could muster with the nozzle of her lover’s gun nudging against her back through the seat cushion. “How about I drop the girl off in the room? Then we can check into our own room and get down. There are plenty of vacancies on my floor. I’m wide open.” Moni spread her thick lips wide in a smile that always left men drooling and readjusting their pants.
“Yeah, I could dig that,” Darren said as he hiked up his jeans. “But I can’t just stroll into the hotel with a gun in my pants. Should I wave at the cameras and say, ‘Hey, I’m kidnapping over here. Shout out to my boys.’? That’s just what I should do, right Moni?”
“That’s not what I meant. I just wanna…”
“You won’t see my ass arrested like that old white man that was chasing you. Ya fuck him too?” Darren asked. She gasped in revulsion at the thought of touching the sunburned Lagoon Watcher. “I’m not fool’n like that old honky. Here’s how we do this. The girl gets out the car and then I’ll tell you where to drive. Once we get there…” He curled his hulking arm around Moni’s seat and squeezed her breast. Darren had felt them thousands of times and he usually did so passionately, tickling them and gently massaging. This time, he groped them like a menacing kid trying to pop a balloon. “I have some surprises waiting for you, girl.”
Darren’s hand felt as comfortable on her body as a tarantula. Moni couldn’t rip it off and stomp it to death—not if she wanted Mariella to walk away from this. The girl wouldn’t get very far in a parking lot by herself in the middle of the night. She had to stop this.
“Darren…” Moni winced as he pinched her nipple as if he were trying to crush a grape. When he finally released it, she exhaled and continued on. “The girl can’t stay in this parking lot all night.”
“Give her your room key,” he said without even looking at the child.
Mariella curled up against the door with half her fist in her mouth and her eyes verging on tears.
“They won’t let an eight-year-old walk into the
hotel alone without asking her questions. The girl can’t talk. Let me just drop her off in her room and then we can… you know.” She couldn’t even fake enthusiasm anymore—not with his sleazy paws violating her.
“I don’t care about the damn girl.” This time Darren noticed Mariella. Moni wished that he hadn’t. He aimed the gun square at her forehead. The girl drew up her knees and ducked her face behind them as if that could shield her from a bullet. “This is about you and me. It ain’t about her. I didn’t agree to you bringing a child into our lives.”
“This isn’t about our lives. This is my life,” Moni protested. “You ain’t part of it no more. You cheated on me. You hit me. So you lost the right to tell me what to do.”
“What? Hell no. Yo’ still my bitch.” The hand that had been molesting her body slid up and pinched her throat between its massive thumb and forefingers. She had seen the oxygen-starved purple faces he had given ex-cons and drug dealers with that hold. On her delicate neck, it could inflict much more damage. A few pounds of pressure from his fingers would end her life, but that thought barely registered in Moni’s mind as she saw Mariella tremble behind her knees while Darren’s gun pointed at the girl.
“I’ll be whatever you want me to be,” Moni croaked from her constricted throat. “Please don’t punish her. I’m all she has.”
“So that’s what’s been keep’n you from seeing me and returning my calls, huh?” Darren sharpened his glare on the girl. “Now, how can I take care of that problem? Oh, I know. Like this.”
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