“We need to talk about this,” Jer said as they slipped into a fire escape stairwell.
“I’ll talk about it when I’m ready,” Damiana said.
“That’s fair,” Jer said. “But this could be a clue to what Jasper was working on. Is there any chance he shared what his end goal was?”
Damiana shook her head and snapped off the lock on the stairwell door with one hand. “After you,” she said.
10
Relentless Pursuit
Billy, the bartender, refilled Max Ray’s whiskey on the rocks.
“What kind of horseshit is this,” the alderman spat. He wriggled around on the heavily-decorated bar stool and stared up at the screen.
Billy looked over his shoulder at the projected screen. Several monsters and sobbing humans faced a row of Corporate Congresspeople.
“Monster reparation hearings,” Billy answered.
“Again?” Max asked. Part of the bar stool jabbed his back.
Billy shook his head as he stocked bottles of upscale beer in the front cooler. Above that were shelves of only the best liquor available. They were backlit in a way that displayed the colors of the expensive bottles. Tiny globes of light hung near the ceiling, almost like an old-fashioned chandelier.
“I don’t understand it myself, Billy. I mean, first it was the families of the zombie survivors outta that mall in Pennsylvania, and now it’s the families of those sailors on the Demeter,” Max said. He glanced at Billy for a reaction, but he was occupied with the broadcast. “Okay. Maybe the government should have checked the cargo for vampires, but that was over a hundred and fifty years ago for Chrissakes! When does it end?” He sipped his drink.
“It’s a crazy world, Max,” Billy said. He turned and grabbed a fresh towel, then began wiping the shelves.
That was when Max spotted his thin tail. Billy was a monster.
“Equality, Max. That’s all we want,” Billy said as he continued going about his job. “Not money. Just equality. I’d have thought you would understood that.”
“Some folks don’t like the lifestyle,” Max countered. “Even though the rumors of contagion were probably false, it could still spread. It could happen.”
“Lifestyle my ass,” Billy said and pointed to his tail. “You think I like this? God made me this way, fella. I didn’t choose it.”
“You believe in God?” Max asked. “That’s surprising, all things considered. Damned at birth, and all that.”
“That’s what you got from this?” Billy asked.
Max ignored him, though, and his eyes went wide as he looked up. A breaking news headline flashed across the screen. The footage was of the explosion at the Nurses’ Home on North Brother Island.
“Jesus, God,” Max said.
“You believe too?” Billy asked. He raised his eyebrows.
Max opened his mouth to respond, but he froze when he saw Jer striding toward him.
Begrimed and bloody, Jer marched up to the adjacent bar stool. He took a seat and scooted the stool closer to Max, too close for comfort.
Max pivoted. “I’m busy,” he said and looked away.
“Fuck you,” Jer said. “We need to talk about this.”
Max locked eyes with Jer, then looked behind Jer to Dakota and Damiana. Damiana appeared almost human at the moment, except that her eyes glowed red as she glared at Max.
“How—”
“We’ll get to that,” Jer said. “For now, it’s time to have a chat.”
“I guess I can spare five more minutes,” Max stammered and gestured for the check.
Billy smirked. “This one’s on me,” he said. “My payment comes in the form of all that worry splashed across your face, buddy.”
A few seconds later, the alderman was slammed against a brick wall in a secluded alleyway. He dangled there, several feet off the ground, unable to do anything about his current predicament.
Damiana’s hands had reverted to being muscular, slightly crimson, and very heavily clawed. She held Max a full foot off the ground, eyes fully aglow and scowling at him like she wanted to rip him apart.
Jer lobbed unrelenting questions at the man. “You were the only one, Max!” he shouted. “How much did they pay you?”
“Put me the fuck down!” Max choked out.
Damiana responded by raising him even higher. Max clutched at Damiana’s hands but her grasp was too firm and strong for him.
He began to sputter and croak. “Please put me the fuck down?” he begged.
Damiana looked at Jer, who nodded his approval. She dropped the fucker like the piece of trash he was.
Max straightened his tie, always the presentable politician. He then did his best to gather himself together. “I am no passive lackey you can bully until I roll over like a dog,” Max said. “I can make one phone call, just one, and—”
“And what?” Jer asked and laughed. “Have me killed? Newsflash, Max. I’m already dead.” He held up the vial and paper from he had retrieved from the old post office. “I found it, but this is only part of the puzzle,” he said. He waited for Max to tense up and really see the items he held. “And now you know about this, too. Think GenAdvance is going to let you live?”
Max’s jaw dropped as Jer’s words sank in.
“I’d call you a lowlife motherfucking asshole, but that’d be an insult to the lowlife motherfucking asshole community as a whole,” the alderman said.
“I’m not here to intimidate you, believe it or not,” Jer replied. “I need your help, Max. We need your help. We need to get the other half of the puzzle before they get to us.”
Max spit on the ground and then stared at something behind Jer.
“I think you’re a little late on that one,” Max warned.
Jer, Dakota, and Damiana pivoted. At the far end of the alley, dark forms rose up and loomed. Their shadows crept forward. As they drew closer, the figures were revealed to be Pharma cops and turncoat monster scouts with heavy armament.
“Oh...Oh no,” Jer said.
The Pharma cops and turncoats whipped out their weapons and laid down a wall of lead that ricocheted from the buildings on either side, to the ground, and through the air.
Jer, Dakota, Damiana, and Max dove around a corner. The mismatched group of four ran as fast they could away from the gunfire.
The holographic salesman materialized alongside them and kept pace. He held up the state-of-the-art razor he’d been trying to sell endlessly.
“Could you spare a second?” the Holo asked. “If you do, you’ll have the rare opportunity to learn how to get the closest and fastest, faster than the speed of light, shave you’ll ever experience.”
Jer pointed back to the pursuing turncoat monsters. “Feel free to tell them about it,” he said. “They could use a bit of grooming.”
The Holo spun around, and his eyes went wide at the sight of the monsters. He disappeared for a moment, then reappeared by the monsters and cops. “Could you spare a second?” he started.
Jer led the others down a parallel street, roaring forward as the Pharma cops and turncoat monsters continued their pursuit. The enemy was closing in, but he wasn’t willing to give up.
“Car,” Jer said. “Where’s the car?”
Damiana harnessed her strength and burst past Jer. Faster than any human could, she returned behind the wheel of the stolen car, revving the gas. Jer, Dakota, and Max dodged bullets that splintered the windows as they dove inside. Damiana gunned the engine. Smoke erupted out of the mufflers as they took off, leaving tire marks on the asphalt. The car sped off down the street. Damiana glanced in the rearview mirror.
“One of the turncoats is hot on our tail,” Damiana warned.
The others looked back and spotted a willowy monster racing after them. The creature sprinted like a cheetah, his limbs wind-milling and pumping.
Dakota looked at Jer and Max, breathless. “Jesus, they’re persistent,” she said.
“It’s part of the whole ‘latent aggression’ thi
ng,” Jer said. “It’s my opinion that the aggression can be channeled into...less hostile activities.”
“No time for diagnosing,” Max said. “Just get us away from them.”
Max watched the speedy monster launch himself through the air and grab onto the shattered passenger-side window. “Shit!”
Everybody shrieked as the monster ripped at the door while simultaneously whipping a pistol out.
Damiana keyed the power locks, threw her left foot, and smashed the door open.
The monster swung out, clinging to the door as he pointed the gun inside. He took aim at Damiana. He began to pull the trigger back.
Then, the open door slammed into a parked car. It was entirely ripped off with a wrenching screech and flattened the willowy monster to a jammy smear.
The battered car smoked on, jetting around a corner and squealing to a stop. At the far end of the street, a brigade of heavily armored Pharma cops stood impassively next to two armored attack vehicles.
Stunned silence filled the car. Max looked at the vial and papers in Jer’s lap. “What the hell is in there anyway?” he asked.
Damiana punched the engine and slammed the car in reverse. The car sped back, reverse-roaring through a darkened storefront. They plowed through aisles of junk food and came to a stop at the rear wall. Thick, black smoke curled out from under the hood as fuel and oil leaked. The engine sputtered, then died.
Shouts and flashing lights intensified outside as the smoke began filling up the interior of the car.
“They’re coming!” Jer shouted.
Damiana slid through the hole where the passenger door used to be, and helped the others out. They scrambled over the sharp edges of the smoking car and stumbled into the rear of the store and dove behind a row of freezers.
Less than a second later, bursts of gunfire raked the store, obliterating everything in sight. Max landed face-to-face with Damiana, who grinned.
“Think you could still make a phone call?” Damiana asked and chortled.
“We’ve got to get near the river!” Jer shouted.
From a few feet away, Dakota yelled back, “There’s a door over here!”
Day broke over the city as the Pharma cops formed a perimeter. A strike team scrambled into place, their machine pistols at the ready.
The four of them scrambled down the stairwell and pushed through another door, into an underground parking garage. Jer led the others forward. Max wheeled on Jer. His face was tight, jaw clenched. He whispered, “Get to the river? Why would I help a bunch of—”
“Don’t say it,” Jer warned.
Damiana’s eyes glowed as she inched up on Max. “You’re a racist motherfucker. Y’know that?” she growled into his ear. Her fangs just touched his earlobe.
Max shook his head. “It doesn’t matter what my personal feelings on the matter are,” he sniffed. “I still don’t have a reason to help the likes of you.”
“We just saved your life! Multiple times!” Jer couldn’t believe it.
Max shrugged. “You kidnapped me.” The others hadn’t seen what he had: a guard was at the far end of the garage.
“Don’t you want to help crack the fissure in the code?” Jer asked.
Max pantomimed yawning as the guard slowly approached.
“Not enough for you? Fine. Don’t you want to stop an all-out war?” Jer asked.
Max yawned for real this time.
“Would you like to help those who want to bridge the gap between monsters and humans, knowing that you’ll be rewarded if you do?” Dakota asked.
Max’s ears perked up. “Where’d you find this saint?” he asked.
“She’s my new intern,” Jer answered.
Max stopped yawning as his right hand went to his pocket. “Well, why didn’t you just say so,” he said and faked a laugh. “More importantly, rewarded how?”
Jer and Dakota shared a look. “Does Senator Ray’ sound better than ‘Alderman Ray?’” Jer asked.
The guard drew near, hand reaching down to a weapon.
Max pivoted, security card in hand. He flashed the ID card so the guard could see.
“Sorry, alderman,” the guard said. “I didn’t recognize you, sir.”
“Your apology is accepted,” Max said. “My friends and I were just leaving.”
The group walked past the guard toward the far side of the garage. Without warning, an explosion went off behind them. A door blew off its hinges and knocked the guard over.
Everybody turned back to see the Pharma cops burst into the garage
Jer and the others rushed to the door on the other side of the garage. Pandemonium ensued as they stumbled down another staircase, doing their best not to trip over each other. At the bottom of the stairwell, Damiana used her brute strength to burst through the chains on a locked door. The group swarmed out into an alleyway that led to a loading dock.
Max grimaced and covered his nose. “The damned river smells like a monster in heat.”
Damiana lifted her head, her nostrils flared. “That’s ‘bout the sweetest smell I can think of right now,” she replied and lurched toward a sewer grate. She squatted over the top it, arms bulging and eyes glowing, and pulled the metal cover from the hole. A ladder led down into the darkness below. She turned to the others.
Max shook his head, stepped back, and folded his arms across his chest. “Oh, hell no,” he said. “Hell no!”
“I guess you can stay behind, then,” Jer said. “I’m sure GenAdvance will welcome you back with open arms.”
Max flipped Jer the bird and climbed down.
Dakota hesitated and looked at Jer.
“I promise you’ll get extra credit,” Jer said. He helped her down.
She shot him a playful look. “Still waiting for my hazard pay.”
Jer was the last one down. Damiana pushed him out of the way and pulled the cover back into place. A moment later, the four of them covered their mouths and peeked through the tiny holes in the manhole cover as Pharma cops rushed out into the alleyway overhead.
Their eyes swept the area, guns hefted and trained in all directions, but there was no one to pursue, not a soul in sight.
A Pharma police captain lowered his gun and tapped a shoulder mic.
“They got away, sir,” he said.
A holographic projection shot out of the police captain’s shoulder mic. In the projection, Jakoff swiveled in a large chair inside the GenAdvance command center. Multiple plasma screens showing live footage were behind him.
On one of the screens, hundreds of paramilitary troops clad in full riot gear marched into the heart of North Brother Island. On another screen, the police captain and his strike team appeared as they continued fruitlessly searching for Jer and the others.
“You’re certain he was with them?” Jakoff barked.
The police captain snapped on a small device. A holographic fingerprint was suspended in the air before him.
“It’s his alright, sir,” the police captain answered.
“How the fuck did he escape the inferno?” Jakoff fumed.
“Tunnels, sir,” the police captain answered. “They have tunnels all over the city.”
“The monsters?” Jakoff asked.
The police captain nodded. “They’re better prepared than we thought,” he replied.
“They have half the intelligence of you and me, Captain,” Jakoff said, and scratched his head. “They’re basically the equivalent of smart nine-year-old kids.”
“Those nine-year-old ‘kids’ just gave us the slip, sir,” the Pharma police captain replied, defending his actions. “And there’s no conclusive proof that monsters have lower intelligence.”
“This is going to take more extreme measures.” Jakoff cut the feed, and the police captain’s strike team left the alleyway.
11
The Underground
Once the coast was clear, Jer gestured that it was safe to begin moving. They took soft steps as they moved through the tunnel
<
br /> “It’s a conspiracy,” Damiana whispered. “It’s all a fucking conspiracy.”
After slogging through the tunnel for a solid ten minutes, they came upon a metal door, which they shoved open together. The four of them slipped through the opening and dropped down a ladder into a lower tunnel that was cloaked in darkness. Damiana took the lead while Max, Jer, and Dakota followed.
“Everything’s a conspiracy to you monsters,” Max says to Damiana.
Damiana stopped, eyes glowing, and she wheels on Max. “Whoa,” she said. “‘You monsters?’”
Max stumbled backward with fear in his eyes but gathered himself. “That’s right,” he said. “Monsters love to blame others for their troubles.”
“Just so happens, Mr. Alderman Max Ray, that this whole thing’s being driven by the goddamned Pharma hedge funds,” Damiana said. “We didn’t start this fight.”
“Do you even know what a hedge fund is?” Max asked, condescension dripping from his tone.
Damiana looked like she was about to kick his ass instead of answering. But a glance from Jer caused her to back down.
“Didn’t think so,” Max said and rolled his eyes, while throwing a look at Jer.
“Are you seriously going to keep letting this dumb-ass lead the way?” he asked.
“She’s the only one that knows the way, which makes her significantly more essential, insightful, and important than you in our current situation,” Jer replied. “If you’d like, we can leave you here.”
Max averted his eyes and shut his trap at the threat.
“The way to where?” Dakota asked.
Jer and Damiana shared a look, deciding whether or not to share their destination.
“Sheol,” Jer answered, making the choice that it was now or never for trusting Dakota.
Max shrugged.
“No idea what that means, but wherever you’re taking us, better get there fast,” he said.
“Working on it,” Jer said.
Everybody turned as Max flared a smoke and sucked on a long drag.
Monster M.D.: A Monster Girl Harem Mystery Thriller (Monster M.D. ) Page 10
