Carnival of Mayhem (Gray Spear Society)

by Siegel, Alex

  He walked to the nearest cop and asked, "Where do you think they're taking him?"

  "Huh?" The officer faced Aaron. "I don't know. Probably the main office."

  Aaron nodded and moved away.

  The Chicago Police Main Office was far to the south. The most direct route was Clark Street, but the huge crowd around Wrigley Field would get in the way. He expected the police would transport Lucifer east on Grace Street instead, and then they would take Lake Shore Drive south. He would intercept them before they made that turn.

  First, though, he needed something. He went to the police car where his gear was stored. He squatted down and spat at the lock on the trunk. His yellow saliva bubbled furiously, and after a minute he pushed the lock out with his finger. With a sharp yank he pulled the trunk open. He couldn't take all his stuff without attracting attention. He simply grabbed his wide spectrum radio jammer from the pile.

  He ran off to get into position.

  He chose the intersection of Wilton and Grace for his ambush. It was a residential neighborhood, where rows of three-story buildings made of brick and stone were broken up by the occasional single family home. Everything was pristine. A person didn't have to be rich to live here, but it helped, and so did expertise at parallel parking. Cars lined the street with only inches of separation.

  Aaron stood on the corner and waited. Pedestrians hardly looked at him. He was just one cop among thousands working the streets.

  After about ten minutes he spotted a police car rolling east on Grace Street. Two officers sat in the front seat, and there was a prisoner in back. Bingo, Aaron thought.

  He activated the radio jammer and tossed it under a bush. It had a short range but was good enough for this purpose. He staggered along the sidewalk, clutching his ribs as if badly hurt. The police car immediately pulled over. Nothing else got the attention of a cop like the sight of an injured cop.

  Both officers rushed over to him.

  The first officer, a young man with short blonde hair, said, "What happened? Are you hurt?"

  Aaron nodded. "I got into a fight. I don't feel right. I think I have internal bleeding."

  The second officer tried to call for help on her radio. She was a woman with a prominent nose and very dark eyebrows.

  "It's not working." She banged the radio against her hip. "I'm just getting static."

  The man opened his cell phone. "No signal. What's going on?"

  "My phone doesn't work, either," Aaron said. "We must be in some kind of radio dead zone. Could one of you find a pay phone or something? I could really use an ambulance."

  "I will." The woman ran off.

  Aaron leaned on the male officer for support.

  "Tell me about the fight."

  "A couple of punks were harassing a woman," Aaron said. "I thought I could arrest them by myself. Turns out I was wrong."

  They were near an iron fence. He smoothly handcuffed the cop to the fence and snatched his weapon. The surprising move took less than a second.

  "Hey!" the cop yelled. "What the hell are you doing?"

  "Sorry," Aaron replied.

  He sat in the driver's seat of the car, which was still running. He merged into the flow of traffic and continued east towards the lake.

  "That was slick," Lucifer said. "Now will you tell me who you are?"

  "No."

  "That's not fair. I did my part. I gave up peacefully. You owe me."

  "I kept you out of jail, didn't I?" Aaron said. "And you're still alive. That's as much as I promised, and much more than you deserve. Now be quiet. I have to call my boss."

  He took out his phone and dialed Ethel.

  She answered, "Yes?"

  "I captured the enemy, ma'am," Aaron said. "I'm dressed as a cop and driving a police car. He's handcuffed in the back seat."

  "Excellent work. I knew I could count on you."

  "Thanks." He grinned. A compliment from Ethel was a special treat.

  "Take the prisoner to headquarters," she said.

  "Why?" The order came as a shock.

  "Smythe is trying to find a cure for the poison. He could use a live test subject to experiment on, and your man is exactly what the doctor ordered."

  "I see, ma'am," Aaron said. "I'm guessing the subject won't survive the experiment."

  "He will be dissected afterwards."

  "Yuck. Speaking of poison, did you destroy the beer, yet?"

  "Marina and I are working on it," she said. "We'll see you at headquarters later. Bye."

  He put away his phone.

  "What were you talking about?" Lucifer said. "Some kind of experiment?"

  "It's good news," Aaron said. "My boss wants you to join the team. In fact she already has a job for you. We're going straight to headquarters, where you're going to help us find a cure for the poison."

  "I am?"

  "You're perfectly qualified."

  "How?" Lucifer said.

  "You're expendable."

  Lucifer was silent for a long moment. "I'm still going to die, aren't I?"

  "Yes," Aaron said.

  "Why?"

  "The universe is a finely tuned machine. All the parts have to function, and you, my friend, are broken beyond repair. We have to take you out."

  "I can change," Lucifer said. "Give me a chance!"

  Aaron sighed. "Just relax. Look at the beautiful clouds at sunset. Admire God's creation for the last time."

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Marina and Ethel stood at the edge of the crowd of beer drinkers. The disappearance of the Eternals had not stopped the party at all. Instead, some other men had taken over the vital duty of dispensing free beer. The redness of their cheeks and the sloppiness of their work indicated they had taken plenty for themselves as a reward for their noble service.

  Marina was still coming down from the adrenalin rush of her fight. She felt a little sleepy as a result. She wanted more action, but that seemed unlikely to happen. The main part of the mission was done, and now they were in the dull and dreary cleanup phase. She hated this part.

  "We have to clear these people out, ma'am."

  Ethel nodded. "What do you suggest?"

  "I have tear gas."

  "That's a little extreme. Smoke grenades will suffice."

  "Yes, ma'am," Marina said.

  They found a secluded spot upwind of the party. Both women took smoke grenades from under their coats, unscrewed the caps, and tossed the canisters onto the grass. They backed off quickly.

  A cloud of greasy, black smoke filled the air. The party evaporated, the men and women fleeing as fast as their wobbly legs would carry them.

  When the smoke cleared, Marina was looking at a pile of over a hundred beer kegs. Many of them were still full.

  "That was easy," she said. "Now we just have to destroy the beer. I have a stick of C4."

  "No," Ethel said. "The explosion would blow hot shrapnel all over the neighborhood. I'll call the manager of the Mooseland brewery. What was his name? Gitelman? I'll have him send a truck and some men to collect the beer."

  "That could take an hour or two in this traffic. In the meantime, we'll have to stand guard and keep people away, somehow. And what if the police show up, ma'am?"

  Ethel looked up and Marina followed her gaze. A dark rain cloud was forming directly over the pile of kegs. It swelled rapidly as Marina watched, and white electric sparks crackled in the interior. The formation was obviously unnatural.

  "Is that what I think it is?"

  "Yes," Ethel said. "Run!"

  They ran.

  Marina was halfway down the block when the world flashed white. An instant later she heard a bang loud enough to stun her. She fell onto her hands and knees. A blast of scorching hot air washed over her, followed by a back draft almost as violent.

  Badly shaken, she stood up and looked back. Where the pile of beer kegs had once stood, there was just a smoking crater with molten metal at the bottom.

  "That's typical," Marina said
in a shaky voice. "God steps in at the end, after we did all the hard work."

  "Don't be irreverent," Ethel said. "You just witnessed a genuine divine intervention."

  "We could've used one days ago. This wasn't the easiest mission."

  "You didn't enjoy it at all?"

  Marina paused. "I have to admit there were satisfying moments, ma'am."

  Ethel rolled her eyes. "Let's go home. It's dinner time, and I'm starving."

  "Me, too."

  * * *

  Smythe sat at the head of the solid oak conference table in headquarters. He was growing very fond of this room. The many leather-bound books formed a wall of ancient wisdom. Even though the velvet chairs were antiques, they were still soft and plush. Matters of life and death were decided here and the decisions were final. He liked that. He liked a lot of things about the Gray Spear Society.

  Ethel, Aaron, Marina and Ramirez were waiting for him to give his presentation. For a solid week, Smythe had worked long hours to analyze the Eternals' poison, and finally, he had unlocked the mystery.

  "It's an extremely unusual compound," he said. "It consists of three strands of protein surrounded by a protective coating of sugars."

  "Like a candy shell?" Marina said.

  He snorted. "More like a crystalline barrier, which is incredibly durable and inert. I've never seen anything like it. The coating allows the poison to pass through the digestive system and enter the blood. It circulates harmlessly until it comes into contact with bone marrow. There, the high level of calcium breaks down the coating and exposes the protein. That's when the really interesting stuff happens.

  "The protein acts almost like a virus. It replicates itself exponentially and eventually forms dense nuggets. They look like black poppy seeds under a microscope. But the reaction is very specific to human bone marrow. As far as I can tell, the protein is harmless anywhere else."

  "How does it kill?" Ethel said.

  "The replication produces highly toxic byproducts, including neurotoxins," Smythe said. "The Army research lab was able to detect these byproducts, but we never found the source. I don't know how the Eternals invented this stuff. It's far beyond any technology I've ever seen."

  "The Eternals didn't invent it. An enemy of God gave them the formula."

  "I'm starting to believe that, ma'am."

  "Is there an antidote?" she asked.

  "Yes! A large injection of calcium chloride will cause any poison in the blood to break down prematurely, before it reaches the marrow. Destroying the poison that is already active is trickier. I tried various proteinases until I found one in the caspase family that was very effective and safe to inject. Ironically, this is the same type of enzyme that sick cells use to destroy themselves, a process called apoptosis. I can write up a document describing how to prepare and administer the antidote. We can send it to all the hospitals in the area."

  "No," Ethel said. "Absolutely not."

  Her response shocked Smythe. "Why not?"

  "Revealing that information to the world is dangerous. The secret of the poison must never be discovered by anybody else. Even the cure must remain a mystery."

  The coldness in her eyes warned him to be careful. He knew she wouldn't tolerate any insubordination, particularly from him. The unapproved trip to Saint Athanasius Hospital had burned the small amount of credit he had with her.

  "Thousands of people are sick," he said in a flat, nonaggressive tone. "They need treatment urgently. The Eternals may be gone, but their victims are still dying. What are we going to do about it, ma'am?"

  "We'll produce the antidote here in our laboratory. Then, we'll disguise ourselves as doctors and inject it into as many patients as we can find."

  He looked at Marina and Aaron to see if they might support his cause. They just stared back at him.

  "I don't think that's practical, ma'am," Smythe said. "You can't pick up these exotic enzymes at the corner grocery store. You need to buy them from the big pharmaceutical research laboratories, and they are very expensive. Even if we could acquire the enzymes, we don't have the manpower to manufacture so many doses."

  "My entire team will help, including myself," Ethel said. "Now that the mission is done, we're all available. You'll find we're very energetic workers. Don't worry about the ingredients, either. If we pay a high enough price, these laboratories will give us everything we ask for. They may even do some of the prep work for us."

  "How big a check are you willing to write?"

  She leaned towards him. "You must understand something, Dr. Smythe. I believe God put you here so you can cure those innocent people. That is your divine calling. As a loyal servant of the Lord, I have the responsibility to make you successful. This is your time, and the extraordinary resources of the Gray Spear Society are at your disposal. How big a check do you need? Is ten million dollars enough? A hundred million? We will spend whatever it takes."

  He believed her. More than that, he trusted her.

  "Thank you, ma'am," he said. The words hardly conveyed the powerful emotions he felt.

  She smiled. "You're welcome. Let's get to work. There are lives that need saving."

  * * *

  "I feel so guilty," Marina said. "Ethel would kill us if she saw us here."

  "Then she can't find out," Aaron said.

  He knocked on the red front door of a massive home built in a traditional style. It was three stories tall, not including the extensive basement. White balconies jutted out on two levels. On the roof there was an open structure that looked like a gazebo, and Aaron knew from personal experience that a picnic table was underneath it. Only two people lived in this house: his parents. He had grown up here.

  "Do you think she'd literally kill us?" he said.

  Marina nodded. "At least we'd die together like true lovers."

  "One day I'll have to figure out how to protect myself from her, just in case."

  "Good luck with that."

  The front door opened, and Aaron's father was standing there.

  Aaron had not seen him in two years, but it looked like he had aged ten. His once broad shoulders were slumped and his back was bent. Only a few strands remained to show the original dark color of his otherwise gray hair. Wrinkles surrounded his green eyes and lined his forehead. He wore a checkered bathrobe.

  "Aaron..." he whispered.

  "Dad." Aaron gave his father a hug.

  "You're supposed to be dead. Everybody said you were dead."

  "I'm not," Aaron said. "Can we come in?"

  The expression of total shock on Dad's face would've been funny in any other context, but Aaron felt sorry for him instead. No man should have to endure the loss of his only child.

  Aaron and Marina walked into a grand foyer with a spiral staircase. A crystal chandelier provided glittering light, and the floor was a checkerboard made of Italian marble.

  Mom yelled from another room. "Who is at the door?"

  "Your son," Dad replied.

  Aaron heard quick footsteps, and she entered the foyer. She wore a frumpy nightgown made of fuzzy, blue fabric. She squinted at him because she wasn't wearing her glasses.

  "Aaron!" She rushed forward and gave him a warm hug.

  "I told you I would visit."

  "I wasn't expecting you! I'm not dressed!"

  "Don't worry about it," Aaron said. "You look fine. You remember Carol."

  Marina stepped forward and shook Mom's hand. "Nice to meet you again."

  "Are you hungry?" Mom said. "We have leftovers from dinner. Do you want to spend the night here?"

  "We can't stay," Aaron said. "This has to be a very short visit. Really, we shouldn't even be here. I just came to tell you I'm still alive and well."

  Dad's expression switched to rage. "Where have you been hiding? Are you in trouble with the law? Is that why you disappeared?"

  "No, I'm not a criminal."

  "Are you a secret agent?"

  "No." Aaron shook his head. "Please don't ask me any
more questions."

  "Are you getting paid, at least?" Dad said. "You made shit wages as a cop. I hope you're doing better now."

  "You're still obsessed with money. Is that why you still live in this gigantic house? It's five times bigger than you need, but you want all your friends to know you can afford it."

  "This house is a good investment."

  "You've owned this 'investment' for thirty years."

  "And it's been good the whole time." Dad furrowed his brow. "Are you lifting weights? I don't remember you being so beefy. You look like a bodybuilder."

  Aaron flexed his biceps. "I'm in the best shape of my life."

  "Hmm." Dad turned to Marina. "Who is this? Your girlfriend?"

  "Yes."

  Marina shook Dad's hand. "It's a pleasure to finally meet the father of the man I love. I can see he gets his good looks from you."

  He examined her up and down. He slowly nodded. "Your taste in women is still excellent."

  "She's more than just a pretty face," Aaron said. "She has talents you wouldn't believe. We'll spend the rest of our lives together."

  Dad raised his eyebrows. "Does that mean I'll have grandchildren soon?"

  Aaron sighed. "Sorry, no."

  "You're my only child. You can't let the family name die."

  "I don't have a choice."

  "Why?" Dad crossed his arms. "Are you infertile? Is she?"

  "I can't explain. Actually, I think we should go. I told you not to ask me questions."

  Aaron took a step towards the door. Marina grabbed the handle.

  "Don't!" Dad held his arm with surprising strength. "You just got here. Stay. I'm sorry if I was rude."

  "I wish I could stay but it's too dangerous. Maybe we'll come back someday. I don't know when."

  "This is insane."

  "I know. I'm sorry." Aaron pulled away. "But it's all for a very good cause. Bye."

  He quickly kissed his mother and shook his father's hand. Aaron went out into the cool night with its canopy of glittering stars. He and Marina walked briskly away.

  "That was one of the more awkward experiences of my life," she said.

  "I apologize for dragging you into it," he said.