Raptor: Urban Fantasy Noir

by Bostick, B. A.

  When he finished eating, he threw himself on the bunk. He’d blown it! He’d revealed his secret, his ace in the hole. They’d never give him the opportunity to escape now. He’d just become another lab rat.

  He looked at the crease in his left arm. There it was, a fresh needle hole. Had they put something in, or taken blood out?

  Ariel had promised him she’d always watch his back. Where was she now? He’d thought of her as a super hero, like in one of the comics he shoplifted from the local bookstore. Someone who came to the aid of people at the mercy of diabolical villains.

  What was more diabolical than this? If she didn’t hurry, when she finally found him he’d be dead.

  - 44 -

  There was another knock on the door of Cassius’ office. A young man poked his head into the room and announced, “Captain Greggs has everyone assembled in the situation room.”

  “Thank you George. Tell them we’ll be there in a minute.” Cassius looked at Bishop and the two Raptors. “I’ve been planning for something like this to happen for a couple of years now. I didn’t know exactly what the event would be, but I thought someday the Deeps would need to defend itself. It doesn’t surprise me that Zaki is involved, I just didn’t expect he’d have demons as allies.”

  “Is it possible Zaki is a demon himself?” Ariel asked.

  “He certainly acts like one. I never suspected it if it’s true. I thought he was just a sociopathic thief and murderer. He killed my wife, you know.”

  “We know,” Ariel told him. “Your wife and your son. I’m sorry.”

  “Not my son. They found his blood but no body. I have faith he’s still alive, but I’ve never been able to find him.” He looked at Tomas. “He’d be about your age now, but that’s a problem, for another day. Let’s see what we can do to ruin Zaki’s plans.”

  The situation room had more space, larger screens than the study and a shallow platform at one end of the room. About forty men and women of various ages were sitting on an eclectic collection of chairs, stools and couches, or standing in groups waiting to be briefed. An undercurrent of anticipation moved through the gathering when Cassius appeared.

  Cassius introduced his security chief Mallory Greggs to Bishop, Ariel and Tomas as an Iraq war veteran and former Green Beret. Greggs introduced his sector chiefs, scouts, and soldiers, then turned the process back to Cassius for the various scientists, techies and engineers. It was news to nobody that demons were the enemy and they’d finally crossed the line.

  Someone had erected a war board. Maps of the Deeps were pinned up as sequentially as possible. Some were just sketches of unmapped territory that had been enlarged and taped together to give a larger picture.

  Jorge McCullen, the engineer, raised a hand. “Bringin’ in the train tonight, sir. Close as I can get it to a place where we can load up without the demons noticin’.”

  “Guns are mounted,” Greggs said. “We have small arms and automatic weapons for about forty of us. The rest have cross bows, swords and a few sling shots. My explosives expert is cooking up some surprises, plus we have enough C4 to blow the buildings if we put it in the right places.”

  “Our people will ride the train,” Cassius said, pointing out the route. “Through the Hauptmann station, down the tunnel past Tesslovich’s platform and past the steam trap to the underground entrance to the arena. We don’t know what we’ll encounter here,” He tapped the map where the track ended. “But we’ll probably have to stop behind Zaki’s train. That will block their escape route back down the tracks, but it means we’ll have further to go until we’re in the building. We’ve tapped into their cameras in the tunnel. We’ll run a loop so they don’t see us coming. Sometimes large animals or the occasional homeless person sets off the steam trap. We have some footage of that happening that we’ve cut into the loop so when the trap goes off they won’t suspect they’re about to be under attack.”

  “Large animals?” Bishop asked.

  “Coyote, deer, raccoons, other--things.”

  “I expect we’ll encounter security force resistance,” Greggs added. “Some human, some not. We can’t worry about the distinction. We’re hoping to keep the fighting confined to the arena, but there will be staff and guards at the front gate and in other buildings. A special team will escort the tech crew into the labs.”

  “What about the prisoners?”

  “Extraction teams will find them and get them to the train. We won’t know who’s human and who’s a ringer until we have more time to sort them out, so we’re not bringing them back here. We’ll take them to a holding area and infirmary we set up below the old fire station on the south side.”

  “Tomas and I will round up as much air support as we can,” Ariel added. “We have some other resources as well although they’ll be on the ground. As soon as we clear the front gate we’ll let them in and re-block that exit. Nobody shoots a wolf, okay?” She made sure she held Gregg’s gaze for a few seconds.

  “Some of Tesslovich’s visitors have already been taken to the estate by train using his entrance to the tracks.” Cassius said. “More will go in the same way tomorrow. Others will come by car, maybe even by boat or helicopter. We think Zaki’s going to be using the big screens in the arena to show off the bots and make his pitch. His customers will want proof before they buy so I anticipate he’ll have an exhibition match or two.”

  “He has a satellite hook-up, which means if he’s broadcasting to demons in other parts of the globe we can intercept the signal and see and hear what he’s saying.”

  Greggs took over. “I imagine he’s wining and dining his investors tonight. Sort of pre-sale congrats fest. He had about a semi-truck’s worth of Crystal delivered day before yesterday and plenty of demon delicacies that tend toward the raw and disgusting. After the ruckus last night Tesslovich tripled his guard for those who are still at his place. I guess they’re the ones who are here to buy, not sell.

  A special squad will break off and go for the prisoners. Science and tech will go for his servers, the object being to copy what we can, then corrupt and destroy his data. It’s a closed system and this is the only way we can get to it. As soon as we’ve gotten the prisoners out we’ll start blowing the buildings. You have floor plans of the buildings and pictures of some of the missing kids, but be careful. As I said, there may be ringers in the bunch.”

  “Particularly one called Lena,” Ariel said. “She’s tough, she’s vicious and I’d bet anything she’s a demon.”

  “We’re going to get Zaki and Tesslovich on this one, people. Study their pictures, we can’t let them escape. Once this starts they may try to make it to the lake. Zaki has a couple of fast boats docked there and a helicopter at a small airport not too far away.”

  “How much other support can we expect?” A woman in the crowd asked.

  “So far, two Raptors four werewolves and a civilian,” Ariel told her. “We’re hoping for more and we’ll bring what arms we have. Warning: Tesslovich has a collection of ancient demon blades. His guests may or may not be allowed to bring them onto the estate. If they do, be careful. They may look old and no match for modern arms, but they can poison anyone they cut.”

  “After we leave here,” Tomas said. “Ariel and I will be going to see the Guardian. We don’t know what his priorities are at this point but we’re going to try to convince him to help.”

  “Is this your whole army?” Bishop asked Cassius as he looked around.

  “Some aren’t in this room,” Greggs said. “We’ve sent the word out and may get a few outliers signing on. We also have quite a few pissed off kids who want to go, but we’re not taking anybody under sixteen on this mission. Plus, a few of our fighters need to stay here to guard the Deeps, just in case.”

  “I’d like permission to have Sister Mary Catherine from the runaway shelter taken to the infirmary,” Bishop said. “She knows a lot of the missing and can help identify them. Plus, she’ll have me excommunicated if I don’t get her in on the rescu
e.”

  “We’ll send a car for her.”

  “We all have things to do before tomorrow,” Ariel said. “The three of us need to get topside. We’ll stay in touch through Kale.net. If the Guardian won’t back us up you still have Tomas, me and the wolves.”

  “And me,” Bishop said. “Standing right here!” It was beginning to feel like his mantra.

  One of the runners made his way through the crowd and handed a piece of paper to Cassius, who motioned Bishop over.

  “Mr. Bishop, I think you should know that the blood on the carpet you gave me was human.”

  “Nanites?”

  “No.”

  Bishop shook his head. “Any insight on why a human being who’s been shot dead twice won’t stay down?”

  Cassius shrugged. “Maybe you’re dealing with more than one guy.”

  Part III

  - 1 -

  “Hello?”

  Mouser raised his head. The voice was young, light, female.

  “Hello?” he said.

  “Where am I?” the voice asked. “I think they moved me while I was asleep. I don’t know this place.”

  Mouser put his mouth up to the holes in the Plexiglas. “Where were you before?”

  “In the Young Angel Dorm,” the voice told him. “With the other kids. I was trying really hard to get it right so I could go home.”

  “What were they asking you to do?” Mouser asked.

  “Take the medicine to make my blood strong. I tried to be strong, but other kids got chosen over me.”

  “Chosen for what?”

  “To be angels. To help save the world. To go home. I want to go home, why didn’t they pick me?”

  “They did chose you.” Mouser said. “They’ve chosen me too. But they aren’t angels.”

  “What are they?” the little voice asked

  “Bad people,” Mouser told her. “People you shouldn’t trust. People who are definitely not angels.” He paused, he didn’t want to scare her. “What’s your name?”

  “Susan Elisabeth Morgan,” the voice came back. “My mom calls me Suzee with two E’s. I’m almost six, and I’m really, really scared.”

  - 2 -

  “If you want we can meet later tonight at my place, Frank. Tomas and I just have this errand to do before we come back.”

  “I have an errand of my own,” Bishop said as Ariel and Tomas piled out of his car in front of the Guardian Building. “We need everyone we can get, right?”

  “Four o’clock tomorrow. We’ll leave from my apartment, unless you want to go in on the train.”

  “I’d rather stick with people I know. I’ll go in with you and the Dogs.”

  “Frank,” Ariel said. “You don’t have to do this. Tomas and I, it’s what we’re meant to do, but you . . .”

  “It’s my world too, El. You think now I know what’s going on I can just pull the covers over my head and ignore it?”

  “It would be the smart thing to do.”

  “There you go,” Bishop said. “Of all the people who know me, the only one expecting me to make an intelligent choice is you.”

  “See you tomorrow, Frank.”

  Bishop watched her follow Tomas through the revolving doors of the Guardian Building as the sun slid down its facade like a receding tide, leaving shadows in its wake.

  - 3 -

  Bishop’s cell phone rang. He looked at the number. It was Rain, just the person he was thinking of calling.

  “Rainman,” Bishop said.

  “Bro,” Rain said, his voice low and guarded. “Just listen. The taskforce issued a warrant for your arrest.”

  “For what?”

  “Four counts of Murder One. They found your finger prints at the Corbin house. The coroner says a girl Jennifer’s size couldn’t possibly have done the amount of damage they found on the bodies, let alone on the house. They think she had help.”

  “Are they crazy? Sure I was at the Corbin house, I was interviewing the family because I’m working a similar case. What possible reason would I have to kill the Corbin family let alone leave Jennifer behind as a witness?”

  “Jennifer’s brain was totally blown, Frank. They’ll say, Why not leave her there? She was hysterical, covered in blood and not tellin’ anybody anything except how she was going to rip out their entrails and piss in their eyes an’ stuff. Then there’s that body they found in the trunk of your car.”

  “It was a loaner. I didn’t put a body in the trunk. I can’t believe you think I’m running around out here killing people, Rain.”

  “I don’t, but Lieutenant Martin does and he’s the one with the warrant. It’d be better if you turn yourself in man, get a lawyer, work this through.”

  “I can’t do that right now. Not for a day or so. People are depending on me. If it all works out,” Or not. “The warrant won’t be an issue anymore. You have to trust me on this.”

  “Really, Frank…”

  “One last favor for old time’s sake. Did you ever get a fingerprint match on the knife in the goat head?”

  “That’s the other thing, man. The prints match the missing dead guy in the Falcon’s trunk. He was apparently part of a knife throwing act in a visiting Romanian circus. He jumped his visa three years ago along with his two brothers. But here’s the kicker . . .”

  “Yeah?”

  “The brothers–-they’re triplets.”

  * * *

  Bishop hung up. If the warrant had just been issued he still had maybe an hour to get off the street. Going home wasn’t an option. He could probably make it to Ariel’s, but they’d have his license plate and a description of his car. Unless he could hide the car fairly quickly it could lead them right to Ariel and the Dogs.

  He was closest to the Caf’. He’d park the car a few blocks away, check in with Ez and let him know what was happening, then catch the subway to Ariel’s neighborhood. There wouldn’t be an APB until the cops had spent a few hours looking for him with no success.

  He pulled over to the curb. It was a four block walk. He was dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and his old leather jacket. He always carried a couple of hats in his trunk and two or three different colored t-shirts in case he had to follow someone.

  Bishop rummaged through the archaeological layers of stuff in his car trunk. He threw a bag of half-eaten, totally forgotten and therefore petrified fast food over his shoulder, then felt guilty about it. He decided to retrieve it and throw it into the first trash can he came to.

  First he chose a red ball cap then stuffed a clean navy blue t-shirt into his jacket pocket to change into at the Caf’. He was about to reach up and shut the trunk lid when a stabbing pain hit him in the back of the neck. A quick shove from an unseen assailant and he tumbled forward, halfway into the trunk, tongue numb, limbs useless, body spasming uncontrollably.

  Someone leaned over him and fumbled under his jacket, checking to see if he had a gun. Bishop managed to control the fluttering in his eyelids long enough to see Lieutenant Martin straighten up and pocket his Glock.

  “Give him the shot,” Martin said. “The Taser’s starting to wear off.”

  Another figure took Martin’s place. He was shorter with black hair. He smelled faintly of garlic and grease and some other spice Bishop couldn’t identify. Worst of all he was wearing a badly-made yellow and black stripped suit and holding a syringe. He smiled an ugly little, brown toothed smile and jammed the syringe into Bishop’s leg. The last thing Bishop heard before everything went black sounded very much like Nyaaah Nyaaah.

  - 4 -

  Ariel and Tomas blew by the guard station in the lobby, headed for the elevators.

  “Hey!” the guard yelled. “You can’t do that! I’m calling upstairs.”

  “Emergency,” Ariel called over her shoulder. Tomas held the elevator door open for her, and followed her in before the guard could lift the phone.

  “There’s a camera in here,” Tomas remarked. “They’ll see us coming.”

  “Good,” was a
ll Ariel had to say. She pulled her boots off and shoved them into the pockets of her coat. Her toes flexed, claws scratching on the marble of the elevator floor.

  Tomas glanced at her feet then up at her face, a slightly puzzled expression on his face.

  “We’re having this conversation as Raptors,” She said. “Maybe he’ll listen to what we stand for, even if he won’t listen to us.”

  The doors opened. The Wolverine was standing behind her desk, outrage radiating from every pore. “This is totally unacceptable!” She snapped. “The Guardian is very busy and cannot be disturbed.”

  “Really?” Ariel leaned over the desk and pushed the intercom button. “Two Raptors to see you, Sir. It’s about the end of the world. They thought you might want details.”

  There was a pause, followed by a testy voice. “As long as you’re here, Ariel, you might as well come up.”

  Ariel gave the Wolverine a tight smile and got a glare in return.

  Brother Gregory was scuttling down the stairs from the Guardian’s Tower, robe flapping, hem swishing as it slid from one step to the next.

  “This is most irregular,” he was saying over and over, ringing his hands. “The Guardian is extremely displeased with this intrusion.”

  “Then maybe you’d better stay down here where it’s safe, Greg. We wouldn’t want you caught in the middle would we?”

  Ariel tilted her head back and forth like she was working out a kink. Her wings blossomed from the vents in the back of her coat but stayed furled against her sides, the scapula rose above her shoulders like a collar of sable colored feathers.

  Tomas sighed. In for a penny. His wings tore through the back of his sweat shirt. He spread the right one slightly, examining the place where the feathers had been broken. They were as smooth and black as the rest of his wing.