by Michael Todd
He smiled as he watched Pandora strut out of the SUV stopped just down the road. It was like watching an action movie, only he was cheering for a demon in a human body that might have angel antecedents. All he was missing was the popcorn. The plot thickened at every turn. He watched through the time period where they disappeared into the woods and zoomed in on the license on the back of the BMW as it squealed toward DC.
“There you are, my pretties. Where are you going in such a hurry?”
He turned to his right and pulled up another screen, typing the car’s information into the system. He tapped his finger on the desk, then reached over to grab his pizza. As he ate the pizza, he wiped the grease on his napkin, careful not to get anything on the Dior button-up he’d spent way too much money on to wear in an underground bunker.
After a few minutes, the name of the owner of the car came up on the screen. He wrote down the information and opened a new window, putting the name into the search function. Almost instantly five people with the same surname popped up. He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, looking at the family on the screen. They were all related in some way and had priors in several states, including Nevada. The computer said they had lived in Las Vegas for twenty years before starting their crime spree.
What do you want to bet that they all became infected about that time?
Probably. They look like an All-American family, and that boy doesn’t look much older than Katie.
Timothy went through their information, reading about their life before the arrests. The patriarch of the family had managed a hotel in Vegas, the wife was a nurse at the local hospital, and the four kids were all off at college. They didn’t look like the kind of family that would be involved with demons, but Timothy knew the weak were always susceptible to being conned.
“Martin and Lacy Flannigan and their four little beauties. Trevor, a former slacker at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and his three sisters, Emily, Rachel, and Cecily. Aw, isn’t that just the cutest. It’s the demon version of the Manson family. Oh, wait, it says here Trevor is deceased. Hmmm, too bad.”
He wrote down the information and picked up his cell phone to call Katie.
“That was pretty fast. I’m not even to my drop yet.”
“Yeah, it wasn’t that hard to track these people. They obviously aren’t pros.”
“Who are they?”
“They are a family, actually. A mom and a dad, and their three daughters. There might have been someone else in the car, especially if it was a cult situation, but Flannigan was the name registered. It was actually their son’s name on the registration, but the records say he is deceased.”
“Great—a grieving mother, just what the demons love. Does it say where they are now?’
“Well, they hailed from right here in Las Vegas. Their son even went to University of Nevada, but then one day they started to get nailed with little misdemeanor charges, and that was when they started to move around.”
“Ha! I went to UNLV. Looks like all the creeps come out of there.”
“Small world.” Timothy laughed. “You probably even ran into little Trevor a couple of times.”
Katie paused, tilting her head to the side. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“Trevor Flannigan, their son. I was just saying you might even have run into him before you became the big badass mercenary.”
“Uh...yeah.” She shook her head. She wasn’t sure how, but she had just managed to run into the family of the guy who’d gotten her infected. Of course, he was dead. Korbin shot his fucking head off his shoulders right in front of her.
“You want me to call the general?”
“No, I got this one. Just forward him the intel you have. I’ll call him now. Thanks.”
She hung up the phone and stared out the front window for a moment, unsure how she felt about it all. Either Trevor had followed in his parents’ footsteps or them in his. Or maybe he was the one who got them infected. She dialed the general, keeping her emotions in check.
“That was fast.”
“I employ the best.”
The general paused. “I just got the file, and the name rang a bell...”
“Yeah, me too.”
“You want to handle this?” The general knew who this was, but he wasn’t going to get her all riled up.
“Nope.”
“Okay, then I will have a team take care of it. Thanks for the speedy work. We’ll deposit the money.”
“Thanks.”
Well, this is fucking awkward.
Katie was more than happy to get out of the SUV when they finally pulled up to the government building. She was feeling claustrophobic, and just wanted to get back to New York and reality. The last few hours had seemed like the Twilight Zone.
They backed the truck up to the loading dock, and she stood watch with the rest of the guards to make sure the artifacts made it the last few feet into the well-fortified vault. When the offload was complete Katie shut the truck’s doors and hopped down, grabbing her bag out of the SUV.
The leader of the guards walked over and handed her an overly thick envelope. “Thanks for everything you did. When the family found out, they asked me to add a bonus. Something to show their appreciation.”
“That was nice. Tell them thank you.” Katie smiled and stowed the envelope in her bag.
The guard nodded. “You want to ride back with us?”
“No, I think I’m going to wander DC for a while and then take a train back to the city. Have me some downtime where no one can make me take on a demon.”
“Don’t jinx yourself.” He chuckled, handing her a card. “And if you are ever looking for something on a more regular basis, give me a call. We can always use good men and women on our team.”
“I appreciate it.” She smiled and took the card, nodding as she slipped it into her pocket. “You guys be safe.”
“You too.” He climbed into the SUV.
Katie stood back as they took off out of the short drive and pulled onto Washington Avenue. She slung her bag over her shoulder and walked back to the door of the federal building where they had just unloaded.
The same guard came to the door. “Did we forget something?”
Katie smiled and shook her head. “No, I was just wondering if you had a bathroom I could change in. I don’t really want to walk around the streets of DC with my weapons out.”
“Yeah, come on in. It’s down the hall, third door on your right.”
Katie nodded and headed there, going into the single-stall bathroom. She locked the door and pulled out a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt, and a jacket. She changed her clothes and pulled on her sneakers, then folded the ones she’d taken off and placed them on top of the weapons and ammunition in her bag. She was about to close the bag when Trevor’s face fluttered through her mind. She pulled one of her knives back out, sticking it in her back pocket.
“Better safe than sorry,” she muttered.
She looked in the mirror for a moment, taking in the news. She couldn’t believe that out of all the people in the world she could have been dealing with, she was fighting the fucking Flannigans. Their son had changed her entire life, but she doubted they even knew—or cared for that matter. They were on a mission; one that she and the demon their son had put into her had thwarted without even breaking a sweat.
Let it go, Pandora told her soothingly. We got them, and the general will take care of it. The asshole is dead. Has been for a while. Don’t let this affect you.
I’m not, Katie replied, taking a deep breath as she slung her bag over her shoulder. In fact, even if I didn’t know it at the time, he did me a favor. He opened my eyes and forced me to see the world for what it really was.
No, I think I did that.
Katie chuckled. True, but you were his parting gift to me.
I am definitely a gift.
Yep, like herpes. The gift that keeps on giving.
She left the bathroom and waved at the guard as
she let herself out. She pulled out her phone and looked up the closest donut shop since she knew Pandora would not accept getting on the train to New York without a donut or five. She skimmed through the recommendations and settled on Astro Donuts and Fried Chicken.
Donuts and fried chicken? Humans are weird, but hell, I’m not going to argue.
They walked the four blocks to Northwest and went inside. Katie’s mouth was watering, and it had nothing to do with Pandora. The donuts were arranged in a display case, fresh and some even still hot.
Katie gawked. I think we should move here! I can make a honey chicken sandwich on a fucking Savory Donut. This is amazing.
Fine, but no hot sauce. I know how your stomach gets, and I am not taking a train with you like that.
No problem, planned on leaving it off anyway.
Katie went up to the counter and ordered her doughnut, chicken, and honey butter sandwich as well as a dozen donuts. She ended up getting the assorted dozen because between the PB&J donut and the maple bacon, she just couldn’t make up her mind, and neither could Pandora. Fifty dollars later they headed out of the donut shop with a bag full of goodies and hailed a cab. The driver quickly pulled up, not used to people needing a ride in that area.
“Where to?” he asked, swallowing hard as she looked at him with red-ringed eyes.
Katie slipped on her sunglasses, noticing his stare, and smiled. “Union station, please.”
You are going to make me wait until we are on the train?
Yes. We aren’t heathens, or at least I’m not.
Ha-ha. Very funny, Pandora said dryly.
When they arrived, Katie tipped the driver extra to make up for scaring the hell out of him and hurried inside. She bought a ticket to New York City, got through security by using the military ID the general had given her so she could carry her weapons on public transportation, and took her time walking through the station toward her train.
Katie stopped at a newsstand when one of the magazines on display caught her eye. She lowered her glasses and stared at the magazine that was front and center. Slowly she moved forward and picked it up. On the front was an obviously Photoshopped image of Katie from the fight in France.
Katie quietly read, “Special Issue: The Demons Inside Us.”
Oh. My. God. That says there is an authentic recreation of what you would look like as a pin-up model. Are you fucking kidding me? There is no way…you can’t not buy this. We have a long train ride ahead of us, and I need some serious entertainment.
Katie sighed and handed the guy a ten, shoving the change into her pocket. She shifted the bag to her other shoulder and walked toward her train platform, staring down at the front cover. Part of her didn’t even want to look, but the other part felt the same way it did whenever a demon crunched into a person. It was insane and disgusting, but damned if you weren’t curious enough to watch.
Katie kept her head down as she showed her ticket and boarded the train. She went to find the private room she had paid extra for. She didn’t feel like being stared at by everybody on the train while she ate her way through a dozen donuts, or while trying to figure out how she felt about being turned into material for the spank-bank of any guy who bought the rag. Once inside, she threw her bag into the overhead compartment and put her bag of food next to her.
She waited patiently until the train started to pull out of the station before she opened the box of donuts and selected a crème brûlée. She put her feet up on the empty bench across from her and opened the magazine, flipping through the pages until she found the pull-out section with her picture.
She cracked up completely when she saw the spread. “Oh my God! What the hell is that?”
Wow, talk about missing the fucking mark. They made your waist smaller than mine, your hips are jutting out like they are made of clay, and what fucking look is that on your face? You look like you’re having the big O.
I think they took my face from that shot where I was falling and blasting demons at the same time. But you’re right, my fighting face is a whole lot like my fucking one. I’ll have to remember that next time.
Look at how big they made your feet.
They would have to be that big to support the fucking watermelons attached to my chest. Seriously, I’d fucking fall over if my tits were double Gs!
Pandora couldn’t stop laughing. The magazine had completely ruined any opportunity they’d had to be taken seriously. Anyone who looked at that spread would know there was no way Katie could humanly or demonly contort her body to look like that. It wasn’t even attractive. It was like they took her perfect body and tried to make it even better, but instead she looked like she had been poorly molded from some high school kid’s weird-ass fantasy.
What the fuck have they done to your legs?
It’s called a thigh gap.
That doesn’t explain that enormous camel toe they gave you. That shit looks painful. After all the effort I put into making sure that any man who saw your thighs immediately started to wonder if he could learn to breathe through his ears… Pandora sniffed indignantly, completely affronted. I really hope that was part of the edit. Whoever did this shit must never have seen a woman in the flesh.
Like one of those greasy slimeballs no woman would touch even with somebody else’s hooha? Oh my God, there’s text. I can’t even look!
Pandora giggled, making her read through every single sentence that was printed with the picture. She couldn’t believe the writer actually thought she would be happy with long walks on the beach and quiet nights reading a book. Maybe her old self, but she had morphed into one badass bitch.
I feel like you should like call Playboy or something and offer to do a real shoot and answer all of these questions truthfully. It would be a jab to get back at whoever created this monstrosity.
You mean do a shoot where it doesn’t look like a swarm of bees have gone to town on my vagina?
Yes, exactly that.
Yeah, not happening, P.
She closed the magazine and tossed it into the other seat. It was definitely not coming back with her. If Calvin ever got his hands on it, he would never let her live it down. It was bad enough that the rest of the world was staring at it. She didn’t need to keep finding printouts of it taped to every surface.
Chapter Five
The golden morning light poured through the windows of the condo and pooled on the hardwood floors. Angie was awake, reading the newspaper as she drank her coffee and scrambled up some eggs with bacon. Katie had gotten home the evening before and gone straight to bed, exhausted from her job. Angie wasn’t even sure what job she’d been doing, but then again she never knew unless she happened to catch her boss on the news.
She plated her eggs and grabbed the remote to the television, seeing a large multi-car accident on the news. She wondered why they would put something like that from Maryland on the New York station, but she figured it included someone important or something. She clicked it off and walked over into the dining room, sitting down just as Katie walked in.
“Good morning, you want some coffee?”
Katie waved her off. “I can get it. You do work for me, but you aren’t my servant. I do have to admit, you make some of the best coffee that I’ve ever had.”
“I order it online. I love it. It's from this little coffee farm in Columbia.”
Katie grabbed a cup and went into the dining room, sitting down across from Angie, holding the cup with both hands and taking a sip. Angie flipped through the paper, pausing only to read the obituaries, and then closed it and slid it down the table.
Katie raised an eyebrow. “I’m just wondering why you always read the obits?”
Angie looked up and smiled. “I’m watching for the day my ex gets it from one of his druggie friends. It’s only a matter of time.”
“You know you’re free now, right? His death is not the only way out anymore.”
“I know.” Angie smiled. “Old habits, I suppose. You just never know whi
ch way your luck will turn.”
Katie grinned. “Well, yours turned to the positive. Don’t forget how lucky you are to have a second chance at life. Don’t get stuck in the past. I know it’s hard, I had to tell myself that yesterday, but it’s what is best.”
Angie nodded and took a bite of bacon. She reached over and pulled her black scheduling book over to her and opened it. Inside was everything that she had to remember, from dry cleaning to appointments, and reminders for Katie.
“Do you have anything going on this week I should know about?”
“Oh, damn, yes, thank you for reminding me. I need you to figure out the logistics of getting my jet over to France to pick up Brock and his four friends and bring them back here to New York. I promised them a good break while they were on leave and he texted me the day and time this morning. I’ll forward the text to you.”
“Okay...”
“I want you to make sure they are treated very well. They really put their asses on the line in France and lost one of their guys. It was really sad. They deserve to lay in the lap of luxury while they are here.”
“Will you be hanging out with them?”
“Yeah, but I won’t be there to pick them up. Just make sure there is food on the plane, alcohol, whatever young soldiers on leave would want.”
Angie snickered. “Strippers?”
“Okay, no strippers.” Katie laughed.
Boring, Pandora interjected.
Katie ignored her. She was not about to get into why it was not a good idea to have those men on a plane high in the air with strippers and alcohol. “I also need you to find the best place to put them up, but make sure it is near us. I don’t want to have to trek all over the city to get them.”
“Right. Plane to France, and nice hotel for five guys. Budget?”
Katie got up from the table and snatched a piece of bacon from Angie’s plate. She took a bite and walked toward her room, waving her hand in the air. “No budget that isn’t absolutely ridiculous of course!”
