by Michael Todd
Katie looked at the soldiers holding a bar against the door. Whatever was on the other side was not happy; it kept throwing its weight against the door. The soldiers dug their feet into the gravel and pushed back. Katie sighed and shook her head before looking at the general.
“Could I have a word,” Katie glanced at the others, “in private?”
“Of course. Let’s step over here out of the excitement. Colonel,” he nodded to Jehovivich, “hold down the fort.”
“Yes, sir,” she agreed, obviously not happy at being dismissed.
Katie and the general walked over by two of the vehicles parked to the side, a military Humvee with the general’s flag on the back and a regular sedan that she assumed belonged to the colonel.
She put her bag on the hood of the Humvee and stared at the general. She was nervous, and she decided she wasn’t too fond of the idea of being in politics anymore.
“I know that for a very long time, much longer than I’ve been on the teams, the relationship between the Damned and the military has sucked,” Katie began. “Part of the reason for that is the fact that the Damned are treated as monsters. By the same token, though, I understand the Damned have treated the military with disdain when a normal human wasn’t going to make it.”
“That is very true,” the general agreed. “It’s a two-way street, though I have to admit that the prior leaders of this sector weren’t very open to working with you guys. I heard it all when I took the post, but luckily it went in one ear and out the other.”
Katie nodded and fidgeted with her bag. “Sorry, I don’t have much of a sales pitch for my stuff. I kind of fell into the business, and have been riding it by the seat of my pants.”
“That’s life in general.” Brushwood laughed. “Just when we think we have a good grasp on things, something else comes along and knocks the wind out of us.”
“I would have thought a man like you had it together.” Katie smiled.
“A man like me is really good at pretending,” he replied with a wink. “So, what do you have for me?”
She pulled the strings at the top of her bag and reached inside to pull out a white and clear plastic box with a yellow top. She put it down on the hood of the car and looked around, making sure that no one was close enough to hear. In reality this part should have been done in an office or somewhere like that, but they were where they were—and those boys weren’t going to be able to hold that door much longer.
“This case includes one hundred 9mm rounds that are going to make your demons stand up and scream in pain, if not die immediately. I’m not sure which is more likely.”
“Really?” the general exclaimed, opening the case and running his fingers over the bullets before looking at her. “And your company made these?”
“Yes, sir,” Katie replied. “We have a secret way of making weapons—I’m sure you’ve heard of it—and the metal inside those is toxic to demons. When the bullet goes into the demon’s body—and they only have to penetrate the skin by a quarter of an inch—the bullet balloons, releasing the toxic metals. Now, I don’t know a lot about human anatomy, much less demon anatomy, but I know it works. The swords and knives we have been using have been a godsend, and the cross that our priest uses has taken down some of the largest demons we have seen thus far. These bullets are pretty much guaranteed to at least knock demons right on their asses.”
“And you haven’t tried them yet?”
“No, sir. This is their debut on the demon scene.” Katie smiled. “I figured since we had to try them out anyway, why not do it together? Make a peace offering, and kill some nasty-ass demons in the process? It’s not every day you get to watch your work in action.”
“No, it’s not,” he agreed, picking one up and holding it in front of his face.
The bullet shimmered, just like the swords and knives. The metal was on the inside, but he could sense it. He put the bullet back and looked at the door where the soldiers could barely hold the brace in place.
“Okay, what is your tactical suggestion?” he asked.
Katie looked at him in shock. She hadn’t expected him to ask for her advice on the situation. Most of the military folks she had met were too full of themselves to reach out and learn more about what they did. She wiped the shocked look off her face and shrugged her shoulders.
“It’s not really my style to tell someone how to run their op,” she demurred.
“I understand that one.” He smiled. “I know that we, as military leaders… We tend to get pretty protective of our strategies. For some it’s pride, but I know that for most it’s the fact that every man on our team is under our protection; they are our responsibility. I guess it’s kind of the way Korbin feels about his team every time he sends them in somewhere. Losing someone is hard, but losing someone you were responsible for is ten times worse.”
“Understood.” Katie nodded.
“Still, I am not familiar with this kind of weapon, and since it came from your hands I’d like to have your input on how you would set up the men.”
“I’d position two shooters with these bullets,” Katie pointed at two locations, “and two with regular rounds close by, and a third to the side with a sword.”
“A sword?” the general asked, holding back a chuckle. “I’m sorry, I don’t think the military has provided swords in a century.”
“I didn’t think about that. That’s all right, I have one. We make those too, out of the same material as the bullets…just for future reference.”
“Right. I will keep that in mind,” he replied with a straight face, realizing that she wasn’t joking. “Tell me this, though: why a sword when we have so many guns?”
“Well, the rounds may kill them; we don’t know yet,” Katie explained. “But they will fry their brains long enough to cut off their heads. Cutting off the head is a really good way to stop a demon. There is no question if they are dead at that point, although you will know they aren’t in any case if they don’t turn to dust or back into their human. Anyway, if you cut off their head with one of our swords, you are doing two things: you are saving ammo, whether regular or special, and you are stunning them again so that while you are slicing through they don’t reach out and claw you in the gut. See, these bullets are like gold, or even more important than that. Maybe water in the middle of the desert. This shit is rare.” She shook her head. “No joke.”
“How rare?” the general asked.
“Right now? Very.” Katie tapped the yellow and white box. “It’s taken us over a year to make these, General.”
He looked down at the box and back up at her. “Is this the first batch?”
She nodded and waited for him to speak. He realized at that moment that this whole thing hadn’t been a game.
That Katie and Korbin’s team were actually entrusting them with their secret weapon; brand new technology that could change the way they hunted demons.
She was giving them the opportunity to be on the same playing field—or at least closer to the playing field—as the mercenary teams were. She had given him a weapon that could be used against her, and she had done it without hesitation.
He took a deep breath and turned to the troops, calling two of the soldiers over to collect some of the rounds. He looked back at Katie, and she nodded and slipped the rest of them back into her bag for safekeeping. She handed the bag to Damian and winked before pulling two short swords from the sheaths on her back. The colonel, wide-eyed, stepped back and shook her head. She acted as if she had stumbled into a bad movie.
She only wished it were that simple. Katie lived in a world she didn’t recognize sometimes, and the colonel lived in a completely different one.
She went home every night, cooked dinner, and put her feet up. When work was done, so was she. Katie had forgotten how that felt.
On that day, though, she was gonna bring her world right to the colonel and the general, then stand back and watch the aftermath.
She hoped the colonel could
take a fucking joke.
The general, before setting up, decided to take the special bullets back from the soldiers and give them regular bullets. He instructed them to shoot to wound if a demon got out, since he wanted to see the full power of the bullets he would be firing.
He looked at Katie who was crouching to the side, one sword over her shoulder and the tip of the other in the dirt at her feet. She nodded at him as the door began to bow. The men with the brace had stepped aside; they knew there was a demon thirsting to get out.
They stared at the door for some time until the banging stopped. Katie slowly stood up and looked around her, knowing demons were smarter than that, and sure enough, a loud crash suddenly rang out. The demon had jumped through the window, sending glass flying everywhere. He landed on his feet, one hand on the ground, looking at the soldiers surrounding him. He snarled and barked when he caught a glimpse of the general at the other side of the walkway by the Humvee, who was standing there cool as a cucumber.
The demon took off toward the general. The team leader called out, and a spray of bullets hit the demon. His body jerked as the bullets hit him in the arms, the legs, the waist; everywhere but the head. He growled, but kept his eyes locked on the general. Brushwood didn’t panic, though. Instead he yawned as he pulled a couple of the special bullets from his pocket and loaded his gun. The demon fell to the ground but continued to crawl, hell-bent on making it to the man in charge. The general pushed himself off the Humvee and stepped forward, then raised his gun and aimed. He shook his head before pulling the trigger.
A single bullet flew from the barrel and entered the demon’s head, and he wailed and writhed on the ground for only a moment before bursting into dust. The general looked down at his pistol with a gleam in his eye, then raised his head and pointed at three men plus Katie, and Damian. Katie took the bag from the priest and handed the general the box. He pulled out several more bullets and loaded his clip, snapping it back into his gun. He smiled and stamped the dust off his shoes as he looked at Katie. Jehovivich scooted closer to hear what was going on.
“Colonel,” the general called, waving her over.
She tried to act like she hadn’t been eavesdropping and ran over to him. He nodded at her and back at the group. She already had a bad feeling about all of this.
“The colonel here has intel on the ops, and she knows how I would want this to run,” the general told everyone. “As for me, I’m going tactical. What do you guys say we treat this little incursion like a field test? I’m itching to try these bullets out in some real action.”
Katie laughed. “Just don’t point that at me.”
“Scouts’ honor,” the general promised, holding up two fingers.
Katie knew she shouldn’t trust him, and from the look on Damian’s face he didn’t, but she had to stay the course.
If she wanted relations with the military—and she wanted to keep them out of her business—she had to show she trusted them, and that they could trust her. She nodded at the general and followed him toward the building. The colonel sighed and rolled her eyes.
“Great, now he’s going all John Wayne on me,” she grumbled, looking at the teams spread out around the building. “I’m too old for this shit.”
Chapter Nineteen
Korbin woke up the next morning with Katie’s letter and Stephanie on his mind.
She always seemed to be right there simmering in his thoughts, but now it was worse. He knew Katie was right. They never knew where life would take them, and tomorrow might not come.
He was out of practice, though, not having taken anyone on a date since becoming Damned. He had always pushed feelings aside, but with Stephanie he found it utterly impossible to do so.
She was boisterous, loud, and funny, and he had been physically attracted to her from the first moment she had worn that suit and started to feel more like herself again. This Stephanie was definitely more his style: badass attitude and fighting style, and personality to boot.
He got out of bed and took a shower, figuring it was now or never. He needed to talk to her; he’d figure out how to spit the words out.
He got dressed and spritzed on some cologne before heading over to Joshua’s building. Korbin figured that was where she would be, since she usually went there first. He passed Derek, who stopped in his tracks and looked at him.
“Are you wearing cologne?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Uh, no.” Korbin cleared his throat. “New body wash. Crazy scent.”
“Oh.” Derek smirked and walked away. “Tell Stephanie I said hello.”
Korbin whipped around, shocked that he knew, but he had disappeared around the corner with an armful of books.
Korbin let out a deep breath and clenched his fists, trying not to lose his nerve. He took the elevator up to ground level and stepped out, shielding his eyes from the blowing sand. Quickly he made his way over to Joshua’s building and went inside, stomping the sand off his feet in the foyer.
When he was finished he stopped stomping and heard a couple of voices coming from just inside the main room. Carefully he crept to the doorway and stood quietly, recognizing the voices as Stephanie’s and Edith’s, who was formerly one of her girls. He didn’t want to eavesdrop, but he couldn’t help it. Stephanie’s voice was melodic, almost drawing him into the conversation.
“There are a lot of options for you,” Stephanie told the girl. “You finished high school with a decent GPA, so there is always college. You can also stay here and work, or there is the option of going back to your old profession. It’s up to you, Edith, but the sky is the limit. It is, after all, your life, and you should do whatever makes you happy.”
Korbin leaned against the wall and rubbed his chin as he listened to Stephanie talk. She was kind and gentle, and not once did he hear any judgment in her voice. He could almost picture her tending to her children in another life, answering the world’s biggest questions.
It warmed his heart and relieved some of the nerves dancing in his stomach. He hadn’t heard her talk to anyone like that before, at least not since she was Mamacita, and that was what he needed to make him realize he was doing the right thing.
“Doing what we were doing…it was really good money,” the girl mused. “It was a way off the streets, and it put food on the table and gave me nice things. That’s really hard to turn away from.”
“I understand,” Stephanie told her calmly. “At some point beauty fades, though, so you have to have a backup. What is yours?”
“This place,” she replied. “Eventually college, maybe. I don’t really have it all lined up yet in my head. I know I have a good thing here, but it’s dangerous at the same time.”
“Your thoughts are on track; they are really smart,” Stephanie agreed with a sigh. “Working here will give you skills, and skills are really important out there in the world. College will give you skills too, depending on what you want to get a degree in. Having lived on the streets and worked my way up the business, I know firsthand that prostitution is fast money; it’s in your hand that day. I know that helps when you are hungry. But there is more to you than that, and I feel that if you really think about it, you will find that you’ve outgrown it. As far as safety… Well, hooking isn’t any safer than being here. You were in a safer place with me in that house, but it is rough on the streets; in here, not so much. Hell, at least here we have weapons and a willingness to kill.”
“But what if something happens again like it did at the old base?”
“I can’t sit here and tell you that’s not a possibility, but here you can get to safety,” Stephanie said. “You go directly to the safety zone—which is even further underground—and they will have to kill all of us before they get to you. If you lock the doors, they won’t be able to get inside. There is food and water to last for months, and there are also ways to communicate with the outside world from in there. Tomorrow, when you’re free, I’ll show you the place.”
“Okay,” the gir
l agreed. “And thank you for listening to me. I’m good with what you’re saying. I don’t want to go back to the old life if I don’t have to.”
“You never have to do anything,” Stephanie told her quietly. “There are always other options.”
“I’m gonna grab breakfast for Joshua. Tell him I’ll be back soon if you see him, okay?”
“Absolutely,” Stephanie replied.
Korbin moved away from the door and acted as if he was just waiting, smiling at the girl as she walked toward the outside door. He smoothed his shirt and pushed his hair back before going into the room. Stephanie looked up and smiled sweetly, putting down the papers in her hands.
“Hey there!”
“Hi.” Korbin smiled. “I couldn’t help but overhear that conversation. I have to say, you are really good at talking to people. You talked to her like I would imagine a mother would talk to someone.”
“I thought I heard someone come in.” She winked. “I talk to the girls like they are human beings, that’s all. I guess these girls are like my children in a way, though. I picked them up at their lowest point, and together with the people we’ve met along the way, I grew them into strong women capable of a better life.”
“Well, you deserve accolades for that.” Korbin smiled as she blushed and looked down at the table. He put his hands in his pocket and stared at his shoes for a moment.
“Did you come to see Joshua?” Stephanie asked. “He is out for a bit, but should be back soon.”
“No, actually I came to see you,” Korbin told her. “I knew you would be over here this morning. I…uh…I wanted to ask you something. I wanted, or I hoped… I…”
Korbin stumbled over his words and Stephanie looked at him with patience. He cleared his throat and let out a deep breath.
