Dead Eye Hunt (Book 2): Into The Rad Lands
Page 20
“It’s in the cab of this crane-on-wheels like thing. It’s in the service area of the garage near the back, an’ it’s got a red sticker on the windshield.” She paused waiting for a reply. The pause was too short for Cole even to take a breath. “Are we gonna be okay? That McGuigan guy was a dick. He acted put out that you weren’t calling him yourself. And what’s worse is that there are taxmen everywhere.”
“Yeah, I see them. I don’t want you to worry. I might be screwed, but you’ll be fine. And uh, there’s another thing. I sort of messed up. Ashley isn’t the one who was being targeted. I’m pretty sure that she’s working with Fantucci.”
There was a long silence and Cole could picture Corrina working herself into a shout. Instead when she came back on she whispered, “What did I tell you about her? Huh, Cole? What? That she couldn’t be trusted, that’s what.”
“Yeah well, it is what it is,” Cole said. “And it doesn’t really matter. The plan is the same as if I hadn’t said a word.”
“But it ain’t and you know it. Now you got two vamps after us. Who knows what kind of trouble they can bring?”
“Except Ashley isn’t after us.”
Corrina laughed at this. “Yeah right!”
He didn’t know what was true and didn’t have time to try to puzzle it out. “Maybe she is, I don’t know. Either way you’re going to have to disappear for a few days. Monitor the radio at the top of every hour.” She didn’t ask how she was supposed to feed herself and he didn’t offer any suggestions; they would’ve been ignored. As always, she would do what she had to.
When they had said their goodbyes, Cole switched the frequency on the radio and headed down. He was greeted by Hamilton and two other policemen, both of whom had their .480 service pistols pointed at Cole. He kept his hands up and allowed himself to be frisked and cuffed. “Alright,” Hamilton said, grinning, his face an inch from Cole’s. “Show us the way.”
“No. My boss is on his way here. I’ll show him and then…”
“Fuck that. No. The deal was you find the you know whats, we make a big show out of it, and then I arrest the high-box-bitch who runs this place. I even got some reporters from Channel 2 waiting outside in the squad car.”
That sounded great for Hamilton, but Cole would get dipped in acid and erased from the world for letting anyone know there were Dead-eyes in the city. “No. The only way this’ll work is if you say you are investigating the deaths of Turner’s bodyguards and you accidentally find the bodies. Remember, we can’t make it look like a set up or Fantucci will have both our asses.”
Hamilton stared at him through the ends of his greasy hair. “So, we go poking around and just happen to find a few bodies in this place? That’s dumber than shit. This fuckin’ place is like ten city blocks long. It’ll take us days to go through every nook and cranny, and let me tell you, Cole, you don’t got days.”
Like a disgusting ace in the hole, Cole felt a desire to keep the hidden head a secret. “The bodies are deep in the pit, but the heads are closer. What? When you see what it’s like down there, you’ll understand. And uh, there might be some humans with them. Dead humans, but I didn’t kill them.”
This struck Hamilton as hilarious and he laughed so hard that he doubled over and dropped his helmet. He came back up and slapped Cole hard on the back. “Suuuure you didn’t. People drop like flies around you, Cole ol’ buddy, but sure, I’ll believe you on this one.”
Cole was actually glad for Hamilton’s outburst. He shouldn’t have even hinted that someone else might have killed the men. There was no sense dragging Corrina into his problems more than she already was. “They’ll have been fed on, so it won’t be pretty,” he warned to change the subject.
“Yeah, like I’m worried about that. The only thing that worries me is you, Cole. You have a habit of screwing everything up, especially when you open that big mouth of yours. Keep it closed, got it? All we need out of you is that you came here on a hunch; you found some Dead-eyes and killed them. And then…” He glanced away trying to come up with a suitable lie.
“Then I went to Miss Turner with the truth and she tried to kill me to cover it up,” Cole said.
“Yeah, we’ll go with that. Good.” Even though they were on the same side, Hamilton didn’t trust him and kept him handcuffed and under guard as they made their way down to the third floor where they were greeted by a small crowd. In front was Shamus McGuigan, looking natty in a double vented herringbone suit, and Monica Turner who stood behind a phalanx of bodyguards.
“That’s him,” Monica announced. “He killed three of my workers and incapacitated three others. I say string him up here and now. In fact, I’ll pay a hundred dollars to the man who kills him first.”
“I was attacked by…” Cole started before Hamilton slugged him in the gut, causing Cole to fall to his knees.
McGuigan raised an eyebrow. “That is my bounty hunter, Lieutenant. You will hand him over, unharmed. And no one will be stringing anyone up.”
Monica cocked an eyebrow. “A hundred is too low? Really?” She seemed genuinely perplexed. Normally a taxman would do pretty much anything for a C-note. “Okay, let’s make it a thousand.”
Hamilton’s grip on Cole’s arm became painful. The lieutenant snuck a peek at McGuigan, who was suddenly tense. A thousand was a lot of money even for him. It was an astronomical sum for a couple of the younger police officers.
“No!” Hamilton said, sharply as if speaking to a dog about to shit on the rug.
Monica’s black eyes went to squints. She wasn’t happy about the reaction. It had meaning. “Ten thousand, then,” she offered. The air went still in the room as everyone held their breath. Ten thousand dropped in a man’s lap like that was life-changing money.
Slowly, Hamilton’s hand slid to the butt of his gun and he pulled it out with even more deliberation. He eased away from Cole and looked side-long at his men. “Anyone who moves will answer to me,” he threatened. “No one is shooting anyone, got it? Ju-Ju take your team down to the Infinity Pit. Do not proceed without me.” This left four officers, all of whom understood what was at stake and knew that ten thousand wouldn’t save them from Julius Fantucci’s revenge.
“So,” Monica said, her face impassive and cold. “Who’s got you by the balls? Ashley? The Renaul’s? Don’t pretend you aren’t on someone’s leash. You taxmen are the greediest little bitches in the world. The only reason you’d pass up a nickel is if someone’s got you by the balls.” When Hamilton refused to say a word, she turned to McGuigan. “What about you, bureaucrat? Is it the governor? If so, you tell Aikens that the Turners put him in office and we can remove him just as easily.”
Cole blinked, realizing for the first time that McGuigan almost never showed up at a scene. And the way he was dressed made Cole wonder the same thing as Monica.
“I will indeed tell him of your threats, ma’am,” McGuigan said, completely unruffled. Cole didn’t know the man well enough to know what ruffled him and what didn’t, but a vamp talking to him that way should have, unless he wasn’t there in his usual capacity as a t-crossing nag. “But first I must do my duty to the city. Any attempts to detain me or my associate will result in swift repercussions.”
Monica’s cold look slipped away and was replaced by silent fury which she could not hide behind a toothless smile. “Of course, bureaucrat. Normally, I would contact my lawyers but in this case, it is obvious that you are associating with a madman. A sociopath of the highest order. Come, let’s take a look at the men he butchered.”
This was more access than McGuigan had expected and he decided to tromp after the lady. Or rather, her bodyguards who formed a wall around her, two actually walking backwards to keep an eye on Cole and the policemen.
The scene in the middle of the admin section was unchanged, though it looked far less like the sight of a battle than Cole would have thought. Other than the two giant bodies, an overturned desk and some scattered papers, everything was perfectly arrayed.
McGuigan shook his head at the request. “That won’t be necessary. And the, uh, other situation? Where might that have taken place?” He didn’t care about dead bodyguards. Dead flies on a windowsill held as much interest to him.
“In the Pit,” Cole said, again withholding the head in the garage. He had the feeling that if he uttered the word: garage, there would be a sudden fire or some emergency that would block the way in. The Pit was simply too big to be blocked. The best Monica could do would be to cut the rope that wound down to the lowest part. There was no way one of her giants could navigate the tunnel that led to the bodies. Their bulk would collapse the entire thing.
Regardless, Cole thought it strange that no move was made to slow their approach to the Pit or otherwise interfere. The little crowd made its way to the fifth subfloor. Monica refused to go on from there. Hamilton and Cole shared a look.
“Is she going to bury us?” Hamilton asked, echoing Cole’s thoughts. “A cave in could be easily arranged.”
“I don’t see why you should be concerned,” said McGuigan. “There’s no reason for you to go any further either. Your authority, Lieutenant, is limited to the dead bodies upstairs.”
Hamilton chuckled. “That might be true if your man hadn’t admitted to killing people down here. How many did you say you got? Five?”
“Can you two stop being dicks for even a second,” Cole snapped. “He knows about them,” he said to McGuigan. “This entire thing has been a set up from the word go.” Hamilton looked like someone had run a live wire to his balls. His eyes popped over his hooked nose. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch, Ham, this changes nothing. I’ve done my part. I bagged your Dead-eyes and now McGuigan will make it official. Trust me, if he was here to sandbag me, he would’ve sided with Turner.”
“Then what is he doing here?” Hamilton demanded.
The little group stopped on the little foot bridge that ran along the wall to the platform far below them. McGuigan appraised Hamilton in the same manner he would a bug. “I’m doing my job. I’m making this official. Where this goes from there, I don’t know. If I had to guess, I’d say that the governor will simply sit on the findings and use them as blackmail. He seems to enjoy dealing in illicit information.”
Hamilton’s hand slid to his .480 service piece. “Sorry chum, but there’s a deal in the works and it’s gonna roll on one way or the other. No one’s sitting on this.”
Cole pushed between them. “What did I say about being dicks? You two need each other. The man who’s paying you, Ham wants it official, which means you need McGuigan. Your reporters aren’t going to be able to take one step in here unless McGuigan gets the okay from the governor. And you,” he said to McGuigan. “You know Monica is going to call more than just lawyers. She’ll have a hundred armed men here in no time, and what are you going to do about that? Show them your ID? You need the cops or she’ll kill you.”
“Fine,” McGuigan said, stiffly, eyeing Hamilton. “We need each other.”
“I suppose so,” Hamilton grumbled, taking Cole by the elbow and pushing him on. Soon they were at the platform which was empty and looked the very same as Cole had left it an hour before. Hamilton and the other officers wore the same somewhat stunned expression as they stared up at the mountain of trash. The looks turned to unease as they went to the edge and looked down.
“First off, I’m not going down there cuffed and unarmed,” Cole declared.
Hamilton smirked. “You’re going down as is, or we go back upstairs and let things play out. How do you think they will, huh? In that scenario, do you see yourself alive by morning, because I don’t.”
Cole knew the odds were against him living through the next day, no matter what happened, but there was no sense just throwing his life away. “Fine, but you go first, and whatever you do keep your gun at the ready. Shoot first and ask questions later.”
“Finally, you sound like a real cop,” Hamilton said with a forced laugh. He was grey as he slid into the harness and nodded to one of his men to work the winch. After a long breath, he eased his weight off the platform. The rope stretched and creaked, but held as he was lowered into the darkness. About midway down, Hamilton attached an under-barrel light to his pistol and began scanning around. The bodies of the two slags had disappeared.
McGuigan was next. Cole’s boss carried a slim .380 Maltese; on the way down he held it in both hands. At the sight of the gun, Cole and the three other officers shook their heads in unison. The Maltese was as pretty as it was weak.
Then it was Cole’s turn to go back down into the pit. The ride down was smooth and quick; a little too quick. Who knew how many Dead-eyes were down there, lurking in the heaps of trash? One could be too many for Hamilton and McGuigan to handle. Cole didn’t feel all that much better when the other two officers came down.
“In there,” Cole said, pointing to the arched tunnel entrance. “If you see anyone, or any thing, aim for the head. Anything else will just get them angry.”
Hamilton thumped his armored chest. “I’m not too worried. It would take a week for some zombie to chew its way through my vest.”
“You’re right,” McGuigan said. “But they can tear your head off in about three seconds. I’ve seen the films.”
“Films?” Cole asked. “Films of what?”
McGuigan looked pained as if regretting having said anything. “The testing done on them. The studies show that armor is counterproductive. The test subjects were too confident, too complacent, and in almost every case, too slow. The Dead-eyes are fast. You don’t know how fast until you come up on one.” He shot Cole a look that had a hint of respect in it.
“You’ve fought one?” Hamilton asked with a snort. “If so, then I’m not too worried. Have you ever even made a fist?”
“I never said I fought anything. I just said I watched the films. Now, since you’re so tough, why don’t you go first?”
“No problem.” Hamilton didn’t fear the dead. He had his armor and his weapons. The tunnel itself was another story. The heat washing over him from the walls was surprising and within a few steps he could feel sweat trickle down his back. The tunnel had no real floor, it was all teetering hunks of trash. Just as bad were the “walls” and “ceiling” of the tunnel, which were made up of more trash which shifted around them alarmingly and moaned like it was alive, but dying. Twice he fell through the uneven path. The second time he crashed through the floor, he landed on the hood of an ancient RV and sunk through the rusted metal up to his waist.
It took McGuigan and another officer, a sergeant named Van Phillips, to pull him out. Cole, who was actively, but silently, rooting for him to be swallowed up by the mess, stood back expecting an attack. None came. In fact, the mountain had a decidedly deserted feeling.
Still, Cole didn’t let his guard down. McGuigan’s talk about films and heads being ripped off had left him thinking that he had been luckier as a hunter than he would have ever guessed.
“Are we almost there?” Hamilton asked, annoyed that his armor was getting scratched up.
“Yes. Another hundred yards or so,” Cole answered. It was actually double that and felt even further as they traversed the uneven tunnel. Up and down they went, scraping through openings that a child would have trouble fitting through, or sliding down torn-up hunks of linoleum. They were all sweating and blistered from the heat by the time Cole caught sight of the old filing cabinet jutting partially from the trash where he had hidden the first head.
He glanced back, realizing they had already passed the ancient electric oven where he had stashed the second head. No matter, he thought. It was back there, he had just missed it.
“Over here,” he said, pointing with bo
th hands. “I couldn’t carry the bodies out, so I cut off the heads. But they weren’t easy either, so…”
Hamilton sneered at the cabinet. “So, you stuck them in there? Nice job preserving the evidence. Did you sleep through your entire time at the academy?”
“Was that the class between how to plant evidence and doctoring reports 101?” Cole shot back. “If so, yeah, I might have missed it.”
Cole went to open the drawer when Sergeant Phillips suddenly shouted, “Hold on! Give me a minute.” Phillips was truly one of the toughest, meanest son of a bitch on a force full of them, but he had been pale during the obstacle course like trail, and now he was in something of a panic as he scrambled to take his helmet off and dig out his emergency mask at the same time.
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Hamilton said, pulling off his helmet. McGuigan also slipped on a thin mask. Cole only rolled his eyes and gave them a slow count to ten before he opened the drawer and looked in at nothing.
Chapter 21
Cole slammed the drawer shut and tried to yank open the next one, only to have the handle snap off in his hands. “Son of a bitch! Hamilton, give me your knife.”
“No. Why? What’s wrong?”
Furious, Cole ignored him and looked around for something to pry the drawer open with. “Here,” McGuigan said, offering a three-inch jack knife. Like the rest of him, the blade had never been used for a real purpose and was bright and glittering. Cole jabbed it down in the crevice and cranked back.
The drawer rattled open and other than a few pieces of paper, it was empty. Cole’s stomach dropped. He re-opened the first drawer and saw the dried blood. “They took it,” he said, quietly. “They took the head.”
Hamilton pushed Cole aside and looked into the drawer as if the head was simply invisible and that only he could see it. His eyes scanned uselessly back and forth. “What the fuck, Cole!” he raged, yanking his mask back down. “What do you mean someone took it? Who? Someone at Krupp? That doesn’t make any damn sense. There ain’t no cameras down here; how would they know? And it ain’t the fuckin’ zombies. What would a fuckin’ zombie want with a zombie head? Everyone knows they don’t eat their own.”