The man was probably on par with William Childers, my Special Forces persona. Probably not anywhere near Gaunt, the Corporate Assassin.
“It would’ve taken a strong man to do what he’s done down here,” I said. “He’s done good things for the city, and he’s in no danger from me.”
Portus nodded.
“How much farther is it to Plagis?” Lindsey asked.
“It isn’t too far now,” Portus said. “Then we must wait until the man attempts to strike.”
“If he hasn’t already,” Michael said. “Seems like it’s been about a month since the last one.”
“True,” I said. “Let’s hope he hasn’t already killed again. We’d have to wait another month to catch him in the act. We might find him up top, but there’s no guarantee.”
“We’ll find him above ground if we have to,” Michael said. “It’ll be harder without the support of the Mardins, but we’ll do what needs to be done.”
“No doubt,” I said.
Running footsteps sounded in the tunnels ahead of us. A few minutes later, a form came into view. It was a Patroller.
“We found him!” the man yelled. “We have him cornered in Tunnel Seven. There’s no way out of there except through our forces.”
“How many forces?” I asked quickly.
“Fourteen Patrollers, sir.”
“It’s not enough,” I said. “Catch up as quickly as you can.”
I shot forward. They shouldn’t have cornered him. It would be ugly. I consulted the map in my head. There were two paths to the area where they had him. I turned left at the next branch.
I was moving so fast, I had to rebound off the wall and back to the floor as I turned. They were wrong about exits from Tunnel Seven, according to the map. There was an entrance to the sewers down in the back of Seven. They were blocking him from the surface. I doubted they had even thought of the sewer. Maybe he wouldn’t find it.
I heard screams ahead of me and drew the Sig. I turned another corner and found the tunnel ahead of me coated in blood. There were Patrollers, torn and broken, littering the tunnel. More screams came from closer, and I ran past the dead men.
I rounded another bend with the Sig extended and ready to fire. A shadow flickered on my right, and I turned toward it with the Sig. Something slammed into me like a battering ram, and the pistol flew from my hand. Huge hands seized my wrists and pulled outward.
He loomed in front of me and grunted in surprise as I pulled back in with my arms. My foot lashed forward and connected. The huge man staggered and lost his hold on my wrists. I had kicked hard enough to push myself backward from the Geno Freak.
It was pretty obvious that’s what he was. There were scales on his clawed hands, and I could see yellow eyes staring at me.
“Geno Freak,” I said.
“Don’t call me that!” the huge man roared and charged again.
I dodged to the left, and my hand shot out to hit a pressure point. It wasn’t there. His hand grasped my wrist and yanked me toward him. With a violent twist, he tossed me through the air, and I slammed into a tunnel wall.
“What are you?” he rumbled as I regained my feet.
I was starting to get mad. “I’m the guy who’s gonna kill you.”
We charged one another. His clawed right hand swept toward my side, and I twisted out of its path. My fist slammed into his throat. It felt like I had punched a wall when it hit the corded muscle of his neck.
We circled back around for another pass. He didn’t seem to have the same weaknesses as a regular person. That throat punch would have crushed a man’s neck. He charged forward, and I let his arms encircle me so I could get close enough to grab hold of him. I realized my mistake almost immediately. His jaws spread wide, and fangs pivoted from the roof of his mouth. His jaws clamped on my shoulder. I felt the fire as he injected venom through his fangs.
This must be the poison he had used on his victims. And I had just been dosed.
I grabbed him around his ribs and squeezed with all of my enhanced strength. I heard a crack as ribs broke inside the Geno Freak. His jaws released me as he screamed. I twisted around and threw him across the tunnel so he could have a turn at being slammed into a wall.
He staggered to his feet. Instead of coming at me again, he ran out of the tunnel toward the exit to the surface. I launched myself forward and fell on my face as the venom took effect on the left side of my body.
Two forms shot into tunnel.
“Damn, Kade,” Michael said.
Lindsey helped me as I was struggling to regain my feet. I could feel my enhanced system burning away the paralytic. I was shaking as my body poured adrenaline into my blood stream.
“That hurt.” My voice was raspy.
“What the hell happened?”
“Definitely a Geno Freak,” I said as the two of them supported me.
Portus and the Patroller ran in from the darkness.
“Dear God!” Portus gasped.
There were several surviving Patrollers in the tunnel. Most were severely injured. One of them was looking at me, with open fear in his gaze. He’d seen the short fight between me and the Freak.
“W-what are y-you?”
“A guy who just got his ass kicked,” I said. “Just like you.”
He shook his head but didn’t press the issue. We heard more footsteps, then Patrollers came into sight. They began helping the wounded, who were whispering and casting sidelong glances at me.
“Looks like the rest of this is gonna be done on the surface,” I said. “Now, we pursue him up top.”
Michael nodded.
I staggered forward as I burned through the paralytic that still filled my blood.
“We can’t let up on him, or we’ll lose him,” I said. “We need to get movin’.”
“You’re not moving anywhere very fast,” Lindsey said.
“It’ll burn off,” I said. “Let’s go.”
We moved slowly down the tunnel toward the nearest exit to the surface. Portus came up behind us.
“What will you do now?”
“We’re gonna find this guy and kill him,” I said. “He’s not gonna stop killin’ folks, and it’s gonna take people like us to stop him. Tell your boss we’ll finish the job.”
“I will,” he said. “You scared some of our men back there. What did you do?”
“Like I told your boy, I got my ass kicked,” I answered. “Not gonna happen the next time. I know about that little trick now.”
“Good luck to you, Mathew Kade,” he said. “And good luck to you as well, Mr. and Mrs. Tanzik.”
“By the looks of things, we’ll need all the luck we can get,” Michael said. “I need you to do me a favor. Contact Teresa and tell her where we are and what the situation is. We may need the Society to keep its eyes peeled for this guy.”
“It will be done.”
“Thank you.”
The steel door to the surface hung open from the hurried exit of the Freak. I limped through the opening, followed by two worried Squires. A fire was burning inside me as I thought about the monster we were pursuing. He was a relic leftover from a time best forgotten. I am one of those relics from the Old World. It was fitting one relic would be used to destroy another.
The cool temperature was refreshing, and I was glad it was nighttime after our prolonged stay in the dark. It would give us time to let our vision return to normal as daylight came.
Unfortunately, the night was the time when the predators plagued this broken city. In the mood I was in, it was unfortunate for them.
I heard groans in the distance. “This way.”
I limped toward the east. We hadn’t gone far before I smelled the metallic scent of blood. Three forms were lying in the street. Only one was alive, and he was in bad shape. His arms had been twisted so hard they were nearly unattached. He was bleeding profusely and had moments to live.
“Which way did it go?” I asked when he saw me.
His hea
d turned, weakly, to the east.
“There’s nothing I can do for you,” I said.
“I know,” he gasped. Then he was gone.
“He’ll be joining you soon,” I muttered.
“He’s gone over the edge,” Michael said. “There’s no telling what he’ll do now.”
“He’ll kill anyone who gets in his way,” I said. “He’s hurt pretty bad. I crushed a few ribs.”
“We have to find him as quickly as we can,” Lindsey said. “There will be innocents in the streets come daylight.”
I limped toward the east. My stride was getting stronger as my body worked on the venom. The bullet wound from my last case hurt, and I was pretty sure I had reinjured it in the fight with the Freak. The bite wounds in my left shoulder burned, and I knew I could use some medical attention. But there was no time.
“We catch him tonight,” I said.
We covered about half the block before shadows moved from the darkness.
“What have we here?” A blocky, shaven-headed man said from the front of a group of about fifteen thugs. “Aren’t you a pretty thing?”
“Thank you,” I said, “but I’m not really interested.”
“You have one chance to leave this street alive,” the bald man said, glaring at me. “Her.”
“You don’t,” I said.
“Don’t what?”
“Have that chance.”
My hand blurred, and one of the twelve blades on my harness sank into his throat. He gurgled and toppled backward.
“Now, you all have one chance to leave this street alive.”
Michael’s and Lindsey’s blades rasped as they drew them. I slid my razor from its sheath.
There were still fifteen thugs, and their numbers made them brave. They started to move closer.
“Ah, to hell with it,” I said and drew the Sig. I didn’t pause as I fired four shots. The front three men went down, and I stepped forward, firing three more times. Three more fell, and the rest stopped approaching. I shot two more while they thought about it, and the rest fled. I stepped forward and pulled my blade from the leader’s neck.
“Don’t have time for this,” I muttered and popped the magazine from the pistol.
We walked down the street to the east as I thumbed cartridges into the magazine. More shadows came from the darkness and closed on the fallen men. I glanced back as I walked and saw men and women removing various articles of clothing.
We increased our pace as the venom burned away. The guys he’d killed had been fresh. He wasn’t far ahead of us.
“Why is he going east?” Michael asked.
“Was the direction he’d been plannin’ on,” I said. “He’s hurt and runnin’ on instinct.”
“And he’s killing anything in his path,” Lindsey added.
“We need to catch him.”
I heard screams ahead and tried to speed up. It didn’t work.
“Go,” I said. “Be careful. He’s a damn handful.”
Michael and Lindsey sprinted forward, and I stumped along after them. The venom was stubbornly slowing me down. I rounded a corner and saw the Freak run into a Scraper. The Squires were right behind him. I felt a little more of the venom burn away, and I sped up. I shot through the door and stopped to listen. The sound of running feet came from the stairway.
“Figures,” I muttered.
Following the noise, I climbed five stories. The sounds of a fight were coming from down the hall to my right. The door slammed open in front of me, and it seemed as if time slowed down. I took in the scene ahead of me.
Michael had sliced the Freak on his left and had been slammed across the hall against the wall. I was familiar with that and knew it hurt. Lindsey closed from the right and sank a blade into the Freak’s leathery hide. He grabbed her, and his mouth began to open wide.
Michael bounced back and pounded his fist with the metal gauntlet into the Freak’s mouth, behind his fangs. His other gauntlet slammed into the front, and the Freak screamed as his fangs shattered.
He dropped Lindsey and punched Michael in the chest. Michael flew across the hall and hit the wall again with a thud.
Squires are tough, but the two of them were outmatched by the Freak’s speed and strength. They’d done more than fourteen Mardin Patrollers could, but it wasn’t enough. There’s a skill taught to Special Forces. They can push their adrenal glands to maximum with sheer will. It’s dangerous and only used as a final measure. About thirty percent of the time, it ends in the death of the soldier. An Agent is a little tougher but doing so could still kill them.
I willed the gland to full output.
All the pain disappeared as my body jerked. The venom was like an afterthought. I launched myself down the hallway.
The Freak took another cut at Lindsey, then slapped her aside. He held her down with one huge hand and raised the other to rip his claws across her body. As his hand descended, I hit him at full speed.
An Agent’s strength comes from the enhancement of his or her muscles and bones. They are higher in density than those of a normal person. This makes Agents heavier than their size would suggest. I would, if I were a normal person, weigh about one hundred and ninety pounds or so. With the density of my muscle and bone, I weighed about twice that.
After impact, we both slammed into the windows at the end of the hall and smashed through the shattering glass.
“Kade!” I heard Lindsey’s voice behind us.
The Freak clawed my back, but I planted my knees in his chest. Just before we hit, I jumped upward with all my strength. The force of the jump added to his impact and took away from mine. I landed on his chest and felt the satisfying crunch as it collapsed under me. I also felt my left leg break. The adrenaline faded, and my racing heart almost redlined.
I drew the Sig and placed it under his chin. After pulling the trigger three times, just to be sure, I rolled off him.
I reached over and patted the dead man’s shoulder. “Thank you. You broke my fall, nicely.”
Darkness began to settle across my vision as I saw Michael and Lindsey running toward me. The darkness didn’t bother me with the two of them there.
It’s nice to have friends in this Fallen World.
* * * * *
Chapter 10
I awoke in a bright room that looked distinctly familiar. I was in the infirmary we had taken the injured Mardin to. Or one that looked the same.
“That’s gonna leave a mark,” I muttered.
“That it will, Mister Kade.” I didn’t recognize the voice. I turned my head to look at the speaker.
He was short and stocky, but I recognized the sort of man he was. The way he held himself. He looked as if he was ready to erupt in violence at any moment. Special Forces.
“You must be Grady.”
“That would be correct,” he said. “It seems I have a lot to thank you for.”
“Just doin’ my job.”
“Maybe so, as you killed the man who has been killing my people for some time,” he said. “But you also stopped two attacks on my people that would have been quite devastating. The second time, you even killed the man they called Lord Silas and his second in command, Yelvin. This single act has done my people a great service and paved the way to expanding our territory. Silas was a tyrant and a slaver. His second was just as bad. I have sent an offer to the third in line, who is a much more reasonable person.”
“Buildin’ empires?”
“No,” he said. “I’m uniting a city. Well, an undercity. The unification will benefit the surface as well as our people. The Accords will extend through the southern Zones of the city, almost to the Boroughs. There will be running water and working sewers throughout a large part of those Zones where we’ve only had sporadic success.”
“Could do a lot worse than Mardins,” I said.
“It could be a great boon to your quest to unite the city above as well,” he said.
“I’m not on a quest,” I said.
“Call it what you want, Agent. In the last two months, there has been a change on the surface. The area around you seems to be coming together under the influence of the Society of the Sword. Rumors abound about why this is occurring. Certain Warlords have been removed and replaced with a Chapterhouse.”
“I’m just doing the jobs I’m paid to do.”
“I can see the way things are heading on the surface. It was becoming more and more violent. This quest that isn’t a quest is a thing that could bring us back to a civilized place in this broken world.”
“Like I said, I’m just doin’ the job I get paid to do.”
He nodded, with a slight smile. “Speaking of pay, yours is in the bag on the table. We thank you for finding the killer.”
I nodded.
“I understand you have a blacksmith who would be interested in a source of good steel. I will contact this man and possibly work out some arrangements. I could use several things a blacksmith can provide, and he is much closer than the Farmers.”
“Soba is good,” I said. “He’ll be as good as the Farmers, given the chance.”
“I will also be talking to Teresa Manora about a closer relationship with her Society. I feel it will be a power to be reckoned with in the future.”
“You can benefit from each other,” I said.
“I believe you’re right.”
“I need to be on my way,” I said. “Thanks for the medical.”
“No. I thank you for the job you’ve done and the extra help you provided my Patrollers. I must be on my way, as well. I must meet the messenger I sent to the south. We will know shortly if my offer is accepted.”
He shook my hand and turned to leave.
“Grady,” I said. He looked back at me. “Remember the Rift? The world up there is much worse than the Rift ever got. It could stand some of what was done back then.”
“It was a long time ago in another world,” he said. “I keep my people safe down here, Kade. But there might be a time when I can help in your quest.”
“Ain’t on a damn quest,” I muttered. He smiled and walked out of the infirmary.
Two other forms came from the shadows.
Kade Page 14
