Dane Curse (14 page)

Chapter 26

Lynx turned to me. “Hide!”

“Where?” I motioned around the tiny room. “It’s not like there’s a closet or a bed... ”

“Pick a place.”

“There is no place!”

The voice called out again. “Ms. Lynx?”

A second one joined it. “Are you alright, ma’am?”

“Those are Sindicate men, they’ll kill you,” she said.

“Not without a fight,” I whispered, and turned towards the door, fists up and ready for a game of knucklebones.

She placed a hand on my arm. “You think that’ll bother them?”

I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye.

I could hear the footsteps. They were getting louder.

“They’ve got ways of dealing with invulnerables. I’ve seen guys like you get the spurs. It’s not pretty,” she said, “or quick.”

They were almost here.

“So what do I do?”

She squeezed my arm. “Just relax.”

I did as she said.

The door opened hard. Light from outside poured into the tiny room. Two guards pushed in. I could tell by the way the men carried themselves they were powered, and battle hardened. The one in front clicked on the light, and said, “Here you are.”

“Yes.” Lynx was standing in the middle of the room, inches from him, hands on her hips. “And now that you’ve found me, what do you want?”

He looked over her shoulder. “Oh, well we just wanted to-”

“Wanted to what?” Lynx said.

“Well, we’re looking for someone. A Doctor Wagner.” The man searched to the left, the right, and then down on the ground. I was surprised he kept at it. If he had only looked up he’d have seen me staring right back at him from the ceiling where Lynx had me pinned with her telekinesis. “What are you doing here, ma’am? This is a restricted area.”

“What did you just say to me?” Lynx drove the heel of her hand into his face. The man flew out of the room, and crashed onto some equipment outside.

The second guard froze in place. “Uh, sorry ma’am. I don’t mean to bother you, but there’s no Doctor Wagner on our list. We’re, uh, a little confused,”

Lynx turned to him. “I don’t care about your confusion.”

The guy was tough, he had to be given his chosen profession, but he took a healthy step outside. “I’m sorry, ma’am. It’s… I… we weren’t informed you’d be here. If you’ll allow us we’ll post a guard in the hall, and they’ll escort you out when you’re finished. There’s no rush, of course. I didn’t mean to offend, but we’ve been put on alert. I hope you understand.”

“Alert?” Lynx asked. “When? By whom?”

I heard his distant words. “Just now, your father’s orders. Sorry, ma’am.”

Lynx closed the door, and lowered me to the ground. “That’s not good,” she said.

“Yeah, for one of us.”

“Exactly. This is going to be tricky. I can’t float you over my head the whole time. You’ll have to find your own way out.”

“And how do I go about that?”

“Simple. Give me a head start. When I leave the guards will follow, and you’ll be down here alone. Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“There might be more patrolling.”

“Alright.”

“So any way you can, get to the elevator, take it out of the basements, and up to the second floor. It’s occupied by admin offices so it won’t be subject to the same attention as the rest of the building. Then take the stairs on the west side down to the first floor, and leave through the fire exit. I’ll be waiting with the car.”

“Get to the elevator. Got it.” That sounded easy enough, but “I don’t remember where it is. All these halls look identical.”

She nodded. “Here, take the directions.” Lynx handed me the scrap of paper.

“This is it? 3-R, 2-L, 3-R, Past 3 on right…” I said. “R is right and L is left.”

“That’s correct. All you have to do is take a left out the door and backtrack,” she said. “You got it?”

I looked at the paper. Maps were more accurate back when they thought you could sail off them. “Sure.”

“Great,” she said, “and whatever you do don’t use that ID to open any doors. When we’re on alert it’ll tip off the guards to your exact location. Ok, I’ll see you outside.”

Then she took off. I waited five minutes, though it felt like thirty, before I left the Black Bleach and crept through the outer room. When I got to the door I pulled the blinds on the window open a quarter inch, and peered out.

Nobody in either direction             

I opened the door, stepped into the hall, and turned left, hugging the walls as I went, which makes you less visible, or so they say. Frankly that bit of wisdom seems more plausible when you’re in a bar than it does when you’re moving through a Sindicate lab, but I got to the first corner without being seen. I looked both ways to make sure no one was around, then made my way to the next one. It felt like a mile between them, but when I got there it was clear too.

I continued on to the third, turned right, and got about five paces before I checked the paper and stopped. Damn. That was a wrong turn. I spun around, but before I could take a step I heard voices. I ran to the corner, got low to the ground, and poked my head out to see a pair of guards, one guy and one dame, both blond and thin in black uniforms. They were walking down the hallway I just left, straight towards me at a slow pace, stopping at every door to check that it was locked.

I had to get across the hallway, but couldn’t without being seen so I turned around, and looked for something to duck behind. But in an empty hallway there aren’t a lot of options. I tried the closest door. It was locked. I moved to the next one. It wouldn’t budge either.

I ran to the far corner as quietly as I could, and peered down it. All clear. I stepped around the corner and hid, figuring all I had to do was wait for the guards to pass by so I could resume my path to escape. But instead they turned down the hall, and were coming straight to me.

“This is bull anyway,” the guy said.

“Yeah, but what else is there to do?” asked the dame. “Personally I’d rather be safe in a bunker like this than walking the streets. With the length of my rap sheet there’d be a line of white capes outside my digs ready to put their spangle-y boots on my neck.”

“Yeah, good point. No way I’m taking another turn in Impenetron, and I got family up there.”

“Really? Who?”

“Nobody I want to see that badly.”

I took a quick peek. They were halfway down the hall. I cursed under my breath. Then I realized it wasn’t as bad as I thought. It was just like when you miss a turn in your car, I could swing two more lefts to circle the block, and be back on track, right where I started. As quick as I could I moved down to the next corner, and took the turn to safety and freedom.

But instead I was staring at a dead end.

And I could hear the guards getting closer, working their way towards me like a pair of bloodhounds.

I was boxed in.

But there was one last door. I reached for it, praying to every saint I could remember, and twisted the knob as silently as I could.

It was locked.

But there was something different about it. This knob had a keyhole instead of the card reader like on the rest.

I grabbed my pick, crouched down, and jammed the thin metal into the slot. It took me all of two seconds to find the tumblers a place to rest. I pulled the door open slowly, but stopped when I saw the familiar Biohazard Level Five sign. It was a tough call, in a very real way the room offered me protection from the guards, but what was inside could be way worse.

The footfalls were getting louder.

Ninety-five percent chance of death inside, one hundred percent chance of guards outside. That made for hard odds, but an easy choice. I opened the door.

It was a supply closet.

I stepped in and locked it behind me.

The pair approached.

They jimmied the knob back and forth.

“It’s locked,” the guy said.

“Good. The cleaning supplies remain safe for another day.”

The footsteps receded.

And I sighed.

Then the door swung open. The blond guy stared at me, and said, “If you want to stay hidden don’t breathe so loud.”

Chapter 27

I lunged forward, and wrapped my hands around his neck. But before I could snap it he turned into a cloud of black smoke. I fell straight through him and hit the ground. Flipping to my back I looked up. A dark column of black air twisted before me. Then it transformed back into the man. “You got to be record breaking stupid, pal.”

I hopped to my feet and flung a quick jab at his chin. He turned to smoke again, and my punch passed harmlessly through the haze.

He reformed and said, “But persistent. I’ll give you that. Hey Slapdash, a little help.”

The broad practically appeared out of nowhere, accompanied by a blast of wind. “What’s up Smolder, there a- whoa. Central was right, this Wagner?”

I looked from one to the other. “Yeah, I’m Wagner.”

“Well we’re on lock down buddy, and you’re way out of bounds,” Smolder said, “come on, we’re taking you in.”

“Sure thing,” I said, and held out my wrists.

Slapdash slung a set of cuffs around me at super speed. “Easy enough.”

“Meh, these reg doctors aren’t the fighting back type.” Smolder put his hand on my back, and led me down the hall.

“What are you talking about?” I said. “I threw two punches.”

“Yeah, but it would’ve been quicker if you mailed them.”

Slapdash laughed.

We got halfway down the hall when I asked, “Where’re we going?”

“Central,” Smolder said, “they’ve got some questions.”

“You’re not going to call first?” I noticed that the security team from before didn’t carry walkie-talkies.

“Don’t worry about it.” Slapdash pushed me.

I kept walking. “Ok.”

“No, not ok,” Smolder said. “They ask those questions kind of hard.”

“Kind of hard?”

Slapdash poked my ribs from behind. “What they do is load you full of nanobots that’ll find their way to your nervous system and play a game of hob until you die of agony.”

“Yeah that’s true, I saw it once. Guy bigger than you, tougher too, died in a pool of his own everything.”

I stopped walking, and turned around. “What if I say no thanks?”

“You don’t got a choice,” Smolder said.

“Seriously,” Slapdash said, “what are you going to do, science us to death?”

“Nope, beat.” I snapped my cuffs and swung as fast as I could. It should have hit both of them, but instead my fist passed through Smolder’s smoky outline, and Slapdash ducked at super speed.

“I think you’ll have better luck with the science,” Slapdash said. She was clearly a speedster, and proved it by punching the side of my head over one hundred times in less than a second. Pain shot through my skull and my vision went blurry. I dropped to one knee.

“Ahh, my hand!” Slapdash spun backwards, cradling it. “The son of a bitch is invulnerable.”

I dove towards Smolder’s knees, and harmlessly passed through his dusty form yet again. Then the thick cloud of smoke surrounded me. I got to my feet, and swung around like it was a mess of bees, but he clung to me like flypaper. I took a breath. A scorched wood smell choked my nostrils as Smolder flowed into my lungs like campfire smoke. I fell against the wall, clawing my neck. His partner kicked my legs out, and I flopped to the ground, expelling the dark cloud like a chimney.

Smolder reformed and bent over, panting. “I hate that.”

Slapdash put the hand that wasn’t broken under her partner. “That was dumb, be careful.” She turned to me. “As for you…”

I looked up at them. My eyes were full of tears, and my head was pounding, but if I went to Central it would get worse. There was only one way out. I exhaled slowly until there was no air left in my lungs, then threw a punch at Smolder’s groin. As I expected he did was he does, but this time when he turned to smoke I inhaled as much of him as I could. It was like swallowing sandpaper. My body tried to reject him, so as I stood up I clamped one hand over my nose and mouth, and kept both shut tight. The rest of Smolder swirled like a tornado. It’s all he could do. With so much of his mass inside my lungs he couldn’t reform without losing half his body.

“What the… Let him go!” Slapdash drove her good hand into my gut. I curled up tight, and leaned into the wall. She knocked me a few more in the same spot, then kicked my legs. I knelt down, rolled to the side, and came back up already running for it.

Slapdash leapt onto my back. Panting heavily, she punched my shoulders, neck, and head from every angle. It hurt something fierce, but I kept moving back the way we came. The angry black cloud followed. My head was spinning, and the fire in my lungs was spreading through my body. I fell to one knee.

Slapdash wrapped an arm around my throat. I grabbed it, and flung her over my shoulder. She landed hard, but in less than a second she was back up with death in her eyes. Instead of coming at me though, she fell against the wall.

And I knew there was a chance, because I was wrong.

Slapdash wasn’t a speedster.

She had hyper reflexes. Those allowed her to move at high speeds, but only for short bursts and it came with a hefty physical toll. That fine distinction might save my life. I dove through the black cloud towards her, hands out, but she jumped back, just out of reach. I got up and lumbered her way, but again she retreated.

After another two steps I lunged at her feet. This time I got my hand around an ankle. Standing up I swung her like a tennis racket right into the wall. She cracked the plaster, and went limp. I dropped her in heap, then fell to the floor. There was no oxygen left in my lungs. Tears flowed from my eyes, and my throat was on fire. Half of Smolder was still spinning around me, but through him I could see my final goal: the closet they found me in.

I reached out with one hand, and pulled myself to it. Exhaling as hard as I could I vomited up every bit of ashy air into the tiny room. The part of Smolder that surrounded me detached, and followed it in.

I gulped down as much oxygen as possible while inside the closet Smolder retook his human form. I scrambled to my feet, slammed the door, and pushed against it.

“Let me out.” He hammered the door with his fists. “I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!” Then he threw a shoulder into it. Once. Twice. On his third try I put my fist through the door right where his head should be. I felt the impact of meat and bone on the other side. Then it went quiet.

I opened the closet. Smolder was sitting in the cleaning supplies, blood smeared down his mouth like clown makeup, and about as conscious as a plate of pasta. With a snatch and a toss Slapdash joined him. I locked them both in, then headed towards the elevator, and took it to the second floor. Once there I found the west side stairwell, and walked down the steps and out the first floor fire exit.

As promised, Lynx was there in her car, waiting with the engine running. I got in, pulled off my glasses, and threw them on the dashboard.

“Any trouble getting out?” Lynx said.

“I had to beat a couple of guards unconscious.”

“Did they see your face?”

“Yeah. It’ll be amazing if they remember it, though. Can we scram?”

She put the car into drive, and we pulled into traffic.

“What’s going to happen with your dad?”

“Nothing terrible. You’re in the clear since we don’t have video and you used Wagner’s ID.”

“What about you?”

“This isn’t the first time I’ve broken the rules. I’ll be fine. Deceiving fathers is the first thing daughters learn to do. And besides, he’s too busy right now to check up on me, but let me ask, was the information worth it?”

I leaned back, and thought about the Bleach. “Yeah. It was.”

“Then all is well. I need a drink, you want one?”

“Of course.” I rubbed my eyes. “That’s my default setting.”