Monster Hunter Legion-eARC (22 page)

“Go to hell,” Lacoco told me.

Cooper walked up, proudly surveying the damage. Lee joined him a second later, laughing his ass off. They high-fived each other. The fire alarm was an annoying
beep beep beep
. Thank goodness the sprinklers didn’t go off, because that would have extra sucked. Hunters appeared through the haze, converging back on 1613. Earl walked out of the chaos, waving his hand in front of his face. “It’s over,” he assured everyone.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Julie reached my side and began running her hands around my head and neck. It wasn’t out of tenderness, though. She was looking for injuries. Being right next to an explosion was always a bitch, and bleeding to death while you were in shock was always a possibility. Someone else was inspecting Lacoco. “I’m okay,” I assured her.

“Uh-huh…” Now she was checking my arms for blood. “Keep talking. How’s your head?”

“I told you I’m fine.”

“What’s the anniversary date of the first time we met?” she asked.

That was a terrible question to check for traumatic brain injury. “Uh…” I sucked with dates. “It’s on the calendar?”

“Hah, gotcha,” she grinned. “Owen’s good.”

“What happened to
mostly
fire, Milo?” Earl asked.

Milo peeked his head around the corner of the next room. “That was way more explodey than I expected. What brand laundry soap was that? Oh…wait a second…I was thinking of something else. Never mind.”

The smoke cleared out quickly because there was a strong breeze. And when we could see again, the source of the breeze was fairly obvious. The pocket dimension, if that was what it had been, was gone. Room 1613 was back, but it was
toast
. The Cooper-Lee-Anderson insta-bomb had removed the windows, most of the back wall, and the balcony from 1613. The lights of the strip were bright through the gaping hole in the side of the hotel. The walls were shredded and blackened, the ceiling hung in tattered strips. The furniture was mangled.

Ten Hunters in various states of dress and preparedness swept into the room and secured it. There were no signs of the monsters, of the river or the forest, and especially no sign of Hugo. I walked to the edge of the remodeled outer wall and looked down. The balcony had landed in the pool. It was a good thing nobody had been swimming this early in the morning. There were a lot of flashing lights in the parking lot below as police cars and fire trucks arrived.

Trip joined me. He whistled at the destruction. “Between the buffet and this, I’m thinking we’re not getting invited back next year.”

Chapter 12

“Other than the water that leaked out, there’s no evidence it was ever here. A whole forest comes out of nowhere and takes over. Monsters that shouldn’t exist kill a Hunter and then disappear into thin air…I’ve never heard of anything quite like that before.” Julie told the assembled decision-makers.

I was sitting on the burned remains of the hotel bed. Ten minutes ago it would have been in a magical river. “You’re a master of understatement.”

Lindemann was in the center of the room, picking through the debris. “There is no sign of Hugo. Damn it.” He kicked the remains of a chair. “What is going on here?”

No one had a good answer for that.

The room was packed with lead Hunters from various countries. Many of our own experienced MHI staff were out running interference. We knew how to deal with American law enforcement much better than anyone else. The fact that there was an MCB contingent already in town was sure to complicate matters. They would probably be here shortly.

“We’re missing a few Hunters, but those that are gone were seen leaving the party, some alone, some with new friends. None of the other companies seem to be missing anyone. So it seems that everyone is accounted for except Hugo,” Julie explained. “Surrounding rooms weren’t affected, just this one. But how and why? The only witness said Hugo called it
Nachtmar
.”

“It means nightmare. That word will do as well as any other,” Lindemann said. He tossed a chunk of broken wood into a puddle. “Fitting.”

“You knew what these things were, Klaus?”

“They were the cause of the Stuttgart Massacre…” Most of the European Hunters began nodding and one of them crossed himself. “Grimm Berlin lost nearly half of our men.”

I was unfamiliar with the event. Julie leaned over and whispered to me. “It’s their equivalent to the Christmas party. Bad op.”

Lindemann seemed haunted as he continued to poke through the debris. “The monsters had been created in a necromantic ritual several hundred years ago, designed to be immortal soldiers for Emperor Maximilian by a mad alchemist named Schreiber. Only a few were activated in that time, but the denizens that were grown to give them life proved to be far too bloodthirsty, and the rest were hidden away and buried, hopefully to never be used.”

“I remember hearing that Maximilian’s iron army was one of the mystical things the Third Reich was searching for.” Earl should know. He’d been there, and had probably gotten that information firsthand, but since only a handful of us knew who he really was, that went unsaid.

“Which they never found, thankfully. It wasn’t until ten years ago, when a new canal was being dug in the city and their chamber was accidentally flooded. The water released them from their slumber. The
Bundeswehr
asked for our expertise in the cleanup. Only the beasts escaped the tunnels and entered a neighborhood. It was…
horrific
…We destroyed them all, wiped them out completely, but in the process Hugo and I were all that survived from our team.”

“That’s why you said these things were impossible.”

“The artistry of those creations is like a signature. Those were Herr Schreiber’s work. There is no way that such a particular design could be recreated so accurately, so far away, and in such different circumstances. The alchemical methods were lost hundreds of years ago. It would be like us discovering a Wendigo in Italy or a mermaid in Mongolia. These were special, one of a kind, regional monsters. No, something else is afoot here.”

“We should interview the woman Hugo was with,” Pierre Darne suggested. He was a young man, but struck me as a competent leader, maybe a little nervous, but trying to hide it, sort of like Nate in that respect. He kept his manner professional, though I did notice that he wouldn’t make eye contact with Earl Harbinger. Pierre even looked a bit like his deceased father, tall, thin, handsome, and with an aristocratic sort of air. “Perhaps she saw how it began?”

“She was pretty freaked out, though.” I glanced at Trip. He was far more compassionate than most of us. If anybody could handle a shell-shocked stripper it was Trip. Holly was one of the Hunters that had gone out for the night and hadn’t returned yet, but I could only imagine that she’d just slap the hysterical girl a couple of times and tell her to get a hold of herself. “You got this?”

“I’ve got it,” my friend answered before walking out.

“So this is why government man pays ten million American dollars for a simple spider,” the big Pole said. “I think maybe this case is not so simple after all.”

Earl was nodding in agreement. “It has to be connected. That stupid critter didn’t kill all those people today and disappear an entire Unicorn strike team.”

“Unicorn?” several of the Hunters asked at the same time.

“Special Task Force Unicorn…” Earl answered. “Stricken’s bunch. Shit. Forget I said that name. You don’t want to go around repeating it. Real low-profile bunch. They’re the ones that do the things you don’t ask about. They make MCB look like Boy Scouts.”

“How do you know this?” asked a muscular Greek Hunter who had come to the battle wearing nothing but his underwear.

“Never mind that.” Earl was obviously regretting mentioning the name. “That’s not important right now.”

“You were so enthusiastic earlier about sharing information, but it seems you’re the one keeping secrets from the rest of us.” The Greek Hunter approached Earl. “MHI thinks they’re better than everyone else. You’re wrong, Harbinger. I think you are in league with the men from your government. I think you knew about this event beforehand.”

One of the Chinese took the opportunity to jump in. “It was your men that sounded the alarm. How do you explain some of them already being armed and fully equipped so quickly?” He gestured at me and Julie.

“I sleep this way.” I answered. “Doesn’t everybody?” The two questioners glowered at me. I couldn’t help it. I was born to be a smartass.

Julie however, was a peacemaker. “I woke up from a bad dream. I had a real bad feeling is all, and I thought I heard something out of place. So we geared up. That’s it.”

“Convenient.” The Greek Hunter walked threateningly toward Earl. “You take all of us for fools?”

“Them? No. You?” Earl took his time shaking a cigarette out of a pack and lighting it with his MHI Zippo. “Maybe…Back off, kid.”

“I should give you a beating, Harbinger.”

I didn’t know who knew about Earl’s secret here, but there were definitely rumors floating around about how dangerous he was. Many of the Hunters in the blasted room got sudden excited looks on their faces that read variations of
oh, no, he didn’t
or
this ought to be good.

Earl simply blew smoke in the angry Hunter’s face.

“Sit down, idiot,” Lindemann shouted before the Hunter could take a swing at my boss. The German came over and shoved the Hunter back. “You are no match for him, and your stupidity is wasting our time.” That seemed to cow the man. He may not have known Earl, but all of the Europeans knew the man from Grimm Berlin. Lindemann turned back to Earl. “I lost a brother tonight, Harbinger. I would appreciate you focusing on the task at hand.”

“Sorry, Klaus. Accusations get my dander up.”

“Dying pointlessly has the same effect on me. What else do you know?”

“Hugo was the one that killed the monster today, and now this…” Earl waved his hand around the blasted room. “I think he brought something back with him from the desert. I just don’t know what, but I bet I know who does. I think Stricken set us up.”

“Stricken,” the Pole spat. “I will gut him like pig.”

“Get in line,” Earl said. “I should’ve considered this possibility. Today’s case wasn’t about a single creature, it was related to some kind of phenomenon. I assumed whatever it was had been left out in the desert, not dragged back here with us. This is my fault. I shouldn’t have made assumptions. I was distracted.”

“That doesn’t matter now,” Pierre Darne said. “My concern is that this may happen again.”

“It’s possible. One of my men travelled with Agent Franks from the Monster Control Bureau to where the creature originated from. Knowing what we know now, I think he might have experienced something related. Owen, report.”

“Can do.” I gave them the quick rundown about what I’d seen in Dugway. It only took a few minutes. I could tell that many of them were angry that they hadn’t heard this several hours ago, but we hadn’t known then that the damn whatever-it-was was here with us at the time.

“The ghoul…It appeared, attacked, and then was gone,” the Pole stated.

I knew where he was going. “Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? What happened here was far more elaborate. The thing that jumped on me only lasted for a few seconds, and there was only the one.” If my fists weren’t still sore from punching it I could almost have dismissed it as a figment of my imagination. “Tonight was a whole lot nastier.”

“I have a theory…” Julie began.

“I’ve got my own theory.” The Greek Hunter had decided he wasn’t finished and stormed back to the center of the room. “A portal appears and kills off MHI’s competitors. Then, since they were the only ones that were prepared, MHI banishes the creatures, saves the day, and I’m sure will claim the bounty. They are heroes. Their competitors are gone. It is all too convenient.”

There was a lot of murmuring at that. Most of the other leaders seemed annoyed or incredulous, but a few looked intrigued at the idea. “That’s ridiculous,” I said, sick of his crap. “You seriously need to shut the hell up before you get hurt.”

“You’re not in charge here. I don’t have to listen to you.”

“Well, I’m wearing an automatic shotgun while you’re just wearing tighty-whiteys, so you might want to start.”

There was a reason that Julie was our negotiator. She stepped between us. “I can assure you MHI had nothing to do with this.” Despite being frustrated, she was still trying to hold together the fragile alliance she’d helped form earlier. “If we were trying to get our competitors killed, why’d we sound the alarm and start an evacuation?”

“I don’t understand your plot yet, but it wouldn’t be the first time MHI has opened a portal. The bastard Ray Shackleford did it once.” He said, glaring at Julie. “It wouldn’t surprise me to find out that his daughter followed in his footsteps.”

Wrong answer.
My wife lost it. Julie extended her fingers and ridge-handed him in the throat. The Hunter opened his mouth, but all that came out was a long wheezing noise. Julie stepped back as he reached for her, but you don’t go very far without much oxygen. He doubled over, clutching his neck as his face turned red. He’d gone full-on purple by the time he laid down on the floor and concentrated on not passing out.

He was still breathing, just not well. “Wow…” I said. “What’s that little tiny fragile bone in the neck called?”

“The hyoid. Don’t worry. I pulled it. He’ll be fine, but the next person that brings up my parents won’t be.” Her accent tended to get a little stronger when she was under stress but trying to hide it. Julie looked around the room, seemingly calm. “Anybody else want to accuse me of witchcraft? Because we can get that nonsense out of the way
real
fast.” The Hunter from China was quiet as Julie stared him down. “Good.”

The big Pole boomed out his pirate-captain laugh. “I think our friend here needs some fresh air.” He grabbed the downed Hunter by the ankle and dragged him effortlessly toward the door. “And maybe also a medic.”

Dominance established.
“As I was saying before I was interrupted, I’ve got a theory…” Julie checked to make sure nobody else was going to say anything. Nobody was that stupid. “I think the spider, the ice ghoul, and these armored things were all caused by the same phenomenon. One of our men found the video the victim in Nevada had been watching before he’d been killed. It was called
Terrorrantula.
”