She stopped, but I waited since I didn’t think she had finished her story. For once, I made the right choice. She cleared her throat and continued. “Campbell fostered me with a family to help me recover. He needed to protect his investment. They were good people, and for the first time, somebody gave a shit about me. It didn’t last, never does. Just after I turned eighteen, a bunch of toughs took me from my bedroom in the middle of the night. I found out later Campbell sold me to a Cartel to be an enforcer and drug mule. Dr. Campbell put a sealed case in my gut which could transport contraband undetected. Bastard put in an explosive plug that would kill me if I didn’t do as I was told. The Cartel’s leader, Jerrico, trained me to be an assassin. I had more surgeries to enhance my abilities and make me more useful. I killed a lot of people for them until I ran up against Jackhammer. He beat me, and the Tech Guy removed the plug and freed me. He introduced me to Death Adder and Blaze, who were assembling a team. It’s how I ended up working on Stryke Force.”
She blinked a few times as if waking up from a nap. “You didn’t need to hear all that. We should be finding a way to get you out of here and back to your body.”
The fog in my head had dissipated to the point where I could think. “Can I follow my tether back to my body?”
She shrugged. “Try it. He severed mine so fast I didn’t have a chance to return.”
I pulled on the tether. Nothing happened. I used it as a lead and I walked, but nothing changed. I did everything I could think of, but I was still in the empty void of the scythe. Despair raised its ugly head as my ideas ran out.
Pepper’s yelp seized my attention. “You’ve got to fight. He’s coming.” She stepped around me as if to hide from the intruder.
A figure floated toward me as I stood there. Its black robes hung straight, unmoving as it came at me, gleaming, steel scythe held in its bony hands. The skeletal face peeked out from under the heavy hood that covered its head. I’d seen this image a million times around Halloween, but the chill of death radiated off it like cold in the frozen food section of the grocery store.
I swallowed hard, trying to find my voice. My mouth lacked even a touch of moisture as the undead eyes focused on me. “You’ve been called. Your time is up, mortal.” Its voice sounded raspy and harsh with no emotion whatsoever. “Come with me.” It began to turn, expecting me to obey.
“The only place I’m going is back to my body to kill Grim Reaper once and for all.” I wish my voice hadn’t quivered at the end but facing down death isn’t easy.
Slowly it revolved until it faced me. “I see. I will sever your soul, and you will serve with the rest.” It glided across the intervening space, raising the scythe as it went.
I focused, reaching for the energy I felt surging back in my body, but nothing happened. The power couldn’t follow me here. The panic rose in me. How could I fight death without my Gift? The scythe descended; I instinctively moved, pulling the tether out of the path of Death’s weapon. It snarled at me as it advanced again.
Pepper spoke from behind me. “The rules of the physical world don’t apply here. Use your mind to fight him.”
My mind? Marcel would say it wasn’t a fair fight since I’d be unarmed. Armed? I thought of Gladiator’s sword, and it solidified in my hand. Luckily, Blaze had taught us swordplay in training, since you never knew who you’d end up fighting or what would be around to fight with. I parried the next blow, catching it on the blade.
“Mortal, your time has ended. Allow me to complete your passage and be done.” The skeletal mouth never moved as the words come out. It creeped me out.
“Why don’t you just put that stick back up your ass?” I swung at his head, only to be parried so hard I almost lost my sword. I needed to focus more on the fight and less on the semi-witty banter. We traded blows, but my sword passed through him without even ruffling his robes. We could stay like this for all eternity, at least until my tether severed.
I could feel the power residing in my body, and while I couldn’t pull it here, maybe I could bring it into being like I did with the sword. I retreated a few paces, threw the sword at Skeletor, which he easily dodged, and imagined a fireball. I couldn’t do this in the real world, but here it worked. I pitched the ball at him, striking him squarely in the chest. Flame burst over him, flaring up to consume his head. The fire grew then disappeared.
“I am not of your world, Mortal.” The last word was loaded with dismissal like a worm he’d step on if he so chose. “Only things of my world can harm me.”
His world? Did Death have a world? Death. A thought crossed my mind. “Pepper, help me.”
Pepper ran to my side. I grasped her hand. “Call to the others Grim Reaper has killed.”
“They can’t come here. I told you that.”
Death closed the distance between us, readying the scythe. This would work or I was toast. And who wanted to be toast? “Just do it.”
“Gabriella, Mark, George, Ron, Amanda, Meghan…” She kept on calling names as I concentrated on what I wanted to do.
The scythe rose above my head, readied the final blow. “As I said, you...”
A woman rose out of the ground before him, dressed in a colorful, patterned skirt with an embroidered white blouse. She wore an elaborate headdress of flowers. Death stopped as she confronted him.
“Jose has gone too far, killing an el niño. I will not allow this.” She turned toward us. Her face had the elaborate design I’d seen around the Day of the Dead celebrations some of the Redemption kids held. Her eyes burned with a ghostly blue flame.
Death raised his weapon. “Gabriella, this is none of your concern. Be gone.”
“No.” She stretched out her arms, lifting them to the sky. Death gasped as the first hand broke through the ground below. The hand grasped the hem of its robe, pulling it downward. I yanked Pepper back as bodies broke through the floor, between Gabriella and their killer. Boney swiped his weapon through them, but they were already dead, so it had no effect. She laughed as the mob surrounded him, played pile-on, and drove him to the ground.
Gabriella faced us. “Please, go. Only pain lives on here.” Her head bowed to her chest as the tears fell.
I still held Pepper Spray’s hand. “Thank you, Gabriella. I couldn’t have stopped him.”
Her eyes locked on mine. “I loved him long ago, but it wasn’t enough. God has punished me to this hell. Now leave me to my pain.”
The fire in her eyes intensified until they glowed a solid blue. Her form grew darker, more menacing, as black clouds billowed around her legs. “Go!”
The force of the words struck me like a burst of lava. My body blew apart until I could no longer feel anything other than Pepper’s hand in mine.
The last thing I saw was the gaping abyss that stretched out before me.
33
Opening my eyes for real this time, I was happy to see a fully formed body holding me up. I pivoted to face Grim Reaper, only to find him out cold on the ground behind me. His scythe had disappeared, not that I expected to take it from him.
Well, it went better than expected. Honestly, I wasn’t sure you had it in you.
I froze. The voice I heard in my head wasn’t mine.
Hey, pay attention. You’re in the middle of a fight, dolt. A bullet whizzed past my head to emphasize the point.
“Pepper?” I asked to the empty air. I wondered if I’d lost it coming back from the dead. Maybe my mind had finally cracked from the strain.
Yeah, but you’ve got company. At least her voice didn’t echo like in an abandoned building.
I concentrated on the situation, which hadn’t changed since I’d left. Reclaimers flanked us on two sides. Boulder rested on his knees next to his friend, dead at his hands. Bullets dotted the air as the troops gathered behind the Ceramiplas shields. We couldn’t defend the parking lot, and we hadn’t gotten to Waxenby yet. Lose him and, if Eiraf spoke the truth, nothing we did mattered. Time to rally the troops.
“Boulder, get
Warden and follow me!” He didn’t move, just stared at Salvo’s corpse. I grabbed his chin and turned his face to me. “Warden is hurt, and we are all going to be dead if you don’t get moving. Mourn later; we need to fight now.”
Recognition dawned as he nodded. “You’re right.” He gathered Warden up in his arms and jogged along behind me.
“Abby, get Grim Reaper and let’s go.”
She stared at me, mouth open in shock. “That rat bastard can rot for all I care.”
Keep going; it’s not over yet. Pepper said, unheard by anyone else than me. Every day, my life got stranger.
How do you think I feel? I’m stuck in here with no way out.
I swear she was laughing at me.
I am, she replied. I can hear your thoughts, you know?
I wanted to beat my head against the pavement. “The Reclaimers think we’re Syndicate. We may need him to bargain with.”
That got her moving. Selling Jose to the Protectorate for a trip to Saturday Night Showdown would be worth carrying his limp form. In a few seconds, she secured his arms with a zip tie I didn’t know she had and hoisted him over her shoulder. Izanami ran to meet us as we reached the steps of the Syndicate hideout. Dad settled down next to us as we entered.
Just as Specter had described, Oliver Waxenby sat in a steel chair, head slumped against his chest. He’d never been a big man, but he appeared skeletal strapped to the chair as he was.
Abby threw Grim Reaper on the floor and started untying Waxenby. She caught me watching and scowled. “If I’m carrying anyone out of here, it’s him.”
Wow, he looks like shit.
I didn’t know if I’d get used to having a second person in my head, but it would have to wait.
Dad came over to where I stood, pulling off his helmet so we could talk. “Your mother told me to tell you she’s supergluing a comm-link to your ear next time.” He glanced around the room. Boulder had Warden sitting up, her head lolled to the side. Izanami stood guard over the two of them, quietly surveying the room. Abby had found a bottle of water and was helping Waxenby drink. “This is bad. We look more like the walking wounded than an elite Gifted team.”
Unfortunately, I agreed. “Where is Mom?” I wasn’t sure how we were getting out of this mess, but she could get us to safety.
“I sent her and Molly to the safe room. We need a plan.” Dad rubbed his forehead. “There are at least three platoons out there. If they bring in more helicopters, we aren’t getting out of here.”
Even with the shields, Dad and I should be able to cut a path through the troops to get us out.
Wow, that’s the best plan you’ve got? The sarcasm dripped off like glaze on a donut. What about the others? Do you think they will make it while you go out with guns blazin’? An image of a cowboy blasting away with two pistols surfaced in my head, right up until a bullet hole appeared in his forehead.
Well, if you can do better, I thought at her.
I’m just a lowly passenger on the S.S. Minnow. You’re the Captain. She paused for a second. Nah, you’re Gilligan.
What are you talking about? How any of this helped, I didn’t know.
Never mind, you’re too dense to get it.
“Tommy?” Dad asked. I guessed it wasn’t the first time he’d tried to get my attention.
“Just thinking.” I looked around the room. Pepper had it right; fighting our way out would be a bad decision. “Did Specter say this used to be a bank?”
Warden pipped up from where she sat on the floor, leaning against Boulder for support. “Yes, it was. Why?”
“I don’t see a vault.” The bank in Granite Falls had the vault behind the teller line. The one in Redemption had it in the main room.
“It’s in the basement.” Boulder helped Warden to her feet. She swayed a bit but steadied herself enough to approach us. “What are you thinking?”
A thought popped into my head.
Me likey that plan. Pepper purred in my brain.
“I think I know a way we can get out of here.”
Warden grinned.
About a half hour later, I stepped out of the old bank building into the night air. “I want to discuss terms of surrender!”
I waited for a bullet to hit me or the sound of rushing footsteps, but none came. The clouds still roiled, but the rain had mostly stopped. A few minutes later, an older woman approached. She wore the standard issue Reclaimer combat gear, but I noticed the pin that marked her as a major. We had gotten someone’s attention.
“I’m Major Black of the hundred and fourth terrorist response unit. I’ve come to accept your unconditional surrender.” I heard a slight Midwestern accent, so she must be from the North Central Region.
I cocked my head at her, hand holding my chin with a perplexed expression on my face. It would have been easier to pull off if Pepper hadn’t been cackling wildly in my head at the time. “Unconditional? I don’t remember offering that. Hmmm. Maybe you are in the wrong place, Lieutenant?”
She stiffened. Military officers hate to have civilians downgrade their rank. Powell always bristled when it happened to him. “First off, it’s MAJOR, not Lieutenant. Second, we have you surrounded with crack troops, trained in removing threats such as yourself. There will be no conditions. Surrender now.” She smirked self-satisfyingly at me as if she’d won already.
“I know you are currently a Major.” I held her eye, making her sweat out the answer. “But Lieutenant is what you’ll be when you report in that Grim Reaper is dead, which he will be by the time your troops can get to him.”
Her face blanched as she processed what I told her. Dad had guessed it would be the main objective of this raid. “So, you want a few more shiny medals, then we give you what you want, and we get what we want.”
She cleared her throat, but it didn’t help. “And you want what?” she asked, much less confidently than she’d started this conversation.
“We want safe passage out of here.” I spread my hands out in front of her. “See how easy that is. We walk, you raid the building and grab Grim Reaper. Protectorate himself will probably give you a medal.”
The glint in her eye gave her away. “I’ll have to discuss this with my superior officer. I’ll return within the hour.” She turned on her heel and marched across the space to where her team stood by.
Applause sounded in my head. Bravo, that was magnifique, Thomas, Pepper said in a thick accent followed by a kissing noise. You deserve a Tony for that performance.
I was baffled. Who’s Tony?
Never mind.
Warden looked far better than when we brought her in. “How did it go?”
I smiled. “She took it faster than I would have thought.” I walked behind the teller line to a door leading to the basement. The vault door and all its valuables were untouched, but we had what we needed. Boulder, Dad, and Abby were in front of the concrete wall across from the vault door. It had the distinction of being closest to the street and, by extension, the sewer main that ran under it. Abby had spotted the manhole cover out front.
Boulder turned to face me. “Are you sure this will work?” I could see his red-rimmed eyes and understood. I knew the pain and guilt he’d face in the months ahead, but we needed an exit and soon.
“I hope so. If we can tunnel through and get into the sewer system, we can get back to base and out of here.” I checked each person, and they nodded at me. “When I yell, dig like hell.”
“Tommy, we’ve got a problem up here,” Warden yelled.
“Coming.” I turned to Dad. “Wait until my signal. If they hear the noise, they’ll rush us.”
Dad smirked. “Unless I missed my guess, they are testing us now. Go.”
I ran. Taking the stairs three at a time, I got upstairs and into the lobby. Warden and Izanami crouched in front of the windows. Most of the floodlights the Syndicate used still functioned. A squad of eight soldiers, armed with Ceramiplas shields and stun sticks, approached the front. I knelt next to Izanami to
watch.
“Ranger says they are testing us.” I watched as the Reclaimers approached the building. A full rush would have worked with half our team downstairs, but they didn’t know it.
Izanami stood up. “I’ll dissuade them.”
I put a hand on her and removed it when she shot me a glare.
“I’ll come, too. We can work together.”
“I work alone. Just watch for disruptor bands.” She pulled her long, straight black hair back and fastened it. She exited the building and stopped about ten feet past the doors. The squad halted, obviously not expecting a petite Asian woman to greet them alone outside their target. “The weak are meat; the strong eat,” she said to them.
Watching carefully, I spotted the one with the disruptor launcher. I aimed and sent a thin line of energy at it. The gun flew from its owner’s grip. Smoke drifted off it where it lay in the street.
Izanami shimmered slightly before launching herself into the squad of soldiers. I expected a smooth flowing attack like I’d seen Blaze execute a hundred times.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Izanami became a wrecking ball. Stun sticks bounced off her, as did the men who wielded them. As she waded into the middle of them, she tore a shield from one of the soldiers. He screamed as his arm stayed attached to the shield. The severed arm flew while she used the shield to batter the closest attacker until it cracked. Discarding the broken shield, Izanami drop-kicked a man twice her size, knocking down two of his squad mates as he fell. She landed back on her feet and throat punched an unfortunate soldier who’d tried to stun her. Before he could even attempt a gasp for air, she performed a Reverse Piledriver and slammed the man’s head into the pavement. Two Reclaimers moved in to attack in tandem. Her hand whipped out, grabbing a smaller woman by the chest plate. A series of quick revolutions and the soldier sailed across the intervening space to crash into her partner. A couple of well-placed kicks ended their struggling to get off the ground. Screams of pain and fear erupted from the remaining soldiers, the best the Reclaimers had according to Warden’s people.
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