by Sahara Foley
Two strong fields lit up, while a third one was weaker like it was being shielded. Growling in satisfaction, Lurga took off out the door, following the trail.
Are they devious and try hiding their path? He hoped so, as he was looking forward to a fun hunt.
Lurga chuckled. He didn’t anticipate the Warrior Woman to be so full of surprises. She must surely be the exception to the rule, as he hadn't seen her courage and resolve from any of the other creatures on this far-flung planet. She would have made an excellent mate for an Ispepyein Warrior.
He stomped down the path, the intense gravity pulling at his legs. Like walking through the tar pits of Baru, a popular training area on Ispepyein. He thumbed a button on his hand-link and grinned.
In a week’s time, my fearless leader will be howling as he claws his throne and wall to pieces. That is how long it would take for Contruda's transmission to reach Ispepyein. How will he explain to the Calens that I didn't complete the contract?
He shrugged. Not his concern anymore. The death payment taken in advance took care of the Code. He had a new bargain to fulfill now.
By the time Kargan read the message, Lurga would have already found the girl and left Earth. To where? Where does she really belong?
She certainly didn't belong to the pale, bald Calens. The girl was just as unsightly, but she had hair. He snorted. Poor hideous, little child. She wasn't as bad looking as some of the other thin-skins he had been around. Still, she was appalling.
Lurga lumbered along until he felt something nipping at his heels. He glanced down and found several four-legged, furballs following him, teeth bared, snarling. He forgot to change back into his Human shape.
The warrior spun around and let out a loud growl. He smirked with satisfaction when the three animals took off running, tails tucked between their hind legs, yelping in terror.
Spying a clump of bushes, he stepped behind them and relieved himself. When he strode back out, he was, again, a chubby, balding human. He glanced at his device, and took off down the path, following his target.
After an hour of stomping, lurching, and staggering, Lurga stood in front of an enormous wooden door, gasping for air. The gravity was affecting him more in the human form than it did in his regular body.
The warrior studied the building. It was vast and dwarfed the other buildings around it in an ostentatious manner. Part of the roof held a long, tapering appendage pointing toward the unpleasant, cloud-studded blue sky. He grimaced in disgust. He didn't think he could ever get used to the different color spectrums on this planet.
Lurga glanced at his hand-link, again. Three sets of electromagnetic prints definitely ended at the entrance. Tired of this forsaken planet and unrelenting gravity, he shoved against the wooden door with all his strength.
The old, heavy door flew inward, shattering the jamp and casing into flying shrapnel. Little Tanya, sitting on a young priest’s lap, sipping on a can of pop, shirked in terror. The priest’s mouth dropped open in surprise.
"We told ya, father," shouted Roger. "We told ya there be a crazy man after Tanya."
Roger reached behind and pulled out his Beretta PX4 and started shooting, his partner adding to the deafening roar in the small room. Bullets zipped and whizzed everywhere as they ricocheted off the head and chest of the harmless looking man.
"What the fuck?" Roger hollered, the hammer of his pistol clicking on empty chambers. "What the hell are you?"
Lurga grinned, enjoying the terror on their faces. He held out the picto toward the priest, who shielded a girl behind his legs that looked like his target. "I want the girl. Now!" he demanded.
Face pinched with fear, Roger's partner threw his empty gun on the floor and bolted for a door leading farther into the building.
"Coward." Roger screamed after him.
"This is a church of God," the priest admonished in a trembling voice. "You can't come in here shooting up the place."
"I didn't," Lurga stated. He ignored the quaking man and studied the little, dark-haired girl peeking from around his legs. He knelt on one knee, hand out toward the girl. "What is your name, child?" he asked softly, almost like a purr.
The girl looked with wide eyes up toward the priest, then back to the chubby man. "T-T-Tanya," she stammered before ducking back into hiding.
"That is none of your business, mister. Now, leave my church at once, or I'll have to call the Police."
Lurga stood, and in one fluid motion, snatched the priest by the throat and flung him across the room. The man collided with Roger, who was inching his way to the same door his partner used. Together, they slid to the floor in a tangle of arms and legs, amid a sound of cracking bones and muffled grunts.
Lurga knelt on one knee, again. "Tanya, I will not harm you. I have promised. You are not the one I seek. Do you know where Karrn is?" His Ispepyein tongue had trouble pronouncing such a strange name, so it came out garbled.
Tanya stood with a thumb in her mouth, a habit from her past when she was alone and scared. Peering at the pile of bodies, then back to the chubby man, she withdrew her trusty digit. "Do you mean Karrin?"
"Yes, Karrn." Lurga gave her a reassuring smile.
Tanya shook her head. "I won't tell you," she said defiantly. "All you want to do is hurt her."
Lurga growled impatiently. What is it about this girl that makes everyone willing to sacrifice their lives for her, even against an Ispepyein Warrior such as myself? What makes her so unique?
"Tanya, listen to me, child. I do not wish to harm Karrn. I have sworn an oath with the Warrior Woman Claudia Giroux to protect her and see no harm befalls her. Tell me where she hides."
Tanya stared at Lurga with innocent eyes that made him feel uncomfortable, like he was lying. "Do you promise you won't hurt my sister?"
Lurga laid his hand across his chest where his three hearts beat. "I promise with my life no harm will come to you or your sister. I will protect her to my dying breath. I swear to you as an Ispepyein Warrior."
Tanya stared at him for a long moment as she nibbled on her thumb. “Mamma told Slick to take Karrin into the sewers. That's all I know."
Lurga grinned in triumph. Ah, Warrior Women, our game is half over. "Thank you, Tanya. Can you tell me where this ‘sewer’ is?"
Just like the word 'shark", his Contruda was having trouble deciphering the word.
"It's in the basement of our house, in Slick's room, behind a metal door."
Contruda buzzed in his mind. "The lower level of the house. Correct?"
The girl nodded. "Yes, in Slick's room. I never liked going in there. It's messy and stinks." Tanya wrinkled her nose.
Lurga tilted his head, waiting for Contruda to interpret 'Slick’, but he received no response. "What is 'slick?"'
Tanya giggled. "You’re silly. Slick is our friend. He took Karrin into the sewer with B.J. But, don't make B.J. mad. He's big and will hurt you."
Lurga patted the girl on the head. "You need not fear. B.J. will not harm me. Now, I must leave."
He fingered a button on his hand-link and strode toward the demolished door. Not looking forward to the four-mile hike back to the house, he summoned his ship to him. As he climbed up to the cockpit of his invisible fighter and settled into his seat, he slowly vanished from view – legs, torso, and head.
Staying as still as he could from the excruciating pain of broken ribs, the priest stared in disbelief at the empty doorway. "Mother of God, protect us," he gurgled through his half-crushed throat.
Once Lurga arrived at the house, he left his invisible ship and proceeded forward. He stepped around the bloody remains of Claudia and her favorite rocking chair to go inside. After a brief search of the first floor, he found a set of stairs leading down to a lower level. He walked through a room filled with handguns, rifles, and other items Lurga couldn't recognize, but figured were weapons of some sort.
Reaching a massive, locked, metal door, he paused and glanced at his hand-link. It showed three electromagnetic s
ignatures leading up to the entrance. He braced his legs, then pushed against the accessway with his hands. Gradually, the door buckled inward with a loud grating and screeching.
Grunting with effort, Lurga gave one final push and shoved the door until it fell flat on the floor. The deafening clatter echoed down the dimly lit corridor.
Slick's head jerked up. He'd been leaning against the wall, trying to stay focused, but time crept like a snail. Before he knew it, he nodded off. Now, he peered nervously down the tunnel, squinting into the gloom.
Damn, that was my reinforced door. Slick paid a large sum of money for a barrier only a tank could breach. "Fuck, Mrs. C," he muttered to himself as he picked up one of a dozen Laws Rockets sitting at his feet. "What is he?"
He flinched, again, as more tearing and grinding echoed down the sewer. "Shit, that was the first grate."
Slick stared longingly in the other direction. The idea of running after Big Jake flitted through his mind as the cold sweat of fear trickled down his back. If’n the man got this far, is Mrs. C dead? The thought of Claudia dead made his eyes well with tears. She was the closest thing to a mother he ever had.
If’n she couldn't stop him, how can I? He stared at the rocket in his hands. Will this even hurt him? After what he saw with the tank, using the Laws would be like using a pea shooter to stop a bus. Who else is left?
Slick owed his life to Claudia and made a vow to her to protect Karrin with his life. He really had no choice.
Gritting his teeth, he strengthened his resolve. He fitted the barrel of the rocket into one of the eight-inch square openings of the one-inch thick steel grate. The same type of gate that had been destroyed.
The sound of heavy, stomping steps, almost like a drunk walking, reached his ears. Something shifted in the shadows, and suddenly there was the chubby man, staring back at him.
"Stop right there," Slick ordered, tightening his finger on the trigger. "I be shooting if’n you come any closer."
"Why do you Humans wish to die?" Lurga asked, bewildered. "I only want the girl. Are you Slick?"
So, Mrs. C be right, Slick thought. He be from outer space.
"Look, I don't know if’n this rocket will stop you, but I have to try. For Mrs. C and Karrin. I've got rockets lined up every half mile. I be burying you under a ton of rocks if I hav –"
With that same weird sucking sound, Slick, the Laws rocket, and, the grate fell to the ground in uniform square pieces.
Lurga holstered his Seeder pistol and slipped through the hole in the gate. "Warrior Woman, I grow weary of the chase. Where is the challenge?" he grumbled to himself.
Without a backward glance, he proceeded down the tunnel, following the two trails showing on his hand-link.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Ten miles away, Big Jake sat in a chair, head and hands hanging between his knees as he gasped for air. Not having run for quite a few years, he had to slow down to a fast walk for the last several miles. Lungs heaving, he finally reached tunnel 60 and the entrance to the file room of Scotland Yard.
When a cup of coffee was shoved in front of his face, Big Jake raised his head and wiped the sweat from his brow. He stared at the hot, steaming liquid. What he really wanted was an ale. Lots of ale. He waved off the offered beverage.
“Okay, let’s go over this again, shall we?” one of the three men in suits asked. “How did you end up in our secure file room?”
“Look, Mamma tolt me ta bring Karrin ta ya, so’s ya could protect her. There’s a real bad man after her.”
One of the officers jerked his head at the other two men, telling them to back off. He knew that name. Mamma was Claudia Giroux. The woman he’d been married to, but hadn’t seen in almost forty years.
She was only twenty when she left him, running off to work at the Home with her sister. All because Claudia couldn’t have children. His young wife thought by abandoning him, he would remarry and have the children he craved. How wrong she was.
The old cop ran a hand through his thin, gray hair and sighed. He tried contacting Claudia many times over the years, but she always refused. He eventually gave up. What she never understood was that his heart had always belonged to her. No woman could compare to his Claudia.
He stood in front of the bulky man, who was glaring up at him. “My name is Inspector Taggner. I’ve seen you around. You’re Jake, aren’t you, and you work for Slick?”
The man nodded, relief flooding his face. This was the person Claudia told him to find. “Yeah, Mamma tolt me to bring Karrin to you. Ya got her? Not seeing the girl in the small room, he began to panic.
Big Jake didn’t remember too much after breaking through the grate, which led into a room filled with filing cabinets. Exhausted and out of breath, he fell over. Everything after that was a blur.
He tugged at his ear lope, upset with himself, not wanting Mamma to be mad at him.
Taggner patted the man on his beefy shoulder. “She’s fine, Jake. Karrin’s upstairs, being tended to.”
Jake sighed with happiness as he leaned back in the chair.
“So, Mamma sent you to find me?” Taggner asked, his eyebrow quirked in surprise. Claudia didn’t forget about me after all.
He smiled to himself and made a mental note to go find the love of his life once this mess got sorted out. Maybe they could make up for the lost years.
“Yeah. Ya see, this fat, strange man sholt up, lookin’ for Karrin. Mamma and Slick tried stopping’ him. They shot him with machine guns, and even the tank couldn’t kill him. So’s Mamma sent Karrin with me and Slick ta find ya.” Jake shifted in his chair as he nervously peered around the small room.
“Where’s Slick?” Taggner asked. “Why isn’t he here?”
“Well, he tolt me to take Karrin, and he’d try to stop the man. I don’t think he did, though. He shoulda been here by now. I think Slick’s dead.” Big Jake hung his head. “The man musta kilt him, too.”
Lurga stood in front of another thick, metal door. His hand-link showed two trails ended here. Remembering the last door took several pushes to get past it, he shoved as hard as he could. With a loud grinding, grating noise, the door buckled inward and fell six feet into the room.
The warrior stepped through the doorway as dislodged concrete fell onto his head and shoulders. He glanced around the room. It was filled with filing cabinets against each wall and boxes stacked to the ceiling.
Spying a wooden door across the room, he broke through that one with no problem and ended up in a dimly lit hallway. He followed the trial showing on his hank-link and advanced up some wooden stairs.
In the small office on the main floor, all heads swiveled toward the door as shooting and screaming broke out in the lower level.
“What the hell?” Taggner shouted, his hand going for the pistol in his shoulder holster.
“Won’t do ya no good if’n that’s him,” Big Jake said, his face going pale. “If’n Slick couldn’t stop him with his Laws, ain’t no way ya gonna stop him with just guns.” He shot to his feet. “Karrin! I gotta find Karrin.”
Before the Inspector could answer, the door blew inward. It barely missed him as he ducked behind the table. He stared open-mouthed at a bald, chubby man wearing some type of pantsuit, and holding a toy silver gun. Is this the person everyone’s afraid of? He sure doesn’t seem like much.
The chubby man stepped inside and trained his gun on the Inspector. “Where is Karrn?”
“No, you son-of-a-bitch,” Big Jake yelled as he rushed the man. “I’ll –.”
Lurga grabbed the charging man by the throat and flung his body effortlessly across the room. Big Jake slammed into the wall and slid to the floor in a lifeless heap.
Taggner already had his gun pointed at the fat man’s head. “One move and I’ll blow your bloody head off!” His mouth went dry and his hand started shaking when he glanced behind the assailant to see if there were any more threats.
In the other room, bodies were strewn all over. However, they weren�
��t whole. They were somehow cut into small unrecognizable pieces of police uniforms and body parts.
What the hell happened to them?
Lurga sighed and muttered to himself, “Where is the battle, Warrior Woman? The Groton’s fought better than these Humans.” He leveled his Seeder pistol at the man aiming his weapon at him. “I come for the girl Karrn. I have sworn to protect her, but if you wish to die trying to hide her, I shall accommodate you. I will find her regardless.”