The Awakening Box Set

by Michael Timmins

  The smile was gone in an instant and a low growl emitted from him. Shae thought she might have gone a little too far.

  “Leave her be, Blain, you know the Lady would not be happy if anything happens to her.”

  Turning, Shae noticed a couple of men she hadn’t seen before. The one who talked was tall with a narrow face. A stick of a man, made to appear more so by the overweight man next to him. This one was short and ugly with thinning hair and pale skin. He was sweating, though it was a cold day. The tall man approached her.

  “My name is Taylor. What’s yours?”

  Shae felt a little more comfortable dealing with this one than she did with the other one.

  “Shae.”

  “Well, Shae, I am Taylor. You’ve met Blain. This other one next to me is Joseph. We were asked to find you by someone who would like to meet you. You see, you are a special person, and like us, she has need of you.”

  “I won’t be used,” Shae told him.

  He chuckled disarmingly.

  “Of course not, Shae. No one is going to use you. In fact, she wants to make sure no one will ever harm you again.”

  Considering what he said, she decided she would go with them. She had little to lose. Not caring much for her life, and if they could give her some answers, it would satisfy her for now. If not, she would leave them, if she could, or die, if she couldn’t. It was better than it was now, either way.

  Suddenly, she thought about Daniel and worried for him. Why she should feel this way, she didn’t understand. She hated him, but she also cared for him. she wondered what would happen to him if she died.

  He would be better off, she decided.

  “Alright,” she turned back to Blain. “Let’s go.”

  Without a glance back at the damaged buildings, or the hotel housing Daniel, she left with them.

  Officer Ben Charles hadn’t come to Chicago for this, but this is what he now found himself involved in. He watched as the three men led the small girl away. Yesterday, she had caught his attention as she watched the repairs of the buildings. It appeared to him the girl was there for similar reasons.

  It had been a long road bringing him to Chicago from Sacramento. It was a hunch, one which got him put on leave from the force. His gut told him the person, or thing, he had to admit the possibility now it wasn’t human, which killed the man back in Sacramento, was here in Chicago, or at least, had been.

  The case had grown cold in Sacramento when there was no physical evidence to provide any definitive leads. The only physical evidence didn’t make any sense, or at least, didn’t at the time. It did now. It did to him. His captain wasn’t too keen on his theory and accused him of going all National Enquirer on him.

  The problem was, the only piece of evidence forensics claimed to have found was tiger hair, which was next to impossible in Sacramento. All the tigers were accounted for. Ben had made sure of it, going so far as to track down private owners who had exotic animal registrations. All tigers in the area zoos were locked up and hadn’t escaped. The backgrounds and alibis of all handlers and private owners verified and vetted accordingly. It was, like he said, a dead end.

  Then, there was the news out of Chicago, and the accompanying internet footage of a humanoid tiger. It was the break in the case Ben was waiting for. The problem? No one else thought it had anything to do with his case. In fact, most of the other officers thought it was some joke, or fraud.

  For Ben, it was too obvious a link, one he couldn’t pass up. When he pushed his Captain to let him pursue it, he was denied. It went badly after that. Things were said which shouldn’t have been said. The next thing Ben knew, he was on ‘personal leave.’ He flew out to Chicago the next day.

  That was two days ago. The first day he came down to this corner, the one where he was standing right now, he noticed the girl.

  It was difficult to put an age to her, but he marked her no more than fifteen. She was wearing a gray overcoat and a pair of black sandals, which was peculiar footwear, considering the temperature. Pale skin, she was marked by freckles he could see from across the street. Ruddy brown hair which had been cut short at one point, given the growth she sported now.

  Something about her caught his eye, and it wasn’t until he noticed she kept touching the sides of her coat, at her hip, he realized she was packing.

  At first, he thought he might have been mistaken, but after a few minutes of quiet observation there was no mistaking the nervous touching someone does when they keep checking to make sure their weapons are still there. It was a common trait of someone who had little use of guns and was nervous about using and carrying them.

  He continued to watch her for a few more minutes. Curiously, he wondered as to why he hadn’t crossed the street and confronted the girl. It was clear her intentions were not wholesome.

  Quite possibly, she was going to try and kill someone, but the way she kept surveying the damage, it left him with the idea she was there waiting for the beasts. It intrigued him. Either she had an idea of who they were, or she would somehow recognize them when she saw them.

  What was more worrisome was, for some reason she believed, with the weapons she was carrying, she could deal with them. Given the footage he saw on the internet, this surprised him. After all, he wasn’t sure he would know how or be able to deal with any of them, let alone three of them.

  It was that belief which kept him from approaching the girl. He continued to watch her and others in the crowd for the rest of the day. Many people came to those buildings to inspect the damage made by the monsters which caused more excitement in this town than fear. Many came, but all left, all but the girl - the girl and him.

  A few times, she entered Starbucks, presumably to pee. For the same reason, he entered a restaurant once or twice, but always returning to the same area, as did she. It was surprising she didn’t seem to notice him. It was if she knew, somehow, he wasn’t one of the ones she was searching for, and so her eyes flowed over him.

  It was midnight when she left. He followed her to a local hotel but decided against following her to her room. Instead, he stopped at the desk and flashed his badge to the clerk. “That girl who just went through the lobby?”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t notice a girl, officer. What’s this about?”

  “Police business. The girl, about fifteen, short reddish-brown hair, pale skin and freckles?”

  The clerk thought it over for a minute and shook his head.

  “Doesn’t ring a bell, officer. But, if she checked in during the morning shift, I wouldn’t have seen her come in. You don’t have a room number perhaps?”

  Damn his decision to not follow her up.

  “No. I don’t. Who was on staff this morning?”

  “Kelly. But she’s gone for the day and won’t be back until tomorrow morning.”

  Ben gave it some thought.

  “What time?”

  “Her shift starts at six am,” the clerk informed him.

  “Alright, I’ll be back.”

  Ben left, determined to go back to his hotel and get some sleep. He considered checking out and staying at the same hotel as the girl, but he was worried if she saw him too much, she might get suspicious.

  It was fifteen minutes to six when Ben arrived at the hotel. The girl had been out at the street, same outfit, same spot. Knowing she was there made Ben hurry back to the hotel, hoping nothing happened while he was gone. It was a chance he was going to have to take.

  The same clerk was working the desk when he entered the lobby. A little bleary-eyed when he saw Ben, but he recognized him right away.

  As Ben approached the desk, the clerk raised a finger to indicate he should wait there a moment before disappearing into a side room next to clerk’s posts. Ben overheard some muffled conversation. The clerk returned with a thirty-something woman with black hair and a cute face. Somewhat plumper than he liked them, but her face and eyes would have made up the difference for him, if he was here for that sort of thing.
r />   “Kelly?” He prompted.

  “Yeah, Shawn here says you have a question about someone who is staying with us?”

  “Sure do. I am searching for a girl, early teens, who might have come in the past few days. Reddish brown hair, though more red than brown, short, like it is growing back from being shaved off, pale skin and freckles. Ah, I see by your expression you know whom I’m talking about?”

  The woman hesitated, trying to figure out if she should confide in him.

  “Go ahead,” he encouraged her.

  “Yes. I saw her. She came in, maybe two days ago, with an older gentleman. They paid for a week, in cash.”

  Pausing, she let it sink in for a moment. It only took him a moment to realize the significance. They were in downtown Chicago; a week’s stay would almost be around two thousand after taxes. Not a small amount to lay down in cash, but it wasn’t exactly damning.

  “This gentleman, can you describe him?”

  She described him as best as she could. It was clear something about the gentleman bothered her. He pressed her on it.

  “Well, it’s just he was easily in his forties, and as you know, the girl is in her teens. You might think father/daughter, but they shared no similar features. Her red hair for instance was natural and he had dark hair.” She paused, again unsure of stating the next part. Nodding for her to continue, he was trying to be patient.

  “The other strange thing was their relationship. It was definitely not father/daughter, but what it was, I don’t know, either. He deferred to her, as if asking permission for his actions. There was also a weird type of attraction between the two. I don’t know. It was weird, okay? It made me feel uncomfortable. I almost called the police because I thought there might be something illegal happening between the two, but I couldn’t be sure, you know? It would be my job if the police showed up, accused someone, and nothing was happening.”

  She glanced at him apprehensively. “Now you are here, I am starting to think perhaps I should have.”

  Smiling at her reassuringly. “I don’t know anything about what you are referring to. In fact, I didn’t know there was someone else staying here with her, so you probably did the right thing. If there is anything illegal going on, you can be sure, I will deal with it.” Turning to go, he suddenly turned back.

  “Do you have their room number?”

  “Of course, it is room 112, through there,” she pointed to a short hallway which teed at the end. “Turn left at the end, go to the end of the hall and turn right. The room is almost all the way at the back of the building.”

  Smiling again, he thanked her, turned to leave, and once more, turned back.

  “Curious. Did they request the room?”

  Her eyes grew big and her mouth made a small ‘o’. “Now that you mention it, yes, they did. They wanted a room on the first floor, near the back of the building. How did you know?”

  Smiling again for the last time, he left, not answering her. It was best not to explain how most people who do things illegally frequently want a room on the ground floor and as far away from the front as they can, so getting away was easier. No need to alarm the poor girl, as he planned to take care of all this today.

  As he hurried back to where the girl was hopefully still standing, he wondered why he had yet to see the man who arrived with the girl. Plainly, he wasn’t going to the corner with her.

  But why? Did he even leave the room? Could he? There were all sorts of nightmare scenarios running through his mind as to what could be, but he let it drop. He didn’t have enough information to come close to drawing a theory.

  Half jogging, half walking back to his scouting spot, he was in time to see the large man approach the girl. At once, he didn’t like the appearance of this guy at all, but he didn’t match the description the clerk gave him of the guy who came with her, so this was someone new. Perhaps, this is who the girl had been waiting for. Perhaps, this was who he had been waiting for.

  The first thing he realized was he had been right about her packing. When the guy approached, she immediately reached into her coat for whatever was hiding there, but something the man said made her relax… to some extent.

  Ben pondered whether he should go over and somehow break up whatever this was, but something about the appearance of the guy made him rethink his idea. It was then he noticed the other two. They were off to the side, close enough to do something, but not close enough for the girl to have figured out they were together.

  This was going from bad to worse in Ben’s eyes, and he felt helpless to stop it. For the first time in his career, a feeling of cold dread stole over him. His gut was screaming at him to walk away, perhaps run. Continuing this plan of action was going to get him killed, but he couldn’t let anything happen to this girl. Despite all the evidence pointing to this girl being as bad news as these guys were, she was still just a teen. Maybe she had a chance to change. Even after all he had seen in his career as a cop, he was still a little naïve. He couldn’t help it.

  The conversation unfolded as he watched. Words were exchanged, and at one point the girl must have stood up for herself because the big man almost made to lunge for her but was pulled up short by a word from the taller of the two guys who were off to the side. For the first time, the girl realized the guy was not alone and her posture changed to someone who appeared ready to flee.

  The taller guy approached her, and whatever he said calmed her. He talked to her some more, and to Ben’s surprise, they left together.

  It took Ben a moment to realize they were, indeed, leaving. Ben crossed the street while they were only a block away. Trailing them for several blocks, he watched them enter a luxury apartment high rise. Entering shortly after they did, he was in time to see them enter an elevator.

  He had two choices; follow them once he knew what floor they got off on, which didn’t seem likely he would find them after he got to that floor. Or, he could hope for the best, and the doorman would know what room they were headed to. The big guy was discernible and disconcerting enough, the doorman might know which room they leased.

  It seemed like this was Ben’s best option and he jogged over to the man, trying to gain back some time. Luckily for Ben, the doorman did indeed remember the big guy and told Ben what room he was staying in. Ben dashed for the elevators.

  He knew he would get there after they did, but perhaps he could hear what was happening and be able to act if something did occur. They were on the tenth floor, and Ben considered what he had discerned about criminals typically taking ground floor rooms. The only ones who didn’t bother to do this, he realized, were the extremely dangerous ones — the ones who weren’t afraid of the police, or anyone.

  When the elevator opened on the tenth floor, Ben hesitated a moment to glance out, making sure he didn’t run into them outside the room. The longer they had no idea who he was, or what he was doing, the better it was for him. There was no one in the hall.

  Ben made his way to room 1008 and crouched in front of the door, listening. Voices reached him through the door but couldn’t make out what was being said. There wasn’t any yelling or screaming, which was good.

  Considering his options, Ben realized they were few, but he needed to hear what was happening inside. Glancing around, he headed for the door next to this room, and knocked lightly upon it. After a moment, the door opened a crack, a middle-aged, finely combed sandy brown hair of a man in dark glasses peeked out. Blue eyes peered at him through the crack and gave him the once over.

  “Can I help you?”

  Ben flashed him his badge and the man straightened somewhat.

  “I need to use your apartment for a while.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I need to make use of your apartment, for a short time, I am hoping. If you could let me in and make yourself scarce for the rest of the day I would appreciate it.”

  The man was irritated by the idea and continued to press the issue.

  “Why do you need to use my ap
artment?”

  “Official police business, now, if you will please allow me the use of your apartment, it is somewhat a matter of urgency.”

  “Don’t you need a warrant?”

  Ben had had about enough.

  “Sir, you watch too many police shows. I do not need a warrant because I am not searching or entering for the purposes related to this particular apartment. Furthermore, I could have done this the rude way and talked to the apartment manager and had him toss you out for the day. I decided to be polite and ask you, instead. Now, will you please step aside and allow me to enter?”

  The man seemed to think mayhap he should press his luck. Perhaps, what Ben had told him was the truth? Most of it wasn’t. In the end, he decided being an asshole for no reason was silly and stepped aside, allowing the door to open enough for Ben to enter.

  “Thank you,” Ben told him as he moved past him. “Now, I hate to ask this of you, but for your own safety you might want to go find something to do somewhere else for a while.” Ben smiled at him in what he hoped was apologetic.

  The man stared at him for a moment, grabbed his wallet and keys off the small hall table, and left.

  Ben hoped too much time had not been wasted on gaining entry and rapidly made his way to the wall adjoining the two apartments. Removing his pocketknife, he always carried from his pocket, he pulled out the small saw blade to start working on the drywall.

  Cutting a square, larger than his head, between the two studs slowly and carefully finally cut two small holes to see into the room. As soon as he cut one hole, he could make out a conversation occurring on the other side.

  “…told you, the Lady will be here in a day or so, and she will answer all of your questions.” It sounded like someone with a British accent.

  “Yeah, but what does she want with me?” A girl’s voice, forceful, but with a slight quiver to it. Acting braver than she was.

  “I told ya. I don’t know what the hell she wants with ya, only she does. And if you keep asking me these stupid questions over and over again, you won’t get any answers because I will toss ya out the window.”