Mason waded into the turmoil. He ripped Smoke out of the deaders that clung to him like flies on tape. Holding Smoke by the nape of the neck, he punched him in the gut. “I will break every bone in you!” The punches kept coming. Mason mashed Smoke’s face into the wall. He hoisted him over his head and pounded him into the ceiling like something one would see in a comic book.
When Smoke’s body was used up like a sock full of cue balls, Mason started beating the deaders with his frame.
Somehow, Smoke squirmed out of Mason’s iron grip. He snaked into the deaders that threw their bodies at him in a wave. Catching them off balance, he pushed them in Mason’s path. Surprisingly, Smoke’s body held together. His bones seemed malleable in a unique way, something like how rats could squeeze through tiny holes. All he knew was he still lived. A movie quote crossed his mind: “Bats are excellent survivors.”
“Where are you going, Smoke? Stop running! Start fighting!”
Smoke picked up a deader and flung the man at Mason.
Mason shrugged it off with his horns. He gored another through the head, making for a nasty crunch when he slung it aside.
Before Mason could gather another head of steam, Smoke ducked underneath his crushing arms. Using his own long arms, he scooped up Mason by the legs, lifted the massive shifter up off his feet, and slammed him on the floor. Wild with rage, Smoke attached himself to Mason’s body and pummeled him in the face. He jammed his thumbs into the minotaur’s eyes. He raked Mason’s face with claws. His fists pounded the minotaur’s chin.
The flurry of attacks had Mason flailing and kicking. “Get off me, pest!” Mason rolled back on top of Smoke.
Smoke pulled his knees up into his chest and planted his feet in Mason’s abdomen. He flung the minotaur over his head, sending him crashing into more deaders. Without looking back, Smoke ran back the way he came.
Come on, Smoke! Think! You have to think!
Shifter or not, there wasn’t much more he could take from Mason without his body shutting down. Even worse, he was losing control of himself. His sharp mind had dulled. He clung to his humanity. The inner struggle was worse than the outer one.
Mason’s powerful voice echoed down the hard walls of the hall. “You can run, but you can’t hide. We own you, rodent.” His footsteps were thunder. The pounding thuds grew louder as he picked up speed. “I am strength! I am doom! I am invincible!”
Rounding the next corner, Smoke couldn’t make an argument against what Mason stated. The shifter was a juggernaut. Smoke had tried everything, and nothing slowed the monster. He needed a weapon like the one he had used on the giants. He had nothing. In times like this, he usually used strategy, but his mind was so fogged that he couldn’t dig anything up. All he wanted to do was fight. Kill.
Keep it simple. What’s the mission, Smoke? Keep it simple.
He ran down one straightaway after the other. A single thought kept with him.
Kill Kane. Where is Kane? Kill Kane.
Smoke knew the layout of the entire facility top to bottom. He’d been through every room. He fought to get his bearings. Where was he? Where did he need to be? He was on the third floor. Kane was on the third floor in a concealed location that took extra security to get to. There was only one way in and one way out. No doubt it would be heavily guarded.
“Quit running, Smoke. It’s only a matter of time before I catch you!”
As he ran, Smoke caught names on doorways. God, help me put this together. Like puzzle pieces, they came together. The layout that was broken mended. A clear blueprint formed in his mind’s eye. He knew where he needed to go. Where he had to be. Kane, I’m coming!
CHAPTER 30
“Megan, get away from her. Get away!” Sid shouted.
Sherry pressed the knife to the young girl’s throat.
Sid’s stomach knotted. “Noooo!”
“So sorry, Sidney,” Frank said with his strong fingers keeping her wriggling form held fast. “One life ends and a new life begins.”
The knife slashed a line across Megan’s throat. The cute little girl didn’t scream or gasp. She didn’t even bleed.
With her entire soul haunted, Sid gasped. The horror of what was happening only compounded her confusion. “What, what, what?” she panted. Her heart was racing. New blood rushed behind her temples from a fear-provoked rush of adrenaline. “This is madness. Megan, talk to me, Megan.”
Megan’s eyes narrowed in mockery. Something devious took over. Devious and familiar. Megan snatched Sherry by the hand. She hip-tossed the undead woman over her shoulder as if she were a man twice her size.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Frank said with outrage. “Who are you?”
Megan transformed right before their eyes from a pretty girl to a young, handsome black boy with granite-colored eyes. With a smile crossing his face, the young man said, “You always were such a goon, Frank.”
“Manson!” Frank shouted. “Have you gone mad?”
It was Manson Bay. Sid hadn’t seen or heard from him since they lost Smoke at the cloning plant. She’d forgotten all about him.
Manson looked down at his pink unicorn shirt. “Certainly my style is questionable, but the bear was a nice touch, wasn’t it?”
Frank’s fingers dug into Sid’s shoulder and neck. The pressure grew. Her breath choked off. “You’re supposed to be on our side, Manson. Don’t be a fool. You dare sacrifice yourself for one like this? Rich, Sherry, take him.”
“Stay put, Rich and Sherry.” Manson winked at Frank. “Surprised, big man? I put a little wrinkle in your immortal soup. Now Rich and Sherry respond to me.”
Sid continued to choke. Still sitting in her chair, she made the move she’d been waiting for. Securing her wrists with duct tape had been a poor move. Tearing through those bonds was easy. She sawed her elbows back, hitting her bindings just below the knees. The duct tape ripped. She grabbed ahold of Frank’s arm and tried to toss him.
“No, you don’t.” He lifted her clear from her feet. Her head touched the ceiling. “There is no cavalry, Sidney. I’m going to kill you.”
A long knife hacked into Frank’s arm below the elbow. Manson continued to chop. “What do you mean, there’s no cavalry? I’m the cavalry.”
Sid slipped out of Frank’s grasp.
The large man kicked Manson so hard he landed on another desk.
Choking and coughing, Sid spied her gun on the floor. She staggered over.
Frank tripped her.
She fell on top of the weapon. She shifted over to her back and fired. Bullets ripped through his chest.
Frank staggered away and burst outside of the double doors and ran.
Still coughing, Sid got up and looked at Manson, who was also back on his feet. “Where’s he going?”
“Who knows?” Mason shrugged. “Frank’s a big coward. He’ll run as far as he can go.”
“No, he’s too dangerous. We have to stop him. He’ll just go after more of my friends.” Sid grabbed her earpiece and the comm link. “Where’s Megan, Manson?”
Manson took a seat behind one of the computer consoles. His fingers were hard at work. “Who?”
“My niece, Megan! The one you were disguised as.”
“Oh, don’t worry. It’s late. I’m sure she’s fast asleep at the safe house.”
Sid glared at him. She didn’t have time for more games. On a good note, she was still alive, and the adrenaline rush had wiped out her asthma. She called out on the comm link, “Guppy! It’s Sid! Abort the parking lot. I’m back in the control room. Look out for Frank! He, well, looks like Fred Quinn. Don’t let him fool you! Guppy, are you there?”
“Roger that, Sid. Cort and I are on it. Coming back your way,” Guppy said. “We got a new weapon out of one of their storage rooms. It should be useful.”
“I’m coming,” Sid said. “Watch out, Frank is dangerous!” She turned to Manson. “I’ll be back. Don’t you go anywhere.”
Without looking away from his computer scre
ens, he said, “Don’t worry, I have plenty to do.”
Not taking any chances, Sid shot the magnetic lock that sealed the double doors shut. “See you soon, Manson.” She almost thanked him but held back. In all reality, the boy was a shifter. The last thing she was going to do was put her faith in one of them. With her wind coming back, she chased after Frank. She’d caught a glimpse of where he was going on the screen. He was headed right for the exits that led to the parking lot. No doubt he’d prey on the weak. That was the coward’s way. He’d hold the likes of Sam or Mal up in some type of twisted ransom.
It wasn’t long before she heard his footsteps. He didn’t move very fast. She rounded the corner and caught him halfway down the hall. She fired a shot that clipped his shoulder.
Frank didn’t slow until Cort and Guppy appeared at the other end of the corridor. He looked back and forth between the two of them. “Shoot all you want. You can’t kill me, but you can try. I’d be delighted to see you kill one another in a crossfire.”
“We’re better shots than that, you idiot.” Sid moved flush against the wall. On the other end, Guppy and Cort backed up on the same side. “Aim for the left knee!”
The hallway echoed with the loud sound of bullets bursting out of the barrel. Frank stood his ground for a moment as his knee was shredded. The long appendage fell out of his pants leg and oozed on the floor. Frank stood one legged like a crane. His hollow eyes were filled with amazement. “You still can’t kill me.”
“We ain’t going to kill you.” Cort set a chainsaw on the floor and fired it up. The little engine roared with a gas-guzzling and throaty life. “We’re just going to turn you into firewood. Time to burn, Franken Face!” He revved up the engine.
Frank’s arms waved frantically as he pleaded, “No! No!”
Cort and the chainsaw turned the shifter into kindling. Nothing but oozing body parts and scraps of his suit remained.
“That was gruesome but needed to be done,” Sid said to them. She took her eyes off them for a moment and wiped the hair from her eyes. When she looked at them again, someone behind them slammed their heads together. Both men hit the floor out cold.
Sid’s tongue clove to the roof of her mouth when Allison said, “Hello, Sis.”
CHAPTER 31
Smoke led the chase. Mason charged after his heels. Redcoat deaders roamed the halls. If Smoke couldn’t dodge, he knocked them aside. Mason ran right over them, but as fast as the minotaur was — with hooves that tore up the old floors — Smoke stayed ahead. The goal was to make it to the southern face of the building. Kane’s office was in an overhang that looked out over the river. It was boxed in all by itself, a separate attachment to the building, but solidly built.
Almost there.
Letting Mason gain a few steps on him, he flung the office door open and ran inside. At a full sprint, he ran through the plaster walls, crossed through another hallway, opened up another door, and ran inside. He leaped a desk and punched through the back wall. Covered in plaster dust, he opened up the adjacent office door. He hit the wall solidly with his shoulder. It didn’t give. He clawed the plaster in huge hunks.
Mason came. The minotaur’s tremendous frame was running through walls like he was running through sheets of paper.
Smoke’s long fingernails tore at the cinder block. Got to sell it!
“I have you now, rodent!” Mason roared.
With Mason’s footsteps closing in like a crashing tidal wave, Smoke jumped aside at the last possible moment.
At full speed, the bull man’s powerful body carried him clear through the cinder block wall and across Kane’s office toward the wall of glass.
Smoke caught a glimpse of Mason steamrolling through the room. The minotaur ran roughshod through a television and sofa without slowing. Smoke fully expected Mason to bounce off the glass windows the same as he had. Instead, Mason hit it full speed. The glass gave way, shattering into thousands of pieces that looked like sparkling rain.
“Nooooo!” Mason cried. A notable thud-glitch followed.
Smoke slipped into the room.
The refined furniture that hadn’t been trampled was still intact. Kane was standing behind his bar, frozen with a drink of whiskey in his hand. His brows were up to his hairline.
Smoke made his way to the window and took a look down. Mason was impaled on some iron fencing that he’d crushed underneath him. He still moved, but like a turtle upside down on his shell.
Kane started pouring another tumbler of whiskey. “My, John, you really are an incredible person. You’ve made it to the final level. Pat yourself on the back, brother. You passed the test.” With the courtesy of a gracious host, Kane approached Smoke and offered him the drink.
Smoke didn’t take it.
“Oh, come on. This is the end, one way or the other.”
Smoke took the drink, and without looking at it, he flung it outside.
“Oh, come on. That was a two-hundred-dollar shot of whiskey. And you of all people should know that refusal to take what has been offered can lead to unfortunate circumstances.”
“I can live with that.”
Kane walked closer to the shattered window. “Do you mind?” he said as he leaned over. He shook his head. “I can’t believe you duped Mason a second time. You know, it took us weeks to extract him from that cavity you led him into. I almost left him, but he was one of my strongest.”
“Let’s get this over with, Kane.”
“Just give me a moment, dear John.” Kane moved over to the sofa and scooted it over the floor with his thigh back into its original spot. Half of the sofa was crushed. He still sat down. “I’d offer you a seat, but… You can pull up a barstool if you like, while we talk.”
“We aren’t talking, Kane. We’re fighting.”
Kane’s calmness made Smoke uneasy. The shifter gesticulated as if he didn’t have a care in the world. If the world was burning down around him, Kane would not sweat. The way he carried himself was like a demigod among mortals. He feared nothing.
“Get up.”
“Feel free to pounce on me if you want, but just as a reminder, your friends — what’s left of them — are still out there. Your sweet wife, Sid, hangs by a thread. And let’s not forget the child. John Keith, is it?” Kane rested his muscular elbows on his knees. “Sleeping in his crib at the in-laws’. They sleep peacefully, but that’s only because I let them.”
Smoke’s foot scraped over the broken glass. The clouds drifted beyond the light of the moon, bathing his backside in white light. His temperature rose. “I know you aren’t bluffing. I’m not bluffing either. I’m going to kill you.”
“No, like so many others who have come this close before, you’re going to serve me.” Kane polished off his glass of whisky and set it down on the busted planks of the floor. “Let me just give you a little more history about two of your favorite opponents. Let’s start with the bull man, Mason Crowe. He was like you once. A do-gooder, wife and family, who wanted to take out the likes of me.” He spread his arms wide like he held a great fish. “He got this close.”
“I don’t care.”
“And then there’s Reginald,” Kane continued. “I really, really, really didn’t think you would whip him, but you did, John. You, a mortal, defeating a shifter. It was uncanny. At that moment, I knew you would be a more than worthy replacement. I just needed to get you to that point. And here we are.”
“You’re lying, Kane.” Smoke’s breath became heavy. His fingers clutched in and out. “You’re always lying.”
“No, there isn’t any point in lying at this juncture. Reginald was the best ever, aside from you. I beat him so bad that he finally caved underneath my power. The fight didn’t last very long, either. As you Americans like to say, I mopped the floor with him. In regards to me, let me give you a better idea of what you’re facing. I’m the best of all of them, but ten times as strong, proportionally speaking. The giants, given their girth, in some cases are an equal match.” He removed
a dark ring from his finger. “See this? Titanium.” Kane pinched the ring flat between his fingers. “Do you still want to fight, or can I accept your surrender?”
CHAPTER 32
“It’s been a long time, Sid,” Allison said with a purr in her voice. She was a gorgeous woman to begin with, but now she’d become an exotic goddess. A flowing mane of hair draped down and over her shoulders. Her cat eyes sparkled green with the fire of a lurking predator. Her full and generous curves were enhanced in the sleeveless, low-cut bodysuit she wore. She was wicked, dangerous. Her pretty mouthful of teeth was chilling. The claws on the tigress were deadly. “What do you think of your new sister?”
“You look like you now have everything you wanted.” Sid brandished a knife in one hand and a gun in the other. She kept them down around her knees. “Beauty and power, just at the cost of your humanity. You’re a fool, Allison. Why would you do this to yourself?”
“You know me, Sid.” Allison stroked the pelt of soft striped fur on her arm. “I’ve always sought the spotlight. The attention. I hunger for it. I wanted to be the one everyone looks at. Men will swoon, women will be jealous. Yes, I may be vain, but I delight in it. Now, I’ll have it all, this voluptuous figure, this gorgeous face, forever.”
Sid pointed the gun at Frank’s remains. “Did you not just see what happened to him? The same will happen to you, eventually. Fate catches up with you, Allison. This is evil. Evil loses, always.”
“It doesn’t seem to me that it’s losing. Besides, who’s to say what is and isn’t evil? Look at me, I’m stunning. How can that be bad?”
“You know better.”
“No, I knew better, but I know better now.” Allison stepped over Frank. She stood inches taller than Sid now. It had always been the other way around. She seemed to gloat over it. “You were always the athlete and the smart one. I don’t think that’s the case now. Now, you’ve stuck your nose where it doesn’t belong. I’m going to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I’m going to whip you bloody.”
The Supernatural Bounty Hunter Files: Special Edition Fantasy Bundle, Books 6 thru 10 (Smoke Special Edition Book 2) Page 60