Dark Side Darker

by Lucas T. Harmond

  Ian never got time to answer as there came a tap on the window. They all turned to see a gun pressed against the glass. “Oh shit!” said Rufus. “Not again,” mumbled Josh. Ian slowly raised his hands into the air. “Look, everyone just stay calm.”

  The suit outside mouthed for them to get out of the car. His partner had moved to the opposite side of the car now and was also fixing them with his gun.

  Slowly Ian opened his door.

  “Okay everybody out! Anyone who gives us any resistance gets a bullet between the eyes, understand?”

  “We’re not going to be any trouble,” said Ian calmly.

  “Do you have any idea of what you’ve got yourselves into??” asked suit number two and then quickly added, “Come on, come on, everyone out! Before we’re seen. God if they sense us now...”

  Quietly and under gunpoint the group assembled outside the car. Suit number two quickly frisked Ian and removed the gun from his jacket-pocket.

  “What should we do with them?” he asked.

  “You take the car and park it out of sight. I’ll take them to the surveillance building and contact HQ. I suspect they’ll want one of us to bring them in.”

  “Right. The keys sir?”

  “They’re in the ignition,” Ian told him.

  The first man nodded. “Right, everyone in front of me. We’re heading to the doorway of that building over there. No one runs, speaks or makes a move unless I tell them. I don’t want to shoot you, but believe me I won’t hesitate if I have to!”

  As they walked, the car behind them pulled away and headed quietly up the darkened street.

  They reached a small set of concrete steps, and after climbing them Josh paused at the graffiti covered door.

  “Go on then! Get inside,” the suit said anxiously.

  “You didn’t tell me to,” Josh sneered.

  The man had to swallow his anger. “I’m telling you now! Get the fuck inside!”

  The door swung open on a darkened hallway with an old set of wooden stairs leading up into blackness. The man shut the door and flicked a switch on the wall. A dim dirt-covered bulb flickered into life.

  “Okay everyone, hands on your heads and move up the far end of the hall,” he fixed Josh with a hard glare. “And no one fucks about, right?”

  “We’re not going to give you any trouble,” Ian said again.

  The man quickly pressed a button on his phone, and while keeping the gun on them put it to his ear. He waited.

  “Yeah, it’s me. We’ve got them, yeah those runaway kids and the fool detective like you thought.” He paused. “I don’t think so, sir. There wasn’t any visible signs. But let’s be honest, it’s hard to say— yes I agree this is the worst time for it. What do you want done?”

  The man on the other end, the same man who had earlier spoke to Ian on his doorstep, hesitated only for a millisecond. “You bring them in. you should be able to handle them. Have Harrow stay and continue to monitor the site. I don’t want to lose them now the creatures have become more active. Although I dare say the very people you have there are the same ones who stirred them up in the first place. Fucking fools.”

  “Understood, sir.” He turned a steely gaze on his prisoners. “Do have any idea of what you’re involved in? Do you actually realise how much danger you’ve put yourselves in? Jesus if they’ve sensed us...” He fell silent.

  “Jesus!” he said to himself and then continued, almost as an afterthought. “How the hell did you find this place anyway?”

  No one spoke.

  “It doesn’t matter,” he said largely to himself. “We’d assumed there was a leak at the station when someone, presumably you, had talked to the university’s Dean before us.”

  “I don’t see that it matters now,” said Ian gruffly. “Yeah it was me. It’s all over now I’ve threatened one of your men with a gun anyway.”

  The other man nodded. “Damn right!”

  He was about to go on when there was a knock on the door. He grew tense and aimed the gun. He closed his eyes for a second, saw through Harrow’s eyes and relaxed. He looked at the others intensely. “It’s okay, it’s my man. I’m going to turn off the lights now and let him in. If anyone makes a move I’m going to start shooting. Understood?”

  Those who could be bothered nodded.

  The suit flicked the switch and in the dark fumbled with the heavy wooden door. The second suit was standing alertly outside. He took one look over his shoulder before entering the relative safety of their surveillance building.

  The door shut, again closing them into darkness, a seconds pause and then the dirty hallway again exploded into light.

  “Okay, the car’s out of sight. What’s Macross want done with that lot?”

  “You’re to stay here and watch the site and I’ve got to take them in.”

  “By yourself?”

  “I can’t see it being a problem.”

  “You fucking idiots!” The second suit said to the assembled mass. “You could have fucked up everything! For all I know you already have! Fuck!”

  “Relax, there’s no time for that. Look, you go upstairs and continue surveillance and I’ll lead them to the car.”

  TAKEN IN

  THE CAR CRUISED THROUGH the darkened streets. Inside its passengers were silently occupied with their own thoughts. The suit drove on silently fuming that their operation should have been endangered by such a rag-tag group. Ian was quietly accepting the end of his career and cursing his own stupidity. Also he questioned why he’d acted as such in the first place. Wondered what sudden madness had held him in its sway. Josh could think only of Sarah, a means of escape and any means of getting some kind of cure to her. And both Karen and Rufus were simply questioning how the hell they’d got involved in the first place. Certainly they hadn’t gone looking and in the backs of their minds, both quietly cursed Josh.

  The silence was broken by the high pitched digital ring of Rufus’s mobile. This shocked him most as it was turned off...

  “Are you gonna’ answer that?” asked Josh.

  The suit flashed an annoyed glance from his mirror. “Whoever it is tell them to sod off. Do not tell them where you are!”

  Rufus was holding the phone in awe. “It’s not even turned on!”

  “Shit!” barked the driver.

  “Should I answer it?” asked Rufus.

  “You stupid fucks!” The driver said over his shoulder. “Now you’ve alerted them, the whole operation’s blown!”

  Rufus ignored him, mainly because he was too shocked to fully take it in. “Should I answer it?” he repeated.

  “Jesus!” said the suit with his free hand pressed to his brow. “If they know I don’t see what difference it makes. Find out what they want!”

  Rufus pressed the receive key and was met with silence.

  “Yeah?” he said quietly.

  The phone feedbacked in his ear ending with a shrill digital code and then the voice spoke within his mind.

  ‘We have your parents.’

  “Oh shit!” cried Rufus, collapsing forward clasping his head. “It’s in my fucking mind!!!” he cried.

  Karen was panicked. “What is?!?”

  “A voice! In my fucking head!”

  The voice continued with a chill precision. ‘Your’s and the girl’s. Come to, oh, I see you’ve already been there. Come to the same warehouse, you have one hour and then we start cutting things off—I think I’ll start with the noses.’ And then it was gone.

  Rufus was stunned, both by the assault and by what he’d been told. “We’ve got to go back,” he said with quiet retrospection.

  “What did they want?!” demanded the suit. “Do they know about our operation?”

  Rufus was still bewildered. “I don’t know man, I don’t know,” he said quietly and then recovering, he almost shouted. “Look man, we’ve got to go back! Now!!”

  “Why? What do they know? Did they detect us at the site?”

  Rufus grabbed the
back of his chair frantically. “They’ve got our fucking parents man!”

  Karen’s voice was shrill. “They’ve what!!!”

  Rufus turned to her, eyes wild. “Our parents! your’s and mine.”

  “They’re lying,” said the suit simply.

  “What??”

  “We’ve had your home addresses watched in case you showed up. If they’d been to your homes we’d know.”

  Rufus shook the back of his head rest. “No man they weren’t! I, I know they weren’t. Oh Jesus.”

  “Look kid, I’m warning you, sit back! I’ll call in.”

  “Oh Jesus,” said Rufus again, then he turned to Josh. “How the fuck did you get us into this?”

  “Me!” barked Josh. “You think I wanted any of this? I was just trying to help Sarah.”

  “They haven’t??” The suit was saying. “Okay. I’ll proceed as planned.” He cut the transmission.

  “Well?” demanded Karen.

  “Well,” he started slowly. “There may be something to their claim.”

  “Oh Jesus!” said Rufus, beginning to panic. Days of unrest and excessive weed smoking taking their toll on his nerves.

  “What’s happening?” asked Ian with a slight edge to his voice.

  The suit hesitated, deciding whether or not to share with him what he had just been told. “We’ve lost contact with our surveillance teams. There was one brief garbled message, then nothing.”

  “Well, that settles it,” said Karen. “We’ve got to go back.”

  “Nothing doing. My orders are exactly the same as before, to bring you in for questioning.”

  “But they’ve got our parents!” Karen said sharply. “Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

  “At the level we’re operating at, frankly no.”

  “But they’re gonna’ kill them,” shouted Rufus.

  “There’s nothing we can do now. At the moment we simply can’t move on them, they’re too powerful, but now you’ve interfered we may have to anyway. Did they say anything about our operation? It’s very important that you tell me exactly what they said.”

  “Fuck your operation man! They’re gonna’ kill our parents.”

  “That can’t be helped now. Besides, you brought this on yourselves.”

  “You think we went looking for this!?!” erupted Josh. “My head’s been a fucking war zone for months!! What choice did I ever have?”

  Rufus looked at him angrily. “Hey, fuck you Josh man. They haven’t got your parents!”

  “Look everyone, calm down. Just tell me exactly what they said and I’ll try to help you. Now did they say anything about our operation?”

  “No man, no. They just told me they had our parents and threatened to kill them unless we went back within the hour.”

  The suit nodded. “Nothing about us?”

  “No, he just said to come to their building and he seemed to know we’d already been there.”

  “That’s not good, it means he read you. For all I know he may have seen us too and know everything about our operation. I think we’re going to have to move prematurely and without the...” He paused. “Well, to put it simply, as it is, we stand very little chance.”

  DRILLED BY THE MAN

  THE SLEEK CAR rolled into the police station’s car park and slid to a rest amongst a collection of similar cars and assorted squad and civilian vehicles. “Sir, we’re in the car park now,” their captor said simply into his intercom. “Okay, we’ll wait.”

  After a few moments two identically dressed men walked out of the lit up glass doors of the station and casually strolled towards them.

  The man released the locks on the car’s doors and looked back over his broad shoulder. “Okay, no trouble now, understood?”

  “We haven’t been any trouble yet,” said Ian.

  The man frowned. “Other than screwing up our entire operation, no of course not. Everybody out.”

  They spilled into the darkened car park and were rapidly collected up by the three men.

  The man who had drove, roughly twisted Ian into an armlock and hustled him towards the doors.

  Ian gritted his teeth. “That isn’t necessary.”

  The man laughed. “Yes, it fucking is. Now move!”

  Inside they were faced by the wall-wide bulletproof screen of the reception desk. The tired-looking middle aged man who sat drinking coffee saw the suits and their prisoners and buzzed them through. The electric locks sprung on the grid-glass windowed wooden door and Ian, Josh and his friends were shoved through.

  “Macross wants us in armour and ready to go within the hour,” said the man pushing Rufus.

  “Some difference that’ll make!” grunted his partner.

  “He’s really going to have us move on them?” asked their driver.

  “Depending on what this lot can tell us. But your surveillance suggests they’re getting ready to move. So what choice do we really have?”

  “You’re probably right.” He used his free hand to clout Josh around the back of his head, felt his greasy hair and instantly regretted it.

  “Hey, that’s Police brutality!” grumbled Josh.

  “We ain’t the police, lad,” he replied and began to shove Ian up the stairs in front.

  They reached the top floor. “Okay, split them up. Have the girl and the detective separate and put the other two in the same room. Macross wants to talk to the detective first so just hold them until he’s ready.”

  “Right,” said the driver and shoved Rufus through the door.

  “Yo, you better watch it man!”

  The man snorted out a laugh. “Quiet lad before I make you cry.”

  Rufus and Josh found themselves in a small dimly-lit room with a small table and three simple plastic chairs.

  “Sit down,” said the suit.

  “Man this is all bullshit,” grumbled Rufus as he sat. Josh slunk down into his seat silently. He was seized by a deep sense of dread.

  The suit sat opposite, his cold eyes burning into them with clear disdain. After ten minutes of intense silence he leaned forward and said. “I honestly don’t think you two have any idea of how much trouble you’re in, and how much trouble you’ve caused.”

  “We’re on this again, are we?” said Josh, meeting his icy glare.

  The man sat back, a slight smile forming at the corners of his mouth. “Careful, lad. As I said, we’re not the police. I won’t think anything of putting you on the floor and opening up your head, in fact it’s only that Macross wants to talk to you that I haven’t.”

  “Oooh, scary,” said Rufus.

  The man leaned purposely towards him, but before he could act the door swung open.

  Macross was an imposing figure. Steel grey eyes which gave away nothing, a bald head, broad shoulders and an expensive suit hiding the taught and powerful frame of his body. He stood as unmovable as a rock.

  On seeing him, his man had instinctively sat back but it was clear from the quiet look of disdain on Macross’ face that he had seen his intent and that this was not the way he did things, unless it was required.

  “Foolishly,” he started in a deep voice which rooted the two friends to the spot, “I believed you not to be a threat. In hindsight we should have forced entry to the detective’s house and have you all kept isolated as soon as we suspected that you may have been there.” He paused, a distant look in his eyes. “The fact I didn’t implies there may have been an outside influence I wasn’t aware of at the time. That should worry me, but the simple truth is the operation is already in such jeopardy that it hardly seems to matter anymore.”

  As he entered the room fully, the other man rose and gave up his seat. Macross sat down and continued. “It would seem, however, that you had already done the damage, before we were aware of you, on the night we tailed you from the Raheed residence and you executed one of our quarry.”

  “Man, we didn’t do that!” Rufus blurted out.

  “Yeah,” said Josh. “That was a man called
Carthy.” He expected the large man to ask him who Carthy was, but he merely smiled.

  “Yes, we’ll come to that but first I want to check the story detective McCalister has told me. Firstly he claims that you became involved when you discovered your girlfriend Sarah at the flat of one of your associates?”

  “She’s not my girlfriend,” grumbled Josh.

  Rufus continued. “Yeah that’s right, we found her in the bath, completely fucked up! And, and with the motherfuckin’ Thing in the next room.”

  “Quite,” said Macross, and then turned his gaze onto Josh. “But you had been experiencing psychic phenomenon for some time before the initial contact?”

  “I thought I was going crazy,” Josh said quietly.

  “A common mistake and one shared by the present mental health organisations. Still, time is short, so after your encounter at the flat of Robert South you went to find him at his mother’s house. This led you to believe your girl had taken a substance he referred to as a drug called ‘Blue’. This then led, by means McCalister wasn’t sure of, to the

  Raheed residence. If you care to fill in the blanks?”

  Rufus looked baffled. “Raheed?”

  “He means the drug dealer’s house.”

  “Oh,” said Rufus. “Floyd took us there.”

  Macross and his man exchanged glances.

  “Do you have an address of this Floyd?” The second man asked seriously.

  Rufus laughed. “No.”

  Macross nodded and again continued. “It’s reported that on Monday the 12th of October, at six thirty-five, two men were seen entering the Raheed residence. The first was Caucasian and thin with long hair, the second African and well built with dreadlocks—Would this have been you?”

  “Yeah, it sounds like us,” noted Rufus as he looked at his watch. “Look man, I don’t want to rush you but what about mine and Karen’s parents?”

  “We’ll come to that. At the time your appearance at the house wasn’t noted as anything out of the ordinary, as it was only one of a number of such occurrences with similar individuals and it was only when our units gave chase after your vehicle, once you alerted our quarry, that we even became aware of your involvement. From here you find your way to Ian McCalister and then the next we hear of you is when you all found your way to our main site of surveillance, presumably from an inside leak at this station.” He paused grimly. “Now this is important, was the man you call ‘Carthy’ with you during the car chase?”