‘So,’ Elaine said, ‘what’s on the menu for tonight?’ She walked over to the model and, because it seemed the thing to do, Cygnus and Twilight followed her.
‘Finding Mink,’ Lament stated flatly.
‘Why?’ Twilight asked before anyone else could speak.
Lament gave her a patronising smile. ‘I understand you’ve only been here for a day or so, so perhaps you haven’t heard… Mink killed one of our members, Snapshot.’
‘And you have evidence for this?’
‘Snapshot was killed with a rope dart and–’
Twilight smiled. ‘Snapshot was killed by a short, spike-like weapon. It matches wounds made by the rope dart Mink uses, but it would also match a number of other weapons designed for impaling.’
Lament gritted her teeth for a second and then went on. ‘Mink is the only person in the city who uses–’
‘Aside from the Yin Xian assassin currently operating here.’
‘The police found an email in one of Snapshot’s accounts from Mink asking him to meet her at the location he died!’ Lament played her trump card. No one had reported the email.
‘An untraced email with faked header information. It’s just signed “Mink” at the bottom.’
‘And no one can forge an email from someone else,’ Elaine added.
‘Obviously.’
‘Where are you getting your information?’ Fuego asked.
Twilight smiled at him. ‘I’ve got sources. Sorry, I can’t reveal them and they’re next to useless in a court of law, but they’re accurate.’
‘And I’ve seen the assassin,’ Cygnus said. ‘Yesterday, in Chinatown. We went looking for Mink ourselves, and the assassin was doing the same.’
‘I did tell everyone to be careful,’ Elaine said. ‘Now we know who’s after us.’
‘A woman,’ Cygnus said, ‘about five eleven, very long black hair, Asian in appearance. I never got a really good look at her face, but I know it wasn’t Mink.’
‘You are quite sure that Mink did not kill Snapshot?’ Fuego asked, frowning.
‘I know that the Yin Xian were hired to eliminate Mink,’ Twilight said. ‘She’s hard to find, but framing her for murder means she’s having to stay out of the way and she’s going to eventually go after the assassin. It clears the decks for the local tong and it brings Mink to the person who wants to meet her. Win-win.’ Twilight paused. ‘I also happen to know that Mink couldn’t have done it, but I can’t say how I know that.’
‘There’s been more tong bully boys on the street since Snapshot died,’ Bonehead said.
‘And all the old drug dealers are back on their pitches,’ Fuego added, nodding slowly.
‘What you’re saying, Twilight,’ Lament said, her tone stiff with ice, ‘is that we have to take your word that Mink is innocent. There’s still a warrant out for her arrest. Bonehead, Fuego, you keep looking.’
‘I disagree,’ Fuego said evenly. ‘The SFPD are hunting for her; we are not required to if we believe she is innocent. Especially if there are more important things to do.’
‘More important than bringing in Snapshot’s killer?’
‘If I see this assassin, I will bring her in. If you wish to hunt for Mink, then you are free to do so. Drugs, muggings, punishment beatings, these are the things we will help put a stop to.’
‘It’s going to get worse,’ Twilight said before Lament could respond.
‘In what way?’ Fuego asked, frowning.
‘I’m in San Francisco to track down a man named Herman Kopf. He goes by Professor Blutadler as well. He’s a scientist who worked on super-soldier projects during and after the last world war. When he was in New Millennium City, he came across a drug called Excelsior and I think that he’s come up with a way of synthesising it cheaply and easily, and he’s used that to bargain his way into the Jiu Wang tong. He likes having other people around to do his dirty work. If Excelsior hits the streets here… It’s highly addictive and it’s lethal to anyone with Ultrahuman genetics, active or latent.’
‘You don’t sound so positive about that information,’ Lament said, but she was biting at her lip and her tone was calmer.
‘I know he met with the leader of the Jiu Wang and that he has an arrangement with them. Given their areas of business, the only thing I can think of that they would be interested in is Excelsior, but that is deduced rather than known fact.’
‘We got the memo about Excelsior. It’s never been seen here and… and I’d rather it remained that way. All right, we need to focus on that. We’re going to need information. Uh… Is Jiu Wang “Red Flag” in Chinese or something?’
Twilight smiled. ‘I think we may need to start from the beginning and straighten out a few things. Is there any coffee in this place? And we should probably sit down.’
‘I’ll put the pot on,’ Elaine said, smirking as she walked off toward the kitchen.
~~~
‘Okay,’ Bianca said, ‘that was pretty good. This guy knows how to cook pasta.’
‘Told you,’ Damian replied. ‘It’s pretty close to my place so I come here when I can’t be bothered to cook. There’s a proper pizza oven back there too.’
Bianca lifted her glass and sipped. ‘The proximity to your place has also been noted as a benefit.’
‘Because yours is full of people?’
‘Uh-huh. I’ve been sleeping with a cute brunette the last few nights. I understand you’ve met her.’
‘Twilight? Yeah, she… I have no idea how she got into my apartment, but she did.’
‘She can teleport through shadows and darkness.’
‘Right…’ Damian’s distaste for Ultras showed for a fraction of a second. ‘Well, she said she was staying with you.’
‘Uh-huh. Her, and Cygnus and June. A regular full house.’ Bianca paused for a second. ‘You know, you’re allowed to dislike Ultras. You’re hardly alone and I’m not going to hold it against you. I just think they’re people like everyone else and have to be judged as individuals. Twilight offered to help with Marie’s Rory problem. For the Avatar of Shadow, she’s really pretty ordinary. Except for her eyes. Her eyes are a little scary.’
‘Yeah… The eyes are… She’s got the fishnets and boots thing going though.’
Bianca raised an eyebrow. ‘Oh? Into that look, Detective.’
Damian coughed. ‘Well… yeah.’
‘Duly noted.’
‘So Marie’s still having trouble with Rory?’
‘Apparently.’ Bianca grinned at the attempt to redirect the conversation. ‘I’m going to talk to her, see whether it’s serious or not. Twilight managed to get her hands on a lot of information that suggests Gregory Taylor-May is more worthy of my dislike than I thought.’
‘That girl seems to be good at getting at secrets. She was telling me that some German scientist might be bringing Excelsior here. You’ve heard of the stuff?’
‘I saw the news reports from the releases in New Millennium City. It’s a vapour, so it can be dispersed into the air. Someone tried to build a client base by doing just that. There were fatalities.’
‘It’s fairly evil stuff. What the news reports don’t say is that it activates the Ultrahuman genes of a small fraction of latents. There was at least one case of it happening in New Millennium City. If San Francisco gets flooded with a cheap supply…’
‘We could end up with a surge in Ultrahuman activity.’
‘And the probability is that a fair number of them would turn criminal. I told my captain about the potential problem.’
‘Let me guess… He said that if it was related to the Nine Kings, then it was a TAATF problem.’
‘Yeah…’ Damian forced a grin. ‘It’s like you’re reading my mind or something.’
Bianca shrugged. ‘Well, telepathy is rather useful in business meetings, but it’s a terrible curse.’
‘You’re not a telepath.’
‘No? Sure?’
‘What am I thinking now?’
‘You don’t need to be a telepath to know that.’
‘No,’ Bianca admitted, ‘just a woman.’
~~~
‘So I’ve got a multi-channel system,’ Elaine said, sweeping a hand across the array of electronics. ‘I can handle direct communications on three channels simultaneously, plus I have a scanner feeding into a computer running keyword recognition software.’
‘Looking for potential problems across the entire spectrum,’ Lament added. ‘This way we can often have a response underway before the city calls us in.’
‘Which they do through one of the police channels, which we constantly monitor.’
Cygnus sighed. ‘It’s impressive. New Millennium calls me the city’s protector, like it’s some official title, but they don’t make it easy.’
‘They did support us over the UID ban,’ Twilight said.
‘After we helped with the riot despite the ban.’
‘Yeah… true.’
‘California as a whole has been more… accommodating regarding Ultras,’ Lament said. ‘It’s double-edged to many, but I like the recognition. I can’t believe the SFPD is as corrupt as you seem to think.’
‘It’s a management problem, mostly,’ Twilight replied. ‘You get the right people in the right places and you have a problem. Pretty much the entire TAATF is bought or otherwise controlled, however. New Millennium has its problems too, but the Tonaldo family going down has changed things. I’ve no idea how that’s going to work out.’
‘Badly,’ Cygnus said. She turned to find Muse’s large, green eyes fixed on her. The girl was absently floating a few inches off the ground: her flight ability was, apparently, limited to a few feet, but she seemed to use it instead of walking more than half the time, which probably explained the lack of footwear. Cygnus smiled at her.
‘You’re… strange,’ Muse said.
‘Oh?’
‘You both are. Just… different strange. You’re like… not like… any other Ultra I’ve met. And Twilight is… There’s more than just one of her.’
Cygnus considered for a second. ‘Yes, I’m not like most Ultras. I’m kind of part alien. Not genetically, more…’
‘Possessed.’
‘Good enough. My powers are more like magic than traditional Ultrahuman powers. And Twi is… the Avatar of Shadow. She’s got a dark side.’
‘Ha!’ Twilight barked. ‘I’ve got a dark side, a light side, and a terrifyingly black side. You don’t ever want to meet the last one.’
‘She saved my life once,’ Cygnus pointed out.
‘I wouldn’t count on that on a regular basis. She scares me. Then again, she doesn’t get out much.’
‘True.’ Cygnus looked back at Muse. ‘Is us being strange a problem?’
There was a quick grin. ‘No. Most people think I’m strange too.’
‘Honey,’ Elaine said, ‘you are strange, but it’s an adorable sort of strange. Don’t go getting normal on us.’
‘I’m quite sure there’s not much danger of that.’
There was a slight hiss from the radio, interrupting them, and then Fuego’s voice. ‘Fuego to Stars, we’re beginning our sweep now. Over.’
Elaine reached out and pressed a button mounted under a gooseneck microphone. ‘Backroom here. Status noted, Fuego. Keep us informed. Out.’
~~~
‘The black-eyed one is right,’ Fuego said. ‘This area is getting worse.’
‘Tong thugs are spreading deeper into Tenderloin,’ Bonehead agreed. He was not the brightest of men, but he knew the streets well enough. Tenderloin had always been a fairly high-crime neighbourhood; Bonehead had grown up there and knew its nature well. Right now, it felt like it was sitting there ready to collapse into a sinkhole.
‘There’s nothing we can do until they act.’
‘They’re not gonna do that in front of us, Fuego.’ Sometimes, once in a while when things were at their most frustrating, Fuego’s strict application of the law was enough to irritate Bonehead. He would have pulled his hair out, if he had had enough.
Fuego slapped Bonehead on one meaty bicep. ‘You are right, my friend. Stealth may not be our greatest attribute, but we’re going to have to try. We’ll stake out a few alleys. If we watch from the shadows, we may have more luck.’ Bonehead gave a nod and headed for the nearest alley. Fuego smiled and walked down the street to something a little further away.
It also happened to be darker. There were no lights here, just darkness. There was a simple solution to checking the coast was clear, however: Fuego lifted his hand and fire flared around it, a torch in the dark. He looked down the alley and nodded. There was a dumpster part way down, but no indication of odd shadows around it. Nodding to himself, he extinguished his flames and turned to watch the street, confident that he would hear any activity behind him.
There was the usual collection of locals, addicts looking for a fix, prostitutes plying their trade… Nothing out there looked suspicious and Fuego had learned the hard way what suspicious looked like. He had been a gang member in San Jose for a lot of years, from well before his powers had developed right up until his younger brother had been shot. He knew the streets. These were not the streets he had grown up in, but the signs were all there. Only the gang tags varied: here they were mostly in Chinese. He had come to know these streets almost as well as his own.
So when the alley he was in suddenly came alive and grabbed him by the throat, Fuego was a little surprised. There was a sound, barely heard, the swish of something moving rapidly through the air, and then something wrapped tightly around his throat and, choking, he was yanked backward. The cord around his neck loosened and he began struggling to regain his feet. Something heavy and solid slammed into the side of his head. Stars burst before his eyes and then collapsed toward a rapidly narrowing point of light before failing entirely.
~~~
Bonehead shifted his weight from one leg to the other and then decided to stretch his back. The thing about watching for people doing things they should not be doing was that it was frequently very boring. They should have stuck together: at least then they could have chatted.
It took him maybe ten minutes, though he thought it was longer, before he reconsidered their strategy and tapped the comm unit in his ear. ‘Fuego, this is Bonehead. There’s nothing happening here. Over.’ Silence. Maybe Fuego had found something and was actually having fun. ‘Fuego, this is Bonehead. You there? Over.’ Nothing.
‘Bonehead, this is Backroom. Fuego’s radio is working, but he’s not responding. Maybe you should check on him. Over.’
‘On it,’ Bonehead snapped, barely remembering to add ‘Out’ before starting out onto the street at a brisk walk. He pulled a penlight from his belt as he walked. The alleys were dark and he might need the extra light. The thin beam was not exactly brilliant, but it showed enough if you flashed it around. He was on his third alley when he spotted the body lying on the ground about ten yards in and ran toward it.
‘Shit! Oh shit!’ There seemed to be a lot of blood. Two, maybe three, puncture wounds decorated Fuego’s muscled chest. ‘Shit!’ Bonehead tapped his ear. ‘He’s been stabbed! Erubiel’s been stabbed! Fuck! Fuego’s been–’
‘Bony!’ Backroom’s voice cut in quickly and urgently. ‘Where are you? Over.’
‘Uh… Alley. Leavenworth and Eddy.’
‘I’ll be there in a few seconds.’ The voice was not one of the usual ones Bonehead heard on their radios and he struggled to figure out who it was. And then Cygnus was dropping out of the air like a stone, landing beside Fuego’s supine body and immediately dropping to one knee. Her hand moved to Fuego’s neck. ‘He’s still alive, but he’s weak. Damn. Hope he’s going to forgive me for this.’ Reaching down, she grabbed the leg of his pantaloons and ripped the fabric free with no apparent effort. ‘Backroom, we’
re going to need an ambulance out here. Faster the better. Over.’ And then she began working on stopping the bleeding.
Twilight emerged from the darkness behind Bonehead. ‘No sign of her.’ Bonehead jumped. ‘From the amount of blood there,’ Twilight went on, ‘he was attacked five or six minutes ago so she’s probably long gone.’
‘He was only out of my sight for five minutes then,’ Bonehead said morosely.
‘This is not your fault.’
‘He’s my partner.’
‘And whose idea was it to split up?’
Bonehead frowned. ‘Well… his.’
‘Exactly. She wouldn’t have attacked him if he was with you. You’re bulletproof, or at least rope-dart-proof.’
‘Ambulance is on the way,’ Elaine said into their ears. ‘How is he, Cygnus? Over.’
‘I think I’ve stopped the bleeding. He’s unconscious and he’s lost a lot of blood, but I think he’ll be okay. Over.’
‘I’ll let Lament know this was a good idea. Out.’
‘How did you know about this?’ Bonehead asked.
‘Elaine persuaded Lament that, since we were sharing the same mission, we should share radio frequencies.’
‘Oh. I’m glad. And I don’t think Erubiel will mind you shredding his costume to save his life.’
Cygnus got to her feet and grinned. Her own costume, along with her hands, was now covered in blood. ‘Thanks. It’s a good job June’s making me something new. I’m not sure how well this’ll come out of the boots.’
‘Any excuse for a costume change,’ Twilight said. The sound of sirens coming down the street made her turn. ‘And here comes the cavalry. Who wants to bet there’s a detective with them who wants to nail this to Mink?’
‘I am not going to bet against that one,’ Cygnus replied.
16th October.
Bianca stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel off the rail beside it. Showering had taken a little longer with two of them in the little en suite, and Bianca had stayed after Damian had gone to wash the last of the morning’s excesses from her body. She was content, though she was considering talking to building management about upgrading Damian’s shower. If she did it after Cygnus, Twilight, and June were gone, Damian could stay over with her while the work was done, which was just icing on the better shower cake.
Hunting Mink Page 25