Titus looked like he’d swallowed a cat when he said, “What in Hades are you talking about? I’m not pitching you a business deal. I’m threatening you and your wife. I’m going to take this serum and shoot it into her veins, stopping her heart and reanimating her into an abomination. It’s going to be painful. Miserable. Insufferable. And you are going to watch it all happen, unless you cooperate.”
“Yeah, I’m not feeling it. You’re going to have to work on your approach. And smile. Can you smile? You look like you’re swallowing sand when you talk. Tell you what—”
Titus smashed his fist on the desk. “Shut up! Shut up, you irritating man. Do you not understand what is about to happen if you don’t cooperate? Your wife will die!”
Smoke rubbed his neck. He was getting to Titus just like he wanted, but something was getting to him too. Everywhere they went, they were expected. It was as if the Drake knew their every move, as if he and Sid were mice in some mysterious maze. A twisted form of entertainment and experiments. It was as if the likes of Kane and Reginald were trying to wear him down. But why? Why him? He was getting sick of it. “Titus, if anything happens to my wife, you’ll pay for it.”
“Oh ho.” Titus rolled his eyes. “What are you going to do, kill me? Have you not figured it out yet? You can’t kill any of us, you idiot. That’s what’s so entertaining, watching you fools fight a battle you cannot win.”
“We’ve won plenty of battles, and the Drake’s losses are stacking up.”
“Pfft. Are you a total fool? Who do you know for sure that you killed? Let me fill you in, Mister Smoke. Adam Vaughn. Alive and well. Angi Harlow. Alive, beautiful, and well. Swift Venison is having some of the best days of his life.” Titus tucked the jar of fluid back inside his desk. “You are our entertainment. You are Jason. We are the labyrinth.”
Smoke felt tiny spiders crawling up his arms under his skin. Titus’s words rang true. Nothing they’d done so far had mattered. They hadn’t accomplished anything. He wanted to think it was a bluff, but it didn’t feel like one. “You left out Mason Crow, the minotaur. I’m pretty sure he’s dead.”
“Oh no, he’s not dead.” Titus smacked his lips. “Just incapacitated.” The chair squeaked when he leaned back. “Feeling a little foolish now, are we?”
“No. I’m kinda excited actually. Once I’m done with you, I can go after them.”
Holding up one finger, Titus replied, “You might want to hold that thought.” There was a black remote controller on his desk that he picked up. He pointed it over his shoulder at the bookshelf behind him. A section of the cabinet split open, revealing a flat-screen monitor.
Smoke’s heart skipped a beat when Titus said, “How’s your wife doing now, John?”
CHAPTER 31
Chin up and head tilted, Smoke examined the monitor and said, “Fine, I suppose.”
“You can’t possibly be so coy,” Titus said with a sneer. “This is your wife we are talking about. What kind of husband are you?”
“Did you make Sidney invisible or something? Because I don’t see her.”
The confidence vanished from Titus’s face. He turned in the chair and gazed at the screen. His mouth hung open. “Idiots!”
A ruckus kicked up on the other side of the locked office door. Something big and heavy slammed into it.
“Smoke! You in there?” Sid yelled from the other side.
“Impossible!” Titus exclaimed.
With his gun on Titus, Smoke stood up and said to the shifter, “Don’t move. The cavalry’s arrived.”
There was punching and grunting on the other side of the door. Bodies were being slammed into the walls. The floor shook under the power of heavy footfalls.
Sid was shouting with anger on the other side of the door, “Come and get me, you big ugly—”
The body of something huge slammed into the door again, this time busting it off the hinges and turning the wood into splinters. A giant of a man, big boned with a teased-up head of hair, lay on the floor. He fought his way back to his feet.
Sid stepped into the room. Her face was scuffed up, but her eyes were vibrant and full of energy. Gun in hand, she took aim at the young giant of a man and said, “Stay down, jughead.” She eyed Smoke. “How are you doing?”
“Couldn’t be better. Glad to see that you’re taking care of things, not that I’m surprised. It seems like you turned the tables on these guys,” Smoke said, keeping his gun on Titus.
“I took my vitamins,” she said.
Titus’s eyes started shifting back and forth, and his fingers began to fidget in his lap.
“Don’t try anything,” Smoke warned. “So who’s your new friend, Sid?”
“Some oversized skateboarder who got the jump on me. The damn Lurch of a man was hiding behind the curtains and swallowed me up in them.” Her eyes danced with excitement but remained fixed on the giant. The young fella wore jeans and a heavy cotton T-shirt and looked perfectly normal aside from his extraordinary size. “I played possum. He turned his back, and I slipped out of that basement morgue that your buddy has up on the screen. They have a lot of cadavers down there. Lots of doors, too.”
“Get over here, Titus,” Smoke said, fishing out a pair of specially made flex cuffs. “You’re a wanted man, and I’m taking you in.”
Titus scoffed. “Are you joking? You can’t arrest me.”
“It’s not an arrest. Think of it more as an apprehension.”
“Absurd.” Titus swiveled around in his chair, hiding himself from Smoke’s view. “Tell you what. I’ll play your game, Smoke. Just give me a moment.”
The secret panel in the bookshelf closed back up, hiding the monitor.
The young giant chuckled and said, “You guys are really messing up.”
“Stick a sock in it, Diesel,” Sid said. She moved toward the windows, eyeing the chair.
Smoke felt those spiders crawling up his arms again, under his skin. “Front and center, Titus, or I’m going to put a bunch of holes through you and that chair.”
“Have I not told you that you cannot kill the likes of me?”
The stretching sound of the fiber in Titus’s suit caught Smoke’s ear. The leather in the chair groaned. Smoke’s glance slid over to Sid. Her dark eyes widened, and she took aim at the chair.
“I can hear your hearts racing,” Titus continued. From the confines of the chair, he stretched out his arms, revealing scaly grey hands with fingernails like claws that could rip through flesh like knives. The chair pushed back into the desk. Titus stood and turned. His face was a grey mask of ruddy skin that had the heavy-laden features of a gargoyle. A long chin and ears. A heavy brow protruding over his glaring yellow eyes. Built like a boulder, Titus shoved the heavy chair into the wall, held out his wrists, and said in his dangerous gravelly voice, “Come on, Smoke, cuff me.”
CHAPTER 32
Smoke tossed the custom flex cuffs at Titus and said, “Cuff yourself.”
As the cuffs bounced off of Titus’s suit, he said, “That’s one of the most ignorant things I have ever heard.” He leaned down and shoved the entire desk at Smoke. “Do it yourself, puppet!”
Smoke hopped backward and fired a single shot at Titus. The blue-tipped bullet bounced off the gargoyle’s chest.
“Your weapons cannot hurt the gargoyle.” Titus’s massive hands clutched in and out like a pair of savage can openers. “But most certainly I can hurt you.” He grabbed the corner of the heavy desk, lifted it up off of its feet, and flung it aside.
“Smoke, watch out!” Sidney cried.
The young giant swept his leg at Smoke.
Smoke leapt to one side.
Sidney started firing bullets into the giant.
The huge man shielded himself with his arms.
“Back off, big boy!”
The big fella bolted down the hallway toward the front doors.
Sid gave chase.
“Sid, no!” Smoke said. He blasted several rounds at Titus.
The
grey-skinned terror came at him with the speed of a charging bull.
Still shooting, Smoke skipped out of his path.
Titus stuck out his arm and swept a leg out from under Smoke, sending him tumbling to the seafoam-green floor.
Hitting the planks hard, Smoke regained his aim on Titus and unloaded the clip.
Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam!
Bullets ripped through the fine threads of the gargoyle’s suit only to ricochet off his stony skin. Smoke brought his arms up just in time to catch the full force of Titus landing on top of him like a battering ram dropped from the ceiling.
“Oof!”
“Careful, you might break something,” Titus said in a voice filled with confidence. “But if you don’t, I will!” He held Smoke down by the neck and punched him with the force of a stone hammer.
Smoke groaned. Eyeing the next descending punch, he snapped his arm up and locked his fist around the gargoyle’s wrist.
Titus’s brute strength was like that of an ape, raw and powerful. The gargoyle swung his arm back and forth, saying, “Delay, delay, you can only delay the inevitable.” With his free arm, he grabbed Smoke’s wrist and started crushing it.
Smoke groaned. The viselike grip felt like it could snap his wrist. It sent shards of fire into his eyeball.
At almost point-blank range, Sid started firing shot after shot into the temple of Titus’s head. His head and burly neck recoiled against the bullets that hit hard and bounced away. His grip slackened.
Drawing his knees into his chest, Smoke planted the soles of his boots into the gargoyle-man’s abdomen and launched him back over his head.
Titus crashed into the bookcase, scattering books and papers all over.
Up on one knee, Smoke slapped a new clip into his weapon. “You thinking what I’m thinking?” he said to Sid.
Charging the hammer on her gun, she said with a nod, “I’ve been wanting to do this all along.”
In his bullet-torn suit, Titus rose to his feet, straightened his tie, and said, “You mortals should have run while you had the chance. The both of you should have taken the deal. But now, I’m going to tear you apart.”
“Those first shots were just a warning,” Smoke said. “You’d best come along quietly. All you’re doing is making a mess of your nice office here.”
“You cannot stop me. You cannot kill me. Your mortal weapons mean nothing to me.”
Smoke aimed for the head.
Sid aimed for the belly. “On three?” she said to Smoke.
With a bitter sneer on his face, Titus advanced.
“Three,” Smoke said, and they both fired while diving behind what was left of the cherrywood desk.
Blam-Blam!
Boom-Boom!
The red-tipped explosive rounds shook the entire room. Paper and shards of wood flew everywhere.
Ears ringing, Smoke said to Sid as they got up, “Are you good?”
She plucked a sliver of wood from her face. “Never better. Morning glory, that was nasty.” The glass was blown out of all the windows behind her. “You?”
Smoke tilted his chin at the body of Titus lying out cold on the floor. “That’s what I call a plan coming together.” Holstering his weapon, he rummaged around on the floor until he produced the flex cuffs from the debris. He cuffed Titus’s hands behind his back then got out some more cuffs and really secured the shifter. Looking at Sid, he said, “Did we even discuss our payment for this gig?”
“Hm? I don’t think we did,” Sid replied. “I’m thinking a hundred K should fit the bill.”
“At least.” Smoke rolled Titus over. The gargoyle was a man again. “What about the teen giant?”
“Another problem for another time, I guess.” She helped Smoke get Titus to his feet. “He’s not going in the Hellcat.”
“Don’t worry, I have an idea. Come on.”
They half dragged, half walked Titus into one of the parlors. A black coffin was on display and vacant. With a grunt, Smoke heaved the bulky body up and inside, face down in the coffin.
“Heavy?” Sid said.
“Like his limbs were filled with sand.” He closed the coffin lid.
Sid helped seal the latches. “I don’t suppose he’ll suffocate.”
“He says they can’t be killed, but I bet we can make them uncomfortable.” He found one of the decorative coffin gurneys in a nearby hallway and wheeled it in. Together, they shoved the coffin onto the gurney and started to take it outside. Smoke stopped Sid short of the door. “You might want to go out front and do some damage control.”
“Suggestions?”
“Gas explosion?”
“I like it.” She gave him a quick kiss on the lips. “See you in a bit.”
Checking to see that no one was outside, Smoke pushed the coffin out onto the funeral home’s parking lot behind one of the Cadillac hearses. He surveyed the area again. There wasn’t any sign of anybody yet, not even the giant, but the distant whine of sirens caught his ear.
Make it quick, Sid. We gotta go.
Sliding the gurney to the side, he grabbed the chrome handle to the Cadillac’s back door.
I hope it’s open. I didn’t see the keys. I’m sure I can hotwire it if need be.
He tugged on the back door latch and popped it a hair open. The door slammed right into him, knocking Smoke backward and crashing him into a motorcycle that was parked there.
The giant teenager crawled out of the back of the hearse, smashed his fist into his palm, and said, “You’re toast, little dude.”
CHAPTER 33
Gathering himself, Smoke went for his gun. The giant closed the gap in a moment, swinging his long arm like a whip and slapping the gun free of Smoke’s hand.
“You’re fast for a big fella.”
Towering over Smoke with his fists balled up like hammers, the giant said, “No, I’m very fast for a big fella, you little tool. And I can’t wait to crush your little head.”
Smoke drew his knife and said, “You’re welcome to try, but it won’t happen. Got a name, boy?”
“Lance.”
Shrugging, Smoke said, “Sounds like a little punk skateboarder name. Well, come on then, Lance. Let’s dance.”
Lance lunged at Smoke.
Striking like a snake, Smoke sliced a deep gash into Lance’s forearm.
“Argh!” Lance recoiled. Astonished, he said, “You cut me!”
“Sharp knives will do that to you. They can lance you too, Lance.”
They circled. With a tremor in his voice, Lance said, “I can handle everything you got. You can’t kill me, mortal.”
“I’m getting tired of hearing that. Keep saying it, though, so I can prove you wrong.”
Licking his lips, Lance eyed the knife in Smoke’s hand. “Look, I don’t want to do this. I’m just doing what I’m told.” He backed into a pair of trashcans and lifted his hands. “Just take Titus and leave me alone.”
Backing off, Smoke said, “If that’s the case, why did you attack me?”
“I don’t know. I was scared. Hell, I hid inside that hearse. I thought I was safe until you showed up.”
Surprised by the confession, Smoke lowered his guard.
In a burst of energy, Lance twisted around, grabbed a metal trashcan, and hurled it at Smoke.
Balling up, Smoke caught the full force of the half-empty can that skipped off his shoulder and clunked on the ground. “Bad move, Lance.” Smoke drew from his shoulder and ankle holsters. “I’m going to make you hurt.”
Lance snatched up the motorcycle and hoisted it over his head. “I can handle anything you got! Come on, shoot me, little man! Shoot me!”
No longer armed with the red-tipped bullets, Smoke settled for the blue-tipped and regular lead in his guns. He aimed for the gas tank and fired. The cycle turned into a ball of flame. With the second pistol, he shot at Lance’s eyes.
The big boy teetered backward into the funeral home wall, screaming with rage.
Smoke s
hoved the coffin into the hearse and closed the door.
Sidney showed up, gaping at the enraged Lance. He was swinging blindly at everything. “What’s the plan?”
“Call Cyrus and tell him to send a cleanup crew and that we’ll meet him near here.”
“Great,” Sid said, watching Lance and grabbing her phone. “So where are we going to meet?”
The sirens were getting louder.
“Somewhere with milkshakes.”
CHAPTER 34
Sid and Smoke were standing outside in a truck stop parking lot, hidden from plain view behind the semis. Her phone was on the hood of the hearse and the external speaker was on.
Cyrus’s voice was erupting from the phone. “Where are you? I’ve got people all over a blown-up funeral home and no sign of you guys or the mark!”
“Did you find a giant?” Sid asked. “He should have been easy to find, seeing how he was on fire when we left him.”
“Quit screwing around, Sid!” Cyrus replied. “Now where are you?”
Her eyes played with Smoke’s and she said, “We never discussed our fee. It’s one hundred thousand.”
“That’s outrageous! And you’re on the payroll!”
“No, no, no, we’re still in business as bounty hunters. I’m only on payroll as a liaison and special advisor. This is hazard duty you have us on.”
There was a pause on the other side of the line, and finally Cyrus said, “You know we’re on a tight budget. Purchasing limits me to twenty-five thousand.”
“I guess we let Titus Tolliver go then.” She looked over at Smoke. “Go ahead and let him out.”
“Sure thing,” Smoke said, opening up the back door of the hearse. He rolled the coffin out and lowered the bottom end to the ground.
The Supernatural Bounty Hunter Files Collector's Set: Books 1-10: Urban Fantasy Shifter Series Page 90