Smoke’s hard stare was focused on one of the bodies. “Sicker than you think.”
His dark tone brought her toward him. “What’s wrong? Is it someone we know?”
“Afraid so.”
She glanced down. It was hard to make out the face on account of all the slime, but suddenly it became crystal clear. She let out a sharp gasp.
CHAPTER 31
It was her old FBI director and friend Ted Howard.
Sid’s body went numb. “I buried him, Smoke. I mourned with his family.” She stuck her hand in the goo. “I can feel his heart beating. Dammit!” Tears streamed down her face. “I can’t take much more of this maddening world!”
Smoke took her by the waist and pulled her to him. Holding her tight, he said, “I know what you mean. But Sid, they’re alive.”
“They’re attached to some sick and twisted machine.” She forced herself out of Smoke’s hands so she could go up and down the rows searching all the faces. She found Asia’s face half buried in the goo. “It’s Asia.”
“Mal will be thrilled.”
Gathering herself, Sid said, “I kinda like her quiet like this. She’s so peaceful.” She made her way down one row after the other, noting a few more faces she knew. One was an FBI agent whose name she forgot. Another was a female news anchor from television. She discovered the face of another man she knew all too well. “It’s Senator Wilhelm.”
From across the room, Smoke said, “Yeah, and he’s not the only senator here.”
“Are you serious? No wonder this country’s leadership is so screwed up.” She glared at Wilhelm. She hated the man and his son on account of all they had done to her sister. But that relationship had been going on for a long time. How long has this madness been going on? “We need to find Manson.”
“We need to shut down the server,” Smoke said. His gaze was fixed on another body. “Oh man.”
Stooped over Wilhelm, Sid leaned back. “What?”
With his palms on the table, Smoke said, “It’s Rebecca Lang.”
“No way.” Sid walked over for a look. It was the petite woman, covered from head to toe in the goo. “But last time we saw her, she was pregnant.”
“There’s no bulge in her belly now,” Smoke said. “A pregnant clone. Now that’s weird.”
“At least now we know why she’s always been such a pain in the ass.”
Looking at all the odd wiring that covered the room like modern webbing, Sid slung some goo from her hand. “This reminds me of that scene in The Matrix. We’ve got to get them unplugged.”
The main lights flickered on.
“That would be to their peril,” a voice said.
Sid and Smoke whirled. Titus Tolliver, in full gargoyle form, stood in the doorway adjacent to the one they came in. The husky creature had a triumphant look on his face. “They are in a fragile state. If you do anything to change it, you will kill them.”
“Maybe they’d rather be dead,” Smoke said. “I figure we’d be doing them a favor.”
The gargoyle slunk deeper into the room. He dipped his stony fingers into one of the patients’ pools. The demon-faced man glowered at Smoke. “You don’t want to play God with their lives, do you, Mister Smoke? I thought you wanted to saves lives, not take them.”
“Anything is better than leaving them in your hands,” Smoke said. “I’ll take my chances with my maker.”
Titus shrugged his brawny shoulders. His approach was slow and steady. “You might just be meeting your maker sooner than you think.” He kept coming right at them.
Smoke and Sid backed toward the door they came in.
She lowered her weapon. The last thing she wanted to do was hit these people with friendly fire. Judging by the look in Titus’s eyes, he was here to kill her and Smoke if he couldn’t take them down. Using Smoke as a shield, she turned to back out the door. Taking a peek, she saw that the hallway was empty. Suddenly her arms and legs tired out. She felt like the only thing keeping her together was the sweetheart suit. Shoulders sagging, it was all she could do to take a breath. The supervitamin’s effect had completely worn off. The adrenaline that had gotten her this far was gone too. She just wanted to sleep.
“Where are you going?” Titus said. He followed them out into the hallway. “I thought we were having a friendly conversation.” He closed the door behind him. Holding his finger to his lips he said, “Ssssh! We don’t want to wake them.”
“You talk too much for a gargoyle.” Smoke put his assault rifle up to his shoulder and took aim. “I put you down last time with these bullets. Take one more step and I’ll do the same.”
Titus waggled his finger. “You caught me off guard last time. It won’t happen again. My skin is impenetrable.” He shrugged. “Besides, you should know I cannot die.”
“That’s what the giants thought. Did you see what’s left of them?” Sid said.
“I’m not one to look back. I’m forward thinking.” Titus stepped forward.
Smoke squeezed off two single shots in rapid succession. The concussive force of the exploding rounds shook the walls and flickered the lights.
Titus still stood. A grin formed on his big-eared, broad-nosed face. “You see? I was ready. I am ready for anything. Gargoyles, attack!”
A bat-like screech echoed down the hall. Small gargoyles rounded the corner behind them. The two-foot-high monsters raced toward Sid and Smoke on foot and with wings.
“I’ll take the big one, you take the small ones!” Smoke said.
Exhausted, Sid wheeled her weapon around and started shooting out a spray of ammo. The bullets ripped through the first wave of gargoyles, blasting through their screaming bodies and blowing them up like pottery. She blasted off their rage-riddled faces. Bullets tore through legs, wings, and bodies.
A gargoyle hopped at her on one good leg.
With her weapon, she turned it to powder.
Still they came. High and low they attacked.
They latched onto her ankles. A small, hard fist smote the back of her head. One of the little monsters rode on her shoulders, pulling her hair. Using the butt of her weapon, she cracked the ones on her legs in the skulls. Noses and ears came off.
How do these things live? It’s impossible.
The monsters swarmed her. They attached themselves with clawed fingers and toes, blanketing her like a net. She sagged under the great weight. They bit, struck, and clawed. With a growl, she rammed the ones she could into the wall but went down in a sea of flesh-rending gargoyle grey.
CHAPTER 32
Smoke unloaded the entire clip of bullets into Titus in a cadence of tiny explosions.
The gargoyle man stumbled backward on his heels and fell to the floor, then rose with a nasty look and dusted off his burly chest. “That made for quite the finale, Mister Smoke. Too bad it did not have the climax you hoped for.” He stormed through the white vapors.
Chucking the weapon aside, Smoke drew one of the special knives from its sheath. He’d fought the gargoyle once before and almost died. Now he had to match the juggernaut in even more confined quarters. He needed to find its weakness.
Titus lashed out with his clawed hands.
Smoke ducked. Striking fast, he jabbed the special blade at the gargoyle’s ribs. The blade slid in deep, drawing forth a howl.
Titus staggered backward holding his side. “You wounded me! You wounded me! You’ve found my weakness. It’s my ribs! Oh, the pain! The suffering! The anguish!”
Smoke backed off, watching the gargoyle with wary eyes. “You aren’t really hurt, are you.”
Titus pulled the knife out with a smile, tossed it aside. “Of course not. I’m the total package.”
“True, but Arabian steel can cut your skin.”
“It can cut, but it can’t kill. You see, I don’t bleed, Mister Smoke.” He punched his fist into his hand. “But you can, and you will. I’m going to turn your body and that suit you treasure into a bag of bloody smashed potatoes. I can’t wait to make you
r bones snap and pop.”
Smoke removed the sword strapped to his back. “Don’t forget crackle.”
Titus’s eyes narrowed on the sword. “Where did you get that?”
“It’s a little something I picked up at the gargoyle killer thrift shop.” He spun the blade in his hands. The balance was perfect, the edge keen. He drew it two-handed to his chest. “And they even gave me the riddle steel for free.”
“You’re a fool if you think that blade can stop me.”
“Not the blade, but the hand that wields it.”
“Shut up!” Titus charged.
Smoke went into a zone. Springing forward with the sword, he chopped down hard. The blade removed Titus’s right arm at the elbow.
The gargoyle barreled into Smoke like a charging bull, knocking him to the floor. Titus hammered away with his good hand. His heavy punches rocked Smoke’s body.
Smoke clocked Titus in the chin with his knee and squirmed free. He popped up on his feet.
Titus rose up in a deadly crouch.
Smoke hacked into him like a berserker. The heavy blade carved into the gargoyle. Hunks of stony flesh flew. Smoke kept swinging.
Titus surged into him like a force of nature.
Both man and monster were in a maddened state of battle.
The Arabian steel sawed through Titus in another arc. A nasty strike split his skull down to the nose. Smoke ripped the steel free.
Punching at Smoke with powerful stabs, Titus said in defiance, “You cannot kill me.”
“We’ll see!” Smoke tore into the beleaguered gargoyle with a chop that split his knee.
Titus stumbled to the floor. Helpless agony filled his face. “No,” he pleaded. He shielded his head with his arms. “Stop!”
Smoke didn’t relent. With both hands he brought he sword down hard and quick.
Chop! Chop! Chop!
The gargoyle shifter had nothing left to fight with. He glared at Smoke. “I hate mortals!”
“Then I won’t keep your dead brother waiting.” Smoke turned the sword loose for a final blow. The blade whistled through the air.
Titus’s head rolled from his shoulders. It bounced off the floor and rolled across the room before it lay still.
The smaller gargoyles collapsed all around Sid, and she lay with her face covered by her arms but bleeding. She kicked the inanimate stone monsters away. “Get off me!”
Smoke rushed over, dropped the sword, and took her by the hand. “It’s over.”
She fought against him.
He held her fast. “Sid, it’s me.”
Her eyes found his face. “Is he dead?”
“I think we’re getting the hang of killing them.” He moved aside, revealing Titus’s body. The monster had transformed back into a man that didn’t bleed so much as ooze. He combed her hair back from her eyes. “Can you move?”
“Barely. Help me up.”
Smoke complied. Sid was about as banged up as he’d ever seen her. She had bad scratches all over her face. Her lip was split, and blood dripped from her chin. “Lean on me if you need to.”
“No.” She checked her weapons, filling her hands with two pistols. She limped down the hall. “Let’s find the damn server and blow the hell out of it.” She passed through the intersection, made it to the next door, and scanned the card.
Smoke opened the door. It was the electrical room, steel panels locked up with heavy padlocks. “Looks like you found home base for the electric, fire, and security systems.
“Shoot it. Shoot it all.” She fired.
Smoke fired.
Bullets tore through steel. Alarms and lights went on and then out.
Smoke eased inside and set a charge of C4 along the largest conduit he could find. He hustled back out and closed the door. “Get down.”
They both crouched.
Smoke triggered the detonator, unleashing a tremendous boom. All the lights went out.
“I’d love to go to sleep in this dark, hot mess,” Sid said. The emergency and exit lights came on. “How cozy.”
“They’ve got a backup generator running somewhere. I can hear the hum, but those emergency lights are on battery power.”
Sid crawled over to the next door. The security keypad lights were still on. She scanned the card and went through the door. Icy air greeted her like the coming winter. “Morning glory, feels good.” She and Smoke spilled inside. “Man, look at that thing.”
Behind a ten-foot-high Plexiglas shield sat a huge computer server shaped like a pyramid. It was at least ten feet square at the base and stood ten feet high at the top. It was black with brilliant illuminating circuitry that coursed through tight veins of pulsating energy. The colors varied and changed, pulsating to a beat like the heart inside a titan’s body.
Smoke made his way over to a control center that stood inside the massive room all by itself. The fifty-inch computer screen showed black. He pecked at the keyboard and shuffled the mouse. A moving image popped up on the screen. It was Kane and Allison. The burly blond man with long curls in his stringy hair had a smirk on his face. Allison appeared as voluptuous as ever in her skintight navy bodysuit.
“Hello,” Kane said. “I see you made it to the server room. Well done. As you can see, the server room can be very chilly. ’Course, those elements aren’t any concern for the likes of us. Hot or cold, it doesn’t matter. And as you can see, the server is operating just fine. You blew up the wrong targets.”
Smoke heard the door they came in latch shut.
“Oh, and the card you used to get in won’t let you back out.” Kane chuckled. “It’s good to see you again, Sidney, but you’re not looking so well. You look like you need to cool off.”
An icy mist sprayed out of the sprinkler system that hung above them.
“Enjoy your hibernation, John and Sidney Smoke. Perhaps a few years in suspended animation will be enough time to let you think about things. In the meantime, your clones will be quite useful in the continuance of our operation. Good night.” The screen went black.
“Man, I hate that guy,” Sid said with a shiver.
Smoke yawned. His eyes became heavy. His vision blurred. He said in forced speech, “All of a sudden I feel like the Cowardly Lion in the field outside the Emerald City.”
CHAPTER 33
Sid tottered on her feet and bumped into Smoke.
He steadied her by holding her beneath her armpits. “Do you know how to clear a gas mask?”
“What?” she said with her head drooping over her shoulders. Her eyelids were drooping, too.
In Smoke’s long fingers were a pair of black breathing apparatuses, something like what you’d see in an airplane. He stretched the black surgical cords over her head and snapped the cup over her mouth. He stuck another apparatus over his head, covering his mouth and nose, saying, “Breathe out! Breathe out!” He covered the filters on his mask and, blinking really hard, he exhaled.
Sid fell on the floor, staring up at the ceiling.
I don’t want to breathe out. I just want to sleep.
A blurry Smoke leaned over her and attached something to her mask.
As she breathed in short gasps, her languid lungs came to life. The image of Smoke’s face sharpened as she sucked in more mouthfuls of air.
Smoke took her by the arm and sat her up. He gave her a firm shake. “Sorry, hun, naptime is over. They think we’re asleep. Now’s the time to move.”
The mist stopped spraying out of the sprinklers.
“Just get me up to my feet,” she said. With Smoke’s assistance, she finally made it back up. Her arms and legs burned with pins and needles. She shook them. “You didn’t regurgitate this mask, did you?”
“No comment.” He pulled his mask away from his face and sniffed the air.
“What are you doing?” She tried to shove the mask back onto his face.
“It’s clear now.” He wiped his nose. “It smells a little funny though.” Using the mask, he covered the camera mounted on
top of the monitor Kane had spoken from earlier and turned his attention to the pyramid server. From his satchel, he took out block after block of C4 and set them on the desk. “We need to plant this stuff before they show up.”
Sid hit the Plexiglas wall that protected the server. It didn’t even shudder. “Don’t you think it’s indestructible? It’s inches thick.”
“These shifters say everything is indestructible,” Smoke said, slapping the C4 into the seams where the glass met with the concrete ceiling, “but the only indestructible thing I know of in this world is my love for you.”
Sid stopped what she was doing, and with a smile she said, “Aw, how sweet. Moments like this remind me why I so enjoy blowing things up with you.”
Smoke chuckled. With a fierce grin, he attached a disk the size of his fist to the glass in the center of the four charges he had set. He depressed a button. A tiny yellow light flared, and the disc let out a charging whine.
“What is that?” Sid said.
“It’s a sonic disrupter. It sends high-frequency sound waves into the glass. It works like a tuning fork. It’s not powerful enough to shatter the glass on its own, but hopefully it will weaken the structure just enough for the nasty plastique to do the rest.”
Nodding, she said, “I like it. You think of everything.”
Smoke stuck the detonation caps into the C4. “Yeah, well, they’re overconfident. That’s their weakness to exploit.”
“And what’s your weakness?” she said, taking him by the waist and digging her nails into his ribs. Sid didn’t know why she did it, but she tried to tickle him. For some reason, Smoke was driving her crazy right now. The ease and purpose with which he moved made her heart flutter. “Am I your weakness?”
“No, you’re my strength.” He squeezed her hand in his as he stared at his handiwork. “That ought to do it.”
The security latches on the doors to the room popped.
“Time to play possum,” he said, crouching on the floor.
The Supernatural Bounty Hunter Files Collector's Set: Books 1-10: Urban Fantasy Shifter Series Page 102