Max Quick: The Bane of the Bondsman (Max Quick Series Book 3)

by Mark Jeffrey

  He watched as the red jewel sped out to sea … and vanished.

  He saw Maurice nearby. He cowered under a bush — but seemed to be alright.

  Why had the jewel-thing given up on him?

  But soon, he saw the answer: a small fleet of Sky Chambers was approaching the Shell Hotel from the north. Evidently the situation had escalated beyond a mere snatch-and-grab of Maurice.

  Meanwhile, Sasha Fwa had arrived on the scene. She waved her spectacular golden guns: the White Roses. She’d been careful, smart. She kept out of sight and crept into position behind one of the hotel’s white columns several yards away.

  “Where is she?” Sasha whispered to Casey.

  “I don’t know. I lost her. But she really did something to Max, messed him up bad.”

  Sasha gave a quick head snap in Max’s direction – and gasped. He was a mass of quivering jello. A little puddle of drool was forming beneath the corner of his mouth.

  Anger filled Sasha.

  Nobody did this to one of her friends!

  Now, Sasha caught a quick glimpse of Jane Willow. She was crouching behind a rock, in between two giant bushes sculpted to look like elephants. She was watching Casey closely – and apparently contemplating her next move.

  Sasha grinned. Jane Willow hadn’t spotted her yet.

  Why doesn’t she just take off? Casey thought. She was fast enough. She could easily speed up the coastline and out of sight.

  Then, it hit Casey. Maybe she wanted to finish Max off. Maybe the job wasn’t done yet.

  Well. This crazy chick wasn’t getting anywhere near Max again.

  “Case. I’ve got a clean bead. We shooting to kill, or what?” Sasha asked.

  “No,” Casey snapped. “I want to talk to her.”

  “Got it,” Sasha replied.

  She aimed for Jane Willow’s leg and fired.

  But unexpectedly, the bullet ricocheted off something hulking and black, moving very fast. It had suddenly and rudely appeared in between herself and Jane. In fact, this thing was attacking Jane. But now, the thing stopped short, apparently stung by her bullet.

  It was a man. A man in some kind of black, spiky armor.

  “Crikes!” Sasha heard this man yell. His hand flew to his back where the bullet had hit him. His head snapped around -- and Sasha gasped. For now, she could see the man’s face – the only part of him not fully covered.

  It was Ian in his bloodmetal armor.

  Sasha had heard the story a few nights ago of how Max and Ian had met the House of the Hidden Hand – and how Ian had acquired the ancient Niburian bloodmetal ring. But she had not been prepared for the reality of it.

  And, of course, she had never seen him actually wearing it before. She had no idea what a suit of bloodmetal even looked like – until now.

  This was her Ian, her scrawny rocker geek boy. And this … this was so … so not him.

  “Sasha?” Ian yelled. “Sasha, stop shooting at – uggh!”

  There was a brief blast of white light. Ian was thrown back, tossed into the air. A half-second later, a crrrack! like thunder rolled through the air. The blast had come from Jane Willow.

  But there was no time to worry about Ian just yet. Jane’s eyes snapped up to Sasha and Casey, filled with fresh fire. Casey and Sasha did not disappoint: they unleashed a hail of bullets. The perfectly manicured bushes of the Shell Hotel spat whirling columns of tiny leaves and twigs.

  Jane Willow whooshed once again. Her form seemed to stretch unnaturally as she did so, like she was too fast for the light to bounce right off her. It was as if she would be in one place, and then already in another before the photons had even left her original position.

  Casey dropped to a knee and began reloading. “I’m out! Take her down, Sash!”

  At that, Sasha stepped out from behind the white column, doing her level best to remember everything that Logan White-Cloud had taught her. She summoned every scrap of gunfighter training into her mind.

  But Jane Willow was just too fast.

  Sasha had had a lot of practice whooshing during the time of the Pocket. She was pretty fast herself. But Jane was beyond her; in fact she was way beyond any of the Serp kids. She had razor-precise control of her movements.

  It was like taking a world-class dancer, and giving her Pocket-powers.

  Sasha blasted away. But each shot missed the snaking blur by a laughable mark, as if mere bullets were far too slow for prey like this.

  Frantically, Sasha shot three more times. The Jane-blur got frighteningly close. Then, it was on top of her, far faster than she had estimated.

  Jane Willow roundhouse-kicked the White Roses from Sasha’s hands. The golden irons went sailing onto the lawn in between croquet wickets and mallets that had been left out.

  Then, Jane spun, and did the exact same thing to Casey before she had finished reloading. The Red Roses bounced unceremoniously down the decorative colonnade like they were mistreated, quaint antiques. Little bullets splashed like piñata candy along the pretty white porch.

  Casey gasped, unable to process being bereft of her guns. She stared at her hands like they’d betrayed her.

  Jane Willow bent to Max. She checked the pulse at his neck.

  A second later, a metal tendril of barbed wire shot out of the bushes. It twirled around Jane’s wrist, yanking her arm up violently away from Max.

  Jane looked up in sudden fury, as though she had just been insulted. It was Ian. His bloodmetal suit had produced the wire. He stepped out of the bushes. Sasha noted that he still looked a little frazzled from being thrown across the yard.

  The wire bit down into Jane’s flesh. A few drops of blood soaked into the metal, jazzing it with new life – which in turn caused Ian’s gaze to spring visibly outward. When the suit fed, it passed the energy along to him.

  But Jane Willow was having none of it.

  Jane gritted her teeth. A sizzle of electric shock zapped the wire. A sooty, ozone smell filled the air and a twirl of smoke appeared above the line.

  Ian’s mouth opened, clenched. A dazzle of blue electrons arced between his teeth. Then, he fell limp.

  The wire unraveled and sprang away from Jane Willow in panic.

  Jane rose and looked around one last time. Then, she departed in a whoosh-blur through the Grand Lobby and out the front of the Shell Hotel.

  “Ian!” Sasha screamed and ran for his side.

  Casey rolled over and ran for her guns. She snatched the Red Roses from the ground, trying not to be dismayed by the thought of dirt polluting their innards and workings.

  “Sash! Get your guns first!”

  Sasha looked at her like she was nuts for a moment, and then realized Casey was right. She altered her course, headed for the White Roses lying limp in the grass.

  Within moments, they’d both collected their guns and reloaded. Sasha knelt over Ian, who was sitting up now, shaking it off.

  Meanwhile, Casey sped off after Jane Willow.

  “Are you okay?” Ian managed to ask Sasha.

  She burst out with a laugh and tear. “Am I okay? You’re the only who got zapped — and I shot you in the back!”

  “Oh. Yes. About that,” Ian coughed. “Let’s not do that again babe, okay?”

  Sasha nodded, fighting back the tears. “So. This is your suit.”

  He nodded with a wan smile. “Wicked, eh?”

  Casey returned. “She’s gone,” she said glumly. “She must have sped back up the coast, the way we came.”

  The Sky Chambers were getting closer. In moments they would land …

  “We’ve got to check out of the Shell,” Ian said, forcing himself to his feet. “Right now.”

  Sasha and Casey nodded. “Yeah. I’d agree with that,” Casey said. “Someone will have to carry Max and —“ Panic zinged in Casey. “Max! Oh no! He’s gone!”

  The spot where Max’s body had lain just moments earlier was now empty.

  It was Ian who caught just a glimpse — a half of a whoosh-bl
ur — of Marvin Sparkle with Max Quick slung over his shoulder. He vanished into the woods at the far end of the Shell before he could even open his mouth.

  At that moment, Enki appeared on the patio. Seeing the confusion and spotting the Sky Chambers, he grabbed Maurice by the collar and pulled him down to the company.

  “Come on you three,” Enki barked. “We’re leaving. Now.”

  “But Max!” Casey said.

  “Marvin Sparkle’s got him,” Ian said. “He’s not dead.” He aimed a look of accusation at Maurice, who winced.

  Enki considered for a moment and then said, “No time. We have to go now, or end up in the Bondsman’s dungeons.”

  Blending in with the panicked crowd as best they could, the company dashed along the back patio towards the adjoining forest.

  MAX QUICK WAS aware of Marvin Sparkle as the giant black man grabbed him roughly, like a sack of potatoes and slung him over his shoulder. Sparkle whooshed around the side of the Shell and down a forest trail for quite some time. Max tried to protest but his jaw was still frozen by whatever Jane Willow had done to him.

  As he bounced along through the forest, Max saw five Sky Chambers descend on the Shell Hotel behind him.

  No!

  His friends were in danger. And he could do thing about it.

  After a time, they came upon a black Durango muscle car, buried under some brush. Sparkle shoved the brush out of the way and strapped Max in to the passenger seat.

  Wordlessly, Sparkle pushed the driver’s seat way back to accommodate his massive size, and squished himself down into the car. He peeled out, burning rubber as the car tore across a rough path hewn hewn through the brush, arriving quickly at a paved road.

  “Not to worry,” Sparkle said to Max at last. “It will wear off. I have encountered this Jane Willow before and she did much the same thing to me on one occasion.” Max was able to at last, with effort, turn his head to face Sparkle directly. “I had hoped to wait for you to come to me of your own free will. But the carelessness of Maurice has now forced matters to a head. However … by now you will have discovered that I told you the truth concerning Enki. And I daresay that you were perhaps only a few days away at most from paying me another visit … and not much longer after that, you would have agreed to accompany me.”

  As Max watched him drive the Durango, he conceded inwardly that Marvin Sparkle was absolutely right.

  Five: ‘And I Saw Someone Who Looked Like You Today’

  THE ESCAPE FROM the Shell Hotel had been a mess, mess, mess.

  Enki, Sasha, Ian, Casey and Maurice had managed to sneak along the tall bushes on the lawn that led back to the ocean cliff staircase they had used when they had first arrived. Sky Chambers whizzed above them, but everywhere they looked, hotel guests were running and screaming, dashing this way and that. Whoever was up there piloting those things had no way to tell who was part of the melee that had just taken place and who was not.

  When the company had made their way to the far edge of the Hotel’s property, they ran into Cassandra Veerspike.

  “I saw you,” she said. She stared accusingly from beneath strands of bangs that hung over her eyes just so. “You have guns. Guns are outlawed by the Bondsman. You were shooting.”

  “Cassandra,” Casey said. “Listen. We —”

  “And you’re not really with any of the Families. Are you?”

  “No,” Enki said. “We’re not.”

  Cassandra nodded. “I hate the Families. I hate the Veerspikes.”

  “What?” Ian said. “You are a Veerspike. Aren’t you?”

  “But she’s not like them, man,” Maurice said. “She reaches. You dig? She’s a sister!”

  For moment, Casey thought Maurice was wrong and that Cassandra was going to raise the alarm. In minutes, they would be fighting again — Sky Chambers, this time, and whatever came out of them.

  “I am a Veerspike,” Cassandra admitted. “That’s true. But I see what my Family does to regular people, how it sucks them dry … and I’m ashamed to be a Veerspike. So who are you people? What are you doing?”

  “That’s difficult to —” Enki began, the long-windedness already rising in his voice.

  “We’re here to deal with this Bondsman guy,” Casey blurted, cutting him off. “We don’t have time for a evasive speech, Enki.”

  “Wait — what?” Ian said, surprised. “We are?”

  “Yes,” Sasha replied. “We’re here to fix this world.” She and Casey stood next to each other like sisters.

  “Sasha, we only just arrived. Don’t be rash! Before we —“ Enki said.

  “No, that’s it,” Casey snapped again. “It’s Max’s doing, so we have to mop this up. We’re responsible.”

  “You did what … it’s your fault? The Bondsman is your fault?” Cassandra said, gaping.

  “Well, Max’s fault, technically,” Ian said, painfully. “See — Well, not his fault — he didn’t mean to do it — but he — it’s because of him. Indirectly. Or directly. But not intentionally.”

  “You mean … that really was Max Quick?” Cassandra said, astonished and looking around. “Where is he?”

  “We lost him in the fight,” Casey said. “And listen, we have to speed this up. We have to find him.”

  “Marvin Sparkle has him,” Ian said. “You’ve seen him. The big — I mean really big — black man. Always super stylish.”

  Cassandra waved that away. “Yeah yeah — I’ve waited on Marvin for months. Never mind that. Max Quick … the real Max Quick … that was him?”

  “Yes,” Casey said. “And the stories you’ve heard about him — whatever they are — aren’t true. This Bondsman guy made them up. He’s a good guy, he’s on our side.”

  “‘Our side’ being …?”

  “Against the Bondsman,” Enki said flatly.

  Cassandra nodded slowly and came to a decision. “Okay. I’m going to get you out of here. Come with —”

  “No,” Casey said. “We have to find Max first.”

  “There’s no time,” Cassandra said, eyes flitting up nervously. Five Sky Chambers were already descending onto the lawn. “Fell Simon is coming. He’s going to question everyone — and it’ll be a rough questioning. He’ll want to know what happened here. You guys cannot get caught. You have to leave now.”

  Casey, Ian, Sasha and Enki all looked at each other for a moment. Then Enki said, “Marvin Sparkle doesn’t want to get caught by this Fell Simon any more than we do. And he wants Max for a reason — we’ll have to trust to him for the moment to watch out for Max.”

  “Marvin bloody Sparkle?” Ian cried. “He’s been trying to kill Max! He sliced him open like a fish!”

  “That was before the Bondsman,” Enki said. “Things are different now.”

  Ian fell silent.

  “Come on!” Cassandra urged — and this time, the company followed.

  SHE LED THEM to a parking lot some distance off the Hotel property. It was filled with shuttle buses — all with keys in the ignition. “After you go through the Gate, go two miles down the road. You’ll come to a fork — go right. Keep going for several hours. You’ll start seeing more roads but stay straight. That will take you into City 29. Fell Simon will probably come looking but there’s so many people, it’ll be easy for you to blend in. Oh — and take this.” Cassandra produced a card from her wallet.

  “American Express,” Ian mused, nodding in approval.

  “Veerspike Financial Pass,” Cassandra corrected. “No spending limit. I’ll pretend you stole it from me, if anyone asks. And don’t worry — I don’t need it here — the Hotel feeds me, and I have a room. I never use that thing anyway. And who knows? It might be days and days before I notice it’s missing.” She grinned.

  Casey lurched out and hugged her quickly. “Thank you. Words aren’t enough. Thank you. And if you see Max or Marvin … try to tell them where we are. Tell them to follow.”

  “I will,” Cassandra nodded. “And good luck. I’ll be rooting
for you.”

  With that, the company piled into the bus and took off in the world of the Bondsman to see what horrors awaiting them beyond this oasis of the Elites.

  THE LANDSCAPE changed markedly as they left the region immediately surrounding the Shell Hotel. For one, a haze of insects seemed to swarm everywhere, insects large and strange and bright yellow with red spots and octo-wings.

  “Egads. They’re like flying golf balls,” Ian remarked.

  The trees changed as well. No longer lush and green as they had been at the Shell, they were red and gnarled and seemed to twist up out of the ground like a frozen scream. And every one of them was thick and bore many scars, as if weaker trees simply could not survive the rigors of this wilderness.

  They soon saw why: a vortex dropped from the clouds far off on the horizon — something like a tornado formed in between two heartbeats. Only whatever this was shimmered with a kind of static, like it was composed of something in a deeper layer of reality that mere wind and dirt. It threw off shrieks of lightning as it passed, ripping weaker trees and rocks from the sand and setting fires in its wake.

  Ian noticed then that the trees near them bore many scars and black patches. There were many rough cancerous-looking bumps and lumps where the trees had been evidently split open — and bark had regrown over the wood-wound, twice as tough and grizzled and determined to live.

  “These tornado things happen a lot here,” Ian said, pointing.

  Enki — who drove the bus — nodded. “Yes. I had noticed that also.”

  “Of course you did,” Ian said, playfully miffed. “You’re Enki. You’re our Obi-Wan Kenobi, Dumbledore, Gandalf and Merlin all rolled into one!”

  Enki ignored the comment. “The world itself is sick. Reality is sick — under the Bondsman’s influence. The weather, the trees, the animals — even colors and sounds and even our souls are starting to be swayed by a sort of psychic pollution. That’s why we all have The Dream. His rule is much more than an ordinary tyranny or dictatorship. It’s far worse than that. It’s a corruption of the very fabric of reality itself.”