The Evolutionite Chronicles Book Two: Dagger and Shadow Ninja in: Welcome to Las Vegas

by Timothy P. Callahan

  He appeared where he once stood and looked around. Tracker was gone. Turing was gone. He saw one door less arch. That had to be where they went.

  He started running when he heard a low moan. The weird guy, the sound came from him. Tanaka stopped and ran to the guy. “Hey, you alive?”

  The boy moaned and opened his eyes. His robe was sticky wet with blood. The tip of the arrow had gone thought his back and was sticking out of his chest. Not the side with the heart but there was no way his lungs weren’t punctured. He looked up at Tanaka. Blood gurgled from his throat when he spoke. “I sorry. I thought I was helping.”

  “It’s okay, kid. It’s okay,” Tanaka replied, grabbing his hand. “Help is on its way.”

  “I’m sorry. Tell my mom, tell my sister, I was trying to help.”

  “I will.”

  Tanaka felt the man’s hand slowly loosen its grip. “Come on, man. Would Gandalf give up? Would Dumbledore?”

  The man gave a crocked smile. “Both of them died.”

  “Spoiler alert. I never saw the movies.”

  Whitebeard chuckled, then coughed up some blood. His eyes closed and his body fell limp. “Come on, don’t die. Come on.” Tanaka placed his hand over Whitebeard’s heart and, amazingly, felt a very weak pulse.

  Tanaka looked up when he heard some sounds coming from the hallway. Nancy walked in, her hand glowing bright to light the way. Daniel slowly stumbled by her side. “Daniel. Get out, rest, get some help.”

  “I hear the ambulances now,” Daniel replied. “They’ll be here shortly. I’m fine, Peter’s training helped me survive that. I’m going to have a headache the rest of my life, but I’ll live.”

  “What about them?” Tanaka asked pointing to the others sitting in their chairs. “They don’t have our training.”

  “I don’t know,” Daniel said weakly. “How’s Whitebeard?”

  “Not good. I think he’s still alive, but he won’t last long.” With steely resolve Tanaka said, “If you’re feeling up to it, let’s go track those two down and stop them.”

  Daniel shook his head in agreement, then winced. “Let’s go.”

  No point in fighting him, Tanaka thought as they ran toward the door.

  Daniel shoved Tanaka out of the way as an arrow whizzed past his head. They both dove to the ground, Daniel pointing to the door. “He’s in there.”

  “Really? Hadn’t noticed,” Tanaka replied before teleporting over to the side of the door. He looked at Daniel. Another arrow flew through the door, hitting the ground seconds after Daniel had rolled out of the way.

  “I can’t see him,” Daniel said. “He’s too deep into the shadows.”

  “I can’t teleport without being able to see. We’re pinned down.”

  A voice from the darkness yelled, “Let me go and I won’t kill you. If I see either one of you, I will fire again.”

  Daniel reached to his belt and pulled out his buckler shield. He strapped it to his hand then stood and ran. A fired arrow deflected off his shield with a loud clang. Right after that was another arrow and another deflection. Tanaka waited, impressed with Daniel’s ability to deflect every arrow shot at him. Tanaka fell in step behind his brother, using him as a shield. The corridor was pitch black with small lines of sunlight highlighted by dust. Tanaka couldn’t focus on place, couldn’t teleport to where he was useful.

  When the arrows stopped Daniel and Tanaka stopped too. “I still can’t see him,” Daniel said. “I can smell him though. He passed through here and headed this way.”

  The two slowly walked down the hallway. The drywall which surrounded them had holes punched in them, as if an angry gang had ransacked the place. The floor was covered in debris, the noise of which made sneaking up on anyone impossible. Well, impossible for Tanaka, Daniel stepped on the debris with barely a sound.

  “He’s close.”

  Tanaka stood on his toes and looked over Daniel’s shoulder. “Where?”

  Daniel ducked and Tanaka, not having a danger sense and not knowing exactly why Daniel ducked, was hit square in the nose with a compound bow shaft swung from an open door he didn’t see. He fell backwards, his nose shattered. He moaned his back and spit out three teeth. Daniel stood and started to run away from Tanaka, chasing Tracker.

  Daniel took a brief look at Tanaka before taking off. Tanaka would be fine, Daniel reasoned. He’s been through worse. Daniel’s head throbbed more than he let on. He trusted his instincts but didn’t trust his own danger sense. He only managed to avoid the arrows because of his enhanced hearing. It was easy to pick up the tightening of the bow string, the click of the compound bow, and the snap and whoosh sound the arrow made as it was released.

  His eyes could see better than most in the dark. He saw a darker shadow move and followed it. He focused on his camouflage power blending his own body into the shadows. His footsteps stopped making noise.

  He slowed at the sound of a bow string being pulled back and stopped when he heard the compound part of the bow bend into place. He focused his powers to his eyes so he could see in the dark. He knew doing so would cause him to lose some of his enhanced hearing and make him more visible. That’s how his powers worked, taking power from one sense and use it to enhance another.

  The darkness parted and he saw Tracker standing in a hallway, his bow drawn, his eyes looking ahead. His stood stock still, not making a sound, barely even breathing. He didn’t look nervous. Daniel took a slow step toward Tracker, making sure not to make noise. Tracker’s body stiffened and Daniel stopped. He lost some focus on his eyes and pushed it toward his blending power. Now Tracker was a lighter shadow in contrast with the darkness that surrounded him.

  Daniel took another step, then another, slowly moving toward the man who was now ten yards in front of him.

  Tracker’s eyes opened wide and he let his arrow fly, whizzing past Daniel’s head. Daniel took a step to attack the man when, from behind him, he heard a female voice. “Oh, crap.”

  Daniel turned to see Nancy standing there, an arrow lodged deep in the middle of her chest. She fell to her knees, looking down at her wound. Daniel forgot about Tracker and ran toward her. “Tanaka! Tanaka! I need you here now!” Daniel knelt next to Nancy. He looked at the arrow, wanting to pull it out. But it wasn’t a good idea, and she needed help right now.

  Tanaka ran over, his face covered him blood, and saw Nancy on her knees slumped down. He looked at her, then at the arrow and, without another word, touched her and the two teleported away, leaving Daniel kneeling in front of nothing. He looked back to where Tracker once stood and found him gone. He stood and took a deep sniff. His mind couldn’t focus. All he thought about was Nancy. He tried to follow the scent as he walked around. His focus was lost and after fifteen minutes of aimlessly walking he gave up and headed for the front of the building.

  Dozens of police and ambulance trucks blocked off the highway in front of the street. The other people Daniel had been connected to were being treated; most of them were sitting in the back of rescue vehicles with blankets over them drinking water while a paramedic looked them over. Tanaka was not around. An ambulance took off from the site and screamed down the highway at high speed. That had to be Tanaka and Nancy. He would need to find out where they were going so he could get there himself.

  Looking around Daniel spotted the woman who had set next to him. She saw him and nodded. He walked over to her. “How are you feeling?”

  “Drained,” she replied. “Told you I felt something.”

  “I didn’t feel anything. That’s odd. Never had to worry about it.”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “Did you see it though? Did you see that vision?”

  “No,” Daniel said. “What did you see?”

  “Just images. I saw a desert. I saw bunkers. I saw poker dealers with red eyes. I someone taking the oath of office. I saw people clapping for him. I don’t understand why. It didn’t seem too bad, just... weird. You didn’t see that?”

  “No. Did every
one else see this?”

  “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask them.”

  “What does it mean?” he wondered out loud.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Tanaka looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. He spent the past fifteen minutes removing all the blood from his face. The doctors had patched up his nose and gave him the name of a good orthodontist for his missing teeth.

  It was difficult for him to get the image of Nancy, an arrow sticking in her chest, out of his mind. What was she doing there? Why didn’t she stay in the car.?

  The doctors were tight lipped about her condition. She was rushed into the emergency room and that’s the last he heard. They asked him tons of questions about her, questions he didn’t know the answer to. So much time had been lost between them.

  Tanaka walked over to a towel dispenser and pulled out some paper towels. While drying his hands he heard the door to the bathroom open. He looked up, then up, and up, to see David Lee, all six feet, ten inches of him, standing there. Tanaka gulped and thought about teleporting away.

  David held his hands palm up out. “Tanaka, don’t teleport, please.”

  “As long as you promise not to kill me.”

  “I’ve never killed anyone. Don’t have the stomach for it.”

  Tanaka threw the paper towels away. “If you want to know how Nancy is doing, I can’t help you. I don’t know. Sorry.”

  “What happened?” He asked, pain and sorrow in his voice. “I thought you were supposed to protect her.”

  “Look, it wasn’t my fault,” Tanaka replied, not really believing it himself. “I told her to stay in the car while I helped Daniel. Next thing I know, Daniel’s screaming at me and I see her with an arrow sticking out of her chest. She must have followed me, even though I told her not to leave the car.”

  David gave a humorless chuckle. “That sounds like her. Always sticking her nose into something. That’s why she’s in trouble, why she called you and not me, I guess.”

  “We’re not even sure if she’s in trouble. She called us because she saw you and got scared. Then this afternoon, we were attacked by these two bounty hunters, Pop and Water Witch. We knew them from school.”

  “The Evo family is small. Not surprised you knew them.”

  “Not even sure why they attacked us. Do you?”

  David held his hand up for Tanaka to wait a minute then looked under the stalls. “Good, we’re alone. A few weeks ago, I hired a detective to find Nancy. Figured she was still in Vegas but I wasn’t sure. He told me she was and would spy on her for a bit to see what she was up to. He did some digging and found out she was pushing the wrong people for information. She’d get them drunk, give them free lap dances, ask them a bunch of personal questions, then drug them until they fell asleep. When they woke she would be in bed with them sleeping, making them believe they had sex with her.”

  “Did they?” Tanaka asked, feeling his gut tighten.

  “I don’t know. My guy found all this out second hand, so who knows. I don’t really want to think about it too much.”

  “Me, either,” Tanaka replied. “What else?”

  “I don’t know much after that. She spotted him, beat the crap out of him, and he quit.”

  “Well, I think we can speculate what happened after that. She did get some information from the wrong guy, and it got back to his boss and now that guy is pissed.” Tanaka took a deep breath, unable to believe what he was about to ask. “We could really use your help on this one. If you can give us the notes the detective gave you, maybe we can figure out who’s trying to hurt her and stop them.”

  “You want us to team up?” David asked. “After all I did to you guys last year?”

  “Well, the insurance paid for the damage done to the office, and no one died. We’ll deal with you when we’re done. Until then, let’s go talk to Daniel and see what he thinks. I’m pretty sure he’ll be okay with it.”

  “No,” Daniel said firmly. “Absolutely not. No. Not a chance. Nuh-uh. No. No way. No.”

  “I feel you didn’t even give me the chance to explain,” Tanaka replied. “He knows things that can help us.”

  Daniel placed his hands on his hip akimbo and looked out into the waiting area of the emergency room. The room was filled with people in various stages of pain. A few looked like they had been fighting. One person had an ice pack on his nose. A small girl sat curled up on the lap of her mother. Several women, most in very tight or barely there dresses, talked. One had her arm in a sling and another a heating pad on her stomach. The room smelled of old wounds, bandages, and rubbing alcohol. It wasn’t too noisy as most people talked in low whispers. Daniel turned to face Tanaka. “He tried to kill us last year!”

  “To be fair,” David said in a low voice, “You were riding on my back. I wasn’t trying to kill you so much as get you off my back.”

  “And you did that by threatening to destroy a subway car full of people.”

  “I figured you’d never have let that happen. So really, if I did, it would have been your fault.”

  Tanaka held his hand up. “David, shut up. You’re not helping.”

  “Look, David,” Daniel said, “if you have the information, give it to us now, and we’ll follow up on it. We can’t have you following us around. You’re a wanted man. It’ll make us look bad.”

  David shook his head. “No, I have some information, but I have to be with you guys when you follow up. She’s my wife... Well, ex-wife, but I love her and I don’t want these attacks to continue.”

  “Then stay here,” Daniel replied thankful for the opening he was given. “Protect her. You’re sort of family. I’m sure they’ll let you back there to watch her. If not, stay in the waiting room and keep her protected. Heck, if I wanted to hurt her and I saw you here, I wouldn’t even try.”

  “That’s actually a pretty good idea,” Tanaka replied. “I would stay here with you but I want to stop them just as badly as you do.”

  David stared at Daniel for a long time. Daniel reached out with his senses and felt his heart beating. It was rapid and strong. He was upset, maybe even a little scared, but there was nothing Daniel sensed that lead him to believe David was a threat to Nancy.

  “Fine,” David finally said. He pulled out his cell phone and handed it to Tanaka. “Put this number in your phones and give me your numbers. If anything happens, I’ll call you and you can teleport here. If you find anything, let me know, and I’ll come running. Got it?”

  “Deal,” Tanaka replied, quickly typing away on the screen. After a few moments, he gave the phone back, then proceeded to enter David’s number in his own phone.

  “What can you tell us?” Daniel asked.

  “I can’t tell you much more than what I told Tanaka. But, I can give you the name of the detective I hired. He lives out here in Vegas; he might be able to help you. Or, if you really feel brave, you can go to where she works and talk to the girls there. My guy told me that she seemed really close to a girl named Candy—probably not her real name, you know.”

  “Figured,” Tanaka replied.

  “Anyway, said they talked all the time.”

  Daniel replied. “Okay, give us the name of the detective and where Nancy worked. We’ll take it from there.”

  David handed Daniel a card. “That’s the detective. She worked at the Lady Lounge. It’s next to the strip on South Vegas Boulevard. Don’t think you’ll miss it.”

  Tanaka tuned to Daniel. “Okay, we should split up. I’ll take the strip club.”

  “I bet,” Daniel replied, placing the card in a pouch on his belt. “Guess I’ll talk to the detective.”

  “You sure?” Tanaka asked, trying to hide his eagerness.

  “Yeah, you’re right. I should go to the strip club—”

  “No, no, you’re much better with detectives than with girls.”

  “You don’t like girls?” David asked Daniel.

  “I love girls... I mean, woman,” Daniel replied, glaring at Tanaka. “O
kay, fine, you go to the strip club and talk to Candy. I’ll go to the detective and see what he knows.” Daniel caught a whiff of someone familiar. He turned quickly to see the woman, the one who sat next to him with Turing, standing there looking around. “Excuse me, I have to see about something. Tanaka, we’ll keep in touch.”

  He walked over to the woman, and when she saw him, she gave a small wave. “Hi. I’ve been looking for you.”

  “How are you feeling?” He asked.

  “Good, fine. Headache, nothing more.”

  “How did you know I’d be here?”

  “Figured you’d be checking up on Whitebeard. How’s he doing?”

  Daniel hadn’t even thought about Whitebeard after what he saw happen to Nancy. He wasn’t in good shape last time he saw him and doubted his condition was any better. “I don’t know. Another friend of mine got hurt today, I was checking up on her.”

  “Her? Oh, you mean that woman who broke through the police blockade? How is she doing? What happened?”

  “She got an arrow in the chest,” Daniel replied. “And she’s stable.”

  “Oh, okay. I hope she makes it.” She stood there silent for a moment, as if waiting for Daniel to speak next. Finally, she said, “I’m sorry I bothered you. You should go check up on your friend.”

  “What’s your name?” Daniel asked.

  “Grace. My name is Grace.”

  “Grace, you came to me for something. Tell me.”

  “I wanted to see where we stood on stopping the vision. I wanted to know if you plan on stopping Turing and that Tracker guy.”

  He nodded a quick yes. “I have a few other things to take care of, but I will be tracking Turing down.”

  “We need to stop him fast. The vision I saw, I don’t think it’ll take that long to happen. Maybe the vision can help you find him.”

  “Maybe,” Daniel replied. “Come with me. I have to talk to a detective about something else. You can tell me more about the vision. The more you remember, the more I might be able to figure things out.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE