Grimm - The Icy Touch

by Shirley, John

  “But... I need to make sure she stays okay.”

  “Just let me think, dammit.”

  Hank tapped his fingers on the steering wheel of the unmarked car. Outside, the rain had thinned to little more than a mist, sweeping across the dark hood of the car in waves too soft to hear. The moon was tucked behind brooding gray clouds and the only light, now that he’d turned off the headlamps, was from the security lights on the black metal fence of the mansion house. He’d parked a hundred yards away, on the shoulder of the access road, where a thick growth of wild roses and big ferns blocked any view of the car from the large building. The access road ended at a closed gate. A gatehouse stood just inside the fence.

  Monroe cleared his throat.

  “So. If you have no strong objection, I’m gonna—”

  “Monroe? I do have an objection,” Hank said. “I do in fact object strongly. You’re not going over there! Last time you went off half cocked, one of those damned vulture things stabbed you in the stomach.”

  “They’re called Geier. Rather than vultures per se, they’re—”

  “Okay, fine, Geier. You want to hear what the plan is or not?”

  Monroe sighed. “What’s the plan?”

  “The plan is to wait for Nick to call and tell us what the plan is.”

  Then he saw a light in his side-view mirror. And another.

  “Oh crap. Get down!”

  The two men ducked down as low as they could, Monroe half crammed under the dashboard.

  Three cars drove by in quick succession. Hank waited, one hand in his coat, ready to jump up and yank out the Glock if he had to. He could hear the cars driving to the gate. He lifted up his head enough to see that they had passed.

  “Can I get up now?” Monroe asked. “This is painful.”

  “Yeah.” They sat up and Hank looked out the side mirror again. “Looks like they’re expecting guests.”

  Monroe rubbed at a crick in his neck.

  “Is hiding under the dashboard normal police procedure?”

  Hank snorted. “No. Neither is sitting out in the rain with a Blutbad while Grimm’s fairy tale monsters drive by Nothing about this is police procedure. Was up to me I’d have the Sheriff’s department here right now. And when we got Nick and the girl out we’d go to the FBI and tell them the whole damn thing and let the feds take over. This secrecy stuff bothers me. It’s not legal and I don’t think it’s right.”

  “Do Nick and Renard know you feel that way?”

  “Yep. They’re not pleased about it. And I’m not pleased about skirting the law. But I’m sticking with Nick and doing it his way because... he’s my partner. And he’s always had my back. And because I guess maybe people aren’t ready to know about Wesen yet.”

  “Maybe? There’s no maybe about it, Hank. And by the way, ‘monsters’... is kind of an offensive term, man. Some of them are probably Blutbaden. I don’t appreciate the blanket prejudice. Terms like monster...”

  “I’m going to back this car up and find another spot. Likely to be more guests before Nick calls again.”

  Hank turned on the engine without switching on the lights, and backed up slowly, the car bumping over ruts in the shoulder, till he was on the road again. He kept backing around the turn, hoping that no other cars appeared for at least a few seconds.

  “There!” Monroe said. He pointed between a stand of madrone and ash trees. “Just enough room.”

  Hank nodded. He stopped the car, and then drove it slowly forward between the trees, hoping he wasn’t going to get stuck on a fallen log. When he felt like he wouldn’t be seen by drivers on the road, he stopped.

  Less than five seconds later several more cars drove past.

  “Not good,” Monroe said. “They’re going to the same place. That’s a lot of bad Wesen. How is Nick going to—”

  That’s when Hank’s cell phone rang. He answered instantly.

  “Griffin.”

  “Hank. It’s Nick... listen carefully.”

  * * *

  Luckily, no one had found the dead Königschlange yet.

  They were back in the room where Lily had been held, the dead man still lay on the floor. Nick picked up the small table beside the bed, got a good grip on two of its legs, and threw it, hard, through the window of the bedroom.

  “Whoa,” Lily said.

  He hurriedly picked up the Königschlange corpse by its belt and collar and pitched it through the window. That was harder to do; it took all his strength to make sure the body cleared the edges of broken glass.

  One of the corpse’s feet caught on the glass but the weight of the body pulled it free, and the dead Wesen fell to the ground outside, landing in a litter of shards.

  “Come on,” Nick said. “Run!”

  They hurried back into the corridor, ran to the stairs, up two floors—and straight into a woged Blutbad.

  The Icy Touch thug snarled and leaped at Nick.

  Nick ducked, warning, in an undertone, “Outta the way, Lily!” And then he used his Grimm reflexes to pitch the Blutbad over the stair railing. The Blutbad howled till he struck his head on the edge of a stairway and went silent, falling limply to the bottom.

  Lily gaped at Nick. “How’d you learn to—”

  “Never mind, just run!”

  They pounded up the stairs, passed the top floor, until they reached the door that led to the roof.

  The door was locked—but Nick was in too much of a hurry to try and find the key, and two slams of his shoulder popped it open. He stepped outside in time to confront a frowning middle-aged man with an assault rifle cradled in his arms: a roof sentry coming around the corner of the outbuilding housing the egress. Probably checking on the noise of Nick breaking down the door.

  Nick hammered the sentry with the butt of his shotgun. The man went down, twitching but alive.

  “Ouchy,” Lily said, looking at the fallen man. Then she smiled. “Oh well. I hate these guys.”

  Nick closed the door from the stairs, whispering. “Okay, Lily. Here comes the tricky part. Be as quiet as you can.”

  He could hear shouting on the side of the house from where he’d tossed the Königschlange corpse. With any luck that little decoy would draw most of the sentries and keep them busy for a couple of minutes.

  But when Denswoz got there, he’d know better.

  “Where we going?” Lily whispered.

  “Some, uh, Wesen like to have trees close around their dens so I figured... yeah, that one’ll do.”

  They crossed the flat tarred roof to where several trees lined up next to the mansion. Two of them had grown past the three-story roof. The biggest looked like a redwood.

  There was more than five feet between the tree’s nearest branch and the roof. Nick could see it pretty well in the glare spilling over from the security lights out front. He set the shotgun down, flat on the roof and out of Lily’s way.

  “Wait here,” he whispered.

  Someone was shouting angrily from the other side of the building as Nick leapt from the roof onto the nearest branch, trusting his Grimm abilities. He teetered for half a second, then grabbed a higher branch to steady himself.

  He held onto the upper branch and worked his way along the lower branch, as far as he dared, close to the edge of the roof. The big branch bent a trifle but held his weight.

  Lily stood poised on the edge of the roof looking scared and uncertain, and hopelessly vulnerable in her thin shift and sandals.

  “Come on,” he whispered to her. “Stick out your hands and jump for this branch, I’ll catch you with my left hand.”

  She looked at him. Hesitated.

  “Trust me, I’ll catch you,” he said.

  She licked her lips—and jumped.

  One of her feet hit the lower branch but the other missed and she started to fall past him, flailing for his hands as she slipped downwards. He clasped her left arm near the shoulder with his left hand, pulling her toward him. Balancing with difficulty, his right hand holding on
to the higher branch, he lifted her until she found purchase on the lower branch with her feet. He grinned at her, and, though obviously scared, she grinned back. She held onto his arm, steadied her feet, and then took hold of the higher branch.

  “Okay,” he whispered. “We’re gonna climb down. Follow me, as fast as you can without falling.”

  Nick climbed down through a strong smell of redwood pitch and foliage, showing the way, and Lily followed. He figured The Icy Touch were still searching through the house. But they’d reach the roof soon, and find their fallen sentry and figure out the rest.

  Hurry.

  He came to the lowest branch in the tree, looked around, saw no one nearby, and dropped down. He reached up and helped Lily, half catching her, and then setting her on the ground.

  “Which way should we—?” she began.

  He put his fingers over her mouth and signed for her to wait. They could barely see each other in the shadows, but she froze into silence.

  Nick drew the pistol from his waistband, and crept to the nearest corner of the house. He could sense someone stalking toward it. He flattened against the wall, holding his breath. A dark silhouette holding a rifle stepped around the corner and Nick brought the butt of the pistol hard down on the sentry’s head.

  The man grunted and convulsively squeezed the trigger of his assault rifle. Two shots spurted into the ground, flame strobing against the shadows, and then the Wesen crumpled.

  “Damn,” Nick muttered. He ran back to Lily and, worried a round could have ricocheted off a rock, whispered, “You okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  He stuck the pistol back in his waistband. There was shouting from behind the house. They were coming.

  “Lily—we’re gonna run to the front gate, round that corner. Run on ahead of me. Fast as you can! Use the cars for cover! Go!”

  She sprinted away and he followed, slowing only fractionally to scoop up the sentry’s AR15. He readied the semi-auto assault rifle and followed Lily around the corner.

  The area in front of the house, inside the fence, was mostly concrete drive, a half circle of it extending from the front door, and it was crowded with parked cars. It looked like an unruly car dealership.

  Dark figures emerged from the far side of the house. Probably Denswoz had spread his men around both sides, they were coming from the farther corner, to his left, on the side he’d dumped the Königschlange, and they’d be coming from behind. Nick fired the AR15 from the hip, keeping The Icy Touch locked on him so that Lily could get past.

  One of them shouted in pain; another stepped back and returned fire. He crouched as he ran. Two bullets sang just over his head.

  Time seemed to slow down as he rushed after Lily toward the gatehouse by the fence, hoping to cross the space without being shot down. The parked cars provided good cover, but running hunched over was slower.

  Another gun cracked somewhere behind and he felt a slashing pain in his left shoulder. It didn’t feel like it had hit him solidly—if it had it would have knocked him off his feet. There was a second shot from behind, and the round smashed through a car’s windshield.

  He kept running, zigzagging between cars, and then saw that Lily was pressed up against the wall of the gatehouse, beside the front door. The door opened...

  A Hundjager—in full woge—charged out of the gatehouse door and Nick ran at him, afraid to fire for fear of hitting Lily. The Hundjager was snarling, bestial—and big.

  Nick ducked to the right at the last moment, tripped the onrushing Wesen, turned, and fired the AR15, shooting the gatehouse sentry in the back of the head.

  A bullet cracked off a car’s fender just behind him. Then he realized that the gate was opening. Lily was inside the gatehouse and she’d thrown the switch.

  Smart girl. Cool headed.

  “Go!” Nick shouted as she reemerged, and he followed her through the gate before it was fully open.

  A car came racing toward them, drove past, spun around and then pulled up to block their way. Monroe, in the back of the unmarked car, threw open a rear door.

  “Come on, jump in!” he shouted.

  A bullet smashed out a brake light on the car, and then Lily and Nick were inside. Hank floored it before Nick quite got the door closed.

  They roared around the curve.

  “Monroe—is Juliette safe?” Nick asked.

  “Yeah, Nick—I don’t think these creeps know where she and Rosalee are. We got her covered.”

  They went a short distance up the access road, and then slowed next to the parked vehicle waiting for them. It was a white and silver Chevy SUV, facing away from the mansion. Behind the steering wheel was a scared-looking Eisbiber. Monroe had called around to find a local, friendly Wesen.

  Hank pulled up and they all climbed out, leaving the car idling.

  “Nick—how about if you just come with us,” Monroe said. “Juliette’ll never forgive me...”

  “Hurry!” the Eisbiber called out the car window.

  There was shouting from the mansion down the road. Not much time.

  “Into the SUV, all of you,” Nick said.

  Hank looked troubled. “There’s a police shotgun, and ammo in the trunk, and a vest. Wait—is that blood?” Hank stared at Nick’s left arm. “You’re wounded?”

  “It’s really and truly just a scratch. Now—trade you cell phones.”

  Hank looked surprised but took the cell phone Nick had been using, and handed his own over.

  Monroe was staring at Lily

  “Um—you okay?” he asked her gently.

  She looked at him. “Yeah. Who are you?”

  “Who am I? I’m... my name’s Monroe. I work with these guys. Come on. Let’s get you back to Portland...”

  He and Lily started to get into the SUV—then she ran back to Nick and hugged him.

  “Thanks!” she whispered.

  “My privilege. Well done for opening that gate—that was pretty quick thinking. Now go—you’ll be safe with them.”

  She ran back to the car and Monroe helped her climb in.

  “Nick,” Hank said, “this is crazy. Don’t stay here. Let me cover you, at least.”

  “You can’t. That’ll blow the whole plan. Anyway you need to protect that girl. Go on, I know what I’m doing.”

  I hope.

  They heard cars starting, back at the mansion.

  “They’re coming! Just go, Hank!”

  Nick didn’t wait for his partner’s response. He jumped into Hank’s car, slammed the door shut, put it in gear, did a quick three-point turn and hit the accelerator to speed back around the curve to the road in front of the mansion. He jerked the wheel to his left, braking when he was blocking the road. Then he put the car in park.

  A cloud of exhaust fumes rose around him from the spinning maneuver, glowing in the shine from the security lights.

  A car screeched to a stop between him and the gate of the Denswoz mansion. The two men inside looked like they were arguing.

  Nick speed dialed Renard on Hank’s phone.

  “Come on, Renard, tell me you’ve done something,” Nick muttered as he waited for the Captain to pick up.

  Maybe this wasn’t the best way to handle it. Maybe it wouldn’t work. Maybe they should’ve had the Sheriff’s department take over. But who knew what kind of creatures the Sheriff’s team would find in there? And what they’d find out about him? They would probably get into a full on fire fight and The Icy Touch might well win that fight... Could he cope with being responsible for that kind of loss of life?

  And maybe there was a back way out of the mansion anyway? Was there a boat, perhaps, on the river, that Denswoz would take if the place were raided?

  “Circle around him!” shouted a gruff voice from the gate.

  Come on, Captain. Answer! Nick willed Renard to answer his cell.

  “Griffin!” came the captain’s voice at last. He’d seen Griffin’s number on his cell phone. “Did you get him out of there?”

&
nbsp; “Yes, sir, he did,” Nick said, as a group of Wesen got out of the car in front of him.

  Nick got out of his car as well, taking the AR15 along with him. He aimed the assault weapon across the top of the car with one hand, the other holding the phone to his left ear.

  “Burkhardt? That you?” Renard asked.

  “Last time I looked. You get the email, Captain?”

  It was a little difficult to talk. Was it the exhaust making his mouth so dry or was it the fear?

  “I got it. Useful stuff. And I think I have an arrangement made. But I’m not sure how long before...”

  A shotgun boomed, blowing a side window out of Hank’s car.

  Nick ducked down, almost kneeling on his side of the car.

  “Got to go, Captain. I’ll be right here. I think I can get them to keep me alive till dawn.”

  “Maybe we can hand it over to the Sheriff’s department...”

  “Captain? They wouldn’t finish the job. We can. It’s got to be done this way. You know that.”

  Nick pocketed the phone and then shouted, “Tell Denswoz I’ll surrender! But I want to talk to him first!”

  Nick glimpsed a muzzle flash, heard the hum of a bullet from his left, and realized that someone was firing at him from the other side of the fence.

  He turned, popped the rifle to his shoulder, aimed at the silhouette and fired.

  Someone yelped and fell back.

  He shouted again, louder, “I’m ready to surrender but only if I can talk to Denswoz!”

  There were men murmuring in confusion, and then he heard Denswoz’s voice, shouting from somewhere near the gatehouse.

  “That you, Burkhardt?”

  “It is! No police—this is down to you and me. We’ve got two hundred years of history to settle, Denswoz! We’ll make it the traditional rite of dawn—it all gets finished tomorrow morning! Give me your word it’ll be a fair fight—and your leave to go if I survive! Swear it... and I’ll surrender right now! But I want an oath from you just as serious as the one you swore to kill me!”

  There was a pause.

  Then the reply came: “I swear it! On the blood of my ancestors, I swear it! In the rite of the dawn you will have your chance!”

  “I’m dropping my gun!” Nick shouted. He tossed the AR15 onto the roof of the car where they could all see it. “I’m coming over there!”