Tap-Dancing the Minefields

by Lyn Gala

  “I told Mr. Peterson. The military knows about demons. They’ve confiscated some stuff, and they’re taking it apart and studying it.”

  “Those white-eyed walking hemorrhoids,” Zhu practically growled. “They have no idea what they’re screwing around with.” Zhu gave Tank an awkward pat on the arm. “We’ll have Mrs. Peterson do a tracking spell for artifacts, and we’ll get them back.”

  Marie was quicker to understand the real problem. “Are they going to come after us?”

  Zhu whirled around and gave her a horrified look.

  “I don’t know,” Tank said. “It’s so classified that I’m going to get stuffed into the tiniest jail cell they own for telling you this, but they have a unit that deals with stuff like this.” And by “stuff like this” Tank meant aliens, but he was avoiding all that until he had conclusive proof. “I get the feeling that they don’t consider a fight over until they’ve ended it. So they’re still worried about Marie’s father. I haven’t told them anything, but I think they got to Brian.”

  Zhu and Marie exchanged concerned looks. Tank knew that expression. “What’s going on?” he asked.

  Marie shrugged, and Zhu sighed. That was so not good. Zhu said, “My father has been a little problematic lately.”

  “A little?” Marie almost shrieked. She turned to Tank. “Mr. Chow set up a legit tech company and then hired Zhu using a shell corporation to hide his involvement. The job was awesome, and Zhu put money down on an apartment. For almost a year, it’s all great, and then Mr. Chow pops up and tells Zhu that he needs to step up and take his place in the family business.”

  “Demoning?” Tank guessed.

  From Marie’s glare, he was wrong. Zhu explained, “My dad expects me to help with laundering money and computer hacking.”

  “Oh.” Tank wasn’t sure why this was a reason to hit the panic button. Marie’s dad had been way more badass and willing to kill people to blackmail his daughter into taking up their family business, which included stealing souls.

  “Tank,” Zhu said in the soft voice that meant he was trying to explain something to a stupid person. That was fair. Compared to Zhu, Tank was stupid. “I took a two-million-dollar bonus from the place, and that means I have to work there three years or pay it back. I can’t pay it back. I bought a Manhattan apartment, and I signed a noncompete clause that prevents me from working with any other tech firm. I’m trapped, and if I leave the company, I’m going to be living on the streets. And my father has backed all that up with threats of a more magical nature.”

  Now Tank saw the problem. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “We didn’t want you to think you had to give up your life to come back here. Besides, this isn’t the sort of fight you can win with a fertilizer bomb,” Zhu said.

  Tank went over to the swings and sat down. He had no idea if all this made the alien story more or less likely, but he’d never felt so helpless in all his life. He’d walked away, but the demons weren’t done with Marie and Zhu. Tank fought with emotions that darted through so fast he couldn’t even put a finger on them. The feelings were all oily smoke that raced through his brain and made him feel dirty and scummy and then vanished before he could really get a handle on them.

  Zhu sat in the next swing while Marie leaned against the upright support. “Hey, you’re looking good,” Marie said. “You’ve been working out.”

  Tank raised his free arm and flexed it. “That’s me, Tank the Dishwasher, able to defeat greasy stains at a thousand yards, only not, because grease removal requires touching the dishes.”

  Marie claimed the third swing. “Okay, that catchphrase needs work.” Everything was strained, but Tank could feel them struggling to find normal.

  “Yeah,” he agreed softly. “So, the government is coming, and Zhu’s father is being an asshole, which isn’t actually all that unusual for a demon. What’s the plan?” Tank smiled weakly.

  “My big plan was to send Marie through law school and have her specialize in corporate law with a minor in demonic possession and soul deals and then have her sort it out,” Zhu said with a dark chuckle.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Marie said. “I’m not exactly the brainy one in this relationship. If you find me something to hit, I’ll hit it. Government conspiracies and demonic tech firms are definitely outside my area of expertise. Now, the spies and toadies your father keeps siccing on us? That is a problem I can handle—and by handle, I mean punch in the nose until the demons turn to smoke and vanish.” Marie held up a fist to emphasize her point. “By the way, Tank, be careful when you walk around the old neighborhood or even our new neighborhood. The number of demons is up dramatically. Right now they seem to have me and Zhu on a do-not-kill list, but….”

  “But they could just off me. Got it.” Tank wondered if there was alien tech for making bodies vanish. Being back here, the idea of aliens felt so wrong. All the evidence for demonic forces came rushing back—the possessions, the demon foot soldiers who would turn to smoke, the spells, and counterspells. That didn’t exactly scream alien. But he couldn’t ignore logic, and an alien incursion made more sense than demons who devoted years to manipulating a few high school students.

  “Have you talked to Mr. and Mrs. Peterson about all this?”

  Marie and Zhu exchanged another knowing look that just made Tank feel more like the outsider who had wandered too far into someone else’s territory.

  “Ellie’s death….” Marie’s voice cracked, and the silence that followed was heavy enough to crush Tank.

  Zhu said quietly, “They aren’t the same. We try to give them space. Since we moved, we really haven’t had much to do with them. We were visiting Marie’s mom when we got the text, but Mr. Peterson should have warned you that we might have been really late getting here.”

  “Yeah, not so much,” Tank said. Everything had changed, and that was even without the alien conspiracy secrets. “Look, if the government shows up, I don’t know how they’re going to react to you two.”

  Zhu pushed his swing. “I could theoretically create new identities for me and Marie, but you’re talking about hiding from the federal government. That would probably require going to another country, and the way my finances look, we can’t afford to move to any country that speaks English.”

  “And my Spanish sucks,” Marie added. “On the plus side, I’ve been working as a fitness trainer. You can get a job anywhere with the right credentials, and Zhu is really good at falsifying records.” She reached out and closed her hand around Zhu’s. “If we have to run, we can.”

  Tank felt a glimmer of hope, but Zhu shook his head. “If they know about demons, then they should listen to our evidence that we fought demons. Yeah, we might have demonic fathers, but it’s not like we asked for them. And sure, I work for a demonic tech firm, but I didn’t know a demon owned it when I took the job.” Zhu held his hand out, and he and Marie entwined their fingers. “Okay, it sounds bad, but I would rather explain it than run and have to explain it later when we’re caught.”

  Marie frowned, but after a second she gave a nod. “I can go along with that. We should get our evidence together, maybe find a lawyer who likes a good conspiracy.”

  “I find all lawyers like conspiracies,” a new voice called from the darkness. Tank yelped and bolted to his feet, but neither Marie nor Zhu moved.

  “I was wondering when you were going to come out,” Marie said. She stood and took a step forward.

  “Colonel Aldrich,” Tank blurted out.

  “Tankersley.” Oh yeah, Aldrich sounded all kinds of pissed. And no Lev. That wasn’t a good sign. Aldrich turned his attention to the others. “You must be Marie Byrne and Zhu Chow. I’m Colonel Clyde Aldrich, Army. And I was actually waiting to see when you were going to notice me, but I got tired of waiting. I’m not big on patience.” Aldrich pointed to the guy on his right. “This is Captain Peter Black, and this is John.”

  John had on some sort of makeup that hid all the markings and made him medium brown
all over and remarkably normal. He also had a huge sword strapped on his hip, and he rested his hand on it, which ruined the impression. Marie’s attention went right to him.

  “You’re interesting,” Marie said. She was eyeing John with her kill-all-demons expression.

  “Hey, no. He’s a friend,” Tank said as he quickly moved to block her. “He’s teaching me how to not get my ass kicked, which is good.” Tank figured it would come in handy in jail. Shit. He’d really thought he’d have time to help before all the shit hit the fan. “But this isn’t the time or place to discuss my amazing skills at falling down. We should talk about how we really are all on the same side and should work together.”

  Aldrich rolled his eyes. “Between Hoffer’s stories and Tank’s medical records, I figured you folks had a problem and could use some help getting out of it.”

  “You didn’t come to arrest me?” The words blurted out of Tank before his brain could do a common-sense check. He didn’t need to remind superior officers of his completely illegal actions.

  Aldrich turned his attention toward Tank. “If I was here to arrest you for going AWOL, I would have a couple of MPs with me. Colonels don’t do that sort of paperwork. Besides, Lev would never forgive me, and I’d have to listen to him complain for the next decade.” About the time Tank had decided he’d dodged the metaphorical bullet, Aldrich’s expression turned hard. “However, you will face the consequences of going AWOL. Clear, Private?”

  “Yes, sir,” Tank agreed.

  “Don’t you threaten him,” Zhu said as he stepped up next to Marie.

  Aldrich turned his back to them and headed for a bench, sitting down as if they were all friends having a little chat in the park. John and the new guy didn’t budge, though, and both of them looked totally ready to start a fight. “Look, I’m not the diplomatic one. Usually someone else reads civilians into the program, but from the pieces I’ve put together, I don’t think you guys are civilians. So I’m trying to extend to you a little professional courtesy, one fighter to another,” Aldrich said.

  Marie huffed. “Right. You respect us.”

  “You blew up a… demon.” There was just a slight hesitation before that word, and Aldrich looked over at Tank. Right now Tank was amazingly relieved that he hadn’t spilled all the beans. “That’s more than most people manage,” Aldrich continued.

  “We’re resourceful.” Marie’s voice had that flat tone that meant murderous rages were likely to follow.

  “Hell yes, you are,” Aldrich agreed. “You did damn good, but this demon you’re up against now seems better. He’s tested your resources, he knows where your weaknesses are, and he’s coming for you in a way you can’t defend yourselves against. Am I right?”

  Marie looked over at Zhu.

  “We can handle this,” Zhu said, but Tank could see the lie as if someone had written it in pen across Zhu’s face.

  “Do you know whether you can break that noncompete clause? Can you collect evidence of money laundering? Who can you trust in the local FBI office to listen to you without rushing in and getting himself killed because he thinks it’s a simple case of human organized crime?” Aldrich paused between each question as though giving Zhu time to answer, but he didn’t.

  Tank could feel the lines of power draw tight as each side pulled back, each holding their secrets. He swallowed around the lump in his throat and forced the words out through his fear—fear of court-martial, fear of losing his friends, of disappointing people, of prison.

  Tank said softly, “Maybe you should listen to them.”

  Marie shook her head. “Do you really think the government can handle this, with all their rules and regulations?”

  “Actually—” Aldrich started to say, but Marie talked over him. Aldrich shrugged and spread his arms across the back of the bench in a pose that suggested he could wait her out. He’d never heard Marie rant, though.

  “Adults think they know everything, that age automatically makes a person smarter. Newsflash. It doesn’t. This is our fight, and we’ve been in over our heads before, and we made it through.” Marie’s voice grew less certain the more she talked, and she flinched at the end. Yeah, they hadn’t all made it through. The fear had driven Roger to sell his soul and murder Ellie, and Ellie…. Even thinking about her made Tank physically ill. He hadn’t saved her. None of them had saved her.

  “I actually agree with some of that,” Aldrich said, “although I like to think that my years make me both more intelligent and more dashing. I certainly have more experience with these sorts of fights, because I’ve been in this game longer than you’ve been alive. That said, I don’t know the players on the ground, and I’m not trying to step on toes. I’m offering whatever support I can, and that includes the ability to bring in computer techs. That is, assuming you’re willing to be our inside man and sneak a few highly illegal pieces of tech into the building.” Aldrich looked at Zhu.

  “You want me to spy on my father?”

  “That a problem?”

  “Absolutely not,” Zhu said. “I just thought you would be more likely to either accuse me of helping him or arrest me to keep me out of the way.”

  Aldrich sat up. “I tried to keep this one out of the way,” he said as he poked a thumb in Tank’s direction. “You can see how well that worked. I would rather offer to help.” He stood and held out a card, but Marie ignored him and moved toward John.

  Tank took a step forward to intercept her. “Aldrich is a mostly good guy.”

  “Well, there’s a character reference for the ages,” Aldrich said dryly. However, Marie ignored both of them.

  “You aren’t totally human.” She aimed her comment at John.

  “Human enough,” he said. “And if I’m not human, you’re not human in the same damn way.”

  Marie looked from John to Colonel Aldrich and finally to Tank. “You’re sure they’re not assholes?”

  “I’m sure they are, but they’re good-guy assholes.”

  She headed back to Zhu’s side. “What do you think?”

  Zhu studied Aldrich. “I could still decide to shut you out.”

  “Yep, but then I’d run my own separate investigation and you would never know where I might pop up,” Aldrich said cheerfully. “Now, Private Tankersley and I need to have a little talk about our own chain of command and where he fits in it. So you figure out how to give me a full rundown of what you know and what resources you need, and I’ll get in touch tomorrow.”

  Aldrich reached out and caught Tank’s arm, pulling him close before shoving him toward the street. Then Marie caught Tank’s other arm, and Tank definitely felt like the stick in a tug of war between two big scary dogs.

  “If you hurt him, you have no idea the pain I will bring down on you,” Marie warned.

  “Private Tankersley is a member of the military and under my command. Any disciplinary action he faces for his desertion is not part of your turf.” Aldrich didn’t wait for an answer before heading down the street, but he didn’t let go of Tank’s arm. For a second, Marie held on, and Tank’s arms developed bruises before she let go, allowing Aldrich to pull him away.

  Tank almost felt some thread connecting him to the others snap. They couldn’t protect him, no matter how much they wanted to. And he’d done all this to protect them, and he couldn’t do that either. A wall separated them, and Tank wasn’t sure if the wall was called the Army, or growing older, or Ellie. But a door had closed on his life. And worse, Tank really had no idea what sort of trouble he was in; he only knew it wasn’t in his control to fix any of this. Whatever Aldrich wanted to do, Tank didn’t have the strength—not the emotional strength or the legal right—to stop him. It wasn’t a comfortable feeling.

  Chapter Seventeen

  LOOKING AT Tankersley now, Clyde wondered how he had missed all the signs. The kid was a chameleon. Either that or Clyde was getting too old to do a proper assessment. Tankersley was sweating, focused on the ground as if he thought he was walking to the grave,
yet his gaze kept darting around, and when Clyde walked too close, there was a tenseness, a borderline panic, that Clyde recognized.

  He glanced back at John, who had their six. “We clear?” Clyde asked.

  “Yep,” John assured him. “Cooper and Washington have flanks secure. We have fireflies out tonight,” he said, using the code for alien avatars. Whatever tinkering the aliens had done with John’s genes, it had ramped up his senses, so he could spot the biological automatons. Clyde assumed the aliens had done something similar to Marie, since she had recognized that John was different.

  Clyde pulled out his phone. He suspected this conversation wasn’t going to go well.

  The phone rang on the other end, and Lev picked up within a second. “Did you find him?”

  “Yes, I found him,” Clyde said. “And yes, he’s fine, and yes, he’s in trouble, and no, I’m not going to just ignore this, and no, you can’t come rescue him from the big bad colonel,” Clyde added before Lev could even ask the questions. The man was predictable.

  “Clyde.” The harsh tone made it perfectly clear that Lev was reaching a breaking point, but Clyde had been dealing with Lev and his breaking points for years. They weren’t as nerve-racking as they used to be. He remembered the reports he’d gotten from the last commander, the one who had banned Lev from the field because of his inability to ever shut his mouth. Maybe Lev wouldn’t be so bad if he hadn’t been essentially locked in an alien ship in Alaska since he was twenty-two and just out of college with his master’s.

  “Lev,” Clyde shot back in the exact same tone.

  “He’s a kid, Clyde.”

  Clyde doubted that Tankersley had been a kid for a very long time, but he wasn’t about to debate Lev over the phone. A wise soldier knew when he was outgunned, and he retreated.