I’m tempted to turn off and go home and make her get a warrant, but given everything that’s happened, I’m sure she’ll get it without a problem. Then she’ll do everything she can to keep me locked up, and I have better things to do than sit in a holding cell.
She has already delayed me by taking my phone and not letting me call my lawyer. She knows Will can get me out in a matter of minutes, so she has to delay my access to a phone as long as she can.
I park my bike next to Castillo’s unmarked cruiser within the station’s yard. A sea of familiar faces greets me as Castillo leads me through the station and dumps me off in an interrogation room. I wave politely. Most give me a one-finger wave back. It feels good to be amongst friends.
I take a seat at the metal table. “Phone call.”
“I just checked. All the phones are busy,” Castillo says.
“Really, all of them?”
“There a lot of criminals in the city.”
“Maybe you should give priority to the innocent people you round up.”
“Maybe we do.”
Point, Castillo. I return her humorless smile. We both know I’m out of here the moment I make my phone call. She gave up whatever leverage she had when she didn’t push to arrest me. That means she knows she doesn’t have enough to hold me here.
“What do you want, Castillo?”
“I just want to have a little talk.”
“I always just assumed you had…oh, wait, did you say talk? Sorry, I thought you said cock.”
Angel sputters as he tries to hold back his laughter. He turns away and fakes a coughing fit, but his performance fails to fool anyone.
Castillo turns a hostile eye toward him. “Do you need to get a drink of water, Detective Lopez?”
Angel’s face turns red. He shakes his head and scratches at his throat. “No, sorry, I just got something in my throat.”
I say, “Maybe it’s a little talk. Oops, there I go again.”
Angel bites his lower lip and shoots me a pleading look.
Castillo plugs her phone into a large monitor attached to the wall and plays a video of the fight with my assassin. The quality isn’t great, and there is a fair bit of fog in the air, but there is no mistaking the star actor. Fucking YouTube.
“Do you want to tell me about this?” Castillo asks.
“It wasn’t me, it was the one-armed man!” I say in my best Harrison Ford impression.
“He does have both his hands,” Angel says.
I raise my hands and wiggle my middle fingers at Castillo.
“I don’t care how many damn arms you have, that is your face. Tell me it’s not.”
“Photoshop,” I say with a shrug.
“Are you saying that isn’t your motorcycle?”
“There are a lot of bikes in New York that look like mine.”
“Yours looks to have suffered some recent damage, just like the one that crashed in the video.”
“That’s the funny thing about coincidences, they always seem to coincide.”
“Where were you when those two officers were shot?”
“I was at a club talking to the owner.”
“What club? Who’s the owner?”
“Venom. It’s run by a kid named Nicholas Dawes.”
Castillo nods. “I know him. He’s a real winner.”
“Actually, he’s a piece of shit, but he is a useful source of information.”
Castillo leans forward and studies my jacket. “You have a lot of holes in your coat.”
“Moths.”
“Lift up your shirt.”
“You first.”
“I can bring in some officers and have them strip you to your boxer shorts.”
“Joke’s on you, I roll commando. Besides, you need a warrant.”
“The visible damage gives me probable cause. Now, lift your shirt.”
I sigh and lift my shirt to my nipples.
“Quite the scars you have.”
“Carnivorous moths.”
“Uh-huh. Nine-millimeter carnivorous moths if I’m not mistaken. It looks like some of them had knives too.”
“Damn Puerto Rican moths.”
“Tell me how it is that you have stab and bullet wound scars with fresh blood around them.”
“I can’t, but I bet my lawyer can. It’s time for me to make my phone call.”
“Show me your left wrist.”
“Phone call.”
“Don’t test me, Malone. I will have you stripped naked by force if I have to.”
“Do you say that to all the guys, or should I feel special?”
“Angel, go get some uniforms. Tell them we have an uncooperative suspect.”
“Sergeant…” Angel says.
“Do it!”
I flick my eyes between Angel and Castillo. “You don’t want to force this issue. I have been playing nice up until now.”
“Are you threatening me, Malone?”
“I am telling you that I am walking out that door. If you try to stop me, then what happens next is on your head.”
Castillo pulls her sidearm when I make for the door. “Don’t move, Malone!”
“Are you really going to shoot an unarmed suspect? I don’t think so.”
“Goddammit, I will shoot you!”
“Sergeant!” Angel barks.
Castillo’s hands are trembling. Not enough to throw off her aim, but enough for me to know she has lost her cool. She might not know what I am, but she knows I am a monster. Fortunately, the door bursts open, saving us both from doing what we have to.
“What the hell is going on here?” Will exclaims and turns to the man behind him. “What the hell kind of precinct are you running here, Captain?”
“Castillo, holster that weapon!” Captain Starks commands her. “Now!”
“Sir, you don’t understand! He knows what is going on. You saw the video. He’s not human!”
“What the hell are you talking about, Castillo?”
“He has numerous wounds on his body. Recent ones with dried blood around them, and yet they are already scarred over. You saw him cut off his hand in that video, but now he has two. I have photographs of him not just in the Vietnam War, but Korea and World War II as well! He is not human!”
Will points to the monitor on the wall. “Are you talking about that video? That video is a publicity stunt put on by an energy drink company. They issued a press release hours ago and apologized for terrifying the populace.”
“That is bullshit! What about his scars and the blood he keeps in his refrigerator?”
“We have been over this before, Detective. My client has a medical condition. It is why he has to store fresh blood for transfusions at his home.”
“You want me to believe he has a medical condition that creates bullet and stab wounds?”
“Confidentiality laws says my client does not have to divulge any kind of medical issues, but in the interest of my client’s safety, I will tell you. He has dermatological ulcerations. They cause ulcers to appear on his skin and weep blood. Captain, your officer is a threat to my client’s safety. She has continually harassed, arrested, and threatened him without legal provocation. Expect a restraining order on your desk by morning.”
“Castillo, consider yourself on leave, and I will not even consider reinstating you until the department psychologist clears you,” Captain Starks says.
“I was on leave! You are the one who brought me back in!”
“That was obviously a mistake.”
“What about the video?”
Will interjects. “Even if it was my client in the video and it was an attack and not a commercial, he was clearly the victim. Witness accounts corroborate the fact that a lunatic attacked him without provocation.”
“My gut tells me there was plenty of provocation.”
“Seeing as how you and your gut are suspended, it’s no longer your problem.”
Castillo edges up to Will until they are nearly touching. �
��Do you know what he is?”
“Yeah, he’s a client whose check never bounces and that is literally the only thing that matters to me.”
“How do you live with yourself?”
“In relative wealth and comfort.”
Castillo narrows her eyes and takes a step back. “Who called you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Who the fuck called you? Who do you have in your pocket here?”
Will smiles. “Detective, when you deprived my client of his civil liberties by refusing to allow him to call his lawyer, you gave up the right to act indignant. We are done here.”
Will leads me from the interrogation room. “I’ll have a restraining order against her by noon. If she comes within a thousand yards of you, call me and she’ll find herself on the other side of the table.”
I nod, collect my things from property, and ride home. I can’t help but feel a little bad for Castillo. She is doing her best to do her job even if it means breaking the rules. Hell, it was the same thing I got fired for, except she hasn’t tried to blow me up yet.
Streetlights flash by as I roar down the road and untangle the mess of thoughts running through my head. I try to focus on Jack as the bigger threat at the moment. Killing two cops in broad, I guess nightlight is the term, catapults him to number one on the Tower’s most wanted list. He drew a lot of attention tonight and the enclave hates attention.
At least the woman who tried to kill me is subtle, except when she tried to kill me. No one even knew the other two vampires were dead, until I stumbled across them. That makes me think the attack was more personal than theirs were. Nick is the only bloodling I know of who probably hates me enough to want to kill me. Since I can definitely rule him out, I haven’t a clue who she is or how I may have crossed her.
If it is personal, then she will certainly try again. I’m not too worried about it. She got the jump on me and still got the receiving end of an ass whooping. She will need time to recover before she can even think about trying for a rematch. Still, I don’t need an obviously trained killer on my back when I’m trying to hunt down and kill another accomplished murderer.
I’m confident I can take Jack, if I can fight him on my terms. I’ve fought stronger vamps than him, although he is smarter than most. The hard part is going to be finding him before he finds me. I challenged him tonight, and being challenged is something he is not accustomed to. Part of him probably enjoys the rush, but his ego is fuming and will demand retribution. That means he will probably seek me out, and that is not how I want to fight him.
There isn’t much I can do about any of it right now. I just want to go home and relax. I took some shots tonight, and I need to feed again to be at the top of my game, but with everyone licking their wounds, I can put it off until tomorrow.
CHAPTER 15
Castillo clenched and unclenched her fists, fighting the impulse to draw her weapon and shoot Malone in the back of the head as his slimy lawyer led him away. She knew she did not have enough to hold him for long, but someone had called his lawyer and gotten him released before she could even check for gunshot residue.
She shifted her glaring eyes to Captain Starks and let the full weight of her fury wash over him. “It was you, wasn’t it?”
The captain furrowed his brow. “What?”
“You brought that scumbag in here. You called Malone’s lawyer to deliberately undermine my arrest.” She took a step back. “You’re one of them, aren’t you?”
“One of what?”
“Whatever the hell he is, and whatever he is, he isn’t human.”
“Look, I don’t know who called Stepanek. He came into my office and demanded that I take him to where you were interrogating his client, a client whose only wrongdoing was being attacked in the street, and even that got muddied with this bullshit about an energy drink commercial. What I do know, is that if you keep going around talking crazy shit about monsters and thirty-year-old World War II vets, you are going to be spending your vacation in a padded room!”
“You think I’m crazy.”
“I think you are exhausted and need a very long rest. I know I do, but I have a psycho running around out there who just upped his game from murdering hookers to killing cops. I had hoped you had gotten your shit together enough to help me stop him, but I was wrong. Go home, make an appointment with the counselor tomorrow, and come back as soon as you’re ready.”
Angel withered beneath her scowl. “Don’t look at me, Sarge. You know I have your back even when I think you’re being crazy.”
Castillo rolled her eyes. “Gee, thanks for the support, Angel.”
“You got it.”
Castillo stopped mid-storming-off and turned back to her superior. “You have rats on your ship, Captain.”
“Tell me something I don’t know. I’m just happy when they don’t shit in my food.”
***
Castillo left the precinct and got her car from the yard. With any luck, she did accomplish something by bringing Malone in for questioning. Pulling out her phone, she called her contact in the IT department.
“Hey, Geek Squad, this is Sergeant Castillo. Did you do it?”
“Um, my name is Harold, not Geek Squad.”
“Fine, Harold, did you do it?”
“Yes and no.”
“What the hell do you mean yes and no?”
“I mean yes I did it, but I will lie and say no, all the way to my grave.”
“Super. What’s the phone number and SIM PIN?”
She wrote down the digits Harold recited. Pulling a laptop out of its case, she set it on the passenger seat atop the stack of photos and documents and turned it on. She launched the tracking program, entered Malone’s phone information, and waited for the cell towers to fix his location. She took a second to plot the direction of the blip on the screen and tore out of the police yard.
Castillo flipped on the red strobe light she kept in her car to speed past traffic and run through red lights. She could not let this go. Malone might not be the killer they were looking for now, but she knew in her heart that he was tied to it in some way. She simply could not let him go unchallenged while people in her city died, especially cops.
It looked as though Malone was going home. She increased her speed, not wanting him to reach his fortress of solitude before she could intercept him. Tires squealed and horns blared as she threaded her way through the sparse traffic. They say New York is the city that never sleeps, but at 5 a.m., at least most seem to still be tapping the snooze button.
She spotted the glaring red eye of a motorcycle’s taillight ahead and romped the gas. Her car rocketed past Malone’s bike. Castillo mashed the brakes and spun the wheel, turning the car sideways in front of Malone’s motorcycle. Both vehicles skidded to a stop at the outer edge of the large open area before Leo’s loft.
“What the hell are you doing, Castillo?” Leo shouted.
Castillo leaned through the open window, the interior light illuminating the black and white photos she clutched in her hand. “I want you to explain these pictures! I want you to tell me how the hell you have a military record dating back to the Second World War!”
“I can’t. You’re insane, Castillo. Do as your boss says and go get therapy.”
Leo gunned the engine and sped the short distance to his loft. Castillo cursed and stabbed the button to release her seatbelt. This was the last chance she was going to have to confront Malone without violating a restraining order.
***
“I got something,” Carol said as she caught the glow of an approaching motorcycle’s headlight.
“Is it Malone?” Trinh asked.
Carol gazed through her thermal rifle scope and checked the blip on her tablet PC. “Has to be, but there is someone else coming in behind him. Looks like a cop.”
“Shit! What are they doing?”
Trinh hid in the crumbling ruins of a building not far from Leo’s loft while Carol kept overwatch f
rom the fifth floor of an abandoned building two hundred yards away.
“I can’t say for sure. The cop car pulled in front of Malone, and the two appear to be talking. Wait, Malone is moving. He’s in front of his loft now. Trinh, we need to abort.”
Anger and frustration raged within Trinh’s heart. Passion burned her soul and incinerated logic.
“No! I let him get away once. I can’t do it again.”
“Trinh, the cop is getting out of the car. You have to abort!”
***
With the folder full of photos and military documents in her hand, Castillo opened her car door and made to step out. Leo looked over his shoulder and tried to get his door unlocked so he could escape inside. He had just turned the key when the world vanished in a thunderous explosion.
Leo had a moment of comprehension where he knew he was airborne, yet he was still gripping the door handle, and it felt as though a very large man was pushing him against the steel surface from behind. The force of the blast had torn the door, frame and all, out of the wall and sent it and Leo flying across what was once a parking lot.
The concussion slammed Castillo’s car door shut in her face. Another second, and it would have caught her leg between the door and car body, which almost certainly would have broken a bone. The window shattered, sending tiny cubes of safety glass pelting into her face.
Castillo’s ears rang, and tiny rivulets of blood tracked down her face. The force of the blast not only stole most of her hearing, but several seconds of her life. She remembered a deafening boom and a concussive blast then nothing. It took her several seconds to realize that she was still in her car and several more to remember where she was parked.
The explosion obliterated the fog and replaced it with choking dust and smoke. Looking through the glassless window, through the cloying haze, Castillo made out a dark shape halfway between her car and the wreckage of Malone’s loft. The car door gave off a protesting squeal as she opened it and stumbled toward the form.
The detective recognized the steel door once attached to the building. She gasped when she got close enough to make out an arm sticking out from beneath it.
“Malone!”
Her voice sounded muddy in her ears and was barely audible over the incessant keening. She leaned down, grabbed the edge of the door frame, and tried to lift it off Malone’s body. The door must have weighed a quarter ton and refused to budge. Castillo shuffled back to her car, opened the trunk, and returned with the car jack.
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