Ian said urgently, “All right. We’ve got to get the hell out of here. I’m telling you, something hugely bad is about to happen. My gut tells me just before midnight. Anyway, there’s nothing more for us here. Our cover’s blown, and we are in serious danger.”
Zoey fired back, “What makes you think … Why are we in so much danger? I mean in such a public place?”
Ian grabbed both of Zoey’s hands and looked her in the eyes. The extreme grimace in his brow and tightlipped facial expression left no doubt in Zoey’s mind that Ian was deadly serious.
Ian said, “It’s been my experience that when an enemy tells you that you’ve nothing to fear from them if you behave a certain way, you better beware. Now, let’s get out of here and see if we can find Ned before …”
Ian held Zoey’s left hand within his right and began nearly pushing people out of their way as they hurried for the elevator. Once inside, Ian pressed the button for level one. They were alone in the elevator. The nightclub was packed. Apparently, they weren’t letting anymore people up into the club, and nobody was leaving so early.
“Zoey, you didn’t drink from that dispenser at our table or suck on any of those sugar cubes or anything like that, did you?” Ian asked with noticeably elevated stress.
Ian saw the panic suddenly come over Zoey’s face. “Yes! Yeah, I drank some of it. Absinthe, right? And I poured the cold water over a sugar cube in a spoon, just like I’ve heard you’re supposed to. Oh my God. You don’t think it wasn’t poisoned or drugged, do you? I mean, was it?”
Ian couldn’t hide his concern about that very possibility. But he knew the possibility existed with each drink they’d consumed.
“No. No. You’re fine. Let’s go … No wait. You go straight to the car.” Ian handed Zoey the car keys. “Bring the car as close as you can to the south side of the parking lot. Try to find a spot that has a line of sight to that side door. If you can’t find a parking spot, I don’t care. Park the car any way you can, but again, position the car so you can see that door. This is important. Make sure the car’s locked, but keep it running. We may need to make a quick run for it. That side door … That’s where I’m gonna try and go inside to find Ned. My guess is the locks have already been picked open.”
Zoey spoke up. “Ian, maybe we should just call the cops.”
Ian smiled at Zoey and gave a perfunctory nod as he replied, “Yeah. Maybe. But I’m gonna first try and find Ned. I don’t want to get bogged down answering questions all night and maybe for days if it’s not absolutely necessary.”
Zoey nodded her head in agreement. The elevator door opened and they were both surprised to see no one. No line of people waiting on the huge ramp waiting to get in. No giant bouncer. No dwarf. Nobody!
Once Ian and Zoey left the elevator, hurried down the ramp and had gotten well away from the club, Zoey wrapped her arms around his neck, hugged him, and gave him a kiss. Without a word, Zoey took off running to retrieve their car. Ian walked out onto the suspended parking lot, looking in all directions as he headed towards the south side of the warehouse.
Zoey opened the car door, climbed in, and immediately started it. Scout came forward to sit tall beside her in the front passenger seat.
“Don’t worry, boy. We’re going to get Ian.” Scout barked twice as if in reply.
Zoey drove across from the adjacent parking lot to the south side of the warehouse just as Ian had instructed. She was able to find a parking spot which afforded her the line of sight that Ian asked her to maintain, backed into the spot, and kept the car running. Lighting from a security lamp located above the warehouse side door afforded just enough light that from her vantage point she would be able to see anyone coming or going from the doorway.
“Okay. Now, Scout, we wait. And as you know, waiting’s the hardest part.”
Suddenly from between two parked cars Ian emerged; he rapidly approached the driver’s side of the car. Ian signaled for Zoey to roll her window down.
Ian exclaimed in an excited voice, “I think I saw him in there through a broken window, but I’m not certain. The door’s unlocked, but I came back for … Zoey, open the glove box and hand me the handgun inside.” Zoey flashed Ian a look of extreme apprehension, but she did what he said.
“Ian, are you sure about this? I mean, we could just get the hell out of here.”
He smiled at Zoey, “If I’m not back in just a few minutes, you’re gonna do just that. Then make an anonymous call to the cops and have them get here as soon as they can. Tell them there are gun shots being fired and you hear screams, then hang up. That should do the trick. That’ll get ‘em coming from every doughnut shop around and …”
Zoey frowned and slumped down in the driver’s seat. She realized that Ian was going back into the warehouse no matter what she said to try and convince him otherwise.
Ian put the heavy pistol into his jacket’s front pocket then briskly headed off towards the warehouse’s side door entrance.
Zoey remembered that her purse was locked in the trunk of the car. She turned off the ignition and took the keys with her as she exited, using the keyless button on the key ring to open the trunk. She quickly snatched up her purse and climbed back into the car. Zoey then inserted the key into the ignition and promptly switched the car back on and locked the doors.
She reached into her purse and retrieved her cell phone. Seconds later, near panic struck. “Damn it! Goddamnit!” she exclaimed as she noticed that her phone’s battery was completely dead.
Ian was within thirty feet of the side door when he saw someone step outside. That someone then aggressively pulled another somebody by the hand, and they both exited the warehouse basement through the side doorway. Their backs were turned, but in a second, Ian recognized both of them by their clothing.
Ian drew his pistol from his jacket. “Hey!” he shouted as loud as he could.
Instantly, the man turned towards him. Then with great force, he swung the woman that he held with one hand in such a way as to wind her in close to his body. In some terrifying yet near impossibly odd way, it reminded Ian of the retraction effect of a yo-yo. The man, Salizzar, held the female FBI agent closely against him with his right hand wrapped around her throat.
What Ian witnessed next he would have deemed impossible had he not seen the impossible before. Salizzar’s fingernails began rapidly growing until they were several inches long. His hands then fully transformed from those of a human into claws. His face also began rapidly changing, morphing into what Ian could only grasp in his mind as being that of a human-sized fanged vampire bat. A devil. Even in the low light, Ian could see the man-monster’s horrifically demonic eyes, piercing blood-red luminescent orbs. Salizzar continued his metamorphosis, which included enormous, bat-like wings that burst through his clothing and unfurled themselves. His wings began to slowly, powerfully flap like he was going to leap into the air, catch the wind, and soar away with Special Agent Alisha Simmons clutched in his grasp.
Salizzar didn’t say a word, but even at that distance, Ian could smell the rotting stench of his breath. Just then, two more men emerged from the doorway. The first man was of medium build. The second one was so large that he had to turn sideways and duck slightly just to fit through the doorway. Ian could see right away that both men held handguns as they stepped into the dim light emitted from the overhead security light.
Ian’s knees almost buckled when, to his utter shock and dismay, the realization hit him that the medium-sized man was Ned. The other man was the near-giant bouncer.
Ian couldn’t help himself. “Ned, you son of a bitch! You played me. You played us all! So you’re the mole inside your department. You’re the reason this man, this monster, stays one step ahead of the law.”
Ned shook his head as he laughed. “Oh, come on, Ian. Don’t sound like such a pompous ass. You’re no different. We’re the same, you and I. We both hire out to the highest bidder. Oh yeah, and did I mention that he’s promised to make me immortal besid
es filthy rich? Now, Ian, face facts. You’re outgunned and outclassed. Why don’t you just set that Glock of yours down and, hell, join the winning team. Salizzar’s like the Marines. He’s always looking for a few good men.”
Just then, Agent Simmons made her move. Unaware of Salizzar’s full metamorphic appearance, she broke away with a quick jiu-jitsu move and in one deft motion retrieved her thigh-strapped pistol and rapid-fired three shots point blank into Salizzar’s chest. It all happened too fast for Agent Simmons to even comprehend what Salizzar had become as he reeled backwards from the impact of the slugs.
The mammoth-sized bodyguard leveled his gun at Ian, but Ian turned his attention from Agent Simmons and the monster just in time to beat him to the trigger. Ian fired one round into the bodyguard’s stomach. The large man let out a bellowing moan as he grabbed at his guts with both hands before dropping first to his knees then falling face down onto the pylon decking.
From the rental car, Zoey could make out only some of what was happening. She heard shots fired, and she’d seen the large man fall. But she couldn’t make out any details regarding Salizzar or who he’d been holding.
Scout too heard the gunshots and, sensing that Ian was in danger, began to go wild. Nothing Zoey could say to him had any effect on calming him down. Scout began pawing feverishly, violently, at the passenger door and window.
The now devilishly, fully-transformed Salizzar was little more than a blur as he almost instantly closed the distance between himself and Agent Simmons. Then with a powerful thrust, he buried his clawed hand into the female agent’s chest and ripped her still-beating heart from her body. Blood gushed and projectile-spewed in nearly every direction. Agent Simmons collapsed to the deck onto her back. She began spasming violently as blood erupted from her nose, mouth, and vacant chest cavity. Due to the cold night air, the blood that pooled all around her animated, convulsing corpse began lightly steaming.
Ian was stunned, sickened beyond rational thought at the grotesquely impossible sight.
Salizzar began laughing manically as he slurped the sticky blood from his fingered claw.
Ned too was shocked beyond comprehension. Involuntarily, he began screaming out, “OH FUCK! FUCK NO! FUCK!”
Suddenly from the doorway appeared the dwarf. Seeing his demonically diminutive cohort, Salizzar took a large bite out of the heart as he spoke in a throaty, gurgling voice, “Here, Faust. This is for you!” Then like throwing a bone to a dog, Salizzar tossed the remains of the heart to the evil elf.
Faust instantly became wide-eyed and displayed a maniacal ear-to-ear grin as he leaned against the warehouse wall and held the heart above his head, allowing the syrupy-thick evacuating blood to cascade down his face and onto his disproportionately long, V-split snake-like tongue.
Now frightened nearly out of his mind and shaking violently, Ian somehow managed to muster enough presence of mind to train his gun at Salizzar with both of his hands clenched around it.
Salizzar shouted at Ned in a sickeningly shrill demonic voice, “Shoot him! Kill him! You worthless maggot!”
All at once, in response to his master’s command, Ned fired his .357 three times in rapid succession – but not at Ian. Ned utterly blew the dwarf’s head apart just short of total decapitation. Brains and skull fragments hung and dripped down the side of the warehouse like a slurry of dark molasses mixed with chunky oatmeal.
Before Salizzar could close in on one or the other, both Ian and Ned began emptying the remainders of their clips into him. But when their guns were empty, Salizzar was still on his feet, and it appeared he was going to remain that way.
Ian dropped down on one knee and retrieved his ankle-holstered .32 Berretta loaded with hollow-point rounds. He then began slowly walking towards Salizzar. With each step, Ian pulled the trigger time and again, emptying his gun into Salizzar’s chest. Even in his totally fright-filled altered mental state, Ian remembered one thing that Clayton had told him with empirical clarity. The heart must be totally obliterated.
Ned holstered his empty gun and quickly glanced back inside the warehouse to see if he could spot anything that he could use as a weapon. Salizzar, even in his weakened condition, moved quickly towards Ian, too quickly for Ian to escape. In less than a second, Salizzar had Ian in his grasp. His demonic eyes rolled back into his head like a shark when feeding as his fangs enlarged.
Scout continued to paw frantically with all his might at the passenger car door until he finally managed to activate the window’s down button.
“SCOUT, NO!” Zoey screamed as loud as she could, but it was too late. Scout leaped out the car’s window. He hit the pylon dock running, and in a blur, he was heading to save Ian, his master and friend.
Salizzar spotted the large dog heading directly at him like a four-legged freight train, gums fully retracted, exposing his enormous canines. He was barking and growling in a way Ian had never heard from Scout. Saliva poured from his jowls. Scout sprinted at his target at a speed that would have rivaled the fastest racehorse. Salizzar tossed Ian aside to make his escape, but in less than a second, Scout leaped into Salizzar’s arms, crashing into his chest. Instantly, Scout locked onto the monster’s throat with his powerful jaws in a vice grip and began ripping at Salizzar’s throat with the ferocity of a wild, rabid wolf.
Try as Salizzar might to desperately dig his claws into Scout, to try and gain some upper hand, Scout was too powerful. He twisted his body violently back and forth, continuing his vicious attack. In less than a minute, Scout had nearly ripped all the way through Salizzar’s throat and neck. No matter how many times Salizzar struck powerfully at Scout, the large dog was completely adrenaline-enraged and totally unyielding.
Finally, Salizzar managed to throw the large dog off of himself. He began to buckle as he let out an inhuman shriek while grabbing his neck to try and stabilize it from snapping off under the weight of his head, decapitating him. Blood gushed in every direction from his nearly-severed neck. But still relentlessly enraged, Scout backpedaled a few feet then began his charge. He leaped once again directly into Salizzar’s chest and bit down on what was left of Salizzar’s neck. Scout began aggressively thrashing his head, increasing the ripping effects of his bite tenfold.
Then in one last summoning of all his monstrous strength, Salizzar managed to heave Scout off of him yet again. Now barely conscious, Salizzar began staggering backwards until he fell back hard into the dock railing. His monstrous metamorphosis was beginning to wane. His features were becoming more human by the second.
The banister began to give way under Salizzar’s weight as Scout started backing up even further from Salizzar than he did in his last attack. This time Ian thought he saw a fire in Scout’s eyes. Ian had no doubt that Scout was going in for the final coup de grâce. In seconds, Scout hit full charging speed and leaped with everything he had into Salizzar’s chest as he bit down like a bear trap on the thin remains of Salizzar’s throat. Salizzar was helpless this time and was nearly finished, but then it happened. The fierce battle proved too much for the badly-damaged railing to support any further. It suddenly gave way. Both Salizzar and Scout tumbled backward as they plunged thirty feet off the deck into the icy-black, turbulent water of the Columbia River.
Ian screamed, “No!” as he ran to the edge where his best friend had gone over. He frantically called out Scout’s name. Over and over, he cried out for Scout as he ran up and down the edge of the docks trying to see any sign of him. But it didn’t take long for Ian to realize it was no use. Scout was gone.
Simultaneously, Ian and Ned heard the sound of a helicopter as it came rushing in from downriver. In mere moments, the helicopter had landed on the roof of the warehouse nightclub. Ian and Ned could only surmise that it had been called in to pick up Salizzar and any of his more important cronies. Not two minutes passed before the helicopter left, heading towards the ocean.
Then came a giant explosion. Fire burst out, shattering all of the warehouse’s windows at once. People began p
ouring out of the nightclub, mainly by way of the external fire escape stairway located on the other side of the building.
Ian thought, No loose ends. Tonight was always going to be the last night for this business. Time to open up shop elsewhere.
Then came the welcome sound of sirens.
Ned took Ian’s Glock 9mm and put it in his pocket. He then quickly pulled the body of Special Agent Alisha Simmons into the burning warehouse, and did the same with the body of the dwarf. He left the massive-sized body guard where he lay just outside the doorway to the warehouse. Ned then took a handkerchief out of his pocket, and with it, he snatched up the bloody remains of Agent Simmons’ heavily chewed-on heart and tossed it into the burning building as well. He fired Ian’s Glock once into the building then also tossed it into the now raging inferno. Lastly, he pulled out his cell phone and made a brief call to the Coast Guard.
Ian was too stunned to even speak as he watched Ned. Once Ned’s desperate tasks appeared to have been completed, he walked briskly up to Ian. “You didn’t really think I was the mole, did you?”
Ian looked at Ned suspiciously. But then smiled as he shook his head and replied, “No.”
Ned spoke as best he could though he was winded from all the heavy lifting and fast moving. “Ian. What we just … I mean what I saw, it’s not possible. I mean, maybe Salizzar slipped me some kind of hallucinogenic, ‘cause what I saw … It’s just not possible, is it?”
Ian looked Ned straight in the eyes. “Ned, in my business, I’ve learned that, believe it or not, monsters do exist. Most are of the human variety. Some aren’t.”
Ned just stared for a moment blankly at the ground while he shook his head slowly from side to side. He then took a deep breath and looked once again at Ian. “Fuck me! I just don’t … I mean I can’t! Well anyway, Salizzar’s not the only one who knows how to tie-off loose ends. Nothing makes sorting things out more difficult than fire, especially one like this. The FBI will look into Agent Simmons’ death. With her totally burnt remains, they’ll note her heart was somehow extracted, but it will be impossible to determine exactly how. They’ll conclude it was done by Salizzar or his people, harvesting organs. Nothing will make much sense, but nothing in cases like this ever does. It will settle itself out in time. By the way, I shot the bodyguard, but before he keeled over, he knocked the Glock from my hand, and it flew into the warehouse. You didn’t fire a weapon. Fact is, you weren’t here at all. Understand?”
Red Tide: The Flavel House Horror / Vampires of the Morgue (The Ian McDermott, Ph.D., Paranormal Investigator Series Book 2) Page 24