by Alex Siegel
"But, sir, I'm exhausted! I was about to go to sleep. Clare already went to her apartment. The poor woman was about to faint."
"I'm sorry. We're all very tired and grieving our loss, but we have to push on. I want you to spend a couple of hours doing preliminary work, and then you can rest. Just get the ball rolling, so I don't look like a fool if the legate calls for an update. She's in Chicago."
"Yes, sir," Todd replied in a despondent tone.
"I'll come home after I make the funeral arrangements for Johnny. He deserves a proper burial. Bye." Neal ended the call.
* * *
Norbert squinted at the road ahead. The last rays of a setting sun were filtering through falling snow, making the world a dull orange. A thin layer of snow on the road blended with heavier snow on both sides. He couldn't see the white or yellow lines, and he wasn't even sure where the shoulders were. The snow banks were his guides.
"Can you go a little faster?" Tawni said.
"If I do, I'll end up in a ditch. I'm guessing where the road is."
She sighed. "This is taking forever."
"Patience is a virtue," he said, "one you should acquire."
She was silent.
There was a tree up ahead. It wasn't obvious which way he should take to go around it. At the last second, he saw tire tracks from other cars and went left.
Norbert felt something on his thigh. He glanced down and saw Tawni's hand.
"What are you doing?"
"Entertaining myself," she said.
"This isn't the time."
"I don't have anything else to do."
He clenched his jaw. "I have to focus on the road. These aren't the safest driving conditions."
"Am I distracting you?" Her hand slid closer to his groin.
"Yes." He grabbed her hand and threw it back in her lap.
"The more you push me away, the more interested I get. I love a sexual challenge."
"Slut."
"Maybe," she said, "but I can tell from that bulge in your pants that you want to fuck this slut nice and hard."
His face grew hot. She was right.
"I should report your behavior to Aaron," he said.
"You're going to run to daddy because the big, bad Tawni scares you? I thought you were a better man than that."
"You're disrupting team chemistry."
"I'm disrupting the junk hanging between your legs," she said. "Nothing else."
He almost lost control in a tight turn. The car fishtailed a few times before he straightened it out. His heart beating rapidly, he continued down the road.
"A lot of innocent people are dying out there. Chicago is facing a major crisis. This isn't the time to be screwing around."
She shrugged. "Bad shit is always happening somewhere in the world. That doesn't stop men and women from having sex. You got to loosen up a little."
He knew there was no way to win this argument. He kept his eyes on the road and his mouth closed.
After travelling a few more miles, they arrived at their destination. It was a two-story house made of white wood and brown trim. Magnificent trees cast long shadows across pristine snow in the dwindling sunlight. The lawn was huge. At first glance, it looked like an ordinary residence. Then Norbert saw a sign hanging in the window which read, "Loving Sun Chocolate and Nuts."
"They must get a lot of customers out here," Tawni said.
"Get serious," Norbert said. "These people could be very dangerous. We need to be sharp and focused, not cracking jokes."
"My sword is always sharp."
He zipped up his coat and got out of the car. He made sure all his weapons were in place. He had two guns under his shirt, another one strapped to his ankle, and spring-loaded knives under his sleeves. He didn't know what Tawni was packing, but he didn't doubt she was also well armed. She loved a good battle.
"We're state health inspectors," Norbert said.
"I remember," she said. "Move. I'm freezing my ass off out here."
There was no clear path to the front door, so they trudged through the deep, fluffy snow. He was wearing boots which were laced up to the top, but a little snow still managed to reach his socks.
As they approached the house, he looked for signs of danger. Curtains were drawn across all the windows. He didn't see any burglar bars or security sensors. The winter evening was very still and quiet.
Norbert climbed a short, wooden staircase. A sign on the door read, "welcome," but for some reason, it didn't feel inviting. He opened the door and went inside.
The aroma of chocolate washed over him. The front room had been turned into a little shop. Overstuffed gift baskets were neatly arranged in gleaming refrigerators with glass doors. Shelves held boxes of cookies and cans of gourmet nuts. There were bars of pure, dark chocolate labeled with percentages. Trays of bonbons with playful decorations on top reminded him that he had missed dinner.
A man sitting behind the cash register stood up. He was tall, lean, and muscular. He was wearing brown clothes and a white apron, but Norbert could easily imagine him in a soldier's uniform. The man's perfect posture was pure military. He was freshly shaved and had short, spikey hair.
"May I help you?" he said in a gruff voice.
"Yes," Norbert said. "We're from the Illinois Department of Public Health. We received reports of unsanitary conditions here. We need to inspect your entire operation."
"Show me some ID."
Norbert and Tawni took out their wallets and produced official-looking business cards. The man studied them closely and then placed them on a shelf beneath the register.
"Shall we get started?" Norbert said.
"No," the man said. "This is private property. I refuse to be inspected."
"You can't refuse. We're health inspectors."
"Do you have a search warrant?" the man said.
"This isn't a criminal investigation, at least not yet. I'm surprised by your attitude. Do you understand we can shut you down permanently?"
There was a doorway leading to the back of the house, but the door was closed. Norbert didn't hear anybody behind it.
"All I understand is that you have two choices," the man said. "Buy some chocolate, or leave."
Norbert spotted a gun bulge under his apron.
"Let me talk to your manager."
"I am the manager," the man said.
"Then let me talk to the owner."
"He's not here."
Norbert glared. "I'll come back with the sheriff."
"Will he buy some chocolate?" the man said.
"Probably not."
"Then he's not welcome either. I know my rights. The Fourth Amendment forbids unreasonable searches and seizures. Rednecks with badges leaving muddy footprints all over this house for no good reason is unreasonable."
Norbert raised his eyebrows. He was at an impasse. Aaron had ordered him not to get into a fight, but that seemed to be the only way forward. Norbert looked at Tawni.
She shrugged and said, "Let's go."
She headed out the door. Norbert shot one last hostile glare at the man behind the counter and followed her.
As soon as they were outside, Norbert said, "You gave up easily."
"I'm not giving up," Tawni whispered. "Let's look around back."
She pressed her body against the side of the house and crept forward in a bent position. He followed in a similar pose. As he watched her glide silently through the snow, he had to admit her ninja skills were superior to his. She moved with a supple grace that made him feel like an elephant in comparison. It wasn't fair. He had trained for much longer than her.
A woman's body is just naturally more limber, he thought.
They reached the back of the house. A detached garage was big enough to qualify as a small barn. It had the same white wood construction as the main house.
There was a door in the back of the house. Norbert crept over and silently checked the handle, but it was locked. The lock looked easy to pick though. Tawni joined
him.
"Enter here or check the garage first?" he whispered.
"The garage," she whispered. "Less risky."
He nodded. They made their way across a broad field of virgin snow towards the garage. It was getting dark, and they didn't have night vision goggles.
The sound of a gunshot made Norbert and Tawni drop into the snow and flatten their bodies. He looked back. The man from the chocolate shop was standing in the back doorway with a hunting rifle in his hand.
"You two are trespassing!" he yelled. "I have the right to shoot you dead. Get up!"
Norbert and Tawni stood up with their hands in the air. The man held his rifle with an expert grip. He stared down the iron sights at Norbert's nose.
"Back to your car!" the man said. "Run!"
The Spears ran. They were wearing light body armor under their clothes, but it probably wasn't enough to stop a rifle bullet. The man chased them all the way back to the car with his gun aimed at their backs.
Norbert and Tawni got in the car. He started the engine and drove off in a cloud of thrown snow. He slowed down a little when they were out of sight of the house. Finally, he turned on the headlights.
"That could've gone better," he said.
"I'll call the boss."
Tawni opened her phone, pressed the speaker button, and punched in Aaron's number.
"Report," he said.
"We didn't see much, sir," she said. "There is a chocolate shop in the front part of the house, and it looked legit, but there were no customers. The address is the corner of Nowhere and Nothing. We talked to one guy. He was armed and very aggressive."
"He looked like a soldier in disguise," Norbert said. "I threatened him with legal action, and he still wouldn't let us search the property."
"And he shot at us."
"How did that happen?" Aaron said.
"We were sneaking around in back," Tawni said. "I don't know how he saw us. We were careful. I have a bad feeling about this place."
Aaron sighed. "Come home. I'll send in a proper search team later tonight."
"Will we be part of that team?"
"I think all five legionnaires will go together just to be safe. Full battle gear. You won't leave empty-handed next time. If they shoot at you again, you have my permission to shoot back."
"Yes, sir," Tawni said.
Norbert glanced at her and saw her grinning.
* * *
Squad leader Chopin of Unit K watched the little sedan drive off. He covered his face with his hand to keep snow from flying into his eyes.
It was cold, and he wasn't properly dressed for it. He ran back inside the house.
He closed the front door and locked it. Then he went through the shop into the next room which had originally been the dining room. An antique table was still there, and two men were sitting at it. One was working with a laptop computer.
The other was watching a grid of surveillance monitors, and the false color scheme indicated the hidden cameras were using thermal imaging. All angles around the house were covered. There was no way to approach unseen.
Chopin went to the man at the computer. "Pizzoni, did you get anything useful from those business cards?"
Pizzoni looked up. He was a young man with green eyes. He would've been handsome except for a scar that went straight across his face from one ear to the other, crossing his nose in the middle. He liked to brag the wound was self-inflicted.
"The computer says the identities are real, sir. I found driver's licenses, credit cards, the works. But when I called the Illinois Department of Public Health and talked to a live human being, I got a different story. They never heard of these two." Pizzoni held up the business cards.
"And they were heavily armed," the other man at the table said. "The magnetometer picked up multiple readings on each. I'm surprised they didn't clank when they walked."
"They certainly didn't look like health inspectors," Chopin said.
He took out his cell phone and turned on the encryption module. The technology was military grade. The black market supplier had claimed the encryption was unbreakable. He dialed a number from memory.
"Yes?" the commander of Unit K said.
"This is Chopin, sir. We just had two very suspicious visitors in the shop."
"Describe them."
"A man and a woman," Chopin said. "The man looked extremely strong and fit, a real beast. Brown, curly hair. Brown eyes. He moved like a professional martial artist. We detected several concealed weapons on him."
"And the woman?"
"Tall, black, athletic, and also well-armed. I could tell she was trouble from the moment she walked into the shop. She had the eyes of a stone-cold killer. There was also something odd about her skin."
"What do you mean?" the commander said.
"Darkness seemed to surround her. It's hard to describe, sir, but it wasn't normal. They claimed to be health inspectors, but Pizzoni determined they were false identities."
"And how did you behave?"
"I was aggressive and uncooperative, sir," Chopin said, "just like you ordered. They left angry. They'll be back."
"Excellent. These must be the people our employer told us about. The trap worked."
"I think so. The gift baskets were a brilliant ploy."
"Every trap needs the right kind of bait," the commander said. "It was almost too easy. I'll send over all available men as reinforcements."
"And I'll make sure the house is ready to receive unwanted guests."
"Yes. According to our employer, this enemy is tougher and nastier than any we've ever faced. Be ready for a hell of a fight."
"That's hard to believe, sir," Chopin said. "Unit K has killed some pretty tough guys before."
"Not like these, supposedly. The specific phrase was 'supernatural creatures of darkness and death.' That's obviously an exaggeration, but we have to take it seriously. The primary objective is taking live prisoners. Don't just shoot them! Our employer is offering five thousand ounces of gold for every captive we deliver in one piece. Even after we divide up the shares, that's still a healthy bonus for every man in the Unit. If we can take two or three captives, all the better. Choose your tactics accordingly."
Chopin frowned. Capturing live prisoners was a lot harder than simply killing them, but for that kind of money, he was willing to take extra risks.
"Yes, sir. If all goes according to plan, we'll win without firing a shot. What about the chocolate shop?"
"After the fight is over and we have our prisoners, erase the house," the commander said. "It's served its purpose. And don't forget about the phones. We were specifically warned that this enemy always carries phones with tracking capability."
"I remember, sir. The special box is right here." Chopin looked over at a small, copper box with a latch.
"Call me after you win. Bye." The commander hung up.
* * *
Smythe watched as Odelia took a test tube out of the centrifuge in his lab. She held it up to the light. Reddish, fibrous material had settled to the bottom of the tube which otherwise contained clear liquid. It was a purified sample of infected muscle tissue.
Her red eyes studied the sample in the tube intently. Her rosebud lips were pressed together. A pink ribbon held back her straight, white hair.
"I love working with you," Smythe said with a sigh. "I wish I could do it all the time."
"I feel the same way," Odelia said. "I suppose we should feel lucky we get any time together at all. These visits are definitely bending the rules. Sometimes I dream though..."
"About what?" He put his arm around her shoulders.
"Marrying you, having a family. Silly, impossible stuff."
She poured off the clear liquid into a sink. Then she dumped the remaining material into a sterile petri dish.
"It's not silly. I have the same dream." He kissed her on the cheek.
She smiled. She pressed a tight lid onto the petri dish and used several loops of packing tape to secure
it. She also ran tape around the side to make sure it was completely sealed.
"I would give up everything to have that life," she said.
"Everything?" He raised his eyebrows. "Membership in the Society? Your gift?"
"Yes. I'm tired of being a legionnaire. It's stressful and exhausting. A horrible death is always just around the corner. The training is brutal. What about you?"
"In a heartbeat, but that's selfish thinking. We're powerful healers. We have responsibilities to others."
"And to ourselves," she said.
She pushed the petri dish deep into a stainless steel cooler filled with ice. Then she closed the lid and used more packing tape to make sure it stayed closed.
Smythe looked up at the ceiling and said, "Jack, tell Aaron the package is ready."
"Yes, sir," Jack replied through overhead speakers.
Smythe turned his attention back to Odelia. "It's hard to imagine a normal life for us. What would we do with our time?"
"We're still doctors. Even without our gifts, we can save lives. I suppose we'd work in a hospital or something. I'm told raising a family keeps you pretty busy. I expect finding things to do would be the least of our concerns. And we'd be together." She sighed. "It's a nice dream."
Aaron rushed into the medical lab. He looked at the cooler and said, "Is that it?"
"Yes, sir." Smythe gave him the cooler. "It needs to reach the lab in Atlanta tonight."
"The special courier is already waiting for me at the drop off location. I'll leave now."
"We could've met the courier, sir. You didn't need to waste your time playing delivery boy."
Aaron shook his head. "No. He knows my face, and I know his. We trust each other. It's better that I deal with him. When I get back, we'll have a meeting to plan tonight's operation. Bye." He left the room holding the cooler.
"How soon do you think we'll get results?" Odelia said.
"Pretty fast according to the legate," Smythe said. "That lab is supposed to have the best people and the latest equipment. It was created specifically to deal with problems like ours. Everybody who works there is sworn to secrecy."
She nodded.
He gave her a hug. "Don't give up your dreams, even if they seem impossible. If there is one thing I've learned since joining the Society, it's nothing is impossible."