Sid’s eyes searched for her gun and found nothing.
Where are you?
She turned back.
Jean’s face was a mask of rage, the self-control gone. She stomped up the steps with murder in her eyes.
A faint familiar sound caught Sid’s ear.
Click.
Jean took another step.
Sid turned away and flattened herself on the landing.
Boom!
The stairwell burst into splinters. The hall filled with plaster dust.
Sid started coughing and fanning at the smoky mist. Feeling around the floor with her hand, her fingers found her Glock. The pistol was an old friend in hand. She pointed it down the stairwell. Heart racing and arm dangling, she forced herself up to her feet.
I have to get out of here. But Russ!
She lumbered back into the living room, cozied up to the broken window, and peeked out.
A hand seized her wrist.
She jerked away and stuck her gun in a man’s disheveled face. “Russ!”
“Oh man,” he said, rubbing his head. “I thought I was a goner. That freak picked me up and tossed me like a hay bale! I’m a two-hundred-and-seventy-five-pound man.” He sniffed the air. “Do I smell bacon?”
Sid glanced down.
Russ was on the emergency fire escape.
“Let’s get out of here.” She climbed out the window. Both of them raced down the stairs and dropped into the alley.
“Ow!” Russ said. He was sitting down and holding his ankle. “Feels like I broke it.”
Shoulder dipped, Sid said, “I can’t carry you.” She pulled him up to his feet with her good hand.
Heads emerged from high above, and gunfire erupted.
“Hop to it, Russ!”
They took cover behind a dumpster. Sid returned fire.
Bullets skipped and ricocheted everywhere.
“We’re toast!” Russ said.
A roar sounded from behind them. A black car thundered down the alley and screeched to a halt. It was the Hellcat.
Smoke popped out of the driver’s window with a LAW rocket hefted on his shoulder. He pointed it upward at the apartment Sid and Russ had escaped from.
The gunfire stopped, and the guards vanished.
Still aiming at the apartment, Smoke barked an order. “Get in!”
Sid got in the front seat, and Russ stuffed himself in the back. “Get us out of here, man!”
Smoke got back in the car, slammed it in reverse, and stomped on the gas. The car screamed back out of the alley and skidded into the street. He put it into drive, gunned the gas, and zoomed into the nearest highway tunnel.
Groaning a little, Sid said, “How have you been?”
Eyes forward, Smoke said, “I’ve had better days.”
The car emerged from the tunnel and flowed into the traffic.
Grimacing, Sid shifted in her seat. “Thanks for picking us up.”
Smoke nodded.
Odd.
“So, where are you taking us, to the bat cave?”
“No,” he said. “Parking garage. We’ll lie low there until things cool off.” He glanced at her body, but not her eyes. “Shoulder dislocated?”
“Very astute of you,” she said. “Thanks for noticing.”
“So, what happened up there?” Smoke said, eyeing the road.
Russ jumped in. “I’ll tell you what happened. This city is full of crazies! I’m moving to Arizona.”
“Well, fill me in,” Smoke said, eyeing Russ through the rearview mirror.
Russ offered up the entire ordeal.
Sid filled in some other details.
Smoke seemed unaffected.
“John,” she said, “we were trying to find out who framed you. We didn’t have much luck with that though. All I got was the name Kane.”
Smoke nodded.
Geez, he won’t even look at me. He must be having a really bad day. I hope this isn’t over the engagement thing. And I’m not going to bring up the ring being stolen.
“You know,” Russ said, “that name Kane rings a bell.”
“I’d hope. It’s Cain from the Bible,” Sid said.
“No, not like that. One with a ‘K’. K-A-N-E. Like the wrestler.”
“Why’s that matter?” Sid asked. She was grimacing, her shoulder throbbing.
“I did a story a long time ago—geez, at least two decades, maybe longer—about the Lancasters.”
“The crime family?”
“Yep. They really hated the cops. Back in the seventies they blamed the cops for the death of their son Kane. Things got brutal for about ten years but quieted after that. The Lancasters kind of faded away in the nineties, but there’s been some murmurings of late. A Lancaster here, a Lancaster there. Arrests. Mugshots. Kinda weird.”
Sid had read some of those files on the Lancasters. They’d taken two FBI agents down in the late seventies. It was an extremely rare thing back then. But it was one of those things that Ted Howard, her now-deceased boss, had told her about. Fallen agents. The FBI was family, disjointed sometimes, but still family. They took things like that personally, but more so then than now. Things had changed. Ofttimes now, the agency seemed divided.
Smoke took the next exit in south DC. It was a rougher neighborhood than downtown. More poverty. More homeless. He cruised the car into a parking garage that drove down underneath an old office building. The tires squealed on the hairpin turns. The motor sounded like thunder down below. There weren’t many cars parked either. The ones that were pulled in looked abandoned and dusty, a graveyard of bad car models from the eighties and nineties.
“Hey look, a K-Car. I used to have one of those,” Russ said. “Love that Cream-of-Wheat yellow.”
Smoke backed the car into a slot near the elevators, shut down the engine, and got out.
Struggling with the door, Sid finally got it open.
Russ squeezed out.
“So, what’s the plan?” Sid asked Smoke. “I could use a sling, you know.”
Smoke sat back on the hood and crossed his arms. “We’re waiting on somebody.”
Aggravated, she asked, “Care to fill me in?”
Smoke turned toward her. His dark eyes fastened on hers and started to change.
The blood drained from Sid’s face.
Smoke’s eyes turned black as eight balls, and then he scowled. “No.”
CHAPTER 26
Sid put a gun on Smoke.
He showed a wicked sneer.
“Who are you?”
“Oh, put that away,” said the man who looked just like Smoke. “You don’t want to get hurt.”
“Me hurt?” said Sid, trying not to wince. “You’re the one looking down the barrel.”
“True,” said the black-eyed man, calmly, “but you can’t know for sure. After all, maybe I really am John Smoke and you’ve been fooled all along.”
“I say shoot him,” Russ suggested. “We’ll figure out the truth later.”
“Oh, I doubt that,” the man said. He reached into his jeans and pulled out a soft pack of cigarettes. A black Zippo lighter appeared in his other hand. He flicked the Zippo open, started the flame, and lit his cigarette. He snapped the top shut and tucked it all away. It was just him, smoking, with a smile on his face. “I’ve probably smoked more of these things than anybody, and it never gets old. Always wondered why.”
“Nicotine, dumbass,” Russ said.
“No, not with my chemistry,” the man said. “I can’t be harmed by the usual mortal means.”
“I doubt that,” Sid said, easing herself into a better position. She pointed the gun toward his back. “You’re the one who shot Wilhelm, aren’t you.”
The man shrugged. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out at this point. Of course, I’ve shot a lot of people. You know,” he chuckled a low laugh, “I’ve been around since Lincoln. Makes you think, doesn’t it.”
“You’re coming with me,” Sid said.
The man turned. His
eyes were dark blue like Smoke’s. Every detail was just right on the outside. Only the voice was off a little. “Oh, I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you, Miss Shaw. You see, we’re all trapped. Well, not me so much, but you certainly don’t have a way out.”
A dreadful feeling dropped into her stomach like a cup of castor oil. She summoned her courage. “I’ll make a way out. Now get back in the vehicle.”
The man held his hands up. “Shoot me, Sid. Shoot me, the man you love.” He winked. “I’m a murderer, so shoot me. It will do me some good. But shoot me, and you’ll never see me again.”
“Screw this.” She squeezed the trigger. Click!
The man chuckled. “Such a fool. You know, Sid, we switched your bullets out. Yes, those fancy ones with the blue tips. Very nice. Very gone. You’re lucky Jean didn’t kill you back in the apartment building. But it seemed your resourcefulness prevailed. We anticipated it.”
“What are you talking about?” she said.
“Why, your audition. You know, the Drake could use someone like you: a loner, but loyal. We can make all those bills go away. Reunite you with your sister and niece. You’d never have to worry about your parents, their safety.”
“I don’t want any part of what you’re offering. I just want to take you in.”
“Really? Which one of me to you want to take in?” The man changed. He had Cyrus’s face. “This me?” He turned again. Rebecca Lang appeared. “Or this one? Hah. No one has ever captured me. No one ever will. I’m the greatest shifter of them all. Why, I could even be the President if I wanted. Maybe I have been before. So many strange goings-on these days.” He changed back to Smoke. “So do you still want to kill me—or kiss me?”
“Kill you. Definitely kill you.”
“You know, I was like you once.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh please, I don’t want to hear it. I’ve heard it twice now: once from Double Dee and a second time from the rat guy.”
“Miss Shaw, take it from me, there is no better life than what we have. Power. Money. You, like your sister, should consider it.” He blew a smoke ring. “It would be best for you and your family.”
“They can take care of themselves just fine.”
“Don’t be so sure of that.” Rubber tires rubbing on cement echoed above. An old black Cadillac limousine with a very high roof pulled up in front of them. “Well, if I can’t convince you, perhaps they can.”
A deader in a limousine driver’s cap lumbered out of the car and opened the back doors.
Someone swung a leg out. The foot attached to it was impossibly big. The limo groaned as the most towering figure she’d ever seen stepped out. A huge man, eight feet of solid muscle packed into a grey gym suit. His head almost touched the ceiling.
Sid tilted her neck just to look at him.
The towering figure would make Shaq look like a child. His face was fierce and hard. Dark wild hair hung over his eyes.
“Holy shit,” Russ muttered. “That just ain’t possible.”
The deader limo driver walked over to the other side of the limo and opened the doors. Sid expected some man or woman, maybe her sister Allison, to step out. The limo groaned and bounced again. Another giant stepped out, bigger and taller than the first.
The man posing as Smoke let out a sinister chuckle. “Let there be giants.”
CHAPTER 27
Sid felt all of her blood seep down into her toes. AV the minotaur hadn’t been as big as these men.
She heard the door of the Hellcat shut. The door locks popped closed. Russ tapped the window, said to her softly, “I’m not here. I’m not here,” and crawled into the back seat.
The monstrous men stood still. Shaggy. Hairy. Beastly. They each must have been six hundred pounds easily.
That’s really not normal! I need to get out of here.
“Big fellas, aren’t they?” The man who looked like Smoke puffed on his cigarette. “You can’t find them that big at the carnivals. Well, that was a long time ago, anyway. Care for a cigarette? It’ll settle your nerves.”
Sid gently shook her head no, still gaping at the giant-sized men. They made NBA players look like dwarves.
Just when I thought I’d seen everything.
“Do you have a name?”
“Me?” said Smoke’s double. “I’ve had many. My given name is Reginald, but you can call me Reggie. No need to be formal.”
“Are there any more like you?”
“Ah, now that’s a good question. Well, the truth is, so far as I’m concerned, I’m the only one that matters. The doppelganger. One of a kind. That’s all you need to know.” He fixed his eyes on the limousine. Another person was getting out. “And now it’s time to meet our next guest.”
Sid’s jaw dropped.
Older, heavy and swarthy, a slick politician eased his way between the giants and buttoned his dress coat. It was Congressman Augustus Wilhelm. “Hello, Sidney,” he said with brightened eyes, “surprised to see me?”
“More like disappointed.”
“Hah. Well, you’re not the only person to say that. Oh, and by the way, before I forget, Allison and Megan send their regards. Megan, so sweet and growing up so fast. She’s going to be such a pretty thing.”
Sid stormed forward.
The giant men blocked her path to the congressman. One of their hands could fully engulf her head.
She could hear Wilhelm laughing behind them.
“Oh Sidney, you’re such an overprotective hothead. I can’t stand people like you. You get in the way of progress.” He stepped out from behind the giants and faced her. His face was smug. “Lay a finger on me, and these two will rip you apart. And you wouldn’t want them to do anything to your precious little Megan, now would you?”
Casting a glance up at the giants then back to him, her chin dipped and she said, “No.”
“Good girl.” He lightly smacked her cheek. “It’s good to see that as you grow older, you can grow wiser as well.”
“What’s this all about, Wilhelm?” she asked. “Why the big show?”
“It’s all about me, of course. You see, I live.” He spread his arms wide. “Miraculously! Now, my path to the Senate will be far easier than it was. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly the most likeable guy with the people, so I made a deal and got a little boost. Oh, won’t it be wonderful to come out of that coma a changed man.”
“That’s it?” she said. “All this, just to remain in the Senate?”
“Oh, well, I’m being modest. It’s certainly not my ambitions alone. The Drake supporters have their interests—and they pay well.”
“Of course. Just what we need. Another leader who cares nothing for the people but is all in for himself.”
“At least you realize I’m not the first,” he said.
“Why Smoke?” she asked, turning as Wilhelm paced around her.
“He wasn’t my choice, but your friend, well, he gets under their skin. After all, since he came on the scene, you’ve rounded up several members of the Black Slate. They’re a rare and useful breed, so that’s a problem.” He stopped pacing and faced her. “Now, I know what you’re thinking. You helped too. And to your credit, I’m shocked that you live. But your friend Smoke, he’s unique.” His eyes scanned her from head to toe. “But you’re quite impressive yourself. Some might say, special.” He glanced over at Reggie. “Did you mention the offer?”
“I did. She wasn’t interested.”
“Your sister is thriving in the Drake’s organization,” Wilhelm said to her. “Really rising up the ranks. You know, you and her are more alike than you think. When she wants something, she’ll do whatever it takes to get it. And, Sid, with Deanne Drukker gone, there’s an opening for a gal with your talents.”
“No thanks.”
“Double Dee said no the first few times too, but everyone has their price.”
“So what tipped her over, blackmail or murder?”
Wilhelm checked his nails and d
usted them on his tie. “She lost someone significant, so I’d say it was a little bit of both.”
“You know,” Sid said, tilting up her chin, “all of you bastards really need to die.”
“Good luck with that,” Wilhelm said. He clapped his hands together. “Now, back to business. The offer still stands for you to join the Drake. But just so you’re clear, John Smoke will die. Either right in front of our eyes or in some prison, but he will die. But, if you want him cleared, and we can clear just about anything, you can just join us. Maybe he’ll join as well.”
“I’m not buying it.”
Wilhelm’s prideful grimace soured. “You’re a fool!”
The Hellcat’s engine roared to life. Russ Davenport was behind the wheel. The car squirted out of its spot toward the doppelganger. Reginald dove out of the way. Window rolled down, Russ yelled at Sid, “Get in!”
She made a mad dash for the passenger door and dove through the open window.
The car surged forward.
One of the giant men caught the front end of the car with his chest. Car fenders clutched in his humongous hands, the massive man heaved and brought the car to a standstill.
“Holy Schnikies!” Russ said. He laid on the gas.
The 707 horsepower throttled with hungry life. Still on the pavement, the back tires spun. The rubber smoked in great white rolling plumes.
The giant’s feet slid over the garage floor.
“Come on baby! Come on!”
The giant’s eyes were wide, its face straining against the car’s force. It was losing.
The car was winning.
“You’ve got this, Russ!”
Suddenly, the rear tires lost their grip.
Sid looked behind them.
The other giant had grabbed the car by the back bumper and lifted it up ever so slightly. The engine screamed for traction, but caught only air.
“Oh man!” Russ banged his hands on the steering wheel. “Blasted rear-wheel drive.”
With a snarl and a groan, the giant in front lifted the front wheels off the pavement as well.
“Oh, this is bad,” Sid said, reaching into the back seat and trying to find anything she could.
“Oh no! Oh no!” Russ said.
The Supernatural Bounty Hunter Files: Special Edition Fantasy Bundle, Books 1 thru 5 (Smoke Special Edition) Page 63