by Jay Cannon
Uan retrieved his spear and wiped the blood from it with the fallen guard’s coat. He peered over the edge of the roof and spotted the transformer. He pulled out his pulse rifle and fired a quick burst. The transformer exploded like a ball of fireworks.
“What the hell is going on out there?” shouted Louie into his radio.
“We’re checking it now, boss,” said one of the exterior guards. “I’ll get back to you in a second.”
Calvin headed to the bottom of the fire escape like Uan had asked. Uan jumped from the roof and landed next to him uncloaked. He grabbed Calvin and covered his mouth then leaped to the second-floor landing of the fire escape. Calvin squirmed with eyes wide open in surprise, and Uan released him.
“How the hell did you do that?” Calvin quietly exclaimed.
“I exercise a lot,” replied Uan. “We can go inside and look for Louie now.”
“I would guess that he’s on the third floor near the back of the building, away from the stairs and fire escape to be safe.”
“Okay, I will go into the door on the third floor,” said Uan. “I will look for a heavily guarded door and enter that room to find Louie. You should follow me in.”
“Got it. If fighting breaks out, expect me to disappear down the fire escape and meet you back home.”
Uan just looked at him with disdain and headed up the fire escape and through the third-floor entry, cloaking himself as he stepped inside. Calvin was disturbed by the dead body on the landing but stepped by him and into the building.
“What the…” Calvin looked in disbelief at the spectacle in front of him. A guard fought an invisible assailant then fell to the ground, apparently with his neck broken.
Before Calvin’s eyes, Uan appeared out of nowhere. “Oh my god,” Calvin stammered. “Are you some sort of ghost?”
Uan again clamped a hand over Calvin’s mouth, and dragged him outside.
“I do not have time for your theatrics and I may need you inside so I have to do this.” Uan was obviously annoyed.
“Do what?” mumbled Calvin through Uan’s fingers.
Uan pulled Calvin close and bit him on the neck, just enough to pierce his skin. He held Calvin’s mouth shut so he wouldn’t scream.
“It should take a few seconds for the enzymes to take effect,” said Uan.
Calvin struggled to speak. “What enzymes? What effect?”
“Just relax and wait a minute.” Uan cloaked and released his grip on Calvin. “Can you see me now?”
“Of course I can see you. How did you disappear earlier?”
“It is an ancient ninja mind trick.”
“That was some amazing trick. Why did you bite me?”
“You were getting a little wound up and I thought that would calm you down.”
“You thought biting me would calm me down?” said Calvin. “You Scottish people have an odd way of calming each other down. I guess if I was laughing hysterically you would stab me in the chest?”
“I have certainly considered it.”
“How about just giving me a firm ‘Calm down’ instead of all the painful stuff?”
“Okay, I will consider that. Can we take care of business now?”
“Sure.”
Uan reentered the building and walked past the guard on the floor to where the corridor intersected with the main hallway. He looked in both directions. To the left, a guard stood at the far end near a stairway. To the right, three guards stood before a double door. Uan figured that Louie must be behind that door. He turned to Calvin.
“You wait here. I am going to take care of the guard on the left and then ram the door at the other end of the hallway and take out those guards. You come around when you hear the door smash open.”
“And if I see you get shot as soon as you enter the hallway, I’ll be at the apartment waiting on you.”
Uan gave Calvin a puzzled look and walked into the hallway, toward the solitary guard. He found a janitorial closet and slipped inside, leaving the door cracked open. The guard eventually saw the door ajar and went to investigate, speaking into his radio.
“Hey guys, did you see anyone open this closet door here?”
“Chuck, you’re seeing things. No one’s been in this hall but you,” responded one of guards at the double door.
Chuck approached the door with his hand on his piece. He opened the door and looked in. A strange smell hit his nose, but he didn’t see anything unusual.
Uan grabbed Chuck by his collar with his left hand and pulled him into the closet. With his right hand he shoved his spear into the man’s chest, and gently laid Chuck’s quivering body onto the floor. Uan wiped his spear on Chuck’s pants and put it away under his hoodie. He exited the closet, pulled the hood from his head, and launched himself up the hallway toward the double doors at the far end.
One of the guards sensed something was wrong. He didn’t understand why Chuck was still in the closet. Why was the door ajar if there was no one in the hallway? Why did it sound like someone was running toward them?
Calvin saw Uan fly by with his head down and wondered why no one was shooting at him.
The suspicious guard pulled out his gun. “Do you guys hear that?” he said.
Calvin peeked around the corner just in time to see Uan shove his head into one of the bulky guards and ram him through the doorway, knocking him out. Uan spun around and sliced through the necks of the other two guards outside the door and another one inside the apartment.
Uan motioned for Calvin to join him and entered the living room area of an apartment. Just inside were guards to each side, with their guns drawn. Uan stood between them, made himself visible, and growled. He then cloaked again and stepped back as the men fired at each other and fell dead from each other’s bullets.
Calvin stood in the doorway in amazement, not understanding what had just happened. Uan surveyed the room to determine his next move.
In the apartment’s master suite, Louie was looking at images from the security cameras in the living room.
“What the hell is this?” he shouted at the guards in the room. “Are the cameras on the fritz or something? It looks like there’s some sort of cloud walking around in there.” He picked up his radio. “Send some guards up here now! I’m under attack here!”
Uan looked through the doorway to his left and saw that the dining room and kitchen were unoccupied. To his right was a hallway. The first door in the hallway was open; it led to a bathroom. Beyond were two more doors. Uan went to the first door deciding to take a more subtle approach to finding Louie.
“Calvin, come here. I’m going to knock on the door. Hopefully they will respond verbally and not just start shooting. I want you to let them know that I just want to speak to Louie.”
In the master suite, Louie said, “Who is that guy out there and who is he talking to? Wait! He’s coming this way.” There was a knock at the door.
“What do you want?” yelled Louie.
Calvin replied, “We just want to ask Louie a few questions and we’ll be on our way.”
“We? I’m looking at my security cameras and I don’t see a we out there. If you only want to talk, why did you kill my men?”
Calvin shrugged his shoulders. “That was just to get your attention. If we wanted you dead we would just come in and kill you. We want to know about the people who were in the diner with you.”
“I don’t know how that dead guy was walking around. That was Bookhead. He was killed a couple of days ago.”
“Not him. There was a junkie in there, and his sister. Who were they?”
“His name was Jerome. He owed me some money. I don’t know his sister’s name.”
“What’s Jerome’s last name?”
“How would I know his last name? We weren’t friends or anything. Wait, his sister is Dr. Turner. He asked for Dr. Turner on the phone. She works at some hospital.”
“What about the kid in the window?”
“I didn’t see no kid. Now go away.
I answered your questions,” demanded Louie, flustered at the questioning.
“Could you just take a look at his picture? If you don’t recognize him we’re gone.”
“Sure. I’ll open the door. Just no funny stuff. I got guns in here.”
Uan handed Calvin his communicator, which displayed the image of Morgan. He whispered, “Let me go in first. Come in behind me and show him the picture.”
The door opened and Uan stepped in, unseen by the man at the door. Calvin entered and a man sitting on the bed waved him over.
“Show me the picture,” the man said.
“You’re not Louie. Where’s Louie?”
The closet door burst open and there was Louie, pointing an automatic rifle at Calvin. Invisible, Uan snatched the rifle from Louie and threw him across the room onto the bed, over the head of the person impersonating Louie.
“What the hell was that?” shrieked Louie. “First a dead guy comes after me, now I’m being attacked by a ghost.”
“What are you talking about? You can’t see Uan standing there?” asked Calvin in surprise.
“Uan? What Uan? I don’t see any Uan standing anywhere,” replied a panicked Louie.
“Me either,” replied the others, wide-eyed and not sure if they should go for their guns.
“They cannot see me. Just show them the picture,” said Uan.
“Where did that voice come from?” shouted Louie.
Just then four of Louie’s goons rushed into the room with guns drawn. Calvin raised his hands and shouted, “Don’t shoot.”
Before they could act, Uan pulled out his pulse rifle and fired a stun burst. They all fell to the floor unconscious, including the guard originally standing by the door.
Calvin was shocked by what had happened, but decided to show the picture to Louie so he could get back to the safety of his apartment.
Figure 9. Calvin shows picture to Louie while Uan looks on cloaked with pulse rifle
“Louie, do you know who this kid is?”
“No, I don’t recall ever seeing him.”
“How about you?” Calvin asked the other man on the bed.
“Me neither,” the man responded.
Uan walked to the window near the bed. “Calvin,” he said, “there’s more guards coming. Let’s get out of here.” Uan opened the window and pushed out the screen.
“I’m not jumping out a three-story…”
Uan grabbed Calvin and dove out the window as several of Louie’s men came into the room with guns in hand. One of them ran to the window, but Uan and Calvin were nowhere to be seen.
CHAPTER 27
PICO IS FOUND OUT
Morgan could tell that the daily visits to the hospital were finally beginning to help his mother. He set Pico in the bed next to her as usual. Pico pulled out his shaman stone and connected with the comatose woman.
“Morgan, the tumor in your mother’s head is pretty small now. I think that she will be well soon.”
“Thanks for the update, Pico. I sure hope so. I really miss her. I have to admit, though, that life has become much more tolerable since you came along. I’m having a good time with my foster family, I’m a member of a tennis club, my mother is getting better, and I have a best friend for the first time in a long time.”
“Who is your best friend?” asked Pico through their bond.
“Why, you are.” Morgan gave Pico a big hug. “I’m going to go ask Cleo for some more nails for you. I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll be right here,” replied Pico mentally. He was feeling especially joyous about his relationship with Morgan.
Morgan closed the curtains around his mother’s bed and left the room, leaving Pico to bask in the blue glow of his shaman stone. Dr. Turner walked by and happened to see Morgan disappearing behind the elevator doors. She looked in the room and thought it was odd that the curtains were closed with Morgan gone. She went in and pulled back the curtains to see Pico sitting motionless in the bed next to Morgan’s mother. Pico had heard her coming and put away his stone before she could see it.
“Hi there, Pico,” said Dr. Turner, leaning toward him. Pico remained perfectly still. “I can’t believe that Morgan would leave you here all alone. Are you just keeping his mother company or are you doing more than that?”
Dr. Turner put her hand to Pico’s chest. “You certainly seem a lot warmer than a normal action figure. Your skin seems to have the texture of real skin. You don’t have a nose or a mouth though. No fingernails or genitals either. I must be losing my mind. I could have sworn I saw some sort of light coming from behind the curtains.” She looked closely. “What about your eyes, though?”
Dr. Turner pulled out her ophthalmoscope and looked into Pico’s left eye. “Oh my god,” she screamed, jumping back. “What kind of doll are you?”
Morgan rushed into the room with a small bag of nails, alarmed at the scream. “Denise, what are you doing to Pico?”
“This is not an action figure. He’s some sort of voodoo doll, or strange animal species, or something else.” Denise was visibly shaken by what she had seen.
“He’s just an action figure,” insisted Morgan.
“Then why does his eye have fluid in it? And there’s structure to it, similar to human eyes, but different.”
“He’s just a toy and you’re imagining things.” Morgan picked up Pico and placed him in the quiver.
“Where did you buy this toy, Morgan? I’d love to get one for my niece back in Michigan.”
Morgan’s eyes welled up. “I thought you were my friend.”
“I am your friend, Morgan, but I swear I saw you at Joey’s Diner yesterday when that corpse from the morgue attacked a guy. How could a dead person possibly do that? And when I got back to my car there was a strange smell coming from the trunk. I found this nail there. The same kind that you carry around for Pico. There was also a spot of blood in the trunk that matched the blood from the corpse. Can you explain that?”
“No, I can’t. I can only say that you can’t blame me for those things.”
“If your friend, or action figure, whatever you want to call it, is healing your mother, I thought he might be able to take a look at my brother who’s addicted to heroin.”
“I don’t want any trouble. I just want my mother to get better.”
Denise spoke with an air of wonder. “She is getting better. Her white blood cell count is nearly normal now. I’m going to run another CAT scan to see how the tumor is doing. I’m betting it’s almost gone,”
“Thanks. I’d better go. See you tomorrow,” said Morgan. He turned away and walked out of the room.
“Morgan, why don’t you tell her about me?” asked Pico through their bond. “I’m sure you can trust her.”
“She’ll tell everybody and you’ll be taken away by the government and experimented on, like the alien in ET. I’d never see you again, and my life would be miserable. I couldn’t bear that.”
“I trusted you and you didn’t turn me in. She might be able to help us. I’m not that sure about what I’m doing to try to save your mother.”
“I’ll think about it,” said Morgan as he walked out of the hospital and headed for another session of tennis with Biffle.
CHAPTER 28
CALVIN LEARNS TO FIGHT
Calvin and Uan stepped out of a cab in front of their apartment building.
“So, are you going to tell me what’s going on? Why couldn’t anyone see you back there? How did you throw Louie around like he was a rag doll? How can you jump out of a third-story window carrying me over your shoulder as if it were nothing?”
Before Uan could answer, a group of men descended on them from where they had been waiting in front of the building.
“Calvin, we just heard that Bo Sam is dead,” said Bobby, a large guy who led the group. “They found his body and some others in his vehicle down the street. Police said it was a gang-related killing. That puts me in charge and his spot is mine.”
“I run thin
gs here,” interrupted Calvin. “You can continue to do what you do and I’ll just take half the normal cut.”
“Who the fuck are you, little man, and why should we give you a damn thing?”
Uan grabbed Bobby at the chest and flung him against a tree ten feet away. His crumpled body fell to the ground. Another man pulled a gun and Uan immediately cut off his hand and pushed his spear through his chest in what appeared to be one continuous move. He pulled out the spear and wiped it on the fallen man’s pants while watching the others to see if they would make a move. He replaced the spear underneath his hoodie and addressed the remaining thugs.
“Do I need to kill the rest of you or do we have an agreement?”
“We’re cool,” replied Little Randy, seeing this as an opportunity for him to move up the ranks.
Uan growled, “You can have the rest of the building, but stay off the top floor. If I get any trouble out of any of you I will kill all of you, a little at a time.”
Little Randy was happy to hear that he had the run of things and a bigger cut of the take. “I guess we know who put that pile of dead bodies in Bo Sam’s SUV. So, what should we call you?”
“The name is Uan and I would appreciate it if you did not call me at all. Just slip my money into the mail slot in my door or I will slip my spear into your chest. Is that understood?”
Little Randy agreed and Uan turned to enter the building with Calvin in tow. Uan didn’t care about the money. He just felt it was easier for people to believe he was a new hoodlum in town instead of asking questions about who he really was. Calvin kept quiet until they were safely inside their apartment.
“You see what I’m talking about? How did you throw that big guy over your head that far? And all the other stuff?”
“Okay, I will tell you everything, but if you talk I will kill you and everyone you tell.”
“I thought we already had that understanding.”