Until My Dying Day (Conjuring a Coroner Book 6)

by S. C. Stokes

  She bolted from the room, leaving West, Bishop, and Vida huddled together in the battered office.

  Every moment mattered. The floors beneath were full of officers who would resist the Night Crew. Kasey needed to put herself between them and the encroaching thugs. If she failed, at least the Night Crew would leave with what they came for, keeping the rest of the Precinct safe.

  There was no way of knowing exactly how many men the Night Crew had brought, but there could be as many as a hundred of them, in and around the precinct. She needed to ensure the officers survived and fell back as they were instructed.

  If I can buy us the time, I know Sanders will come through.

  Kasey glanced at the elevator, but thought better of it. Any moment, the Night Crew would breach the station, and emerging from the elevator would be like stepping directly into a firing squad.

  She opted for the stairs, taking them two at a time until she reached the second floor. Opening the door to the bullpen, she found the officers hunkered down, seeking cover after the explosion beneath them.

  Kasey shouted at them. “The precinct is under attack. Chief West needs you to move to higher ground. Grab your weapons, lock down any perps that are here, and fall back to the fourth floor. Do not engage with the invaders unless you have no other choice. Avoid the elevator, take the stairs. I'm heading to the lobby to check for any survivors. Do not follow me, am I clear?”

  The officers stared at her, their eyes wide and mouths agape.

  “Now move it!” Kasey bellowed, before slamming the door. She wanted to shake them out of it and get them moving before the Night Crew stormed the bullpen.

  Kasey bounded back down the stairs, headed for the first floor. Arriving at the ground floor, she cracked the door and peered into the lobby through the narrow gap.

  The lobby was in ruin. Whatever weapon the Night Crew had used on the station's front door had blown it wide open. Both doors and much of the surrounding masonry had been annihilated.

  Several officers lay wounded on the floor of the lobby. They had been closest to the blast. Two officers crouched down behind the lobby's information desk. The smoke was clearing, and Kasey knew that at any moment the Night Crew would enter through the breach in the station.

  She raced across the lobby and dropped into a slide, coming to a stop behind the information kiosk. The officers turned, startled.

  Kasey halted at the familiar face. “Easy, Morales, it's me, Chase.”

  “Kasey, what are you doing here? Where's Bishop?” Morales asked.

  “She's up with West in his office. It’s where you both need to be. Any minute now, an army of heavily armed thugs is going to come through that hole. Anyone still in this lobby is going to be cut to shreds. If you want to stay in the land of the living, I'd recommend getting out of here before they make their way inside.”

  “How do you know?” Morales asked.

  “We saw them from West's office. They’re preparing to breach, so get out of here now.”

  Morales glanced at the stairs. As he stood to make a run for it, half a dozen figures emerged through the smoke.

  The Night Crew was on the move.

  Kasey grabbed Morales and yanked him back down behind the kiosk.

  “What the—”

  Morales didn't get to finish his sentence, as automatic weapons fire sliced through the lobby. The assault rifles blasted chunks out of the information desk, sending splinters and shards of timber in every direction.

  “We’re pinned down,” Morales muttered. “We'll never make the stairs now.”

  “They are thugs, not soldiers,” Kasey replied. “They have no discipline. When they reload, hit them with everything you've got. Then, when they drop, make a break for the stairs and don't look back.

  The staccato bursts from the assault rifles continued to lay waste to the lobby. If it wasn’t for the shelter provided by the kiosk, neither she nor the officers would have stood a chance.

  After a few short seconds, the magazines ran dry. As the firing ceased, she shouted, “Now!”

  The officers reached around the edge of the kiosk and opened fire with their sidearms. Silhouetted by a light streaming through the shattered front of the station, the thugs were horribly exposed. Morales and his partner fired with grim efficiency and the thugs were cut down.

  As soon as the bodies hit the ground, the two officers sprung to their feet and made their run for the stairs. Kasey stood to follow them, but the next wave of Night Crew stepped into the lobby, rifles at the shoulder, ready to fire.

  Morales and his partner were caught in the open. They glanced over their shoulder as the thugs drew a bead on them, across the open lobby. It was a killing ground.

  “Mellt!” Kasey bellowed.

  There was a deafening peal of thunder that echoed through the room as lightning leapt from Kasey's outstretched hands. The lightning bolt struck the first of the thugs, before arcing through the group. They were thrown back across the lobby.

  The bodies struck the ground, where they twitched briefly before going still. The Night Crew were here to kill her; she wasn't going to hold any punches.

  She turned to see Morales and his partner standing there, staring at her slack jawed.

  “What part of get out of here don't you understand?” she snapped. “I’ll hold them off for as long as I can. Get as many people as you can to the safety of the fourth floor. We need to concentrate our forces.”

  Morales grabbed his partner and shoved him toward the stairs. He threw Kasey an appreciative nod before he disappeared into the staircase.

  The arcane assault seemed to have given the Night Crew pause. Kasey hunkered down, leaning on the kiosk to conceal most of her profile, while still keeping sight of the entrance. She had no doubt the Night Crew would come again. If anything, she'd confirmed her presence in the station.

  A megaphone crackled to life. “There you are, Kasey. I thought you were in there. It seems your companions are unwilling to give you up, but I’ll make you the same offer I made them. Hand yourself over to us, and we will leave. No one else needs to die today. Give your fellow officers their lives back.”

  Kasey sighed. The dust was clearing, and she could make out the shapes moving beyond it. Any moment now, they would come barreling back through it in force.

  I just need to buy time.

  Kasey raised her right hand and whispered, “Pêl Tân.”

  With all her focus, she hurled the fireball through the open portal into the street. She couldn't see what she had hit, but from the surprised screams, she knew that at least one Night Crewman had been caught in the inferno.

  “Come on in,” Kasey shouted. “I can do this all day long.”

  A devastating fusillade came pouring in through the breach. Kasey hit the deck, as round after round was pumped into the information kiosk. The Night Crew had no hesitation. Whoever was driving the assault was more than willing to sacrifice his men to take her.

  Not for the first time, Kasey wondered if she and Sanders hadn't made a horrible mistake in provoking the Night Lord. It seemed there was no length he wouldn't go to avenge the losses he'd suffered. He seemed indifferent to the lives lost, but his drugs and his money, those had hit a nerve. It seemed Kasey and Sanders had done damage to his operation. Damage that he would see repaid in blood.

  There was a dull thud as something struck the tile floor and skittered across it. The item came to a halt as it hit the kiosk. Kasey couldn't see it, but her gut told her to move. Summoning her protective shield, she made a break for the stairs.

  Two seconds later, it detonated. The grenade blasted apart the kiosk, sending a hail of deadly shrapnel in every direction. Kasey felt the impacts as the deadly shards of steel sliced at her protective ward. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the Night Crew streaming in through the entryway.

  This time it wasn't a handful of thugs—it was an army. Dozens of them took up firing positions.

  Kasey slipped into the stairway before th
e thugs had time to realize where she had gone.

  “She must be in here somewhere. Spread out and find her,” a voice demanded.

  Kasey peered around the corner and caught her first glimpse of the man that was hunting her. He stood in the midst of the Night Crew, barking orders. His men raced to carry out his directives.

  The man was squat, perhaps only five and a half feet tall. His hair was clipped close to his scalp except for where a scar ran from above his left eye, back into his hairline. He was wearing a bullet-proof vest, and he carried a pistol in one hand and a megaphone in the other.

  The Night Crew were making swift progress. New York City might have been in disarray, but they were still attacking a police station in broad daylight. It wouldn't be long before reinforcements arrived from neighboring precincts.

  With the Night Crew clustered close together, Kasey took advantage of the opportunity. “Cerrig Wedi Torri”.

  As she barked the words of power, all eyes turned to the stairwell. Kasey's spell slammed into the tiles in front of them. The arcane energy blasted them apart like a supernatural frag grenade. The force of the explosion rolled outward, shattering tile and Night Crewmen alike.

  Scarface grabbed the Night Crewman standing beside him and yanked him to the front. Kasey watched in wide-eyed amazement as the shrapnel cut the helpless meat shield to shreds.

  As the energy dissipated, Scarface tossed aside his used subordinate and raised his pistol. Kasey retreated as three shots slammed into the inner wall of the precinct’s internal staircase.

  “After her!” Scarface shouted. When no one moved, he bellowed again, “What are you waiting for? Get her now, or it will be all of our heads.”

  “Didn't you see that?” a Night Crewman responded. “What the hell are we meant to do about that? She'll kill us as soon as we step into the staircase.”

  A gunshot rang out, followed by the distinct sound of a body dropping to the floor.

  Scarface’s voice threatened. “And I'll kill you if you don't. One of those is a possibility, the others is a certainty. Now get up those stairs before I put a bullet in the rest of you.”

  Kasey raced up the stairs as quick as her legs would take her. Sweat ran down her face. The Night Crew were wasting precious time and requiring her to expend much of the energy she would need to face Akihiro.

  She had thinned their numbers, but in her heart, she knew it wasn't enough. There was still too many of them. She reached the second-floor landing, before the Night Crew had even hit the first step.

  The sound of them stomping up the stairs beneath her caused her heart to race, but she simply kept running.

  Reaching the third floor, she paused and planned her ambush, hoping the Night Crew would grow complacent in their chase. The sound of the bullpen being ransacked rose from below. She prayed that none of her colleagues were still inside.

  Other Night Crew still pressed on, heading up the stairs toward her.

  As the first of them rounded the corner and came into sight, Kasey unleashed hell. “Dwrn O Aer!”

  The concussive wave rolled down the narrow staircase. It struck the lead thug, and he collected two of his companions as he hurtled back into the wall. His head struck the concrete with a sickening thud before he dropped to the landing. Whether he was dead or unconscious, Kasey didn't know, and she had no intention of hanging around to find out.

  She dashed up the last of the stairs and burst onto the fourth floor only to find found dozens of weapons pointed at her.

  “Easy, boys, that’s Kasey,” Bishop warned from behind an upturned desk. “Hold your fire.”

  The fourth floor had been turned into a makeshift fortress. The desks had been flipped over and were facing the stairs and the elevator. Officers were huddled down in every nook and cranny, taking cover behind chairs and tables with their weapons drawn, ready to sell their lives.

  “They’re right behind me,” Kasey said, panting. “Shoot first and ask questions later. Their leader just executed one of his own men in cold blood. That’s the measure of their resolve. They won't hesitate to kill any one of us.”

  “Then move your ass and take cover,” Bishop called, her weapon trained firmly on the staircase.

  Kasey raced across the room and hunkered beside Bishop.

  “Mind if I share your desk?” Kasey asked.

  “By all means,” Bishop answered. “There’s no one I’d rather have watching my back.”

  Kasey took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. As she let it out, the first of the Night Crew appeared at the top of the stairs.

  The officers of the Ninth Precinct opened fire. Framed by the open door, it was almost impossible to miss the thugs. Three of the Night Crew fell, riddled with bullets.

  “Hold your fire,” West shouted.

  The firing ceased.

  “There are still plenty more of them to come. We need to conserve our ammunition. Pick your targets and shoot to kill.”

  “Chief, look, the elevator,” an officer shouted.

  Kasey turned as the floor readout on two of the elevators flashed. They began at the ground floor and were rising.

  2nd Floor, 3rd Floor.

  The elevators crawled upward. Every eye on the room was fixed on them. So intent were they on watching the approaching elevators that Kasey almost missed the arm that reached around the doorway and hurled an object into the densely packed office.

  Her heart stopped as her eyes locked on the MKII fragmentation grenade, bouncing across the floor toward her.

  There was nowhere left to run.

  Chapter Seven

  Time came to a standstill as Kasey stared at the grenade. If it detonated, it would kill everyone in the room.

  She couldn’t let that happen. Standing up, she drew deep on her arcane energy. She was exhausted, but if her gambit didn’t work her fatigue would be the least of her worries.

  She mouthed the words for a protective ward while in her heart she sent up a silent prayer that it would be enough. With a deep breath, she stepped around the desk and, before giving it another thought, leapt onto the grenade.

  “Kasey, no!” Bishop shouted.

  As Kasey hit the floor, she heard the click as the grenade detonated.

  The blast threw her clear across the room, slamming her into the wall. She slumped to the floor in a heap.

  Her head was ringing. She felt like she'd been run over by a truck, only to have it stop and reverse back over her. She tried to move but her body wouldn't respond. The elevator chimed, and out of the corner of her eye she saw the aluminum doors part.

  The assembled officers opened fire. Clearly, the Night Crew had expected less resistance after the grenade. The men in the elevator found themselves staring at their own personal firing squad.

  The Night Crew barely got a shot off before they were gunned down.

  Silence fell over the room.

  West strode to the elevator. “Luiz, Simmons, check the bodies, make sure they’re down for the count. Take the weapons and their ammunition. There are still plenty more of them below. We’ll need every weapon we can get our hands on.”

  Luiz and Simmons, ran over to assist West. The officers began relieving the fallen thugs of their weapons: AR15 assault rifles, with spare magazines. They would come in useful.

  “Chief, what do you want me to do with these?” one of the officers said, holding up a pair of grenades.

  “I’ll take those,” Chief West replied, lifting them out of the officer’s hands.

  With practiced ease, Chief West pulled the pins out of the grenades and lobbed them through the open doorway into the stairwell.

  “Grenade!” shouted a member of the Night Crew from below, followed by the flurry of footsteps.

  The frag grenades exploded, shaking the building as they turned the staircase into a killing ground.

  “That ought to buy us some reprieve,” West said, “Bishop, see to Kasey. The rest of you, we won't get that lucky a second time. Morales, take o
ne of the rifles and watch the stairs. If they get back onto the landing, we’ll have more grenades to contend with. If anyone pokes their head up, take it off. Simmons, jam the elevators so they can't make another trip.”

  Footsteps scurried toward Kasey, and then Bishop was crouching beside her.

  She could feel Bishop’s hands as she examined her, looking for wounds. Slowly, Kasey wriggled her fingers to test their motion.

  “I swear, Kasey, one of these days you are going to get yourself killed,” Bishop muttered.

  Kasey spluttered as she tried to catch a breath. “Not today.” Grabbing Bishop’s hands, she squeezed them. “It's okay, Bishop. I'm fine. The shield took the worst of the brunt.”

  Bishop threw her arms around Kasey. “You're insane, you know that. Never do anything like that again.”

  “If I didn't, you’d all be dead. I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” Kasey replied. “But on the brighter side, I guess it would have spared me a lecture.”

  Bishop gave Kasey a light-hearted shove, as Chief West crouched down beside her. “Easy, Bishop, that’s no way to say thank you. That was a brave move, Chase. I’m glad you're okay. Any ideas as to what we should do next? You've faced these guys before. How did you beat them last time?”

  Kasey pulled herself up against the wall, leaning on it to steady herself. “To be honest, Sanders and I didn't beat them. We hit their safe house, stole their cash, and torched their product. We fought our way free as their reinforcements showed up. We figured we'd overstayed our welcome. If we want to beat this lot, we’re going to have to kill them all or hold them off for long enough that they realize their mission has become untenable. The longer we hold them off, the more time we give our reinforcements to arrive. We just have to give Sanders and the other precincts a chance.”

  “Easier said than done,” West replied. “In spite of their losses, it seems like they are already massing again. We can't hold them off forever. Eventually, they'll break through or manage to get another grenade in here and then we are toast.”