Let Slip the Pups of War: Spot and Smudge - Book Three

by Robert Udulutch

  Semion hoped his lovely daughter wasn’t turning soft on these triangle-tattooed idiots. He also hoped her fucking the man hadn’t clouded her judgement. He would be very surprised if that was the case as his talented daughter had always been ruthless, and remorseless, with her best weapon. Besides, Semion had seen the pudgy snakehead naked and hadn’t been impressed.

  He worked to suppress his temper and said, “It does sound like we could have handled this task in a more productive manner. We’re very sorry for the loss of your cousins, Harley. Rest assured I will discuss proper consideration and tribute with your grandfather at the appropriate time. Obviously we were unavoidably pushed into what you would call a time crunch, and as you saw we terminated a key source of information prematurely. Please accept my apologies.”

  Harley nodded, and raised his hands in acquiescence. “Of course,” he said, “No apology is necessary. I just want to be part of whatever solution brings an end to that family.” He looked at Katia and added, “Provided we don’t underestimate them again.”

  “Da, agreed,” Semion said before his simmering daughter could answer, “Our Washington associate has proven to be very proficient in her new role and just now has provided me with the family’s location.” He rocked his bulk back in his chair and motioned over his shoulder as he said, “And we now have the talent to ensure this problem is resolved professionally, and permanently.”

  Harley raised an eyebrow at the five assets lined up behind Semion. All of them were tall and well built, and they wore the same tailored suits. Even the one young women who was slightly taller than the men. Harley noticed the only features unique to each were a few hints of tattoos, and their custom tactical footwear.

  Semion must have given some kind signal Harley didn’t catch. The young woman wearing the bespoke Berluti boots quickly stepped to the door and opened it, and Katia rose and led the assets out of the room without a word. Berluti followed her out and the door closed behind them.

  Harley looked around the room and got up to leave but Semion motioned for him to pause with a raised hand. He said, “Harley, my team are experts in this kind of extraction. If you go with them please do me a favor and play a supporting role this time. I want you out of harm’s way if at all possible. Don’t put me in the position of having to explain to your grandfather how I let another member of his family get hurt. We can’t kill the Walker family just yet, but I commit to you when that time comes you’ll be the first in line.”

  “Works for me,” Harley said, and as he walked towards the door he patted Marty on the shoulder and said, “Take good care of Tian.”

  When the door clicked shut behind Harley Semion shook his head. He folded his arms over his massive round torso, turned to face Marty and Johann, and said, “So gentlemen, please tell me you have better news than those two disappointments.”

  Chapter 56

  Smudge sat in front of the sliding glass door, looking down at the disfigured lumps of Arty and Allen Cooper. The brothers were lying on their sides with their round mouths dripping black bile on the floor. Taking the weight off their twisted bodies apparently made it easier for them to speak, or to at least make sounds that sounded sort of like words. Allen was almost able to slur a complete sentence as long as he went slowly, but Arty did little more than grunt, bang his head on the floor, and scrape his stubby black fingers on the glass.

  Even in their advanced stage of accelerator poisoning Smudge recognized bits and pieces of the moronic neighborhood bullies, especially as they frequently interrupted each other and then got clubbed or bit by their brother. She could also make out hints of their former acne riddled chubby faces in their hideous folds and lumps.

  Smudge was surprised to see them alive, not only because the compound had done a number on them, but Barton had told Aila the entire Cooper family had been killed in the accident. After the dozens of barrels of stolen accelerator compound hidden in the Dorschstein’s kennels had gone up in a massive fireball, the wind had carried the vaporized fallout east to Cape Cod Bay. Most of it diluted harmlessly in the water, but not before a cloud of the vile stuff had dropped onto the Cooper’s house.

  As she listened to Allen slurring about retched nightmares and horrific medical procedures, it reminded Smudge of the last time she had seen the boys.

  Ben and Kelcy had taken her and Spot through the woods to their favorite secluded strip of beach on Cape Cod Bay. She and her brother were still puppies, and it was their first foray together after having recovered from her parvo. The Cooper boys had also come down to the beach with their older brother Aaron and their huge German shepherd, Max. All of the Cooper boys were horrible bullies, even their big dog was a bully in those early days before she and Spot had befriended him. Smudge remembered stepping in front of Kelcy and letting her first bark fly. It was before she had learned to control her muscles or become Cu Sith, but it was still a pretty big bark. It had surprised her as much as it had the Coopers and their dog. Where the younger boys were simply a pair of over-stimulated and under-loved morons, the older brother was a real piece of work even before his accelerator poisoning. The vile stuff he had come into contact with at the Dorschstein farm just massively amplified his natural delusional misogynistic carnal aggressions to the point where he made the mistake of coming back later to threaten Kelcy. Smudge had helped her brother to scare Aaron off, but she wasn’t about to let him get away with it. She supposed she had a bit of Ben in her because no one messes with her Kelcy.

  No one.

  As Smudge watched the blood and black mucus drip from the rings of Allen’s cracked mouth she recalled sending Max to take care of Aaron, permanently.

  Barely six months had passed since that day on the beach, but with the distorted brothers writhing on the floor of their cage, and the captivity of this building and all that has happened to land her here, it felt like years to Smudge. She thought maybe Ben wasn’t the only one who had grown up too quickly.

  It also wasn’t lost on her that the very accelerator compound that had made her sensitive enough to realize the horror of these two poor wrecked kids had also twisted their bodies, and killed their parents.

  But this horrible compound has also given Spot and I the tools to ensure those responsible are dealt with, again, Smudge thought, Semion and his crew are going to beg me for a death as quick as Aaron’s.

  She spent a few more minutes with the brothers. They didn’t have any useful information, and Smudge answered Allen’s questions as best she could with nods and gestures before explaining that she had to leave.

  As Smudge got up and walked to the door the Cooper boys sat up and leaned against each other. Allen pressed his round mouth to the edge of the door and slurped, “Bennn, h-h-hello.”

  Smudge nodded, listened at the door for a moment, and slipped out of the dark room as she turned back to white again.

  She crossed the hallway and paused at the lab door to listen. The humming and clicking of the lab’s equipment didn’t appear to include any people sounds, but as she reached for the door handle boot sounds came from behind the double doors at the end of the hall again.

  Smudge moved quickly back to the treatment room and let herself in. She crossed the room and hopped up onto her gurney, turning her coat from white to black as she cocked her head to listen to the hallway. She distinguished six sets of boots walking quickly. Five pairs of the boots made almost no sound on the tile corridor floor. They were followed by one more set of normal sounding boots jogging after them.

  Smudge dropped down onto the gurney and slipped the ends of the broken zip-tie around her neck. She moved her elbow around on the mattress until she felt the lump made by the handle of the hidden scalpel.

  One of the pair of boots stopped outside of the treatment room door and she heard Harley say, “Just going to check on my cousin, I’ll catch up with you in a minute.”

  A moment before Harley walked into the treatment room Smudge looked at the strong Tzeng assassin lying on the bed by the d
oor.

  He was awake, and looking right at her.

  Tian stared as the black dog closed its eyes to slits…the same black dog that had been all white just a few seconds earlier.

  The door swung open and Harley stepped into the room. “Look who’s back among the living,” he said as he put his hand on Tian’s shoulder, “How you feeling, cuz?”

  Tian nodded, and croaked, “Water.”

  “Yeah, okay,” Harley said, looking around, “I’ll have nurse Meg bring some.”

  Tian raised an eyebrow and Harley smiled and said, “Yeah, we’re on a first name basis.” He patted Tian on the shoulder and opened the door to the hallway. He knocked on the corridor wall and called down to the guard’s office, “Hello?...hey babe, yeah, down here…can you have nurse Meg bring some water please? Chop chop, thanks.”

  When Harley leaned back into the room Tian rasped, “Where are they?”

  Harley let the door close and took his cousin’s hand. “Listen, Tian,” he said, “After Katia lit you up with the tranqs there was trouble. The shit turned crazy.” Harley looked around the room. He didn’t see any cameras but he leaned down and whispered in Tian’s ear anyway, “Katia fucked up. The family was ready and they hit us, hard.”

  Harley pulled away and paced at the foot of Tian’s bed.

  He looked down at the row of little monitors and said, “Cousin, it was a fucking mess. We lost them. Boba, Mu, Jixi. They’re gone. It all happened so fast. I’m sorry Tian, I couldn’t protect them…you weren’t there…it was…it was a fucking mess.”

  Harley stared at Tian for a moment, and then kicked the bed. He’d used his hurt foot.

  “Fuck!” Harley yelled as he hopped around in a circle and then sat down hard on the side of the bed. “Tian, you and I are going to kill every last one of them,” he said, “After you’re done tearing their limbs off I’m going to blow a pair of holes through the back of each of their dog-fucking heads.”

  The cousins sat for a while in silence. Harley noticed Tian was looking at the black dog on the gurney, and as he got up from the bed he said, “And then we have this little fucker.”

  Tian watched his cousin walk over to the gurney with a slight limp. Harley pulled his small knife from his belt and used the tip to poke through the little pile of tranq darts next to the dog.

  He said, “Those bastards sent a whole damn pack of dogs after us. They were everywhere… took a piece out of my leg and Katia’s back…and Jixi…our beautiful Jixi…she was…”

  He flicked at the wound on the dog’s back as his voice trailed off.

  He looked up at Tian and said, “But don’t worry, we’re heading out to finish it now and this one won’t have a head by morning.”

  Harley moved the side of the blade up the dog’s body. As it picked up the short black fur Tian watched closely. The hair was indeed a deep black all the way to the roots. He sat up a little as Harley’s knife neared the zip-tie around the dog’s neck.

  Nurse Meg backed into the room with a pitcher of water and paper cups on a tray. She set it down next to Tian, and as she filled a cup she noticed Harley and his knife. She said sternly, “Don’t make a mess over there that I’ll have to clean up, please.”

  Harley gave her a look but slipped the knife back into this belt and walked to the teenage girl’s bed.

  Tian let out his breath, and kept an eye on his cousin as he slowly downed the cup of water.

  “And then we have you, you little bitch,” Harley said, hovering over the girl, “What should we do with you when Semion’s done? Maybe I’ll make your parents watch.”

  A panel on the far wall lit up and beeped, and Katia’s voice came over the speaker, “Harley, the bus is leaving in two and we’re not waiting for you.” The light went out and the speaker clicked and went silent.

  “Isn’t she the most charming woman you’ve ever met?” Harley said, still looking down at Kelcy, “But she’s not without her talents.” As he moved down the bed he trailed his fingers down the girl’s cheek and along the curves of her body.

  Harley stopped at Tian’s bed and said, “Get some rest. I’ll be back in a few hours and we’ll have a nice long chat about our cousins with that entire fucking family.” He kissed Tian on the forehead and gave his shoulder a squeeze before heading out the door.

  Through barely-open eyes Smudge watched Tian slowly drink a few more cups of water as the nurse looked at his monitors and said, “You’re looking good. I’m going to leave the fluids and a little pain killer dripping for another hour or so. Just rest until the anesthetics have been flushed. Drink as much as you like but don’t get up, not even to use the toilet.” The nurse took a small plastic bottle out of a side cabinet and placed it next to him. She said, “If you need to do any other business hit the orange button, here, and I’ll come help you.”

  Tian nodded and the nurse went to check on Kelcy. Tian hadn’t taken his eyes off Smudge and he continued to stare as he took another drink.

  Meg tapped a few places on Kelcy’s monitors and checked her IV. She adjusted Kelcy’s elbow position, moved the zip ties to a different spot on her ankles and wrists, and then she paused.

  The nurse moved aside the sheet under the teen’s hand and looked down at the handle of the scalpel. She shifted her body to block Tian’s view, looked over at Smudge, and pulled the sheet down to cover the scalpel again.

  To no one in particular Meg said curtly, “This one will be ready to talk soon.” She filled a cup of water and placed it on the tray next to Kelcy’s bed, and then she left the room.

  Chapter 57

  “It’s okay Nikki, close the door,” Andi said from the kitchen, “Walkers, Hogans, this is Lieutenant Nikki Alden, and the handsome one there is Sargent Seamus.”

  The tall trooper pushed the apartment door closed and turned the deadbolt as she nodded to the strangers in her kitchen and living room. On her dining room table she saw a shotgun, a big pistol engraved with a dragon, several backpacks, and a row of neatly arranged assault rifles with high tech scopes and high capacity magazines. The lethal collection of assault rifles was hardly legal.

  Nikki noticed a medium-sized black dog standing between a kid and a very large older gentleman with a grey beard and a buzz cut under his tam. He looked like a lumberjack.

  Her huge Doberman police dog crossed the room and walked right up to the dog. That wasn’t overly strange, but the way the dog was rubbing Seamus’s face with its paw was very odd. So was Seamus’ wagging and bending down to nose the dog’s chin submissively. Normally her tough canine was very dominant when meeting new dogs, especially one who had apparently gotten quite comfortable in his house. Seamus reacted similarly to the boy and the big man. They didn’t seem the least bit intimidated by her large Doby, and his little nub of a tail wagged as he sniffed them up and down with uncharacteristic affection and interest. As Seamus licked them like they were old pals the black dog looked up at Nikki, and stared at her.

  “So,” Nikki said as she held the dog’s stare and took off her black leather state trooper’s jacket, “relatives from out of town you failed to mention?”

  “Sorry I couldn’t call you, Nik, Dan’s got a situation that requires a high degree of discretion,” Andi said.

  “Uh huh, so you’re the Dan?” Nikki said, crossing the kitchen to shake his hand while giving him a once over. The state trooper was tall and almost looked him in the eye. “And that means you must be Aila,” she said extending her hand, “I heard your hubby’s become a real bad a—”

  “Come with me,” Andi said to Nikki. She took her by the hand and led her upstairs.

  The family heard a door click shut and Hamish whispered, “Spot, can you hear what they’re saying?”

  Mimi pointed at Spot as he was raising his paw and said, “Don’t you dare.”

  Several minutes later Nikki called down from the top of the stairs, “Could someone let Seamus out? Just open the slider, please.”

  Spot walked to the back door with t
he big Doberman following him. He jumped up, opened his paw to undo the sliding door’s latch and pulled the door open. Both dogs trotted down the deck steps after Spot closed the slider behind them.

  “I will never get used to that,” Comina said from her stool at the peninsula.

  “Aye,” Hamish said, still looking at the top of the stairs, “There’s lots of strange things in this world. Feeling a little foolish, Aila?”

  Mimi smacked him hard on the back of the head and Aila scowled at him. Dan smirked and pretended his glasses needed urgent cleaning.

  A cell phone started to ring.

  Comina held up both of her phones. She had her undercover vet tech phone in one hand, and her FBI phone in the other. It was the FBI phone that was ringing.

  She hit the button and said, “Yes?”

  “I was told to call this number if I couldn’t reach Agent Barton,” a woman said quietly.

  Comina could tell the woman was speaking with her hand cupped over the phone.

  “Yes, this is agent Loyal Comina,” she said as she looked at the green status light on her encryption app, “This is a secure line, how can I help you?”

  “My name is Meg Kingly. I’m a research nurse at Orthus, and I’ve been trying to reach Agent Barton for hours. He’s not picking up. I know it’s late, or early rather, but he’s never not picked up before,” she said.

  Comina could hear the urgency, and worry, in Meg’s voice.

  Meg said, “I wasn’t sure how long to wait, and something’s happened.”

  “It’s okay Meg. We can help you, please go ahead,” Comina said. She snapped her fingers and the family gathered around her as she tapped the speakerphone icon.

  Andi and Nikki came down the stairs, and Mimi waved to them with a finger pressed to her lips. She pointed at Comina’s phone and the two cops quietly joined the circle of people around the agent.