by Martha Carr
“Shh!” He raised a finger. “Boys?”
“Yeah, that’s her.”
“She needs help,” Luther added. “South?”
“South.”
“Let’s go.” The second Johnny gave the command, both hounds responded with long, baying howls of their own.
“Hang in there, kid!”
“We’re coming!”
They raced down the sidewalk and passed Lisa in a blur of black and tan. Johnny sprinted after them, and the confused agent spun with a scowl of exasperation on her face. “What the hell, Johnny?”
“The girl’s coming from Brooklyn!” he shouted without stopping.
“Shit.” She broke into a run and didn’t bother to ask more questions.
The hounds rocketed through the streets of Tribeca and sniffed the air as they ran.
“No scent of her yet, Johnny.”
“We’ll find her.”
“I know.” His boots pounded down the sidewalk after his dogs.
In typical New York fashion, the other pedestrians making their way down the streets didn’t bother too much to move out of the way, even for two coonhounds and a scowling dwarf in black leather who raced toward them. Johnny skirted the corner of Broadway and Park Row after his dogs and collided with a man carrying a stack of melon crates out of his van before he muttered something and ran on.
“Hey, watch it!” The man gestured in protest and scowled as the melons scattered across the ground around him.
“FBI.” Lisa panted and flashed her badge as she darted around the corner. “Sorry about the mess.”
“What the fuck?” The man looked at the owner of the florist’s shop next to his store and motioned to his spilled supplies. “Do you believe this shit?”
His neighbor shrugged and returned to work.
Johnny and Lisa darted after Rex and Luther, who hadn’t slowed once since they began their race across Tribeca from the hotel. The hounds finally skidded to a stop at the park side of Chambers Street in City Hall Park and sniffed the air.
“Up there, Johnny!”
“On the bridge.”
The dwarf adjusted his sunglasses against the brilliant glare of the sun striking the hoods and roofs of cars heading into Manhattan over the East River. “The bridge.”
Lisa stopped beside him and took a moment to catch her breath. “Johnny, she can’t be on the bridge. We’d see a pileup. Or at the very least, far more horns honking than usual.”
“She’s here.” He scanned the racing traffic.
“Not on the road, Johnny.” Luther sat and lifted his head, trying to point. “Higher.”
“Higher?” The dwarf looked at the pedestrian walkway above the Brooklyn Bridge and scanned the thin crowd of people who walked slowly along it.
“There!” Lisa pointed at the top of the walkway as a tiny gray dot crested the highest point and barreled down the other side. A larger black dot followed, then a whole line of magicals who launched spells down the bridge toward the wolf. “She shifted.”
“And she escaped. Good girl.” He broke into a sprint toward the tunnel and staircase entrance to the pedestrian walkway off the park, his hounds loping at his sides.
“Here we go.” Lisa took a deep breath and increased her pace to join them.
Rex and Luther bayed again and ran ahead of him. “We got it, Johnny!”
He retrieved another exploding disk from his belt with one hand and whipped his knife out with the other. A young couple pushing their baby in a stroller backed against the metal gates lining the walkway as the armed dwarf approached.
“Hey, man. We don’t want any trouble.”
“Yeah, me neither.” He nodded at them as he raced past, and the couple stared after him in disbelief.
Amanda darted around two more unsuspecting joggers who shouted and stumbled against the metal sides. The black wolf snarled and surged after her to tackle her and drive her off her feet. She let out a sharp yelp and writhed beneath his paws, twisting and bucking.
“That’a boy, Lenny!” a Boneblade member shouted. “Hold her down so we can—what the fuck?”
Rex and Luther both launched themselves at the black wolf, and all three of them tumbled across the walkway toward the oncoming thugs, snapping and snarling.
“Who the hell lets their dogs off a leash?” a bald dwarf shouted and leveled his gun at the scrambling, twisting mass of hound and wolf in an effort to find a good shot.
“I do.” Johnny launched his explosive disk as the other dwarf looked at him in surprise. The disk sailed over the bridge toward the unsuspecting Boneblade members who ran forward. It detonated a foot over their heads. Pellets of electrocuting mini-bombs caught five of the thugs, who jerked and bucked beneath the charge and fell to their knees. The pedestrians on the walkway screamed and evaded the explosion, raced away in the direction from which they’d come, and hauled their friends with them.
“Who’s the goddamn dwarf?” a wizard shouted.
“It doesn’t matter.” The huge half-Kilomea spat through his unruly beard and oversized canines. “Kill him and catch the girl!”
Lisa drew her weapon, stopped four feet away from Johnny, and aimed at the oncoming gang members with both hands firmly around her weapon. “FBI! Freeze!”
A leering witch hurled a churning fireball at the agent. Johnny caught her arm and jerked her toward him and out of the way. “They don’t care.”
She clenched her teeth and rolled her shoulders. “Yeah, they don’t care.”
In response, she hurled a fireball at the bald dwarf, who ducked and would have caught fire if he’d had any hair. The Boneblade members behind him dodged her airborne attack and surged forward.
Johnny pushed on, dodged spells, and itched to get close enough to the thugs to inflict real damage. He passed the small gray wolf who now crouched close to the walkway and jerked his head toward the Manhattan side of the bridge. “Go on, kid. We’ll handle this.”
Amanda growled, stared at him, and recoiled in surprise when Lisa darted past her on the other side. She launched herself up the last incline of the bridge and entered the battle with them.
The dwarf dropped and slid boots-first beneath a wizard’s magical net that hurtled toward him. The magical sneered until he realized he hadn’t captured the dwarf. When he looked down, Johnny’s fist powered toward the underside of his jaw.
His next attack was released too late, and his spell erupted high above the Brooklyn Bridge as his feet lifted two inches off the sidewalk. He fell heavily, cracked his head sharply against the cement, and didn’t move.
The half-Kilomea bulldozed forward and swung a huge fist studded with sharp thorns at the dwarf’s head. The bounty hunter ducked and lifted his knife to slash at his adversary’s fist. The blade stuck in the massive attacker’s thick skin and jerked him forward before the handle was ripped out of his grasp.
They both stopped to stare at the blade embedded in the huge thug’s fist, and the half-Kilomea uttered a deep chuckle.
“Right.” Johnny glanced at the magical and inclined his head to study him. “I’ll stick to blowing the huge fuckers like you up.”
The thug reared and delivered a swift kick to his chest.
The dwarf grunted as he catapulted down the walkway and skidded on his ass with a grimace. “Shit.”
Amanda’s gray form streaked toward the witch. The young shifter vaulted at the woman’s chest before she could unleash another spell and thrust her off her feet. A strangled shriek rose and ended in a gurgle before the wolf darted toward the other magicals who tried to capture her and fight her rescuers off.
The girl can fight. Okay.
Johnny pushed to his feet and yanked out a handful of his tiny explosive as the half-Kilomea lumbered toward him again and ripped the dwarf’s knife out of his fist before he flung it on the ground.
He sighed. “Come on. Not even a little blood? Thick-skinned bastards.”
Scowling, he crushed the tops of the large beads in
each hand and felt the sticky coating ooze around his fingers as the explosives activated. He gestured at the half-Kilomea and smirked. “Do you want some?”
This time, he moved faster than the hulking magical, ducked under one massive sweeping fist after the other, and spun to stick an explosive bead on each of the thug’s huge hands. He powered his fist into his adversary’s gut and attached two more explosives there while he was at it. Grinning, he darted around the massive form and stuck two more on the backs of the thug’s knees before he lobbed the other two at the broad back.
The bearded half-Kilomea whirled as quickly as possible for a guy his size and opened both hands like he meant to clap them against the sides of his opponent’s head. With a smirk, the dwarf twisted and raced away from the giant magical, whose booming laughter followed him. “Aw, look at the scared little dwarf.”
“Little?” He turned halfway and flipped his opponent the middle finger. “I almost felt bad for you. Not anymore.”
The huge thug strode after him with a sneer. The bounty hunter ducked a globular maroon blood-spell unleashed from another magical’s outstretched hands and ran toward the wizard instead before he could ready another attack. He swung a fist into his gut and knocked the wind out of him, then twirled and grasped the back of the man’s jacket to use him as a magical shield.
His explosive beads detonated. The half-Kilomea lurched forward when the backs of his knees shattered with the explosion, followed quickly by the blast that ignited on his chest. It flung him back over his splintered legs, and the explosives on his hands detonated and sent thorn-covered fingers in every direction but mostly onto the wizard the dwarf held in front of him.
The large warrior roared and fell unconscious on the walkway.
Johnny poked his head out from behind the blood-splattered wizard who stared in wide-eyed shock at his fellow gang member. “Hey, look at that. He does bleed.”
The man jerked away from him and yanked a pistol from the waistband of his pants. The dwarf snatched it out of his adversary’s hands in one quick swipe, pounded the wizard on the side of the head with the weapon, and jammed his elbow into the guy’s back as he fell. “Stay.”
Lisa launched a fireball at a second witch, who returned fire with an equally strong fire spell. The agent lunged out of the way before the witch’s attack arced over the side of the bridge and she raised her gun at the woman. “Hands up or I’ll shoot!”
Her would-be assailant laughed and raised both hands into the air. Bolts of black lightning surged from her outstretched fingers and impacted with the walkway below, leaving huge divots in the cement.
“You had fair warning.” Before the witch could retaliate with another spell, Lisa put a bullet in her chest and spun to aim at the second Boneblade dwarf who ran toward her with Johnny’s knife. “That doesn’t belong to you. Drop it.”
He drew his arm back to throw the blade but she squeezed off a shot into his knee and he dropped with a scream. She stepped toward him and shoved him back with a kick to the chest. When she stamped on his forearm, the dwarf released the knife with a shriek.
Johnny darted toward them and stooped to pick his blade up before he delivered a swift kick to the other dwarf’s head. “Good one.”
He pushed into a sprint and past her to thrust his knife at a wizard who conjured a blade of sizzling yellow sparks.
Amanda darted from one Boneblade member to the next while they attempted to capture her. She snarled and snapped at their heels and occasionally savaged their pants and the legs beneath them.
A gnome with an electric cattle prod surged toward her. Rex jumped on him, flung him back, and buried his teeth in the magical’s shoulder. “Get outta here, kid.”
Luther skidded back and thunked against the metal half-wall on the side of the walkway. “This is us rescuing you. Get down the bridge.” He snarled and leapt at the wizard who’d hurled him aside.
The black wolf they’d momentarily taken out of the game rose from a heap on the opposite side of the walkway and shook himself. He immediately ran toward Amanda as she attacked a gnome and caught her back leg in his jaws.
She yelped when he jerked her back and swung her against the metal barrier. The small gray wolf fell on the cement and shifted slowly into her human form, knocked unconscious.
The black wolf stalked toward her and snarled.
“Hey!” Lisa aimed her firearm at him. “You’re not taking her, asshole.”
He snapped at her and raced forward.
She fired one shot that grazed him in the shoulder when he dodged. With only a short yelp, he ignored the near-miss and gained speed and his large paws thumped on the cement.
“I would much rather arrest you,” she muttered. “Fuck it.” When she pulled the trigger again, the chamber was empty.
“Shit.” Lisa fumbled with her jacket pocket and tried to access the extra magazine, but the wolf was almost on her. She shoved her hand out to hurl a fireball instead, but her attacker swatted her aside before she could summon the spell.
The agent impacted with the metal sidewall, her head clanged against the mesh, and her eyes rolled back in her head. The next thing she felt was the shifter’s hot, metallic-scented breath rippling across her face. She groaned and tried to focus on anything but the blurry black shadow that loomed over her. This is it. These guys don’t take prisoners.
A low snarl rose behind the wolf before the black beast was driven into the wall above her sprawled legs. The enemy howled in rage when Rex clamped on a huge mouthful of his shaggy fur and the flesh beneath. His brother got a full mouthful of shifter ankle and pulled fiercely as the wolf tried to turn and fight them. Luther leapt onto the wolf’s back and snarled as he savaged the shifter’s ears and neck.
Rex darted toward Lisa and examined her quickly before he licked her face.
“Thanks, buddy. I’m good. I’ll be fine.”
With a low whine, the hound darted away again to join his brother in overcoming the black wolf.
Lisa steadied herself with a hand on the metal half-wall and pushed to her feet. I gotta check for concussions after this. And get a jacket with better pockets.
She ejected the empty magazine, retrieved the new one, and thrust it in before she staggered up the walkway to aim at the magical thugs who continued to fight Johnny and his hounds. Almost half of them lay dead on the pedestrian walkway, and the other half walked backward up the bridge, defending the wizard with an unconscious Amanda draped over his shoulder and covered by another goon’s oversized jacket.
“Dammit!” The dwarf raced after them and dodged the spells they hurled at him to keep him back. “I knew I should’ve brought a rifle.”
“I’m on it.” Finally regaining her balance, Lisa ran past him and aimed at the retreating Boneblade members.
The black wolf disengaged from Rex and Luther and hurdled over her head. He landed with a snarl and bounded up the bridge after the rest of his thug buddies.
“Stop!” she shouted and took a shot at the back of the wizard who carried Amanda. Rex and Luther raced past her after the wolf.
The retreating gnome stretched his hand out and raised a glittering magical shield that flashed bright yellow when her bullet bounced harmlessly against it. He cackled and reached into his jacket pocket. “Fuck you!”
As the rest of the gang members headed down the other side of the bridge toward Brooklyn, the gnome lobbed an enhanced magical grenade at the two hounds. The metal canister bounced once on the walkway and rolled toward them before it spun wildly. Both dogs skidded across the cement as they tried to pull up short and avoid the detonating device.
“Shit.” Lisa lowered her gun and extended both hands as the magical grenade exploded.
Rex yelped and fell on his side in his scramble to escape.
“Johnny!” Luther shouted. “We’re gonna die! We’re gonna— Wait, what?”
Lisa’s massive energy shield pulsed around the grenade’s intended destruction. The stream of bright golden l
ight streaked from her hands to fuel the shimmering wall that surged across the walkway and lifted high between the explosion and the hounds. She shouted at the effort and gritted her teeth as her hands shook.
Johnny emitted a shrill whistle, and both dogs spun away from the golden wall of light to lope to their master’s side.
Come on… Lisa’s hands burned with the intensity of her magic but she ignored it and pressed on the wall of light and the deadly explosion that blossomed beneath it. Her shield shrank, folded in on the eruption, and she couldn’t hold it any longer. With a gasp, she stumbled forward and her spell snuffed out.
Dozens of metal shards from the grenade scattered onto the walkway and lay still. Smoke rose from the blackened edges.
She closed her eyes and staggered sideways. “I got it…”
“Yeah, you did.” Johnny stopped beside her and held her pistol out. “Here.”
“Thanks.” She took it with a frown and turned to look at Rex and Luther as she holstered her weapon. “Are the dogs okay?”
“Hell yeah, we’re okay!” Luther trotted toward them, his tail wagging. “That was awesome.”
“I’d be happier if we had the girl,” Rex added. “But I guess I’m cool with not being blown up.”
The dwarf snorted. “They’re good.”
Lisa nodded. “I wish I could say the same for Amanda. She got so far and we almost had her.”
“Yep.” Johnny rubbed his mouth and sniffed. “They’re not gonna take their eyes off her for two seconds after this.”
“You can say that again. Not now that they know she’s a shifter.”
He closed his blade and returned it to his belt. “I fucking hate it when someone else brings a bomb.”
She responded with a wry laugh and turned slowly toward him. “You’re welcome, by the way.”
“Yeah, that was good. Impressive.” He hooked his thumbs through his belt loops and turned to look at his hounds, who sat obediently and waited for him. “You could have shielded yourself and probably caught up with those bastards, but you didn’t.”
“I know.” Lisa ran a hand through her hair and nodded at the hounds. “Rex and Luther could have stopped the wizard scooping Amanda off the ground, but they didn’t.”