The reporter pictures were much clearer, however, and far more alarming. From their images, it was easy to tell that there were multiple mutants—at least seven of them by his count. They resembled bobcats and were up in the trees as well as on the ground and bared their teeth at the man who held the camera. Their black fur did indicate that they weren't regular bobcats, though, as well as their long tails that ended with what looked like a scorpion's stinger.
"That was one brave reporter," he noted, impressed despite the fact that he thought the man—or woman—was a total idiot. "And this is definitely our kind of case. It doesn't look like these little beauties have dropped too many bodies so the fire and the timeline aside, what's with the rush? Are the rich and famous of Hollywood Hills not fans of having Zoo monsters in their back yard?"
"What tells you they haven't dropped bodies?" Hector asked, his tone marginally scornful.
"For one thing, we'd see fewer firefighters in the area," he explained calmly. "When Zoo critters are in a murdering mood, they don't tend to be picky about who they kill or why, which would include the guys who got close enough for a picture. These don’t look aggressive enough to be killers."
The other two hunters narrowed their eyes at him but Banks merely shrugged.
"The worry is that the fire will drive them out of the woods and into populated areas," she said. "You know how that song and dance goes. Some people die, people panic, and my bosses have a shit-ton of alien egg on their collective faces since it was their job to prevent precisely that. So…yeah, you guys are on a clock here."
"Point taken," Taylor said and looked at the others. "Assuming we have a location to work with…" He waited for the agent to nod in the affirmative. “What say you guys that we get this show on the road?"
"You seem really eager to head into a location where we not only have monsters to deal with but a blazing fire as well," Tanya pointed out.
"I'm eager to get out there and earn a hefty paycheck is what," he replied. "Which…yeah, is the kind of check I'll be looking for in this job. So, why are we wasting time here?"
"A hundred and fifty grand each is the bounty set on this job for all three of you," Banks said.
"Wait, why the hell does this guy get to call the shots?" Hector demanded. "Not to start measuring dicks, but I thought we would have some seniority over the newbie."
"Because I've seen the real thing." Taylor fixed the man with a hard look. "I’ve been out in the real Zoo and dealt with every kind of fun trick that jungle of nightmares has to offer. This is… Well, I don't want to say child's play by comparison, but it sure as fuck ain't the big leagues either."
"Bullshit." The other man laughed. "The chances are this guy lied on his resume to get the job and now wants to look all tough before he goes in there and hides behind the real pros."
Taylor looked at Banks, who raised an eyebrow.
"Do you want to say anything about that?" he asked. "You are the one who read through my allegedly fake resume, so this might be damaging to your reputation."
"I look forward to you being able to prove your worth to this team on your own," she replied with a cheeky grin. "Don't come to me and expect me to fight your battles for you."
"Fair enough."
"Come on, back me up here, Tanya," Hector said.
The woman shook her head. "You're crazy if you think I’ll get anywhere near the splash zone in this particular pissing contest. You two are on your own."
"I can live with that," Taylor said. "Now, unless you want to throw out any other doubts regarding my credentials, why don’t we go and earn ourselves a crap-ton of money?"
"That works for me." Tanya pushed out of the tent, quickly followed by the other three and they moved to where their equipment waited for them. Taylor had been directed to park where he had and as it turned out, all three of them had been made to stop in the same area. It gave them some time to get better acquainted as they prepared for the job they would have to accomplish.
The firefighters looked on curiously and tried to determine exactly what the hell the three newcomers were doing there. The FBI had commandeered one of their tents and they were supposed to cooperate with the feds, at least up until the point where it interfered with their work.
The reality was that each team needed to stay out of each other's way as much as possible and try not to be a distraction.
Tanya, for her part, looked like she took this job seriously and didn't seem to enjoy it very much. The grim expression on her face told Taylor that she was pushing herself into the dark little place she needed to go to in order to be good at this.
She wore some body armor—ceramic plates from the looks of it—that covered most of her torso and thighs and connected via wire with her boots. It looked like the kind of power armor the army had distributed to the troops who weren't expected to head into an alien jungle. It was completed by a helmet and a facemask that lit, which indicated one of the more rudimentary HUDs.
Her weapons consisted of an M5 assault rifle with a small scope and an under-barrel shotgun with two shots. They were effective enough while still purchasable at the average gun store. Well, maybe not in California, but definitely somewhere in Texas. She also carried what looked like a Glock sidearm and a Bowie knife.
For Hector's part, the only armor he had elected to wear was a helmet. It had the same HUD as Tanya's and like her, he also had a gas mask apparatus that was easily removable if he needed to talk without sounding like he was underwater. What he lacked in armor, however, he made up for in weaponry.
His main weapon appeared to be a Callahan Auto-lock assault rifle with a number of modifications, which included laser sights and a grenade launcher under the barrel. He paired that with a couple of Desert Eagles at his hips, along with a lever-action shotgun hung from his back. The belt holding the shotgun in place held a variety of grenades, both those that could be used by the assault rifle and thrown by hand, as well as more ammo than anyone would ever need.
The guy appeared to enjoy spraying and praying with all kinds of prejudice. Taylor merely hoped he had the good sense not to shoot the people he was teamed with.
"A regular Conan the Barbarian," he said aloud. "The Arnie version, anyway."
"Where's your gear, newbie?" the other man asked, although he appeared to enjoy the comparison to the former governor of the state they were currently in. "Or did you forget it? Maybe you left it at home and you need to go fetch it, but you'll be right back?"
"Not really. While I do think of Liz as a kind of home, now that I think about it, but she's not that far away."
He turned, opened the back of the truck, and hauled his crate out with a little mechanical help. Once it was in the open, he started to put the pieces on. The mockery began to fade from Hector's eyes as he watched him don the pieces of a fully functional and battle-hardened mech suit. Taylor couldn’t help a small smirk as he finished off with the helmet and checked the weapons he had on board as he always did.
After a quick word with Banks, she had finally and begrudgingly agreed to give him a license to purchase the rockets that fit into the launcher on his back, as well as the grenades that could be fired from under the barrel. These teamed well with the powerful sidearm at his hip and the machete-sized knife right next to it.
"Tengo que conseguirme uno de esos," Hector whispered under his breath, the lust very clear in his eyes as every syllable was clearly heard through the suit's speakers.
"I should warn you, they don't sell these babies in your average military surplus store," Taylor said but he understood the sentiment behind the man's words. "Although, if you are looking into getting one of your own, give me a call. I know a couple of guys."
Those couple of guys were himself and Bobby Zhang, his partner in business—well, technically his employee but there was no need to belabor the details.
"Like I said," he continued as he moved to where his two new partners stood. "I'm the real deal."
Chapter Five
For possibly the first time, he truly realized how lucky he was that his suit had its own air scrubbers. The closer that they got to the fire, the thicker the air became with the smoke it gave off. He could smell it through the filters, of course, but at least he was able to breathe. The others appeared to manage as well. Their purchase of gas masks had apparently paid off, although they didn't seem overly talkative as they trekked through the tough terrain.
"So," Taylor said in an attempt to break what he felt was an awkward silence. "I have to ask since I don't think I've ever pictured anyone actually choosing this kind of work without being somewhat loose when it comes to the brain screws. Why would the two of you get involved if you didn't spend time in the Zoo, anyway?"
The other two hunters exchanged a glance.
"You know, we still don't believe you were actually in the Zoo," Hector said. "Even with a fancy mech suit like that."
"Yeah, because who wouldn't be able to pick one of these babies up at a police auction?" Taylor asked and let the sarcasm drench his tone.
"True, but they're not impossible to acquire," the other man pointed out. "You have the right connections and the right kind of money, so you could be able to be outfitted for it. Not only that, you look like you were in the military. That's the way to get connections for stuff like that so there’s no reason why you wouldn't be able to get your hands on one of those without having been in the Zoo."
"I guess that makes sense." He shrugged because he could see the man had already made his mind up and there was no point in continuing the discussion with him. "How about you, Tanya? Or will you still not get anywhere near this conversation?"
The woman shrugged and adjusted her grasp on her weapon. "You two can bicker and gripe all you want as long as you get your acts together when it's time to kill beasts. For the record, I don't really care if you went into the Zoo or not. Having that kind of equipment in the field will always be an advantage, even if an untrained ape uses it. You are trained though, right?"
"I wouldn't have been able to walk in this thing if I wasn't. They have a couple of the mech suits in the FBI and hand them out when deemed appropriate. Banks actually needed to be trained to use them. She put herself into a damn wall, she said."
"Oh yeah, she did say tell us that story once," Hector said. "She told me why the FBI didn’t help us with equipment. Basically, you need to be qualified and cleared for the use of anything they give you, and it's not like they hand those courses out."
"And they don't have training camps for this anywhere in the US," Tanya said. "Not unless you join the military, anyway."
"Even then, they're careful to train only those who they know will be equipped with the mech suits," Taylor said. "I needed to be cleared before use and they told me they wanted me to get a degree in engineering with my GI bill if they trained me to use it."
"Give it a rest. We still don't believe you." Hector laughed but it was one of mockery rather than humor.
Tanya looked a little less skeptical but didn't appear to fully believe what he said either. He honestly didn't care what they thought of his credentials since Banks was really the only one he needed to convince, and he moved past it.
"So why do the two of you do this for a living?" he asked. "I can't imagine that it's because of the perks. Unless you guys get dental because I can tell you that I don’t."
"It’s not really about the perks, no," the other man said with a chuckle. "The money's fairly good, so I'll give them that at least, but it's mostly because… Well, who the hell gets to talk about doing this kind of thing for a living, you know? There are numerous dumbasses we need to keep off these kinds of jobs because they want to be a part of history so badly, but we're paid by the government to do it?"
"So, perks then."
"Sure," Tanya replied. "Being able to say you hunt monsters for a living is one hell of a resume booster."
"I got the job at the beginning because the FBI was still trying to learn how to kill the bastards," Hector said. "They weren't sure how to go about it, of course. The beasties they tracked ended up in my backyard and on the business end of my shotgun, so Banks asked if I wanted to get paid to do what I'd done. There was no other answer than yes."
"They actually headhunted me," she said. "I worked as a wildlife consultant in a few universities across the country to help researchers get in and out of dangerous locations without being shat out of your average lion or tiger. Banks was doing some headhunting at the time as the budget for the task force had expanded, and she thought someone who could handle regular animals would know a thing or two about handling alien animals."
"Was she right?" Taylor asked.
"Well, I'm still here, aren't I?" She grinned but it wasn’t entirely one of amusement. He had the feeling it was part of how she handled this.
"I guess. But that means about as much as my claim to be from the Zoo. Talking about how you've been in the task force long enough really doesn't help me establish the kind of talents you have."
"Hey, fuck you," she said.
"Yeah, you guys called me a liar when I told you about my credentials, so don't think I'll give the two of you any benefit of any doubt." He narrowed his eyes to study the hills above them. "So, if we want to find the creatures, I'd say we can work on heading a little to the west and follow the hill line while staying inside the fire."
"Why do you say that?" Hector hefted his weapons. To his credit, for all the weight that he carried, he looked a long way from being winded. Stamina was something Taylor liked to see in the people he headed into the Zoo with—especially those who didn’t go in with guns in hand.
Of course, he wasn't going into the Zoo and Hector seemed like his motivation was to shoot everything he ran into and chew bubblegum. Although he might be all out of bubblegum, from the looks of it.
The woods around them appeared to have not seen any rain for the past five years or so. He wasn’t sure if that was the case, but while the larger trees looked like they had some green to them—possibly from tapping deeper wells of water—everything else looked brown and dry. It seemed like they were ready and waiting for the fire to burn through them. The blaze would move quickly, and their current trajectory guided them directly into the teeth of the flames.
"Why are we moving this way again?" Hector had obviously noticed that their path led them to where the firefighters were guiding the flames away from the nearest population centers. Given how many towns and cities were spread across the whole of the state, Taylor was surprised there were woods available to be burned at all.
That aside, there were enough problems for them to deal with in this area. Diving virtually into the fire was not something he looked forward to, but it felt like it was necessary at this particular juncture.
"We're moving toward where the creatures actually are," he explained. "They don't appear to be attacking the humans and are as afraid of interacting with them as the rest of the wildlife. So they'll do what the other animals will and head away from the fire and this way."
"And you're sure of that how?" Tanya asked.
"I'm not. However, the moment the beasts decide to attack the firefighters, it'll be all over the comm lines and we'll have a specific location we can hurry to. Otherwise, the only place where we'll find anything useful is where all the humans aren't."
"That makes sense," Hector acknowledged. "But don't think having a good idea makes you anything like a pro. It only means you have a brain that works."
"That makes one of us," Taylor said softly.
"What was that?" the man asked, although he’d obviously heard the comment clearly.
"I said we need to keep moving," he said a little louder. "If those monsters decide they are done dealing with the lesser creatures and the humans here, they'll push into the nearby neighborhoods. I don't think modern Hollywood can sustain losing all the stars living in the hills and around Malibu."
"Because keeping the film industry in this area up and running is why we're here," Tan
ya said and rolled her eyes.
"Do you think they would have brought all three of us into this job if there weren't serious political machinations behind it?" he asked and gave them each a hard look. "The people around here have all kinds of leverage on the folks in Washington, so you can bet your muscular asses that the reason why the folks up top have overreacted and are willing to pay through the nose is because calls were made and careers threatened."
"Whatever you say," she replied off-handedly. "We're still on a heading that will take us directly into where the fire is tearing through this place. If my experience dealing with wildfires is in any way accurate, we are about one wrong move away from being encircled by the flames and left with nowhere to go but up. I assume that suit can't fly."
"Not this one, no," he said. "Some of the lighter ones can, though. The light mech suits meant to be more mobile and less for defense in the Zoo do too—or maybe it's more accurate to say they can simply jump really high. I’m not sure that the difference matters. There's only so much fuel that can be carried in these bad boys so they’re not built with that in mind."
"I guess," Hector said. "Are there any that don't need any fuel to jump? I'm thinking like…springs and shit."
"There are people doing interesting work with magnetic coils, if I recall, but that's mostly in the private sector."
"Can we focus?" Tanya snapped. "My point is, if we are trapped in the flames, how the hell will we get out?"
"Well, I should be fine," he pointed out and looked around.
"Even if the suit had fire-retardant capabilities, you'll still have to deal with enough heat to cook you alive in there," she retorted. "The kind of stuff people like to make armor from tends to convect a ton of heat."
"True, but there is padding in there to delay it." He paused as he stepped over a fallen log. "It would buy me enough time to get the hell out of Dodge, maybe with one of you, before the oven gets too hot."
"Which one of us?" Hector asked.
Silent Death (Cryptid Assassin Book 2) Page 4