by Ben Zackheim
I gave her a look.
“Okay, okay. Should make for a fast death.”
“That’s the spirit,” I said. “Now give me your gun.”
I could understand her hesitation. The bikers revved their engines again. They were getting ready to ride at us. I kept my hand outstretched, waiting. She handed her weapon over and I slid it into an open holster. I held onto the Glocks tight.
The bikes started coming at us. The screeching tires and engines were deafening. I hopped on the back of Scarlett’s bike.
“Go,” I said. She popped a wheelie, by accident I think, and managed to pull off a pretty straight line. Until they started firing at us.
“Shit!” she yelled.
“No, I think they’re bullets,” I said, firing back. My first shot hit the front biker. His handgun flew from his hand and bounced off the wall of fire. I noticed one of the rear bikers was gearing up to shoot something much bigger at us.
I needed to take him out.
But there wasn’t a clear shot. Too many bikers were in front of him. He was a couple of seconds away from getting a peg on us, so I did what any pool player would do.
I shot at the wall.
The bullet banked perfectly right into the helmet of the back biker. His ride skidded across the pavement and slammed into one of his buddies. The jammed wheels exploded off the bike and knocked over another rider who flew into the wall and burst into flame on contact.
A missile shot straight into the blue sky. He’d had big plans for us.
“Shiiiit,” Scarlett said, as she watched the smoke trail spread over our heads.
“Don’t touch the walls,” I yelled in Scarlett’s ear.
“Thanks for the tip!”
Scarlett was veering left and right to make us a tough target to hit, but the blanket of bullets was getting thicker and it was about to find the sweet spot. I raised both Glocks and laid my elbows on Scarlett’s shoulders to steady them.
“Stop jerking around!” I yelled. “Just keep it straight!” She finally did what I told her without turning it into a discussion.
I had one chance to get this right. There were seven left. I aimed for the gas tanks of the front two bikes.
Two shots. Two booms.
Chunks of the machines shot in every direction. Chunks of bikers, too. That was five assholes down in two shots.
Two guys shouldn’t be tough. But I got cocky. I didn’t see the flaming tire spoke that was arching toward us. It bounced off our front wheel.
Scarlett grunted and her left shoulder jerked back.
“Dammit!” she yelled. She’d been shot. I took the handlebar on the left side but managed to keep a grip on my gun.
“Keep it straight and when I say go, let go of the handlebar.”
“You like giving orders!”
I had to trust that she’d actually listen to me. I could hear and feel the bullets whizzing past our heads. I’d done it plenty of times before, but it was usually only me on the bike. I didn’t know how well I could pull this off with someone else driving.
“Let go!” I yelled. She released the handlebar and I pulled it right. I got off two shots with my left hand.
And I reached past the screaming Scarlett to squeeze the brake.
Our bike slid to the side. We both instinctively lifted our legs so they wouldn’t be crushed. We scraped across the pavement, backwards at first and then we started spinning like a top. The two remaining guys passed us at 60mph. They’d have to slow down, turn around and reach us again.
That gave me about five seconds.
I shook my head. The two bikers looked like six guys. I was seeing triple. I had to guess which ones were the right ones to shoot.
They both slowed and lifted their own guns. They aimed it at me. They had a damn good bead on me.
I fired.
They fired.
My chest burned and I was thrown back. I was sliding on the pavement again. The Gods of Throwing People Around were enjoying themselves that night.
I managed to look up and see Scarlett running for me. The two bikers were down and out.
We did it.
Then I saw the lineup of ten new motorcycles at the top of the hill.
Same outfits. Same bikes.
“Oh, well,” I said before I passed out.
Chapter 41
I woke up to Skyler’s wrinkled face sagging over me.
He wore a leather vest with turquoise buttons. His tan face, white hair and big nose made him look like a Santa elf on vacation at a dude ranch.
At first I thought it was a nightmare but then he smiled, knelt down next to me and said, “You look like shit, kid.”
I smelled his breath, that cross between decades of pipe smoking, complete lack of dental hygiene and coffee. It can bring a dead man back to life. I assumed it just had because I felt like the dead come back to life.
And I wanted to be dead again.
“I feel like your kidneys,” I said to Skyler.
He laughed. “That’s not a good place to be. You’ve been out cold all day. I was getting worried until I remembered that I don’t really like you much.”
“Rebel is dead,” I said.
“I know, kid. I’m sorry about that.”
“And your vampire buddy ditched us.”
“Scarlett told me. I hope he shows up before we reach the end because we’re going to need him.”
“Why do we need him?”
“Oh, no reason.”
I wasn’t going to play games with him. I wasn’t in the mood. “What happened?” I asked, trying to sit up and thinking better of it.
“I saved your ass, as usual. You had three more groups of ten bikers waiting over the hill there. They were just going to line up and keep on coming until you were overwhelmed. You didn’t do too bad but I kicked their asses.”
I looked at Scarlett for verification. She nodded. “It was awesome, actually,” she said.
Scarlett helped me sit up while Skyler looked on, not raising a finger. The top of her arm and shoulder were wrapped good and tight.
“You okay?” I asked her.
“Better than you.”
Carnage. I was surrounded by carnage. All around me were body parts blanketed by bits of black leather.
My best guess from the evidence was that they’d been blown to smithereens by a very powerful missile.
“Blew them up with a missile,” Skyler said. His eyes were misty and his voice suddenly got soft. He missed the moment already. He loved killing.
“What are you doing here, Skyler? We were supposed to meet at the mountain. You were going to team up with Belch and do some thinking.”
“I did! Lots of thinking. Well, lots of peyote. But I’m all done with that for the year. Few years maybe. Have to regrow some brain cells from the feel of it.” He shook his head as if he were testing how many brain cells he had left.
I rubbed my face, exhausted. “And what did you get out of it?”
“That’s for me to know and for you to find out.”
“Jesus. Fine. Help me up.”
Scarlett lifted me to my feet. Her hands felt good on my back and shoulders and it occurred to me that she…
“What?” she asked. I guess I was staring.
“What, what?” I said, trying lamely to cover up my interest.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Oh, uh. Just that… Your hands feel good.”
“Keep it in your pants, kid,” Skyler barked through a fat smirk. “You can knock rocks when the sword is safe.”
I ignored him. “Are you a healer?”
Scarlett smiled. For a split second I felt bad about the way I’d treated her.
“What the hell are you waiting for?” I asked, continuing my streak of being an asshole. “Hurry up and heal me.”
The smile dropped from her face and I felt bad again. I stared straight ahead, hoping the feeling would pass. But as the energy from her hands moved through my bod
y and made everything feel new I let out several moans of relief. There may have been a little pleasure in there, too. I tried to cover it up with a lame cough. It wasn’t fooling her at all. I spotted her smirk a few times.
Skyler watched us like we were a porn movie.
“What the fuck are you looking at, you old coot?” I yelled.
“Aw, don’t stop! Hot stuff! Hot stuff!” he yelled, delighted. “Yer such a mood-breaker, Kane.”
I walked past him, making sure he had to back up to avoid getting run over. I found Rebel’s bike. Or what was left of it. It had been blown into two big pieces. Charred and pitiful pieces.
“Sorry, Rebel,” I muttered.
I scoped out the road for a working ride and spotted an intact motorcycle. I propped it up and marveled at the tech on the Honda Fireblade. It was super light with the works. It had a steering damper and a Power Commander to refine its handling. That thing was top-of-the-line, ahead of its time.
“This is mine,” I said to Skyler and Scarlett.
“Knock yourself out,” Skyler said, shrugging. He put his helmet on and hopped on his bike, a Harley VRSCSE2. Rebel’s favorite machine. How the hell he got that into Tibet was beyond me, but Skyler always had his ways of making magic happen. Even retail magic.
We slowly weaved our way through the carcasses.
“Where’s all the traffic?” Scarlett asked.
Slyer shook his finger in a northerly direction. “It’s being rerouted up at G318.”
“So someone cleared the roads to take us out?”
Skyler belted out a laugh-like thing. Part scorn, part arrogant. “Guess who!”
“But why would he try to stop us now,” I asked, knowing that Skyler wouldn’t tell me even if he knew the answer. “He knows if I die, the sword goes away forever.”
“He’s just testing your skills,” Skyler mused.
“Testing you, too.”
“Oh, no. He knows better than to test me by now, kid. He hit you while I was away because you were vulnerable. I’m not saying you couldn’t handle it yourself but… Wait a second that’s exactly what I’m saying.”
When we reached the end of Chunks of Dead Guys Alley we lined up side-by-side and revved our engines.
“Two hours to go,” I said. “How will we avoid the road block? I don’t want us followed by the police.”
“We don’t have two hours to ride,” Skyler said, smirking.
“What do you mean?” Scarlett asked. “You told us the entry was at Namcha Barwa.”
“I lied! Can you believe it? Nah, the entrance is somewhere over there in the base of Sangzhudengcun’s mountain. I just told you it was at Namcha Barwa so no one would know the real location if you were captured.”
“You think we’d tell anyone what we’re doing?” I asked.
“Not willingly, but last I checked you didn’t have top-notch psychic armor, kid.” He was right, of course, but I didn’t like hearing it coming from him. That honor was usually Rebel’s for the taking.
Skyler pointed to a hill, silhouetted by the setting sun. “I was waiting on that hill for you to pass by. I saw the fire wall go up. I guess they know where the entrance is because they were protecting the crap out of the whole area. Never seen such a defense for the road that leads to the path that leads to the door that leads to the path that leads to the final destination.”
I let out a sigh for the ages. “So we have a few more traps to trip.”
“And much more Cannon fodder,” he said, laughing at his own pun.
Chapter 42
It only took fifteen minutes on a back road to get to our final destination. We rolled onto a small field near the base of the mountain and pushed our bikes into an alcove of boulders.
The mountain seemed to surge from the ground in front of us as if a cranky old god got pissed and vented with some violent landscaping. The cliffs immediately above our heads were a hundred feet up and they layered the mountain all the way up to the sky. Low-hanging clouds blanketed the top. I felt like stone eyes studied us, watching to see if we were a threat. For a second, I feared that the mountain was working for Cannon too. It was a crazy idea, but it didn’t seem so far-fetched.
I caught Scarlett looking straight up. The expression on her face told me she was thinking something similar.
“Where to, then?” I asked.
Skyler walked along the base of the mountain, his hands running across the stone. His cane click-clacked on the ground. He was quiet for a while. But then, under his breath, he started to mumble. He was either recollecting what he knew about our next step, or he was casting a spell.
We followed him for a few hours. His steady pace was enough to wind me, though he never slowed down or showed any sign of exhaustion. I was about to recommend a break when Skyler let out a slightly louder mumble. He picked up the pace and trudged up a massive boulder. When we caught up, he stood at the bottom of a narrow path carved into the mountainside.
“Found it!” he said, with a big grin.
The path wove upward at a steady, manageable slope. Scarlett and I watched the old man begin the ascent, glanced at each other, and let out a couple of sighs.
After an hour of being surrounded by rock walls we reached a clearing with a small brook. A tiny waterfall fell pleasantly from a crack in the stone above us.
“Don’t let your guard down,” I told Scarlett. “When things get pretty on the surface that means something could be ready to kill you from underneath.”
“You must lead a happy life, Kane,” she said, smiling. I shrugged.
The old man sat against a boulder and took a swig of water from his leather pouch. Or at least I assumed it was water. Until I smelled the stench of cheap booze wafting downwind.
“Jesus, Skyler. Is that recycled rum?”
“Give me some,” Scarlett said. She took a sip and her eyes watered. Skyler smiled and then winked at me.
“Bullet wound?” she asked, patting her shoulder where she was shot. “What bullet wound?”
She and Skyler belted out a laugh.
“I like her,” Skyler said, all teeth and bright eyes.
“You take care of her then,” I said. “She’s never been in a fight.”
“I have now, thank you very much,” Scarlett said. “And I did good!”
Skyer winked at her in that special skin-crawly way he had. “I’d take care of her any day.”
“I can take care of myself,” Scarlett said, rubbing her wounded shoulder. The impressive thing was that she didn’t have any anger in her voice. It made me think that, yeah, maybe she could take care of herself. She’d done well so far. I was the one who got knocked out and injured on the road, so she’d come in handy for more than her healing powers. I hoped so because healers were usually the first ones to bite it on missions like this one. They’re like pitchers in baseball. They can deliver the goods but can’t hit for shit.
“Unless there are snakes,” Scarlett added. “I hate snakes. If there are snakes then the two of you can, like, make a wall of masculinity around me.”
I noticed Skyler just nodded his head, eyes wide. The fact he didn’t have anything half-clever to say meant he wasn’t sure how to deal with her comment. After a moment of silence, Skyler sighed deeply and said,” I have no idea where it is.”
“Where what is?” I asked. “A door?”
“No, a deli. Yes, a door!”
“Why don’t you know where it is? You’re supposed to be the one who knows where we’re going!”
“Well, I don’t.”
“Will you two keep it down, please?” Scarlett whispered with a hiss in her tone. “We need to keep a low profile with, you know, the most powerful man on the planet after us.”
Skyler waved his cane at her. “Bah, he’s not after us. He’s waiting for us.”
“What do you mean?” she asked. The innocence in her voice made Skyler back off his usual snarky response.
“I mean that Cannon knows where we’re delivering th
e sword. He’s known for years. But he can’t do anything with that knowledge, except wait for the sword to show up.”
The fury in me that boiled under every moment rose fast. “Then why kill Rebel? Why chase us through L.A. and Hong Kong and China?”
Skyler pointed his cane at me. “Like I said, boy. He wants to test you. He probably sees you as a potential soldier. And the…”
He stopped.
“What?”
He shrugged. “What, what?”
“You were going to say something just then,” I yelled.
“No I wasn’t,” he shot back, shaking his head.
“Yeah, you were,” Scarlett jumped in. “You said, ‘And the’ I think.”
He sighed. “Fine. It’s also likely that Cannon is afraid of the person we’re taking the sword to.”
“And that’s who, exactly?” I asked.
“Santa Claus,” Skyler said.
“Are you planning on sharing things we need to know so that we can survive this fucking expedition, old man?”
“No, not really.” He turned to Scarlett who was watching us talk like we were playing a tennis match. “So, sweety, we don’t need to worry about Cannon. However you’re right that we do need to keep the volume low. Let your boyfriend over here know that he won’t be getting any special healing later if he doesn’t pipe down and let me think.”
I balled up my fists and held my tongue. I didn’t want to get into it with him, so I got some distance between us. I walked up a mossy glen and felt the wall with my fingertips. I was looking for clues on the surface and, as usual, the answer was right underneath me.
My foot hit something metal.
It opened and I fell in. I hit the floor hard and heard a snap.
“Ah-ha!” Skyler hollered with delight from above me. “There it is!”
Chapter 43
The steel door over my head broke off its hinges and almost landed on my head. It was sheer luck that I dodged a beaning that would have ended the party for me.
“Be careful down there!” Skyler yelled down.
“Thanks, asshole!”
The space was tight and barely lit by the rising sun. I pulled a pen light out of my jacket. I was standing in front of a crack in the wall, about ten feet high. It was a tunnel.