06 Showdown at the Blue Bronco
He had anticipated that. She appeared to be right handed but she tucked the pistol into her waistband with her left. Another point of fact: she had no problem using the gun left-handed. Possibly ambidextrous?
Adam slowly lifted his hands. His phone buzzed and texts began scrolling across his contacts.
She pulled a gun. Charlie, do you have a shot.
Negative, Alpha. No clear shot. Moving now.
His team had the Grill surrounded. One would be in a sniper position and two would be closer to the building, ready for an assault. Charlie might take the shot if they truly thought his life was in danger. He wasn’t ready for that. Adam touched his left ring finger to his thumb. He tried to make it subtle but he had to make it distinct enough that Alpha could see it from a distance through a scope.
Charlie, Alpha, we have a stand-by signal. Continue your movement.
Roger, Alpha.
“Not going to lie,” Adam began. “I was hoping we were a little past this. You could have let the soul sucking fireflies have me and there would have been less of a mess to clean up.”
“Yeah, well, our little situation is fluid, isn’t it and you’ll just have to forgive me if I have some trust issues.” she snarled.
“I understand,” he said.
“Do you,” she snapped, pushing the barrel into his temple. “Do you really?”
“Yeah,” Adam said. “I think I do.”
Ophilia pulled the pistol back slightly.
“From what I’ve gathered,” he said “You woke up with amnesia a few years ago and you had to survive. You chose to lay low but you’ve met some interesting people and, for reasons that are your own, you have chosen to be responsible for them. But the Asylum goes to auction next month. So you ran a short term scam with your hacker friend to get the cash.”
Charlie is in position and has the shot.
Adam shifted slightly and slowly as though he wanted to turn to her but she resisted. It was enough of a distraction that he could repeat the stand-by signal.
Charlie, Alpha, the signal is stand-by.
Copy, the signal is stand-by.
“But then I came along. And this night has been a bit of a roller coaster to say the least. I’ve learned a lot. I need to learn more. And it turns out that we know some of the same people. There is a very good chance that our goals somewhat align. So let me say this: I can help you. And I think that you can help me.”
The pressure on the gun wavered slightly. He had a card to play but, in her current state of mind, it could go either way. But if it went his way, it would be a very powerful play.
He took a deep breath. “I’m telling you, you don’t have to do this by yourself any more.”
Ophelia sucked air through her teeth as she pulled the pistol back to a low ready position. Adam kept his hands up.
“Save the girl,” he said. “I’ll come over in the morning. We can talk deals. I’ll bring donuts.”
Ophelia let out a snort and a laugh. “Yeah, you do that.”
Movement south. Northbound. SUV.
“They’re here,” he said. He heard her click the safety on and tuck the pistol away.
“Shit,” she muttered. “I forgot about your team.”
Adam’s hands were still up. “I assume you're not going to shoot me?”
“Not tonight,” she said as she slipped into the floorboard. “Get your head down.”
He fell over as headlights lit up the cab of the truck. “They won’t be suspicious of this thing?”
“The truck? It’s painted black for a reason,” Ophelia said. “And there is a charm on it that sort of cloaks it. It’s not strong but it works.”
“A charm?”
Ophelia stared at him. The hues of the flickering street lights and the passing headlights left her in strange shadows with her moist eyes highlighted. “I sometimes do things for . . . people and I usually get paid in favors,” she said. “It’s why I don’t have money for things like taxes.”
Adam nodded.
The SUV slid past.
“Your team has eyes on the Grill?” Ophelia asked.
Adam nodded again.
“Let the vampires go inside,” she said. “I want them all together.”
Adam pulled out his phone and started texting.
Roger, Boss. SUV is secure on the south side of building. Count three adults. One child. Female. Estimate ten to twelve years of age. Charlie, do you need to move?
Negative, Alpha. I have coverage. Thermal shows the girl but the adults show dark to light blue. I cannot see anything in the building. Repeat, building is dark.
Copy, Charlie.
They have entered the building through the kitchen door.
Adam looked at Ophelia. “They’re in.”
Ophelia nodded and opened the passenger's side door and slinked out. He heard her jump onto the flatbed of the truck. He eased himself out, watching for signs of traffic. The streets were empty and dead. Most of the surrounding properties appeared to be zoned commercial and in transition so utilities and street lights were unreliable. Still he would have to tamp down any emergency services unless she worked fast.
Ophelia pulled the jerry cans from where they had been secured close to the cab and set them along the edge of the bed. Two green and one red. She dropped down beside him and stepped up on the running board to retrieve a gallon of bleach from behind the seat. She set it beside the green jerry cans. Another step into the truck and she had her shotgun.
“Okay,” she said. “This should go quick. When we come back, there may be blood. She pointed at the green jerry cans. “That’s water. We wash off, dump the bleach and then run.”
Adam nodded. “Do you have a signal in case you need some back-up?”
She rested the shotgun on her shoulder and cocked her head. “I’ve never had back-up. I wouldn’t know what to do with it.” She reached up for the red jerry can. “Tell your team that I will enter through the kitchen door and come out the front. There will be a fire at some point. I’m assuming they have the latest night vision tech?”
“I’ll warn them,” Adam said. “And I’ll divert emergency services for as long as I can.”
Ophelia smiled. “You are handy, Adam Trajan.” She turned and walked toward the Grill, shotgun barely counter-balancing the jerry can.
“Get vocal,” Adam said and his implant buzzed.
“Alpha here.”
“Bravo here.”
“Charlie here.”
“Alpha, Bravo, I’m assuming you will have a better vantage point than me. Record everything and upload to the griffen server and then wipe storage. I’m not ready for anyone to know about this yet.”
“Roger. Do you want a feed?”
“Sure.”
Two windows opened on the left side of his field of vision, two different views of the Grill in high resolution night vision. He watched Ophelia set the jerry can at the edge of the street and then approach the side kitchen door from his point of view and then she appeared in Alpha’s frame.
“Commentary and observations are welcome,” Adam said. They were closer and he was going to miss something.
“What’s with the lights,” Alpha whispered. “Along her arms and on her face?”
Adam cringed. He wasn’t sure he wanted the team to know details yet. But it was unavoidable and what was done was done. “I don’t know yet,” He replied. “It has something to do with her strength and speed.”
Bravo’s point of view showed the front of the grill so he couldn’t see much at the moment.
“She’s checking the door,” Alpha said. “Moving like a pro. Checking the frame. Testing the knob . . . knob turns. Must be deadbolted.”
Ophelia straightened up and checked the street and the alley one more time. She took a breath and put the muzzle of the shotgun to the doorframe at the deadbolt and turned her face away.
“Here we go,” Alpha whispered, his voice tinged with excitement.
The slug from the shotgun exploded the frame and the deadbolt. Ophelia turned and mule kicked the door open and then stepped to the side for cover for a second before rolling into the darkness of the doorway.
“Moves like a pro,” Alpha repeated.
The muffled shotgun blasts echoed through the empty streets.
“Serita, get down!” Ophelia shouted from somewhere inside, followed by more shotgun blasts. A woman screamed and a man shouted obscenities. And then silence. Adam enlarged Alpha’s feed but the open doorway showed a wall of storage shelves in the strange light of his night vision.
“Alpha, report.”
“Negative contact. Ready to advance.”
He was about to give the order when the boarded up window on the front of the Grill exploded. Ophelia bounced into the parking lot, trailing dust and debris as she rolled to her feet.
“Contact, front,” Bravo said.
A large shape launched through the window and Ophelia charged and met it half way. Fists, kicks and elbows flew until Ophelia went for a choke hold. She had the vampire for a few seconds but then he flipped her and moved to slam her into the ground but Ophelia wrapped her legs around his abdomen and tangled his arms with one hand while hammer fisting his skull with the other. The vampire fell to the ground in an attempt to crush her but she twisted again and landed on top, pinning one of his arms with her knee and switching her hammer fists to his exposed side. The vampire curled into a ball, trying to throw her off but the effort seemed weak.
Ophelia let herself be pushed away and easily rose to her feet in a fighting stance. But the vampire was hurt. He rolled over, painfully pushed himself up to his hands and knees and violently vomited thick black blood. Ophelia drew a large knife, a bowie knife in shape and design but the metal seemed to be a rose gold in color. Possibly bronze? She stepped to the side even as the vampire tried to recover. She planted a foot on his hand.
“Fucking bitch!” the vampire screamed as the blade came down in an arc and the head fell away from the body. Black blood burst from his neck in two thick pumping streams.
“That,” Bravo said, reverently. “was awesome.”
Ophelia sheathed the knife and retrieved the head. She held it, looking at the face for a moment before she tossed it through the window like a basketball. Then she pulled the body by the hand and heaved it through the window. After a quick scan of the street, she rolled into the darkness again.
“Serita?” she called out inside the building.
“Boss,” Charlie said. “Behind you.”
Adam killed the feeds and slowly turned, reminding himself that this was expected.
Ricky stood a few meters away.
He had definitely changed. He had not seen Ricky in person for a couple of years but his conversion was obvious. His black hair was oily and slicked back away from his angular features. The dim light seemed to emphasize the dark signs of the Rot. Old Ricky was the epitome of style and fashion almost to the point of narcissism. New Ricky was wearing a dark red silk shirt and black leather pants that were not tight enough. Old Ricky would have been horrified.
“What have you done?” Ricky whispered as he stared at the Grill.
“What did you expect, Ricky?”
Ricky slowly shifted his black eyes over to Adam. “You said you would leave us alone.”
“I said I would try,” Adam breathed. “But then you took her.”
“What, the girl?” Ricky snorted. “That child?”
“Abigail knows that child, Ricky. She obviously considers that child to be important.”
“Abigail,” Ricky spat. “Fuck Abigail.”
Adam dropped his head in frustration. Ricky laughed.
“Oh, does that offend you? Dear sweet Abigail. ‘There is no god, only Abigail’. Right?”
Adam looked up into the eyes of his old friend. “It’s honestly not that simple, Ricky. Not anymore.”
Ricky’s face fell. “What happened?” Then his eyes lit with hope. “Your conditioning. You broke your conditioning as I did.”
Not the way you did, Adam thought bitterly.
“But if Abigail does not hold you as she did, then why? What truly happened?”
“Nothing that concerns you any longer. Listen to me. You have one chance. Abigail is offering you this one chance. Turn yourself in and submit to testing. You will be treated well. If you don’t, you will be hunted and terminated.”
He actually appeared to consider it. His eyes darted from Adam to the Grill and back.
A woman screamed from inside the Grill. Adam closed his eyes and slowly exhaled. He had hoped she was done. He half turned so he could keep Ricky in his peripherals.
A blonde woman with a high set ponytail scrambled out of the kitchen door. Ophelia burst out of the darkness and caught her before she got to the street, knocking her to the ground. Ophelia put her knee in the woman’s back while she reloaded the shotgun from her vest.
Ricky lurched forward but Adam lifted a hand.
“My team is here,” he said quietly.
The point of a red laser appeared on Ricky’s chest. Charlie had the shot.
The woman struggled, head swiveling, eyes frantically looking for an escape. She spotted Ricky and screamed, hands reaching out, pleading. “Ricky! Don’t let them-”
Ophelia looked up at Ricky and Adam. She gripped the woman’s ponytail, put the shotgun to the base of her skull and pulled the trigger. She seemed a bit shocked when the ponytail was left dangling in her hand still attached to a plate of skull. But then she tossed it at the grill and pulled the body back to the kitchen door by the limp ankle.
“Fucking hardcore,” Alpha said.
Adam turned back to Ricky. Ricky slowly fell to his knees, black streaks of Rot tracing the veins of his face. His eyes sunk into his skull and became pinpoints of red light that matched the laser dot on his chest. Adam watched him. But it was hard. Ricky had been his friend once.
Or had he?
“I’ll burn your world for this,” Ricky whispered. “I see you suffer and precious Abigail will beg for her world back. Think back to this moment and know that this is when the fire started. And gods will weep for the lack of this dream.”
“There is no god,” Adam said. “Only Abigail.”
Ricky hissed, fangs glistening in the dim light. Then he fell into the shadows with preternatural speed and was gone. Adam studied the shadows that had taken his friend, then turned back to the Grill.
“Charlie, watch my six.”
“Copy.”
Ophelia had the girl by the street, checking her for wounds. Then she retrieved the red jerry can and took it to the exploded window and, with a little effort, set the can on the inside sill. She recovered Serita and moved her to the middle of the street while loading another shell from her vest.
“Alpha, Bravo, there will be fire.”
“Roger,” Alpha said. “Moving.”
Ophelia jacked the shell into the chamber and fired from the hip. The slug ripped into the can, spraying gas as it tumbled violently into the building. Then she pulled another shell from her pocket, loaded and fired after an obvious word of caution to the girl. A jet of magnesium fueled flame lit the night as it streaked to the Grill. The fumes ignited and Adam felt the concussion in his chest as the Grill burst into flame.
“That’s dragon’s breath,” Bravo said. “This will be an arson case.”
“Who has thermite?” Adam asked.
“Roger on thermite,” Charlie said.
“Add it to the mix after we leave. Might as well muddy the waters as much as possible.”
“Copy,” Charlie replied. “Still taking commentary, Boss?”
“Go ahead.”
“I have the shot. I could take her out now.”
“That’s not commentary. That’s advice.”
“Take it how you will.”
Adam took a breath. “No. There is more going on. I need more information before we make that decision.”
“Roger that, Boss. Just saying.”
Adam nodded. “Get the thermite on site and then monitor the response. Record the investigation if you can. Then disperse.”
He got three responses and then three beeps as they turned off their microphones. Ophelia approached at a hurried walk, practically dragging the girl. As expected, Ophelia was a blood soaked mess. Adam reached up and flipped open one of the water filled cans. Ophelia sat Serita on the running board of the truck and stepped under the stream of water as Adam tilted the can.
“That was your associate?” Ophelia asked as she scrubbed her face with her hands.
Adam studied the girl. Maybe twelve. Thin. Blonde. Mismatched clothes. Piercing eyes that radiated sadness. He looked at Ophelia. And then back at Serita. They could be sisters.
“Hey,” Ophelia snapped her fingers at him. “Two things: How much time do we have and was that your associate?”
He pulled out his phone and set the scanner to scroll across his contacts. “Nothing called in yet.” The yellow orange light of the burning Grill lit the block. “And yes, that was my associate.”
“He’s still alive?” she asked as she released her braid and gestured for more water.
Adam tilted the can again until it was empty and then opened the other one.
“Yes, he is still alive.”
“Alive as a vampire can be?”
“Right.”
“That’s going to be trouble.”
“I agree,” Adam said. “He was offered a second chance. But if you see him again, kill him.”
Ophelia stopped and slowly turned to him, hands on her hips, bright eyes reflecting the light of the fire. “I’m not your attack dog,” she said in a low voice. “Get that out of your head right now.”
He met her gaze. Even leaned in a little. “I would advise that if you see him, you should kill him.”
She slung water from her hands onto his shoes, eyes still locked to his. “I’ll take that under advisement,” she said and turned away, kneeling in front of Serita.
“Serita, what were you thinking?” Ophelia asked, taking Serita’s hands into hers.
“I don’t want to be in this world,” Serita sniffed. “I like the other one.”
“Those are just dreams, sweetie.”
“It’s all just dreams,” she said softly. “I want the other dream. I go there when I sleep. I’ll go there when I die.”
“That is nonsense,” Ophelia countered. “There are people in this dream that care about you. You need to let us take care of you and things would be better.”
Serita shook her head. “That’s just not how it works.”
“Yes, it does. You have to give us a chance. And where is Big Tony?”
Serita gave a pathetic shrug.
Ophelia stood up. “I’ll kill him.” Serita’s eyes went wide and Ophelia’s hands came up. “No, I’ll just hurt him badly. It will be okay.”
The call for fire and police scrolled across his contacts.
“They are on the way,” he said. Ophelia nodded. She locked the empty jerry cans down, doused the street in bleach and had Serita in the truck in seconds.
“I’ll drive,” she said and the truck moved less like a lumbering road monster and more like an old pickup truck under her gentle guidance. They easily slid out of the neighborhood and onto dark side streets before any sign of police or fire.
Ophelia continued to berate Serita but Adam fell into analysis. Ricky would be a problem. He should have let Charlie take the shot but Abigail said that he should offered the chance to come in. But he should have let Charlie take the shot.
He glanced over at Serita and Ophelia, quickly comparing their profiles. Nose the same. Chin, the same. Surely someone would have commented before. Did Abigail know something? Suspect something? What would it mean if they are related? And how could they be related? He didn’t even know what Ophelia was, much less what Serita could be.
So what did he have after tonight? Frank irritated. Ricky beyond angry. The girl saved. Without Abigail’s help but with her consent. Ophelia exposed. An asylum full of old gods. And he was back in his hometown and that meant a meeting with his father at some point.
He watched the response to the fire on his contacts. Suspected arson. But the owner was a well known real estate mogul. No insurance on file so vagrants or teenagers would be blamed and the case dropped. At least that had worked out.
There was still so much to sift through. He had to think about his next move. He hadn’t exaggerated when he mentioned to Ophelia that he normally played a longer game. He had made more decisions in the last three days than in the last year. He had some ideas about the taxes on the asylum but should he worry about that now? Was that his next move?
“. . . and tomorrow we get donuts.”
Adam blinked and looked up over again. Ophelia and Serita stared at him expectantly. Serita looked genuinely excited and maybe even a little happy.
He smiled and nodded.
Apparently, his next move was donuts.
