"Racing To the Gallows"
Oct. 18th, 2024 12:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dochermes"Racing To the Gallows"
8/11-8/12/2024
I.
"I'm not making much money doing this," the Uber driver admitted. "After expenses and wear and tear on the car, you know? But hell, I get to drive around all night and stream music in between customers, so at least I'm having some fun."
They were out on Route 232 at the far western edge of lower New York State, miles from the nearest town at one in the morning. Ahead, an intersection of four roads was marked by a stop sign in each direction and a single lamp post. A gas station sat dark and forlorn at the corner, apparently long out of business. The driver was young, still in his twenties, with a goatee and an earring. "I don't have GPS in this sad old beast," he said, "Which way?"
In the passenger seat next to him, Tommy the Gloom raised his head from where he had been staring down at his feet. Long greasy black hair hung down on either side of a wide pockmarked face. The voice was low and monotone. "Pull over. I'm going to be sick."
"Really? Sure. Here, I'm going next to this old gas station."
As soon as the car was in parked, Tommy's left hand seized the driver's right wrist and yanked it up to expose the man's entire torso. Before the driver could react, an eight inch blade was plunging into the side of his body, again and again. The man couldn't even scream. He only gasped, struggling uselessly as he felt the unexpected agony. The passenger was stabbing in a frenzy, ignoring the blood spurting out over his arm.
In a few seconds, it was all over. Panting heavily and visibly shaking, Tommy fell back against the car seat. It took a few minutes before his breathing got back to normal. His face felt sticky and he rubbed the back of his hand across it. Time to get going. Tommy opened his door and slid out, then leaned back in to tug the body over the center console and across the passenger seat to dump him on the ground behind the gas station.
The jerk had no wallet, he discovered, only a driver's license and a Visa card in a shirt pocket. Only two twenties and a few singles in his pants. Damn, Tommy thought, some more cash would be useful. He got in behind the wheel of the still running car and pulled out onto the deserted country road. He knew where to dump this car so that he could walk back through the woods to his shack.
He felt only a little bit better. Some of that pressure behind his eyes had eased up. This loser had given him some fun. But it wasn't enough. He needed a girl to have a real good time.
II.
Late on a muggy hazy afternoon, a strange looking woman hopped out of a dark green Ford Mustang in the parking lot of Angelo's Pizza and strode briskly toward the line of eight Harley-Davidsons. All the riders standing around lowered their beers or cigarettes as they watched, not sure how to react.
She was thin and not more than an inch over five feet tall, wearing a long-sleeved tunic and pants of some rough grey material. Her boots were comically oversized. As the woman drew closer, the bikers watched her wide sullen face under a shock of bristly white hair and felt uneasy in a way they couldn't have explained.
The biggest man there stepped forward to face her. His round belly stuck out from the open leather vest, but his bare arms showed solid muscle. The receding grey hair and long ponytail were traits shared by more than one of his friends in the club. Not speaking, Joel Richman watched the stranger approach.
At arm's length, the woman swung up an accusing finger and bluntly announced, "We are looking for the killer of Peter Nesbitt."
That stirred a wave of angry mumbling through the crowd. Joel met the gaze of those cloudy blue eyes without flinching and said only, "Who might you be, miss?"
"I am called Demrak Jin." She gestured behind her with a thumb. "That is my teammate Josef Jubilec. We hunt murderers!"
Almost unnoticed, a tall man in a quiet dark business suit had emerged from the driver's side of the Mustang and was walking toward them. A weathered face under short sandy hair made his age difficult to guess but he moved with the ease of strength under control.
"I am told Peter Nesbitt belonged to your club that rides these motorcycles for amusement," she continued. "He met a death he did not deserve and he will be avenged."
"Wait, what...?" was all Joel could manage.
Standing beside Jin, Josef held up a reassuring hand. "Let me clarify the situation, please. We are not the police or the FBI. We represent no government agency. Jin and I work for an organization that tracks down killers and turns them over to law enforcement."
"I was a cop in Norcross for twenty-eight years," Joel said finally. "I can recognize dangerous people when I see them. The two of you are used to violence. It's written all over you."
"That's the nature of the job," Josef agreed.
Demrak Jin broke in, "You motorcycle riders knew the man Peter Nesbitt?"
"Pete? Yeah, he showed up mostly on weekends. Guy worked full time nine to five and then drove an Uber most nights. Good dude. Stayed out of trouble."
"He has a little boy one year old with his girlfriend," volunteered another biker. "He was doing his best to provide for them."
Josef began asking much the same questions that the police would, whether Peter had any enemies who wished him harm, if he owed a lot of money anywhere, if he had a problem with drinking or drugs. Every answer was bland and unpromising. The victim had been a mild, easygoing fellow whose major hobby was working on his Harley and going on an occasional poker run.
Finally, one of the women with the biker group spoke up angrily, "I want to know why the cops aren't doing anything! This is the third dead body found in this county this year. And there are two other people missing without a trace. It's not on the local news, it's hardly in the papers. What the hell? Who's covering up?"
"Oh, we're going to be looking into the police investigation as well," Josef told her.
Jin was tense as a cat ready to spring. "And I swear we will get answers..."
III.
Tommy the Gloom was getting nowhere. This college town was packed with bars, used clothing boutiques and bistros. On a hot summer afternoon, dozens of beautiful twenty year old girls were strolling back and forth in clothing that was either thin as gauze or as skimpy as the law allowed. Not only were the healthy young bodies driving him crazy, all the shiny bouncing hair and gleaming white smiles were striking his senses like brutal blows.
And all the stupid boys walking with the girls, laughing at pointless jokes and casually putting arms around shoulders. He hated them even more than he did the girls. Boys that age were too awkward, too gawky, all arms and legs like newborn colts. They didn't deserve any of what they got so freely.
More disgusted with everything than usual, he shambled down the side street to where he had left his car by a laundromat. The CHECK ENGINE light had been on for so long that he had put black electrician's tape over it so it would leave him alone. As long as it ran, what difference did it make?
Sitting on the concrete bar that kept cars from running into the side of the laundromat was an absolutely perfect strawberry blonde in shorts no bigger than bikini bottoms and a T-shirt cut off just below the high breasts. She was rummaging through a huge bag full of freshly washed clothing and examining each article critically.
Tommy the Gloom chirped open the driver's door of his twelve year old Hyundai and the noise caught her attention. He lifted a hand. "Hey there. Need a ride?"
"Huh? Oh no, no thanks. I got a ride coming."
"Really, it's no trouble," he said with a smile that moved his mouth but did not touch his angry eyes.
She bestowed the most angelic and trusting smile possible on him as a baby blue Volkswagen pulled up in front of her. "Thanks anyway, here's Dougie now."
Turning away, seething, Tommy the Gloom went to the rear of his car and lifted the trunk. The interior floor was covered with black plastic garbage bags carefully tucked down. There was the clothesline, the spare shirt if he had to ditch the one he would be wearing, bandanas for gags, the knives and pliers. Damn it. That girl should have come with him. He couldn't wait much longer, he felt like he was ready to explode.
From the trunk, he raised his favorite toy, a twelve-inch length of thick steel cable he had wrapped in tape for a better grip. The Skullcracker.
IV.
They had taken a room at the Holiday Inn right off the New York State Thruway. At six that evening, Josef and Jin sat down on the edges of their separate queen-sized beds, facing each other as they readied to contact their captain. Jin's travel bag by her bed held a weapon she had crafted herself, a bone-bladed knife three feet long. By Josef's gear sat a quiver disguised as a long knapsack, with the trick longbow folded across its top. As a Blind Archer from Chujir, he seldom let these be far from reach.
The Links they held were no thicker than three playing cards in a stack but they ran on Trom technology far more advanced than anything Humans could match. On their screens was the sharp image of a handsome woman in her forties with thick black hair brushed straight back off a high forehead. Lauren Sable Reilly had been captain of her team of Tel Shai knights for more than half her life. She had listened to their reports in which Josef had ruefully admitted to not making much progress.
"I've spent most of today reading the files of the local police," Sable said. "Without their permission, of course. Nothing in writing indicates that they think there is a single individual behind these murders. Officially, the Sheriff's Department regards the deaths as unrelated and they have not asked for help from the FBI."
"That's suspicious in itself," Josef observed.
"Oh, I agree," said Sable. "It's not just sloth or incompetence but clear dereliction. But I have summed up all five murders and added the two missing persons cases for the moment. There are many traits missing that we would expect to find in the classic serial killer profile. The victims are of both sexes, and a wide range of ages and appearances. Different weapons are used. Of course, the classic traits are not mandatory or anything, they're just frequently seen."
Demrak Jin interrupted. "We do not have these 'serial killers' in Ulgor. Of course, we are by Human standards a violent people with frequent duels and feuds, so maybe they don't survive long."
Sable nodded. "So, I have working with a map of the area. The killings seem to center around the accepted bad part of town. The victims were last seen between midnight and four in the morning. These are crimes of convenience, no elaborate traps or planning seems to be involved. Most worrying is that the period between murders has been shrinking. From three months to no more than a few weeks. The killer needs to strike more often as time goes on."
"He's racing to the gallows," Josef said. "We will catch him like a wild animal and turn him in."
"Not if I get to him first!" spat Demrak Jin. "My blade will be the last thing he sees in this world."
"Hold it, both of you." Sable's voice had unforced authority. "I know you two have your differences. Josef's decision to not take Human life is to be respected. He is following his conscience. Jin, we do not ask the same of you."
"I am a Gelydra! We are born at the same time a shark is born, and the spirit of the shark lives in us."
"Yes, yes, true enough," Sable agreed. "You are from a warrior Race. But as Tel Shai knights, even though we use deadly force when necessary, we do not kill helpless prisoners. We do not use torture. These are conditions you agreed to when you joined our team."
For a long tense moment, there was silence before Demrak Jin responded. "So I did. And I
will honor those terms. Let Josef hold back his hand if he so chooses. That is not the choice I make."
Sable usually sounded serious, but extra gravitas added to her tones. "I am counting on both of you to work together as Tel Shai knights and members of the Kenneth Dred Foundation."
"You have nothing to worry about," the Blind Archer said.
"Josef has saved my life several times, and I have saved his," added Jin. "We have each other's backs."
"All right," Sable said. "The rest of the team is working on some Skinwalkers reported in New Mexico. You two report according to your judgement. Anything else?"
The Blind Archer said, "I have a few ideas to pursue. For one thing, if the police are turning away from these crimes, why? What.. or who.. are they protecting?"
"That's worth looking into," Sable agreed. "I have to brief the team going to New Mexico. Stay in touch, you two."
They ended the conference. Josef handed the hotel's menu to his partner. "I've decided on basic Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. Black coffee. How about you?"
"This is a good idea, I am quite hungry," the Gelydran woman said. She glanced over the offerings and called room service. "Hello. I am calling from Room 422. Deliver two meals to us. One will be Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables with black coffee. The other will be two large pieces of raw fish. What? Why not? You must have fresh fish if you are cooking it. Against the law? Oh very well. Send me what you call fish and chips with a large salad."
As she hung up, Demrak Jin's eyes darted over but Josef was ready and had no trace of a smile on his face.
V.
At ten past eleven that night, Tommy the Gloom turned off his car in the nearly empty parking lot of the Food Giant supermarket. Under an awning on one side of the building was a long bench and a sign CITY TRANSIT. A woman slumped forward on that bench had caught his attention. Maybe he'd get some good luck at last.
The electric eye door did not swing open for him. Although he had known the store closed at eleven, Tommy acted disappointed. "Damn," he grumbled.
"They just closed," the woman said.
Tommy the Gloom turned and his spirits sank even more. She wasn't good-looking at all. Dumpy in a loose sweatshirt, stringy dark hair. a shapeless face with a mole under one nostril. Why couldn't she have looked like the blonde at the laundromat that afternoon? He never got a break.
"Now me, I just missed the last bus," she added.
Acting as if he was going toward his car, Tommy paused and looked over at her. "Where you going?"
"Out by Glenerie. Dutch Town Road."
"Yeah? I'm going past there. I live in Connolly, I might as well give you a ride."
"Oh would ya? That'd be great. A taxi would take my last dollar for this month." She picked up a brown paper bag that clinked and heaved up off the bench to follow him. Tommy got behind the wheel as she settled herself.
This might work out okay, he thought. He could think of that blonde while he was plowing this cow and that wouldn't be so bad. His head was pounding worse, the pressure had been building up all day.
As they left the shopping plaza and got on Miller Avenue out of town, she started rattling off her agonizing life story. She went into great detail about why her husband had left her for some tramp and why her sons never called her and how the landlord never fixed anything in her two-room apartment. Tommy could not block her out. As she got more excited, her voice rose to a shrill barrage. A distinct odor of wine from her breath did not help make her company more bearable.
Finally arriving at a safe stretch between towns, he swerved over to come to a stop just off the road and turned off the engine. The woman screamed, "What are you DOING? Why would you pull over here in the middle of nowhere?" just before he smacked the length of cable across the back of her head as hard as he possibly could. She gurgled and gasped incoherently, but he held back from giving her another blow. That crunching sound seemed completely satisfying to him. It was tempting. But better to keep her alive.
In the heavy silence that followed, he looked up and down the road but no headlights were in sight. Now he had to move fast, hauling this hag into the trunk and getting safely to his shack. He couldn't help laughing out loud. It was going to be a fun night after all. Maybe he should see if Hungry Hank wanted to get in on it.
VI.
Speeding through the night in the KDF Ford Mustang, Josef Jubilec sounded tense. "It's not conclusive, Jin, but I feel the data are strong enough. And all my instincts tell me we are on the right trail."
"I have learned to trust your instincts," Demrak Jin admitted from the passenger seat.
"Here's what I've pieced together. Thomas John Woodrow, aged forty-two. Unemployed and living on disability for back injuries. Woodrow got in trouble as a teenager for abusing household pets. At twenty, he was a person of interest in the arson of a hunting lodge in the woods. Three times in the past ten years, he has been arrested for aggravated assault, disorderly conduct, obstruction and resisting. Yet, no charges were filed and the cases were dropped with mere warnings."
In the backglow from the car's dashboard, Jin's intriguing face grew tauter. "I agree he seems a likely suspect. Why is he not in chains?"
"The Chief of Police is Bernard Woodrow. Thomas' uncle."
That drew an outraged snort. "There is corruption everywhere! Humans, Melgarin, Gelydrim... no Race is pure. I would wager much that even the Eldanarin have some sort of bribery and graft."
"I would not be surprised," Josef said. "Both of the town judges seem a little too cozy with Woodrow. There were some appeals to higher courts that got dismissed."sa
"But now WE are here," the Gelydra said low. "We serve not laws, but justice. Josef, I till can not understand the change you went through."
"You mean my vow against killing?"
"That's exactly what I mean. It makes no sense. You were a Blind Archer! They are the most feared assassins in the Midnight War, more than the White Web or the Night Gorillas or Furious Buddha. I know you have slain hundreds in your career, but one morning you woke up and said you were through. Why?"
Josef took a moment before replying. "Like you said, one morning I woke up. Everything seemed as clear as if a red haze had lifted. There was no decision to be made. I decided to take no more lives."
"I don't understand, I just don't. We KNOW the men we hunt are killers. There is no chance of us taking an innocent life by mistake. Is that what you're worried about?"
"Jin," said the Blind Archer gently, "You don't have to understand. It may never make sense to you, okay? I just ask that you accept it."
The Gelydra woman made her harsh voice as mild as she could. "Very well, Josef. I owe you that much at the very least. But I do hope any excuse allows me to send this killer's head rolling over the ground."
They came by a sign YOU ARE NOW ENTERING PENNSYLVANIA- WELCOME TO THE KEYSTONE STATE. Josef slowed and pointed at it.
"I know your country America is made of different States," Jin answered. "In Ulgor, we call them provinces, each with a Duke ruling under our King. How does that matter?"
"That is where I think our target has made his worst mistake." Josef sped up again.
VII.
When Tommy the Gloom stopped next to the old three story house on the corner of Shufeldt Street and honked the horn twice, he was amused to see Hungry Hank immediately squeeze out the front door and waddle across the sidewalk toward him. Well over three hundred pounds st only five feet eleven, Hank Carfagno was a shapeless mass in the biggest shirt and sweatpants made. He had sliced open the sides of his sneakers with a razor blade to let the flesh of his feet ooze out. Untrimmed blond hair hung in his face and covered his eyes like a sheepdog's.
They weren't exactly friends. More like acquaintances with a common interest.
When Hungry Hank got into the passenger seat, Tommy felt his car sink down. This guy was hell on the suspension, he thought. "Hope you didn't have a big lunch."
"Me? Nah. I been restless all day. I was gonna call you to see if there was any good news."
The only time Tommy the Gloom laughed was when talking about their secret. "Heh. Maybe something you'll like. You might have to wait while I have some fun with it first."
Hungry Hank shrugged. "Not a problem, bro. Preheating the oven, doing some carving and trimming, all that takes a while. Remember that tiny one?"
"The little one with red hair? Yeah, she couldn't have been more than thirteen."
"Wasn't much meat on that one but at least she was fresh. It's like grilling trout, you know? I can't cook in my rooms. The landlord leaves me alone but he doesn't allow evem a hot plate."
As they headed out of town, Tommy the Gloom said, "Maybe we could stop and pick up a bottle of wine, hey?"
"Red wine!" laughed Hungry Hank. "White wine is for fish."
VIII.
After spotting the house, Josef went another mile and pulled over under a huge Catalpa tree by the side of the ride. There were long stretches of undeveloped land in this area.
As Demrak Jin got out on her side, the Blind Archer reached into the back seat and pulled out his gear.
The quiver was disguised to look like a hiking knapsack with a Velcro flap at the top that gave access to the arrows. Bent across the top was a device that he detached and snapped open to form a full-length longbow. "I still dislike this gadget," he grumbled. "Give me a traditional yew bow I have carved and tempered myself."
The Gelydra woman was strapping her own weapon of choice across her back, a bone-bladed knife three feet long in a sheath of walrus ivory. "Trick arrows tonight?"
"I'm bringing a mixture," Josef answered as he locked the car. "Four have simple hunting points. A few have the tear gas bulbs, three have blunt hard rubber balls on the end. One has a contact flare, one has an explosive G-23 jelly head." He gave a faint snort of amusement. "I've got a variety of choices."
"This man deserves death!" Jin growled deep in her chest, "The blood of his victims calls out for vengeance."
"Oh, I'm not arguing with that," answered Josef. "It's just that I'm not going to be the one to execute him."
Without another word, they sprinted into the woods and were gone from sight in an instant. Not only had both of them the benefit of years of Tel Shai training in Kumundu, they had both lived hard lives where stealth and stamina had been all that had kept them alive. Even an alert sentry standing in that forest would likely have seen or heard nothing to mark their passage.
A mile later, still breathing easily after running across broken ground and over brush, the two KDF members closed in on the back of a small run-down white house with a tile roof. They saw the oil fuel tank and electric meter at the rear. Not a single light was on.
Slowing his breathing, closing his eyes, Josef Jubilec extended his perception. The Blind Archers of Chujir were not literally blind. They covered their eyes in battle so mystic senses locked on the lifeforces of their enemies. Darkness, fog, heavy rain or snow... nothing deterred them. They seldom missed.
"Nothing living in there," he whispered. "Not even a field mouse." He crept across the lawn and paused by a rear door. Both of them pulled on black latex gloves before finding the door was unlocked. "We need to leave no signs we were in here.'
"Surface world laws are another thing that make no sense to me," she mumbled.
That made Josef laugh. "I don't understand a lot of them myself, to be honest." Still holding his bow in his left hand, he took a pencil flashlight from his jacket and adjuste it to play an intense beam no thicker than a thread over a short hallway with an open door on either side.
To the left was a bathroom, with a hamper overflowing with stale-smelling clothing. The shower curtain was open and the toilet lid up. Nothing showed other than a lack of scrubbing. The medicine cabinet showed nothing more suspicious than mouthwash, band-aids, hydrogen peroxide and toothpaste.
Demrak Jin turned away and went to peer into the other door. A low furious snarl escaped her. A chair, desk and lamp were the only furniture. In the thin beam of light, they saw four pairs of panties thumbtacked to the wall over the desk. Long locks of hair of different colors and textures were tied to a wooden board. Two cardboard boxes held an assortment of cell phones, sunglasses and wallets.
"A trophy room," the Gelydra woman said in a tone that would frighten a tiger.
Leaning his bow against the wall for a second, Josef tapped the side of his Link. "I'm signaling 21 Black."
"We don't need them." Jin spun and marched out to head into the living room. A big flatscreen TV faced a broken down couch, a low coffee table and two recliner chairs. Not much space was clear of crumpled newspapers, wadded up clothing, paper plates and red Solo cups and a pile of unopened mail. An empty pizza box took up most of the coffee table top.
To the right were narrow stairs leading up to a trap door. Probably the bedroom. They skipped that for the moment and walked through an open doorway into a kitchen that reeked of stale grease. The white enameled sink was filled with dirty dishes and silverware. The waist high cabinet top held boxes of junk food... donuts, potato chips, empty fast food wrappers. In one corner was a bin holding dozens of beer bottles. The oven and gas stove top alone had no debris on them.
Demrak Jin opened the top half of the refrigerator and looked into the freezer for a second before turning to her partner. "I smell Human flesh," she said.
It was true. Jammed to the point where the door could hardly close, the freezer was packed with tightly wrapped chunks of meat, intestines, organs. Two complete hands showed clearly. Josef closed the compartment and exhaled sharply. With all he had seen in a long violent career, he was still capable of being shocked.
Then his head snapped up "Someone's coming. More than one lifeforce."
Demrak Jin reached for the front door next to her. "I will try not to kill them. Right away."
"I'm going to circle around the back of the house," Josef said, striding into the living room. "I'll be to your left."
IX.
"This is going to be a party," laughed Hungry Hank. "You ever wash your saucepan?"
"Ehhh, I wiped it out with wet paper towels. Good enough. Home again." Tommy the Gloom stopped twenty feet away from his front door where the dirt road ended. He left the cr running so they'd have light to see by. Two cheap white plastic chairs stood by the front of his house, and scattered around were a folded stepladder, a stool with a porcelain basin full of rainwater, a few paint cans and a broken hummingbird feeder on its side.
Tommy hustled out and went to the rear of his car to unlock the trunk. The woman was moaning and visibly breathing. Good. They were better when warm. His grin was so wide his cheeks hurt. As he bent to lift her, Tommy jerked upright at hearing Hungry Hank yell.
"Who are you? What do you think you're doing here?" the fat man roared. He was digging in the right pocket of his sweatpants.
Standing in the glare of the headlights was a short thin woman in a tight grey outfit. Her stiff hair was white but she seemed to be about thirty years old. Something in her stance, feet well apart, fists down by her sides, showed a total lack of fear.
"I am what you deserve," she said quietly.
"You a cop? Tell me if you're a cop!" screamed Hungry Hank.
"I am much worse." Jin took two deliberate steps toward the huge man.
In an instant, Hungry Hank swung up his arm with a cheap Glock 19 in his grip. Even as his arm extended, a slim three foot wooden shaft slid between the bones of his wrist. The arrow remained protruding on both sides. Hungry Hank didn't seem to feel the pain for a second, but then he screamed like a child.
Demrak Jin blurred forward and easily leaped up head high. Her tight fist swung up by her own ear and cracked down where Hungry Hank's head joined his neck. The brute fell straight down as if electrocuted. The Gelydran crouched over him, trembling with the effort not to draw her blade.
Tommy the Gloom wasn't thinking coherently. He saw an arrow zip through Hank's arm and then he saw that weird woman jump up and strike him down with a noise like a whip cracking. That was all he needed to see. Blind terror spun him around to begin running aimlessly as fast as he could. He could only covered two feet before something like a rok hit him in the center of his chest harder than any heavyweight boxer's punch. The breath was driven entirely out of his lungs. As he swayed drunkenly, trying to keep upright, another blow just above his ear made lights flash before his eyes as he fell senseless to the ground. The arrows with the hard rubber bulbs lay next to him.
Lowering his bow, Josef rushed over to the open trunk and examined the bound woman inside. "Her lifeforce is strong," he said. "A slight concussion. I am no doctor, but I think with medical treatment, she will be all right. She is conscious now but dazed."
Jin had come over to join him. She looked down at the prisoner. "Won't the FBI team bring a few medics?"
"Yes. Department 21 Black does, at any rate. They have an unmarked van which is as fully equipped as an ambulance. I signaled them from inside the house, so they should be here in maybe fifteen or twenty minutes."
"We should tie these killers up securely," she replied, giving the senseless Tommy a none too gentle nudge with her boot. "I suppose removing your arrow from that fat one's wrist would be a good idea, too. Less evidence for 21 Black to overlook."
Josef picked up the two blunt headed arrows and returned them to his quiver. "Officially, you and I were never here. 21 Black will report they received an anonymous phone call and once they arrived on this scene, there was more than enough evidence to justify searching the house. I think the prisoner will testify, too. With a federal agency in charge, the chief of police won't be able to cover anything up. He might end up on charges himself."
"As he should." Demrak Jin watched as Josef began to remove the arrow from the stunned Hungry Hank's wrist. She folded both arms across her flat chest and tapped a foot. "I let this one live. I was curious to see why you spare life the way you do."
"And?"
"It's like holding back a sneeze. I don't like it."
10/18/2024
8/11-8/12/2024
I.
"I'm not making much money doing this," the Uber driver admitted. "After expenses and wear and tear on the car, you know? But hell, I get to drive around all night and stream music in between customers, so at least I'm having some fun."
They were out on Route 232 at the far western edge of lower New York State, miles from the nearest town at one in the morning. Ahead, an intersection of four roads was marked by a stop sign in each direction and a single lamp post. A gas station sat dark and forlorn at the corner, apparently long out of business. The driver was young, still in his twenties, with a goatee and an earring. "I don't have GPS in this sad old beast," he said, "Which way?"
In the passenger seat next to him, Tommy the Gloom raised his head from where he had been staring down at his feet. Long greasy black hair hung down on either side of a wide pockmarked face. The voice was low and monotone. "Pull over. I'm going to be sick."
"Really? Sure. Here, I'm going next to this old gas station."
As soon as the car was in parked, Tommy's left hand seized the driver's right wrist and yanked it up to expose the man's entire torso. Before the driver could react, an eight inch blade was plunging into the side of his body, again and again. The man couldn't even scream. He only gasped, struggling uselessly as he felt the unexpected agony. The passenger was stabbing in a frenzy, ignoring the blood spurting out over his arm.
In a few seconds, it was all over. Panting heavily and visibly shaking, Tommy fell back against the car seat. It took a few minutes before his breathing got back to normal. His face felt sticky and he rubbed the back of his hand across it. Time to get going. Tommy opened his door and slid out, then leaned back in to tug the body over the center console and across the passenger seat to dump him on the ground behind the gas station.
The jerk had no wallet, he discovered, only a driver's license and a Visa card in a shirt pocket. Only two twenties and a few singles in his pants. Damn, Tommy thought, some more cash would be useful. He got in behind the wheel of the still running car and pulled out onto the deserted country road. He knew where to dump this car so that he could walk back through the woods to his shack.
He felt only a little bit better. Some of that pressure behind his eyes had eased up. This loser had given him some fun. But it wasn't enough. He needed a girl to have a real good time.
II.
Late on a muggy hazy afternoon, a strange looking woman hopped out of a dark green Ford Mustang in the parking lot of Angelo's Pizza and strode briskly toward the line of eight Harley-Davidsons. All the riders standing around lowered their beers or cigarettes as they watched, not sure how to react.
She was thin and not more than an inch over five feet tall, wearing a long-sleeved tunic and pants of some rough grey material. Her boots were comically oversized. As the woman drew closer, the bikers watched her wide sullen face under a shock of bristly white hair and felt uneasy in a way they couldn't have explained.
The biggest man there stepped forward to face her. His round belly stuck out from the open leather vest, but his bare arms showed solid muscle. The receding grey hair and long ponytail were traits shared by more than one of his friends in the club. Not speaking, Joel Richman watched the stranger approach.
At arm's length, the woman swung up an accusing finger and bluntly announced, "We are looking for the killer of Peter Nesbitt."
That stirred a wave of angry mumbling through the crowd. Joel met the gaze of those cloudy blue eyes without flinching and said only, "Who might you be, miss?"
"I am called Demrak Jin." She gestured behind her with a thumb. "That is my teammate Josef Jubilec. We hunt murderers!"
Almost unnoticed, a tall man in a quiet dark business suit had emerged from the driver's side of the Mustang and was walking toward them. A weathered face under short sandy hair made his age difficult to guess but he moved with the ease of strength under control.
"I am told Peter Nesbitt belonged to your club that rides these motorcycles for amusement," she continued. "He met a death he did not deserve and he will be avenged."
"Wait, what...?" was all Joel could manage.
Standing beside Jin, Josef held up a reassuring hand. "Let me clarify the situation, please. We are not the police or the FBI. We represent no government agency. Jin and I work for an organization that tracks down killers and turns them over to law enforcement."
"I was a cop in Norcross for twenty-eight years," Joel said finally. "I can recognize dangerous people when I see them. The two of you are used to violence. It's written all over you."
"That's the nature of the job," Josef agreed.
Demrak Jin broke in, "You motorcycle riders knew the man Peter Nesbitt?"
"Pete? Yeah, he showed up mostly on weekends. Guy worked full time nine to five and then drove an Uber most nights. Good dude. Stayed out of trouble."
"He has a little boy one year old with his girlfriend," volunteered another biker. "He was doing his best to provide for them."
Josef began asking much the same questions that the police would, whether Peter had any enemies who wished him harm, if he owed a lot of money anywhere, if he had a problem with drinking or drugs. Every answer was bland and unpromising. The victim had been a mild, easygoing fellow whose major hobby was working on his Harley and going on an occasional poker run.
Finally, one of the women with the biker group spoke up angrily, "I want to know why the cops aren't doing anything! This is the third dead body found in this county this year. And there are two other people missing without a trace. It's not on the local news, it's hardly in the papers. What the hell? Who's covering up?"
"Oh, we're going to be looking into the police investigation as well," Josef told her.
Jin was tense as a cat ready to spring. "And I swear we will get answers..."
III.
Tommy the Gloom was getting nowhere. This college town was packed with bars, used clothing boutiques and bistros. On a hot summer afternoon, dozens of beautiful twenty year old girls were strolling back and forth in clothing that was either thin as gauze or as skimpy as the law allowed. Not only were the healthy young bodies driving him crazy, all the shiny bouncing hair and gleaming white smiles were striking his senses like brutal blows.
And all the stupid boys walking with the girls, laughing at pointless jokes and casually putting arms around shoulders. He hated them even more than he did the girls. Boys that age were too awkward, too gawky, all arms and legs like newborn colts. They didn't deserve any of what they got so freely.
More disgusted with everything than usual, he shambled down the side street to where he had left his car by a laundromat. The CHECK ENGINE light had been on for so long that he had put black electrician's tape over it so it would leave him alone. As long as it ran, what difference did it make?
Sitting on the concrete bar that kept cars from running into the side of the laundromat was an absolutely perfect strawberry blonde in shorts no bigger than bikini bottoms and a T-shirt cut off just below the high breasts. She was rummaging through a huge bag full of freshly washed clothing and examining each article critically.
Tommy the Gloom chirped open the driver's door of his twelve year old Hyundai and the noise caught her attention. He lifted a hand. "Hey there. Need a ride?"
"Huh? Oh no, no thanks. I got a ride coming."
"Really, it's no trouble," he said with a smile that moved his mouth but did not touch his angry eyes.
She bestowed the most angelic and trusting smile possible on him as a baby blue Volkswagen pulled up in front of her. "Thanks anyway, here's Dougie now."
Turning away, seething, Tommy the Gloom went to the rear of his car and lifted the trunk. The interior floor was covered with black plastic garbage bags carefully tucked down. There was the clothesline, the spare shirt if he had to ditch the one he would be wearing, bandanas for gags, the knives and pliers. Damn it. That girl should have come with him. He couldn't wait much longer, he felt like he was ready to explode.
From the trunk, he raised his favorite toy, a twelve-inch length of thick steel cable he had wrapped in tape for a better grip. The Skullcracker.
IV.
They had taken a room at the Holiday Inn right off the New York State Thruway. At six that evening, Josef and Jin sat down on the edges of their separate queen-sized beds, facing each other as they readied to contact their captain. Jin's travel bag by her bed held a weapon she had crafted herself, a bone-bladed knife three feet long. By Josef's gear sat a quiver disguised as a long knapsack, with the trick longbow folded across its top. As a Blind Archer from Chujir, he seldom let these be far from reach.
The Links they held were no thicker than three playing cards in a stack but they ran on Trom technology far more advanced than anything Humans could match. On their screens was the sharp image of a handsome woman in her forties with thick black hair brushed straight back off a high forehead. Lauren Sable Reilly had been captain of her team of Tel Shai knights for more than half her life. She had listened to their reports in which Josef had ruefully admitted to not making much progress.
"I've spent most of today reading the files of the local police," Sable said. "Without their permission, of course. Nothing in writing indicates that they think there is a single individual behind these murders. Officially, the Sheriff's Department regards the deaths as unrelated and they have not asked for help from the FBI."
"That's suspicious in itself," Josef observed.
"Oh, I agree," said Sable. "It's not just sloth or incompetence but clear dereliction. But I have summed up all five murders and added the two missing persons cases for the moment. There are many traits missing that we would expect to find in the classic serial killer profile. The victims are of both sexes, and a wide range of ages and appearances. Different weapons are used. Of course, the classic traits are not mandatory or anything, they're just frequently seen."
Demrak Jin interrupted. "We do not have these 'serial killers' in Ulgor. Of course, we are by Human standards a violent people with frequent duels and feuds, so maybe they don't survive long."
Sable nodded. "So, I have working with a map of the area. The killings seem to center around the accepted bad part of town. The victims were last seen between midnight and four in the morning. These are crimes of convenience, no elaborate traps or planning seems to be involved. Most worrying is that the period between murders has been shrinking. From three months to no more than a few weeks. The killer needs to strike more often as time goes on."
"He's racing to the gallows," Josef said. "We will catch him like a wild animal and turn him in."
"Not if I get to him first!" spat Demrak Jin. "My blade will be the last thing he sees in this world."
"Hold it, both of you." Sable's voice had unforced authority. "I know you two have your differences. Josef's decision to not take Human life is to be respected. He is following his conscience. Jin, we do not ask the same of you."
"I am a Gelydra! We are born at the same time a shark is born, and the spirit of the shark lives in us."
"Yes, yes, true enough," Sable agreed. "You are from a warrior Race. But as Tel Shai knights, even though we use deadly force when necessary, we do not kill helpless prisoners. We do not use torture. These are conditions you agreed to when you joined our team."
For a long tense moment, there was silence before Demrak Jin responded. "So I did. And I
will honor those terms. Let Josef hold back his hand if he so chooses. That is not the choice I make."
Sable usually sounded serious, but extra gravitas added to her tones. "I am counting on both of you to work together as Tel Shai knights and members of the Kenneth Dred Foundation."
"You have nothing to worry about," the Blind Archer said.
"Josef has saved my life several times, and I have saved his," added Jin. "We have each other's backs."
"All right," Sable said. "The rest of the team is working on some Skinwalkers reported in New Mexico. You two report according to your judgement. Anything else?"
The Blind Archer said, "I have a few ideas to pursue. For one thing, if the police are turning away from these crimes, why? What.. or who.. are they protecting?"
"That's worth looking into," Sable agreed. "I have to brief the team going to New Mexico. Stay in touch, you two."
They ended the conference. Josef handed the hotel's menu to his partner. "I've decided on basic Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. Black coffee. How about you?"
"This is a good idea, I am quite hungry," the Gelydran woman said. She glanced over the offerings and called room service. "Hello. I am calling from Room 422. Deliver two meals to us. One will be Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables with black coffee. The other will be two large pieces of raw fish. What? Why not? You must have fresh fish if you are cooking it. Against the law? Oh very well. Send me what you call fish and chips with a large salad."
As she hung up, Demrak Jin's eyes darted over but Josef was ready and had no trace of a smile on his face.
V.
At ten past eleven that night, Tommy the Gloom turned off his car in the nearly empty parking lot of the Food Giant supermarket. Under an awning on one side of the building was a long bench and a sign CITY TRANSIT. A woman slumped forward on that bench had caught his attention. Maybe he'd get some good luck at last.
The electric eye door did not swing open for him. Although he had known the store closed at eleven, Tommy acted disappointed. "Damn," he grumbled.
"They just closed," the woman said.
Tommy the Gloom turned and his spirits sank even more. She wasn't good-looking at all. Dumpy in a loose sweatshirt, stringy dark hair. a shapeless face with a mole under one nostril. Why couldn't she have looked like the blonde at the laundromat that afternoon? He never got a break.
"Now me, I just missed the last bus," she added.
Acting as if he was going toward his car, Tommy paused and looked over at her. "Where you going?"
"Out by Glenerie. Dutch Town Road."
"Yeah? I'm going past there. I live in Connolly, I might as well give you a ride."
"Oh would ya? That'd be great. A taxi would take my last dollar for this month." She picked up a brown paper bag that clinked and heaved up off the bench to follow him. Tommy got behind the wheel as she settled herself.
This might work out okay, he thought. He could think of that blonde while he was plowing this cow and that wouldn't be so bad. His head was pounding worse, the pressure had been building up all day.
As they left the shopping plaza and got on Miller Avenue out of town, she started rattling off her agonizing life story. She went into great detail about why her husband had left her for some tramp and why her sons never called her and how the landlord never fixed anything in her two-room apartment. Tommy could not block her out. As she got more excited, her voice rose to a shrill barrage. A distinct odor of wine from her breath did not help make her company more bearable.
Finally arriving at a safe stretch between towns, he swerved over to come to a stop just off the road and turned off the engine. The woman screamed, "What are you DOING? Why would you pull over here in the middle of nowhere?" just before he smacked the length of cable across the back of her head as hard as he possibly could. She gurgled and gasped incoherently, but he held back from giving her another blow. That crunching sound seemed completely satisfying to him. It was tempting. But better to keep her alive.
In the heavy silence that followed, he looked up and down the road but no headlights were in sight. Now he had to move fast, hauling this hag into the trunk and getting safely to his shack. He couldn't help laughing out loud. It was going to be a fun night after all. Maybe he should see if Hungry Hank wanted to get in on it.
VI.
Speeding through the night in the KDF Ford Mustang, Josef Jubilec sounded tense. "It's not conclusive, Jin, but I feel the data are strong enough. And all my instincts tell me we are on the right trail."
"I have learned to trust your instincts," Demrak Jin admitted from the passenger seat.
"Here's what I've pieced together. Thomas John Woodrow, aged forty-two. Unemployed and living on disability for back injuries. Woodrow got in trouble as a teenager for abusing household pets. At twenty, he was a person of interest in the arson of a hunting lodge in the woods. Three times in the past ten years, he has been arrested for aggravated assault, disorderly conduct, obstruction and resisting. Yet, no charges were filed and the cases were dropped with mere warnings."
In the backglow from the car's dashboard, Jin's intriguing face grew tauter. "I agree he seems a likely suspect. Why is he not in chains?"
"The Chief of Police is Bernard Woodrow. Thomas' uncle."
That drew an outraged snort. "There is corruption everywhere! Humans, Melgarin, Gelydrim... no Race is pure. I would wager much that even the Eldanarin have some sort of bribery and graft."
"I would not be surprised," Josef said. "Both of the town judges seem a little too cozy with Woodrow. There were some appeals to higher courts that got dismissed."sa
"But now WE are here," the Gelydra said low. "We serve not laws, but justice. Josef, I till can not understand the change you went through."
"You mean my vow against killing?"
"That's exactly what I mean. It makes no sense. You were a Blind Archer! They are the most feared assassins in the Midnight War, more than the White Web or the Night Gorillas or Furious Buddha. I know you have slain hundreds in your career, but one morning you woke up and said you were through. Why?"
Josef took a moment before replying. "Like you said, one morning I woke up. Everything seemed as clear as if a red haze had lifted. There was no decision to be made. I decided to take no more lives."
"I don't understand, I just don't. We KNOW the men we hunt are killers. There is no chance of us taking an innocent life by mistake. Is that what you're worried about?"
"Jin," said the Blind Archer gently, "You don't have to understand. It may never make sense to you, okay? I just ask that you accept it."
The Gelydra woman made her harsh voice as mild as she could. "Very well, Josef. I owe you that much at the very least. But I do hope any excuse allows me to send this killer's head rolling over the ground."
They came by a sign YOU ARE NOW ENTERING PENNSYLVANIA- WELCOME TO THE KEYSTONE STATE. Josef slowed and pointed at it.
"I know your country America is made of different States," Jin answered. "In Ulgor, we call them provinces, each with a Duke ruling under our King. How does that matter?"
"That is where I think our target has made his worst mistake." Josef sped up again.
VII.
When Tommy the Gloom stopped next to the old three story house on the corner of Shufeldt Street and honked the horn twice, he was amused to see Hungry Hank immediately squeeze out the front door and waddle across the sidewalk toward him. Well over three hundred pounds st only five feet eleven, Hank Carfagno was a shapeless mass in the biggest shirt and sweatpants made. He had sliced open the sides of his sneakers with a razor blade to let the flesh of his feet ooze out. Untrimmed blond hair hung in his face and covered his eyes like a sheepdog's.
They weren't exactly friends. More like acquaintances with a common interest.
When Hungry Hank got into the passenger seat, Tommy felt his car sink down. This guy was hell on the suspension, he thought. "Hope you didn't have a big lunch."
"Me? Nah. I been restless all day. I was gonna call you to see if there was any good news."
The only time Tommy the Gloom laughed was when talking about their secret. "Heh. Maybe something you'll like. You might have to wait while I have some fun with it first."
Hungry Hank shrugged. "Not a problem, bro. Preheating the oven, doing some carving and trimming, all that takes a while. Remember that tiny one?"
"The little one with red hair? Yeah, she couldn't have been more than thirteen."
"Wasn't much meat on that one but at least she was fresh. It's like grilling trout, you know? I can't cook in my rooms. The landlord leaves me alone but he doesn't allow evem a hot plate."
As they headed out of town, Tommy the Gloom said, "Maybe we could stop and pick up a bottle of wine, hey?"
"Red wine!" laughed Hungry Hank. "White wine is for fish."
VIII.
After spotting the house, Josef went another mile and pulled over under a huge Catalpa tree by the side of the ride. There were long stretches of undeveloped land in this area.
As Demrak Jin got out on her side, the Blind Archer reached into the back seat and pulled out his gear.
The quiver was disguised to look like a hiking knapsack with a Velcro flap at the top that gave access to the arrows. Bent across the top was a device that he detached and snapped open to form a full-length longbow. "I still dislike this gadget," he grumbled. "Give me a traditional yew bow I have carved and tempered myself."
The Gelydra woman was strapping her own weapon of choice across her back, a bone-bladed knife three feet long in a sheath of walrus ivory. "Trick arrows tonight?"
"I'm bringing a mixture," Josef answered as he locked the car. "Four have simple hunting points. A few have the tear gas bulbs, three have blunt hard rubber balls on the end. One has a contact flare, one has an explosive G-23 jelly head." He gave a faint snort of amusement. "I've got a variety of choices."
"This man deserves death!" Jin growled deep in her chest, "The blood of his victims calls out for vengeance."
"Oh, I'm not arguing with that," answered Josef. "It's just that I'm not going to be the one to execute him."
Without another word, they sprinted into the woods and were gone from sight in an instant. Not only had both of them the benefit of years of Tel Shai training in Kumundu, they had both lived hard lives where stealth and stamina had been all that had kept them alive. Even an alert sentry standing in that forest would likely have seen or heard nothing to mark their passage.
A mile later, still breathing easily after running across broken ground and over brush, the two KDF members closed in on the back of a small run-down white house with a tile roof. They saw the oil fuel tank and electric meter at the rear. Not a single light was on.
Slowing his breathing, closing his eyes, Josef Jubilec extended his perception. The Blind Archers of Chujir were not literally blind. They covered their eyes in battle so mystic senses locked on the lifeforces of their enemies. Darkness, fog, heavy rain or snow... nothing deterred them. They seldom missed.
"Nothing living in there," he whispered. "Not even a field mouse." He crept across the lawn and paused by a rear door. Both of them pulled on black latex gloves before finding the door was unlocked. "We need to leave no signs we were in here.'
"Surface world laws are another thing that make no sense to me," she mumbled.
That made Josef laugh. "I don't understand a lot of them myself, to be honest." Still holding his bow in his left hand, he took a pencil flashlight from his jacket and adjuste it to play an intense beam no thicker than a thread over a short hallway with an open door on either side.
To the left was a bathroom, with a hamper overflowing with stale-smelling clothing. The shower curtain was open and the toilet lid up. Nothing showed other than a lack of scrubbing. The medicine cabinet showed nothing more suspicious than mouthwash, band-aids, hydrogen peroxide and toothpaste.
Demrak Jin turned away and went to peer into the other door. A low furious snarl escaped her. A chair, desk and lamp were the only furniture. In the thin beam of light, they saw four pairs of panties thumbtacked to the wall over the desk. Long locks of hair of different colors and textures were tied to a wooden board. Two cardboard boxes held an assortment of cell phones, sunglasses and wallets.
"A trophy room," the Gelydra woman said in a tone that would frighten a tiger.
Leaning his bow against the wall for a second, Josef tapped the side of his Link. "I'm signaling 21 Black."
"We don't need them." Jin spun and marched out to head into the living room. A big flatscreen TV faced a broken down couch, a low coffee table and two recliner chairs. Not much space was clear of crumpled newspapers, wadded up clothing, paper plates and red Solo cups and a pile of unopened mail. An empty pizza box took up most of the coffee table top.
To the right were narrow stairs leading up to a trap door. Probably the bedroom. They skipped that for the moment and walked through an open doorway into a kitchen that reeked of stale grease. The white enameled sink was filled with dirty dishes and silverware. The waist high cabinet top held boxes of junk food... donuts, potato chips, empty fast food wrappers. In one corner was a bin holding dozens of beer bottles. The oven and gas stove top alone had no debris on them.
Demrak Jin opened the top half of the refrigerator and looked into the freezer for a second before turning to her partner. "I smell Human flesh," she said.
It was true. Jammed to the point where the door could hardly close, the freezer was packed with tightly wrapped chunks of meat, intestines, organs. Two complete hands showed clearly. Josef closed the compartment and exhaled sharply. With all he had seen in a long violent career, he was still capable of being shocked.
Then his head snapped up "Someone's coming. More than one lifeforce."
Demrak Jin reached for the front door next to her. "I will try not to kill them. Right away."
"I'm going to circle around the back of the house," Josef said, striding into the living room. "I'll be to your left."
IX.
"This is going to be a party," laughed Hungry Hank. "You ever wash your saucepan?"
"Ehhh, I wiped it out with wet paper towels. Good enough. Home again." Tommy the Gloom stopped twenty feet away from his front door where the dirt road ended. He left the cr running so they'd have light to see by. Two cheap white plastic chairs stood by the front of his house, and scattered around were a folded stepladder, a stool with a porcelain basin full of rainwater, a few paint cans and a broken hummingbird feeder on its side.
Tommy hustled out and went to the rear of his car to unlock the trunk. The woman was moaning and visibly breathing. Good. They were better when warm. His grin was so wide his cheeks hurt. As he bent to lift her, Tommy jerked upright at hearing Hungry Hank yell.
"Who are you? What do you think you're doing here?" the fat man roared. He was digging in the right pocket of his sweatpants.
Standing in the glare of the headlights was a short thin woman in a tight grey outfit. Her stiff hair was white but she seemed to be about thirty years old. Something in her stance, feet well apart, fists down by her sides, showed a total lack of fear.
"I am what you deserve," she said quietly.
"You a cop? Tell me if you're a cop!" screamed Hungry Hank.
"I am much worse." Jin took two deliberate steps toward the huge man.
In an instant, Hungry Hank swung up his arm with a cheap Glock 19 in his grip. Even as his arm extended, a slim three foot wooden shaft slid between the bones of his wrist. The arrow remained protruding on both sides. Hungry Hank didn't seem to feel the pain for a second, but then he screamed like a child.
Demrak Jin blurred forward and easily leaped up head high. Her tight fist swung up by her own ear and cracked down where Hungry Hank's head joined his neck. The brute fell straight down as if electrocuted. The Gelydran crouched over him, trembling with the effort not to draw her blade.
Tommy the Gloom wasn't thinking coherently. He saw an arrow zip through Hank's arm and then he saw that weird woman jump up and strike him down with a noise like a whip cracking. That was all he needed to see. Blind terror spun him around to begin running aimlessly as fast as he could. He could only covered two feet before something like a rok hit him in the center of his chest harder than any heavyweight boxer's punch. The breath was driven entirely out of his lungs. As he swayed drunkenly, trying to keep upright, another blow just above his ear made lights flash before his eyes as he fell senseless to the ground. The arrows with the hard rubber bulbs lay next to him.
Lowering his bow, Josef rushed over to the open trunk and examined the bound woman inside. "Her lifeforce is strong," he said. "A slight concussion. I am no doctor, but I think with medical treatment, she will be all right. She is conscious now but dazed."
Jin had come over to join him. She looked down at the prisoner. "Won't the FBI team bring a few medics?"
"Yes. Department 21 Black does, at any rate. They have an unmarked van which is as fully equipped as an ambulance. I signaled them from inside the house, so they should be here in maybe fifteen or twenty minutes."
"We should tie these killers up securely," she replied, giving the senseless Tommy a none too gentle nudge with her boot. "I suppose removing your arrow from that fat one's wrist would be a good idea, too. Less evidence for 21 Black to overlook."
Josef picked up the two blunt headed arrows and returned them to his quiver. "Officially, you and I were never here. 21 Black will report they received an anonymous phone call and once they arrived on this scene, there was more than enough evidence to justify searching the house. I think the prisoner will testify, too. With a federal agency in charge, the chief of police won't be able to cover anything up. He might end up on charges himself."
"As he should." Demrak Jin watched as Josef began to remove the arrow from the stunned Hungry Hank's wrist. She folded both arms across her flat chest and tapped a foot. "I let this one live. I was curious to see why you spare life the way you do."
"And?"
"It's like holding back a sneeze. I don't like it."
10/18/2024
no subject
Date: 2024-10-18 08:13 pm (UTC)"Wasn't much meat on that one but at least she was fresh. It's like grilling trout, you know? I can't cook in my rooms. The landlord leaves me alone but he doesn't allow evem a hot plate."
As they headed out of town, Tommy the Gloom said, "Maybe we could stop and pick up a bottle of wine, hey?"
"Red wine!" laughed Hungry Hank. "White wine is for fish."
If this was ironic foreshadowing of exactly who would be their undoing, well played! When KDF shows up, fish guts you (or at least is barely persuaded against it.)
Not long ago, I watched a handful of Korean horror films that hit me like a rock between the eyes (I SAW THE DEVIL, THE MAN FROM NOWHERE and OLDBOY), so this story is also a way to get some of that energy out of my head.
I’ve noticed that Korea seems to hold that Everything’s Better With Ghosts; I’ve seen ghost soap operas, ghost romances, ghost sitcoms, ghost period dramas, and ghost police procedurals.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-18 09:11 pm (UTC)Asian movie ghosts have quite a different air to them than Western ghosts. It seems The violence in Korean revenge movies is really over the top. After watching a few of them, I've had enough for a little while.
I remember you recommended THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE WEIRD years ago and I still haven't watched it. But I seem to be in a more receptive mood lately so I will give it a shot.
Always glad to hear from you!
no subject
Date: 2024-10-18 09:29 pm (UTC)I saw what you did there, too.
It occurs to me that, in inland boondocks not cosmopolitan enough to have sashimi but where hunting and freshwater fishing supplies are available, Demrak Jin might be able to avail herself of the bait fridge, and who’s going to be eating it is on a need-to-know basis.
(We don’t want the next hot topic at the Gossip Fence to be how Jolene sold a packet of brine shrimp to some foreign punk lady who chugged it.)
no subject
Date: 2024-10-18 11:27 pm (UTC)Oh, very good point about sushi and sashimi. After the first few months with the KDF, they should have introduced her to those dishes. None of my characters are Vegans or vegetarians, as far as I know. Maybe Carlo will become one as he becomes more mystical. (I honestly can't say that one of my friends who is Vegan is wrong about it, and I can't really defending eaten meat. I'm just not going to change.)