Dark Side Darker (34 page)

Josh cut him off, speaking without thinking. “The dealers we’re looking for aren’t even human!”

Ian sighed. He was too tired for this kind of crap. He spoke to Josh like a patient parent speaking to an errant child. “The dealers
you
spoke to
were
. Didn’t this Carthy of yours say something about them being puppets? I think these
people
, have taken over the whole of Heath’s organisation in the same way.” He paused then added. “After seeing what they did to you I can believe anything.”

“So the whole lot of them would be puppets?”

“It makes sense if you think about it. They make use of already existing connections and networks and all without attracting any attention directly to themselves.”

Josh shook his head. “You’re speculating though, right?”

Ian laughed gruffly. “Maybe, but I don’t think so. They found a number of Heath’s boys dead with ‘self-inflicted’ wounds. Short of a suicide pact, I don’t see what else it could mean. Besides, something didn’t sit right with the whole story. Just didn’t sound like the normal drug bollocks.”

“Speaking of which,” said Rufus. “Can I roll a spliff?”

Ian looked at him. “Not in my house lad. Drugs are just slow suicide in small doses.”

“What about our friends outside? What are we going to do about them?” Josh asked.

The only noise was the fax machine’s whirling.

“Ian?”

“I’m still working on that,” he said after awhile. He pulled the finished sheet from the machine. “Right let’s see what we got—a number of restaurants, launderettes...
a warehouse over
...”

“That’s it!” Josh snapped into life. “I’ve seen it! That’s it.”

Ian looked at him mildly baffled. “How do you know?”

“Well, I saw it in a dream. I’m not sure when but I know that’s it!”

“You’re sure?”

“As much as I can be. Seriously. I saw it, it was full of cages.”

Ian laughed. “Cages? Full of what?”

Josh paused. “Weird shit probably.”

“Hmmm,” said Ian, studying the sheet he held in is hand. “Well, in that case I guess we check it out.”

“What about the guard?” asked Karen.

Something Josh couldn’t identify flashed into his mind’s eye and left him with a question. “
Do you have a gun, detective?
”

Ian looked up, blue light from the room’s computer lighting his face.

Rufus snorted. “What’s with the ‘detective’ crap?”

Josh seemed mildly stunned. “Huh? I was just asking a question. Do you Ian?”

Ian paused. “Actually, yes.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Karen. “I don’t know if
that’s
the...”

She was interrupted by Rufus. “Fuck them! They shot at us first!”

“Ian?” Said Josh

“I’m thinking. The trouble this will get me into is beyond measure.” He paused, looking inward. “It will probably mean an end to my time on the force
but
...”

“
But
,” repeated Josh.

“But I don’t take kindly to having an armed guard on my house. And that’s the least of it. I’ve been royally fucked on this one! No answers, told to keep quiet, while all the time going out of my fucking mind looking for some kind of answer. No, fuck them. In truth I’m doing this for me. I
need
to know what I saw!” His voice had rose steadily the whole time he had spoke, till he was almost shouting. Now he looked back up, determination burning in his eyes. “Get ready to go. I’m going to get the gun.”

MR JACK

“STAY HERE,” IAN SAID and flung open the front door. Even as he was walking down the path the car’s window was winding down. As he reached the car he simply smiled and thrust the gun into the driver’s face. He was visibly stunned.

“Get the fuck out the car!” Ian growled.

“Jesus mate,” stammered the driver. “I don’t think you’ve thought this through!”

Ian ignored him. “Josh, Karen,” Ian called without taking his eyes from the driver. “Come on, we’re going for a ride.”

The driver had instinctively raised his hands above his head.

There was a gleam in Ian’s eyes he didn’t like. “Really mate, you need to think this through.”

“Shut the fuck up, you cunt,” Ian snarled. Behind him Josh, Rufus and Karen shuffled into the street.

“Look, it’s Ian right? Look this isn’t going to help. It’s just going...”

“If you speak again, I’m going to shoot you. Okay?”

The man nodded silently.

“Good. Now give me your phone and whatever means you have of contacting you superiors.”

“I only have a phone and the intercoms in the car.”

“Well, give me your phone then.”

Rufus, Karen and Josh reached the car just as the man was passing Ian the phone. Without another word Ian dropped it into the drain at his feet.

The man grimaced “Oh god, not my phone.”

“Just shut up and get out of the car,” Ian said abruptly.

“Is this really wise?” Karen asked quietly from behind.

“Fuck wise!” mumbled Rufus.

Steadily the young suit stepped out of the car and again put his hands in the air.

Ian kept the gun on him. “Okay, everyone in the car.”

Saying little, the three friends got into the large car. In the back Rufus stretched out, admiring the white leather interior. “Now this is living,” he said.

Outside Ian gestured to the pavement with his gun. “Okay, get on the ground and put your hands behind your head.”

“You serious?”

“Deadly!”

“Okay, okay,” the man said and began lowering himself to the pavement.

Once he was lying face-down, Ian opened the car’s door. He checked the keys were in the ignition and then spoke to him again. “Okay, we’re going for a little drive now. If you get up before we’re gone I’m going to shoot you. Understand?”

“Yeah, yeah,” the man mumbled.

Ian started up the big engine and they roared away.

“Man that was cool!” Rufus said, looking back at the prone figure of the man from the back window.

“I can’t
believe
I just did that,” mumbled Ian.

“What choice did they leave you?” asked Karen seriously.

Ian hit the steering wheel in frustration. “Damn it!! This means the end of my time on the force for sure. I can’t
believe
I did it. Jesus!
It barely seemed like me
!”

Josh was hardly listening. “Were we right to leave Sarah? Will she be alright?”

“I don’t see we could have done much for her,” said Rufus.

“Besides,” added Ian. “If we do find your dealers and Carthy was right, they’re the only people who have the cure anyway.”

“What if she gets worse though? Besides I’m not sure if he was lying.”

“We can’t go back now anyway, so it’s a moot point,” snapped Karen, after which there followed a period of silence broken only by Ian again mumbling. “Damn, I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

After this they drove on in silence.

THE SITE

“WE’VE GOT MOVEMENT. It, it looks like one of our cars?”

The man was standing at the window of a large abandoned dusty building. Beside him there sat an expensive digital camera with a top of the line zoom on a tripod. Behind him, another younger suit sat at an old wooden desk wearing a pair of earphones and listening to a hyper-sensitive sound mic aimed at the warehouse opposite. He looked up at his partner with intrigue.

Around the room a series of runes had been carefully drawn with chalk and both agents stood inside drawn circles marked with similar figures and designs. Around the room, a series of what looked like dreamcatchers hung from the warping ceiling. Lastly, complicated talismans hung around the necks of the two men. As an extra precaution they kept their minds largely blank, in deep meditation as they had been trained to do.

The first agent stood with the whole of his attention fixed on the phone he held. On the other end there was only silence.

“Sir?”

“It’s that damn detective,” came the reply. “The man outside his house just called in on a public phone. The detective
was
holding the students and they stole our man’s car.”

“But how did they know to come here?”

“That’s not important right now. Both of you get down there now and for God’s sake don’t let them reach the warehouse. If they alert the others to our presence before the Casendrull’s arrive we may never find them again. Remember the detective’s armed, but don’t shoot them unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“Understood.”

“WELL THIS IS IT,” said Ian as he pulled the car to the curb.

“It looks deserted,” said Karen looking at the unlit, decaying building which stood beyond a rusty chain-link fence.

“What should we do now?” asked Rufus.

“Well, we could just ask them for the cure,” quipped Josh.

“No, I’m serious,” said Rufus. “These guys have some serious powers! They possessed you from somewhere else in the city. Shit, who knows, maybe they even know we’re here now. Maybe they brought us here!”

“You’re getting too paranoid Rufus. I think you should give the weed a rest.”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” said Ian. “Well, I guess we check it out.”

“What if they’re here?” asked Rufus. “We can’t take these guys!”

“I’ve got a gun,” said Ian.

“
So what
? you’ll probably end up shooting yourself, or
us
.”

The car fell into silence, broken only by Ian speaking all their minds.

“He’s right! We’re totally out of our league here!”

Josh could think only of Sarah. “But we’ve got to do something!”

“Yeah, but what?” asked Rufus.

Ian never got time to answer as there came a tap on the window. They all turned to see a gun pressed against the glass. “Oh shit!” said Rufus. “Not again,” mumbled Josh. Ian slowly raised his hands into the air. “Look, everyone just stay calm.”

The suit outside mouthed for them to get out of the car. His partner had moved to the opposite side of the car now and was also fixing them with his gun.

Slowly Ian opened his door.

“Okay everybody out! Anyone who gives us any resistance gets a bullet between the eyes, understand?”

“We’re not going to be any trouble,” said Ian calmly.

“
Do you have any idea of what you’ve got yourselves into
??” asked suit number two and then quickly added, “Come on, come on, everyone out! Before we’re seen. God if they sense us now...”

Quietly and under gunpoint the group assembled outside the car. Suit number two quickly frisked Ian and removed the gun from his jacket-pocket.

“What should we do with them?” he asked.

“You take the car and park it out of sight. I’ll take them to the surveillance building and contact HQ. I suspect they’ll want one of us to bring them in.”

“Right. The keys sir?”

“They’re in the ignition,” Ian told him.

The first man nodded. “Right, everyone in front of me. We’re heading to the doorway of that building over there. No one runs, speaks or makes a move unless I tell them. I don’t want to shoot you, but believe me I won’t hesitate if I have to!”

As they walked, the car behind them pulled away and headed quietly up the darkened street.

They reached a small set of concrete steps, and after climbing them Josh paused at the graffiti covered door.

“Go on then! Get inside,” the suit said anxiously.

“You didn’t tell me to,” Josh sneered.

The man had to swallow his anger. “I’m telling you now! Get the fuck inside!”

The door swung open on a darkened hallway with an old set of wooden stairs leading up into blackness. The man shut the door and flicked a switch on the wall. A dim dirt-covered bulb flickered into life.

“Okay everyone, hands on your heads and move up the far end of the hall,” he fixed Josh with a hard glare. “And no one fucks about, right?”

“We’re not going to give you any trouble,” Ian said again.

The man quickly pressed a button on his phone, and while keeping the gun on them put it to his ear. He waited.

“Yeah, it’s me. We’ve got them, yeah those runaway kids and the fool detective like you thought.” He paused. “I don’t think so, sir. There wasn’t any visible signs. But let’s be honest, it’s hard to say— yes I agree this is the worst time for it. What do you want done?”

The man on the other end, the same man who had earlier spoke to Ian on his doorstep, hesitated only for a millisecond. “You bring them in. you should be able to handle them. Have Harrow stay and continue to monitor the site. I don’t want to lose them now the creatures have become more active. Although I dare say the very people you have there are the same ones who stirred them up in the first place. Fucking fools.”

“Understood, sir.” He turned a steely gaze on his prisoners. “Do have any idea of what you’re involved in? Do you actually realise how much danger you’ve put yourselves in? Jesus if they’ve sensed us...” He fell silent.

“Jesus!” he said to himself and then continued, almost as an afterthought. “How the hell did you find this place anyway?”

No one spoke.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said largely to himself. “We’d assumed there was a leak at the station when someone, presumably you, had talked to the university’s Dean before us.”