They clambered into the van, which took off with a screech toward the checkpoint into human-controlled Boston.
Sykes, standing in front of Creature Comforts like a giant abandoned child, stared after the vehicle. I walked over to him. “That was gutsy.”
I was thinking about Daniel’s comment that he was lucky to keep his job after helping me rescue Maria. And that incident had been hushed up. Not only was Sykes going public with T.J.’s killing, he’d effectively sent a team of reporters to camp out on Commissioner Hampson’s doorstep until they got some answers. Definitely gutsy.
“I sounded like an idiot.”
“No, you—”
“I
did
, damn it. I rehearsed all evening, but when those lights went on I managed to act like some kind of inarticulate, shambling brain-muncher straight out of a horror film.”
“Don’t worry about it, Sykes. Lynne Hong can be tough. How come you contacted her?”
“I wanted someone mainstream. The norms don’t watch PNN. They don’t read
News of the Dead
. Hong wanted an exclusive, which made me think she’d take the story seriously.” He looked at me doubtfully.
“Oh, I think she’s taking it seriously. Did you hear where they’re going? To ambush Hampson at home.”
“Good.” His face didn’t look glad. “How’s she going to play it, I wonder: focus on a dead nobody zombie or on a commissioner who looks like he’s hiding something?”
I didn’t say anything. We both knew the answer.
Sykes pounded a fist into his hand. “I couldn’t stand by and do nothing. I became a cop to protect people. That kid’s dead. Who’s going to speak for him now?” He shook his head. “I tried. I did a lousy job, but at least I tried.”
“You did a good thing, Sykes.”
“Maybe,” he said, his eyes distant. Then he shook himself. “I’d better go. I’ve got stuff to do before my shift.” He headed toward the Deadtown checkpoint, then stopped and turned around. “If I still have a job after the eleven o’clock news.”
I watched him walk down the empty street. Somewhere, a crow cawed. It was a bleak sound, like the cry of the last living creature in a blasted landscape.
I shook off the lonely feeling and turned toward Creature Comforts. Although Deadtown came to life when the sun went down, it’d be a few hours before things started hopping in the Zone. Still, Axel would be getting ready to open. With T.J. gone, he could probably use some help—and some company, whether he’d admit it or not.
But tacked to the door was a sign I hadn’t seen with Sykes standing there. Hand-lettered in black marker on a piece of brown cardboard, it read CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
I knocked on the door. I went into the alley behind the bar and rang the back doorbell. No response. I peered through the barred windows, but inside, all was dark and silent.
Nothing to do but drive over to the Fenway. I wasn’t hungry, but I’d stop somewhere and get a bite to eat to kill time before I had to be at the job site. As I got into the Jag, I wished I’d met Daniel after all, if for no other reason than the warm touch of his hand.
Instead, I got a chill as the crow cawed again. It sounded like desolation, like heartache, like a hunger for things forever gone. I shivered. Then I started my car and drove into the darkness.
9
MY CLIENT, TYLER BOSKIRK, LIVED ALONE IN A ONE-BEDROOM condo on Peterborough Street. Tyler was an MBA with a stalled career who suffered from anxiety dreams. The poor guy was stuck in a vicious circle. Every night, he’d lie in bed, worrying himself to a frazzle about his job. When he fell asleep, that anxiety spilled over into his dreams. In the morning, he was exhausted and even more anxious—which didn’t do a whole lot for his job performance.
“The dream always begins the same way.” Tyler sat propped against pillows in his queen-sized bed, wearing blue-and-white-striped pajamas. He was clean-cut, with short brown hair. I’d guess he was in his mid-thirties, but with his starting-to-droop jowls and receding hairline, his fifty-year-old face was already beginning to show. As he spoke, he twisted his monogrammed sheet in his hands. “I dream I have to give a presentation. But from the moment I walk into the conference room, everything goes wrong.”
“What typically happens?” I shifted in the hard wooden chair I’d carried in from the dining room.
“Um. I don’t know. Different things.” His face flushed scarlet. He looked at the sheet he was strangling in his fist, then smoothed it over his lap. “I’m not prepared. The equipment I need isn’t there. Or if it is, it won’t work. Or the room is empty and I realize I got the time wrong. Or, you know, other things …” He shuddered as his voice trailed off. “Whatever happens, though, I wake up in a cold sweat. My heart’s pounding, and I can’t get back to sleep.”
“Well, tonight you’re going to sleep like a baby safe in Mama’s arms.” I smiled reassuringly as I handed him the magically charged sleeping pill I dispense to keep clients slumbering through the extermination.
He gave me a funny look as he took the pill and picked up a water glass from his nightstand. He washed down the pill and set the glass back in place. “She dropped me,” he said.
I raised my eyebrows.
“My mother. When I was a baby. She dropped me on my head.” He lay back on the pillows. “I’m still working through it with my therapist.”
“Sorry. I didn’t know.” Guess I’d have to cut that line from my patter.
He yawned, his eyelids already drooping. “ ’S okay.”
The pill was hitting him fast—the magic sometimes did that—so I hurried to finish explaining my procedure. I took the dream-portal generator from my duffel bag and plugged it in. When I touched the On button, it hummed to life, sending a rainbow-hued beam of sparkling light into the room.
“This portal allows me to enter your dream. Like a door, it works both ways—it gets me into your dream and back out again. But it’s password-protected, so you don’t have to worry about any demons escaping from your dreamscape into your waking world.”
“Mmm-hmm.” Tyler punched his pillow and turned onto his side.
“This device,” I said, holding it out, “is an InDetect. It helps me locate demons. I’ve set it to
Inimicus somniorum
—that’s the fancy name for dream-demons, or Drudes. I won’t leave your dreamscape until I’ve exterminated all Drudes hiding in there.” I looped the InDetect’s cord around my neck.
“ ’ Kay.”
“Stay with me one more minute, Tyler. This is what I use to kill Drudes.” I pulled my pistol from the bag and checked the clip. “It’s loaded with bronze bullets. Bronze kills demons. I’m showing it to you now because I don’t want you to be alarmed if you see me firing a gun in your dream. It can’t hurt you in there. Understand?”
Tyler answered with a gentle snore. I’d take that as a yes.
I stuck an extra clip in my pocket and stood up. Whispering the password and holding my gun ready, I stepped into the dream portal’s sparkling beam. Immediately, I got that fizzy feeling in my veins, like all my blood had turned to club soda. Tyler’s bedroom faded and ran like a watercolor in the rain. The lights of the portal grew brighter, their colors more intense. Wind roared in my ears. I squinted against the flashing, swirling colors. Then the wind stopped abruptly, and I found myself in a conference room.
A dozen executive chairs surrounded a long, polished table. Oil portraits of wealthy stuffed-suit types hung along one wall. The opposite wall was floor-to-ceiling windows. The room was empty except for me. I switched on the InDetect and held it out, turning in a slow circle to check for hidden Drudes. Not a click. The room was clean.
A door opened to my right, and a group of businessmen filed in. They could have stepped out of the portraits. Each one was a white guy over sixty, wearing rimless eyeglasses, a tailored suit, and a no-nonsense expression. I pointed the InDetect their way. Nothing. These weren’t Drudes; they were legitimate dream figures, drawn from Tyler’s subconscious. As they passed, each glared at me with the same scowl and made the same harrumphing sound. These guys had to be the spitting image of Tyler’s boss. Or maybe his father. I’d bet tonight’s fee on it.
They sat at the table. As if on cue, they all turned to me, but only one spoke.
“You’re not supposed to be here.”
“Of course I am. I’m here for the board meeting.”
Identical startled blinks ran around the table, but no one argued. Dream figures are a cinch to persuade. Usually, “of course” does the trick—say those words in a dream, and suddenly a bizarre situation makes perfect sense. If only it were that easy to convince people in waking life. But dreams have their own logic.
“Then take your seat.” The old man gestured impatiently.
“Thanks, but of course I’ll stand.” I had to be ready for action when a Drude showed up.
A door opened on the other side of the room. In walked Tyler, wearing nothing but an itsy-bitsy red Speedo and black patent-leather high heels. The outfit didn’t exactly flatter his paunchy physique, and his face was as bright red as the bathing suit.
The InDetect went crazy. Here was Tyler’s Drude. In a Speedo.
I switched off the InDetect before the Drude noticed its clicking. This kind of extermination was tricky. When a Drude takes on the dreamer’s form, the dreamer believes that the Drude
is
him. Right now, Tyler had a double perspective, seeing himself standing mostly naked in the boardroom and also seeing the boardroom through the Drude’s eyes. The easy route—blasting the Drude into oblivion—wouldn’t work in this situation. You’re not supposed to die in your dreams, and watching yourself get blown away can be more than a little traumatic. I wasn’t sure Tyler had been awake when I explained about the gun.
The Drude, fiddling nervously with a projector, hadn’t seen me. I holstered my pistol and slipped into a seat to look as though I belonged there. No matter that I wasn’t part of the matching set of old guys; the Drude didn’t notice. Like I said, dreams have their own logic.
“Start your presentation, Tyler,” the Bosses said in unison.
“I—I’m sorry,” said the Drude. “There’s a problem with the projector.” Out in the real world, the dreaming Tyler groaned.
The Bosses booed and threw paper airplanes at him. Tyler dodged, teetering on his heels and looking like he was going to cry.
It was clear how this Drude operated. The demon tormented Tyler through humiliation—the old “I’m naked and unprepared” dream. (As for the heels, I didn’t want to know where in my client’s psyche
that
fashion choice originated.) The more Tyler writhed with embarrassment and humiliation, the better meal the Drude was getting, feeding off his feelings.
That gave me an idea.
“Of course, it’s
awfully
hot in here,” I whispered to the Boss sitting beside me. One Boss was all it took. He pulled out a handkerchief to mop his forehead. The others followed him, using identical handkerchiefs. They all loosened their ties and unbuttoned their top buttons. A minute later, they’d taken off their suit jackets and hung them on the backs of their chairs.
That’s what I was waiting for.
Before the Drude could figure out what I was doing, I jumped up and snatched the nearest suit jacket. I ran to the front of the room and draped the jacket over Tyler’s shoulders. No more half-naked humiliation. The real Tyler, asleep in his bed, sighed with relief.
The dream-Tyler wavered and grew semi-transparent, the Drude’s true features becoming visible through the mask of Tyler’s face. Yellow eyes narrowed, a forked tongue slithered out. I’d just cut off its food supply, making this one seriously pissed-off demon.
I drew my pistol.
The Drude yowled its rage, and the last wisp of illusion disappeared. In the dream-Tyler’s place stood a fanged, clawed, scaly horror eight feet tall. Teeth gnashing, it charged me. I stepped back, bringing up the pistol and holding it steady with both hands. I fired, but the Drude leapt into the air, and I missed.
The Drude leapt again, spinning around and lashing its razor-tipped tail. I ducked, but not fast enough. The barb sliced into my cheek.
Damn, that stung.
At least it hadn’t caught my neck.
Smelling blood, the Drude went crazy. It came at me in a tornado of claws, teeth, and whipping tail. I dropped to a crouch, braced my arms, and fired.
Bull’s-eye. The bronze bullet tore through the Drude, which disintegrated into a cloud of sulfurous smoke and the fast-fading echo of a scream.
I let myself fall back and sat on the floor, breathing hard. I touched my slashed cheek; it was sticky with blood.
Around the conference table, the Bosses applauded politely.
I stood, wanting to finish the job and get out of here. I turned on the InDetect and opened the door the Drude had come through. It now opened on a brick wall, which I scanned with the InDetect. Silence. No more Drudes lurking back there. I crossed the room to the other door. No Drudes out there, either. I did one more sweep of the conference room, but Tyler’s dreamscape was clean. I’d expected that; humiliation dreams are usually caused by a single Drude. But it was a good thing Tyler called me before his fear and anxiety attracted more demons. The bigger the pod of Drudes infesting your dreams, the more terrifying your nightmares.