Blowback, p.10
Blowback, page 10
part #12 of Nathan K Series
Nathan’s stomach flipped as he shook his head.
Same as it flipped while he stared at the Barrett compound. An outdoor colonnade led off the corner of the office building to a small, unassuming house — two stories, basic design, wood porch that had been well-maintained. Though most of the house was dark, two rooms on the second floor had light peeking through the blinds. To Nathan, the structure looked as if it had been the original home for those who settled this far into the desert, and then years later, the warehouse and offices were built.
“When we get the signal,” Octavia said, “I’ll start at the left corner and work the warehouse. You go off to the right and clear the offices. If we don’t find her, we’ll meet up and take the house together.”
“Splitting up to start? When is that ever a good idea?”
“When you’re my fool of a partner who refuses to be properly prepared.”
Being prepared. Amber had talked about that when they sat in the car and waited. She smelled of hemp, incense, and cheese curls. As she munched down her snacks, she looked woefully unprepared, but to hear her say it, that was the one thing she had done right.
“Between Todd and me, I’m more of a Boy Scout. Isn’t that their motto — Be prepared? Anyway, Todd lives his life with this attitude of letting the world float you where it floats you, and I get it. Very romantic and all, but if we’re going to be taken seriously by the academics in all the universities, then we’ve got to be ready for what they’ll throw at us. You know what I’m saying?”
Listening to her prattle on, Nathan wished the prattle belonged to Robin. At least, when she spoke like this, it had a point. Even when she sidetracked, Nathan never felt overwhelmed with useless information. Or maybe it was because he knew how brilliant she was, so he tried to give her room to think aloud. Or maybe he simply cared about her and that made him accept her behaviors better. But there was a difference. Whatever magic Robin carried, it was clear that Amber lacked the same.
There was one other answer, of course. When Robin spoke on and on, Nathan did not sit next to her knowing she was there to be killed, her soul served to him like a meal. But Amber had been lured into the car for that exact purpose. Worse — he felt the emptiness within, the hunger, the blatant need for that ditzy soul.
It would be easy enough. He wouldn’t even have to leave the driver’s seat. A sharp chop across an unsuspecting neck. He had crushed plenty of tracheas since becoming an Immortal. What was one more?
With a shiver, he tried to push off those thoughts. Amber had done nothing deserving of death. If anything, she aspired to help and understand people. A kind, good-hearted person. Though naïve. He hated the idea that some Immortals sought out Amber’s type as an ideal soul.
The passenger door opened, and Octavia gestured for Amber to scoot over. As Octavia sat, Amber’s shoulder pressed against Nathan’s. Being closer, her incense-hemp aroma strengthened.
“Where’s Todd?” Amber tried to see out the back.
“He went inside. Said he forgot something.”
Amber laughed. “He forgets stuff all the time. His family treats him like he’s dumb, but really, it’s the opposite. His brain is moving so lightning fast that he skips over some of the basics. Y’know? I’m the one who makes sure he eats and sleeps and does all the things he forgets to do. It’s like this one time —”
Nathan stopped listening. Octavia glared at him, inclining her head toward Amber. The question is clear enough — Why is she still alive? Todd was gone, after all. Nathan saw the satisfied glow that filled Octavia. Flush with her second soul restored.
He had his answers for her, but no conversation about murdering Amber and Todd could happen with Amber jabbering away between them. Nathan put his hand on the door. He needed to give Amber an excuse to leave that did not cause questions. Or panic.
But as his mind raced through plausible storylines, her endless words ceased. Her brow crinkled. A light shake entered her breathing. Her focus had dropped to Octavia’s lap.
“Your hands are all wet. Is that blood?” A whimper. “Where’s Todd?”
Octavia moved like a lioness — fast and ruthless. The first punch to the chest cracked two ribs on the right side. Loud enough that Nathan heard it over Amber’s shocked screams. Confused, lost, unable to process what had happened, Amber did not fight back. Another blow — this one to the head — dazed her. Octavia then had an easy time of choking the life from her victim.
“Come now,” she said. “Look into her eyes.”
Nathan held the steering wheel with both hands and stared forward.
“You can’t let her soul go to waste.”
He refused to move. “This is not how I do things.”
“You don’t know how to do any of this properly. Now, get over here. I’d rather not make her suffer long.”
“Then let her go.”
“We both know that it’s too late for that.”
Amber regained enough of her senses to start flailing. Her feet kicked at the bottom of the dashboard and her hands weakly slapped at Octavia and Nathan.
Octavia said, “She’s almost gone. Stop being a petulant child and come take her soul.”
Nathan stayed still.
A moment later, Amber ceased struggling, ceased moving. Though he did not watch, Nathan could feel the misty soul exit her stunned eyes, slip through the car, and rise into the air. He could almost ride the soul like a magic carpet — drift with it as if it awaited him, wanted him to take it in.
“That was stupid,” Octavia said. “You wasted a perfectly useable soul, and you made her suffer terribly for it. I killed Todd fast. He had no idea what happened. You should have done the same for Amber. You’re a selfish fool.”
Gazing across the Barrett compound, Octavia shook her head. She lowered her phone. Turning toward Nathan, she looked him over.
“What?” Nathan asked.
“Maybe you shouldn’t go in there.”
“You can’t take on that entire compound yourself.”
“You only have one soul. It’s too great a risk. And before you think I care at all about you, I don’t. But that Immortal body must be preserved.”
Nathan allowed a slight grin to rise on his lips. He didn’t bother to check if she smiled as well. He knew deep inside her, she did. Not that she didn’t mean every word she had said — she valued his Immortal body more than she did him — but she clearly exaggerated when she declared no feelings towards him. Maybe not much, but they both knew that she felt something. Even if just the responsibility of a teacher to a student.
He steeped in that momentary emotion. It was warm and comforting. It kept his mind off the terrible perplexity that had twisted on Amber’s face and slowly transformed into the sorrow of knowing she was about to die and could not stop it.
He would not allow that look to fall upon Robin’s face.
“I appreciate your need to protect the Immortal side of me, but I’m not sitting back. So, here’s what I can offer — we go in, quietly, and I will take the soul of the first guard I come across.”
“You wouldn’t take a weak girl, but you’ll risk a strong guard who might fight you for control of that body? You make no sense.”
“It’s one of my charms.”
Octavia started to respond when the lights went out — all of them. The floodlights surrounding the warehouse, those few lights dotting the office building, and even the limited light peeking through the house blinds. Clockwork had delivered his part early.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Fast to her feet, Octavia checked her weapon. “New plan. I’m going down there while we have the cover of dark. You stay and monitor what you can. I’ll try to catch somebody you’ll think worthwhile and haul them back for you to take their soul. Then we can attack together.”
“That’s a horrible plan. By the time we get to actually taking on the compound, they’ll have every person armed and waiting.”
“We can’t just —”
“Yes, we can. You do as we had originally worked out. Go into the warehouse and disrupt everything possible.”
“And you?”
Nathan gazed around at the cold, empty desert. “I’ll think of something.”
“That’s not very helpful.”
“You want to doubt that I can figure this out, go right ahead. But remember that Robin is down there. Whether you like it or not, you know how I feel. I will not leave without her. Now, we’ve wasted plenty of Clockwork’s opportunity. Get going.”
He could see that part of her wanted to continue the debate until she won and part of her knew better. The practical side won out. She darted down the hill toward the compound. Nathan paused to check over Maggie — more to occupy a few seconds while he thought than to make sure Maggie was ready. That weapon was always ready.
Pacing along the car, he tried to think of the best way forward. But there was no best way. Never would be. Still, if Octavia hadn’t said anything, he would have charged down there with her and not given it too much thought. But now, he could feel the missing soul within him. Like a tortuous dream of being forever naked in public.
No. This would do no good. It certainly wouldn’t help Robin.
He halted and his gaze fell upon the car. Charge ahead? Absolutely not such a bad idea after all.
Keeping the headlights off, he turned back through the desert until he found the poor excuse for a road. It wound down the hill and straight to the compound’s main gate. The moon provided a sliver of light to drive by. Not enough to avoid all the divots and bumps but enough to keep from leaving the road and destroying the undercarriage on the hazardous ground. Even speeding faster than he thought sensible, Octavia would be over the fence and starting her run on the warehouse by the time he reached the gate. He didn’t know if she would appreciate the diversion he planned to cause, but they were Immortals — give it fifty or so years and she might come around.
The uneven road jostled the car. He held the wheel tighter and accelerated more. The engine strained, but Nathan did not stop.
Up ahead, under the dead halcyon lights of the perimeter fencing, a guard with a clipboard and flashlight stood out of a small shack. He stared up at the lost lighting as if he could figure out what happened without any further effort. Nathan popped on his headlights and flicked the brights up. The guard had time to turn and shade his eyes, but nothing more.
Nathan plowed right into him. Through the gate, too. Back corner clipped the gatehouse shack, and the suffering car gave up. The tire blew out as the engine steamed over. Nathan went spinning, creating thick plumes of white-gray smoke that looked silver-blue in the moonlight. Any chance of getting the guard’s soul disappeared as it melded with that smoke.
Coughing, Nathan kicked open the door and rolled onto the pavement. He could hear a few thick voices barking commands and several heavy boots rushing into position. So far, no alarms, though. They were more confused than concerned, and those in charge certainly did not want to create a major incident, one that would draw the attention of any Barrett brother, if the problem was merely a drunk driver. But soon they would know. The alarms would come.
Staying low, Nathan scurried to the back of the car. Nobody shot at him. Good. Confusion and caution still ruled the moment.
He heard murmured voices and slow footsteps. From the distinct metallic clicks, they were armed. Sounded like two, maybe three, approached. A smattering of flashlights spotlighted the car.
The corner of the office building beckoned him from roughly forty feet away. If he ran for it, the limited light might save him from being killed, but a lucky shot could wound him. A terribly lucky shot could take him down. Forty feet might as well have been forty miles.
Nathan eased out Maggie. Best plan he had — dispose of the two or three investigating the car and then Hail Mary run for the office entrance. Wherever it was.
A blaze of gunfire erupted. But in the distance. Muted by the warehouse walls.
Octavia.
The person in charge groused several new orders, and the entire team hustled back to aid in the fight against the lunatics attacking the compound — well, only two lunatics, but Barrett’s men didn’t know that. Yet.
Nathan listened for fifteen seconds — an eternity — but he had to be sure nobody had remained by the car. As the rattling of gunfire intensified, it created a clear picture in his mind. He heard the ebb and flow of the battle. Octavia had to stay on the move, and in doing so, she furthered the uncertainty about her numbers. Soon, her enemies would figure out they only faced a small group, but they would not assume it was one person. And they would pay a hefty toll for even that limited information.
But Nathan heard only the battle. No other footsteps. No sign of someone rooting about nearby.
He poked his head up from behind the car. A quick scan — nobody. Of course not. Octavia could hold her own. Especially inside a darkened warehouse filled with a maze of crates, palettes, and heavy equipment.
Keeping low, Nathan dashed across that short distance to the office and pressed against the wall. When nobody shot at him, he slid along until he found a door. Unlocked. Within a fenced and guarded compound sitting in the desert — why would they bother locking it? He slipped inside.
It was a side entrance that opened to a long hall of office space. Just doors lining both sides. At least, Nathan assumed he saw that much. Too dark to be certain. With a hand brushing the wall for guidance, he hustled along, looking for a stairwell.
He kept his ears alert for voices. Back on the hill, he had seen the lit rooms and remembered the pattern well — two on the top floor, one on the second floor, and four on the first. He planned to start at the bottom and work his way up, using the stairwell as a homebase since he would need it to get anywhere.
When his hand touched a heavy wood door instead of the cheap, thin office doors he had been passing by, he knew he had something. Could be a janitorial closet, though. He checked — perfect. Concrete stairwell with metal handrails.
A scream came from above. A woman’s scream. Nathan had no idea if it belonged to Robin. He had heard her scream before, but at this distance, with this much obstruction, he couldn’t tell.
He also couldn’t wait.
He blazed up to the second-floor landing, cracked open the heavy door, and listened.
The scream came again. Another floor up. He leaped up the stairs, burst into the hall, and rushed toward the rooms that corresponded with the lights he had seen from the hill.
Kicking open the office door, he came into a wide room set up like a cheap call center filled with two long tables, dozens of computers, and thick wires snaking everywhere. Two armed men stood guard halfway in the room. A thick man hunched over a young woman on one of the tables.
The guards had enough time to look startled at Nathan’s arrival. Then they looked startled at the bullets lodged in their hearts. They both fell, and as their souls misted away, Nathan leaped forward to capture one of them. But the big man had pushed off his victim and turned. One look and Nathan halted.
This man had to be one of Jake Barrett’s brothers.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Octavia’s battle escalated outside, and the spurts of gunfire blended with the bark of orders. Nathan doubted anybody outside the building heard him dispatch the guards. And if anybody inside heard, they all would know not to disturb one of the bosses. Turning a blind eye and a deaf ear were essential skills to survival in a place like this.
“What is this crap? Who are you?” the Barrett brother said, never looking away from Nathan and Maggie. Like Jake Barrett, this man was large but not nearly as fit. Rather than Jake’s broken flat nose, this Barrett had a pronounced beak, reddened by too much drink. Whisps of his remaining hair floated off at odd angles, and his fine suit — tan like his brother’s — had wrinkles as well as a slight tear in the shoulder. A pale imitation of Jake.
Tilting his head, Nathan motioned for the girl to run. She had no objections. Barrett watched her go with clear longing like a high schooler’s crush.
“Which brother are you?” Nathan said. “Robert or Clay?”
Snorting like a riled bull, Barrett said, “What about Jake? Huh? Why couldn’t I be —”
“I’ve met him.” Nathan stopped short of pointing out the difference in noses. This Barrett’s words had been delivered with a growl, and while that gave them a threatening feel, Nathan thought the words themselves betrayed something quite different. Either jealousy or infighting. Maybe simple insecurity. He wondered how he could use that. “Jake brought two people in earlier today. A black woman and a German man. Where are they?”
“Get stuffed.”
“Not a smart thing to say to a man with a weapon pointed at you. Maybe that’s what Jake meant. He said something about only one of his brothers having any brains.”
“Clay and Jake is both just as much a bogan as anybody. And I’ll tell you —”
“So, you’re Robert. If you’re the smart one, then tell me where my friends are.”
“Or what?”
Nathan bit back a snide remark. Robert’s question did not ignore Maggie from bravado. It sounded sincere. As if he truly didn’t understand the threat. Maybe living the life of a crime boss taught him that nobody ever pulled the trigger on a Barrett.
Lowering his weapon, Nathan shot a hole through Barrett’s foot.
Robert shouted, hopping around, leaving splotches of blood on the carpet, and spewing curses to rivel the most vigorous drill sergeant. Nathan strolled forward. He pressed Maggie against Robert’s neck.
“You’re going to take me to my friends. Now.”
“I-I don’t know —”
“Then you take me to Clay.”
“What? In the house? Nobody goes in the house.”
“Guess this’ll be a big day for you.”
Positioning behind the large man, Nathan gave a shove. Robert shouted at the pain of walking, but it soon lowered into a steady whimper. Despite the big man’s stumbling steps, they managed the stairs to the first floor and headed to the same side door Nathan had entered through.
