Twisted City (7 page)

Since
they ventured out the day before, Pan and Bruno and their new crew searched
several buildings and interrogated many of Claxton’s miserable civilians (those
they were able to catch because most people take off and hide when they spot a
Maddick in the area) but no one seemed to know or have ever seen a kid fitting
Mongoose’s description. For all they know the kid is on the other side of the
city by now. It seems like they’ve covered a large chunk of the city, but
realistically it hasn’t even been a small fraction of it and being afoot makes
it a much harder and time consuming process. As big as the city is they can
search forever and still never find the little bastard. At this very moment he
can be watching them from one of those windows high above and they’d never be
the wiser. And then to top off their humility, when and if they did find him
they weren’t even allowed to harm a hair on his miserable little head. It irked
Pan and Bruno to no end to think it.

But
luck happens to be on their side right now.

Chains had just caught a rail thin man
and is
beating the
scared man down with his many chains, yelling at him. “What are you running
for? Huh? Do you know the kid? Do you know the Mongoose? Tell me, damn you!”

The
man is on the ground, trying to ward off the fierce chains but is only
succeeding in getting fingers broke and arms bruised
and
lacerated. Chin comes over to add a few good kicks to the frail man’s side.

Pan
walks up, growling. “Well? Does he know anything or not?”

The
two stop the assault so the man can answer. Bone and Rat come up alongside Pan,
looking equally mean. Bruno sets off down the street and Pit follows.

Chains
barks, “Where’s the Mongoose? Where is he?”

Scared,
confused, and in pain, the man can barely utter a word.

Pan
turns an ear downward to him. “What’s that?”

“I-I,
don’ n-no, any-
th
-
th.
. .”

“You
don’t know anything?”

The
man nods his head.

Pan
sighs. “Why am I not surprised?”

Bruno
and Pit come loping back to the group. Bruno points down the street behind him
and says, “What’s going on?”

A
few hundred yards down the street is the Maddick convoy turning in from a side
street and going down the opposite direction. Pan is dumbstruck at first but
realizes what is happening.

“They’re
going to The Pinnacle,” Pan says more to himself than to anyone else.

“What?”
Rat says in his grating little voice, his furry face all scrunched up in
confusion.

“They’re
going to The Pinnacle,” Pan repeats for the rest to hear.

“Why
are they going to The Pinnacle?” Bone asks, equally confused. Human bone
jewelry hangs from his ear, neck, and clothes; priding himself for making them
from his own victims.

“Yeah, why?”
Chains asks
as well. He has forgotten about the man on the ground but Chin hasn’t, he is
still taunting him with crazy faces while acting like he’s about to hit him but
halting just before contact, causing the scared man to flinch and shake. This
is somehow more fun than actually harming him.

Before
Pan is able to respond Bruno somehow finds it necessary to ask, “Yeah, why
would they be going to The Pinnacle?”

An
irritated look spreads across Pan’s face. “I don’t know
why.
It seems
Vincent has left us out of that equation, doesn’t it? So let’s not waste time
wondering
why
about something we know nothing about and have no control
over and get to what we were sent out to do, eh.”

Suddenly
Bruno blurts out, “Look! Isn’t that the Kid?”

Pan
focuses his eyes. Son of a bitch, it
is
the kid
and
his
damn mutt. He is peeking around the corner of the building at the four-way up
ahead watching the convoy drive up the street.

On
Pan’s order the group quickly slides over to the side of the street, out of
sight before the kid or his dog sees them. Chin has been so deeply involved in
his verbal assault and scare tactics on the poor man on the ground that he
hasn’t noticed a thing of what has transpired until he is yanked off his feet
by Bruno.

They
take a moment to discuss the execution of the mission, and one thing is made
crystal clear: the kid is not to be harmed.

There
are sixteen vehicles in all, including the truck-tank and two all-terrain
motorcycles. Mongoose will wait until the last one makes the turn and then
he’ll be off behind them. He doubts he will be noticed, no one may think to
check behind them and he’ll be ducking around and keeping a good safe distance
between himself and them the entire way anyway.

Max
rubs his muzzle under Mongoose’s hand, making whiny sounds, as if asking,
“
What’s the hold up?”

“You
ready for a long jog, Max?”

To
which Max perks up. Max barks only when angry, scared, or when told to. He
knows many tricks and commands but his best one is to attack on call. Mongoose
gave him very little training, he never really needed any,
he
takes to things as if it is his nature to do so. He is the best friend Mongoose
has ever had and both will gladly give their life for the other.

Mongoose
is about to push off but something suddenly alerts Max. He stands pointedly on
all fours, stiff tailed, a low, deep growl coming from him as he intently gazes
in the distance behind Mongoose.

Mongoose’s
natural instinct causes him to reach for his crossbow and ax, ready for
whatever. He doesn’t see a threat but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one because
Max doesn’t necessarily need to see one either, he can simply smell a threat.

“What
is it, Boy? Where’s it at?”

Staying
on guard, he glances down at Max’s eyes to try to align his sight to the point
of interest. The only thing he sees even remotely interesting is a crippled man
hobbling off in the distance with arms pulled up to his chest.

Seeing
no threat, Mongoose says, “C’mon, Max, let’s go.”

Max
is reluctant but he turns to go with his master.

The
moment he pushes off his legs are suddenly slung together and the force of
movement from the roller blades is too great for him to quickly balance himself
upright or to stop without falling so he goes with the fall. Instinct has his
reflexes acting fast and he grabs his crossbow, spins around, aims, and fires
before he hits the ground.

Thwak
!

Pit
stops dead in his tracks, not believing what just happened. He looks down at
the arrow sticking out of his chest and then back at Mongoose, stunned beyond belief.

“How
the hell. . . .” he starts to say, but the rest is lost to him as he crumbles
to the ground.

 “I
told you he was bad,” Pan says as the rest of them approach even more
cautiously than they had started out.

Chains
and Chin have ahold of a rope-net and start running up to the kid and dog.
Mongoose grabs his ax and chops down on the bola twisted around his ankles and
then throws the ax at Chin where it is firmly planted into his face. He goes
down without a fuss.

Max
had sensed danger, having smelled Bruno’s all too familiar scent a block away,
and now that he and others are right there in front of them he stands his
ground at his master’s side, baring fierce teeth with a deep growl punctuated
by a thunderous bark now and again, protecting Mongoose as he quickly loads his
crossbow.

“Wait!”
Pan yells, throwing his hands up in the air.
“Stop!
Don’t shoot! We’re not here to harm you!”

Still
on guard, pointing his crossbow at each of them, he says, “
Yeah,
and I’m the cupid of love about to give you an early Valentine’s Day gift right
through your heart.”

“
Chains,
put the rope down!” Pan says.

Chains
gives Pan a severe look of indifference and Pan
replies
,
“Put it down!”
Adding stern emphasis to the order.

As
Chains reluctantly puts down the net, Pan regards the other three. “Put your
weapons down – and don’t give me any lip either. Just do it.”

They
do, and Bruno’s eyes never leave Max.

Pan
turns back to Mongoose. “I don’t know how I can make you believe me, but it’s
the truth. We are not here to harm you in any way. If you recall, we didn’t
attack you first, it was the other way around,
you
attacked us first. You killed three of my men, and now these two.”

“So
far,” Mongoose calculates.

“And
you stole our food. So the way I see it is you have been the one drawing first
blood this whole time.”

“And
now that we’ve established that, why don’t you enlighten me as to why you have
showed up supposedly not wanting to cause me harm.”

“Vincent
Maddick wants to meet you.”

“In a net?”

Pan
sighs. “No. And I know how it looks but we didn’t know any other way.”

“How about asking.”

“Would
you have come with us?”

“Nope.”

“Well
then, you see the dilemma?”

“So
with you brutal pieces of crap it’s either by force, or, against your will, is
that it?”

“Look
kid –”

“It’s
Mongoose.”

“Okay,
Mongoose,” Pan then stops and gestures to Max. “Could you quiet your dog?”

“Does
he scare you?”

“A
little, yes. But I’m sure he probably scares Bruno more than the rest of us.”

“Good.”

Mongoose
waits a beat, and then gives Max the order of silence but to stay on guard. The
dog quickly obeys.

“Better?”

“Will
you lower your weapon?”

“Nope.”

“Will
you come with us?”

“Nope.”

“Look,
if we show up back there without you then Vincent will be very upset to say the
least.”

“Why
are Maddick’s heading toward The Pinnacle?”

“We’ve
been gone since yesterday, so we don’t know what’s going on. Vincent never
tells me anything anyway. At least not until the last second, so I’m nearly the
last to know anything.”

“Do
you know why he wants to meet me so badly?”

“I
told him about our altercation and apparently he was impressed. He may have a job
for you and maybe just wants you on his team. Honestly, I don’t know. But
before you go on about how you work for no one or you would never become a
piece of crap puke Maddick,” the other three regard Pan as if insulted, “think
about this, whatever it is he wants you for you can rest assured that he will
award you handsomely. Our town is sure to have plenty of things to your liking;
clean, un-diseased women, bootleg, smoke, food, and from the looks of things,”
Pan averts his eyes toward the convoy heading northward, “it looks like things
may be getting even better.”

It
occurred to him that it may be a trick, throw him off on some
poofed
up crap and then go in for the kill. But he has good
gut feelings and his gut feeling is telling him that things are on the level.

But
there is only one way to find out.

“This
is how it’s going down,” Mongoose declares matter of
factly
.
“I will follow behind all of you to Maddick, and if I sense anything messed up,
then I bounce. And if we make it that far, once we’ve arrived, you two and only
you two will then take me to see the big man. Understood?”

Pan
gladly agrees.

“Good.”
And then a mischievous grin sprouts on Mongoose’s lips. “But there’s just one
more thing. . .”

Taya
was up most of the night thinking about everything that had happened lately;
her eluding capture from the Maddick’s and out of nowhere a complete stranger
shows up and saves her from imminent rape and perhaps also saves her life in
the process; her bringing that complete stranger to The Pinnacle; her uncle
welcoming him with open arms; and her showing him around their town. But the
one thing she thinks mostly about is the man himself. How guarded he is about
what he allows himself to reveal. How untrusting of others he is. She wonders
what he’s been through before in life, what all those dark eyes have seen,
where he’s been, and most of all, where he’s going. The man is a complete
mystery, and she is quickly becoming infatuated with him.

It
seems like forever since she’s been with a man. Although there are plenty
around who would jump at the opportunity to court her (or maybe would just like
to jump her bones) there are none with whom she has much interest. At least no
one she can see putting time and effort into. And other than there being a few
brave souls who flirt with her every now and then, most men are intimidated for
the simple fact that she is the beloved niece of James Grant.

Lately
sex has been the furthest thing from her mind anyway. Not even a little
self-stimulation has been desired. That is, not until last night. With deft
fingers and a vivid imagination she made her body quake and quiver like she
hasn’t known in many moons.

She
knocks on his door three times with no answer before building up the nerve to
open the door. It’s unlocked. She
peeps
her head
inside and calls out his name. No answer. She steps inside and closes the door
behind her.

The
front room is a small space about the size of an average kitchen. It goes into
a hallway that opens into a big open area with windows lining the far wall.
Rooms
branch off to the left and to the right; old office
space.

It
appears he’s made himself comfortable. His single mattress bed is unmade in the
corner, a table with two chairs is covered with papers,
a
couple of books, what appears to be a weapon of some kind, and a neat pile of
clothes are on top of another table. She is about to go over to the table
covered with papers to nose around when she hears some commotion in one of the
far rooms. Quietly she approaches the door of the room, it is partially open,
and she sees Lathan using his sword as if it is a natural extension of his arm.
Silently she watches him twirl the sword effortlessly from the wrists, spins
around, and then stops to deliver a deathblow conducive with a freeze frame of
the body,
then
he quickly moves into the next move.
His concentration is solid as steel. At times he slows into finer than silk
movements, and then speeds up so fast that the blade of his katana is
a silver
blur. The view of the skeleton city beyond the
large window behind Lathan is in stark contrast to his warrior-like presence in
the high-rise of the building. His sculpted bare torso is beaded with sweat and
his blue shorts are drenched. When his exercise ends he holds the katana next
to his chest with both hands at the hilt, eyes closed, and bows his head to the
blade.

It
is unlike anything she’s ever seen, the way he danced with his sword. She is
awestruck by the grace and beauty and the fierceness of it all.

When
his eyes open they are directed at her in the open door, as if he’d known she’d
been there the entire time.

It
startles her, feeling foolishly caught but at the same time relieved that she
has been seen.

They
hold onto each other’s gaze.

Taya
is the first to speak. “I’m sorry for barging in. I knocked and when you didn’t
answer I thought I’d check to see if everything is all right.” She almost goes
to rambling but cuts herself off short before making herself look like an
idiot.

“Just doing a little exercise.”

“I
see.”

“Was
there anything else you wanted?”

“Um, yeah.
I was wondering if you’d like to come
over for a bite to
eat?
”
Me.
“I just got a
bottle of homemade dressing from a woman who is excellent at making it, and I
thought that maybe you’d like to try it with a salad I’m going to throw
together.”

He
can’t remember the last time he had a salad. It is very tempting, as is Taya.
She made it obvious that she liked him the day before as she was showing him
around. Though she never said anything, her body language and certain gestures
said it all. And of course what healthy minded heterosexual man wouldn’t be
interested in her? But a woman like her can easily throw a man off balance,
unintentional as it may be, it can still happen. He needs to stay focused, and
sex is the last thing he should be thinking about.

“Come
on, Lathan,” the tiniest of begs lurks behind Taya’s words. “I can make a mean
bowl of rabbit food.”

Then again, why not?