Demontouched: The Demontouched Saga (Book 1) (3 page)

“Name your price, then.”

“I want in. I’m tired of sitting here in the house while you get to have all of the fun.”

It’s that argument again. It’s been about seven years since I last had this fight with a woman. The last time was about my wife staying at home to raise our son. She wanted to get back to work immediately after having him, but I didn’t want to have him in daycare. In hindsight, we should have had the conversation before we started having kids.

“Darlin, this is work for a man.” I say, grabbing a beer from the fridge.

“Mans work?”

Yeah, it didn’t turn out well back then either.

“Sarah, honey. These are bad men. This guy took over Memphis by force. He killed anybody who tried to get in his way. It may not seem like it, but I do love you and don’t want you to get hurt”

“I’m not the type of girl to sit and home and raise the kids. You should try having to sit in here all day looking at these same walls. The only thing that ever changes is what I pull up on the net.”

As a teen, I would have loved that life. Give me the house to myself and a computer and I’m good for hours, days even. She is right, though. After a few days, even that would get boring.

“Then you have to take this.” I hand her the pistol I grabbed from idiot number two at the hotel. “I don’t expect you to be able to use it, but it may just be enough to get someone to hesitate long enough for me to take down”

She takes the gun, placing it in her pants at the small of her back. “Give me two hours.”

I don’t know who said power naps were a good thing, but if I ever meet them, I am going to kick their ass. Every time I take one, I always end up feeling about thirty times worse when I wake up than I did before laying down. Thankfully, Sara is a coffee aficionado and carries the good shit. Not the weak ass breakfast blend that my wife used to buy. This stuff will actually give you the shakes after a couple of cups, just the stuff I need right about now.

“What did you come up with.” I give her a peck on the cheek. No sense in pushing things too fast yet.

“You are right about Memphis. He did some pretty nasty things there.” She taps the mouse a few times and pulls up his website.

“Wow, that dude is bold. Naming himself King after Memphis. Gotta take over a lot more than one little redneck town to call yourself King.”

“You don’t know much about Memphis, do you?”

I really don’t. I know it was in Tennessee. That’s all I care to know. “He came here to expand his reach.”

“I would have skipped this shit hole and went straight north to Chicago. Taking that large of a city would help his cause.”

“The problem is…” She pulls up another website. “Chicago is firmly in demon hands.”

“Well, they did vote for gun control. It only took the Rising to prove how stupid that was.” Chicago was supposed to be the city that proved gun control works. Our after-fathers didn’t have the same conviction that our forefathers once had. They claimed that the second amendment was only to protect the use of a militia, which we had no need for. Demons trying to take your home, your life, your soul… seems like a pretty good time to need a militia.

“Besides, St. Louis is still a good target. To get across the country by the highway, the fastest route usually passes right through downtown. Then you add control of the water traffic north and south on the Mississippi and you have a winner. It’s amazing that the city wasn’t bigger than what it was.”

“So, let’s just say that you are a king invading another territory. What would you hit first?”

“The first things we had to scramble to get back online after the Rising. The power plants.” No hesitation, that’s why I like her.

She is right, too much still relies on electricity. Sure, it is not as reliable as it was before the Rising, but it’s still hard to think of life without it.

“Nal has plenty of men at the stations. He would’ve told me if someone tried to take one of them,” I say as I down the rest of my coffee.

Then it dawns on me. The only reason he wouldn’t make a play on the power stations is if he knows Nal is holding a trump card. That is why he hit the guys on the east side and why it looks like he took over the north. “He wants to pull me out in the open.” Seems like someone else knows how to do his research.

“What is the plan, then?”

“Let’s take a trip up north, see things for ourselves.”

-4-

We pull into a parking lot somewhere close to the barbecue joint where my friend Jim used to take me to. The thing I loved most about that place was the smoked ribs. It’s a shame they were only open three days a week. I could never remember which days they were open or closed. Usually that just meant that I was just stopping off for a burger somewhere instead.

“What are we looking for?” Sara asks while grabbing the bag of chips from my hands.

“Jason and Mark were in charge of a prostitution ring on this side of town. The first order of business is to see if the girls are still in service.” I reach over and take my chips back. Why is it women never want anything from the store until the moment you go to eat it? My wife loved doing that with fries. After a while I made it a point get another order of them, otherwise I wouldn’t get any of them.

“Are you sure we are in the right spot? There is nobody out here.” She takes the bag of chips back, hiding them between her seat and door.

“It’s still early. The girls are usually split on the northeast and southwest corners. One on each corner.” I pull the lever, reclining my seat. “Wake me up when you see something.” If she is going to snag my chips, she can take the watch. Maybe if it’s boring enough, she won’t want to come along.

It takes a while with all the crunching, but eventually I fall asleep.

* * *

My eyes jar open when I hear a popping sound in my ear.

I sit up to look for the source of the noise. When Sara breaks into a maniacal laughing fit, I know. Guess that means the chips are gone.

“See something?”

“The girls just stepped outside.”

I open the glove box and pull out a pair of binoculars to take a peek. Nancy and Lacy drew the first shift. Glad to see the normal girls are still here. “Let’s wait here for a few minutes and see if anything happens.”

I keep scanning the area looking for anything odd. Nal has always made it a point to stress what I would do to them if they decided to go into business for themselves. The upside to his management style is that he has no problems trusting his guys with anything. From there, the trust usually passes down the supply chain.

I catch a glimpse of a guy about a block away keeping a close eye on the girls. Someone has to have taken over because they don’t realize the girls are probably the most trustworthy ones of the bunch. Nal takes good care of his girls.

I start the car and drive towards Nancy. “Okay, I just need you to act natural.”

“What are you going to do?”

I look over and smile. The look in her eyes is one of concern. Or is it pure terror? It doesn’t matter, because it’s too late to turn around.

I pull up to the corner and roll down my window. On cue, Nancy walks over to the car.

“Looking for some company tonight?” Nancy bends over, her breasts struggling to stay inside her loose fitting shirt. Those were her main selling points. The other girls hate working the corner when she is out thanks to them. Not that they hated her, she is a doll. They just hated that her 38Es leave them standing a while longer between customers.

“Why yes, we are.” I look over at Sara. She is looking at me, wide eyed, shaking her head.

Nancy looks in closer. She must notice I have company in the car. “I don’t do threesomes darlin,” she says.

“Oh, it’s not a threesome,” I say. “I just like to watch.” I flash a toothy smile which she returns.

“Two hundred an hour. Up front.” Price increase. Either someone is getting greedy or they are looking to make a point. It is probably a little of both.

“Little out of my budget.” A lot out of my budget, and she knows it. This isn’t my first romp with her. I look over at Sara and shrug my shoulders.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” She reaches down and pulls out two crisp Benjamin’s out of her purse before handing them to Nancy.

“There is a motel about a mile north of here.” She opens the door and sits down in the back seat.

“We don’t need a motel.” I put the car into drive and take off.

“The new boss won’t like that.” Another change, Nal doesn’t care where the girls go as long as the money was good and they came back in one piece.

“Then he really won’t like this.” I slam my foot on the gas and take aim at the creeper watching the girls. He jumps behind a mailbox moments before eating my bumper.

I make two quick right turns. I need to make my way back towards the interstate, pronto. Shit is about to get real and I’m not about to get lost on some side streets. “What happened to Jason and Mark?”

“Dead. Shawn’s in charge now.” She looks out the back window. She knows the drill. This isn’t the first time I’ve gotten her out of a jam. Something tells me it won’t be the last.

“Seems like a trusting guy.” Two cars swerve around the corner behind us. It doesn’t take long to learn they aren’t friendly. In my rear-view mirror I see the passengers leaning out their windows and start unloading their guns at us.

“Time to learn how to use the gun, darlin’.” I put my hand on Sara’s leg.

“I never thought I would actually have to use it,” she says, taking the gun out of her purse.

In the rear-view mirror, I watch the passengers fire at us with the accuracy of stormtroopers. As long as I can hold this distance, we should be safe. That feeling lasts as long as it takes for me to look at my fuel gauge. I wish I got Nal to throw in a tank of gas. I don’t have enough in the tank for this chase to last more than an hour or so.

“If you aren’t going to use it, hand it here.” Nancy reaches up and grabs the gun from Sara’s hands. “Mitch, I’m sorry.”

“About what?”

She levels the pistol and fires, taking out my back window. Winter is about to get a lot colder. It might finally be time to trade her in.

I turn onto the ramp leading onto the highway and floor it. The two Camaros behind us must be flooring it a bit harder, because they are on my ass within about thirty seconds. Guess the highway wasn’t my brightest idea.

In the backseat I hear Nancy continuing to exchange fire with the thugs behind us. After a minute there is a lull in her shots.

“Out of ammo,” she says.

“Pull down the seat. Should be a few clips in my duffel bag.” It has been a while since our last shots, so our pursuers are closing in. Trying to give them a harder target to hit, I swerve the car back and forth while trying to avoid the traffic. It may be very light for this time of day, but we still can’t afford to get into an accident. I may be possessed by a demon, but I’m still a mortal. Bullet wounds are still fatal.

She nods, pulls out the bag, and starts looking for the bullets.

“I need you to take the wheel.” I look over at Sara. One of us in the car isn’t pulling our weight, and we have to change that. Considering Nancy has the gun, and I have my powers, Sara is the odd one out. I feel bad for her, but there is no other way.

“I can’t do that, I never learned how to drive a stick.” I glance over and notice the tears flowing down her rosy cheeks.

“I can’t take care of our friends and drive at the same time. The highway is fairly straight, just keep the pedal floored and you don’t have to worry about the stick.” I kick the seat release back to get out of her way faster. This move needs to be near flawless to keep our rapidly decreasing lead. I’ve got to remember to put this on the list of things to work with her when I get the chance.

She nods and takes the wheel, putting her foot on the gas pedal as I slide back out of the seat. I’m almost in the back when she swerves the car and throws me into the door.

“Sorry!” she says, swerving hard the other way. Driving was never her high point, but we don’t have any other options.

Nancy suddenly screams. She’s hit. The stormtroopers managed to get lucky in Return of the Jedi too.

I look over at her. Blood is starting to collect on her shirt, right below her breast. Unless she got lucky and the bullet deflected off of a rib, we’re going to have to get her to a hospital fast.

I pull an old shirt out of my bag along with a few Vicodin I have stashed. I fold up the shirt and place it on the wound with a bit of pressure. “Hold that as hard as you can and take these.”

She nods and tries to hand me the gun. I look over at her and smile. “You keep that, Daddy always gave me the good toys.” The only thing I hope is that my toys are enough. If I am on solid ground I am able to stop bullets. In a car is a different story. Our only chance is if I can throw off the driver.