Six Times Deadly: A Lawson Vampire Story Collection (The Lawson Vampire Series) (10 page)

I shrugged again.
 
"Nah.
 
Just tell him I'm here.
 
I want a talk."

He vanished behind the door and I stayed where I was, unmoving.
 
Somewhere close by, I thought I heard the delicate sound of gears turning and picked out the smoke detector set lower than they normally were.
 
They'd housed a surveillance camera in it and right now they were rolling it over me, trying to figure out who the hell I was.

I looked up and smiled at the hidden lens.

Then, just for good measure, I waved.

A second later, the door opened and the kid beckoned me inside.
 
I stepped into a room utterly barren except for its white walls and another door.
 
The greeter stood there, along with three armed kids, each of them pointing an AK at me.
 
The oldest of them couldn't have been more than sixteen in human years.

Greeter kept his distance.
 
"You packing?"

I nodded.
 
"Always."

"Show me."

I opened my jacket and nodded to my right rear hip.
 
The kid nodded.
 
"Okay, take it out slow.
 
Do it too fast and these guys will punch holes in you."

I plucked the USP out of its holster and handed it over.
 
The greeter eyed it.
 
"Nice."

"Thanks."

He hefted it.
 
"Kinda heavy."

"Well, you're still a growing boy.
 
Give it time.
 
One day even you might be able to handle it."

He eyed me.
 
"Don't push your luck,
chun lo fan
.
 
Huang might want to see you, but that don't mean he wants you to live that long."

I glanced around the room.
 
"Where is he?"

The greeter gestured for me to follow him through the other door.
 
"Come with me."

We walked through into another corridor, this one different from all the rest.
 
It was thickly carpeted and there were posters on the walls.
 
I heard loud dance music booming out of speakers somewhere close by.
 
Toward the end of the hallway, the door in front of us opened and the music instantly got louder.

I walked into a dance club.

We passed through throngs of teens jamming and gyrating on a wooden parquet floor while strobes overhead flashed red, yellow, and blue lights.
 
Shadows grew and shrank as bodies pressed close to us.
 
The greeter seemed unfazed by any of this.
 
But I was surprised.
 
A concealed nightclub in the midst of an apartment complex was pretty compelling.

A couple of girls gave me the once over.
 
I guessed they didn't get many white guys wandering through.
 
Shame.
 
I could have taught them the Electric Slide.

We crossed the floor and a set of stairs led us up to a balcony that overlooked the dance floor.
 
Huang must have commandeered an entire two floors for himself and his crew and simply knocked through the ceiling to build this place.

At the top of the stairs, another pair of thugs barred the way.
 
They parted only slightly.
 
Each of them could have played on the offensive line for an NFL team.

Looking back and down at the way the place was laid out, getting out of here in a hurry was going to be a problem.
 
And I only had two extra mags for the USP.

"Hey."

I looked back and saw the greeter waving me on.
 
He approached a red velvet couch.
 
On the couch sat a fat dude who looked all of thirteen.
 
I almost smiled, but kept it in check.
 
They didn't make Chinese gangsters like they used to, apparently.
 
But the two girls on either side of him were pretty enough.
 
At least that had stayed constant.

As I approached he frowned at me, trying his best to look tough despite the obvious barrage of acne.
 
"You Lawson?"

"Yeah."

The greeter handed him my USP.
 
Huang slid the magazine out of it, popped a round off the top and fingered it.
 
After a second, he glanced back at me.
 
"Fixer."

"That's right."

Huang spread his arms around his girls.
 
"So, what does the Council want with me?
 
We haven't done anything wrong.
 
Certainly not enough to warrant a visit from one of your kind."

He spat that last bit out as if he expected me to be offended.
 
Maybe I was.
 
After all, he'd ruined what was otherwise a pretty crummy night.

"What-not even a Merry Christmas to me?"
 
I grinned.
 
"Not exactly the sort of holiday spirit I expected."

"Merry fucking Christmas," aid Huang.
 
"Now, answer the question.
 
Otherwise, the only gift Santa's bringing you this year is a very painful death."

I spotted a chair nearby and sat down, keeping my eyes on him the whole time.
 
"You're getting ready to do business with a guy named Hess."

Huang shrugged.
 
"Never heard of him."

I smiled.
 
"Listen, Huang: it's Christmas.
 
And it's cold and snowy outside."
 
I spread my hands.
 
"Here's the thing: I was pretty damned comfortable back at my place.
 
I had a stiff drink.
 
I had some tunes on the stereo.
 
And then I get a phone call.
 
Interrupted the whole vibe I had going."

"That's too bad."

"Yeah, well, see, if I come all the way down here to visit some pimple-faced little fuck like you, then chances are good that I'm not in the mood to listen to your bullshit.
 
So, why don't you and I pretend that I know that your gang here is getting antsy with the Vietnamese controlling everything between Kneeland and the Tyler and you guys want a piece of the action.
 
To do that, you need firepower.
 
Hess deals in that shit."

Huang said nothing for a minute and I wondered briefly if I pushed it too far with the zit comment.
 
Then he smirked.
 
"Okay, so we want guns.
 
Big deal.
 
We got a right to eke out an existence, right?
 
Or is the Council into depriving us of our fair share?"

"Nobody's denying you anything.
 
This place cost a pretty penny to set up.
 
The Council saw to it that you got money."

"It's not enough."

I sighed.
 
As if it wasn't bad enough having to deal with full-grown megalomaniacs, now I was having to deal with teen despots.
 
I wasn't getting paid enough for this shit.
 
"It is enough.
 
And you'd better learn to be content with what you've got.
 
The last thing any of our kind needs is a high-profile gang making the streets of Boston run red."

Huang eyed me.
 
"And if I don't feel like listening to you?"

I shook my head.
 
"It's not coming from me, junior.
 
It's coming down from the Council.
 
And you'd better believe they aren't about to sit back and tolerate impudence from a young Turk like you."

"So I kill you.
 
Send them a message I don't like being fucked with."

I leaned back in my chair.
 
"You ice me and you'll have a STA-F team kicking in your door before dawn.
 
And those guys won't leave anything behind but a worthless smear where you sit now."

Neither of us said anything for a minute.
 
I didn't feel the need to sell it any harder than I just had.
 
And Huang obviously had to make a judgment call here.
 
Whatever degree of control he had over his gang was at stake.
 
He could keep things running pretty smooth and abandon his New Year's world domination resolution.

Or he could be stupid.

"Am I intruding?"

The accent told me instantly I wasn't the only white guy in the room any longer.
 
And here I liked being unique.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw the man standing behind me.
 
He stood a few inches taller than me but his face was blotchy and the tip of his bulbous nose gleamed red like he'd been in the sauce for eons.
 
The long red overcoat with the fur collar didn't do much for his look, either.
 
He looked like a circus clown with a bad tailor.

The two goons behind him hauling hockey equipment bags looked about as wide as the Chinese offensive linemen.

Great.
 
Now I had four to deal with.

Who was it that said it was better to give than receive?
 

They were right.

A beefy paw appeared next to my face.
 
"My name is Rudolf Hess."

I looked at the hand and nodded.
 
"Lawson."

Hess gave a short gasp that sounded painfully theatrical.
 
"You're joking."

I leveled a gaze on him.
 
"Not even close."

Hess clapped his hands together and then sat down next to Huang, displacing the two tarts that had been sandwiching him.
 
"Do you know, my young dictator, who this is who sits before you?"

Huang shrugged.
 
"Fixer.
 
Big deal."

Hess rolled his eyes.
 
"
Ach
, youth.
 
They have such little grasp of history and its significance."

"And you do?" I asked.

Hess nodded.
 
"Of course.
 
Only a fool would wander into a new territory without first assessing the various risks and rewards of doing business here."
 
He leaned back.
 
"In my case, it was first necessary to determine whose jurisdiction I was about to intrude upon."

"Mine."

Hess inclined his head.
 
"Naturally.
 
And after doing my homework on you - or at least the scant amount of information I was able to acquire - I must admit it did give me pause."

"Not enough apparently."

"Well, despite your rather impressive resume, the all-mighty dollar is...well, all-mighty."
 
He winked and I found it vaguely nauseating.
 

"You can't peddle your wares here, Hess.
 
The Council knows about it.
 
And they're not happy."
 
I paused for effect.
 
"At all."

Hess held out one of his hands and examined his cuticles.
 
"Yes, well, that would be a bother to me."
 
He smiled at Huang.
 
"Now, it seems to me that we have some unfinished business to conclude."

Huang shrugged.
 
"Maybe I don't want them anymore."

So, he wasn't entirely stupid.
 
Score one for the youth of the vampire race.
 
And color me surprised.

Hess' smile only broadened.
 
"My dear boy, you simply do not phone me up and ask for an order of illegal weapons only to back out of that deal at the very last moment simply due to the appearance of one unarmed Fixer."

"Temporarily unarmed," I corrected him.

Hess ignored me and pointed at his goons.
 
"After all, we went through the trouble of bringing the weapons down here.
 
I think you'll be very pleased with the assortment of pistols and submachine guns in the bags.
 
And I've even thrown in a thousand rounds of ammunition.
 
I think you'll find there's enough potency in those bags to take care of whatever competition the Vietnamese can mount."

I could see the gleam in Huang's eyes as he reconsidered his position.
 
I frowned.
 
Don't do it, kid.
 
Don't be the fool.

And then I caught the slight nod that Huang gave to the greeter.
 
Everything erupted all at once.

The two Chinese refrigerators body-checked Hess' goons and they spilled into the seating area.
 
The bags of guns spilled everywhere.
 
Huang's boys pulled guns and leveled them on Hess and his men.

Huang looked at Hess.
 
"I don't remember asking you to sit down."

Hess took a deep breath and exhaled it smoothly, looking utterly unperturbed.
 
"I do dislike business partners who double-cross me.
 
It really makes things a lot messier than they need be.
 
If people could simply hold to their promises, I think the world would be a better place.
 
I really do."

Huang tossed me my USP.
 
"You're not unarmed anymore."

I caught the gun and turned it on Hess.
 
"Kid said he didn't want any of your stuff.
 
I think the least you can do is respect his wishes."

Hess kept his attention on Huang.
 
"Where is my money?"

Huang grinned and reached under the couch, bringing out a briefcase.
 
"You mean this stuff?"

Hess chewed his lips thoughtfully.
 
"Is it all there?"