Shadows (Ultrahumans Book 2) (26 page)

The room fell into pitch-darkness and Silvian’s gun went off; three loud bangs which echoed around the room leaving his ears ringing. ‘Where are you?’ He had to have hit her, right? He swung around, trying to see anything in the black. ‘Where are you, bitch?’ He had to–

‘Surely you’re not afraid of the dark, Detective.’ The voice was a whisper in his ear. He turned and fired again, and immediately realised his mistake. There was something behind him. He could feel its icy breath on his neck, the sensation of something with talons and sharp teeth reaching for him. He let out a scream…

Andrea used a cloth from the kitchen to pick up Silvian’s gun and put it well out of reach. ‘Lights on,’ she said, and the room was once again all bright colours, especially the part of the carpet the detective was throwing up on.

He was still doing it when Cygnus emerged from one of the bedrooms, in costume, and stalked across to where he was kneeling. Pulling in a deep breath, he turned, looking up at her, and then she had him by the front of his jacket and was holding him off the floor.

‘You are going to pay to have my sofa fixed
and
for the carpet cleaning. Who’s Jane?’

‘I am not going to–’

‘We could turn the lights off again,’ Andrea suggested.

‘No! You know who she is. You’ve been watching her.’

‘You keep saying that, but I haven’t. Whoever she is, I think she’s been twisting your mind somehow. Not that it could get too much more twisted. I want an address.’

‘Huh,’ Cygnus grunted. ‘We’ll go into one of the bathrooms. Then when he wets himself it’ll be easier to clean up.’

‘Good plan,’ Andrea agreed, turning around.

‘Friendship!’ Silvian said quickly. ‘She’s in north Friendship, on Wilmott Street.’

‘Much better,’ Cygnus stated. ‘We’ll have a number, please, and then you can explain all this to your colleagues.’

~~~

The apartment on Wilmott Street was empty. It had been an orderly departure, as far as Twilight could see. Whoever had been living here, she had even made the bed before leaving. She had sent Silvian out with his orders and then packed up and walked away.

Cygnus stood in the bedroom, looking around with a frown on her face. ‘There
was
a woman here. And Silvian was here too. They had sex, but not too recently. That’s about all I get. It’s like she left no lasting impression on the place. Nothing violent or noteworthy happened here.’

‘If she’s a psychic, it’s possible your super-senses wouldn’t pick it up. I think the arson thing probably left a lot of evidence you could sense, even if you weren’t entirely aware of doing it.’

‘Yeah… So we’re stuck?’

‘Yes. Well… This seems like part of this campaign to get at us, right?’

‘Have a detective pushing the cops to arrest you? Yeah, seems like it.’

‘So “Jane” is probably working with the shadow guys, or whoever it is that killed Tonaldo, and if she’s gone then she’s probably needed for something else.’

‘It’s… a reasonable theory. They
might
decide not to use the same trick again.’

‘Not the same trick, but a variation. They seem to know a lot about us. I think I know who she’ll go after next.’

‘Okay… I think I see where you’re going with this. What do you want to do about it?’

‘Wait for her to try,’ Twilight replied, grinning a little maliciously.

Belvedere, CA, 30
^th
May.

June sighed as hot water bubbled around her. There were worse places to be at the end of May than a hot tub in California, but she was really starting to hope that Penny and Andrea got things sorted out back home soon. It was going to be her birthday in a week and she had been hoping for a nice night out with her friends and her girlfriend. They would be at the club, but they would be together and it would have been nice.

‘You’re looking forlorn,’ Bianca commented from the other corner of the tub.

June looked across at her. June had one bikini with her, a red one which was very brief, mostly string in fact, which went paler and, embarrassingly, a little translucent when wet. Bianca was in a one-piece which did not leave a whole lot to the imagination; June had decided not to be embarrassed. The girl was cute, and not interested, so why worry over a little nipple? ‘It’s my birthday next week.’

‘And being stuck out here would be irritating.’

‘Not irritating. You’ve been great. Really, thanks for putting up with me.’

‘My pleasure.’

‘I’d just like to be home for my birthday.’

‘Understandable. Maybe it’ll be safe by then. You said they had a lead.’

‘True. They think they know someone’s next move. “Jane” they called her. Said she’d been doing something to a detective to make him nuts about arresting Twilight.’

Bianca frowned. ‘Jane? You’re sure?’

‘Uh-huh. That’s what they said. They mentioned a surname, but they said it was fake. You know who it is?’

‘Something Elaine mentioned once, I think. That MO sounds familiar. I’ll call her later and see what she can dig up. Oh, while I remember, I have to go out tonight. It’s a work thing I can’t get out of. Elaine’s going to come over and keep you company.’

‘I don’t need babysitting.’

‘I said “keep you company.” Actually, she seemed quite keen on the idea.’

June giggled. ‘I got the impression she liked me.’

‘Elaine’s not exactly shy, but she doesn’t really get on that well with people. Always seems happier with machines, you know?’

‘I’ve met the type.’

‘Anyway, yes, I think she liked you, but she’ll have no clue if you were to come on to her and she wouldn’t know how to start coming on to you.’

June shrugged. ‘Well, I have a girlfriend so I won’t be making passes at Elaine.’ She sighed. ‘Though at this rate I may get desperate enough next Friday to try.’

‘They’ll have it worked out by then.’

‘I’m not feeling so hopeful, but… I guess I should try to be positive.’

‘Always works for me.’

~~~

‘I think I know who you’re dealing with,’ Elaine said to the speaker phone. ‘Her name is Jane Huff, and her MO matches what you described to June.’

‘She’s from down your way?’ Cygnus’ voice asked.

‘She’s from Biloxi, originally, but she was making a nuisance of herself around LA and San Francisco until recently. We figured she’d run out of gullible men and gone quiet. Apparently she moved to New Millennium City.’

‘Huh, yeah. We think she was brought here. What does she actually do? We’re mostly guessing.’

‘She’s some sort of psychic, but her powers only work on men. To a man she looks
really
beautiful and she’s incredibly charismatic. She also seems to have some sort of ability to… brainwash them, but that takes time. What she usually does is to find some man she likes, the bigger and dumber the better, and she gets them to commit crimes for her. She likes being rich and pampered. When they get caught, and they always get caught, she dumps them and finds a new one.’

‘And if she gets caught?’

Elaine gave a laugh. ‘The police have a fairly large proportion of men in them. The only reason we know who she is is that Lament and Dali’s Muse nailed her one time. She still managed to find a man she could persuade to get her out before they could lock her up.’

‘Right. And her powers don’t work
at all
on women?’

‘Not even a little. She hates it. You said she was brought in by someone there?’

‘That’s what we think. Someone’s taken over the local crime family here and we think they brought her in as part of a distraction plan. We still have no idea who they are though.’

‘Well, you’re probably looking for a woman.’

‘We are?’

‘You are. A man who knows what she does would either be smart enough to know not to call on her, or they’d have been making dumb mistakes by now and you’d have caught them. This is probably a woman, a really smart one. Good at planning from the sounds of it. You had Slapstick in town recently too, right?’

‘Yeah. I am still laughing at the really amazing joke.’ The sarcasm in Cygnus’ voice was apparent even over the speaker.

‘So this planner managed to get Jane and him in town, and causing trouble, and you still don’t have a clue about them. That’s careful, clever work. I’d say you should be cautious about this one.’

‘Thanks for the information, Backroom. Is June there with you?’

Giggling, Elaine looked out of one of the windows where the blind had been drawn back. June was visible standing beside a huge, silver, very masculine figure. ‘She’s outside cooing over Ultramech.’

‘Aww damn, she’s getting to meet Ultramech? That is so not fair!’

‘Ha! Well, come over and visit sometime. I’m sure he’d love to meet you too.’

New Millennium City, MD.

‘Excuse me. Could you help me? I’m… kind of lost.’

Jacob paused outside his house as the attractive, almost melodious tones floated over him. He turned and his eyes widened at the sight of a stunningly attractive blonde who was watching him from the sidewalk. ‘I, uh… yes, of course…’

‘Jane. I’m Jane. Thank you so much.’ She rushed closer, looking scared. ‘I don’t know the city and… and I think someone’s been following me.’

The sudden urge to protect the woman washed over Jacob like a wave. His eyes scanned the street, but there was no one to see. Still, if she thought she was being followed… ‘You’d better come inside. I’m a UID Special Agent, Jacob Dannon. We can see about getting you some protection once you’re safe.’

Jane smiled and his heart lifted. ‘I feel safer already, Jacob.’

It was past nightfall and the hallway inside was dark, but he ushered her in and closed the door before reaching for the light switch. Nothing happened when he flicked it on and he frowned. ‘That’s odd. Bulb must’ve blown.’ He drew his pistol. ‘Stay right there until I’ve got a light on.’

‘Sure,’ Jane said, her voice carrying a hint of huskiness that went straight to the more basic parts of his brain. ‘I
know
I’m safe with
you
, Jacob.’

He moved past her, heading for the lounge. It seemed far darker in the house than it should have. Something was wrong and he was not quite sure what it was. ‘You are. Don’t worry.’

And that was when Jane heard the voice whispering in her ear. ‘You’re not. That’s
my
man you’re trying to sink your claws into, biatch.’

The loud scream brought Jacob running back into the hall, where he found Twilight gripping the dress of a rather plain blonde who was hanging limply in her grip. He put his gun up sharply and frowned. ‘What happened to Jane?’

‘Jane… isn’t quite what she appears to be,’ Twilight replied, grinning. ‘I’d be upset at you chasing blondes if she wasn’t an Ultra. Get Heather over here, would you? This needs a woman’s touch.’

31
^st
May.

‘She… really didn’t look like that outside my house,’ Jacob said, watching the video screen which showed Jane sitting in a cell.

‘She has psionic powers,’ Cygnus said. ‘She can make men see her as this beautiful, charismatic woman and–’

‘I trusted her. Just like that.’

‘I wouldn’t beat yourself up over–’

‘I could stand to watch him beat himself up a bit more,’ Twilight broke in. ‘Fawning over a blonde like that.’ She shook her head slowly.

‘I, uh…’ Jacob looked at her, rather sheepishly. ‘I mean, blondes have nothing on brunettes.’

‘Huh,’ Cygnus grunted, tossing long, blonde hair.

‘Uh, well, yeah, but–’

Heather laid a hand on Jacob’s arm. ‘Give up while you’re ahead. We’ll get her into a women’s prison. She should be safe enough there, especially with a Neurotronic collar. What bugs me is that she’s not too bright, there’s no way she masterminded this, and she’s
not
giving up who did.’

‘A woman,’ Cygnus said. ‘Intelligent, malicious, probably psychopathic. She kills people, in as painful a way as she can, because she likes doing it. And she has Jane there scared enough not to give up who she is.’

‘Can’t wait to meet her,’ Twilight replied. ‘I’m going to teach her what scary really means.’

Part Six: Excelsior

New Millennium City, 2
^nd
June 2014.

Rex was frowning as he entered Diamond’s room. She smiled at him. ‘What’s wrong, Rex honey? Someone beat your flush?’

‘They caught Jane.’

‘Well, of course they did. Did you really think that dumb blonde would stay out of trouble forever? I didn’t think she’d last this long.’ Stepping closer, she patted his cheek.

‘She’ll talk.’

‘No, she won’t. She’s stupid, but she’s not that stupid. She knows I’d get to her. And she knows what I’d do to her
when
I got to her. Besides, she doesn’t know anything. We’re ready. I want the first one to go off tonight.’

Rex gave a nod, but he looked worried. ‘You’re sure about this, Diamond? That stuff’s… unpredictable.’

‘I’m quite sure, hun. And when we’re done, we’ll have this whole city begging us to take their money.’

~~~

Madeleine Barker sat at her checkout, shoulder’s slumped, and prayed to every deity she did not believe in that her shift would end soon. A few hundred years ago, though maybe it was last spring, her careers advisor had suggested that her looks and personality, along with her lack of any aptitudes for anything, would make her invaluable in the hair styling or manicuring industries. Becoming a beautician had struck her as a completely dead-end job and she had decided not to try it. And that was one of a long list of bad decisions she could look back on when she was lying on her death bed. Given that she might die of boredom at any moment, she would not have long to wait.

The supermarket was not exactly full. People did not do a lot of shopping on a Monday, but there were always some. Fridays were a nightmare, but at least she was kept busy. Checkout duty on a Monday was almost a punishment detail. Actually, given that her supervisor hated her, maybe it
was
punishment for… well, probably for existing. Maddy was cute and blonde, and her supervisor was short, dumpy, dark, and almost always grumpy. Maddy hated the stupid, pink uniforms, but looked reasonably good in them. Her supervisor, Maddy had decided, could make anything look bad.