Six Times Deadly: A Lawson Vampire Story Collection (The Lawson Vampire Series) (16 page)
Read Six Times Deadly: A Lawson Vampire Story Collection (The Lawson Vampire Series) Online
Authors: Jon F. Merz
PANEL SEVEN
:
BARTOK SETS HIS DRINK DOWN AS HE EYES LAWSON.
PANEL EIGHT
:
HE HANDS LAWSON A SLIP OF PAPER.
PANEL NINE
:
BEHIND BARTOK A HUGE BODYBUILDER-TYPE LOOMS.
- 10.
BARTOK:
Two hours.
Met me at this address with the microfilm.
If you try to screw me, you’ll die at Rudi’s hands here.
PANEL TEN
:
LAWSON STANDS.
- 11.
LAWSON:
And if you try to fuck
me
over, you’ll wish it was Rudi gonna kill you.
Instead of me.
PAGE TEN
PANEL ONE
:
OUTSIDE RIKKI’S BAR, LOOKING DOWN FROM ABOVE.
LAWSON WALKS AWAY.
PANEL TWO
:
CLOSE-UP OF LAWSON’S RIGHT EYE LOOKING BEHIND HIM.
IN THE BACKGROUND SOMEONE IS FOLLOWING HIM.
- 1.
CAP:
It took me just under a block to figure out I had a fan club.
PANEL THREE
:
FROM ABOVE AGAIN LAWSON WALKING AND BEHIND HIM THE PERSON TAILING HIM.
- 2.
CAP: Rudi?
Bartok might have put him on me to waste me, grab the film, and pocket the green.
Nice and tidy.
And exactly the sort of behavior I’d expect.
PANEL FOUR
:
CLOSE-UP OF LAWSON’S FACE.
- 3.
CAP:
So much for business ethics.
PANEL FIVE
:
THE SCENERY CHANGES.
IT’S CLOSER TO THE DANUBE HERE.
CORRUGATED TIN SHACKS LITTER THE AREA.
IT’S A DUMPY, DESERTED STRETCH OF THE DOCKS.
- 4.
CAP:
Too bad for Bartok I had no clue where the film was.
PANEL SIX
:
LAWSON IN THE FOREGROUND OUT OF FOCUS.
BEHIND HIM, A PAIR OF HUGE ARMS GRABS THE PERSON TAILING LAWSON.
LAWSON DOESN’T KNOW IT…YET.
- 5.
SFX:
Errrrk!
PANEL SEVEN
:
LAWSON TURNS.
THE AREA IS DESERTED.
- 6.
LAWSON:
What the - ?
PANEL EIGHT
:
LAWSON PULLS HIS GUN OUT.
- 7.
CAP:
I didn’t think it was an ambush.
Something about that sound…
PAGE ELEVEN
PANEL ONE
:
LAWSON MOVES BACK IN THE DIRECTION HE JUST TRAVELED.
SHADOWS SEEM TO OBSCURE EVERYTHING.
- 1.
CAP:
Too damned quiet…
PANEL TWO
:
LAWSON’S FACE IS TIGHT, READY TO SPRING.
- 2.
SFX:
squishhh
PANEL THREE
:
LAWSON’S SHOES LIFTS OFF THE GROUND.
- 3.
CAP:
I caught a whiff about the same time I stepped in it…
PANEL FOUR
:
LAWSON KNEELS AND BRUSHES HIS FINGERS ALONG THE GROUND.
PANEL FIVE
:
CLOSE-UP OF HIM SMELLING HIS FINGERS.
- 4.
CAP:
Copper.
Sticky.
Fresh blood.
PANEL SIX
:
LAWSON STANDS.
- 5.
Whoever’d been behind me was gone.
They’d left their blood as a calling card.
- 6.
SFX:
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
PANEL SEVEN
:
LAWSON STARTS TO TURN AND BRING HIS GUN UP.
PANEL EIGHT
:
HE’S TOO LATE.
SOMETHING BIG AND BLACK HITS HIM HARD.
MAYBE A THREE-SHOT SPLIT PANEL:
ONE – LAWSON’S PISTOL GETS HIT OUT OF HIS HAND. TWO – A PUNCH TO LAWSON’S THROAT.
THREE – A KARATE CHOP TO THE SIDE OF HIS NECK.
- 7.
CAP:
It was too fast to do anything except book a one-way ticket to Sleepyland after the chop to my neck.
PANEL NINE
:
SMALL, BUT IT SHOULD SHOW NOTHING BUT BLACKNESS WITH AN ASTERISK OF WHITE AT THE CENTER CONVEYING LAWSON BLACKING OUT.
PAGE TWELVE
PANEL ONE
:
CLOSE-UP, MAYBE A HALF SHOT OF LAWSON’S FACE.
- 1.
SFX:
Ughhh…
PANEL TWO
:
LAWSON ON ALL FOURS IN SHADOW RETCHING.
- 2.
CAP:
When I came to, my head felt like a pincushion for I-beams.
PANEL THREE
:
CLOSE-UP OF LAWSON’S WATCH.
- 3.
CAP:
Three hours had passed.
- 4.
LAWSON:
Shit.
PANEL FOUR
:
LAWSON HUNTS THROUGH A PILE OF TRASH NEARBY.
- 5.
CAP:
I found my gun.
That was a small plus.
PANEL FIVE
:
SWITCH TO A BETTER PART OF THE CITY.
STANDARD EUROPEAN BUILDINGS.
A CAB IDLES BY THE CURB.
- 6.
CAP:
I’d been jumped.
I didn’t have the microfilm.
And I was late.
PANEL SIX
:
LAWSON INSIDE THE CAB SLIPPING ADDRESS TO THE DRIVER.
- 7.
CAP:
So, why the hell was I going to see Bartok empty-handed?
- 8.
LAWSON:
Bitte
.
PANEL SEVEN
:
FROM ABOVE, THE CAB RACES DOWN THE CITY STREETS.
- 9.
CAP:
Maybe I could reason with him.
PANEL EIGHT
:
LAWSON GRINNING.
- 10.
CAP:
Yeah.
Right.
PAGE THIRTEEN
PANEL ONE
:
OUTSIDE A LARGE WAREHOUSE WITH A LONE BULB SHINING WITHIN.
IT’S STILL QUITE DARK OUTSIDE.
- 1.
CAP:
Truth was, I only needed Bartok to learn who he was going to sell it to.
Then I could kill everyone involved in finish this op.
The Council could always dispatch someone else to hunt the film down.
PANEL TWO
:
LOW SHOT OF LAWSON OUTSIDE THE CAB WITH THE BERETTA BY HIS THIGH.
THE WAREHOUSE STANDS IN THE BACKGROUND.
- 2.
CAP:
I’d be doing Western Intel a favor by taking out Bartok’s network.
Not that they’d ever know it was me.
PANEL THREE
:
CLOSE-UP OF HALF OF LAWSON’S FACE.
HIS LEFT EYE IS SIDEWAYS GLANCING AT THE CAB SPEEDING AWAY IN THE BACKGROUND.
- 3.
CAP:
But what the hell.
My life has always been thankless anyway.
PANEL FOUR
:
LAWSON ON ONE SIDE OF THE DOOR WITH ONE HAND NUDGING THE DOOR OPEN.
- 4.
SFX:
Creeaaaaaakkkkkkk….
PANEL FIVE
:
THE BARREL OF THE BERETTA NOSES THROUGH THE OPENING.
PANEL SIX
:
ANOTHER DOOR BARS THE WAY.
LIGHT SEEPS OUT FROM UNDER THE JAMB.
- 5.
CAP:
Time to go for it.
PANEL SEVEN
:
FROM INSIDE, LAWSON KICKS THE DOOR OFF ITS HINGES, EXPLODING INTO THE ROOM.
- 6.
CAP:
Subtlety’s overrated sometimes.
PAGE FOURTEEN
PANEL ONE
:
WITH VIEW OF A ROOM WITH A DESK.
BEHIND THE DESK IS A CHAIR WITH ITS BACK TO THE DOOR.
POKING JUST ABOVE THE TOP OF THE CHAIR IS PART OF A HEAD.
IN THE FOREGROUND, LAWSON’S BODY IS SILHOUETTED.
- 1.
LAWSON:
Bartok.
PANEL TWO
:
SIDE SHOT OF THE ROOM.
LAWSON IS TO THE LEFT AND THE DESK & CHAIR ARE TO THE RIGHT.
WE CAN SEE THE CHAIR’S INHABITANT IS INDEED FAT.
PANEL THREE
:
LAWSON NUDGES THE CHAIR AND IT STARTS TO SPIN.
- 2.
SFX:
Squeak
PANEL FOUR
:
CLOSE-UP OF BARTOK’S FACE AND NECK.
HE’S GOT A COLOMBIAN NECKTIE – HIS THROAT HAS BEEN SLICED OPEN AND HIS TONGUE HAS BEEN YANKED DOWN THROUGH THE OPENING.
LOTS OF BLOOD, SOME OF IT DRIED ON HIM.
BARTOK’S EYES ARE OPEN.
HE’S QUITE DEAD.
PANEL FIVE
:
LAWSON FACE.
FROWNING.
- 3.
LAWSON:
Dammit.
PANEL SIX
:
LAWSON’S GUN FALLS TO HIS SIDE.
- 4.
CAP:
First, Bartok’s man buys it and now Bartok himself.
Someone was beating me to the punch.
It looked like a classic roll-up.
With these two gone, the only one left alive who knew something about the microfilm was –
PANEL SEVEN
:
LAWSON DROPS TO THE GROUND.
PANEL EIGHT
:
JUST IN TIME – A CROSSBOW BOLT SHOOTS THROUGH THE SPACE JUST OCCUPIED BY HIM.
- 5.
SFX:
Sssssss….thunk!
- 6.
CAP:
- me.
PAGE FIFTEEN
PANEL ONE
:
LAWSON SHOOTING AT THE DARKENED CEILING AND THE STEEL RAFTERS.
PANEL TWO
:
LAWSON DUCKS BEHIND THE DESK.
- 1.
CAP:
I could hear something scurrying around the ceiling.
PANEL THREE
:
SHOT OF THE RAFTERS.
SHADOWS MOVE ABOUT.
TWO INDISTINCT FORMS.
- 2.
SFX:
Ha ha ha…
- 3.
SFX:
Hee hee
PANEL FOUR
:
LAWSON’S FACE.
HE’S PISSED.
AGAIN.
- 4.
CAP:
I don’t like being laughed at.
PANEL FIVE
:
WIDER SHOT TO ESTABLISH DISTANCE BETWEEN LAWSON AND THE CEILING.
- 5.
LAWSON:
You think this is a joke?
- 6.
VOICE ONE:
You’re the best we’ve seen in a while.
PANEL SIX
:
LAWSON’S FACE AGAIN.
NOT SO ANGRY NOW, MORE INTRIGUED.
- 7.
CAP:
We?
PANEL SEVEN
:
WIDE SHOT AS TWO SILHOUETTED FORMS DROP FROM THE RAFTERS.
PANEL EIGHT
:
LAWSON’S FACE SHOWS RECOGNITION.
HE KNOWS THEM.
PAGE SIXTEEN
PANEL ONE
:
THE TWINS FROM EARLIER AT RIKKI’S BAR LEAN AGAINST THE WALL CASUALLY, BUT THEY LOOK DEADLY ENOUGH.
THEY’RE SWATHED IN BLACK BODY-HUGGING CLOTHES.
THEIR SMILES DO LITTLE TO CONCEAL THEIR LETHALITY.
PANEL TWO
:
THEY POINT TO LAWSON’S GUN.
- 1.
GIRL ONE:
That won’t do you any good.
PANEL THREE
:
LAWSON THUMBS BACK THE HAMMER ON HIS BERETTA.
- 2.
CAP:
She seems convinced.
But they didn’t know the bullets had been modified for killing vampires.
The wooden-tipped rounds could just as easily kill a human at close range.
PANEL FOUR
:
BOTH GIRLS MOVE IN UNISION.
ONE KICKS AT LAWSON BUT HE PARRIES IT.