Six Times Deadly: A Lawson Vampire Story Collection (The Lawson Vampire Series) (8 page)

She nodded and we both broke for the minivan.

As soon as we had the truce, the real world seemed to explode back in on us.
 
I had to dodge falling chunks of concrete that rained down all around me.
 
The Silencer narrowly avoided a huge piece of steel that had come loose from the bamboo-scaffolding overhead.
 
It clanged into the ground and jutted up, an obscene stake through the heart of a once beautiful city.

I reached the minivan at the same time as the Silencer.
 
The entire front end was crushed.
 
Both people in the front - a man and a woman, parents most likely - were already dead, their sternums caved in from the impact.
 
Blood spattered the interior and the stench of dead hung heavy over the car.

The Silencer looked at me and had to shout over the incredible noise of the quake.
 
"Parents?"

I shook my head.
 
"Gone."

She nodded.
 
There wasn't time to waste on them anymore.
 
And being the professional she was - even one as diabolical as her - she turned her attention to the child in the back of the car.
 
"We've got to get her out."

I looked at the frame of the minivan.
 
The steel had buckled and collapsed in on itself, but the cage of the car looked reasonably intact.
 
The problem was the buckling made opening the doors impossible.
 
I yanked on them to try to get them wedged open, but they wouldn't give.

Worse, for some reason, the windows hadn't shattered.
 
And judging from the look of the car, the electronics wouldn't be operational.

"I'm going to have to break the glass."

The Silencer nodded.
 
"You'd better hurry."
 
She pointed overhead and I glanced up.

Atop the building that loomed over us, I saw the fissure spreading up through the concrete overhang.
 
A large piece of the cornice was barely holding on.
 
And when it fell, it would land right on top of the car.

And the little girl in the back seat.

I peered in at her.
 
She was terrified and still screaming for her mother.
 
I thought about talking to her but she was too scared to reach.

"No time, Lawson.
 
Do it now."

I brought the USP back out and used the butt to smash the glass at the corner.
 
That got the girl's attention.
 
She shrank back against the far side of the back seat and I smashed the remainder of the glass, tearing it out, and waved at her to come with me.

"
Isoide!
"

She didn't need to be told twice.
 
She scampered across the seats and I caught her up in my arms.
 
She couldn't have been older than six.
 
And fortunately, with all the adrenaline pumping, she felt as light as a feather.

"Lawson!"

I heard the crack and knew time was up.
 
I hauled us clear and we fell sprawling back away from the minivan just as the chunk crashed down on the car - I felt the USP go flying off away into the debris - too late to do anything about that.
 

I tried to shield the little girl as much as possible, but she was plenty bruised already.
 
And god knew how bad she'd be psychologically scarred from losing her parents like she just had.
 
Fragments showered over us and I felt several of them slice into the skin of my cheeks.
 
I huddled over the little girl and felt more rocks and chunks pelt my back.

And then the Silencer's hands were on me.
 
"Come on!
 
Get up!
 
We've got to keep moving!"

She took the girl from me and wrapped her up.
 
Judging from the look on the girl's face, she was in shock.
 
She'd need medical attention or we'd lose her.

I don't know how long it had been since the quake started, but it had felt like we'd squeezed an eternity into that span of time even though it must have only been five minutes or so.

I heard the sirens and screams now.
 
Somewhere overhead loudspeakers were blaring reports about a tsunami threat.
 
The whole street looked like it had just been hit by a bombing raid.

"Lawson."

I switched back on and looked at the Silencer.
 
"Yeah."

"I need to get her to the hospital.
 
She'll die from shock if I don't."

I frowned.
 
"Since when do you care so much about a child?"

She smirked.
 
"I've always cared about the innocent, Lawson.
 
That's why I let you live back in Thailand.
 
You were just a child then."

"And this truce?"

She shrugged.
 
"Expires when we go our separate ways.
 
Then it's back to business as usual for us."

"Why are you here in Sendai?"

"None of your business."

"I'm afraid it is."

The Silencer looked around.
 
"You find us a car that runs and can get us to the hospital and maybe I'll tell you."

That was going to be a lot tougher than it sounded.
 
I looked back down the street toward the train station, but I could already see that my car was crushed under more building collapse.

"How far away is the hospital?"

"We can run it," she decided then.
 
"Tohokukosai is right up the street.
 
They've got a decent emergency ward."

"They're going to be overwhelmed," I said.

"No choice," said the Silencer.
 
"She won't make it unless we get her there in the next few minutes."

We crossed Higashi Nibancho-Dori and started running further up the street.
 
people were running all around us and the chaos only seemed to grow with each passing minute.
 
The Silencer passed the girl to me and I cradled her as we ran.
 
The Silencer became an icebreaker, pushing people out of our way.
 

"What do I call you?" I shouted over the din.

The Silencer looked at me.
 
"You really need a name?"

"Easier than calling you the Silencer all the time."

"Then call me Jane."

I smirked.
 
"Yeah, that's convincing."

"I'm not the one who needs the comfort of a name to get through this."

"It's easier than saying the Silencer all the time."

She nodded as she tossed a burly man out of our way.
 
"That's why I made it monosyllabic, dear.
 
I know you have trouble with the big words."

More people clogged the streets and I wondered if we'd be able to make it in time.
 
There were so many dead and injured all around us, how were we going to get the little girl the help she needed?

But Jane didn't seem fazed by the people that bumped into us and kept us from moving quickly.
 
The little girl in my arms twitched then.
 
I looked down and saw that her coloring was fading.
 
If we didn't get her to a doctor soon, she'd surely die.

"This is taking too long!"

Jane looked me in the eye and I stared back.
 
Something passed between us then.
 
Some unspoken understanding.
 
I felt slightly jarred by it, but I wrote it off as the stress of the situation.

But Jane turned and I saw her stop suddenly amid the swirling mass of Sendai residents.

She spread her arms and then I saw her take a deep breath.
 
From out of her mouth came a sonic wave of a shout that rolled over everyone who stood in front of us.
 
And then they simply melted away to the sides of the street, clearing us a path.

She didn't wait.
 
"Come on!"

And we sprinted ahead.

I saw the signs for the hospital even though my brain was furiously trying to analyze what I'd just seen the Silencer accomplish.
 
She'd somehow become a very deadly Moses and parted the sea of people before us.

How, I had no idea.

It had sounded like a
kiai
of some type.
 
And while I'd heard plenty of rumors that
kiaijutsu
existed, I'd never seen it in action before unless you counted how many shouts I was used to hearing in cheesy martial arts flicks.

Was the Silencer some sort of master of this obscure martial art sub-discipline?
 
If so, I was going to have a severely awful time dealing with her.

Great.

Then I was through the emergency ward doors.
 
Jane had already found a doctor and was hauling him down to check on the little girl.

I let him take the girl from my arms and he laid her on a gurney, immediately grasping the seriousness of her condition.
 
He checked her over and then got her wrapped up in a blanket with her feet elevated as he shouted for assistance.
 
Barely turning back toward us, he grunted.
 
"
Kanojo wa ikinokotte ikudarou
."

"
Yokatta.
 
Domo
."
 
I said.
 
We'd gotten her there in time, thankfully.
 
But if it hadn't been for the Silencer's particular talent, we might not have made it.

More people streamed into the hospital, some of them nursing grievous wounds from blunt force trauma.
 
The stench of blood was overpowering, and in spite of the fact that I don't like drinking it, my mouth watered.

The Silencer's voice was close to my ear.
 
"If we stay here much longer, I'm liable to get hungry."

We walked outside against the surging tide of people trying to get into the emergency ward.
 
The sky overhead was gray and damp.
 
The initial quake had stopped, but I could feel deeper rumblings in the earth.

"Aftershocks," I said quietly.

The Silencer nodded.
 
"Probably a lot of them."

I glanced at her.
 
"That thing you did back there."

"Saving the girl?"

I shook my head.
 
"With your voice."

She turned away.
 
"What about it, Fixer?"

"That's kiaijutsu."

She smiled.
 
"So, you're not as ignorant as you appear."

"I appear ignorant?"

"Maybe not."
 
She looked back at me.
 
"You asked me what I was doing here in Japan.
 
Would you believe that I'm not here to kill anyone?"

"Maybe."
 
I paused.
 
"It's been a pretty strange day so far, after all."

"It's going to get worse," said the Silencer.
 
"An earthquake like this will trigger a tsunami."

"How do you know?"

She frowned.
 
"I just know."

I looked back toward the JR Sendai Station.
 
"I'm told we have a lot of our kind living in Sendai."

"Do we?"

I nodded.
 
"Chances are a lot of them are going to need help."

She eyed me. "Are you suggesting something?"

"I might be.
 
Let's call it an extension of the truce.
 
We stay here and help out as best we can.
 
Once we make sure our people are safe, then we can give each other twelve hours to disappear.
 
I'm sure you have pressing business elsewhere."

"As do you."

"As do I."
 
I smirked.
 
"We can continue our game another time."

"And what makes you think I'd give a damn about our people?
 
Why would I help them?"

"Because you just helped save the life of a child you don't even know.
 
That tells me you're not as evil as you might like everyone to think."

She laughed.
 
"I'd be careful about that theory, Lawson.
 
You don't know me nearly well enough to go around making those types of assumptions."

"Fair enough.
 
But I still think you care more about your people than you're letting on."

"If I do, you can bet that I won't let you know about it."
 
She sighed.
 
"But I like your idea.
 
And I'll grant that this might not be the best time to conclude our inevitable battle."

"There's enough destruction around here already," I said.
 
"And if you're right about that tsunami-"

"I am."

"Then things are only going to get worse.
 
Our fight isn't theirs.
 
So let's do what we can to help them."

"Where do you suggest we start?"

"I was told there's an apartment building that houses a large community.
 
We might as well head there and see how they're doing."

"And just what are we supposed to be?
 
The local vampire aid team?
 
A Fixer and the world's preeminent assassin?"

"I see modesty isn't one of your strengths."

She leaned closer to me.
 
"I could reduce you to a quivering blob of jelly just using my voice.
 
You wonder why I'm not carrying a gun?
 
It's because I don't need a gun any longer, Lawson.
 
I've evolved beyond that."

I frowned.
 
How the hell did she know that I'd wondered that?
 
Could she read minds, too?