Six Times Deadly: A Lawson Vampire Story Collection (The Lawson Vampire Series) (9 page)

"All right, we'll go with preeminent assassin if that makes you feel better."
 
More sirens started going off around us.
 
"We'd better get going."

And even as we started down the street, the ground beneath us shook again.
 
I had no idea if we'd be able to do any good for the people of Sendai.
 
But I knew that we had to try.
 
No matter how small our efforts might seem, together the Silencer and I could do more.

I just hoped that when people outside Japan saw the incredible devastation, they'd help out, too.
 
After all, if a Fixer and his enemy could put aside their differences long enough to save even one little girl, then working together the world could do so much more.

As for the Silencer, for the moment, we were good.
 
I didn't think she'd go back on her word.
 
At least not yet.

But once we went our separate ways, anything was possible.

And something told me that I'd be dealing with her a lot sooner than I wanted to.
 

Her and her deadly new skill.

Rudolf The Red Nosed Rogue

If anybody had asked, I would have said that Talya in a white silk blouse and matching bikini panties would be a great Christmas present.
 

But Talya was currently man-tracking a Chechen drug lord in the frozen Siberian wilderness.
 
So, the only thing keeping me company this Christmas Eve was a Bombay Sapphire and tonic.

And no one had asked anyway.

 
Outside the window, tiny white snowflakes drifted past, illuminated by the multicolored lights I'd strung up along the floor-to-ceiling windows in my Back Bay condo thirty floors up.
 
From where I sat, Boston's skyline looked peaceful.
 
Just the way it should.

The scent of pine hung in the air and I glanced at the tree I'd put up a week or so back.
 
I needed a few more ornaments to fill it out, but I liked the shape.
 

And so did Dexter, the three year-old white cat I'd bought a few years after Mimi and Phoebe had both passed.
 
As I watched, Dexter glided underneath the lowest boughs, brushing his fur against an ornament.
 
Then he set up his ambush and waited for Desmond to wander through.
 
Desmond had been my other acquisition; a silver tabby that was still getting used to having a home.
 
It didn't help that most nights Dexter would pretty much play Prison Bitch with Desmond, while the smaller cat howled.
 
My condo was starting to resemble an episode of Oz.

I took another sip of my drink and wondered about Talya.
 
Siberia's no place you want to be in good weather.
 
But in late December, it was even worse.
 
The thought of her battling the elements in search of an elusive and deranged Chechen made me yearn to be with her.

But as much as we loved each other, we also knew each of us had their own life to lead.
 
So when we were together, it was good.
 
And when we weren't...well, we just weren't.

That sort of mutual respect worked well for our relationship.
 
But it made the holidays a real pain in the ass.
 
I'd already passed on attending Niles' annual holiday bash - too many folks from the Council there.
 
And I'd never been one of their favorites.
 
I do their dirty work - better, according to Niles, than any other Fixer they've got.
 
So they tolerate me.
 
But celebrating the season with me?
 
That was pushing it.

Niles didn't care if it pissed them off.
 
"Come anyway," he'd said.
 
"Marty will be there and I'm sure she'd love to see you."

"I'm sure."
 
Martina was the local armorer and she had a serious thing for me.
 
But I wasn't interested in her, despite the fact that she was pretty top drawer herself.

I hadn't bothered calling Arthur.
 
The grizzled old Fixer who now handled security at the Council building normally spent his Christmas camped out in front of a blazing fireplace with a big old bottle of his homemade drink Boomshanka.
 
As he slowly "went on the piss," he'd spend his time thinking over past memories, ghosts and skeletons of his active duty years.
 
Arthur had a lot of ghosts in his past, and he hadn't ever shared very many of them with me.
 

Sometimes, I think that was for the best.

Wirek was off in Maui surfing with the college librarian he'd somehow managed to hook up with at the grocery store.
 
But that was Wirek.
 
If it had a pair of breasts and a booty, Wirek was pretty much ready to go.
 
A pulse was only a distant secondary consideration.

And people said my libido was out of control.

With the few friends I had off doing other things and Talya off chasing bad guys across frozen tundra, that left me pretty much doing nothing of importance, aside from seeing how much Bombay Sapphire and tonic I could drink before I passed out.

I was a half bottle in when my phone buzzed.
 
Niles' number flashed on the screen.
 
I picked it up.
 
"Party end early?"

"You drunk yet?"

I smirked.
 
Niles had a hair-trigger wit almost as fast as mine.
 
Might have been what made us work so well together.
 
"Not even close, unfortunately."

"Got a fast ball for you."

"It's Christmas Eve.
 
You're kidding, right?"

"Santa came early, dude.
 
And that coal?
 
It's a bag of shit."

I paused.
 
Duty never seemed to take a break, not even for a holiday.
 
"Details?"

"Rudolf Hess.
 
Heard of him before?"

"Never."

Niles sighed.
 
"You don't ever read those intel briefings I send along, do you?"

"Sometimes, I do.
 
If I'm having trouble falling asleep.
 
They work like a charm."

"Funny guy.
 
Hess is in town.
 
Looking to unload some of his merchandise."

I glanced out the window.
 
Everything still looked incredibly peaceful out there.
 
Christmas Eve shouldn't be a time when anyone died.
 
Whatever deity ruled the universe should simply give everyone a pass at least one night a year.
 
I took a deep breath and blew it out, wishing I could have just stayed inside.

"What's he selling?"

"Illegal weapons.
 
Rumor mills says he's arming a gang of thugs in Tai Tung Village.
 
Last I checked, you were pretty familiar with that place."

"Don't bring her up."

"Hey, I'm not the one with the fondness for Chinese nurses who play volleyball and drive BMWs."

"It was a long time ago."

"Yeah."
 
Niles cleared his throat.
 
"Anyway, Hess is supposedly headed there with enough weapons to help this gang establish a decent toehold in Chinatown.
 
We can't have that."

"I thought the Vietnamese had that place sewn up."

"They do.
 
For the most part.
 
But there's a small community of our people there.
 
And the kids are getting a little tired of the Vietnamese influence.
 
They apparently don't appreciate the necessity of remaining subtly in the background."

"Kids being kids," I said.
 
I remembered it well.
 
It was tough being what we are and having to play second fiddle to humans who are only around for seventy years or so.
 
The desire to simply reveal ourselves and take over was strong, especially when you were battling the hormonal fluxes of being a teenager.

"Tai Tung, huh?
 
You got a name for me?
 
Who's running the show down there?"

"Huang.
 
They call themselves the Shadow Vipers."

"Cute."
 
I sighed.
 
"This official?"
"The sanction?
 
Yeah.
 
Wasn't hard to get it, either.
 
Nothing like a couple Council members being jarred out of their drunken stupor by the grim reality of life.
 
Talk about pissed off.
 
I think they'd ask you to gift wrap his head if they thought you'd oblige 'em."

"I wouldn't."

"Exactly.
 
You'll handle it?"

"Yeah."
 
I paused.
 
"What about the kids?"

Niles took a second before answering.
 
"Any of them present a threat, you know the deal.
 
But otherwise, maybe impart a small measure of wisdom with regards to keeping a low profile.
 
Rowdy behavior isn't something we tend to tolerate.
 
Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Niles disconnected.

And the ice had melted in my drink.

*
*
*

A series of high-rise yellow-bricked apartment buildings marked the entry to Tai Tung Village.
 
Inside the complex, it was a bewildering mazelike system of corridors, small apartments crammed with people, and dead-ends.
 
Most of the folks inside were a mix of Cantonese and Toisanese.
 

I'd spent time learning my way around Tai Tung, but that was years ago.
 
Times change and with a gang of teenaged vampires holding court, the layout was likely different from the last time I'd been in here.

I parked my Mercedes by a newly busted meter and then walked over.
 
My feet crunched fresh-fallen snow underneath, but even this blanket of white couldn't mask the smells of garbage, urine, and crumbling hope.
 
In this part of Chinatown, they didn't see much of the American Dream beyond fourteen-hour stretches in the fires of greased woks.

I checked the rear door fire exit of one of the buildings.
 
Last time I'd been here, it was always kept open for the low-level drug pushers to duck inside away from the scanning eyes of cop cruisers.

The door swung open, and the same wires that had dangled down the last time from the alarm still jutted at the top of my head.
 
Some things, it seemed, didn't change.

The stairs went down to the basement, but I avoided them.
 
The basement of Tai Tung was a cesspool of broken water pipes, garbage, effluence, and big freaking rats.
 
Even here by the door, the stench creeping up made my stomach churn slightly.

And I'd lost what little buzz I had left.

I climbed the stairs and ran into a little old lady pushing a wire cart filled with empty soda cans.
 
She looked up, her eyes still vibrant even if the rest of her wasn't.
 
The sudden appearance of a
lo fan
in an otherwise all-Chinese place caused her to frown.
 
Before she could start cussing me out, I held up my hand and showed a picture of Andrew Jackson.

"
Ngoh seung jou che
."

Her eyes narrowed and faster than I would have thought, she snatched the twenty out of my hands and pointed upstairs, rattling off a series of twists and turns that would take me to my destination.

Apparently, the same phrase to get an audience with the local gang leader still worked.
 
I'd told the old woman I wanted to rent a car.

She ambled off down the hall and I took the stairs to the 3rd floor, letting my eyes and ears become slowly attuned to my environment.
 
I caught snippets of a half dozen dialects obscured by paper-thin walls.
 
Bangs and creaks echoed across the hallway.
 
Kids cried and laughed.
 
Adults yelled.
 
I heard TVs and radio set to one volume: loud.

I made my way down the hall, bypassing a pile of empty cardboard boxes someone had simply left in the middle of the corridor.
 
I shrugged.
 
Someone's take on the paper tree, apparently.

As I neared the end of the hallway, a door opened and I found myself facing a street tough.
 
He didn't look even remotely surprised to see me.
 
Granny must have had a cell phone hidden in the cans.

Nature of the beast in a place like this.

"Whaddyou want,
lo fan
?
 
You're out of your place here."

I stopped and kept my hands where he could see them.
 
Knowing how they operated, there were probably at least two guns aimed at me at the moment from somewhere behind me.
 
Better to play this cool.

"Tell Huang I want to talk with him."

"-the fuck makes you think Huang wants to talk to you?"

I shrugged.
 
"Doesn't matter if he wants to talk to me or not.
 
I'm here.
 
Tell him that."

He frowned and I saw him debate whether he should just kill me.
 
But it wasn't everyday a round eye came strolling into their world by the secret entrance, knowing what to say and who to say it to.
 
Another moment of internal debate and his frown deepened.
 
"You got a name?"

"Lawson."

He sniffed.
 
"You say that like it should mean something."