The Adventures of Lazarus Gray (2 page)

Moving with the grace of a
jungle cat, Lazarus Gray began to move through the shadows, heading
into the bright lights and squalid streets of Sovereign
City.

Chapter II

A Hero For Hire

February 2,
1935

Robeson Avenue had become
one of the more famous streets in Sovereign City. The
transformation from an unassuming, mostly abandoned locale to one
where gossip columnists routinely camped out was the direct result
of Lazarus Gray choosing it for his home base. In the months since
he had awoken on the beach, he had slowly built a reputation as a
man with skills that could prove useful to those in need. He had
parlayed incredible knowledge about the workings of the stock
market, taking the small amounts of money he earned and
transforming it into enough capital to open his own business.
Dubbed Assistance Unlimited, this business existed for the sole
purpose of helping those in need. Gray charged nothing up front for
his services, preferring to be paid when the job was complete. He
asked only what the client could afford and not a penny more. With
the city reeling under the twin terrors of a stagnant economy and
rampant corruption, the papers had seized upon Lazarus Gray as a
figure of great interest and one capable of inspiring
hope.

Gray had purchased all
three of the buildings that lay on Robeson Avenue. The heart of his
complex was a three-story structure that had once been a hotel.
Gray’s three associates used the first floor, while the second had
been gutted and converted into one large room that was used for
meetings, briefings and research. The third floor was off-limits to
everyone but Gray himself and was his private domicile.

Across the street were
several storefronts, all of which had closed down at the dawn of
the Great Depression. Lazarus had purchased these, ensuring that no
one would operate any businesses next to his own set of offices. He
had continued to use the name Lazarus Gray for two reasons: the
first was that he had no other name to use and the second was that
he hoped it would draw out those who might know the truth about
him. So far, it had failed to accomplish the latter.

Lazarus Gray had found a
measure of peace in helping others, even though his own past was
lost to him. Though he was notoriously tight-lipped and rarely
showed strong emotion, his aides had come to love him. All of them
had come into his employ after themselves being helped by
Gray.

Morgan Watts was forty-two
years old and pencil-thin. He favored black suits and fedora hats
and not even his closest friends had ever seen him without a
necktie. He kept his dark hair slicked back and his moustache
waxed. Morgan was Gray’s liaison with the underworld for he himself
had once been a part of the city’s mafia. Though he was nominally a
free man now, the tentacles of organized crime ran deep and a part
of him would always be loyal to his old ‘Family.’ Those ties paled
beside only one thing: his allegiance to Lazarus Gray, who had
helped him out of a tight jam that could have cost him his
life.

Samantha Grace was the only
female in Gray’s employ. A stunning blonde whose parents were
wealthy philanthropists, Samantha had grown up with every
opportunity possible. She could speak five languages fluently, was
a champion swimmer and was a veritable encyclopedia on topics as
varied as fashion, European history and the socio-political climate
of the Orient. Samantha had come into Gray’s employ after her
father had fallen prey to a blackmail scheme. Lazarus had managed
to apprehend the criminal behind the plot, managing to destroy the
photographs that could have compromised her family’s good name.
Admiration for the work that Lazarus performed had led the
twenty-year-old into seeking a position with Assistance
Unlimited.

The final member of
Assistance Unlimited was a Korean named Eun Jiwon. After moving to
America with his parents over a decade before, Eun had found his
family’s fortunes in disarray. His father had opened a small
grocery store but when local crooks began to demand protection
money, Eun started a covert series of attacks on the criminals. He
had been mildly successful for a time, vandalizing their operations
and becoming a general nuisance, before they’d finally figured out
who was behind it all. Eun’s family store had been burned to the
ground and his parents murdered. The young man would have thrown
away his own life in a vain attempt at revenge had Lazarus Gray not
intervened, helping him channel his aggression into a healthier
direction. Eun was in his mid-twenties and extremely handsome,
though his angry demeanor kept almost everyone at arm’s length from
him.

As intriguing as those
three were, the real attraction at Assistance Unlimited was Lazarus
Gray himself. Dressed in gray slacks and a matching shirt that was
somewhat reminiscent of a hospital orderly’s uniform, the strangely
detached man kept a close eye on everything that went on in the
city. Those in authority at City Hall alternately feared or
welcomed him, depending on how corrupt they had become.

***

Lazarus was standing in
front of the window, scanning the articles on the front page of The
Sovereign Gazette. He was in the expansive room that spanned the
entire second floor of his headquarters and the sun that shone in
through the glass left a tiny rainbow across his cheek. It was just
a few minutes past nine in the morning and it was expected to be
another wet day in the city. It had rained off and on for nearly
six days in a row and the weathermen were predicting a lot more of
the wet stuff before the city could dry itself off.

Lazarus was reading about a
series of brutal slayings that took place in the downtown area,
several of which had been attributed to men working in the service
to The Monster. The so-called Monster was someone that had yet to
cross paths with Lazarus but from all that he’d heard, The Monster
was an increasingly powerful figure in the Sovereign
underworld.

"Good morning, Samantha. Is
there trouble?" Lazarus said these things without looking up from
his paper and he stopped the pretty young Miss Grace in her
tracks.

Regaining her composure,
Samantha smoothed out her skirt and stepped up close to her
employer. "It always throws me for a loop how you do that. I was
trying to be quiet that time."

"You would have
successfully snuck up on almost anyone on earth," Lazarus said,
folding up the newspaper and tossing it onto a nearby
tabletop.

"But not you."

A faint ghost of a smile
appeared on Gray’s lips but it vanished so quickly that Samantha
wasn’t sure it had really been there at all. "You were coming to
tell me about the gentleman in the rain slicker."

Samantha crossed her arms
and tilted her head slightly. "How in the world did you know
that?"

"The window. I was standing
in front of it and saw a man approaching our building before I
started reading the paper. He looked appropriately dressed for the
weather."

"His name is Peter Scanlon
and he says it’s urgent. Something about a missing
girl."

"Has he tried the
police?"

"Yes. But they think he
should be sent to the loony bin, apparently."

"And why is
that?"

"The girl he’s looking for
– she has glowing eyes."

***

Peter Scanlon was on the
first floor, in a small room set aside for potential clients. Its
walls were painted a soothing shade of blue and a fresh arrangement
of flowers was in a vase by the door. Morgan Watts was keeping
Scanlon company, leaning against one of the walls and watching the
little man fidget nervously. Scanlon had refused to give up his
rain slicker upon entering, preferring to keep it on. He was
slightly paunchy in the way that middle-aged men tend to get and
his head was covered by a few thin wisps of hair, combed over in a
vain attempt at maintaining the semblance of youth. He wore thick
glasses and was constantly pushing them up the bridge of his
nose.

"Sure you don’t want some
coffee, buddy?"

Scanlon frowned and shook
his head. "I told you I didn’t. Why do you keep asking me
that?"

"You’re acting more nervous
than a bride on her wedding night. If the coffee won’t settle you,
I have some stronger stuff in the back."

Scanlon seemed to be
considering the offer when the door opened and Gray stepped in.
Samantha was right behind him and she glanced quickly at Morgan,
shaking her head. Morgan smirked, knowing what it meant: she’d bet
him three dollars that she’d be able to sneak up on Gray this
time.

Gray pulled up a chair and
sat down across from Scanlon, ignoring the slightly fearful look
that he received. Gray’s eyes were mismatched: one was emerald
green, the other dusky brown. They seemed to burn with some sort of
awful inner fire, as if there was a bottomless well of fury lurking
within his placid expression. "Tell me why you’re here, Mr.
Scanlon."

"Didn’t the girl tell
you?"

"Miss Grace told me some of
it but I’d like to hear it from you, in your own words."

"I have money," Scanlon
began but he stopped when Gray’s eyes narrowed ever so
slightly.

"We can discuss my fee at a
later time. Right now, I’m concerned only with the reasons behind
your visit."

Scanlon nodded, looking
away. Without having the full force of Gray’s stare on him, he
seemed to relax. After taking a deep breath, he pushed his glasses
up the bridge of his nose and began speaking in low and somewhat
embarrassed tones. "I don’t have a particularly glamorous life, Mr.
Gray. Nothing like yours, to be sure. I repair typewriters for a
living. I work for a Mr. Steinberg, down on 42nd street. He’s a
good man and he pays well for the work. I like it but it’s awful
lonely sometimes. It’s just me at home, you see. I’ve never married
and haven’t really come very close." Scanlon looked up quickly and
his cheeks reddened when he realized that Samantha was still in the
room. She gave him a reassuring smile that seemed to say that she
wasn’t judging him, nor did she pity his state. "A week ago I
stopped by O’Malley’s Pub for a drink after work. It was a Tuesday
night and the place was mostly empty, except for a few
regulars."

"Are you a regular, Mr.
Scanlon?" Morgan asked, taking a pipe out from the inside of his
jacket. He lit it with a match and had just begun puffing away when
Scanlon answered in the affirmative.

"I don’t go every night but
often enough, I suppose. Well, there was one person there who most
definitely wasn’t a regular. It was a girl, about twenty-five I’d
say and so lovely that my heart broke just looking at her. She was
wearing a white dress that ended just above her knees, white
high-heeled pumps and she had a flower in her raven-black hair."
Scanlon’s voice had acquired a dreamy air to it and Morgan was
barely able to stifle a snort. Samantha motioned for him to stop,
but it was obvious that she was amused as well. "Anyway, I took my
usual seat and didn’t approach her. She was out of my league and I
knew it. So you can imagine my surprise when I heard her angel’s
voice from next to my shoulder, asking if she could sit with me. I
stammered a yes and tried not to look too eager. She sat down next
to me and I could smell her perfume. It was like fresh rose
petals."

Morgan cleared his throat.
"I think I can sense where this might be going. This dame of yours…
was she a working girl?"

Scanlon’s mouth fell open
and he looked like he might rise up and walk out. "Heavens no!
Where on Earth did you get that idea? She wasn’t like that. Not at
all, sir!"

"Please continue." Gray
spoke softly but the tone was so commanding that Scanlon at once
gave a nod and resumed his story.

"I could tell right away
that she was sad about something. She looked like she’d been
crying. I tried to make small talk with her but she was obviously
too upset. She said she just wanted to be near me, that I made her
feel safe. I bought her a couple of drinks but she barely touched
either one. When I realized it was getting late, I told her I had
to go and she asked me if I’d walk with her to get a
cab."

"And she never told you her
name?" Samantha asked.

"No. I didn’t ask, though.
I didn’t even realize I hadn’t until… well, later." Scanlon cleared
his throat and brushed his glasses back up over the bridge of his
nose. "It was raining outside so I took off my jacket and held it
over her head. She said it was gallant of me and I felt her touch
my chest, kind of pulling me to her. I was just a little taller
than her and so I was looking down at her. It was obvious she
wanted me to kiss her. I was going to do it, too, but that’s when I
saw her eyes." He reached out suddenly and gripped Lazarus by the
sleeve. "They were glowing. It was kind of an ice blue color and
her pupils seemed to vanish as I was looking at them. Her eyes were
just empty, with that strange glow. It was the most beautiful and
terrifying thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Is that possible? To be
attracted and repulsed by something simultaneously?"

"I see it all the time,"
Morgan whispered.

"Yeah. In the mirror every
morning." Samantha winked as she said the words, continuing the
teasing that was part and parcel of their friendship.