The Adventures of Lazarus Gray (26 page)

"Is it the same one that’s
killing people here in Sovereign?"

"Could be. But it doesn’t
matter. They’re a Slasher, which is all you need to know. The
Slasher is dangerous, of course, but the one pulling the strings is
even more so."

Eun could no longer
maintain his silence. "So the one who wrote the papers as Jack the
Ripper – was that the Slasher or the mastermind?"

Ebenezer turned blind eyes
toward Eun. "Boy, it doesn’t matter. Jack the Ripper isn’t here,
now is he? All that matters is there’s a killer out there and he’s
going to be damned tough to defeat. Just like they don’t eat or
drink like we do, they don’t die like we do. They’re stronger and
more resistant to pain."

Gray reached out and
lightly touched Ebenezer’s shoulder. "Is there anything else you
can tell us? Is there a way to easily trace who’s behind all
this?"

"That shouldn’t be too
hard. Just look in your own home."

Chapter III

Death’s Head

Morgan Watts led Mr.
Dinkins and Muggsy into the headquarters of Assistance Unlimited.
He’d hated to cut short his date with Molly but meeting a man with
no heart took precedence over a night out and he hoped she’d
understand that. If not, that was too bad for her. Morgan
considered his job with Lazarus Gray to be one of the most
important things in his life and any partner of his would simply
have to understand that.

The group’s headquarters
was based in an old hotel and there were facets of its old purpose
still on display. One such item was the clerk’s desk, where once
upon a time men and women stepped up to check on their
reservations. Morgan stepped around this desk while Dinkins and
Muggsy stared at their surroundings. Morgan checked a small
magnetic board attached to the back of the desk. On the board were
written the names of Assistance Unlimited’s agents, with two
columns drawn next to them: In and Out. Small black dots could be
slid back and forth as necessary. Morgan wasn’t surprised to see
that all the dots were currently in the Out column. He slid his own
to In and sighed.

"Lazarus and the others are
out right now but you can wait in the next room. I’ll bring you
some coffee if you want."

"Thank you, Mr. Morgan."
Dinkins took his hat off and held it with both hands. "I do
appreciate you bringing us here. I know that you were involved with
what promised to be an entertaining evening."

Morgan tried not to show
his chagrin at the reminder. "Don’t worry about it. Go on and have
a seat." He gestured toward an open door that led into a small
waiting area. There were several plush chairs set against the wall
and a table in the center with magazines of all types arranged
around a floral centerpiece. As with most things of an aesthetic
nature in the building, it was Samantha’s handiwork. Eun and Morgan
had no eye for such things and though Lazarus was incredibly well
read and quite aware of appearances, he stepped aside and let
Samantha use her skills whenever necessary.

Once Dinkins and his
oversized companion was out of sight, Morgan activated the small
handheld communications device that all members of the team carried
these days. It had two settings: one for radio conversation and
another that simply sent an emergency signal to the other devices.
In this case, Morgan opted for the latter. He wasn’t sure why he
erred on the side of such caution but he didn’t want Dinkins
listening in to any conversation that he might have. He didn’t
trust either of his guests and it wasn’t simply the fact that a
shiver went down his spine every time he visualized the old man’s
wounded chest. There was something more at work here and he hadn’t
liked the way that Dinkins’ eyes had lit up at the suggestion of
coming here.

Still, Morgan felt better
having them in a place he considered safer than Fort Knox. He moved
into the small office behind the desk, preparing a fresh cup of
coffee and was just beginning to wonder what Samantha was up to.
She’d seemed unaffected by his news that he was going out on a date
with Molly, which had both surprised and disappointed him. There
was a big part of him that just wanted to give up on any chance of
a love affair with her but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.
He knew she was right: workplace romances were almost never a good
idea. Besides that, there was the age difference. Morgan was in his
forties and Samantha was barely past twenty. It might not cause
problems right now but where could they go from here? What if she
wanted children? Could he really deal with fatherhood when turning
fifty lay just around the bend for him?

He was so lost in thought
that he almost didn’t hear the sound of the waiting room door
opening and closing. It was done quite quietly but all the members
of Assistance Unlimited were trained to sense danger in all its
forms. He stepped back out to the desk to see what was going on and
quickly stopped in his tracks. Muggsy was standing with a large axe
held in his right hand. The blood caked blade dangled against his
leg and the big man’s eyes shone out from behind his mask with
murderous intent.

Mr. Dinkins stood just to
the left of Muggsy, a peculiar look on his face. He sounded
apologetic as he said, "I’m sorry about this, Mr. Watts. You’ve
been quite good to us and I’d hoped that what happened last night
would slake his thirst for the time being. But our Muggsy needs a
lot of blood to keep his strength up. And, just between you and me,
I think he simply likes the killing."

Morgan reached into his
jacket and withdrew his pistol, which he quickly trained on the big
man with the axe. "Take one step toward me, fella, and I’ll kill
you."

Muggsy stared at him. When
he spoke, it was with a deep, almost ponderous voice. "Où est son
coeur? Dites-moi donc je ne peux cesser de tuer!"

Morgan, who didn’t know
much of the French language, besides a few dishes he could order in
restaurants and a handful of sexual slang terms, stared in
confusion.

Dinkins laughed. "Sorry,
mon ami. He’s asking you where my heart is. He’s a bit
single-minded, this one. I know you won’t believe me, but I really
did hope to hire Mr. Gray to help me. He’d solve all this without
nearly so much bloodshed." Dinkins gave Muggsy a playful shove. "Go
on, then. Get it over with."

The Axeman of Sovereign
City raised his killing blade and began to advance on
Morgan.

***

Samantha’s car was pulling
into the garage located behind the Assistance Unlimited
headquarters when Morgan’s alarm began going off in her purse. She
quickly parked the car and yanked out the communications device,
seeing a flashing number on the tiny device’s screen: "2." That
meant that it was Morgan, since Lazarus was # 1, Samantha was # 3
and Eun was # 4. The address below the flashing number read ‘6196
Robeson Avenue," which indicated that Morgan was actually inside
the building – and in some form of mortal danger!

Samantha was out of the car
in a flash, a small handgun clutched tightly in her left hand. She
moved around to a side door, one that was marked for deliveries. A
small number pad was set into the wall next to the door and she
quickly entered a private code that caused the door to open with a
pop. She crept inside and moved stealthily through the darkness
until she neared the front corridor. She jumped when she heard a
gunshot, followed by the unmistakable sounds of Morgan engaging in
physical combat.

Any lingering anger she
felt toward her friend for his romantic pursuits was completely
forgotten and she surged forward, whipping around the corner with
her gun raised. What she saw was enough to stop her in her tracks
for a moment. A large brute armed with an axe was towering over
Morgan, who was bleeding from a deep gash in his right shoulder.
Morgan’s pistol lay on the floor, covered in blood. Standing just
out of harm’s way was a Negro wearing a top hat and a broad
grin.

Samantha immediately knew
that Morgan was too close to the man with the axe for her to get a
clean shot off. She had to hope that Morgan could stay alive long
enough for her to seize an opportunity. But the man in the hat… he
was fair game.

Samantha dropped her gun
into the purse she wore slung over one shoulder and rushed into the
scene. Dinkins jerked his head to the side, eyes widening at the
sight of her. Despite her dainty appearance, Samantha was as adept
at the martial arts as any of her peers, if not more so. She drove
one of her spiked heels into the side of the old man’s head,
knocking him off balance. He tumbled to the floor, blood seeping
from a nasty looking scratch. He uttered a string of curses at her
in a Cajun dialect and Samantha had her suspicions confirmed: these
two were related to the Axeman crimes.

Morgan spotted his friend
and was almost so distracted that he forgot to duck under another
swipe of The Axeman’s blade. "Samantha! Get out of here! Go get
help!"

Samantha bristled at
Morgan’s words. She knew that he respected her too much to treat
her like some fragile flower but in recent months he’d become more
protective of her, in direct correlation to his desire for a
relationship with her. She drove a hard kick into Dinkins’ belly
and he rolled onto his back, gasping for air.

Morgan, meanwhile, dove for
his gun but it slid away from him and The Axeman caught him with a
hard elbow to the back of the head. Morgan saw stars for a minute
and his feet slipped in a puddle of his own blood. He landed
awkwardly and The Axeman raised his blade high, intending to finish
off his opponent with one further stroke.

It was then Samantha drove
her shoulder hard into Muggsy’s back. She was light as a feather
compared to the big man but the impact was enough to take his
attention off of Morgan. He turned slowly, gazing down at Samantha
with a tilted head, as if he were gazing at something wholly new
and unexpected. Samantha was rubbing her shoulder, wondering if
she’d broken something. She fumbled with her purse, intending to
draw her pistol but The Axeman batted it away from her with a beefy
paw.

"Samantha," Morgan
whispered, trying to find the strength to rise again. He stared
hard at the beautiful girl, knowing that his heart would break if
he saw her seriously hurt. He threw himself at The Axeman’s feet,
holding on tight to the man’s ankles. The Axeman roared in anger,
trying to dislodge Morgan’s grip but failing. This gave Samantha
the time to scurry after her purse. She pulled out her gun and
whipped it around toward The Axeman.

Just as she was taking
careful aim at the killer’s skull, a blue-tinged powder flew into
her face. Samantha coughed but it was too late. The substance was
in her eyes and throat. It burned and itched but more than
anything, it brought a terrible drowsiness that not even Samantha’s
incredible strength of will could resist. She looked through watery
eyes at Dinkins, who was back on his feet, with another of powder
clutched in one of his hands. Though she knew it might end up
costing her life, Samantha slid into unconsciousness, falling
heavily to the floor.

The Axeman, meanwhile, had
managed to yank one of his legs free. He drove the heel of his boot
into Morgan’s face, crushing his nose. Blood gushed from the wound
and Muggsy slammed the butt of his axe handle down onto Morgan’s
skull. He then walked around the prone man’s form, hefting his axe
once more.

"Leave him be," Dinkins
warned.

The Axeman looked up
sharply, his eyes burning like coals beneath his mask.

Dinkins stared him down.
"You think it’s coincidence that she showed up when she did? I bet
he sent out an alarm of some kind. Might be one of those silent
ones like they have in the fancier banks. That means Gray and his
Korean man might be here any second and it’s going to bad enough if
they find their friends like this. Let them see Morgan there with
his head cut off and they might go into a frenzy."

The Axeman panted like a
dog and shook his head, as if to say that he didn’t fear anyone or
anything.

"I agree, mon ami. You
could deal with them easy enough." Dinkins lowered his voice,
soothing his ally. "But we need to go. No time to play, you hear? I
don’t want to take no risks. It’s obvious now that this Gray fellow
and his men aren’t the mercenaries I thought they were. They’re
something else entirely and that makes them dangerous. So come with
me now and we’ll find the door this little lady came in through. I
promise you’ll get your fill of blood soon enough."

Muggsy looked at the
carnage around him and finally relented, losing the tension in his
body. Samantha looked gorgeous in repose but Morgan was a bloody
mess.

When the villains were
gone, the building fell quiet, save for the deep breathing of
Samantha Grace and the quicker, shallower breaths of Morgan
Watts.

***

Lazarus and Eun received
the summons from Morgan as well. They were just leaving Ebenezer’s
home when the signal came through and though they rushed back at
far above the posted speed limit, they arrived too late to see The
Axeman or Dinkins exiting the scene. They entered cautiously and
came upon their fallen comrades within moments of arriving. Lazarus
knelt to check on Morgan first, noting the large amount of blood
surrounding the man. Of all his aides, it was Morgan who always
seemed to get the worst of their adventures. The man had been shot
multiple times, stabbed, nearly drowned and even set on fire in the
past. Now it looked like another hospital visit lay in his
future.