Authors: Bryan Smith
Jack felt a tightness in his chest, like a hand closing over his heart. “I did not
murder
that woman.”
“Poor Jack. Poor deluded little boy. You didn’t strangle the girl. You didn’t beat or cut her. You didn’t rape her.” She shrugged. “Unless you count continuing to have intercourse with her after she passed out as rape, of course.”
Jack’s face flushed. “I. Did. Not. Kill. Her.”
Mona patted his cheek. “It’s okay, Jack. That little lie has gotten you through these last few years, but it’s time you dealt with the truth. You didn’t mean to kill her, not really, but kill her you did. Your money bought the drugs that ended her life. Not only that, but you helped administer those drugs, so much smack that even in the midst of your own intoxication you should have known it was far too much.”
Jack’s breathing deepened. He was seething inside.
“Murderer.”
His fists clenched. “No.”
“You’re damned, Jack. You’re going to hell.”
Jack squeezed his eyes shut.
No.
He’d made some mistakes. Okay, a lot of them. Some would say too many to ever forgive. He felt guilt for the prostitute’s death, a lot of it, but surely she’d been at least as culpable as he was in that death. After all, she’d known all about smack and its effects, including its dangers. She’d even talked about her own experiences of waking up next to dead junkies. Regardless of whether there was any real blame to lay on his shoulders for what had happened to that poor woman, he’d been returned to earth and put on a redemption path. Only now that golden path appeared permanently blocked.
He looked at her. “Okay. I’m going to hell. You still haven’t told me why you didn’t create this Antichrist child when we were married.”
“I spent my married years with you trying to learn all I could about your father. It was the only reason I was with you. You must have figured that out by now. At the time, I was proceeding with caution. I wasn’t yet certain that Theodore Grimm was the powerful wizard we’d sought for so many years. Then, just as I was on the verge of deciding he was, he disappeared. Because I had no way of knowing whether he was actually dead or not, I left you and renewed my search for him. I knew a man as crafty as Theodore would allow his family to live out their lives believing him dead rather than putting them at risk, so there was no reason at all for me to stay.”
Jack grunted. “Great. You’ve confirmed a lot of what I already knew. What about the goddamn devil baby?”
Mona grinned. “Our child is not a true devil baby, as you so charmingly put it. His job will be to pave the way for the true Antichrist, whose time draws near.”
Jack wished he had a sword. Or a spear. Or any long weapon with a pointy end. Anything he could use to pierce Mona’s womb and abort this infernal conception. The look on Mona’s face now was one of such triumphal smugness that it made Jack sick. He wanted to hit her. Wanted to crash his fist against her jaw the way she’d done to him. But the urge made him feel impotent. Any blows he might deliver would have no more effect than mosquitoes landing on her face. She opened her mouth to say something else to him but then the dungeon door swung open and one of the hooded slaves entered.
Mona turned to face him. “You better have a good reason for interrupting my conference with the prisoner. Otherwise I’ll have to kill you.”
The slave looked first at Jack, then at Mona. Now it was Jack’s turn to frown. Hope, an emotion he’d thought lost to him, stirred inside him. He could tell from the slave’s fidgety manner that he was very nervous about something--something beyond merely being in the presence of his hot-tempered mistress. The slave approached her, cupped a hand over his mouth, and whispered something into Mona’s ear. Jack strained to make out words, but his voice was too low. However, the range of emotions expressed by the contortions of Mona’s facial features told Jack all he really needed to know.
Before the slave could finish speaking, Mona screeched and seized him by an arm. The slave let out a terrified yelp as she spun about and flung him into the acid pool. There was a high-pitched scream followed by a gurgle. Then the familiar smell of sizzling meat.
Jack couldn’t help it--he grinned. He wished for a cigarette so he could do his Andy O’Day impression. “I take it you didn’t care much for his reason.”
Mona whirled around and faced him, snarling like a wild animal.
Then she screamed.
17.
Raven led them up a winding staircase and then down a long, brightly lit white hallway. As they followed her deeper into the labyrinth of corridors that comprised the guts of the Maverick’s corporate presence and security operations, Raven destroyed the lens of each security camera they encountered with merely a glance. Or so it appeared. Which was nearly as neat a trick as her amazing ability to put a paralysis whammy on their adversaries. They left a trail of frozen human mannequins behind them as they made their way to the security command center.
By the time they arrived at a set of electronically locked double doors marked “SECURITY” in bold red letters, someone in a position of authority had evidently concluded that something had gone seriously wrong. The presence of a dozen and a half heavily armored guards pointing machine guns at them made this obvious.
But Raven was as nonchalant as ever. She again made that hideous noise that had frozen the army of super ninjas downstairs, although the volume level wasn’t nearly so high this time. Lucien supposed this had something to do with the much smaller force confronting them now. Whatever the case, the men stopped moving.
Raven pushed her way through the immobile officers and placed her hands on a device mounted on the wall next to the double doors. The device had a deep indentation through its middle. Authorized personnel would likely swipe a card through the indentation, causing the doors to open. A search of the frozen officers would likely yield several such cards, but Raven had clearly preferred her own methods.
She mumbled something and there was a crackle of electricity.
The double doors slid open.
Andy said, “Open sesame.”
There was an immediate commotion inside the command center. Lucien heard chairs skidding across the floor and guns being snatched out of holsters. He moved into position ahead of Raven, raising his own gun and preparing to take any fire that might come her way. This proved unnecessary. A series of shouted commands ceased abruptly.
Raven had unleashed yet another paralysis whammy.
Madeleine put a hand on Lucien’s shoulder. “That’s just about the most gallant thing I’ve ever seen. You’re a real hero, aren’t you?” She glared in Andy’s direction. “Not like you, you woman hater.”
Andy laughed. “I’m not a woman hater. Take my word for it, love. I’m just a Madeleine hater. You’re always getting in the fucking way. Like now.”
“Fuck you.”
Andy laughed again. “Someday, baby. Someday.”
Madeleine shouted additional epithets in response.
“Enough!” Siegel’s abrupt shout startled everyone in the room--everyone not busy impersonating a statue, that is. “Knock off the bickering, you two, or get a goddamn room. The rest of us have work to do.”
Lucien couldn’t help it--despite the dire situation, he laughed heartily.
Madeleine glared at each of them in turn. “What are you saying? Because if you’re saying what I think you’re saying--”
“It’s a little thing called ‘sexual tension’, Maddy. I’ve been around long enough to recognize it when I see it.” Siegel moved past them and stood next to Raven. “We have serious business here. Life or death business. I know you feel like you’re in a dream right now, like none of the crazy things you’re seeing could be real. But they
are
real. We’ve got a big fight ahead of us and we have to rescue our friend in the process. Understand?”
The gangster’s words had a sobering effect on them all--although Madeleine was looking at Andy in a new way now, with furtive curiosity. She sighed. “I suppose.”
The little group moved deeper into the command center, pausing before a large bank of monitors. Some of them were blank, presumably the ones currently trying to access cameras destroyed by Raven. Others showed hallways and elevators throughout the hotel. Still others showed abandoned roulette wheels, blackjack tables, poker tables, slot machines, and so on. A few others showed scenes from inside hotel rooms, including one in which two women--one black, one white, both with very large breasts and long legs--were engaged in a raunchy threesome with a well-endowed man. There were toys and props involved. It was like watching a scene from a porn movie. Lucien was pretty sure spying on guests via hidden cameras was illegal in this world. Then again, the Maverick was operated by Lucifer’s agents on earth, who likely didn’t care a damn for ethical considerations.
Raven dumped a paralyzed security operative out of a swivel chair and sat down in it. She leaned over a console and spread her fingers over a keyboard. She began typing very rapidly, occasionally pausing to click a button on a tiny device next to the keyboard. This took her through a series of views on the monitor directly in front of her. She looked as if she knew exactly what she was doing. There was no sense of a novice feeling her way through unfamiliar procedures. Lucien found this baffling until he recalled something Siegel had said about her frequent “reconnaissance” forays into the heart of the Maverick.
In just over a minute, she settled on a view of a long hallway with a single door at the far end. The hallway was ornate, with lush carpeting, wall sconces, and paintings that looked very old. Raven looked at them and spoke for the first time since fleeing the casino. “There is only one room on this floor, the biggest in the Maverick. The Royal Suite. Which is basically a presidential suite on steroids.”
Lucien felt a tremor of excitement. “Is that where--”
Raven nodded. “Yes. Jack Grimm has been there all night. Except that he may have spent some time in Faust’s dungeon.”
Andy leaned over her and squinted at the shot of the empty hallway. “One normally associates the word ‘dungeon’ with an underground facility.”
“True. But this one is adjacent to the Royal Suite, a specially outfitted playground for Faust to indulge her passion for meting out pain. I’ve been inside it a few times.”
Lucien frowned. “How did you get in there?”
Raven smiled. “There is no place in the Maverick truly inaccessible to me. But I’ve been prudent enough to explore it when Faust has been away.”
Andy stood erect again and looked at Raven. “Can you get us to that room?”
Raven started to say something, but a flicker of movement on the screen drew everyone’s attention. They watched the far away door open and a woman in a black leather catsuit emerge. She moved in an unhurried fashion down the hallway, until she stood beneath the camera and gazed upward.
She smiled.
Lucien thought,
She knows we’re watching. But how?
Then the woman spoke. “Hello, interlopers. I hear you put on quite the impressive show in my casino. Bravo. Of course, the Maverick is on lockdown now and no one will be allowed to enter or leave.” Her smile widened. “That includes you wretches. Before you mount the inevitable futile rescue attempt, I want you to know how very much I’ve enjoyed torturing, beating, and fucking Jack tonight. Ta-ta for now, darlings. I’ll see you soon. If you can get here, that is.”
Lucien moved away from the console. “No use putting it off. Let’s get up there.”
Raven rose from the chair. Without saying anything helpful like “Follow me”, she began moving toward the open double doors. The others fell in behind her and followed her out of the command center. As they moved through the open double doors, Lucien saw the elbow of an immobilized officer twitch.
He coughed loudly. “I think we’re gonna want to hurry, gang.”
So they picked up the pace and were almost running as they reached the end of the next hallway, where Raven opened a metal door and led them into a stairwell. Just as the door was swinging shut, Lucien heard shouts from the vicinity of the command center.
“We may want to pick up the pace some.”
Andy glanced backward. “No shit. Trouble is, a certain whore from a certain backwards universe didn’t have the foresight to wear more appropriate fleeing attire.”
Madeleine was holding up the hem of her very long dress as she moved up the stairs, but she was still struggling. “I’d like to see you run for your life in high heels.”
They’d gone up two flights of stairs by the time they heard a door crash open below. Lucien spun around and fired several rounds into the still empty stairwell beneath them. The intent was to make their pursuers wary and maybe slow them down some as they followed them up the stairs. That done, Lucien pushed past Andy, seized Madeleine around the waist, and hoisted her over a shoulder.
“Hey!”
Lucien surged past Siegel and closed in on Raven, who was ascending the flights of stairs with startling grace and speed, verging on the unnatural. He heard occasional gunfire from below as Andy and Siegel took turns discharging their weapons in an effort to keep the bad guys at least a flight below them.