Generation 18 (Spook Squad 2)

The front curtains moved. Evil had been watching.

She climbed the front steps and pressed the doorbell. When there was no response after several minutes, she banged her fist against the door. “SIU. We know you’re in there, Mr. Whittiker. Please come out.”

Briggs and Edmonds climbed over the front fence and edged down the side of the house. She fisted the door again. “I have a warrant for your arrest, Mr. Whittiker. Please, come out, or I’ll be forced to break in.”

Again, no response. She drew her weapon, took aim at the lock and fired. The door smashed back against the wall. The head of the armory hadn’t been kidding when he’d said the gun would stop an elephant. The damn thing hadn’t even been set to full.

She edged into the shadows lurking in the hall. There was a door to her immediate left and another farther along the hall to the right.

Evil waited near the right door.

“Stop playing games, Orrin, and come out.” She ducked into the left-hand doorway.

Footsteps moved away. He was trying to circle around behind her. She turned and studied the room. Heavy drapes shrouded the window, keeping the room locked in darkness. And yet she could see as c

learly as if it were day. A vid-screen dominated the far wall. In the center of the room were several old chairs, separated by a coffee table. To the left of these was another doorway.

It was to that door that evil headed.

She walked across the room and stood in the obscurity of the far corner. After several minutes, she heard a whisper of breath. He was close, so close.

She waited. The air stirred again. Orrin appeared, mouse quiet as he ducked through the doorway and padded forward. For a moment, she could only stare. His damn fists were bigger than her entire head. He was beyond huge.

She widened her stance and aimed her gun. “SIU, Orrin. Put your hands on your head and do not move. I’ll shoot if you do.”

He hesitated. Fear and anger sizzled through the darkness, slamming into her. She reeled back into the wall, trying to keep her balance through the sudden dizziness, unsure what was happening but aware that the giant was somehow responsible.

Orrin dove for the window. Though tears blurred her vision, she pulled the trigger. Energy sizzled through the darkness and struck the giant’s thigh. Orrin yelped, but somehow managed to climb to his feet and keep on running. She tapped her wristcom.

“Orrin’s on the street, running west.”

The dizziness cleared as she ran out of the house. She leapt the front fence and pounded down the street after Orrin. But she was taking three steps to his one and losing ground fast.

“Orrin, stop, or I’ll shoot.”

He put his head down, arms pumping as he tried to run faster. She fired a warning shot over his head. It did no good.

She aimed at his legs and fired. The shot took him in the thigh again, and this time it brought him down. The ground shook as he hit. She stopped several feet away. He lurched toward her, trying to grab her feet. She danced away, the weapon primed and ready to fire again.

Edmonds and Briggs joined her. Even then, it took all three of them to handcuff Orrin and get him into the back of the van.

She slammed the door shut and wiped the sweat from her forehead. “Take him back to headquarters and get his leg seen to, Briggs. I’ll meet you there.”

The older woman nodded. Sam watched the van drive away, then called Gabriel. Still no answer. Uneasiness stirred anew. Something was very wrong. She scratched her head, turned and walked back to her car.

For now, there was nothing she could do. If Stephan didn’t know where Gabriel was, what hope did she have of finding him?

She drove back to headquarters. After dumping her handbag in her office, she made her way down to the holding cells. Briggs and Edmonds were waiting in the corridor.

“How is he?”

Briggs shrugged. “He’s loud, ugly as sin and the rudest bastard I’ve ever met.”

Sam smiled. “I meant his wound.”

“To be perfectly honest, I hope it festers and causes his leg to drop off.” Briggs turned her face to the side. A bruise darkened her skin, stretching from just below the eye down to her chin. “I’m lucky to escape with just this. He knocked Thornhill through the front doors. Cut him up pretty badly.”

Thornhill wasn’t an agent she’d met as yet. “Will he be okay?”