Chapter 39

Harry was stunned by what he saw. He rubbed his eyes and blinked. In the middle of the huge chamber was an antique San Francisco streetcar. The faded green and white car sat like a silent sentinel to a time long past. As he became accustomed to the multi-storied room, he realized there were several other faded and rusting streetcars alongside the first, most missing their wheels. The group milled around the cars, chatting in hushed tones.

“What is this place?” Harry said, marveling at the dilapidated vintage streetcars.

“I believe,” Longmire said, “that it may be a central streetcar station from the early days of Chinatown. From its christening as the first major, publicly owned, land-based transit agency in the United States in December 1912, the San Francisco Municipal Railway, known the world over as Muni, has operated with a singular mission--to provide safe, accessible transportation to all of the city’s diverse and disparate populations, neighborhoods, and communities. Today, Muni serves as the transit arm of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the umbrella agency responsible for operating and managing the city’s integrated surface transportation network. This multimodal network includes walking, cycling, transit, parking, traffic, and taxis.”

“I see,” Harry said, slowly approaching the nearest streetcar.

“Cable cars proliferated throughout the city for over thirty years until the arrival of electric streetcars around 1900. Once perfected, these electric streetcars soon became practical on most grades in hilly San Francisco, although their high capital costs relegated their development to a slow pace, and cable cars continued to dominate up until the earthquake and fire. This period also was characterized by the consolidation of many independent and competing systems into the first Market Street Railway Company in the late 1800s, and further consolidation of all but three of the remaining independents as the United Railroads around 1900.”

“Seems more like a graveyard for old streetcars,” Jacoby said, joining Harry and Longmire.

“I believe there used to be a streetcar substation in Chinatown back in the old days,” Longmire continued. “This may be it. There’s several lines of tracks over there, and I think I see a roundtable as well.”

“Roundtable?” Millie said.

“A circulator of sorts,” Longmire said. “It is used to turn the streetcars around in order to have them face another direction. I remember when a steel millionaire, who had ridden the car regularly as a boy, purchased the famous Car Forty-Four. He later sold the car to Western Airlines, which motorized it and used it as a rolling ambassador of good will on a hundred -thousand -mile tour of the Western US and Mexico. It is now on display in Salt Lake City.”

The group continued to mill around the cars, flashing their lights into each to illuminate its interior. From the far side of the chamber, a shout rang out.

“Detective! Over here!”

The SWAT team moved rapidly to surround the officer standing next to a lone streetcar at the rear of the substation. Longmire and Harry hustled to where the team had gathered followed by Jacoby and Millie.

“What is it?” Longmire said, as he approached the young policeman.

“There’s movement inside the car sir,” the man said. “My light picked it up as I was scanning this area.”

Harry craned his neck to get a look inside the car, but its windows were too high. He stood on his tiptoes, but it was still no use. The bank of windows along the side of the car were simply too high to get a look inside. He walked around to the front of the streetcar and peered through the windshield, but it was impossible to see anything. The car’s dark interior revealed nothing.

“You sure you saw something, Sergeant?” Jacob said. “It’s hard to tell anything in this dim light, and the interior of the streetcar is totally black.”

The young officer straightened and glared first at Jacoby then at Longmire.

“I can’t be sure what it was,” he said coldly, “but something definitely moved inside the car.”

Millie ran to Harry’s side and grasped his arm.

“It might be Roku,” she said.

The rest of the SWAT team gathered around, weapons at the ready, awaiting their next orders. Harry stood stoically, uncomfortable in the cold of the chamber and the spookiness of its contents. If Roku was hiding in the streetcar, he doubted Millie could entice him to come out.

“Get your men surrounding the streetcar,” Jacoby said to Longmire.

“What’s your plan?” Harry said, his mouth dry. He had a sense that this was not going to end well.

“Toss a tear gas grenade in there,” Jacoby said, motioning toward the car’s front door. “When the thing comes out, kill it.”

“No!” Millie screamed. “Please, Harry. Don’t let them do this!”

Harry turned to Jacoby. In the dim light, the agent’s jaw was firm, his brow knitted in a scowl. Longmire stood by, watching.

“Millie’s right, Jacoby,” Harry said. “We need to preserve this thing, if we can.”

“I’m not in the mood to argue, Doctor. But quickly, tell me why?”

Harry and Millie started to talk at the same time, but she deferred to her former chairman. Her arms crossed over her shoulders, she listened.

“For no other reason than for the good of science,” Harry said. “For the good of humanity. Let us study it, learn from it.”

“For the good of humanity, Doctor? Really? The best thing for humanity right now is to destroy that thing. Your science friends have proven security is not your strength. Am I not right? If I remember correctly, your security was sorely lacking when your Yeti escaped last year. No, doctor, society cannot trust your security.”

Turning back to Longmire, Jacoby continued.

“Disperse you men, Detective. The sooner we get this over with, the better.”

“Please!” Millie pleaded again. “Let me see if I can talk to him and get him to come out with me. He knows me. If I can get him to come out on his own, you could bind him, and we could take him back to the research facility. Won’t you give us that chance?”

Harry noted the agony written on Millie’s face and his heart sank. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her eyes were swollen. He glanced at her and noticed her face bore a panicked expression. Jacoby was silent for a moment.

“Jacoby,” Harry pleaded. “We don’t have much time. At least allow her this attempt. If Roku refuses to cooperate, you can do it your way.”

“All right,” he said. “You can try. But if you fail, we will do it my way.” His tone accentuated his determination. “I am here to protect the citizens. But I’ll allow the attempt. If something goes wrong, we’re going in.”

Millie nodded and headed toward the streetcar’s front door. It took a minute of work to pry the rusted door open. Stale, musty air greeted Millie as she boarded its steps. Harry took up a position directly behind her while the SWAT team fanned out around the car. Jacoby remained on the steps of the car’s entrance.

Harry could barely make out Millie’s dark shape as she made her way down the car’s center aisle.

***

Millie’s heart pounded wildly in her throat. The interior of the streetcar was black, the seats barely visible from the weak light of the SWAT team’s headlights. She stood motionless at the front of the car for a moment allowing her eyes to become accustomed to the dark. No sound came from the car’s rear. She fought to get her racing pulse under control.

“Roku?” she said in a voice just above a whisper.

Nothing.

“Roku, it’s me, Mother.”

Millie knew Roku would not be able to understand her words, only that he might recognize her voice. She hoped if she spoke in a calming voice he would allow her to come near him so he could recognize her. Then, hopefully, she could lead him out. But only if she could gain his trust. Maybe he remembered the word, Mother.

She took a hesitating step toward the rear of the streetcar and stopped. She strained her eyes into the dark recess of the car but saw nothing. She heard nothing.

She took several more halting steps toward the back of the car.

“Roku,” she said in as calm a voice as she could muster. “Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to hurt you. No one is going to hurt you. It’s Mother.”

Nothing.

Millie continued down the aisle. When she was in the middle of the car she stopped.

There, she thought. She heard a muffled noise as if someone moved.

“Roku, it’s Mother. Let me see you.”

As she approached further down the aisle, a low growl erupted from the dark.

She stopped and gazed into the black.

There, she saw it.

Two red glowing eyes staring at her.

Those eyes, she thought. Once playful yellow slits when she and Roku rolled on the floor together. Happy times when he was much younger.

Now those eyes glowed red, menacing, like glowing red coals.

And those eyes now pierced her to her very core.

“Roku,” Millie said. “Don’t be frightened. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

She saw a dim form, almost ethereal, rise out of the gloomy darkness and approach her. Its red glowing eyes were fixed upon her, unwavering. Millie reached out her hand.

“Roku, it’s me. It’s Mother. Remember? Come with me.”

In the blink of an eye, Roku was upon her. She screamed, and the terror in her voice pierced the massive cavern. She felt Roku’s hands around her throat and his teeth ripping into her flesh. The pain was unbearable.

She struggled, but his strength was overpowering. Fixed in his powerful grasp, she felt Roku’s hot breath on her neck. A quick thought of her parents and Gerald flashed through her head before everything went blank.

***

Millie’s scream jolted Dixie upright in her chair, her eyes glued to the monitor. She watched in disbelief as the SWAT team bolted into the streetcar and listened in horror as gunfire erupted from within. A shock grenade exploded, and its flash momentarily caused the monitor to fade. It sounded as if a small war was declared. Muzzle flashes appeared as small strobes on the monitor, and its light filled the small trailer. Then, as quickly as it had started, the gunfire ceased, and all was quiet. Smoke poured out of the streetcar’s open door.

“Oh, my God,” Dixie muttered to herself. “Please God, let Millie be alive.”

***

Harry was caught off guard by Millie’s scream. He clambered up the streetcar doorway steps but was pushed aside by the SWAT team rushing inside.

Suddenly, there was a tremendous explosion and flash of brilliant light. Gunfire erupted, creating an unbelievable echo inside the car. SWAT team members shouting amidst the noise added to the confusion. Harry collapsed into the driver’s seat and hung his head. He was powerless to do anything but await the outcome.

He thought he felt a ricocheted bullet glance past his shoulder and crash into the car’s front panel. He shot a look into the rear of the streetcar and saw members of the SWAT team firing away until their clips were empty, muzzle flashes temporarily blinding him. He struggled to find Millie but amidst the confusion and crowded car could not locate her. A thick pool of blood ran down the aisle and circled his shoes.

Then it was over.

One by one, the SWAT team exited the streetcar, and, in the dim light, he could make out Millie’s blood-stained body lying slumped in a heap on the floor. Next to her, lay the lifeless form of Roku, the chimera she created.

Harry sat for a long moment, numbed to his core. He heard Jacoby board the streetcar and the man took a seat behind him. The agent shook his dead.

“It’s the only way it could have ended, Dr. Olson,” he said. “Except for the young woman being killed. I never wanted that.”

Harry looked at the FBI agent, his eyes glistening.

“I think we could have expected it would have ended this way,” he said. “In fact, I think Millie knew it would, also. After Roku’s attacking her earlier, I think she knew he would again. If she couldn’t save him, then maybe she just didn’t wish to live in a world that would kill her creation.”

“When the ME is finished with the thing’s body, the university can have custody if they wish,” Jacoby said. “Like you said, they may want to study it.”

“A little late now,” Harry said.

“Think of the families who will sleep a little better tonight knowing we killed their loved one’s murderer. If there is any justice in this world, that has to be it.”

“Justice, Jacoby? I wonder.”

Harry stood, stumbled out of the streetcar, and followed several of the SWAT team back to the street. He needed to see Dixie.