| |
“Angel!”
Maddock launched himself out of the hidden door in the rock formation and sprinted the ten yards to his fiancée. Angel’s shock at seeing him materialize out of nowhere lasted only half his run, and she closed the final two yards herself.
“Dane!”
After a few minutes of embrace, she pulled away slightly and looked up into his eyes. “Where have you been? And is my brother with you?”
Bones answered before Maddock could. “Of course I’m with him, saving his ass as usual.”
“Bones! I’ll never admit I said this, but I’ve been worried about you.” She detached one arm from Maddock and gestured to Bones; then she noticed that Bones had his hand around the neck of a man walking in front of him.
“Sorry sis, a hug with you and Maddock at the same time is not the kind of three-way I’m into.”
Angel scowled. “I take it back, I wasn’t worried about you. But seriously, what happened to you guys?”
Sheriff Danzig’s voice sounded. “I take it y’all have found each other?”
Bones and Maddock looked at the other man, who was offering a handshake.
“Sheriff Brad Danzig. Pretty sure I can figure out which one is Bonebrake and which is Maddock. Who’s the other fellow?”
Bones said, “This is Steve Renfield, security chief for the ScanoGen facility dedicated to testing their new drug, Brainwash.”
Danzig narrowed his eyes and Maddock could see him making connections. “The facility wouldn’t happen to be down that there hole y’all climbed out of, would it?”
Maddock nodded. “It is. How did you run into Angel? Thanks, by the way, for whatever help you’ve given.”
Danzig explained his longstanding interest in the disappearances and Angel’s arrival at his office that morning. Maddock and Bones went over what had happened to them since Maddock first received the text with the picture of a kidnapped Angel. Renfield remained silent, a glare on his face. By the end, both Angel and Danzig were shaking their heads.
“That’s the craziest story I ever heard.” Angel said.
Bones gave a snort of knowing laughter.
Angel ignored him. “I assume we’re going after Scano?”
“Assuming our buddy Renfield here told us the truth about his location, then hell yeah.”
Maddock looked at Danzig, trying to gauge the law officer’s reaction to Bones’ direct statement. Danzig’s expression gave nothing away.
Renfield said, “I told the truth. But no guarantees that he’s there at any given moment.”
Bones squeezed Renfield’s upper arm and scapula together. “I’m sure we can find you again if he’s not.”
“What about them disappearances?” Danzig’s voice wasn’t loud, but it got everyone’s attention.
Renfield blinked a couple of times but didn’t answer. Danzig said to Maddock. “Your story explains every last thing about why folks kept turning up missing. But so far I ain’t heard nothing about what happened to the ones before y’all.”
Maddock turned back to Renfield. “How about it, Renfield, what happened?”
“Listen, I... Before I tell you anything more, I need some assurances. I have information to trade.”
Bones slapped him behind the head. “Did I just hear him say he’s been holding out on us? I’ve been wanting a new scalp for my trophy case.”
Maddock said, “Renfield, you are not a smart man. A smart man would know when he’s completely beaten.”
“Like I told you before, Scano will go after my family.”
Maddock opened his mouth, but Danzig beat him to a response. “What makes you think we won’t?”
Bones guffawed. “You are so screwed Renfield. Even the law isn’t going to play nice.”
“You guys are worse than Scano. Fine, he targeted a bank yesterday. Stole at least fifty grand.”
Maddock looked at Bones and Angel. “Fifty grand is chump change to someone like Scano.”
“It is. It was an experiment, just like what we did to you guys. He got an otherwise trustworthy bank teller to steal the money.”
Bones said, “Don’t know about the rest of you, but I couldn’t give a crap about that. I want to find him.”
Danzig’s face had reddened over the previous minute, and now he lunged at Renfield and grabbed him by the lapel. His brown eyes flashed with tinges of orange. “Last time ah ask nicely. What did y’all do with those other folks?”
Renfield took a step backwards and tripped, winding up on his back on the ground. Moving with him, Danzig jerked him into a seated position almost before the fall was done. Renfield sighed.
“They’re dead.”
Danzig blinked and the hand holding Renfield’s shirt started twitching. No one said a word for several seconds and then Renfield started yelling. “Did you hear me? They’re dead. They’re all dead. Scano took their brains and studied them so he could improve the VR process. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
A second later, the barrel of Danzig’s Smith & Wesson was in Renfield’s mouth. “No, son, it ain’t exactly. You going to give me a reason not to pull this here trigger? Maybe your brain will be right useful for research if I spread it around.”
Angel took a couple of cautious steps so she was near Renfield and within Danzig’s field of vision. “Sheriff, I don’t think you want to do this. None of us will say a word, but these things have a way of blowing back. This asshat isn’t worth it.”
Maddock felt a swell of pride at what Angel was doing but he tensed, hoping Danzig wasn’t about to redirect his anger at her. The look the sheriff gave Angel wasn’t angry, though. Maddock thought he had never seen eyes as haunted as Danzig’s in that moment.
Danzig slowly withdrew the gun and got to his feet. Bones moved next to Renfield and once again clutched the back of the man’s neck with a giant paw. Danzig holstered his gun, walked three steps, and then sank to the ground with his head in his hands.
Angel spoke softly. “You’re not a killer, Sheriff.”
Danzig looked up. “Maybe I should be.” Then he took a deep, rasping breath. “That man murdered my baby girl.”