The Pledge
standing in the middle of a small chamber at one in the morning, six dark tunnels stretching around them. He panned a flashlight at each, revealing nothing but more tunnel in every direction.
“Yes. Got it all mapped out on my phone. This sewer and”—Ash pointed down one of the tunnels—“that tunnel lead to a doorway, which goes right to a maintenance tunnel under the main Nexus building.”
Boston pulled off a backpack and handed a bulky vest to Ash, who held it up in front of his flashlight. “Hmm, spiffy. Was wondering what the hell you were wearing. Now that I have one, I still don’t know.”
“It’ll sound as stupid as they look.”
“Oh, why stop now, after everything else you shared on our phone call a couple days ago.”
A kindness exuded from Ash that Boston couldn’t really describe as anything else. He felt it when they first met, and he felt it again at this moment. There didn’t seem to be any judgment, no are-you-fucking-crazy looks. “It’s the new and improved UVB light vest, to protect us from Eziel and his kind when they’re not possessing a human.” He waited for a reaction and got a nod. “The long, narrow bulbs are all powered by one battery pack in a pocket and are something meant for reptile lighting. These”—Boston pointed to one of six oval-shaped wands the size of his hand, duct-taped to the vest—“thingamabobs are individually powered UVC sterilizer wands. Six on the front, six on the back. Krull rigged all the vest’s lights to one power switch in the right pocket.”
Ash’s eyebrows went up as he turned it around in his hands. “Well, it sure ain’t pretty but sounds like it’ll pack a punch.”
“We’re hoping. Try not to look at it once we turn them on. Krull tested them on full charge. The wands will last a good, long time he said, two hours. I guess they’re LED, don’t use as much power. The reptile bulbs will only last thirty minutes. And, almost forgot, there are four cameras, with mics, two on the front, two on the back, also separate power, also hooked up to one power switch.”
“Perfect,” Ash said. “Since you’re all listening, and we need to trust one another, I’ll just come out and say what you’re probably wondering: Yes, we found the bodies in the basement of the butcher shop; yes, we know they were all shot dead before the light show baked their faces off; and yes, I have no doubt you were in that basement. But let me assure you that I have no interest in arresting any of you. I would have done it by now if I did. I know that might seem odd, a cop knowingly ignoring what looks like murder to most of the department, but if I’ve learned one thing in my years on the force, it’s trust your instincts. What I’ve seen doesn’t compare to what you have, going by what you’ve told me. But it has awakened something within me. As strange as it will sound, given past events, it gives me hope there is more out there than the shit things I’ve seen in this world, hope there is something better than us—better than the way we treat one another—and hope we’ll see our loved ones again.”
Boston nodded, lips pursed.
Ash put a hand on his shoulder and nodded back. “With all that said, I don’t want to know what you have holstered under that jacket.” Ash reached inside his black twill coat, covering a black dress shirt of all things, which went with the gray dress slacks. Odd wear for the stealth task before them. “Use this instead.”
Ash handed him a yellow gun that looked like a toy. It had two barrels, one on top of the other, and small, square panels covering the muzzle. Boston studied it. He could only guess what it was.
“It’s a wireless electroshock and nerve-agent gun.” Ash pointed to the top and bottom barrels. “Top one will fire the electroshock projectile, which will incapacitate the target for a few seconds, and the other projectile is a nerve agent that will render the target unconscious. Both are good to a range of about thirty feet. Pull the trigger and nerve agent fires first, followed right after by the shock. Won’t kill the target but should knock them out.”
“How many shots?”
“One per cartridge.” Ash pulled a bag out from a side pocket, full of dual cartridges. “When you fire, the panels at the front will flop out. Pull the empty casing out, slap in a new one.”
“And if we’re overwhelmed?” Boston asked.
“I assume we are to be as careful as possible. Let’s not get to that point, if we can help it. If we can’t, we’ll have to play it by ear, but I prefer you don’t draw on anyone with what you have holstered.”
Boston had his jacket zipped up. Looking down at it, he couldn’t tell how Ash determined he had weapons holstered. “Fair enough,” he said. “Just so you know, it is highly likely the twister thing is in the building somewhere.”
“I figured,” Ash said.
help would only aid in their arrest, but she started to understand Boston’s trust in him. If his superiors knew what he was doing, Ash surely would lose his job, maybe end up in jail like all of them. Seemed a stupid, unnecessary risk that he didn’t need to take.
She watched Ralph, Jayson, Edward, Lorcthe, and Krull, all of them crammed into the back of a windowless panel van, surrounded by wires, cables, and eight monitors. They were all enraptured by Ash’s speech, and she felt it too. Hope had been lost on them—only doom and gloom awaited. But now, with Ash’s help, the daunting task before them… maybe, just maybe. They had nothing else to lose, other than each other. That would be horrible, would break her heart, but to do nothing would be worse. They all knew what waited for them if they let Eziel have carte blanche.
Amber unmuted an omnidirectional condenser microphone plugged into the USB port of a laptop. “I think I can say for all of us, thank you, Ash, for this. Godspeed to you both. We’re all watching, listening, will do what we can from here. We’ll let you know if we see something you don’t.”
“Thanks,” Boston said, the sound coming from two small speakers connected to the same laptop as the microphone.
“Okay,” Krull said. “Ralph, Edward, you’re up.”
Edward, with a telescope in hand, slapped Ralph on the back. “Let’s go, amigo.”
Ralph, pale and sweating, opened up the back doors and stepped out.
Edward, once out, said, “Relax, we’ll be done in a jiff, and we’re well away from the complex.” Edward gave Amber a smile as he closed the doors.
They were indeed away, up and away, on the top of a parking garage that had a decent vantage of the Nexus, as good as they were going to get. It still loomed above them, but they were high enough up that they could see all floors of the main tower.
Boston and Ash were more on their own than Amber would have preferred. If something happened, it would take them far too long to get there. But would it matter? What could they do to Eziel or whatever abomination that now presided in the complex?
going. Lingering did not alleviate his racing thoughts. Ash seemed to be waiting for him, so he got the party started. “Alright, lead the way.”
Ash walked forward into a tunnel, taking care not to splash the narrow line of moisture down the middle of the sewer. Could have been because he didn’t want to walk through sewage in his nice shoes, but Boston suspected the practice of stealth was instinctual for Ash. Boston followed right behind.
They were a kilometer away from the Nexus, intentionally so, but within twenty minutes they came to a metal doorway, like something in a submarine to separate compartments, including a spoked, metal wheel for access.
“This will take us under the complex,” Ash said. “If you crank, I’ll get ready on the off chance they know about this access and have it guarded.” And then Ash closed his eyes, muttering something.
“All good?” Boston asked.
“Yes, all good. Sorry, can’t deny I’m nervous. When I get nervous, I say a tongue twister to calm me. Been doing that since I was twelve, when my father, a firefighter, died in a blaze covering up a baby.”
“That’s horrible. Did the baby survive?”
“No.”
“Tell me what you say, maybe it will help me too.” Boston smiled, and thankfully Ash returned the same. “We’re walking into an extreme unknown; I’ll take whatever I can get.”
“It’s a doozy, been using it as of late.”
“Lay it on me,” Boston said.
“Ripe white wheat reapers reap ripe white wheat right.”
“What? You’re going to have to say that one again.”
They both chuckled, the tension easing, as much as that was possible with what lay ahead. Boston repeated the tongue twister in his head and then turned the handle and yanked the door without another hesitation. The door groaned and it didn’t open as quickly as he would have liked, giving anyone who may have been waiting on the other side more than enough time to get the upper hand.
Ash had his shock gun up. An LED flashlight mounted under the barrel shone a bright beam of light forward. Boston had his shock weapon up right after. He felt for a button to trigger the flashlight but didn’t press it.
Both had hidden on either side of the door, protecting themselves. They snapped their heads around the opening and then back. The hallway before them was lit; a metal-wire-protected bulb every few feet, on both sides, lit their path. Nobody waited for them.
They stepped in. Boston closed the door and twirled the wheel to lock it.
“I’m thinking,” Ash said, “if they’d known about this access, they would have sealed the doorway we just came through.” Boston had been thinking the exact same thing. No guarantee, of course, and he didn’t want to let his guard down, but he did sigh a little relief. If they didn’t know about this access point, that at least gave them a chance to get in without being discovered.
Krull’s voice came over their listening devices, a clear gadget the size of a hearing aid. “Agreed,” Krull said, not that they needed it, but good to know just the same. Boston valued his opinion more than Krull probably knew. Krull didn’t always steer them right, but his critical thinking bore a confidence a lot of them didn’t have—including Boston’s own, though he rarely indicated it. If he didn’t at least pretend to be confident, the demoralization of the group might inflate.
“Thanks, Krull,” Boston said. “We’re proceeding forward.”
The next door they reached was a thick metal security door with a latch, and a lock they didn’t have a key for.
“Hope you have a nice trick up your sleeve,” Boston said.
Ash smiled and patted the breast of his twill coat. He reached inside and pulled out a tiny canister and straw, loaded the straw into a spray nozzle, and then hesitated.
“What?” Boston asked.
“If the plans are correct, and I’ve no doubt about that, we’re about to get into a service elevator. Do we have any idea what we’re up against, what floor we need? I don’t know about you, but the fewer floors we have to access, the better. If we can’t get back to this elevator, I dare say our chances are slim.”
“I’ll try to assuage, if you’ll allow,” Krull said.
the screens. Krull leaned over the console, speaking into the microphone, a cell phone sitting on his lap set to speakerphone with Ralph listed as the callee. “Bear with us, Boston and Ash. I’m on with Ralph. The cheaper mic earbuds are not working outside for some reason; lucky we got you the ones we did. Hold where you are for a moment.”
“You got it,” came Boston’s voice from the small speakers connected to the laptop.
Krull clicked the mute button on the microphone. “Ralph, Edward, you there?”
“He’s looking,” said Edward from the phone. “Nothing yet, still scanning top down. He said he’s at the thirtieth floor.”
With nothing to see from Ash and Boston’s perspectives, she turned to Lorcthe, who had been rather quiet. “Penny for your thoughts,” Amber said to Lorcthe. “Not that you probably need money.”
“Oh, I need it to live just like you. I earn an honest living and am not out to rob anyone.”
“Sorry, not what I meant. You seem very intelligent, is all, that you maybe don’t have to work the shit jobs to get by.”
Lorcthe smiled. “Smarts have got nothing to do with it, young one. It’s a choice. You just have to have the courage to take the step.”
“Jesus Christ,” Jayson said. “Shall I get a box of tissues for this after-school special?”
“Ahh,” Amber said, “the douche we all know and love.”
Jayson smiled. “Love, you say?”
“Don’t be an idiot.”
“Feels aside,” Jayson said, “Krull, my man, are we recording everything?”
“We are,” Krull said.
“Excellent,” Jayson said.
Lorcthe watched with mirth.
“Jesus,” Amber said, “are you going to put together a documentary of a man wanted for questioning and a cop going against the grain?”
“Yessum. Feels like a title in there somewhere too.”
“You’re incorrigible,” Lorcthe said.
“A what now?” Jayson said. “Never mind. Krull, tell me again about your special telescope Ralph is using?”
“Oh, just a college project to forego excursions in public. I was always an introvert, uncomfortable in crowds, but I did enjoy people watching. Tweaked a telescope with through-the-wall sensors to watch football games on campus and watch the crowds mill about, all from the safety of my dorm room.”
“Pervy perv-er-son,” Jayson said. “Good job.”
Krull rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t like that.”
“Sure, sure,” Jayson said.
Edward cleared his throat and they all looked at the phone. Krull clicked off mute on the microphone. “Holy hand grenade,” Edward said, “found ’em, all on one floor. Ralph?”
“Twenty-fifth floor,” Ralph said. “There has to be over a hundred people. It’s weird, like they’re standing in line to get into a movie or something. It makes no sense. No sign of the twister, or it doesn’t show for some reason on the telescope. I also see some movement on lower floors—people on elevators, it looks like, going up and down.”
“Likely transporting bodies,” Krull said.
“I think you’re right,” Ralph said, “because I did see one being carried. And some of them look weird, the ones carrying bodies.”
“In what way?” Krull asked.
“Their heads are bigger. Is it your telescope sensors, Krull?”
“Shouldn’t be. I’ll look at it later.”
“Any sign of the shadow things?” Amber asked. “Do you think these big-headed people are them?”
“Can’t tell for sure,” Ralph said, “but, like the twister, they could be there but not visible from the telescope. The big heads seem human in every way, the way they move, but the shadows have their human counterparts’ shape too, so I can’t say for sure.”
“The shadows don’t have big heads though,” Amber said. “Not that I saw. Boston and Ash will need to tread carefully, just in case Eziel has created something else.”
“Boston, Ash, did you get all that?” Krull asked.
“Got it,” Boston said. “On our way now.”
“Godspeed,” Krull said.
Amber wondered why any god—if such a thing existed—that loved everyone would let the ongoing nightmare unfold. Seemed dickish to her, which made her think there was no such being. She could hear the argument now, from those who believe without a shred of proof: Everything happens for a reason; it’s God’s plan. To her, if true, that made any supreme being cruel and an asshole. If you are out there, God, and you do exist, don’t be that asshole. Do something, help us.
Lorcthe stared at her and then her eyes roamed over all of them. Lorcthe’s gaze fell to the floor, lost in thought. The wheels were spinning, and Amber really wanted to know where to.
locking mechanism and between the door and jamb. “Need the hammer,” Ash said, “I asked you to bring.”
Boston pulled off his backpack, pulled out a claw hammer, and handed it to Ash.
“Thank you.” Ash smacked the lock and then smacked the door where the deadbolt would be. A ka-thunk sound followed, and Ash pushed the doorway open.
“Well, isn’t that handy,” Boston said.
Ash smiled.
They were in a small vestibule now, an elevator door before them.
“The screens just went to static,” Krull said.
“Is it the building, do you think?” Boston asked.
“Could be,” Krull said, “some sort of interference. I’ll try to remedy from my end but no guarantee. I leave it to you both if you want to continue.”
Boston raised his eyebrows at Ash, and Ash nodded.
“We’ll carry on,” Boston said. “At least the telescope can be our eyes.”
“Agreed,” Krull said.
The elevator was already waiting for them, but when they got inside, Boston’s heart sank when he saw a security keypad, assuming privileged access by building staff only. “Ummm…” Boston said.
“No problem,” Ash said, “I have the code we need.”
“Should I ask?”
“No sirree. Well, you could, but I won’t tell you. I have my sources. Had to do some research on this building before we got in. But I will tell you the code is 4575, in case we get split up, or…”
“Got it, thank you,” Boston said before Ash could say something he didn’t want to think about. They had to make it, had to do what they came to do. Boston pressed the button for the twenty-sixth floor. “Just in case. Don’t want to be surprised. We’ll come down to the twenty-fifth from a staircase.”
“Yep, makes sense, I’m with you.”
The elevator was larger than a standard one, the door opening wider, allowing for large items to be transported. It reminded him of a hospital elevator that had enough space to load patients on gurneys.
They soared up, Boston getting a tickling sensation as it slowed. Both of them had their shock weapons in hand. Before the doors slid open, a DING! announced their arrival, and Boston’s grip tightened on the plastic gun.
The doors opened to a darkened room. They both clicked on the flashlights attached to the pistols. Ash nodded at Boston to move. As Boston stepped out, Ash pointed his gun at the floor. They were in a small vestibule with only one way out, a dead-bolted doorway like the one they had to bypass to get to the elevator in the sub-basement, but this time they were on the side that had the switch to unlock it.
“Lights,” Boston said, and Ash turned his off, Boston following suit. A small, narrow, wire-meshed window in the door allowed them to see what was ahead. Had anyone been in the hallway just outside, their trip would have been cut short. Wall sconces lit the hallway. There was no activity ahead that he could see. “Krull, is there anyone on this floor?”
The ear buds crackled briefly. “Ralph can hear and speak to you now,” Krull said.
“Hi, Boston,” Ralph said. “I’ve been watching your movement from the telescope. Monitors are still static. You’re the only ones on that floor. Do not take the nearest stairwell as it’ll take you right into the lineup. You’ll need to go left up the hallway, all the way to the end, and take the far stairwell down.”
“Thanks, Ralph,” Boston said.
“But, once you’re down, you’ll have nowhere to hide when you move up the hallway. It’s curved, so you might have some cover for a bit, but then everyone will be right there. We don’t know what Eziel looks like if he’s in a person or if he’s even in the building. This might all be for naught.”
That had occurred to Boston, but Lorcthe assumed he would be nowhere else. What else could they do? Certainly, Boston’s appearance would trigger it out into the open. As much as he tried to relax, his breath came in quick, short whooshes for a moment, his teeth grinding, wondering what the hell Lorcthe offered them at all. She—a whatever the hell her and her kind were—hid in the van, a coward. She could spin her reasoning any which way she wanted, but what it came down to was fear. She had gotten too comfy in a human sheath and didn’t want to risk it.
Boston pulled out his compass, having not used it since the fateful night it all started.
“Is the building bigger than I anticipated?” Ash asked and then smiled.
“Well, don’t know how to explain it, but it seems like Eziel, his kind, must have some sort of magnetic influence, because their presence pulls the needle.”
“I hope you’re right, as that would be helpful.”
Boston hoped he was right too, that Zeisule was not manipulating it before. It was worth a shot.
Ash led the way, unlocking the door, and gently pulled it open. Once they were out, taking care to ensure the door closed quietly, an odd feeling consumed Boston, a yearning. His whole body tingled. Without a word, both he and Ash went against Ralph’s recommendation, and Boston didn’t care. Only one thing mattered. They walked into the main hallway and took the nearest stairwell down to floor twenty-five.