Retaliation Read online

  Chapter 1

  “Gentlemen, we have a problem.”

  Peter looked over the six men gathered at his conference table as he got up from his chair. Everybody focused on him, except Rooney, who was peering at his laptop, as usual.

  “As you know, I’ve just gotten back from the convention in San Francisco. I’d hoped to bring some good news, but it’s actually the opposite. I’ve had the chance to discuss our recent problem with the directors of all headquarters in the States, and it turns out, we’re the only ones whose fighters are being abducted right off the streets. Although they did share some freaky stories, from skyfolk dropping dead for no apparent reason in Austin, to a mysterious man who kills with a touch of his hand in Santa Fe.” He gave a skeptical smirk. “But none of it was similar to what we’ve been dealing with for the past four months. I think we can say with confidence that whatever is going on, its center is here, in New York.”

  He paused to open a bottle of water and take a swig. The men waited silently, frowning, except for Skull and Phoenix with their usual flat expressions.

  Peter let out a quiet sigh and sat back down in his chair, as if he suddenly felt tired. “God, I hate those meetings. They’re nothing but headache. I need to hear what’s on your minds.” He drank some more water and looked at the others. “Over the past week we’ve received responses from all the skyfolk organizations in town, except for the Devil’s Whores and Black Eagles.”

  Rob interrupted him, arching a brow, “You have the Whores’ contacts?”

  “I have a way to leave a message for everyone in case of a global emergency. As I said, I haven’t gotten a response from these two, while some of the others have confirmed that their fighters have been attacked or abducted by men in black tactical clothes, driving black jeeps. The Commandos, they call them.

  “Overall, aside from our losses, it’s fifty Beasts and forty-two Ghosts that have gone missing. Of course, when it comes to Beasts, there’s always a chance they’d run into one of ours and no one found the bodies…” He gave Phoenix a pointed look, and the one-eyed fighter switched his gaze somewhere else. “But the point still stands: ten of our men have disappeared without a trace, the number of missing Ghosts has grown in the past months, and it’s no coincidence.”

  Luke raised two fingers. The middle-aged office guard looked grotesquely small next to Skull’s bulky figure. “You said the others saw those men too, but did they manage to follow them anywhere?”

  Peter’s expression turned sour. “They said the jeeps vanished into thin air or shook off the tail in some busy area. And you know what? It sounds like a clue, how it’s exactly what our patrols have reported.”

  Luke’s face creased in puzzlement. “I don’t see how that’s a clue.”

  “Look at it this way. Every time our men have encountered these guys, they simply disappeared somewhere along the way. And not just the men but even the jeeps.” The others nodded slowly, still confused. “We could drop on them, of course, but the chances of them surviving are slim, and the chances of us getting shot full of bullets are high. But I don’t think it’s luck that helps them get away every time. It’s all part of a plan. They have a way of hiding from us, and we just need to figure it out. We have to stop trying to chase them, and start watching them instead.”

  Luke nodded, scratching his gray stubble. “We tried the drones, like you suggested. Got one of them shot down, so we’re keeping our distance now, and the other couldn’t follow them in a busy area.”

  “Shot down with what?” Peter asked.

  “Handgun,” Luke said, getting a nod from Peter. “What about the ones who haven’t responded? You think they could be involved with whatever’s going on?”

  Peter perked up. “Maybe…” He got up and started pacing back and forth. “I actually haven’t thought of that. I mean, not the Black Eagles, ’cause those demons are too proud to ally with anyone. I’m still surprised they came to the battle at Eugene’s. But the Devil’s Whores… They’re the weirdest sect of Beasts I’ve ever heard of. Who knows what’s on their agenda. Well, let’s not paint the picture any darker, because we’ve never been able to catch even one of those bastards anyway.” Peter paused, running a hand through his hair. “How’s Chris?”

  “Still unconscious,” Luke said. “The injury was too serious. Been to all the doctors already. Yesterday we…”

  Pain straightened up from the keyhole, stretching her back with a grimace. Getting too old for eavesdropping. She shook the pack of gummy bears in her hand and dug into it, humming to herself.

  The door flew open, revealing Peter’s face. His dark gaze settled right on her, as if he’d known where to look before he opened the door.

  “This keyhole opens up quite a view, you know. You should do something about it,” she said, shooting the others a smiling look as they stared at her leaning casually in the doorway.

  “You do realize that if I wanted you to hear all this, you would’ve gotten an invitation?” her boss said without a trace of the usual humor in his voice.

  She nodded, giving him a carefree smile. “I prefer to think that my invitation got lost in the mail, as I’ve got just the information for your meeting.”

  Peter’s graying eyebrows rose in something between a question and a threat, and she quickly added, “It’s regarding the Devil’s Whores’ lack of response.”

  “Enlighten us, please,” he said through his teeth, and she suppressed the urge to shrink back, seeing how badly she had underestimated his mood. But she wasn’t one to drop her game face like that.

  “What will I get for it?”

  Peter cocked his head. “I won’t beat you up in front of all these people.”

  Scratching her chin, she pretended to consider her options, then shrugged and stepped inside the office. “Sounds fair.”

  She took a seat next to Rooney, moving his laptop to the table.

  “Careful,” the young hacker grumbled. “This laptop costs more than what we’d get if we sold you for organs.”

  “Indeed. They’re damaged goods, ain’t they?”

  He smirked.

  Pain turned to find Peter staring at her, shoulders tense. She blinked a few times.

  “The Devil’s Whores,” he reminded her.

  “Right. The reason why they haven’t responded to your message is they’ve been abducted.” She watched with satisfaction as everyone’s eyes widened.

  Peter, on the other hand, squinted in doubt. “All of them?”

  “Almost.”

  “And you know this because?”

  “I found their base.”

  The room erupted into surprised chatter, and Peter raised his hand, cutting it off.

  “No one’s ever found their base. Not here, not in any other city they’ve been to.” He shifted in his seat and moved some papers on the table, as if to occupy his hands while his brain processed her words.

  “Well, yes. But that was before me.” She popped another gummy in her mouth with a smug smile. “Gummy bear?”

  Peter’s eyes darkened. “Tell me more. When did it happen?”

  “Just yesterday, relax. I would’ve told you anyway. It’s a big, old warehouse in Red Hook, and I think I missed the attack by mere minutes. There’s only one of them left. He’s in a cell in the basement.”

  “What did you do to him?”

  “He’s fine. Just won’t be able to walk for a while. After he led me to their building, I needed to poke around there, and I couldn’t let him go. So it was either attacking him or following him God knows where for God knows how long, probably missing the chance to take a look at the place.”

  “Ah…” Peter breathed. “I see. One of them got careless because of the attack, and that’s why you were able to track him down. Makes sense.” He nodded, making her snort. “You got two minutes to tell us what you found there.”

  Her lips pressed into a thin line at his lack of appreciation for her help, but in the end, she let it drop.

&nbsp
; “Fine. You may not believe how I found the place, but believe this: It was the strangest thing I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen my share of freaky shit.”

  She looked around the table and cracked a dark smile as all eyes fell on her.

  * * *

  It was past midnight when she crouched behind a low, square industrial construction, her eyes locked on the man she was following.

  He was waiting for something or maybe just unsure if he should go inside the big building he was watching. The man stood as tall as Ryan and as broad as Marco, and if Pain was right about his origin, it would take something truly disastrous to make this one worry.

  She remained motionless, breathing without a sound, as the Beast took out a cell phone and called someone. No one picked up on the other end, obviously, because after a minute he tucked the phone into his coat with a disappointed sigh. He stepped forward—and disappeared out of sight.

  Pain cursed and approached the spot, finding an open manhole. She couldn’t just go in and risk running into him in a narrow space. But the tunnel had to lead to the building, so she rose into the air, hoping to find a way to see what the man was doing inside it.

  Her forehead prickled from the frigid wind as she flew. She rounded a corner and paused near the top floor, spotting a window at the third-floor level with one plank missing.

  The narrow opening revealed a big room. A single light bulb in its center illuminated two rows of empty beds and a long table in between them that looked like it had been abandoned in the middle of a meal. The Beast walked into the pool of light, his dark eyebrows knitted. He looked around slowly, picked up something from the table, dropped it back down with a grimace, and headed back to the exit with big strides.

  Pain’s heart pounded. She had to find out what happened there, and she had to find the others. And the decision had to be made now, before he took off.

  In her overwhelmed state, she sensed him almost too late.

  She ducked, whipping around to face the man who had somehow noticed her and sneaked behind her back. His fist missed her head by mere inches. She drew her foot up for a kick, but his other hand was already flying to her face, palm open.

  It hit her just as she flared the shield, and she tumbled through the air, her vision blurring. The Beast followed her, and she knew he would go for a kill. But she needed him alive.

  All she could do was run.

  The world stopped spinning as she leveled off her flight and darted back to the closely packed buildings, hoping the chase would give her a moment to come up with a plan. She had always been the fastest among her friends, but it didn’t seem to matter this time. The Beast suddenly appeared from around a corner, and she yelped, dashing upward.

  His big hand clasped her ankle. The next part was a blur of pain and confusion.

  He pulled her down with enough force to leave her breathless, and his other fist slammed into her solar plexus. She tumbled to the ground, skidding to a stop in a pool of mud, gasping for breath. The Beast grabbed her jacket, lifting her off the ground and raising one knee up against her back.

  Something in her dizzy, oxygen-deprived brain told her that even a knife to the side wouldn’t stop him from breaking her spine, and all she could do was surprise him.

  Her arm swung in a circle, smacking a handful of mud into his face.

  He spluttered, letting her go as he struggled to clear his airways. It gave her enough time to draw a wheezing breath and dash away, knowing it was far from her maximum speed and the Beast was right behind her.

  She led him in a circle around a building, choosing her way on pure instinct, ready to feel his hand catch one of her feet again. Something flashed before her, and she ducked, avoiding smashing her head against a piece of gleaming metal at the last moment.

  A loud bang shook the air, and she whirled just in time to see the Beast plummeting down through rusty debris. His head smashed into iron and concrete, making her cringe.

  Pain let out a breath, her eyes locked on the spot where the Beast had landed. A goofy smile spread across her face as she wiped off the mud. No one needs to know how he got those wounds, she thought, and descended carefully to see if the man was still alive.

  Surprisingly, he hadn’t broken his neck in the fall, and only one of his legs stuck out at an awkward angle. His face was a bloody mess, and his pulse was weak, but she couldn’t take him to headquarters just yet.

  She grabbed his belt and rose into the air, returning to the manhole. The ridiculous fight had left her winded, and she had just enough energy to inspect the warehouse and return home with the big Beast in tow.

  After a short trip through a narrow tunnel, it wasn’t a problem to find a piece of rope inside and tie up the man’s hands and feet. She didn’t spare the broken leg but did make sure he wouldn’t suffocate, leaving him in a proper position on the floor.

  Finally, she was able to look around.

  The place looked like a scene from some post-apocalyptic movie. It wasn’t in disarray that an armed attack would cause; no, it was absolutely fine in a way that suggested that whoever lived here had suddenly disappeared into thin air, leaving only small traces of their activities.

  She moved slowly through the empty beds and to the table covered in half-eaten meals. There someone had been holding a mug of water before they collapsed, sending the mug rolling under a bed. The concrete floor was still wet, so it must have been no more than a half-hour since the attack.

  One more step, and she could see where someone had moved the table a little when they grabbed it for support, and a plate lay on the floor a few feet away. It hadn’t been an ordinary attack, and the Beasts hadn’t even put up a fight. There didn’t seem to be a trace of any gas in the air, either. Whoever it was, they had come prepared.

  They had also managed to do what the Ghosts hadn’t managed for years—track down the Devil’s Whores’ base. At least, that had been her guess when she saw the familiar-looking man hurrying across the city. Now that she’d seen the Devil tattoo on his neck, she knew she’d been right.

  What was even worse, no personal items could be found on the beds. They must have some other place for their things, and the rest they carried on themselves. Or, she thought, someone had cleaned up after themselves, making sure no one had dropped their cell phone at the crime scene.

  She kicked a chair in frustration and called Rooney, asking him to send the forensic team and backup to her location.

  Then she grabbed the Beast by the belt once again. Peter will be pleased, she thought as she dragged the beaten-up thug back to the tunnel. Just wait until tomorrow.

  * * *

  “What the hell is wrong with you??” Peter yelled, bolting to his feet. “What were you thinking? I thought you were sneaky about it! You don’t know one thing about them, and you take one of them on your own? Do you even realize the danger you’ve put yourself in?”

  Pain kept her mouth shut tight, her back pressed into the chair, as if it could help her get farther away from him. Maybe fluffing up the fight wasn’t a good idea.

  Peter paced back and forth, and everyone kept silent, either shocked or not willing to interfere. He raised a hand to his head and opened his mouth to spill another string of accusations, but she interrupted him.

  “Okay, just stop right there.” She held out a hand. “I told you, I didn’t have a choice. He would’ve left, and there was no time for backup.”

  “And to hell with him!” Peter snarled. “It was never your job to capture him in the first place.” He pressed a hand to his face, letting out a ragged sigh.

  Pain put on a neutral face, giving up the argument. After a few deep breaths, Peter switched back to the problem at hand. Yelling at her in between discussing important matters was practically a habit.

  “What did the forensic report say?”

  “It’s not ready yet. They’ll bring it straight to you,” she replied, trying to keep resentment out of her voice.

  “All right… Okay, good. Skull, I
want you to question the Beast and find out how to make him cooperate. We need to know everything he knows. If we have to make a peace treaty with the Devil’s Whores for the time being, so be it.”

  “What?” It was Pain’s turn to jump to her feet, while the others stared at Peter in bewilderment.

  “Sit down,” he commanded, and she obeyed. “One enemy at a time. If he thinks we will kill his whole gang when we find them, how do you expect him to cooperate? We don’t even know if they’ve been abducted, and if it’s the same people who did it. They could’ve just left the place because it had been compromised, or they’d just had their meal and left to—”

  “Oh, please.” Pain couldn’t stop herself from breaking off his ridiculous train of thought. “When was the last time you’ve seen our boys eat? Do they ever leave any food on the table?”

  The others smiled but nodded slowly in agreement. Peter only shot her a glare.

  “Besides, he said so,” she added. “They sent him an SOS signal, and no one picked up their phones. There must have been about fifty of them.”

  Peter tapped a finger against his lips, mulling it over.

  “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. Rooney, we need more eyes on any cameras out there you can hack. Pick a team and schedule four-hour shifts for them. You can use the office next to the control room, like we did before.”

  The young man nodded, his fingers flying over the keyboard.

  “Luke, I want you to brief our fighters about the Commandos again and find some engagement for them, because we’re pausing all patrols.”

  Everyone looked up at Peter, their eyebrows raised.

  “All patrols? Don’t you think that’s a little extreme?” Luke wondered.

  “When was the last time you saw Beasts misbehaving in the city?”

  It took Luke a couple of seconds to answer. “Two weeks ago, I think.”

  “Two weeks ago, exactly. It used to be five times a night. They’re lying low now, too. It started even before my message went out, because they’re not idiots. Now, they’ll stay out of the streets for good. So don’t worry about it. We will not have any more of our fighters abducted at work. Make it clear that until we’ve dealt with this problem, no one is to wander in the city alone. All clear?”