Ruger

Part Three: To Protect and to Serve

Cover: A man wearing a police uniform, but with a crude mask over his face. He's standing in a locker room with the shadow of a huge beast falling over him. He's holding a sword, getting ready to strike. A disgusting substance is dripping from the blade.

olice headquarters was a crowded, chaotic nightmare... even more so than usual. Uniformed officers, detectives, administrators, and reporters hustled from one small room to another in a never-ending stampede. People jammed every open space and narrow hallway in the building. The constant squalk of police radios turned the crowd into a surreal, alien assembly who spoke a language of obscure codes and abbreviations. The normally empty reception area was packed solid with warm bodies when Marilyn arrived.

"Move... excuse me... coming through... GET OUT OF MY @&#$ WAY!!"

"Clear the doors, people!" Captain Gavin called from the other side of the room. The crowd re-arranged itself to allow Marilyn passage. She found the captain standing in the doorway. "Thank God you made it," said the Captain. "It's a madhouse out there."

"Yeah? So why are all the cops in HERE?!"

"We got every officer in the city either in this building or out on the street. Sharpe has even made his LED boys available-"

"We need to talk about Sharpe," said Marilyn.

"We need to talk about some maniac that just shot up a demonstration in front of city hall. And cops who claim they were attacked by some kinda... thing."

"Thing?"

"Thing."

"With witnesses. What the hell's going on in this city, Dobbs?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"Because this city didn't start sliding down the crapper until the Brooks case."

"...the case that I'm not on anymore. Unless that's changed."

"There is no case. Not tonight. We gotta calm this city down and get everything back to SOME kind of normal-"

"You bring in Sharpe's boys and I guarantee that you'll get anything BUT normal. They started this whole thing."

"That's not for us to decide-"

"Maybe not for YOU, but the man is corrupt and dangerous."

"Talking about ME?" said James Royce. Marilyn's partner joined them in the doorway.

"No. Sharpe."

"What's wrong with Sharpe?" said James. "I like him. The man gets results."

"Yeah, the Velazquez kinda results. The kind of results that make everybody with a badge look like an armed thug."

"Well, we ARE, aren't we?"

"Royce-"

"Now's not the time," said Gavin. "You got a problem with Sharpe you take it up later. Right now he's helping us coordinate our efforts with the other precincts."

"What? He's HERE!?!"

"The governor is a heartbeat away from putting him in charge of the whole show. But right now its still our baby... whether we want it or not."

"If he wants to help then him and his goons should leave town."

"Oh, I dunno," said Royce. "He's got some good ideas... like calling YOU in off of suspension to help find Brooks, for one."

"Tell 'im I said thanks for nothing."

"Tell him yourself, we're meeting with him in ten minutes. Conference room two."

"Marilyn Dobbs?" said a timid-looking man that had walked up to them. "Marilyn Latrice Dobbs?"

"What? Who are you?"

"Are you Marilyn Dobbs?"

"Yeah..."

The man handed her a sheaf of paperwork.

"You're hereby served. Your ex-husband is suing you for custody of your daughter. Court date hasn't been set, but I'd get a lawyer first thing in the morning. Have a nice night."

The man turned to leave... or at least he tried to. Before he could so much as flinch, Marilyn had him by the neck.

"Who. The HELL. Are YOU!" She lifted the man up onto his toes. "You have SOME nerve to come in here TONIGHT with this CRAP!"

"...ACK!..."

"Dobbs! DOBBS! PUT the man down!"

Marilyn released the man, who immediately tried to run. James Royce clamped onto his shoulder and snatched him back.

"C'mere punk. Hey, Dobbs... you want me to go rip this guy a new one?"

"Absolutely."

"Right. C'mon buddy."

"Clear this room, Royce," said Captain Gavin. "We've got so many damn people standing around we can't POSSIBLY have any security around here."

With the process-server in tow, Royce waded out into the crowd.

"EVERYBODY GET THE F#@% OUT NOW! MOVE OUT! RIGHT NOW! CLEAR THE ROOM! DON'T MAKE ME GET UGLY... YOU REALLY DON'T WANT THAT!"

Meanwhile, Dobbs and Gavin started down the hallway to the conference room. They had share the hallway with a few dozen other officers who were scurrying about with varying degrees of urgency. Most had sense enough to get out of Dobbs' way. One man caught Dobb's eye... a young cop carrying box of strange-looking junk. She didn't see his face because the box was in the way, but she caught a brief glimpse of his badge number when he brushed past her.

"Hey, EXCUSE you, buddy!" she snapped. The cop ignored her. All she saw was his back as he turned the corner toward the evidence room. "Captain, who was-"

"Dobbs, I heard what that guy outside said," said the Captain. "About your daughter. I'm sorry."

"Not your fault."

"I know a guy who knows a guy who's a pretty good lawyer."

"I think I'm gonna need more than 'pretty good,' Captain. But thanks anyway."

They reached the conference room, where Gavin held the door open for her. Captain Sharpe and Lieutenant Hapmund were waiting inside. Both were seated around a rectangular conference table along with a few uniformed officers. Sharpe stood up and confronted Dobbs when she entered.

"Detective Dobbs. I've re-read your reports on the Brooks case... they're so full of holes it's no WONDER the man is still at large!"

"Excuse me?"

"Wild Animals!?!? Mass Hypnosis?! Hallucinogenic Drugs?!?!"

"It fits the facts," said Dobbs. "Besides, Sharpe, I thought you'd JUMP at the chance to latch onto any case with the word 'drugs' anywhere near it."

"We were going to have a conversation at your house, Detective. You weren't up to it then... so we're going to have it now. Sit down, and tell us about Brooks."

"Should we be out there keeping the peace?"

"We have men doing that, Detective... but unless you and I get to the root cause of it all... Jason Brooks... then all their efforts will be for naught."

"Root Cause? I'm looking at the root cause right now. It's YOU! It wasn't BROOKS that kicked in a door and gunned down an entire family!"

"We didn't gun down the entire family," Sharpe smirked. "The boy lived."

"Is that supposed to be FUNNY!?!"

"Is there something going on in here?" said Royce. He entered the conference room and closed the door behind him. "Sounds like somebody's jumping on my partner."

"Only because she'd being uncooperative. But since you're BOTH here, we can all sit down and go over this case piece by piece."

"Sounds like an investigation of the investigators to me," said Royce.

"If that's the way you see it. Please sit down, Detective Royce."

"Captain Gavin," said Dobbs. "You aren't gonna back us up on this?"

"I'm here, aren't I? Just answer the man's questions so we can get to the bottom of this."

"There's the bottom, right there-" Dobbs pointed at Sharpe. "The man is out of control. Have you SEEN his track record?"

"A record of results, Ms. Dobbs-"

"DETECTIVE Dobbs! And if we went by body-counts, it's YOU we should be hunting down... not Brooks."

"Oh, that's right," said Sharpe. "I almost forgot... YOU are under the impression that Brooks isn't guilty."

"He's guilty. Just not of everything that we THINK he is. And-"

"Oh? Care to go into more detail?"

"No. Not when all YOU'RE interested in is connecting him to Velazquez so you don't look like a total SCREW-UP!"

"I'm interested in justice, Ms...Detective. I'm interested in the law. You've got a criminal here. A cop-killer-"

"Not proven. Only circumstantial evidence supports that."

"-and I've got a major drug bust where the suspect was OBVIOUSLY fore-warned of our arrival. He stashed whatever drugs he had and encrypted his hard drive. We STILL haven't been able to unlock it-"

"That has NOTHING to do with my case. There's NO connection."

"They both worked at the same company," said Sharpe. "Brooks WROTE the algorithm that Velazquez used to encrypt-"

"Circumstantial."

"Sometimes circumstantial is good enough."

"Was it good enough to kick down a door and shoot a family?"

"Dobbs, you're not he only one who can read. I've studied YOUR 'track record' too. You've kicked down MORE that your share of doors. Now... you and I are on the same side here. Aren't we?"

"Nope."

"So you don't want to see Brooks put away?"

"If he's guilty, yes. What I DON'T want to see is you and your goons turning this city into a bloodbath."

"Brooks has already done that. Or did you forget the events just a few hours ago-"

"How many people did he shoot?" said Dobbs. "How maybe protesters are dead or injured from one of HIS bullets?"

"Those numbers are-"

"Zip! Zero! Zilch! Nada! Not a SINGLE person!"

"So he's got bad aim-"

"Trust me... he hits what he wants to hit."

"He threatened officers. He endangered lives. Resisted arrest. Those are things we can prove. He's also wanted on SUSPICION of multiple murders. You think this guy is some kind of saint?"

"No. I but I think he deserves a fair trial... which is NOT what he's gonna get if YOU'RE in charge of the take-down."

"Well, so far YOUR methods have proven ineffectual. As I said... we've BOTH got cases that need solving. Cases that may be connected. If we don't put them to bed soon... REAL soon... then the FBI and the DEA are gonna be all over this city. I don't want that. The mayor and the governor don't want that. And your boss doesn't want that."

"Captain? You gonna sell out an innocent man so YOU can still be the biggest kid in the sandbox?"

"He's not innocent," said Gavin.

"I was talking about Velazquez."

"Velazquez is Sharpe's case. His jurisdiction."

"So you're gonna hand the whole thing over to him... just so the FBI doesn't come and rain on your turf?"

"Hey, what's wrong with the FBI?" said Royce. "I like those guys. Waco. Ruby Ridge. They do good work."

"Leave the sarcasm to the experts, Royce," said Dobbs.

"Who's being sarcast-"

"BACK to the matter at hand," said Sharpe. "We're going to start at the beginning. With John Doe-"

"WHY?!? Just WHAT do you hope to get out of this WASTE of everybody's time!?!"

"What you've been either unable or unwilling to deliver," said Sharpe. "Jason Brooks. Now... from the beginning..."

he police evidence locker was a large, rectangular room. Most of it sat behind a heavy steel gate, protected by a single armed, overweight officer, a network of cameras, and an imposing stack of procedures and paperwork. No one got past the gate without signing over one arm, both legs, a soul, and their firstborn son.

"Hey, buddy," said officer Newson when the uniformed cop entered. "Need some help with that?"

The man barely made it through the door. He was a rookie from the look of him... still hadn't mastered the art of making a uniform fit correctly. Newson couldn't see the boy's face because of the huge box the young cop carried. Bottles clinked together in the box, and a long cardboard tube laying across the top threatened to upset the entire balance. He held the box in an awkward manner, blocking his face so that it was a wonder he could see where he was going at all.

"Ummm... yeah," said the young officer.

Newson was supposed to stay in his office behind the metal gate, but he imagined the trouble there'd be if this guy dropped and broke whatever evidence he was carrying. Better to bend one rule than to leave some detective's case broken all over the floor. Plus HE'D have to clean it up. Newson unlocked the gate and slid it back just enough for him to squeeze through. Just as he did that, the other cop stumbled. The cardboard tube... like the kind people use to ship paintings and drawings... rolled off an hit the floor. From the sound it made, it was obvious that there was something much heavier than drawings inside. The young cop knelt and settled the box on the floor, then quickly turned and grabbed the cardboard tube. Newson came up behind him. He saw the young cop pulling something up over his face... a scarf he had tied around his neck and tucked down into his shirt. It had been unnoticeable before... but now it was a mask.

"Hey, wha-" The rest happened so fast that all Newson could tell the investigating officers was that *something* hit him from *somewhere.* The young cop spun suddenly while sliding something long and metal out of the cardboard tube. Newson had no time to react to the movement before the pommel of the sword met his left temple. He hit the floor.

The 'cop' knelt to check Newson's pulse, then dragged the unconscious body into a dark corner. He grabbed the box and walked quickly into the protected area. There were cameras everywhere, but he ignored them. Newson was responsible for monitoring them from the bank of monitors at his desk... and Newson was unconscious. Even if someone else WERE watching... a single figure walking across the screen was much less noticeable than the entire screen going blank as he destroyed the cameras. He paused to glance at some paperwork on Newson's tattered desk, then continued down the rows of shelves until he found what he was looking for.

"Brooks," he said softly. "Very careless." He settled his box gently on the floor and grabbed the large crate containing all of the meticulously cataloged and sealed evidence in the Jason Brooks case. Place the crate on the floor, removed every piece of evidence from its plastic seal. He piled the items and paperwork into a small mound, then took the two bottles from his own box and poured the sulfuric acid over everything...

"y fingers hurt," said Jason.

"Powder burns," Donovan replied. "You should invest in some shooting gloves. They'll protect your hands and you won't leave fingerprints all over everything."

"Thanks, Martha Stewart."

"Who?"

"Forget it."

Jason was kneeling behind a row of bushes. Donovan was... somewhere. They were both watching the small, one-room house across the road. Reporters and neighbors had literally surrounded the place. There were surprisingly few cops... none that Jason could see. That was probably a good thing, considering who's house it was.

"She Isn't HERE!" shouted an older Hispanic man. He'd just stepped out of the house, and he didn't seem too happy about the crowd that had gathered around the front porch. "Armena and the boy aren't here! Please leave!"

The reporters honored the man's request by shouting questions at him. The old man stepped back inside and slammed the door. A few seconds later he peeked out of a window and scowled at the crowd.

"This is all very entertaining," Jason whispered. "But we're still no closer to Velazquez. Unless she's laying low inside. What do you think?"

"Even if she were, we couldn't get past all those people without being seen."

"What? You mean you're not gonna tell me to just shoot them all?"

"No. But the woman is probably close. If not, she will be soon."

"How do you figure that?"

"Because you're here."

"Eh?"

"The nature of your Gift."

"Being an evil-magnet is not what I'd consider a 'gift.' And did I ever thank you for ruining my life with this demon-hunter crap?"

"Many times."

"Just wanted to be sure. So... how does this thing work? Evil comes to me, right? So... that implies some kind of attraction-"

"Not a physical attraction. It's more of a-"

"So... if two things are attracted to each other. Say... ME and big ugly monsters... then I should be able to... you know..."

"Like a compass."

"Riiiight. Can I do that?"

"Takes years of study and concentration. You aren't ready; you'd be opening yourself up to-"

"I'm ready to get out of these bushes, that's what I'm ready to do." Jason relaxed his concentration, allowing his 'gifts' to surface. He saw the auras surrounding the people in the street. They swirling clouds of color had been there all along, but he'd merely ignored them... shoved them out of his conscious awareness. Now he let the back in. He let his mind loose focus. A thousand stray thoughts and impressions washed over him. They all merged into a blanket of mental static. Then, he felt it. Something unpleasant... something small and dark prodding his mind like a tiny splinter. There was no physical pain or sensation, but felt just as real. And it was coming from- "That house right there." Jason pointed to a small house on the corner of the next block. It looked abandoned. The grass hadn't been cut in a while, and there were no cars in the driveway.

"You did it?"

"What... a Black man can't figure stuff out on his own?"

"You seem to have a real problem with-"

"'Years of study and concentration,' my ass. Let's go."

Jason retreated to the next street and crept silently toward the house. He avoided the street lights as much as possible, and when he'd gone one block, he dashed across the road and crouched in the house's shadow. He waited for some kind of sound or response to his less-than-perfect stealth. There wasn't any. Jason moved back to the house's rear door. It was locked.

"Pick it," said Donovan.

"I told you, I don't know how to pick locks."

"Now is a perfect time to learn... while nothing is chasing you. Do you have a hair-pin?"

"WHY would I have a hair pin?"

"Never mind. Try the window."

The window next to the door was locked as well. So was the one next to it. The third window he checked slid up easily.
Jason eased himself into the house. He found a dark, shadowy corner and crouched there.

He heard a woman's voice. He saw a light coming from one of the rooms down the hall.

Food. Something was cooking.

Footsteps.

A door opened, and someone walked into the kitchen, which was on the opposite side of the wall from where Jason hid. He crept into the hallway and peeked around the corner. Armena Velazquez was leaning over the stove, vigorously stirring a pot of something. It smelled good. She stopped stirring, removed a chopping board from a nail on the wall beside the stove. She took a large knife out of the counter and grabbed some vegetables from the refrigerator. Jason crept up behind her as she chopped the vegetables for whatever dish she was cooking. Armena stopped. With knife in hand, she spun around-

Jason's gun pressed firmly against her forehead. His other hand grabbed her wrist and twisted... the knife fell to the floor.

"Guess who's coming for dinner," he said as he kicked the sharp knife away.

Armena didn't gasp or scream. She just looked at him. There was so much hatred in her eyes that Jason had to fight the urge to back away from her. He stayed close, and let her aura wash over him. That's when he saw it. It was a brief flash, lasting only an instant... in that instant he saw it all. He saw how she summoned the thing with her own blood. He heard the words she spoke as she poured her hatred into it... saw the demon rise... heard her cackling, triumphant laugh when it came to her. He saw her give it form and send it about its horrible task.

"Who are you," she hissed.

"Maid service," said Jason. "Here to clean up your mess."

"Get out of my house."

"This isn't your house."

"I stay here with permission. YOU are the intruder here."

"Call off the dog, lady."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"What happened to your son was messed up... but this isn't the way to-"

"This is the ONLY way."

"Do you know what that thing is doing out there!"

"Quiet, or you will wake the boy."

"Do you? Do you know what you created?"

"I know. I'd be a fool if I didn't. This is exactly what I wanted. Exactly what needed to be done."

"Slaughter?"

"Yes."

"That thing is tearing cops apart out there. Literally!"

"Yes!"

"You're crazy!"

"No. I am outraged. The people... MY people... and YOURS TOO... have finally had enough. They treat us like animals. Hunt us down in the street. Break into our homes. Slaughter us! Now the tables have turned. Now, THEY are the prey."

"Innocent people-"

"There's no such thing. Not with them. They killed my son. They kill HUNDREDS of sons and daughters-"

"You can't justify this. There's no way."

"I don't have to. THEY justified it when they killed my Jose. Tell me... whoever you are... what would YOU do? What if it was YOUR family? Your mother and father? Sister or brother?"

"I-"

"Lie to ME all you want... but be true to your own heart. My only son is dead. They killed him like an animal and they don't even care. What would you do if you were me?"

"I've lost someone close to me, too," said Jason. "It was an accident. Just like what happened to your son. An accident."

"You believe that? You HONESTLY believe that?"

"You can't think that they MEANT to kill him-"

"A man kills another man for a reason. My son wasn't a man to them. He was an animal. An insect. A man doesn't need a reason to step on a bug in the street. He does it just because its there. That's what they did to my family. It isn't murder to them... its just a job. And you still haven't answered my question."

"What question."

"What would YOU do?""

"Not this."

"The person you lost. If you saw the person who took them from you... if you met them on a dark street-"

"I see that person everyday, lady. Every time I look in a mirror, lady. It was an accident."

"What happened to my son wasn't. It wasn't an accident. He was slaughtered for no reason. What would you have me do?"

"The law-"

"Justice doesn't come from the LAW! The LAW killed my son!"

"PEOPLE killed your son. But the people that demon is killing... they aren't the ones who did it."

"But they ARE the ones who would stand by and protect the murderers who did. Does the 'law' not say that those who give comfort to criminals are as guilty as the ones they help? Does it not say that!?"

"Call off the demon, lady... please."

"I would rather die first. Go ahead and shoot me."

"Killing her won't end this," said Donovan. "She has to rescind the spell... withdraw power she gave to the demon. And she has to be alive to do that."

"Doesn't matter," said Jason. He lowered his gun. "I... can't shoot her."

"You know I'm right. You know you can't shoot me for doing something that YOU would do yourself!"

"I wouldn't-"

"You would. Look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn't with those men dead."

"Wishing is one thing. What you did-"

"Is what should have been done long ago. How many sons and daughters would be alive if we had fought back before now, eh? If the police knew that the people have TEETH... that we can STRIKE BACK! How many 'accidents' would NEVER have happened."

"No..."

"I am right. You know this."

"No, you're not right," said Jason. "But... but... maybe you're not all that wrong either."

"That's right, Jason," said Donovan.  "... agree with her for now, and talk her into reversing the summons. Tell her that-"

"I'm not playing any games," said Jason. He was looking at Armena, but his words were directed at Donovan. "If it was me, my family... if I had the power... I can't say that I wouldn't do the same thing. What does that make me, Donovan? Evil?"

"Jason?"

"You don't UNDERSTAND! No, there's no way you could. You've never seen your father thrown over the hood of a squad car just because he was the same COLOR as somebody that robbed a lady ten blocks away. You've and your brother have never been strip-searched by a county sheriff because a store manager THOUGHT you stole something. If things had been just a LITTLE different, somebody would've ended up dead. One FLINCH... one cop with a bad day... and it could be ME standing here with someone pointing a gun in MY face asking me to reverse a spell."

"I see," said Donovan. "I suppose we'll be going back to the car now."

"I don't know."

"That's where the box is."

"What box?"

"The Djinn's box. You could release the Djinn and promise it some innocent souls in exchange for ending the lives of every cop who's ever killed someone unjustifiably. Or we could end all racism in the world. I'm sure he could do it. If we get started now, we can gather up those souls before dawn, probably."

"No. No, that's different... that's-"

"Wrong? How is that wrong? How is that any different that what SHE'S doing? Or BRAXIS for that matter? Think about it, Jason. Just think."

Jason thought.

"Oh, God, I'm sorry," said Jason. "For a second, I almost-"

"That's why I'm here, Jason. Evil isn't always monsters with big teeth. More often than not, evil is people who do the wrong thing for the right reason. All it takes is a little confusion... and a little power. It's a slippery slope, Jason. Braxis thought he was right. So did Hitler. And so did you... for a second."

"You are a strange one," said Armena, who'd only heard half of Jason's conversation with Donovan.

"You don't want justice," said Jason. "You want revenge. I see that now. That's why you don't care that innocent people are getting hurt. Justice cares. Vengeance doesn't."

"I want vengeance?" said Armena. "You think I'm doing this for ME? You think I sold my soul for my OWN benefit!? If THAT were true... if I did this thing for MYSELF... then why is the beast not here to protect me, eh? You come here and put a gun to my head. I could summon it with a thought... but it isn't here. Why? Because I didn't summon it for ME... I called it so that the BOY can have justice. It's for HIS sake! They took his family! The least I can do is ensure he doesn't grow up with the same hate in his heart that I have in mine. He won't have to hate them... because they will already be dead! My GIFT to him!"

"Wait a minute..." Jason stepped back and aimed his gun at her head once more. "If the demon isn't here... then where the hell is it?"

"They frighten us. They chase us. They come into our homes and slaughter us. So you tell ME where it is."

"...come into our...homes... Oh, no! Donovan, that thing is going for POLICE HEADQUARTERS!!!"

"...nd the last you saw of the evidence was when you loaded it into the van?" Sharpe asked.

"That's right," Dobbs said reluctantly.

"Officers Levine and Russell drove off with it... and that's the LAST you saw of the evidence you collected?"

"The van was.... van-jacked... on the way to headquarters," said Dobbs. "Everything in it was stolen."

"Was there anything in that evidence that might have told us where Brooks is hiding?"

"No."

"Anything in that evidence that could connect him with Velazquez? Computer disks? Papers with-"

"None of it had ANYTHING to do with the innocent people you killed, no."

"Dobbs," Gavin coughed. "just cooperate, please."

"Captain, I thought you called me in here to HELP, but so far all we've done...is... Captain...what is Officer Russell's badge number?"

"182, I think. Why?"

"What about Levine?"

"197. What's going on, Dobbs?"

"They were both found with no uniforms... no badges..."

"Yeah, we went over that part already-"

"The guy we passed in the hallway... the guy carrying stuff to the evidence room... was wearing Levine's badge."

An ominous silence fell over the entire table.

"SHIT!"

Dobbs, Gavin, and Sharp all hit the door at precisely the same time. Dobbs elbowed the other two out of the way and dashed into the hall. The corridor had mostly cleared out since the meeting began. There were only three other people there... two cops walking toward her, another officer just leaving the evidence room. Dobbs pointed to the lone officer-

"STOP HIM!"

The stranger quickly yanked a scarf up over his face an instant before anyone could get a good look at it. The other cops were closer to him than Dobbs was. They looked confused for a second, then reached for their weapons. Unfortunately, a second of confusion was all it took.

The intruder moved like a whirlwind. He had a sword stashed down the back of his shirt. By the time the officers had their guns out, he was already twirling toward them with his weapon. Dobbs wanted to shout a warning, but it was all over before she could draw a breath. The razor-sharp blade moved like lightning, slashing one man... and then the other... across the chest, cleaving their Kevlar vests right down the middle. Both cops spun opposite directions... a pommel-strike to the back of the head put one man on the floor, and a kick to the small of the sent the other one stumbling head-first into a wall. The way was now clear... the intruder ran, zigzagging toward the end of the hall. Dobbs and Sharpe both tracked him in their gun-sights. It was reflex... but Dobbs knew better than to fire. Sharpe apparently did not. He squeezed his trigger smoothly, the way all cops were trained to do.... the intruder dodged to the left an instant before the gun's hammer struck. The bullet zipped past him and penetrated a wall. And that was when all hell broke loose.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE, YOU IDIOT!" Dobbs screamed as she ran after the intruder. "THIS IS A OCCUPIED BUILDING!

"I-"

"GRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

The thing leapt through the wall in front of her. It didn't TEAR through the wall... or BURST through the wall... is just sailed through the sheet-rock as if the wall weren't there at all. The huge hound crouched before her... snarling and gnashing its grotesquely large teeth. Its eyes glowed bright red, and a thundering growl rumbled deep in its throat. Dobbs skidded to a halt two yards away from it, her weapon bucked in her grasp as she fired into the thing, but the bullets went through the hound's demonic head without leaving a single mark. It leapt for her. Dobbs was already backpedalling... the creature's first leap came a few inches short of taking her head off.

"DROP!" Sharpe shouted. Dobbs turned and threw herself to the floor, clearing a line of fire for Sharpe and the others... praying that their shots would stop it before the thing ripped her open. She rolled onto her back and continued firing. Bullets ripped down the hallway, almost every one was a direct... but the streaming lead passed harmlessly through the phantom hound. Drawn by the gunfire, cops streamed into the opposite end of the hall... then leapt to safety as the bullets took chunks out of the walls around them.

The creature hadn't even noticed they were firing. It's jaws and claw-tipped paws descended toward on Dobb's prostate form even as the woman tried to scramble away. For one terrible second, the world became a chaotic roar of gunfire, growling, and wild footsteps. She could see nothing except the sites of her own empty gun, and the set of hideously huge jaws that were in instant away from her flesh-

"YIIIIPE!!"

The hound suddenly convulsed. Its demonic eyes widened in pain and shock. The thing ignored Dobbs and spun around. Dobbs scrambled to her feet just in time to see the intruder-

"...my God..." she gasped. When he'd taken out the officers, the intruder had moved like a whirlwind. But now he was like a hurricane. He literally tore into the creature, sword slashing so fast that Dobbs could barely see the weapon at all. They weren't wild strikes or clumsy jabs, the man wielded his blade with the skill of a grandmaster... and an artist. The twirled and struck three times in rapid succession, three slashes that ripped the demonic hound's flesh open and sent sizzling stripes of blood spraying across the walls. He struck again. In the span of two heartbeats he had left a dizzying landscape of deep, almost beautiful wounds across the monster's face and chest

Taken by surprise, the hound backed away quickly as the air between it and the man became a deadly storm of razor-sharp steel. The intruder pressed after it, forcing the unnatural thing down the hall. Finally, the hound had had enough... it turned and ran, chasing Dobbs down the hall toward Gavin and the others.

"RUN, YOU IDIOTS!" she shouted. The hound was right behind her. The intruder was right behind IT. Sharpe and the others dashed down the hallway, except for Royce, who calmly stepped back into the conference room and closed the door. Suddenly the hound veered right... passing through a solid wall and vanishing.

Someone on the other side of the wall started screaming. Several someones. And then gunfire.

"What the h-" Dobbs started. "LOCKER ROOM!" She ran for the set of double doors on the right. She heard the intruder running up behind her, but she wasn't expecting-

-WHAM!-

He slammed into her, his shoulder colliding with her chest and sending her sprawling backward. The intruder darted through the doors into the locker room, where the giant hound had one half-naked cop on the floor, pinned beneath one massive paw. It was about to clamp down on the cop's arm... but it paused to look up when the intruder entered.

The intruder got a running start, then suddenly spun... the sword left his hand and flew like an arrow across the room...

-CHUNK!-

...it impaled the beast through the chest, just below its monstrous head. The impact knocked the thing off balance. It toppled away from the cop and fell back. The intruder was right on top of it. He snatched a knife from his belt as he leapt. The blade glinted in the bright fluorescent light as he brought around in an arc, slicing across the demon's eyes with one hand while yanking his sword free with the other. The pain of both actions sent the hound running again. It darted across the room, then leapt... straight up. It vanished through the ceiling.

The intruder bolted for the door. He reached them just as Dobbs yanked them open-

-WHAM!-

The impact sent Dobbs spinning back out into the hallway. The intruder sped past her. She reached for him, but her fingertips barely brushed the back of his uniform before he was gone. He was headed for the stairs. There were about a dozen cops racing down the hall after him. Almost as an afterthought, the man snatched something from his belt and threw it to the floor as he ran. Whatever it was exploded with a loud POOF! and released a cloud of dark, irritating gas that effectively halted any pursuit.

He reached the steps at about the same time that shouts and gunfire erupted on the second level. He took the stairs three at a time... moving as fast on the stairwell as he had on the flat floor.

On the second level, six cops were discovering that their guns were useless against the thing that had suddenly leapt through the second-floor assembly room door. Bullets were flying everywhere, but they didn't stop the thing from snatching one cop's hand off at the wrist and gulping it down... gun and all. The maimed cop screamed and backed away from the thing while the others continued to fire at it. The intruder ran right up behind them. Two of them turned to see who their reinforcements were. All one cop saw was the bottom of a police-issue boot. A flying side-kick took him out. All the OTHER cop saw a gloved fist hurtling toward his face. The intruder took slightly less than a second to get past them and reach the hound. One spinning slash opened up a three-foot gash in the demon's side. The hound howled. The intruder impaled it through the throat then glared into the thing's eyes-

"Fear Me, Demon!" the man said through clenched teeth. "BEGONE!" He yanked his blade out and made another spinning slash, this one intended to cleave the creature's head in two. But the hound vanished, and the sword cut nothing but air.

Until that point, the cops had had no idea who to shoot... the thing that had attacked them or the intruder. With the hound's disappearance, the issue was resolved. The sudden arrival of Detective Dobbs further clarified things.

"STOP THAT MAN!" She said between coughs. Her lungs were still half-filled with the gas that the stranger had used on them.

The intruder executed a ridge-hand strike to the temple of the nearest cop. He grabbed the unconscious man and dragged him along on front of him as a human shield until he reached the closest door. Then dropped him and ran... right for the window.

Cops heard the sound of breaking glass, and by the time they reached the room, he was gone. They looked down at the street below, but there was nothing there. Several cops, Dobbs included, raced up to the rooftop... but they weren't at all surprised to find it empty.

...meanwhile, in the first floor conference room, Detective Royce was on the phone.

"It's me," he said to the voice that answered. "We've got a problem. ANOTHER problem."

"all it off! Call that demon off NOW!" Jason eased the hammer back on his revolver to emphasize his point.

"No," said Armena. "I'll do no such thing."

"You sent that thing to police headquarters!"

"Of COURSE I did! It will hunt them in their own home... just as they do to us!"

"Sorry. I can't go with ya on this. You ALMOST had me... but this is wrong. You're wrong. And you're gonna call that dog off NOW!"

"Or what? You'll shoot me? Go ahead, then."

"I WILL shoot you if I have to-"

"I'm waiting."

"GRAAAAAMMMAAAA!" came a child's shrill voice. Tomas Velazquez stood in the doorway. The seven-year-old boy was screaming bloody murder... his wide, oddly-shaped eyes fixed on Jason's gun. The boy was terrified. Tears rolled down his pale cheeks, and a damp stain blossomed on the front of his pajama bottoms. He pointed at the gun and screamed.

"You woke the boy!" Armena hissed.

"Hey, I wasn't the one who started yelling!"

"You're SCARING HIM! PUT THE GUN AWAY!"

"Call the dog off!"

"You're frightening the child! Is THAT what you want!?"

"I want this to stop lady!"

Armena walked toward the boy to comfort him-

"Don't Move!" Jason ordered.

Then the boy stopped screaming. He still stood in the doorway, eyes fixed on Jason's revolver, but his expression was blank. He swayed back and forth slightly as a thin line of drool descended from his lip.

"You had NO Business coming in here! Bringing a GUN in here!"

"Should've thought of that before you summoned a demonic Scooby-Doo to do your dirty work for you."

"Look what you've done! He gets like this and it takes WEEKS for him to talk again!"

"That ain't my concern, lady-"

"Grrrrrrrr...."

"Is that kid growling?"

The deep growling sound was indeed coming from the boy's throat. But it was ALSO coming from the monstrous Rotweiller that had suddenly appeared beside him.

"Oh, shit."

"What are you doing here!" said Armena. "AWAY! AWAY!"

Jason aimed his revolver at the demon, but to the demon... and the boy... it must have seemed like he was about to shoot Tomas. Ruger exploded toward Jason in a fury of teeth and claws. Jason fired three shots... each bullet burned tunnels through the demon's flesh... and with each shot the hound grew larger.

"WHAT THE!?!"

Jason spun out of the beasts path. The hound landed next to Armena, but it ignored her and came for Jason once more.

"GRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" the hound's howl shook the entire house, even drowning out the massive sound of Jason's .454 revolver. He put two shots into the demon's face. At each shot, the demon winced with pain... but then grew larger. Fangs and claws lengthened, and its eyes glowed brighter.

"DONOVAN WHAT'S GOING ON!!!" Jason shouted as he quickly backed away.

"BEGONE!" Armena commanded. "I COMMAND YOU TO BEGONE!"

The demon's only response was to leap for Jason. Jason holstered his first revolver and drew two more. With one firearm in each hand, he emptied both weapons while backing toward the front door. Jason's bullets drove the hound back, but now the thing was so huge that its head was almost touching the ceiling!

"Jason, the BOY!"

From the corner of his eye, Jason saw Tomas flinch with each gunshot. Each shot sent a wave of pure fear coursing through his terrified mind... and Tomas sent every ounce of that fear right into thing he knew would protect him: Ruger.

"THE WOMAN ISN'T CONTROLLING THE HOUND!" said Donovan. "THE BOY IS! AND EVERY TIME YOU FRIGHTEN HIM, HE MAKES THE DEMON STRONGER!"

"Armena, GET THE BOY OUT OF HERE!" Jason ordered. He was almost to the door. The old woman was frantically shouting words that Jason didn't understand.

"I can't rescind it! I can't take the spell back!"

"Only the boy can do that!" said Donovan.

"But the boy is RETARDED!" Jason switched to his .357's and kept firing. The bullets kept the thing away from him... but at the cost of making the creature's more powerful!

"GET OUT OF HERE, JASON!!!"

"GONE!" Jason turned and bolted out the front door. He dashed across the yard, with the enormous hound in pursuit. He ran for the car, hidden behind a house on the next block. The hound was right behind him... and gaining fast. Supernatural instinct seized Jason like a fist. He leapt... spinning around and firing in mid-air. Two shots burned both of Ruger's eyes out. Jason hit the ground on his back, but he flipped rolled into a crouching position to fire twice more... each bullet shattering one canine leg. He got to his feet and ran as fast as he could. Behind him, the wounded hound became translucent for the slightest instant, revealing something hideous and twisted beneath its flesh... then the dog snapped back into focus with all its wounds healed. It chased after Jason... but its own demonic growl was soon overpowered by the roar of a 520 horsepower engine.

VVRRRROOOOOOOOOOOMM
SKRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

The black Corvette tore a path across an empty driveway and shot down the street toward the highway. The hound chased it... enormous canine legs moving so fast that they became blurs beneath its pulsating body.

"How fast can a demon run?!" said Jason.

"As fast as the boy wants it to run!"

"Does the boy know I have a Corvette!?!"

"Probably not-"

"GOOD!"

Jason yanked hard on the wheel. The car spun out onto the highway, and Jason pressed the accelerator to the floor. Ruger took a shortcut across, and THROUGH, someone's house. It emerged onto the street mere inches behind the Corvette. Its jaws clamped down... but caught nothing. The car was gone.

So was Ruger. The dog vanished-

-and reappeared in FRONT of the speeding car.

"AwwwwwwwwHELL!"

Jason veered to the right. The Corvette left the road and raced down a grassy incline. When it reached the bottom Jason spun the car around and brought it to a halt... mere inches from a large oak tree. The Corvette's door flew open and Jason rolled out, frantically reloading his weapons as he crouched in the grass.

"BEHIND YOU!"

Jason twisted and fired. Again, bullets scorched tunnels through Ruger's body... but with no frightened boy around to feed it fear, the wounds resulted in no increase in power. Jason emptied two revolvers... then two more... then both .357's... all into Ruger's snarling face. The thing twitched and snarled with every round... as much as it wanted Jason, it couldn't get past the stream of bullets that was searing away its flesh. Every shot forced the demon back a step. By the time the .45 semiautomatic came into play, Ruger was already fading away. Jason kept firing.

Finally, Ruger roared and dissolved into a cloud of stench that quickly sank into the ground. The hound vanished... and didn't return. Jason had exactly one bullet left.

"I hate this job," he said.

"The boy is its master," said Donovan. "The old woman summoned it, but you heard her for yourself... she summoned it FOR THE BOY. Somehow that desire became a part of the summons... the demon is drawing its power from HIM now. The woman can't stop it."

"And the boy can't either. Even if he was NORMAL, I don't think he could understand what was happening. And the boy AIN'T normal. We're screwed."

"We have to get through to him somehow. It's the only way..."

he black Corvette skidded to a stop in the gravel driveway. The powerful engine continued to growl as the door opened and Jason got out. He jogged up the steps to the porch and pounded on the trailer's front door.

"HEEEEYYY!!!" he shouted. "OPEN UP!"

The flimsy door opened. Ashley Ricks wasn't wearing her make-up. Somehow, Jason had been expecting Madam Eve to open the door. It didn't matter.

"Hey, uhhh,..." he said. "Are you busy?"

[To Be Continued]

copyright 2005 by Dark Icon Entertainment