Hardbingers rj-10 Read online

  "I'm not much of a joiner."

  "But there's so much we need to discuss."

  "We'll make a play date. Now, can 1 leave peacefully or do things have to get ugly?"

  The Oculus sighed. "Very well. But please come back."

  Jack wanted a repeat too, but more on his terms. Not as a captive audience.

  "We'll work something out."

  He turned back toward the door but Miller still blocked it. He glared past Jack at the Oculus.

  "Are you out of your mind? He knows all about us now. We can't let him go!"

  "We can," the Oculus said. "And we will."

  "This guy's a fake. He's not the Heir."

  "But he is."

  "What have you been smoking? The Heir will come from the yeniceri."

  And then Jack got it. If anyone was going to be designated the Heir, Miller had expected to be him.

  "Hey, Miller," Davis said. "Cool it."

  Miller pointed at the Oculus. "I signed on to protect him. That doesn't mean I have to kiss his ass. This is a bad move and I take no responsibility for any damage this guy winds up doing."

  He turned and stomped out of the room.

  Jack turned to Davis. "You have some things of mine, I believe."

  Davis nodded. He looked embarrassed. "Yeah. Come on. I'll get them for you."

  9

  Jack walked a circuitous route from the warehouse, stopping every half block to check for bird-dog action. He didn't spot anyone and was eventually satisfied that he was on his own.

  Not necessarily a good sign. They'd bugged him once. Why not again?

  A direct route to the car would have run two blocks at most. Jack stretched it to six. When he reached the Crown Vic he stopped long enough to retrieve the TD-17 from the glove compartment, then resumed his walk.

  As he moved he turned on the detector and immediately got a positive for an RF signal. But that could be coming from anywhere around him. He turned down the sensitivity until it stopped, then wanded himself with the little gizmo. No response. He notched up the sensitivity and tried again. Still nothing. He kept pushing it up until he found a signal, but it didn't seem to be coming from him. Most likely RF pollution.

  Okay. Maybe he was clean. The only way to be sure was to run a check in the car.

  He trotted back, hopped in the front seat, and watched the indicator light as he shut the door. It went dark. He opened the door again and it lit. Just pollution. He started the car and avoided the area around the warehouse as he headed back to the BQE.

  Not a bad morning's work. He'd come to Red Hook to learn a little more about the yenigeri and wound up learning a lot. He'd also wound up with a bruised scalp and a sprained neck. Small price.

  Still had a lot of questions though.

  Like who had started the yenigeri. He had a feeling being a yenigeri was both a day job and a night job. So who funded their training and paid their expenses?

  But a bigger question—the biggest—was about this Heir thing. He'd heard from more than one source that he'd been drafted into this war. He'd hated the notion then and liked it even less now that he was being called the Heir. Heir to the Sentinel's job? What did that entail? How did you defend against a cosmic force like the Otherness? It all seemed so crazy.

  Maybe being sentinel meant going toe to toe with Rasalom.

  Not a comforting thought. Rasalom had been creepy the first time Jack had met him, but the second time he'd been downright scary. So much more powerful—walking on water, paralyzing with a gesture.

  How am I supposed to stand up to that?

  The whole hero thing made him queasy. He wasn't a hero. He didn't want to be a hero. Okay, for Gia and Vicky and the baby he'd be a hero if the need arose, but as for the rest of humanity… he didn't want that responsibility. Couldn't handle it. He was just Jack. Just a guy.

  Even worse was the knowledge that his life was no longer his own. Every move seemed scripted. Even this morning. The Oculus had come right out and said it.

  You were led here for a purpose—to join us.

  Was that the way it worked?

  But how? The creeps just happened to snatch the niece of a regular at Julio's, a guy who was sure to ask Jack for help. So he gets involved. And because of that he crosses paths with the yenigeri. They all play cat and mouse for a while, culminating in Jack's arrival at the warehouse.

  You were led here for a purpose—to join us.

  Led by whom? Did the Ally use Otherness types to do its work, or was it the Otherness pulling the strings? Would his involvement with the yeniceri somehow disrupt whatever unity they had—there didn't seem to be a whole hell of a lot of that as it was—and lead to the death of the Oculus?

  It made him dizzy.

  Why me? What's so special about me?

  The BQE was stopped dead, so he took surface roads. While waiting at a red light he turned on his phone and found a message from Abe. He had more news. That meant they needed another face to face.

  Two in one day. Wow.

  10

  "All you've got to do is get yourself to South Florida," Abe said. "From there everything will be taken care of."

  During the few hours they'd been apart Abe had accessorized his wardrobe with a mustard stain on his white shirt and a sprinkle of powdered sugar on his black pants.

  "Can you be a little more specific than 'taken care of? What's going to be taken care of and by whom?"

  "My Balkans contact. We'll call him Mischa for now."

  "For now?"

  "With his real name, of course I trust you. But him, I don't know. I've vouched for you but that doesn't mean he'll want you to know the name his mother gave him. If he does, he'll tell you. If not, it's Mischa. Professional courtesy."

  "Gotcha. All right, I'm down in South Florida. What next?"

  "Before you go I'll be given the number of a slip at a marina in Palm Beach. You go there first thing Tuesday morning and the owner of the boat in said slip will take you across to the Bahamas and drop you off on West End, one of the out islands."

  "How far is that?"

  "About seventy miles. Hell be piloting a sport fisher that can make the trip in three hours."

  "Deja vu."

  "Yes. Reminds you of a similar trip you made with your brother last month, I'll bet. Only this is much shorter."

  Right. Bermuda had been 650 plus. After that, seventy was around the corner.

  "From said island you'll be ferried into New Providence where one of Mis-cha's associates will sneak you aboard a cargo plane."

  "Not in a crate I hope."

  "Not so bad as that, but a pretty stewardess you shouldn't expect. Brown bag it if you want to eat."

  "Seems kind of roundabout, don't you think? Why don't I just call the Ashes and have one of them fly me straight to the Bahamas?"

  "Because this is the way Mischa wants it done. It's the procedure he uses for moving certain commodities back and forth between here and Sarajevo or Kosovo. Everyone knows their parts. Like a well-oiled machine it works. He doesn't like to mess with a winning formula."

  Jack shrugged. He understood. Perfectly.

  "Okay. It's his show. The plane takes me to Bosnia-Hurtslikegonorrhea. Then what?"

  "Not so fast. You're expecting a nonstop? Don't. The first plane takes you to Nouakchott International Airport."

  "Jeez. Where the hell is that?"

  "Mauritania."

  "Swell."

  "Less than an hour you'll be there. Then it's onto another cargo plane to Sarajevo. That's when you'll be crated up. Another of Mischa's associates will get your crate through customs and truck you to a warehouse where you'll meet Mischa himself. And that's when you'll pay half the fee."

  And a hell of a fee it was.

  "He's agreed to take Krugers, right?"

  "Yes. Of course." Abe smiled. "They're as good as gold."

  "Ha-ha. How long am I there?"

  "A day, two at most. Mischa will settle you into your new identity,
get you through immigration, and you will fly to JFK tourist class on Bosnia Airlines."

  "And that will be it."

  "That will be it."

  "Next week I'll be Mirko Abdic."

  "Next week you'll be Mirko Abdic."

  Something squeezed in Jack's chest.

  11

  A customer for Abe's real line of merchandise came in so Jack left them to their dealing. His headache had faded but still nagged him. His stomach felt sour.

  This called for a beer.

  He was halfway to Julio's when his cell phone rang: the man himself.

  "Julio. Just on my way over."

  "Maybe you shouldn't, meng. One those gun guys from last night showed up."

  Jack stopped walking.

  "The big one or the smaller?"

  "Smaller."

  Davis.

  "What's he doing?"

  "Just sitting at the bar, drinking a draft. He let me pat him down. Say he don't wan' no trouble. He's clean but I dunno. I look outside, don't see nobody, but maybe you better stay away."

  Hell with that. Julio's was his hang and he wanted a beer in Julio's.

  "See you in a few."

  If it had been Miller he might have thought twice, but Jack had sensed a core of decency in Davis. Question was, what did he want? Talk? Okay, Jack could talk. He still had questions.

  But just the same, certain precautions were called for.

  He made a slow approach to Julio's, checking all the cars and nooks and crannies. But he didn't stop there. He ambled a block past the front door, still checking.

  No one. At least no one he could make.

  As he stepped inside he spotted Davis at the bar. He wasn't in his suit and was just polishing off his draft. Without breaking stride Jack tapped him on the back and motioned him to follow. He led him to his rear table where he assumed his usual back-to-the-wall position, eyes on the door. Davis pulled out a chair opposite him and dropped into it. He thrust out his hand.

  "Cal Davis."

  Jack shook it. "Jack. What are you drinking?"

  "Stella. Didn't expect to find it on tap in a dive like this."

  Dive… Julio would have liked that. He worked hard keeping his place a dive. And Davis had passed the first test: He didn't drink Bud or—God forbid—Bud Light.

  Jack signaled to Julio for two Stellas, then leaned toward Davis.

  "I hear you want to talk."

  "Yeah." He ran a hand across his short blond hair and put on an affable smile; Jack didn't know how real it was. "Interesting morning, huh?"

  "Very. What do we talk about?"

  The beers came then and Davis lifted his in a toast.

  "To lots of interesting mornings."

  Jack had a sense that Davis was trying to soften him up, charm him. Jack wasn't in the mood for charm.

  "Interesting is personal. And it's something of a curse to the Chinese."

  Another smile. "Touched"

  "Talk."

  Davis sighed. "Nothing too serious to say. Just want to see if I can persuade you to throw in with the MV."

  "I gave my answer."

  "I know." Davis lost his smile and leaned forward. "But 'I'm not a joiner' doesn't cut it. This isn't about you or me or the Oculus. The stakes in this battle go way beyond us. They impact on everyone you know and love."

  "You don't get it: I've never worked with anyone. I don't know how. I'd be more of a hindrance than a help."

  "That's a cop-out." He jerked a thumb back over his shoulder. "Your Puerto Rican friend behind the bar, the one who's got one eye on me and the other on the sawed-off he keeps under the bar. He and everything he knows and loves are at stake. How about your attachments? Got a girlfriend, a wife, kids?"

  All of the above—sort of. But wasn't about to tell Davis.

  "My business."

  He shrugged. "Fair enough. I don't see you doing the Ward Cleaver or Jim Anderson thing, but what—?"

  "Let me ask you something," Jack said. 'The Oculus—and speaking of the Oculus, does he have a real name? You know, like Joe or Tom or Fred? I don't see his mother leaning out the back door shouting, 'Ocky, dinner's ready!'"

  "His mother was an Oculus, and she did have a name for him. But as with all Oculi, that fell by the wayside once he assumed the role. We address him as Oculus but out of earshot he's 'the 0.'"

  "Okay. The 0 says I'm the Heir. What exactly does that mean?"

  Davis gave him a wide-eyed stare. "You mean you don't know?"

  Jack was sick of hints—he wanted a full explanation. Maybe he could squeeze one out of Davis.

  "Nope. Heir to what?"

  "Why… the role of Sentinel."

  "And just when does that happen?"

  "Should something happen to the Sentinel, something final, you will step into the role."

  "Swell." That was what he'd gathered. "But I'm just a regular guy. I can't fight the Otherness… or the Adversary."

  "When you're elevated to the part, you'll be changed. You'll have… powers."

  Jack didn't want powers.

  "All right. How many of these Sentinels have there been?"

  "Only one."

  Jack blinked. "One? That would mean he's…"

  "Immortal. Right."

  This was crazy. But then, everything had become crazy. The world he knew now was not the world he'd grown up in.

  Davis added, "Immortal in the sense that he can't age. But not invulnerable. He can be killed."

  Jack shook his head. Me? Immortal? He couldn't buy it. It was the stuff of fantasy novels, and he didn't like fantasy novels. Never happen.

  "What planet are you from, Davis?"

  "This one. But I've peeked behind the veil—and so have you—and seen the real world, the one that's hidden from the vast bulk of humanity. We both know truths that would drive many of them over the edge."

  "Maybe we're over the edge."

  But Jack didn't think so. He'd fought through a ship full of nightmares, seen glowing bottomless holes in the earth, and fought the frightful things that rose from one of them.

  "We're not. But you not knowing you're the Heir… makes me wonder if the Oculus might be mistaken."

  Jack tried not to sound hopeful. "Why's that?"

  Davis frowned. "The Heir is supposed to be molded since birth to be the Sentinel. That's why we've always assumed he'd be one of the yeniceri."

  Here was an opening Jack had been waiting for. He pounced.

  "But aren't all you guys, in a way, molded from birth to be something?"

  "Yeah, but the Heir would be different. He would face the Otherness and come away scarred but alive." He stared at Jack's chest. "You fit the scarred part, but…"

  "But I haven't been molded."

  "I gather not."

  Now the question Jack had wanted to ask ever since he'd seen the Ocu-lus's eyes.

  "Who molded you?"

  Davis shifted his gaze to his beer. "Two wonderful, inspiring men."

  "Are they related?"

  Jack had started to say, "Were" but switched to the present tense at the last instant.

  Davis's head snapped up. Suspicion sparked in his eyes.

  "Why do you ask?"

  Jack shrugged. "No particular reason. Something in your tone… like they're a father-son team or something."

  He held his breath, hoping Davis would open a door by saying a certain word.

  "They were brothers—twins."

  And there it was, lying on the table. The Twins… Jack had butted heads with them last April.

  "'Were'?"

  A nod. "They're gone. The Twins sensed the Otherness preparing for a major coup and went to put a stop to it. Neither has been seen or heard from since."

  For a few seconds he was afraid Davis would begin to cry. Jack looked away, not just to cut off the sight of the man's welling eyes, but to keep his own from giving anything away.

  The Twins… two identically odd-looking ducks in black suits and fedoras and dark gla
sses. They were gone—for good—because of Jack. He hadn't realized until the end what side they were on. But that wouldn't have changed matters: It had been him or them.

  He shook his head. No good guys in this war, just black and different shades of gray.

  Davis said, "We always assumed—they always assumed—that one of them would be the Heir."

  That explained something. Right after their deaths he'd felt a change, as if some mantle had fallen onto his shoulders. He hadn't understood then, but he knew now: The Ally was saying, Okay, they're gone because of you, so you take their place.

  "You said they sensed the Otherness preparing a coup. You mean the Ocu-lus, don't you?"

  He shook his head. "They had the sight as well."

  That explained the weird black eyes he'd spotted on one of them.

  "They raised us, trained us… they were like foster fathers."

  And that explained Zeklos's odd plural when he mentioned losing his fathers.

  "That's another reason you should throw in with us. We can protect you."

  Jack had to say it: "Like you did the Twins?"

  Davis's eyes flashed. "They tended to operate on their own. Sometimes they'd bring yeniceri along, but they saw themselves as a two-man team. If we'd been along maybe they'd still be alive. They wouldn't let us protect them, but you… we can take your back."

  "It's not me I'm worried about."

  Davis smiled. "So you don't live in a vacuum after all. You have people you care about. Who?"

  "You'll never know."

  "I don't care to. But look at the big picture: By joining us you could make the world a safer place, and that means safer for them."

  A low blow, but one that hit home.

  On the other hand, from what he'd seen so far, these guys didn't seem much of a threat to the Otherness. The Ally needed a better team on its side if it was going to beat the Adversary.

  "What makes you think you're having any impact?"

  Davis rubbed his jaw. "I'm sure we didn't impress you last night, but we lost our center and a good deal of our focus last spring when we lost the Twins. Your involvement might center us again."

  "And what would Mister Happy Face say about that?"

  Davis smiled. "Miller? He'll hate it. He's headstrong and impulsive, and flies off the handle too easily, but he's dedicated to the cause. You've only seen his dark side."