Bee Tornado by Chris Sorensen

Author:Chris Sorensen [Sorensen, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harmful Monkey Press
Published: 2023-07-30T22:00:00+00:00

TWENTY

Derek and Tom sat in the chief’s office as Shelby conferred with her colleagues out in the bullpen. The station was abuzz with activity—phones rang off the hook, and radios squawked. The place was a model of organized chaos.

Derek tapped his feet like a student waiting for the principal to arrive. Tom was busy checking out the bee in the plastic bag.

“I see you held onto it,” Derek said.

Tom didn’t answer. He just kept rolling the bee about in the bag.

“You don’t look any worse for the wear.”

“What’s that?” Tom asked, oblivious to everything but the bee’s corpse.

“A fall like that might have taken a lesser man out of the game.”

“Oh, well…luckily, I’m not a lesser man,” Tom replied. He looked around as if just noticing where he was. “You didn’t happen to see where they took Billy, did you?”

“They let him go after they took his statement. The kid looked pretty eager to leave. I think you’re going to have to find yourself some new employees.”

“And a new truck.” Tom held out the bee in the bag. “These bees? They aren’t your ordinary Apis mellifera. First off, they’re freaking huge. Then there’s the pollen.”

“What about it?”

Tom ran a finger along one of the bee’s legs. “Get the light.”

Derek flicked the light switch, and the office dimmed.

“See?”

Tom rubbed his fingers together. The dusty pollen gave off a phosphorescent glow.

“Mother Nature had herself some fun back in prehistoric days. She grew bees big. Blocked out the sun with ash, forcing flowers to adapt or die. Hmm…”

“What?”

Tom shook his hand. “It tingles.”

“So, the bees and the flowers…you’re saying they’re prehistoric?”

“I am.”

“Then what the hell are they doing here?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Mayor Guffey said, flipping on the light and pushing past them in her chair. Chief Cross entered behind her and leaned against the wall, affording the mayor the use of his desk as well as giving him a good spot from which to keep his eye on Derek.

Shelby slipped into the room and stood silently. She had the look of a kid who’d been taken out to the woodshed.

The mayor leaned across the desk toward Derek.

“Earlier today, you made a scene about giant killer bees—”

“And you wouldn’t listen,” Derek objected.

“You made a scene,” the mayor continued, “and now here we are. Smack dab in the middle of a public safety emergency. I want to know everything that you know. What they are, where they came from, how we get rid of them.”

Tom let loose an involuntary laugh.

“Did I say something funny, Mr. Buckaroo?”

“No, ma’am,” Tom said. “That’s just a typical bureaucrat’s response. ‘What is it and how do we kill it?’”

“I’d say that’s the only responsible response to have. Citizens have been attacked, the festival’s been shot to shit.” She turned to the chief. “Do we have a number of the injured yet?”

“That info’s still coming in,” Cross replied. “It’s going to be up there.”

“You see?” Mayor Guffey pounded the desk, making everyone jump. “So you’ll forgive me for being a typical bureaucrat, Mr.

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