For Us Humans by Steve Rzasa

Author:Steve Rzasa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gilead Publishing
Published: 2018-10-10T16:00:00+00:00

Jordan Santoro was dead. I couldn’t believe it.

Mosier Gulch was crawling with cops. Someone had heard the weapons fire, even this far outside of town. Turned out we were only a mile or two up the road from the McMansions tacked on to the hills of the Big Horn Mountains. Those qwaddo strikers were just as loud at that distance as they were up close.

Speaking of strikers, Nil’s portable arsenal had conveniently vanished. Dude’s pouches were as bottomless as Mary Poppins’ carpet bag.

Blue and red flashing lights cast bizarre silhouettes, a strobing effect that reminded me of the trippier nightclubs on Landsdowne Street by Fenway Park. Six deputies from the Johnson County Sheriff ’s department had everything cordoned off—Santoro’s body, his truck, and the area we showed them with blaster-scorched trees. I saw one deputy get out those little yellow number signs, you know, the kind they use to mark the locations of bullet brass after a shootout. Took him a second to realize there was no brass.

Nil was busy talking to the sheriff himself, and I spent the next half hour answering annoying questions from his boys and trading texts with Rutherford. Couldn’t tell if he was mad or not. Loya called, though, and he was.

“Neither you nor Prime Nil are hurt? That’s a small miracle,” he groused. “I thought the incident on the highway would be the last I heard publicly of your efforts. You do understand this was supposed to be a quiet case.”

“Yeah, and I also understand it was supposed to be the kind of case where I A) didn’t get run off the road and B) didn’t get shot at by alien phasers,” I snapped back. “Makes it difficult to keep to my usual routine when people are actively seeking my death, Loya.”

“Agent Loya.”

“Whatever.”

“No, Mr. Fortel, it’s anything but ‘whatever.’ HQ is not pleased, nor am I. Have you made any progress on contacting Fisk?”

“Jordan Santoro was my progress. Obviously someone didn’t want him making the deal, or even talking about it. That’s up to you guys to track down. I’m gonna get Fisk to hand over the Sozh Uqasod, relax.”

Loya sipped noisily at something. Probably that chai tea he worshiped. “Do what you have to and keep us in the loop. And don’t take any unnecessary risks.”

“Listen up, Loya: I’m used to taking risks, but not beyond what a few good jabs to another man’s throat can’t fix. This whole thing’s been a mess from the get-go. If you guys really want things done low key, you’ve got to keep the crazies off my back long enough for me to get it done.”

“We can’t expose ourselves as having an interest in your job, Fortel, that’s the whole point. Washington is staying hands-off on this, besides threatening us all with pink slips. They have the Jinn breathing down their necks. We’re doing what we can. But you’re on your own in terms of materiel and manpower.” He hung up.

“What a pal,” I muttered. The downside of working with the feds was that they were always more than willing to foul up your work.

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