Queen of the Dead by Ty Drago

Author:Ty Drago [Drago, Ty]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 2012-08-13T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

Floor Plan

We didn’t report our situation to Haven.

If we had, Tom would have ordered us home immediately. I was breaking rules and regs again, and I knew it. Last night’s business with the wallet had gotten Helene and me split onto separate teams by the Chief, a constraint that Tom had evidently forgotten with everything that had been going on.

But another breach tonight might even see me doing a stint with the Moms!

I had two choices: I could give up this crazy idea or I could pull it off. If I came back with both my friends unharmed and with a female dead body in tow, Tom wouldn’t ask questions. Probably.

Sometimes I wondered why I kept doing things like this.

Chang’s basement was split into at least two rooms. The first one stood empty. It appeared to be a kind of filing room, with an unoccupied desk surrounded by big cabinets that were stuffed with folders. Apparently the computer age hadn’t yet reached Chang’s Funeral Parlor. The light came from overhead florescent bulbs.

A door stood in the center of the far wall. The Deadspeak—they were chattering up a storm in there—was coming from just beyond it. The top half of the door was frosted glass, through which I could make out vague moving shapes but couldn’t tell exactly how many shapes there were.

But at least now we could make out some of what was being said.

“How. Old?”

“Three. Days.”

“How. Die?”

“Drown. Kill. Self.”

“Foolish. Human.”

“You. Want?”

“Acceptable. Call. Van.”

The three of us exchanged looks. “Flank the door,” I said.

Helene took the left. I took the right. The door’s hinges weren’t visible, which meant that it would open away from us. The knob was on Helene’s side. She tested it gingerly before she gave me a “thumbs up.” It wasn’t locked.

Okay…the point of no return. Am I doing this or not?

Who was I kidding?

I nodded to Dave, who came up and stood right in front of the door. In his hands was the big five-gallon green plastic pail. I’d filled it almost to the brim, which had made it way too heavy for either me or Helene to lift. However, the Burgermeister handled it with ease.

I raised one hand, displaying three fingers. Then two fingers. Then one. Then a tight fist.

Now.

Helene turned the knob and shoved the door all the way open. It swung wide before it banged against the inside wall.

The inner room was much larger than the outer one. Morgue-like metal doors were built into the left-hand wall, with cluttered shelving on the opposite side. The finished ceiling was brightly lit and seemed high for a basement, maybe twelve feet. The floor was sunken, with a ramp leading down to a cement floor. All the surfaces were painted a high-gloss gray.

In the center stood a metal table surrounded by an assortment of gadgets, with tubes and dials and wires that probably had something to do with handling dead bodies.

And speaking of dead bodies—

Four of them, two Type Threes, a Type Two, and a

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.