I stared at the two ubarae over the barrel of my gun, backing to the opposite side of the room, to get some distance and keep them both in my sights.
“So, which of you contacted them?”
“What, you think I contacted them?” Liz exclaimed. “Why would I do that? They almost killed me, too.”
“Maybe. Or maybe we were supposed to think that.”
“You’re paranoid! You came to me, if you remember. It was your idea to find Oliver.”
“I have a lot to be paranoid about, lately,” I retorted. “It wouldn’t have been hard to predict that Simon would seek you out. Maybe you were just waiting for the opportunity. If it wasn’t you, then how did they find us?”
“Hey, come on, Ray,” Simon stepped between us. “They didn’t do this. They are just as surprised as we are, surely you can see that?”
“They aren’t human, you can’t read them, don’t act like you know what they are thinking.”
“Not as well, granted, but I can read them the same as you can another human. They aren’t Domini,” he insisted. “They didn’t do this. Besides, we have been with them the whole time, when could they have contacted Vicki?”
“Exactly!” Liz agreed.
“I haven’t been out of your sight since you got here,” Oliver tried a placating tone that really only put me more on edge. “And I couldn’t have known you were coming ahead of time.”
“Either of you could have sent a surreptitious text. And you,” I nodded at Liz, “could easily have a tracking device on you.”
“A tracking device!” Simon gasped. “I should have realized. That’s exactly what happened!”
“What do you mean?” I raised an eyebrow, risking a glance at him.
“They must have planted something on the car, in case we got away. Probably just a cheap key finder or something. They are easy to get these days, cost basically nothing. The Domini used them all the time to track targets.”
“And you are just mentioning this now because?”
“Things were kind of frantic, if you remember. At the time, it didn’t even occur to me.”
I bit my lip. It was possible. And he was right, they did seem surprised, even frightened. Then again, I had believed Carmine and Suzette were on our side, too. I hesitated.
“Ray,” Simon spoke softly. “I get it. It may seem safest not to trust anyone, but it isn’t, because if we don’t work together, we are dead for certain. You can see that, right? You are going to have to take a chance. Please.”
I took a deep breath. He was right. Trying to interrogate the ubarae and deal Vicki at the same time would get us all killed. So, unless I was willing to put a bullet in both of them, just in case, I was going to need to trust them. And I wasn’t willing to go that far. Especially since, if either of them was Domini, this was stupid time to spring their trap. They could have just waited a bit longer, and I would have taken them to the remaining Partials. Then, they could have flushed us all out at once. I lowered my weapon.
“Alright, you make a good point. We get out of this together, but if I don’t find a tracker on the car, we will be having this conversation again.”
The three ubarae relaxed slightly.
“How are you planning to get to the car?” Liz asked.
“I’m working on that,” I moved to the door. “If they only know about the car, then they shouldn’t know which room we are in. They might be searching the place as we speak. So, everyone stay down, and away from the windows. I am going to go and figure out what we are up against.”
I handed Simon the gun from the drawer,
“Keep an eye on the door. I’ll be back.”
Crouching low, I slipped out onto the balcony. Looking up and down the way, a saw only a series of closed doors and an unattended cleaning cart, outside the room next door. Everything else was silent. No one moved in the parking lot. If they were busting down doors to search every room, they were being very quiet about it. I crept down to the hall towards the stairwell at the end. Perhaps we would be lucky and they were checking the other side of the building first. Then, we could slip out without them being aware. The smartest plan on their end would, of course, be to split up and cover more ground. But, if Simon and Liz were correct, Vicki would want to keep her thralls close to maintain control, and to act as her shield, so hopefully, they would all be together. That would limit the ground they could cover, at least. As I neared the top of the stairwell, I paused. Voices echoed up the concrete walls encasing the stairs, erected to block out the weather.
“…see why we are wasting our time. What if they don’t even come this way?” the male voice murmured.
“They have to darling, it is the only way back down,” I recognized Vicki’s voice immediately.
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“They could jump.”
“We would see them, if they tried that,” she explained with an exasperated sigh. “Once I have time, I will have to find someone more competent for this position. It’s too much work, explaining every little thing.”
“You want to replace me, Annie?”
“Don’t worry dear, not until we have had our fun.”
“Oh, good,” he seemed placated by that, but it made my blood run cold. I knew what Vicki’s ‘fun’ typically entailed.
Ok. I leaned back against the wall. I needed a plan to clear the stairs and ideally to incapacitate Vicki. I had already missed one opportunity with her, to leave her behind with these men, again, would be condemning them to death. And not a good death, either. She had basically just admitted as much. There had to be a way I could take her out, hopefully without killing any of her bodyguards. I risked peeking over the railing, to see if I could get a clear shot at her, but she was concealed in the spandrel, in a small well of protective concrete. Presumably to avoid exactly what I had been pondering. I was going to need another plan. Carefully, I crept back to the motel room. As I did, I spotted the abandoned cleaning cart. I bit my lip. That could work, but it was risky. I didn’t think I had many options, though. I grabbed a few bottles from the cart and cracked the door to Oliver’s room.
“It’s me, don’t shoot.”
Simon lowered the gun, and I slipped inside.
“What did you find?” he asked.
“They are camped at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for us to show ourselves. They can’t risk missing us when they search the rooms, so they will wait to flush us out.”
“Well, that settles it,” Liz replied. “We can’t sneak past them, so we are going to have to shoot our way out. We have enough guns.”
“They have pretty good cover in there. A shootout is just going to get a lot of people killed.”
“What other option do we have?”
“Any chance you could distract her thralls?” I asked. “Maybe turn them? She wouldn’t be much of a threat without them.”
“No,” Liz shook her head. “We aren’t rogues. We are not especially good at doing what you are asking, and we have no practice at it, either. With her standing right there? No chance.”
“Alright,” I nodded.
I had expected that answer, but I had to ask before I went with plan B. Mostly because plan B was very stupid. I placed the bottles of cleaning chemicals on the floor and started unscrewing the caps. Looking for a suitable receptacle, I retrieved the ice bucket from next to the bed and dumped out the melted ice, then I dumped some of the bleach out into the plastic tub, opening space in the large bleach bottle.
“What are you doing?” Simon leaned closer.
“You should probably back off. All of you. In fact, go stand in the corner and open a window. This will be especially dangerous for you, given your… unique sensitivities.”
Liz stared at the next bottle I went to open, a ‘green’ vinegar-based window cleaner. Her eyes widened and she yanked up the sash on the window.
“Are you mixing cleaning chemicals?” she asked incredulously.
“Yup,” I nodded, opening a couple more bottles, preparing to quickly fill up the bleach bottle and close the caps again.
“I think that might be a war crime,” Liz noted.
“Nope, only in an international conflict,” I corrected. “Ideally, even a small amount of gas should incapacitate Vicki, and the irritation should drive her thralls away, hopefully mess up their vision and keep them from getting any shots on us.”
“And how do we get out, if the only stairwell is full of gas?” Liz asked.
“Drop a mattress and climb down from the railing, it’s only two stories,” I shrugged.
“Can’t we just do that and skip the chemical weapon?”
“They are watching for that. They will certainly shoot anyone who tries. Then they will come for the rest of us. We need a way to incapacitate them, first.”
I picked up one bottle, then hesitated and went to the bathroom to cover as much of my face as possible with a towel. I pulled on my sunglasses to protect my eyes, at least a little.
“Ok. Get ready,” I mixed the liquids and capped the bottle before too much gas could escape, but the pungent smell of chlorine still filled the room. “I am going to drop these down the stairwell. When you hear me shout, get down to the parking lot and back to the car. Watch out for the incubus waiting by the car. I will meet you there.”
I turned to Simon,
“This time I am serious. Do not come find me, you will only get yourself killed. Understand?”
He nodded.
“Ok, good.”
I opened the door and returned to the stairs with my plastic bottle. I gave it a quick shake, and dropped it over the edge of the railing. I heard the bottle hit the concrete floor and shatter, releasing yellow-green gas that clung to the floor.
“What the hell?” a male voice exclaimed.
Then I heard the coughing. This was probably as good a time as any.
“Get to the car, now!”
I waited at the entrance to the stairs, watching for anyone that escaped upward. Glancing back, I saw the door open, and Simon and Liz carried a mattress out and tossed it over the railing, then he climbed over the bars and hung, dropping to the ground.
“That actually isn’t very far,” Simon called up. “Hurry.”
Liz was ushering Oliver to the railing when I heard footsteps on the stairs, I turned back to see one of the thralls, eyes red and streaming tears, carrying a limp Vicki up and away from the gas. As he turned the corner, I punched him in the neck, dropping him to the ground. I checked Vicki’s pulse. Not dead. I had mixed feelings about that, but at the very least, it meant I couldn’t just leave her here. I turned to see Oliver, clinging to the railing, about to jump down.
“When you get to the ground, I am going to drop Vicki down to you,” I gestured to her prone form. “She is coming with us.”
“Alright,” Oliver nodded, before dropping to the mattress.
As I approached to drop Vicki down, I heard a gunshot ring out from behind me. I turned to see Liz lowering her pistol, as the incubus from the car dropped to the pavement below. It seemed he had finally noticed the commotion.
“Nice shot,” I noted. Simon had given her the gun, apparently.
“Got lucky,” she shrugged.
I shook my head. I didn’t believe that for a second. She was more familiar with firearms than she had allowed me to believe. A topic for another time.
Dropping down to the parking lot, I saw the remaining thralls had stumbled out of the stairwell into the relatively fresh air, two were doubled over, vomiting onto the pavement, the third had his hands pressed into his eyes. They were no threat to us, at this point. If Vicki was alive, they would probably be alright, but they were going to need medical attention. I climbed into the driver’s seat and held my hand out for the keys. Liz dropped them into my palm.
“You have a phone?”
She nodded.
“Good. Call 911, tell them there was a chemical spill, have them get an ambulance here. Tell them about the cleaning chemicals, so they know what to treat. But do it from the car, because we need to go.”
As soon as everyone was in the vehicle, I peeled out of the lot and back onto the highway. I could already hear the faint wail of sirens behind us. The call from Liz probably wasn’t the first. I accelerated, blending into traffic. We needed to be long gone before they arrived.