Mayday: A Kaiju Thriller

Chapter Fourteen

“I don’t know about that, Boss.”

“What’s the problem?” I turned the key and brought the car to life. It was risky, taking a car into the city, and I’d probably have to abandon it when the roads became impassable. But we were operating on borrowed time.

“Maybe she’s scared,” Lindsey said. “Maybe she’s planning to run. But I don’t think she’ll go alone.”

Of course. I should’ve thought of that. “You’re right. Her family. Is the hospital still intact?” The hospital was outside the central city. There was a chance Tempest hadn’t crushed it yet.

“Last I heard. We could also do with getting Chiaki some treatment.”

“All right,” I said as I put the car in drive and started driving towards the city. Tempest loomed large ahead of me. “You take Chiaki to the hospital. I’ll meet you there. Put Su-jin on for a minute.”

“Sure.” The static returned for a moment, then Su-jin’s voice came on.

“Mr Escobar,” Su-jin said.

“How are you holding up?”

“We are not in a safe place. I don’t think the station will remain intact if Tempest comes back this way.”

I approached the end of the bridge and pulled off onto a side road, trying to keep as many buildings between myself and Tempest as possible. I drove carefully, slowly, so I didn’t attract his attention.

“You won’t be there long,” I said. “I take it you didn’t stop to let our favourite thug out of the tank before you evacuated?”

“Should I have?”

“To hell with him,” I said. “I thought I’d let you know Cunningham’s dead.”

“That’s…unfortunate.”

“How do you figure?”

“I think the prisoner recognised him.”

I scratched my beard. “Could be he’d been around when Cunningham was doing his story on the MPF.”

“It’s possible,” Su-jin said. “But I believe there was something else. I got the impression that Cunningham was deliberately conducting the interrogation in a way that would not produce any useful information. If Cunningham was still alive, perhaps we could find out why. And what he knew.”

“Shit,” I said. “Well, that’s a dead end now. Did you find out anything else from him or the thug before Tempest attacked?”

“The man was not talkative, even without Cunningham’s influence. I don’t believe he knew much more. But he let one thing slip. He and the one you shot, they worked on the loading docks. That was their cover. But the third man worked in Psi Division, one of the support teams. I was pulling the records when we had to evacuate.”

“You’re thinking the third man might know a little bit more about what they were doing.”

“Yes. He was still unconscious in the hospital when Tempest attacked.”

“Well, maybe we’ll have to go wake him up.”

“Do you want me to interrogate him?” she asked.

“No. Lindsey and I are on our way to the hospital anyway. I need you on something else. Head to Bio, or what’s left of it. Find out who’s alive and what they know. Gordon was supposed to be watching them, but who knows if he’s still alive. We need to find out what killed Yllia and if we can do the same thing to Tempest.” A thought occurred to me. “And if Dr Russell’s alive, I’m going to want to talk to her. She worked with Volkov during the war. Maybe she can shed some light on this fiasco.”

“I think we need to talk to Volkov himself.”

I glanced out the window. As I drove, Tempest’s massive form came into view in the gaps between apartment blocks. He bared his teeth at Volkov Tower, steam rising off his scaled body.

“You’re welcome to try,” I said. “Maybe the Alliance will send in a force in a day or so. If we’re still alive by then, maybe Tempest will be distracted long enough for us to get into the building and ask Volkov some hard questions.”

Su-jin was quiet for so long I thought something must be interfering with the transmission.

“Su-jin?” I asked.

“There may be another way we can distract him,” she said carefully. “We would have to be careful. It may risk more civilian casualties.”

“Come on, spill it.”

“Is Psi Division still intact?”

“As far as I….” Something clicked in my head. I slammed on the brakes. I knew what she was getting at. She was right. It was stupid, dangerous. If it went wrong, it would go very wrong very fast. But it could be the key. It could end up saving what was left of the city, and it might distract Tempest long enough for me to get some alone time with Volkov. I pulled to the side of the road and brought the car around in a squealing U-turn. I didn’t care how much attention I drew now.

“Tell Lindsey she’ll have to go to the hospital without me. Keep me informed. And find Dr Russell.”

I tossed the walkie onto the passenger seat and put my foot down, heading back towards the bridge. Tempest had stomped through the city completely unopposed. He’d killed my colleagues, he’d burned and crushed and eaten his way across the island and we couldn’t do a damn thing to stop him.

Well, maybe it was time he fought someone his own size.

~~~

This book is available now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Apple and Smashwords. Find out more at www.chris-strange.com.

Thanks for reading!