Chapter Nine – Jack
Chapter Nine
Jack
“Can I have a gun?” Rabbit whispered from his position between Paco and I on the floor of the sedan we were being driven in. I looked down at him.
“No.”
“Jack,” he pleaded.
“Remember at Happyland? I saw you on the Space Police game. You’ve got no aim.”
Paco looked over at me, flashed me a brief smile, then returned to scanning the outside world.
Ever since we’d lost track of cars one and two, it’d been smooth sailing, worrisomely so.
Either there’d be a hell of a lot of werewolves waiting for us at the end of this—or they were all off chasing Angela.
I rubbed at the planchette beneath my shirt like it was a worry-stone, feeling the tingle of it rocking back and forth as the silver burned me, as fast as I could heal.
We drove outside of Vegas proper, then north, and by then it was clear we weren’t being followed, unless werewolves had figured out how to be invisible. Rabbit fidgeted and I patted the center seat. “Come on up.” When Paco didn’t fight me on it, I knew he was thinking the same.
Rabbit sat in between us and dutifully put his seatbelt on.
Looking across him, to Paco, I realized that this singular moment might be the closest I ever got to a normal life.
We looked like a little family, me, the man I loved, and some kid we’d gone and adopted.
I snorted at my foolishness, and Paco looked over.
“What?”
I grinned at him. “Nothing.”
One disbelieving eyebrow rose on his forehead, then he went back to scanning the horizon.
The roads we were on were obscure. Between the desolation and the shanty-like shacks we passed, that could hardly be called homes, we looked like we were on our way to a horror movie set. Which was fitting, considering.
“Where are we?” Rabbit asked. He wasn’t tired at all—I wondered if that had something to do with the moon in the sky.
“A hideout.”
“Where’s Mommy?” He twisted in the seat to look behind us.
“She’s going to meet us there,” I said. But given that we’d left at the same time and the fact that you could’ve seen brake lights for miles out here—
“Are you sure?” he asked, looking up at me.
“Yeah,” I lied. It’s just as well he wasn’t mine—I would’ve made a shitty dad. Paco frowned, but otherwise was quiet.
Fifteen minutes after that, the driver slowed and stopped outside an RV trailer in front of a large pile of worn boulders. The only sign of life was the generator running beside it, sputtering diesel fumes into the night.
“This is it?” Paco asked.
“Purportedly,” said the driver, unwilling to commit.
It didn’t look like a bunker, but then again, I assumed it wasn’t supposed to. “Let me go in first,” I said, seeing as I was 100% more danger-proof than anyone else in the car, Rabbit aside. I got out, closed the car door quietly, and heard Paco relock the doors.
The trailer was old and rusty. There was a cistern on the roof for water, and all the wheels had been replaced by cinderblocks and brick—its travelling days were done, which was good, because it looked like it would crumble if I knocked too hard.
There was nothing outside of it that had even the smallest hint of welcome, not a potted cactus or a welcome mat, so if this wasn’t Rosalie’s or one of her employees, I was going to get shot.
I walked up the rickety stoop and lightly knocked. “Hello?”
The blinds covering the door’s window didn’t open, but the door did. “Jack,” a familiar voice said. “Come on in.”
Maya stood there, wearing the most clothing I’d ever seen her in—jeans, a tank-top, and her fire-engine red hair was pulled into a high ponytail. No make-up, either. If we’d been at a party and I didn’t know who she was—and what she was—I would’ve definitely tried to get her number.
“This is it?” I asked, leaning in, and looking left and right. The inside of the trailer was as dated as the outside was, all done in ’70s shades of brown and orange.
“Would I be here, otherwise?” she asked, rolling her eyes at my foolishness. “Get your people—have them hide the car out back. There’s some tarps by the boulders.”
“Cool,” I said, and jumped down the stairs. There were thirty long steps back to the sedan, and I knew what I had to do. I opened the back door.
“Is Mommy here?” Rabbit asked.
“Not yet, kiddo,” I said, reaching in to pull out his bag.
Paco put a hand on his seatbelt, as did both of the men in the front.
“Stop. None of you move,” I commanded all of them, and Paco looked up.
“Don’t you dare,” he growled through gritted teeth.
“I’m being nice by explaining it to you. I don’t want you to think I’m an asshole later.”
“Too late,” he hissed.
“It’s too dangerous here. I read Mark’s contract.” I grabbed Rabbit and picked him up. “He’s covered—you’re not.”
“Are you?”
“I forgot to have him put that clause in there. Next time.”
I could see Paco struggling to move—if he could free himself from his seatbelt, or reach his gun—I leaned into the car and spoke directly to the driver.
“On the count of three, you can move. But you will only turn around and drive this car back to the road. After that, all of you will forget where this place is—that you were ever here.”
“Goddammit Jack!” Paco said.
“Love you, baby—one-two-three-go!” I said, pulling back from the car and slamming the door behind me. The driver put it in reverse and soon the only thing that hinted they’d been there was a lingering cloud of dust.
Rabbit watched the car go away. “Why’d you do that?” he asked.
“Because I wanted them to be safe.”
He blinked, looking up at me. “Don’t we want to be safe?”
“It’s complicated.” I took his hand, and we went up the trailer’s steps together.
I introduced Rabbit to Maya and while he was polite, he didn’t leave my side until I physically sat him on the couch, in front of a TV and a cable-spool repurposed into a coffee table, then I pulled Maya into the small kitchen.
“Cute kid,” Maya said.
“Yeah.” I’d looked and listened—we were the only things moving in here. “So where’s the other guards?”
“Tamo’s coming around four in the morning, once he’s done with his shift.”
I didn’t like the thought of spending the end of the night—and a full day—with Tamo, but he was a strong motherfucker. “Then I’ll head back,” she finished.
“Wait—so there’s only going to be two of us here? At any time? Didn’t I mention a werewolf army?”
She laughed and stretched, cat-like, then popped the knuckles on both of her hands.
“I’m good for at least ten. Aren’t you?” I fought not to grind my teeth.
“Besides, we have opposable thumbs. And the floor of this place is now insulated with weapons and silver bullets, courtesy of your woman’s man’s money,” she said, tapping her heel on the ground with a hollow thump.
“Rosalie still has a business to run. She can’t leave it vulnerable, Jack. ”
“Fine, whatever.” I would replace any number of guns with a few loyal vampires—but loyal vampires were hard to come by. “Where’s the bunker?”
“Here,” she said, walking into the living room, where Rabbit was fidgeting on the threadbare couch. She turned, to make sure she had both of our attentions, as though she were doing a magic trick—and then unscrewed the top of the coffee table, lifting it up to set aside. “Voila.”
I’d thought the coffee table was hillbilly chic—but inside it hid a metal tunnel, like a storm drain. As for what was below—I snapped my fingers and listened to the echo. It wasn’t deep, but it was dark, and it smelled of rust, dust, and old blood.
Maya leapt inside and I heard her land. “Come on, Jack,” she said—and Rabbit was already peering over the edge. She flipped a light switch and there were a series of pops in succession, as old-fashioned light bulbs turned on, and she walked down a hall, out of sight.
I hesitated, unwilling to leave Rabbit behind and worried about putting him in danger—and then he decided for me—throwing himself over the edge, to land super-hero style at the bottom of the shaft.
“Wait right there, or else,” I growled at him, and quickly dropped in.
By the time I reached the stone floor, Rabbit had realized he literally couldn’t move. I could see panic in his eyes and feel his blood surging. “You can move now. Just—be careful,” I warned.
He shuddered suddenly, dog-like, a full-body thing. “How did you do that?” Rabbit looked from me to himself and back again. His eyes were full of fear and more than a little mistrust.
“I can explain later, all right?” Please get here soon, Angela, before I have to explain vampire things to your boy.
“You’re just discovering what I always knew about your Uncle Jack,” Maya said, coming closer. “He’s no fun.” She walked her fingers cross my chest and made Bella’s silver planchette sizzle.
I inhaled and exhaled. “Let’s get on with this, shall we?”
“Of course,” Maya said, giving me a glittering smile before leading us down the nearest hall.
The ‘bunker’ was really an old mine shaft. Nevada was full of them, they killed a few adventurously foolish people every year. The trailer provided cover and an excuse for the generator that powered lights—along with a fan or two, I could feel their breeze.
“Most of the entrances were filled in for safety reasons,” Maya said, pointing at a few rubble walls.
“There’s drops down here even we couldn’t survive, and tunnels too deep to leap out of.
And this is where you’ll be sleeping during the day with Tamo.
” There was a star-burst of corpse-shaped impressions carved into the stone floor, with thinner slabs of stone nearby to be dragged over like heavily starched blankets.
“You haven’t died in darkness until you’ve died underground. ”
I couldn’t help but notice Rabbit hanging back. I hoped I hadn’t ruined whatever fragile bond we’d had. I could’ve told him to forget it, but I didn’t want to go messing with his head—and he deserved the truth, besides. I just wished I’d been able to ease him into it more gracefully.