Project Hyperion (A Kaiju Thriller) (Kaiju #4)

“Look,” Collins says. “What’s that?”


The skin flops over easily as I push it with my foot. The first thing I make out is a leg. The inside of the thigh has been torn open. But above where the two legs come together...that’s something different. “A tail?”

I follow the four foot long tapering tube of skin down to the end, where it turns rough and black. Definitely a tail. My eyes land on another patch of dark skin and I kick it away from the body.

A foot. A black, clawed, inhuman foot.

The door shakes and then rattles from an impact. Endo is trying to force his way through. “Head up,” I tell Collins. “Make sure we have roof access. I’m going to get a sample.” She vaults up the stairs without question or hesitation.

As a volley of bullets strike the outside of the door, I pull out a Ziploc bag and my small knife. I quickly locate one of the hollow fingers and slice it free, catching it in the inverted baggie before zipping it shut and charging up the stairs.

Endo’s banging stops when I reach the top of the first set of stairs. I glance back. The rebar is still firmly in place.

Then the door explodes inward as though blown apart by C4. I flinch back, instincts telling me to flee, but my curiosity holds me in place long enough to see General Gordon through the cloud of dust—lowering his foot.

Never mind how a man just out of open heart surgery can walk, how the fuck can he kick in a steel door locked with rebar and attached to a concrete wall? Not even Lou Ferrigno could pull that off.

Question for another day. I bolt up the stairs before Endo can put a bullet in my head. I’m thrilled to find an open doorway waiting for me at the top of the stairs. Not so thrilled when I step out and find the pummeled door lying on the gravel rooftop. Smoke roils up around the building, but the pocket of air atop the roof is still breathable.

“What happened down there?” Collins asks.

“Gordon kicked in the door,” I say.

She’s surprised by the answer, but doesn’t question it. Footsteps echo from the stairwell as they approach.

I step to the side of the roof exit, motioning for her to do the same. She goes to the opposite side, a little farther away with her reloaded pistol aimed at the open door.

We wait.

And wait.

A full minute passes. Maybe the footsteps were headed away? Endo and Gordon could be long gone by now, leaving through an exit I don’t know about, but I didn’t get the impression they wanted us to survive. Still, how long are we going to stand guard by an empty door?

Collins must be thinking the same thing because she inches close to the door leading with her weapon.

And then, in a blink, her weapon is gone.

A black-shoed foot kicks up fast and high, striking Collins’s hands. The gun arcs away, disappearing over the side of the building. As Collins stumbles back from the blow, Endo emerges from the doorway, swiveling his weapon toward Collins.

I dive over his back, grasping his gun hand as he pulls the trigger. The round blasts a hole in the roof, just missing Collins’s foot. The gun barrel grows hot in my hand, but I don’t let go. Instead, I twist.

But my effort comes at a cost. Endo strikes hard and with precision, striking my left shoulder until the arm goes numb.

The gun comes free and I twist it toward Endo, but he’s too fast. A perfectly placed roundhouse kick knocks the gun from my hand.

As my left arm tingles back to life, I turn to face Endo. “Seriously? Kung-fu?”

He bounces around, light on his feet. “Kung-fu is Chinese. I am Japanese.”

“Okay, so ninjutsu,” I say, looking for some kind of weakness to exploit, but he’s in constant motion. “You realize how stereo—”

In no mood for banter, he kicks again forcing me to bend back. The sole of his shoe passes just an inch from my nose. Before I can recover, he sends another kick into my gut, pitching me forward. He’s a blur of motion as he spins again. I’m in slow motion, bending forward like I want to be kicked into oblivion, my face red, my lips forming an O and the air escaping my lungs with an “oof!” As I see his leg, I know that unconsciousness will come next, and then if Collins can’t take him on her own, death.

But Collins, it seems, knows exactly how to handle Endo. She charges past me and tackles the smaller man hard, pulling him away and saving my face from a shoe-shaped bruise. The pair fall together, and before they hit the roof, Collins hammers Endo’s kidneys with three solid punches.

It’s a hardcore move and the pain shows on Endo’s face. Why does she know how to fight like this?