Julie however, was a peacemaker. “I woke up from a bad dream. I had a real bad feeling is all, and I thought I heard something out of place. So we geared up. That’s it.”
“Convenient.” The Greek Hunter walked threateningly toward Earl. “You take all of us for fools?”
“Them? No. You?” Earl took his time shaking a cigarette out of a pack and lighting it with his MHI Zippo. “Maybe…Back off, kid.”
“I should give you a beating, Harbinger.”
I didn’t know who knew about Earl’s secret here, but there were definitely rumors floating around about how dangerous he was. Many of the Hunters in the blasted room got sudden excited looks on their faces that read variations of oh, no, he didn’t or this ought to be good.
Earl simply blew smoke in the angry Hunter’s face.
“Sit down, idiot,” Lindemann shouted before the Hunter could take a swing at my boss. The German came over and shoved the Hunter back. “You are no match for him, and your stupidity is wasting our time.” That seemed to cow the man. He may not have known Earl, but all of the Europeans knew the man from Grimm Berlin. Lindemann turned back to Earl. “I lost a brother tonight, Harbinger. I would appreciate you focusing on the task at hand.”
“Sorry, Klaus. Accusations get my dander up.”
“Dying pointlessly has the same effect on me. What else do you know?”
“Hugo was the one that killed the monster today, and now this…” Earl waved his hand around the blasted room. “I think he brought something back with him from the desert. I just don’t know what, but I bet I know who does. I think Stricken set us up.”
“Stricken,” the Pole spat. “I will gut him like pig.”
“Get in line,” Earl said. “I should’ve considered this possibility. Today’s case wasn’t about a single creature, it was related to some kind of phenomenon. I assumed whatever it was had been left out in the desert, not dragged back here with us. This is my fault. I shouldn’t have made assumptions. I was distracted.”
“That doesn’t matter now,” Pierre Darne said. “My concern is that this may happen again.”
“It’s possible. One of my men travelled with Agent Franks from the Monster Control Bureau to where the creature originated from. Knowing what we know now, I think he might have experienced something related. Owen, report.”
“Can do.” I gave them the quick rundown about what I’d seen in Dugway. It only took a few minutes. I could tell that many of them were angry that they hadn’t heard this several hours ago, but we hadn’t known then that the damn whatever-it-was was here with us at the time.
“The ghoul…It appeared, attacked, and then was gone,” the Pole stated.
I knew where he was going. “Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? What happened here was far more elaborate. The thing that jumped on me only lasted for a few seconds, and there was only the one.” If my fists weren’t still sore from punching it I could almost have dismissed it as a figment of my imagination. “Tonight was a whole lot nastier.”
“I have a theory…” Julie began.
“I’ve got my own theory.” The Greek Hunter had decided he wasn’t finished and stormed back to the center of the room. “A portal appears and kills off MHI’s competitors. Then, since they were the only ones that were prepared, MHI banishes the creatures, saves the day, and I’m sure will claim the bounty. They are heroes. Their competitors are gone. It is all too convenient.”
There was a lot of murmuring at that. Most of the other leaders seemed annoyed or incredulous, but a few looked intrigued at the idea. “That’s ridiculous,” I said, sick of his crap. “You seriously need to shut the hell up before you get hurt.”
“You’re not in charge here. I don’t have to listen to you.”
“Well, I’m wearing an automatic shotgun while you’re just wearing tighty-whiteys, so you might want to start.”
There was a reason that Julie was our negotiator. She stepped between us. “I can assure you MHI had nothing to do with this.” Despite being frustrated, she was still trying to hold together the fragile alliance she’d helped form earlier. “If we were trying to get our competitors killed, why’d we sound the alarm and start an evacuation?”
“I don’t understand your plot yet, but it wouldn’t be the first time MHI has opened a portal. The bastard Ray Shackleford did it once.” He said, glaring at Julie. “It wouldn’t surprise me to find out that his daughter followed in his footsteps.”
Wrong answer. My wife lost it. Julie extended her fingers and ridge-handed him in the throat. The Hunter opened his mouth, but all that came out was a long wheezing noise. Julie stepped back as he reached for her, but you don’t go very far without much oxygen. He doubled over, clutching his neck as his face turned red. He’d gone full-on purple by the time he laid down on the floor and concentrated on not passing out.
He was still breathing, just not well. “Wow…” I said. “What’s that little tiny fragile bone in the neck called?”
“The hyoid. Don’t worry. I pulled it. He’ll be fine, but the next person that brings up my parents won’t be.” Her accent tended to get a little stronger when she was under stress but trying to hide it. Julie looked around the room, seemingly calm. “Anybody else want to accuse me of witchcraft? Because we can get that nonsense out of the way real fast.” The Hunter from China was quiet as Julie stared him down. “Good.”
The big Pole boomed out his pirate-captain laugh. “I think our friend here needs some fresh air.” He grabbed the downed Hunter by the ankle and dragged him effortlessly toward the door. “And maybe also a medic.”
Dominance established. “As I was saying before I was interrupted, I’ve got a theory…” Julie checked to make sure nobody else was going to say anything. Nobody was that stupid. “I think the spider, the ice ghoul, and these armored things were all caused by the same phenomenon. One of our men found the video the victim in Nevada had been watching before he’d been killed. It was called Terrorrantula.”
“I love that one!” The Australian leader proclaimed. “It was mostly sheilas running around with their clothes off, but there was a giant spider in it. Not a very convincing one, but I see where you’re going.”
“Giant spider shows up in Nevada to somebody that probably had giant spider on the mind. Hugo kills the spider, and then monsters from his past appear in his room. My husband saw a specific type of ghoul, and even though he wasn’t familiar with it, Agent Franks seemed to be. Four events, three of which we know the victims had some knowledge of the thing that manifested. We don’t know what killed the other victims at the first attack site, but I’m betting whatever it was came from one of those people’s imagination or memories.”
Pretty and smart, plus a mean sucker punch. I’d married up. The Hunters exchanged glances, there was some mumbling, but nobody could outright reject what she’d said. It was a bizarre idea, but this was a bizarre business. “That’s quite the theory,” Pierre Darne said. “All conjecture, but slightly more likely than MHI trying to sabotage their competitors.” He held up his hands defensively and smiled. “Only joking, Julie. Please do not hit me.”
“Oh, Pierre, you’re far too charming. Anybody have any better ideas?”
Nobody had any. The Chinese Hunter then asked, “Assuming you’re right, then the question becomes, what’s causing these events?” Oh, now he’s rational and non-accusatory.
“Or if it is going to happen again? Hell, who are we kidding? With our luck, when will it happen again?” I said. “Holy shit, if we’re talking about monsters appearing out of people’s imagination, can you think of a worse place to be than around a bunch of Hunters?” That was a sobering thought.
There was a sudden commotion at the entry hole. “Harbinger!” VanZant burst into the room.
“What is it, John?” Earl checked his watch. “Feds here? Took ’em long enough.”
“Yeah. We’ve got Feds.” VanZant was out of breath. “But they’re not coming inside. They’ve formed a perimeter around the parking lot and ordered all the first responders back. Nobody in or out. There’s an MCB agent with a bullhorn saying anyone that tries to leave the casino will be shot.”
“What?” I got off the bed and went to the remains of the balcony. Far below, the flashing police lights had formed a line and were blocking the strip. Men in blue windbreakers, surely MCB, were ushering people from the parking lot and stringing up caution tape. “What’re they doing?”
“They’re surrounding the place.” Earl’s voice was completely flat. “We’ve been quarantined.”