I don't like the dead. I know that's a strange statement but it's true. I mean no one really likes being around the not living except for the weird people who do it for a paycheck, like the guys who do makeup for corpses.
Me, I'll stick with being around the living if it's all the same to you. Makes life easier and a hell of a lot less scary.
Yeah, I'm a wimp.
Just the same, here I am, walking down a very cold hallway towards the morgue. My hands are in my pockets and I'm playing with a lighter that's nuzzled into the corner of the fabric. No it's not for smoking. I took it out of Helena's room. It's a silver electric Zippo with a blue flame across it. Dunno where she got it from or why she even has it but somehow or another I ended up with it.
This place is empty at almost four in the morning so I move unimpeded. I enter a dark room. I think Barbara calls it the Vault. It's where all the bodies are kept pre and post autopsy. The room smells incredibly clean, in fact creepily so. The bleach odor rises up from the ground and assaults my nostrils.
I cross over to the wall and take a clipboard off of a nail. The board has all the names of everyone who has been brought in and is still checked in. I run my hand down the list until I get to the one I'm looking for: Jennifer Candace Thompson. The number next to her name tells me that she's in B-7.
I put the clipboard back and the wall and cross over to the metal doors on the opposite wall. I really don't want to be doing this but with Helena going through whatever the hell it is that she's going through, I end up getting to do the icky grunt work.
I find B-7 and I yank open the door. It creaks loudly in the big silent room. I pull the slab out and look down at the body. She's naked and blue, her body still covered in bruises. I close my eyes for a moment and take a deep breath. I order myself to be strong. I can do this.
I can do all of this.
It's been hell lately and sometimes I don't know if I'm doing so well. But I have to. I have to hold on. Barbara and I are waiting for her to come home. She needs our help. We know it and I have to believe she does to; she just needs to lose the pride and let us in.
I swallow and gaze down at the body. I move a shaking hand towards the corpse, not quite believing that I'm about to go digging for blood.
"Dinah?"
I startle, jumping a bit. I let out a long slow breath and place a hand over my quaking heart. I laugh a bit nervously. "I'm here, Oracle," I reply.
She chuckles a bit, which tells me she sees right through my bravado. She knows she scared the shit out of me and frankly I think it amuses her. That's Barbara for you, delighting in the sicker sides of being a voice in your ear. "How you holding up?" she asks.
"Fine," I say. "Just fine. Uh, just scrape under the nail?"
"Right. Hopefully there's still a sample available. If the body hasn't been cleaned for burial yet we should still be in luck. She got Helena good." And that's certainly true. We saw the tape. We saw the proof. She nailed Helena.
"Okay," I mutter, eyes still downward. I'm not sure I can do this. I reach down and pick up her left hand. I think for a moment that she's shaking her fist at me but then I realize that I'm the one trembling. "I can do this," I say to myself in a very low voice.
A voice Barbara wasn't meant to hear but does anyway. "You can do it," she assures me. "Just scrape under the nails and put the sample in the evidence bag and get back here."
"In and out," I reply as I slide one of Barbara's weird looking tools under Jenny's nails. I can see bits of debris on the end but I can't tell if it's blood. Just the same, I finish my job, scraping each of her nails. Then I put the tool in a plastic bag and drop it back into my pocket. "I'm done here," I say quickly, nearly tripping over my words.
"Good. Get out of there. The morning shift gets there in about ten minutes and unless you've developed a new power I'm unaware of, you're probably not as adept at quick exits."
I laugh loudly. "Hey, I have lots of new powers."
There's a long silence and I find myself unnerved by it. What she says next really gets me. "I know. Once all of this settles down, we really need to talk about that."
My eyebrow flashes upwards. "Talk about it? Did I do something wrong?"
She's quick to reply. "No, no. Of course not. I'm just..." I can tell that she's measuring out her words, looking for the best way to not upset me. The mere thought that she's doing that concerns me enough. "Worried," she finishes.
"Why?"
"Dinah, you were able to actually go into Helena's mind and for lack of a better way of putting it, you short-circuited her brain. That's kind of...extreme."
I chew my lip thoughtfully. I've kind of kept to myself how much my powers have been growing over the last several months. It feels like every time I use them they're a little bit stronger. It's exhilarating. And terrifying. "Okay," I finally say. "When this is over."
She seems to get that I don't want to talk about it and decides to let it pass. I'm not stupid enough to think that she'll let it go for good. For now works for me however. "Okay then, get back here."
I nod, obviously to myself. I start towards the door and yank it open, insanely glad to be out of the morgue.
I hate dead people.
Especially since my biggest fear these days is that the next time I see Helena, she'll be on a metal slab herself.
And then God help us all.
She slipped on to the massive yacht at just before five in the morning. The sky was already beginning to take on a hazy gray hue. Hugging close to the wall, she continued to creep towards the front of the boat. Her eyes locked on several large men wearing dark clothes and ski masks that weren't yet pulled down. They were actually probably there to keep the men's' ears warm.
She recognized the guy at the front as being one of the thugs that she had robbed the convenience store with. Adam was his name. He was quite a bit larger than the other men, stacked and racked with muscle.
She clenched her fists in breathless anticipation but managed to keep her wits about her. Her head was whirling in circles and her body seemed heavy but other than that she felt okay. Good to go and all of that nonsense.
"Adam," a voice said from the left. Helena glanced up and smiled wickedly as she saw the man who called himself Zeus step out onto the deck. He was dressed in dark warm clothes but he still looked powerfully intimidating.
She was done being intimidated.
He had come into her apartment earlier that night and beaten her to the ground. He had spilled her blood in her own house.
Payback was definitely due.
And hey, if she could screw up whatever the hell business transaction he was up to, well that was just dandy.
She slid a hand down to her side and grazed her fingers over her ribs. It occurred to her that most of the intense throbbing had ceased. That was curious but she decided not to dwell too long on it. Less pain was always a good thing and definitely not something to bitch about.
Helena bent across the wall so as to be able to hear what was going on between the assembled thugs on the yacht. She noticed several large metal suitcases on the ground. Man, maybe they really did do things the old mob way she mused to herself.
Adam turned towards his boss and nodded. "Sir," he said, a thick Brooklyn accent rolling from his words. "We're just about ready to go. Cabe should be here soon."
"You paid off the Port Authority fellow?" Zeus asked as he picked up one of the suitcases. He opened it and up Helena saw flashes of green. Obviously cash.
"Of course," Adam replied. He glanced down at his watch. "Mick's still not here."
Zeus scowled, his face creasing. "He'll be here." He glanced over at Adam. "What do you know about this girl he's brought in?"
Adam lifted an eyebrow. "Kyle?"
Helena smiled and crept closer. She knew that she should keep her distance but she couldn't quite resist trying to hear what they had to say about her. As she moved she glanced around, looking for anything that she could utilize as a weapon if need be. Her eyes lit on a thin metal pole leaning against several boxes maybe five feet from her. That would work just fine.
"Yes," Zeus replied gruffly, his eyes already back on the water. He looked impatient but not exactly nervous. This was all old-hat to him. He'd probably done a hundred of these cash for drugs transactions.
"Hot bitch," Adam drawled. "Got some attitude."
Zeus nodded. He placed a hand on Adam's shoulder. "And what do you think of her?"
Helena frowned. Now this was curious. Mick was the big guy's son but there seemed to be some affection between the boss and Adam. She wondered if it was some kind of weird surrogate parent thing.
Adam shrugged. "Bet she's hell on wheels in the sack but she makes him stupid. She's trouble and he doesn't see it. He thinks he's got her under control."
Helena chuckled to herself, her mind slipping back to the man that she had left tied naked to his own bed. Yeah, that was control.
She was about to move a little closer when a wave of dizziness hit her like a ton of bricks. She staggered backwards, her fingers biting hard into the wall. She felt the stucco scrape her fingertips but the sudden need to vomit kept her from caring.
The nausea passed within a few moments but her legs still felt wobbly so she settled herself against the wall of the cabin, her back flat against it as she struggled for control. Her head was pounding and things were starting to spin again.
Like they had in earlier in the alley with Dinah.
When she'd just barely been able to fight.
She closed her eyes for a brief moment. The second wave of dizziness passed and she was able to regain her balance. She wondered how much of the conversation she had missed between Adam and Zeus. Looking up she noticed that they were standing several feet from each other, both looking out over the water.
"Sir," Adam said, his eyes still straight ahead. "Cabe is here." He was touching an earpiece connected to his left ear. Helena could see a long black cord winding around his neck, not unlike that which cops wore out on patrol. She absently touched her earring. She actually missed the obnoxious voice in her ear.
Missed it like crazy.
No time. No time.
Focus. Focus.
Zeus turned around, a strange smile on his face. "Bring him up."
Adam spoke into a microphone that Helena couldn't quite locate. "We're ready up here."
Helena slipped back around behind several large boxes and slid behind one. Her view of Adam and Zeus was slightly obstructed but that was probably just as well; it meant theirs of hers would be equally so.
Almost five minutes passed before she heard footsteps to her left. Three very large men holding semiautomatics walked up the boat ramp, escorting a skinny man who was carrying a metal suitcase. Another man in all red walked a step or two behind him.
"Daniel," Zeus greeted, his tone anything but warm. It wasn't threatening either but the big guy was definitely telling the little one who was boss.
Daniel Cabe stepped forward, holding his hand out. Zeus took it, quickly pumping his palm. "You must be doing really good business these days," he noted, trying to sound casual.
"We're doing business," Zeus confirmed. He watched the little man with a look of annoyance. The pleasantries were over and the mobster wanted to get the transaction closed out.
"Open the box," Adam said, stepping behind Cabe. The big guy in red moved to intercept him but Adam shoved him roughly out of the way. He pointed a small pistol at Cabe. "Now." It was quite clear that Adam was the number two around these parts, which made his deference to Mick the night of the robbery rather curious.
"Your boy is a bit itchy," Cabe noted, casually bending over to put the box down on a table. Helena blinked; she hadn't noticed the card table previously. That was weird. She ran a hand over her head and noticed that she had begun to sweat. She wondered if she was coming down with something.
"He has his reasons," Zeus mused. "Let's see the product."
Cabe shrugged. He placed his thumbs under the latches of the case and snapped them. There was a soft buzzing and then the top slid upwards and out, showing off a black velvet cape with tubes in it. All filled to the top with some gummy clear liquid.
Probably Topside. She'd never seen it in its base form but she couldn't imagine what else Zeus would be importing.
Cabe reached into the case and took one of the vials from the far left. He unscrewed the cap and offered it to Adam. The Brooklyn boy sniffed it and then offered it to Zeus. "Sir?"
"Go ahead," he said to Adam. "Test it."
Adam nodded. He bent over the table and took out a small silver disk. The top of the disk had a strange red glint to it and looked rather wet. There was some kind of gel on it. He poured the liquid from the vial on to it. After a few seconds the disk turned from silver to a bright green. Adam lifted an eyebrow. "You weren't lying when you said potent." He looked at Zeus. "Point seven."
Zeus nodded his approval. "You weren't lying," he repeated to Cabe.
"I wasn't," Cabe admitted. He was smiling smugly. "So being that I gave you a better product than requested, I was thinking we should renegotiate rates."
"Rates," Zeus said nodding as if he understood what Cable was saying and was amenable about it. "No, I don't think so."
Helena slid up against the back of the box and bent over it. This was starting to look like there could be imminent violence. That was either a very good thing or a very bad one depending on how you wanted to look at it.
On one hand violence between bad guys tended to kill of a few of them. On the other, she wasn't much for bullets flying every which way. And she wanted Zeus for herself.
Cabe blinked, clearly stunned. That seemed weird too. Did he really think that he'd just walk up to a mob boss and demand higher pay? "But I...I...figured...."
"Stop whimpering Daniel, it's pathetic," Zeus noted. He waved to Adam who stepped back to allow the big guy through. "You'll get your fair rate."
The kid nodded but the color in his face was starting to drain away. He was definitely beginning to rethink his decision to confront Zeus. He glanced over the red-suited bodyguard that he had brought with him. The one that Adam had dismissed with little effort. "We should uh, start the transfer."
"I like that," Zeus grinned. He touched Daniels' shoulder and crushed his hand down into the bone, shaving Cabe to the ground. The man screamed out, his eyes bulging. "All business."
Helena flinched, well aware of the pain that Zeus could inflict upon a person. She touched her broken ribs and hissed a bit. It wasn't that the pain was unbearable, in fact it barely seemed noticeable at all but just the same, the guy was a serious brute.
"Start the transfer, start the transfer," Cabe screamed at his bodyguard. The man in red nodded. He motioned to Adam to follow him.
As soon as Adam and Red Boy had disappeared down the ramp Zeus let Cabe stand up. "That wasn't very smart now was it?"
Cabe shook his head. "Hard to get as much as you always want Mr. Jameson," he babbled. "I just thought..."
"You were thinking for yourself," Zeus mused. "That's okay. I admire that." He grabbed Cabe by the collar and yanked him forward. "Don't fucking do it on my watch or I will turn you into hamburger meat and sell you for a buck a pound you little piss ant, do you understand?"
Helena actually thought she saw tears slip from Cabe's eyes. The man nodded as quickly as he could. Helena wondered how the hell the little guy had managed to get himself roped into being the delivery boy for the drugs; he definitely lacked the constitution to stand up to anyone.
"Enjoying the show are ya?"
Helena froze, the voice behind her sending shivers up her spine. She only vaguely recognized it but it wasn't the person who had her body tense, it was the gun he was pressing against her back.
"Damn," she muttered to herself, pissed that she had allowed someone to sneak up on her. Something was wrong, something was off. All of her senses seemed so sluggish.
"Around," the voice ordered. "Slowly. You try to hit me and I will bury a bullet in your face."
She held up her hands and began to turn slowly towards the voice. "Rat Boy," she muttered when her eyes lit on the tall boy holding a glock on her. He grinned at her.
"Kyle," he mused. "Heard whispers that you'd been brought in. Guess it's true and Mick really is alive. He's the only moron who'd want you."
"Yep, that's me," she said weakly. "Just running security for the boss."
He reached out and yanked her arm, pulling her to her feet. He jammed the gun into her ribs, eliciting a hiss of pain from her. "You know what bitch, I'm not buying." He touched his earpiece. "Boss, I got something over here you should see."
Helena clenched her jaw hard. She wanted to hit him but the gun pressing into her side made her think better of it. She glanced around, looking for an escape route.
"Helena Kyle," Zeus said as he turned towards her. His tone was mildly amused which pissed her off to no end. He glanced at Rat Boy. "Good job. You can go."
Rat Boy opened his mouth to protest but quickly decided that Zeus didn't look like he was in the mood for discussion. "All yours," he replied. He pushed the gun once more into Helena's side, making her topple. Then he grinned and walked away.
"You want to kill him don't you," Zeus asked, kneeling down next to her.
"I want to kill you," she growled, eyes flashing.
He laughed. "You know what, I could come to like you. You're spunky. And anyone who would come over to me after getting the shit beat out of them well....I don't quite know what to say. You're either incredibly brave or insanely stupid." He shrugged. "Then again, I don't much care."
He kicked out with his foot right into the middle of her stomach. She grunted and toppled. She glared up at him. Drawing all of her strength together she pushed herself to her feet and lashed out with a vicious kick right to his face. He fell back, his hand moving to his nose. He drew his fingers away and gazed at the blood there.
"Let's go pops," Helena said, taking up a combative posture. She knew that she should probably try to get the hell away but she had come for a confrontation.
She had come looking for a fight.
And she was damn well going to get it.
Jenny Thompson wasn't the only mob child murdered tonight.
I'm staring straight ahead at my LCD, my eyes tired and red. The words are starting to blur together so I remove my glasses and rub at my eyes with my balled fists.
"You know ever since I met you ladies, I don't sleep more than three hours at a time," Reese calls out to me as he hobbles in. He drops down into a chair next to me and lets his crutches fall. I think he's going to use them as firewood once he's off them.
"Sorry," I toss back at him. I put my glasses back on and point at the screen. "Do you know him?" I'm showing him a black and white crime scene photo of a young man with a bullet in his head. I don't know if the lack of color makes it easier to handle or more dramatic.
Reese leans over me and I catch the smell of cologne. I woke him up and didn't give him time to shower so I think he probably feels a little self- conscious. Which is not to say that he smells bad because he doesn't.
"I know him," Reese says softly. "Or I did. His name is Cory Hayward. He's Bulldog's oldest."
"Well I guess that confirms it then," I say, more to myself than Reese. "Zeus is definitely trying to get rid of his competition."
"His imagined competition," Reese corrects. "Cory was like Jenny. Like me. We all got out. None of us are a threat to him if his thing is taking power."
He sounds really upset and I can't say I blame him. If he's right and for some inexplicable reason Zeus is trying to get rid of the children who have walked away, well then Jesse Reese is next on the list.
Or at least on the list.
"Are you okay?" I ask, knowing that it's a stupid question.
He shakes his head. "This has been a hell of a week," he mutters. "My girlfriend...neh, my ex girlfriend is turning into a lush and now she's working with a man who probably wants to kill me. Oh and every childhood friend I've ever had is on Zeus's hit list."
"Helena's always been a lush," I reply with a grin. He looks at me for a moment and then does exactly what I wanted him to do; he laughs.
"True enough," he replies. He shakes his head. "I honestly don't get it though. There are a lot of the kids who are still in the family business."
"Like your old friend Castle?"
Reese literally blanches forward. He's taken aback. "Castle?" he stammers. "How did you know?"
I lift an eyebrow. "You said it earlier. You said you were friends with Castle's only son. Hayden right?"
"Hayden," Reese says with a nod. I can tell that he really doesn't want to talk about this but I decide to push anyways. Reese is not only a part of the team; he's a friend I've come to trust with my life. And if that weren't enough I know what he is to Helena even if right now she's in no shape to admit it. I know how she feels about him and I know what it will do to her if he's hurt.
Okay okay, I'm getting cheesy. I'm tired and it's late and I'm not nearly caffeinated enough.
So deal dammit.
"Wait," Reese drawls. "I told you I was old friends' with Castle's boy but I never said his name."
I wince. I'd been hoping that he'd miss that. "Yeah," I start slowly. "I wanted to make a list of possible targets."
He nods. He knows I'm telling the truth but he also knows that I'm just plain nosy. I like it so shut up. "Okay," he says.
"So, what about you and Castle?"
He laughs. "I knew you couldn't resist."
I shrug. Ah well. "Castle?" I press.
"Hayden," he corrects. "I don't see him much. He's uh, he's a hitman."
"You worried about him?" I inquire, watching his eyes. They're full of emotion and confusion. And a lot of other things.
"Of course but he can take care of himself." He clears his throat. "Is Dinah already in bed?" He laughs. "Man, we should all be."
I shake my head and frown. "No, she went to the morgue to recover some evidence for me. She should be back shortly."
I consider briefly jumping on comm to see what's keeping Dinah but then decide against it. She hasn't been gone that long and I really don't want to annoy her. Not right now anyways. God know I've been doing that enough lately.
Much of it for my own amusement to be honest.
"I didn't hear that," Reese grins. He's going to keep trying to pretend he doesn't know how many laws we break. You know my father worked with Batman but he never got comfortable with his methods. Reese, well I don't know just yet. Not all the way.
"How's your leg feeling?" I ask him suddenly, aware that he's been up and on it a lot today.
"Just like me," he says. "Wiped out."
We both look at each other.
Yeah we get that.
She hit the ground with a hard thud. Grunting in pain she shoved herself back up and snapped off a high kick towards the thug's head. It cracked against his face and blood exploded from his now broken eye socket. She turned around, murder in her eyes and faced her enemy.
"You ready to take me yet?" she growled at Zeus. He was leaning against the wall of the cabin, watching as she systematically worked her way through his security guards. Even as hazy and unfocused as she was, she had make shockingly short work of his well-trained men in black.
"Soon," he assured her. "I'd turn around if I were you."
She spun to her left and put her foot out, causing the goon that had been racing towards her to clatter to the deck. She shoved her heel into his throat and shoved down. "I'm done with this."
"That's good," he said. "Because so am I." The amusement dripped away from him and he started to walk towards her. She readied herself to take him but another wave of nausea crashed over and she tumbled.
When she looked up again he was standing over her, shaking his head. "Give me a second," she grumbled, putting her hands on the deck.
"I would if I were a sporting fellow but I'm not. Just heard about what you did to my son," Zeus said, his eyes dark. She couldn't tell if he was pissed or annoyed but neither was exactly good for her.
"Aw, too bad," Helena smirked. "He had it coming and you know it."
"You know the funny thing is, Kyle, you and I want the same thing."
"Somehow I doubt that," she muttered, pushing herself up to her feet. The moment she was standing on two legs again he kicked out and dropped her back down. She cried out and crashed back to the ground, stunned by how little fight she had left.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
That strange drugged feeling was back in full force.
"We do," he assured her. "I wasn't overly thrilled with Mick bringing you in and neither were you. But here's the thing, you're in. And once you're mob, you are until you're dead."
"Sorry, I forgot to pay my monthly dues," she coughed. "I'll gladly resign."
He dropped down next to her. "I'm not giving you that option."
She locked eyes with him. "You're more deluded than your psycho son if you think I'm gonna be run by you. "
He grabbed her by the hair and slammed her down, face-first into the deck. She cried out as a splinter cut hard into her cheek, drawing blood. She kicked out with her foot and spun herself around to face him. She balled her hand and swung at him but he easily dodged the blow, instead grabbing her wrist and twisting it. She gasped in pain but again tried to hit him. He laughed. "I was right, I do kinda like you."
Then he reached out and punched her hard across the face. She fell like a sack of potatoes to the ground. He stood up and brushed himself off. He glanced around and saw Adam standing over one of the unconscious guards.
"They didn't do so well," Adam quipped. "She's quite the fighter."
"That's true," Zeus noted. "She's fairly adept at fighting off the drugs that Mick has been giving her. I told him to up the dosage."
"And now?"
"Take her out to the back." Zeus said. "Treat her like you would any of the boys who have who disappointed me." He paused. "And I mean boys."
"You want to keep her around?" Adam asked with some incredulity.
Zeus nodded slowly. "Yes, there's something I want her to do for me."
Adam shook his head. He bent over and picked up Helena's unconscious body. He swung her over his shoulders. "You really think she'll do it?"
Zeus smiled. "I think we'll make her."
END CHAPTER FIVE
Me, I'll stick with being around the living if it's all the same to you. Makes life easier and a hell of a lot less scary.
Yeah, I'm a wimp.
Just the same, here I am, walking down a very cold hallway towards the morgue. My hands are in my pockets and I'm playing with a lighter that's nuzzled into the corner of the fabric. No it's not for smoking. I took it out of Helena's room. It's a silver electric Zippo with a blue flame across it. Dunno where she got it from or why she even has it but somehow or another I ended up with it.
This place is empty at almost four in the morning so I move unimpeded. I enter a dark room. I think Barbara calls it the Vault. It's where all the bodies are kept pre and post autopsy. The room smells incredibly clean, in fact creepily so. The bleach odor rises up from the ground and assaults my nostrils.
I cross over to the wall and take a clipboard off of a nail. The board has all the names of everyone who has been brought in and is still checked in. I run my hand down the list until I get to the one I'm looking for: Jennifer Candace Thompson. The number next to her name tells me that she's in B-7.
I put the clipboard back and the wall and cross over to the metal doors on the opposite wall. I really don't want to be doing this but with Helena going through whatever the hell it is that she's going through, I end up getting to do the icky grunt work.
I find B-7 and I yank open the door. It creaks loudly in the big silent room. I pull the slab out and look down at the body. She's naked and blue, her body still covered in bruises. I close my eyes for a moment and take a deep breath. I order myself to be strong. I can do this.
I can do all of this.
It's been hell lately and sometimes I don't know if I'm doing so well. But I have to. I have to hold on. Barbara and I are waiting for her to come home. She needs our help. We know it and I have to believe she does to; she just needs to lose the pride and let us in.
I swallow and gaze down at the body. I move a shaking hand towards the corpse, not quite believing that I'm about to go digging for blood.
"Dinah?"
I startle, jumping a bit. I let out a long slow breath and place a hand over my quaking heart. I laugh a bit nervously. "I'm here, Oracle," I reply.
She chuckles a bit, which tells me she sees right through my bravado. She knows she scared the shit out of me and frankly I think it amuses her. That's Barbara for you, delighting in the sicker sides of being a voice in your ear. "How you holding up?" she asks.
"Fine," I say. "Just fine. Uh, just scrape under the nail?"
"Right. Hopefully there's still a sample available. If the body hasn't been cleaned for burial yet we should still be in luck. She got Helena good." And that's certainly true. We saw the tape. We saw the proof. She nailed Helena.
"Okay," I mutter, eyes still downward. I'm not sure I can do this. I reach down and pick up her left hand. I think for a moment that she's shaking her fist at me but then I realize that I'm the one trembling. "I can do this," I say to myself in a very low voice.
A voice Barbara wasn't meant to hear but does anyway. "You can do it," she assures me. "Just scrape under the nails and put the sample in the evidence bag and get back here."
"In and out," I reply as I slide one of Barbara's weird looking tools under Jenny's nails. I can see bits of debris on the end but I can't tell if it's blood. Just the same, I finish my job, scraping each of her nails. Then I put the tool in a plastic bag and drop it back into my pocket. "I'm done here," I say quickly, nearly tripping over my words.
"Good. Get out of there. The morning shift gets there in about ten minutes and unless you've developed a new power I'm unaware of, you're probably not as adept at quick exits."
I laugh loudly. "Hey, I have lots of new powers."
There's a long silence and I find myself unnerved by it. What she says next really gets me. "I know. Once all of this settles down, we really need to talk about that."
My eyebrow flashes upwards. "Talk about it? Did I do something wrong?"
She's quick to reply. "No, no. Of course not. I'm just..." I can tell that she's measuring out her words, looking for the best way to not upset me. The mere thought that she's doing that concerns me enough. "Worried," she finishes.
"Why?"
"Dinah, you were able to actually go into Helena's mind and for lack of a better way of putting it, you short-circuited her brain. That's kind of...extreme."
I chew my lip thoughtfully. I've kind of kept to myself how much my powers have been growing over the last several months. It feels like every time I use them they're a little bit stronger. It's exhilarating. And terrifying. "Okay," I finally say. "When this is over."
She seems to get that I don't want to talk about it and decides to let it pass. I'm not stupid enough to think that she'll let it go for good. For now works for me however. "Okay then, get back here."
I nod, obviously to myself. I start towards the door and yank it open, insanely glad to be out of the morgue.
I hate dead people.
Especially since my biggest fear these days is that the next time I see Helena, she'll be on a metal slab herself.
And then God help us all.
She slipped on to the massive yacht at just before five in the morning. The sky was already beginning to take on a hazy gray hue. Hugging close to the wall, she continued to creep towards the front of the boat. Her eyes locked on several large men wearing dark clothes and ski masks that weren't yet pulled down. They were actually probably there to keep the men's' ears warm.
She recognized the guy at the front as being one of the thugs that she had robbed the convenience store with. Adam was his name. He was quite a bit larger than the other men, stacked and racked with muscle.
She clenched her fists in breathless anticipation but managed to keep her wits about her. Her head was whirling in circles and her body seemed heavy but other than that she felt okay. Good to go and all of that nonsense.
"Adam," a voice said from the left. Helena glanced up and smiled wickedly as she saw the man who called himself Zeus step out onto the deck. He was dressed in dark warm clothes but he still looked powerfully intimidating.
She was done being intimidated.
He had come into her apartment earlier that night and beaten her to the ground. He had spilled her blood in her own house.
Payback was definitely due.
And hey, if she could screw up whatever the hell business transaction he was up to, well that was just dandy.
She slid a hand down to her side and grazed her fingers over her ribs. It occurred to her that most of the intense throbbing had ceased. That was curious but she decided not to dwell too long on it. Less pain was always a good thing and definitely not something to bitch about.
Helena bent across the wall so as to be able to hear what was going on between the assembled thugs on the yacht. She noticed several large metal suitcases on the ground. Man, maybe they really did do things the old mob way she mused to herself.
Adam turned towards his boss and nodded. "Sir," he said, a thick Brooklyn accent rolling from his words. "We're just about ready to go. Cabe should be here soon."
"You paid off the Port Authority fellow?" Zeus asked as he picked up one of the suitcases. He opened it and up Helena saw flashes of green. Obviously cash.
"Of course," Adam replied. He glanced down at his watch. "Mick's still not here."
Zeus scowled, his face creasing. "He'll be here." He glanced over at Adam. "What do you know about this girl he's brought in?"
Adam lifted an eyebrow. "Kyle?"
Helena smiled and crept closer. She knew that she should keep her distance but she couldn't quite resist trying to hear what they had to say about her. As she moved she glanced around, looking for anything that she could utilize as a weapon if need be. Her eyes lit on a thin metal pole leaning against several boxes maybe five feet from her. That would work just fine.
"Yes," Zeus replied gruffly, his eyes already back on the water. He looked impatient but not exactly nervous. This was all old-hat to him. He'd probably done a hundred of these cash for drugs transactions.
"Hot bitch," Adam drawled. "Got some attitude."
Zeus nodded. He placed a hand on Adam's shoulder. "And what do you think of her?"
Helena frowned. Now this was curious. Mick was the big guy's son but there seemed to be some affection between the boss and Adam. She wondered if it was some kind of weird surrogate parent thing.
Adam shrugged. "Bet she's hell on wheels in the sack but she makes him stupid. She's trouble and he doesn't see it. He thinks he's got her under control."
Helena chuckled to herself, her mind slipping back to the man that she had left tied naked to his own bed. Yeah, that was control.
She was about to move a little closer when a wave of dizziness hit her like a ton of bricks. She staggered backwards, her fingers biting hard into the wall. She felt the stucco scrape her fingertips but the sudden need to vomit kept her from caring.
The nausea passed within a few moments but her legs still felt wobbly so she settled herself against the wall of the cabin, her back flat against it as she struggled for control. Her head was pounding and things were starting to spin again.
Like they had in earlier in the alley with Dinah.
When she'd just barely been able to fight.
She closed her eyes for a brief moment. The second wave of dizziness passed and she was able to regain her balance. She wondered how much of the conversation she had missed between Adam and Zeus. Looking up she noticed that they were standing several feet from each other, both looking out over the water.
"Sir," Adam said, his eyes still straight ahead. "Cabe is here." He was touching an earpiece connected to his left ear. Helena could see a long black cord winding around his neck, not unlike that which cops wore out on patrol. She absently touched her earring. She actually missed the obnoxious voice in her ear.
Missed it like crazy.
No time. No time.
Focus. Focus.
Zeus turned around, a strange smile on his face. "Bring him up."
Adam spoke into a microphone that Helena couldn't quite locate. "We're ready up here."
Helena slipped back around behind several large boxes and slid behind one. Her view of Adam and Zeus was slightly obstructed but that was probably just as well; it meant theirs of hers would be equally so.
Almost five minutes passed before she heard footsteps to her left. Three very large men holding semiautomatics walked up the boat ramp, escorting a skinny man who was carrying a metal suitcase. Another man in all red walked a step or two behind him.
"Daniel," Zeus greeted, his tone anything but warm. It wasn't threatening either but the big guy was definitely telling the little one who was boss.
Daniel Cabe stepped forward, holding his hand out. Zeus took it, quickly pumping his palm. "You must be doing really good business these days," he noted, trying to sound casual.
"We're doing business," Zeus confirmed. He watched the little man with a look of annoyance. The pleasantries were over and the mobster wanted to get the transaction closed out.
"Open the box," Adam said, stepping behind Cabe. The big guy in red moved to intercept him but Adam shoved him roughly out of the way. He pointed a small pistol at Cabe. "Now." It was quite clear that Adam was the number two around these parts, which made his deference to Mick the night of the robbery rather curious.
"Your boy is a bit itchy," Cabe noted, casually bending over to put the box down on a table. Helena blinked; she hadn't noticed the card table previously. That was weird. She ran a hand over her head and noticed that she had begun to sweat. She wondered if she was coming down with something.
"He has his reasons," Zeus mused. "Let's see the product."
Cabe shrugged. He placed his thumbs under the latches of the case and snapped them. There was a soft buzzing and then the top slid upwards and out, showing off a black velvet cape with tubes in it. All filled to the top with some gummy clear liquid.
Probably Topside. She'd never seen it in its base form but she couldn't imagine what else Zeus would be importing.
Cabe reached into the case and took one of the vials from the far left. He unscrewed the cap and offered it to Adam. The Brooklyn boy sniffed it and then offered it to Zeus. "Sir?"
"Go ahead," he said to Adam. "Test it."
Adam nodded. He bent over the table and took out a small silver disk. The top of the disk had a strange red glint to it and looked rather wet. There was some kind of gel on it. He poured the liquid from the vial on to it. After a few seconds the disk turned from silver to a bright green. Adam lifted an eyebrow. "You weren't lying when you said potent." He looked at Zeus. "Point seven."
Zeus nodded his approval. "You weren't lying," he repeated to Cabe.
"I wasn't," Cabe admitted. He was smiling smugly. "So being that I gave you a better product than requested, I was thinking we should renegotiate rates."
"Rates," Zeus said nodding as if he understood what Cable was saying and was amenable about it. "No, I don't think so."
Helena slid up against the back of the box and bent over it. This was starting to look like there could be imminent violence. That was either a very good thing or a very bad one depending on how you wanted to look at it.
On one hand violence between bad guys tended to kill of a few of them. On the other, she wasn't much for bullets flying every which way. And she wanted Zeus for herself.
Cabe blinked, clearly stunned. That seemed weird too. Did he really think that he'd just walk up to a mob boss and demand higher pay? "But I...I...figured...."
"Stop whimpering Daniel, it's pathetic," Zeus noted. He waved to Adam who stepped back to allow the big guy through. "You'll get your fair rate."
The kid nodded but the color in his face was starting to drain away. He was definitely beginning to rethink his decision to confront Zeus. He glanced over the red-suited bodyguard that he had brought with him. The one that Adam had dismissed with little effort. "We should uh, start the transfer."
"I like that," Zeus grinned. He touched Daniels' shoulder and crushed his hand down into the bone, shaving Cabe to the ground. The man screamed out, his eyes bulging. "All business."
Helena flinched, well aware of the pain that Zeus could inflict upon a person. She touched her broken ribs and hissed a bit. It wasn't that the pain was unbearable, in fact it barely seemed noticeable at all but just the same, the guy was a serious brute.
"Start the transfer, start the transfer," Cabe screamed at his bodyguard. The man in red nodded. He motioned to Adam to follow him.
As soon as Adam and Red Boy had disappeared down the ramp Zeus let Cabe stand up. "That wasn't very smart now was it?"
Cabe shook his head. "Hard to get as much as you always want Mr. Jameson," he babbled. "I just thought..."
"You were thinking for yourself," Zeus mused. "That's okay. I admire that." He grabbed Cabe by the collar and yanked him forward. "Don't fucking do it on my watch or I will turn you into hamburger meat and sell you for a buck a pound you little piss ant, do you understand?"
Helena actually thought she saw tears slip from Cabe's eyes. The man nodded as quickly as he could. Helena wondered how the hell the little guy had managed to get himself roped into being the delivery boy for the drugs; he definitely lacked the constitution to stand up to anyone.
"Enjoying the show are ya?"
Helena froze, the voice behind her sending shivers up her spine. She only vaguely recognized it but it wasn't the person who had her body tense, it was the gun he was pressing against her back.
"Damn," she muttered to herself, pissed that she had allowed someone to sneak up on her. Something was wrong, something was off. All of her senses seemed so sluggish.
"Around," the voice ordered. "Slowly. You try to hit me and I will bury a bullet in your face."
She held up her hands and began to turn slowly towards the voice. "Rat Boy," she muttered when her eyes lit on the tall boy holding a glock on her. He grinned at her.
"Kyle," he mused. "Heard whispers that you'd been brought in. Guess it's true and Mick really is alive. He's the only moron who'd want you."
"Yep, that's me," she said weakly. "Just running security for the boss."
He reached out and yanked her arm, pulling her to her feet. He jammed the gun into her ribs, eliciting a hiss of pain from her. "You know what bitch, I'm not buying." He touched his earpiece. "Boss, I got something over here you should see."
Helena clenched her jaw hard. She wanted to hit him but the gun pressing into her side made her think better of it. She glanced around, looking for an escape route.
"Helena Kyle," Zeus said as he turned towards her. His tone was mildly amused which pissed her off to no end. He glanced at Rat Boy. "Good job. You can go."
Rat Boy opened his mouth to protest but quickly decided that Zeus didn't look like he was in the mood for discussion. "All yours," he replied. He pushed the gun once more into Helena's side, making her topple. Then he grinned and walked away.
"You want to kill him don't you," Zeus asked, kneeling down next to her.
"I want to kill you," she growled, eyes flashing.
He laughed. "You know what, I could come to like you. You're spunky. And anyone who would come over to me after getting the shit beat out of them well....I don't quite know what to say. You're either incredibly brave or insanely stupid." He shrugged. "Then again, I don't much care."
He kicked out with his foot right into the middle of her stomach. She grunted and toppled. She glared up at him. Drawing all of her strength together she pushed herself to her feet and lashed out with a vicious kick right to his face. He fell back, his hand moving to his nose. He drew his fingers away and gazed at the blood there.
"Let's go pops," Helena said, taking up a combative posture. She knew that she should probably try to get the hell away but she had come for a confrontation.
She had come looking for a fight.
And she was damn well going to get it.
Jenny Thompson wasn't the only mob child murdered tonight.
I'm staring straight ahead at my LCD, my eyes tired and red. The words are starting to blur together so I remove my glasses and rub at my eyes with my balled fists.
"You know ever since I met you ladies, I don't sleep more than three hours at a time," Reese calls out to me as he hobbles in. He drops down into a chair next to me and lets his crutches fall. I think he's going to use them as firewood once he's off them.
"Sorry," I toss back at him. I put my glasses back on and point at the screen. "Do you know him?" I'm showing him a black and white crime scene photo of a young man with a bullet in his head. I don't know if the lack of color makes it easier to handle or more dramatic.
Reese leans over me and I catch the smell of cologne. I woke him up and didn't give him time to shower so I think he probably feels a little self- conscious. Which is not to say that he smells bad because he doesn't.
"I know him," Reese says softly. "Or I did. His name is Cory Hayward. He's Bulldog's oldest."
"Well I guess that confirms it then," I say, more to myself than Reese. "Zeus is definitely trying to get rid of his competition."
"His imagined competition," Reese corrects. "Cory was like Jenny. Like me. We all got out. None of us are a threat to him if his thing is taking power."
He sounds really upset and I can't say I blame him. If he's right and for some inexplicable reason Zeus is trying to get rid of the children who have walked away, well then Jesse Reese is next on the list.
Or at least on the list.
"Are you okay?" I ask, knowing that it's a stupid question.
He shakes his head. "This has been a hell of a week," he mutters. "My girlfriend...neh, my ex girlfriend is turning into a lush and now she's working with a man who probably wants to kill me. Oh and every childhood friend I've ever had is on Zeus's hit list."
"Helena's always been a lush," I reply with a grin. He looks at me for a moment and then does exactly what I wanted him to do; he laughs.
"True enough," he replies. He shakes his head. "I honestly don't get it though. There are a lot of the kids who are still in the family business."
"Like your old friend Castle?"
Reese literally blanches forward. He's taken aback. "Castle?" he stammers. "How did you know?"
I lift an eyebrow. "You said it earlier. You said you were friends with Castle's only son. Hayden right?"
"Hayden," Reese says with a nod. I can tell that he really doesn't want to talk about this but I decide to push anyways. Reese is not only a part of the team; he's a friend I've come to trust with my life. And if that weren't enough I know what he is to Helena even if right now she's in no shape to admit it. I know how she feels about him and I know what it will do to her if he's hurt.
Okay okay, I'm getting cheesy. I'm tired and it's late and I'm not nearly caffeinated enough.
So deal dammit.
"Wait," Reese drawls. "I told you I was old friends' with Castle's boy but I never said his name."
I wince. I'd been hoping that he'd miss that. "Yeah," I start slowly. "I wanted to make a list of possible targets."
He nods. He knows I'm telling the truth but he also knows that I'm just plain nosy. I like it so shut up. "Okay," he says.
"So, what about you and Castle?"
He laughs. "I knew you couldn't resist."
I shrug. Ah well. "Castle?" I press.
"Hayden," he corrects. "I don't see him much. He's uh, he's a hitman."
"You worried about him?" I inquire, watching his eyes. They're full of emotion and confusion. And a lot of other things.
"Of course but he can take care of himself." He clears his throat. "Is Dinah already in bed?" He laughs. "Man, we should all be."
I shake my head and frown. "No, she went to the morgue to recover some evidence for me. She should be back shortly."
I consider briefly jumping on comm to see what's keeping Dinah but then decide against it. She hasn't been gone that long and I really don't want to annoy her. Not right now anyways. God know I've been doing that enough lately.
Much of it for my own amusement to be honest.
"I didn't hear that," Reese grins. He's going to keep trying to pretend he doesn't know how many laws we break. You know my father worked with Batman but he never got comfortable with his methods. Reese, well I don't know just yet. Not all the way.
"How's your leg feeling?" I ask him suddenly, aware that he's been up and on it a lot today.
"Just like me," he says. "Wiped out."
We both look at each other.
Yeah we get that.
She hit the ground with a hard thud. Grunting in pain she shoved herself back up and snapped off a high kick towards the thug's head. It cracked against his face and blood exploded from his now broken eye socket. She turned around, murder in her eyes and faced her enemy.
"You ready to take me yet?" she growled at Zeus. He was leaning against the wall of the cabin, watching as she systematically worked her way through his security guards. Even as hazy and unfocused as she was, she had make shockingly short work of his well-trained men in black.
"Soon," he assured her. "I'd turn around if I were you."
She spun to her left and put her foot out, causing the goon that had been racing towards her to clatter to the deck. She shoved her heel into his throat and shoved down. "I'm done with this."
"That's good," he said. "Because so am I." The amusement dripped away from him and he started to walk towards her. She readied herself to take him but another wave of nausea crashed over and she tumbled.
When she looked up again he was standing over her, shaking his head. "Give me a second," she grumbled, putting her hands on the deck.
"I would if I were a sporting fellow but I'm not. Just heard about what you did to my son," Zeus said, his eyes dark. She couldn't tell if he was pissed or annoyed but neither was exactly good for her.
"Aw, too bad," Helena smirked. "He had it coming and you know it."
"You know the funny thing is, Kyle, you and I want the same thing."
"Somehow I doubt that," she muttered, pushing herself up to her feet. The moment she was standing on two legs again he kicked out and dropped her back down. She cried out and crashed back to the ground, stunned by how little fight she had left.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
That strange drugged feeling was back in full force.
"We do," he assured her. "I wasn't overly thrilled with Mick bringing you in and neither were you. But here's the thing, you're in. And once you're mob, you are until you're dead."
"Sorry, I forgot to pay my monthly dues," she coughed. "I'll gladly resign."
He dropped down next to her. "I'm not giving you that option."
She locked eyes with him. "You're more deluded than your psycho son if you think I'm gonna be run by you. "
He grabbed her by the hair and slammed her down, face-first into the deck. She cried out as a splinter cut hard into her cheek, drawing blood. She kicked out with her foot and spun herself around to face him. She balled her hand and swung at him but he easily dodged the blow, instead grabbing her wrist and twisting it. She gasped in pain but again tried to hit him. He laughed. "I was right, I do kinda like you."
Then he reached out and punched her hard across the face. She fell like a sack of potatoes to the ground. He stood up and brushed himself off. He glanced around and saw Adam standing over one of the unconscious guards.
"They didn't do so well," Adam quipped. "She's quite the fighter."
"That's true," Zeus noted. "She's fairly adept at fighting off the drugs that Mick has been giving her. I told him to up the dosage."
"And now?"
"Take her out to the back." Zeus said. "Treat her like you would any of the boys who have who disappointed me." He paused. "And I mean boys."
"You want to keep her around?" Adam asked with some incredulity.
Zeus nodded slowly. "Yes, there's something I want her to do for me."
Adam shook his head. He bent over and picked up Helena's unconscious body. He swung her over his shoulders. "You really think she'll do it?"
Zeus smiled. "I think we'll make her."
END CHAPTER FIVE