The damage was consistent with a tornado, although every meteorologist Monty called that morning swore there had been no indication of a weather pattern like that, and even if they had seen something, a selective strike was simply not natural.
He thought using a tornado to put out a fire was over the top, but it was a grim reminder that the humans didn’t know half of what lived in the Courtyard and watched them.
The break in the fence bothered him because it was another point of entry, along with the hole caused by a pickup jumping the curb late last night and punching a hole in the fence that ran along Main Street. Two different pickups and two random acts? Or the same people?
Monty shivered. There had been too many random acts lately. And that made him wonder whether someone was trying to cause trouble.
I guess I’m not the only one thinking along those lines, he thought when Captain Burke, dressed for the outdoors, approached his desk. Burke stopped, not looking at Monty while he pulled on his gloves.
“Get your coat, Lieutenant,” Burke said so quietly that Monty was sure no one else could hear. “We’re going for a walk. I’ll meet you outside.”
Even more uneasy now, Monty complied and met Burke outside the station.
“Let’s walk a bit,” Burke said, heading up the block.
“Anywhere particular?” Monty asked.
“Just away. Do you have your mobile phone?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now turn it off.”
Oh, gods.
They walked two blocks, then three blocks before Burke spoke again.
“I got a call from Captain Zajac a few minutes ago. You remember Darrell Adams?”
Monty nodded. “He worked for the consulate and was fired a few days ago.”
“He died last night. It appears he ate some poisoned sugar, since two sugar lumps were found near the chair where he collapsed.”
They walked another block before Monty was able to speak. “We didn’t help them, so the Others did their own test on the person they believed responsible?”
“I don’t think Mr. Adams would have gotten out of the Courtyard alive if the Others had believed he was the one who attempted to poison some of them. But he wasn’t chosen at random either.”
“Will the lab put a rush on the results for this death?” Monty asked.
“Now, now, Lieutenant. Don’t sound bitter,” Burke said lightly. “They have good reason to put a rush on it. The officers who responded walked in thinking they were confirming a suspicious death. After what else was found, Zajac is scared down to his toes, because he doesn’t know how many more deaths may follow.”
Monty frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“We’re assuming Adams ate some of the sugar. He’s dead. But there’s one of the neighbors who says he pounded on the door, and when he looked at the woman who walked out of Adams’s apartment, his left arm and shoulder went numb. He was taken to the hospital. No injury, no wound, but the muscles in the arm and shoulder are dead. Another neighbor, an old lady who claimed to see the woman arrive and peered out her door in time to see the woman leave, has a dead eye. No sign of injury, no explanation. Shortly after that, people began showing up at hospital emergency rooms, claiming shortness of breath or dizzy spells or chest pains or a sudden weakness in their limbs. By this morning, most of them have recovered without any explanation for what caused the physical symptoms. The only thing they have in common is they were near Adams’s apartment last night, all around the same time.”
“How are the officers who responded?” Despite the cold, Monty realized he was sweating.
“They’re fine.” Burke paused while they waited for a traffic light to change. Once they crossed the street, he continued. “So are the man and boy who came in just as the woman was leaving. The man says he caught a glimpse of her and immediately turned his back, putting himself between her and his son. He also held a hand over the boy’s eyes. He told the officers, ‘We didn’t look at her. I remembered the myths, and we didn’t look.’ The man wouldn’t tell the officers anything more, and Zajac is understandably reluctant to do more probing.”
“Wouldn’t he want to know?” Myths? Would the university have someone on the faculty who could find the source of the myth?
“No, he doesn’t want to know. And neither do we.” Burke’s stare warned Monty that he meant it.
“You know how some people say ‘If looks could kill’?” Burke asked after a moment. “Well, it seems there is something among the terra indigene that has the ability to do exactly that.”
CHAPTER 24
“. . . travel advisory in effect until six a.m. tomorrow. WZAS is recommending no unnecessary travel. Figured we’d say it before you hear an official announcement from city hall. So get your milk and toilet paper and head on home, folks. We’ve got several inches of snow already clogging up the streets, and there’s more coming. Current projections say the entire city of Lakeside could get up to two feet before this lake-effect storm blows itself out, and we’re not even going to think about measuring the drifts. Wind chill could dip to minus twenty by this evening. We’ll have a full list of closings on the half hour and hour. This is Ann Hergott bringing you the news and weather reports, whether you like it or not. And now, from last year’s blockbuster movie, let’s listen to the hit single ‘If Summer Never Comes.’”
Monty turned off the radio and pulled on his coat and boots. He wasn’t on duty today, but everyone was on call. He’d seen a few bad storms during the years he’d lived in Toland. There had even been a few times when the Big City had closed down for a day. But listening to Kowalski, Debany, and MacDonald yesterday—men who had lived in Lakeside all their lives—he realized he hadn’t seen the kind of storm they considered bad. And they were all gearing up for bad.
Checking to be sure he had his keys, he went outside.
Black clouds were piled up like huge boulders waiting to fall on the world. As he stood there, his skin stinging from the cold, the snow came down faster and harder. A plow had gone by earlier, but the street was filled in again. And that made him wonder if anything was going to be able to get in or out of his street in another hour or two.
Returning to his apartment, he called Kowalski.
“What’s your opinion of this storm?” he asked when Karl answered.
“It’s coming in faster than expected,” Karl replied. “I just heard on the radio that everything downtown is closing, and all social events for tonight have been canceled. Traffic is already starting to snarl because of the amount of snow on the roads, and it will get worse.”
“The plows?”
“Will do what they can to keep the main drags open, but there’s only so much they can do until this storm blows over.”
Monty thought for a moment. “In that case, I’m going to pack an overnight bag and catch a cab down to the station while I can still get there. What about you?”
“You’ll have a better chance of getting a cab if you tell the driver you’ll meet him at the corner, since you live off one of the main streets. I don’t think a cabby will try to drive down any residential street at this point. Too much chance of getting stuck. Me and a few other guys helped dig out a couple neighbors who had to report to work. Medical personnel, emergency aid, and firefighters are being called in.” A hesitation. “Actually, I thought you were calling to tell me to come in.”