An Untitled Novel

Basil went from the pressurized room to the condo, condo to elevator, and elevator to lobby. Walking through, however, he was stopped by Elliot. “Hey man, now a good time to talk?” Basil shook his head. “Sorry, not really. Some people made very poor decisions, and now I need to run to the liquor store before my head explodes.” Elliot responded, curious but oddly enthusiastic. “Whoa, is that some sort of mob speak?” Basil stopped walking and turned to him. “Not in the mood.” Elliot looked visibly upset with Basil’s sudden change in demeanor.

“Vibe much?” Basil’s expression softened a bit. “Sorry, look, things just keep getting worse and I need something to take the edge off. I mean very literally what I said.” Eliot looked confused. “Bad like how? Is that why the feds are sniffing around for you?” Basil’s attention quickly shifted to the new topic at hand. “I’m sorry, what?” Elliot spoke like it was obvious. “Yeah man, they’ve been sniffing around, they tried to dangle a pass on a weed charge by getting me to tell them about you.”

“What exactly did they say?” Elliot seemed to think for a moment. “Not much, they just wanted to know if anybody odd was around, ya’ know? They didn’t ask for you by name or anything.” Basil immediately asked another follow up question. “And what did you tell them?” Elliot smiled. “Relax, man, I didn’t tell them anything. And I was straight to their faces about it, too. No way I’m snitching on Flint.”

Basil took a deep breath. Okay, so they somehow found him, right? It could have been some money laundering investigation; maybe ACE messed something up? It didn’t have to be related to the Elthrice; besides, there’d be no way they could connect him to here. Unless, shit, could the phone have pinged a tower in California? The PDA intercepted the signals, but had ACE not modified it to avoid pinging regular towers? That wouldn’t be an issue in Domum or Antarctica, and a random phone in Florida wouldn’t draw suspicion, but if the same phone pinged a tower when they were fighting the Elthrice, that was a problem. Shit, well, no more Vodka today, time to close up shop here.

Elliot looked over Flint’s shoulder at a blur by the door as two cops ran through it. “Flint Isaiah, show us your hands!” As soon as the commotion started, however, Flint’s face changed. He could still see it clear as day, but it was as if his face had suddenly changed to something unrecognizable. Elliot instinctively took several steps back and Flint began to shout. “Elliot, Tasha, and you two, you’re gonna want to get out of here” while gesturing to Tasha and the couple by the front desk. Even Flint’s voice had changed, as if it was being masked, and Elliot couldn’t move. “Flint, don’t throw your life away” Elliot began to say as he felt dread deep in his belly, but Flint seemed to pay him no attention and stood there with his hands at his sides.

“What BS did they tell you?” Flint asked in what sounded like a mocking tone. “I said, show me your hands! You’re under arrest for the murder of four federal agents, unless you want to save the taxpayer some money and move your hands in any direction other than up.” One of the cops screamed. Murder of federal agents? That didn’t seem right. Sure, Flint seemed sketchy sometimes, but he didn’t seem like a murderer. Did he? Flint just laughed, a deep belly laugh that caused Elliot to feel even more unsettled. “Oh please, the asshole who told you that must have been glowing brighter than the sun. And let me guess, no warrants or nothing, just a scary guy who told you to find me and then tell them where I am WITHOUT engaging?” One of the cops looked like he grew angrier, but the other one suddenly had a look of concern on his face. The angry one began to say “I told you,” but Flint spoke over him with “Here’s what’s going to happen”

Neither finished their sentences.

Elliot watched as a blur of motion came through the front and back entrances of the lobby. At first he thought they were SWAT as they were all dressed in black, but something was off. Before he could tell what, however, they opened fire. Why were they opening fire? Flint didn’t have a weapon. What was going on?

Elliot dove under the table. He tried to move more but was unable to, fear and adrenaline rushing through him as the bodies of the two cops fell, dark red blood contrasting the clean white carpets. His ears screamed out in agony as the pop of a handgun contrasted with a barrage of methodic automatic gunfire. Despite the unending fire, however, the paratrooper boots stood firm in the center of the room. Some of the people dressed in all black fell to the ground, and a shout rang out that chilled his bones, as if a thousand people yelled angrily at once. He covered his ears, but the otherworldly sounds still rang out.

Feet approached the pair of paratrooper boots, but all fell. Even through his balaclava, the first looked like his head was severely deformed. The second was still alive and landed directly in front of Elliot. They made frantic eye contact, and he could see the closer one was missing most of his arm. All that remained was a hemorrhaging stub and torn flesh draining blood onto the carpet and under the table, as if the arm and weapon had been ripped off in one quick motion. A stream of shell casings was now dropping near the paratrooper boots, but as quickly as the life drained from the man’s eyes, the battle died out, and the room fell empty of all but two souls. Only the paratrooper boots remained, standing eerily on the now stained carpets. Elliot realized his mouth was open but couldn’t tell if he was screaming due to the ringing in his ears.

Basil ran up the stairs and into his condo, pushing past the gawkers who had left theirs to foolishly investigate the gunfight. He quickly entered his door and locked it behind him, filling his hands with anything he thought would be worth grabbing. Stepping through the now open wormhole he tossed everything on the ground before stepping back through and grabbing the wormhole device. The maintenance drones, busy cleaning the and planting false DNA, rushed through behind him.

The portal closed, and Miami was gone forever.