“We’…,” Seeing feet behind the rising garage door, Jim hit Ronda’s seatbelt release and yanked her down in the seat. Not a second too soon as the windshield exploded in a hail of lead from an automatic rifle.

In the SUV David had pulled up to the curb and stopped when Rhonda pulled into her driveway. He was starting to get out so he and Jim could canvas Ronda’s home before heading back. Then the gunfire erupted. Reaching back in he pulled up the rifle cradled by the center console. The shooter still in the garage dropped a clip from his gun and was shoving another home. He was an easy target. David dropped him before he could start firing again.

“One down!” David yelled as he kept his attention on the garage.

“You stay here, stay down, and call nine one one.” Jim opened the door, slid out, crouched behind the door, and pulled his pistol at the same time. He looked back at David who held up one finger and then pointed it down.

Down the street a van started up and then drove away. David shook his head. The driver for this fiasco, no doubt. Their priority was keeping the woman safe otherwise they would have chased it down.

Jim held up his left hand and did a circling motion with his finger and then pointed at the garage. He was going in. David nodded in agreement. He didn’t think there was another one or the van would have waited to see how it ended.

Inside the garage Jim did a quick scan assuring it was only one shooter. He was down with a big puddle of blood pooling out from under him. He walked back out to the car. “You can get up now. Make another nine one one call. Tell them there is a body to pick up when they get here. They will send an ambulance even though he is beyond help. This will take awhile after the police get here. Do you have a friend you can spend the night with? You aren’t staying here tonight.”

Rhonda was thinking as she made the second nine one one call. When she hung up she looked over at Jim. David had stepped up behind him. “Margo is my legal aid. I guess I can stay with her or get a motel room.”

“She have security?”

“No.” Rhonda didn’t even have to think about that.

“Okay, Margo is out and so is that motel unless you want us sleeping in the same room with you. Anyone you know have security?” By this time Jim was thinking of calling Spencer Miller. He didn’t know him personally but he did know him professionally. He would have to anti up a room and security if Rhonda couldn’t come up with someone.

It came to her. The one place she had been today had security running out the wazoo, The Garden. She dialed Kathy’s number hoping she hadn’t already gone home for the night.

Kathy picked it up on the first ring noticing it was Rhoda’s number. “This is Kathy. Are you okay?”

It was automatic human reaction when Rhonda nodded. “Kathy, I…, they were waiting at my house. I’m shook up but okay. My car looks the worse for the wear and tear. Your men saved my life. I never would have survived if it had been only me. They want me to stay someplace with security for tonight. I know it’s asking a lot…”

“No it isn’t. You know we have the suite. Are you coming now?”

“No, the police haven’t arrived yet. It will probably be a couple hours before they let us go after answering all their questions.”

“Okay, call when you get free. Bring your body and your guardians on over here when you can. I know it will be late. If it isn’t me, it will be Nov…, Jodi who lets you in.”

“Okay, I hear the sirens now. Thanks Kathy, I owe you my life.”

“Stay safe, I need you.” There was a dial tone as the connection was lost. Kathy headed out of the office to find Nova and let her know what was happening. First they try to kill Nova. Then they try to poison everyone in the club. Now they are waging war on anyone who is connected to the club or trying to help. She never expected this. If she had known it was going to get this bad she would have talked to Brent and see if he wouldn’t agree to letting them have the club. It wasn’t worth dying over. They would lose everything including their homes but still have their life. She had a strong suspicion it was no longer possible. Nova wouldn’t back away no matter what. She was glad Nova was on their side. That girl sent chills down her back every now and then. There was…, Kathy decided to let it go. Thinking too much about Nova was starting to scare her again.

It was one forty seven AM when Nova opened the door to let Rhonda and the two men in. Kathy told her the story and intended to let Rhonda in herself. The hard push all of them were doing to bring the club back to pristine conditions was wearing on them all. Kathy had fallen asleep on the couch five minutes after sitting down to wait. Nova was smiling as she laid her over, took Kathy’s cell phone, and covered her with a blanket.

The two men gave the tall girl an appraisal after she had let them in and locked the door behind them. Besides her better than good looks she gave off an air of confidence.

I pointed to the hallway leading to the bathrooms and the stairs. “Take a left at the top of the stairs. I put a book in the doorway to keep the door from auto locking. It takes a key to get in. Remove the book when you go into the suite. Rhonda, Kathy said you had been in there during one of their parties. Brent and Spencer are in the north bedroom. The other one is yours. Kathy is asleep on the couch.”

I pointed to the two men. “I pulled out sleeping pads and laid out blankets. You’re sleeping on the floor. It actually is pretty comfortable. Those are thick pads. There is a third pad there and that’s mine. I’ll be in and out so don’t get jumpy if you hear someone moving in the room. This place starts up at five in the morning. I’ll be up before then. The suite is soundproof. I’m sure the club activity won’t wake you. You can sleep in as long as you like. Either fix your own breakfast in the suite or come down to the dinning room. If you are there before ten I will have our Chef rustle up breakfast for you. Any questions?”

Looking dead on her feet, Rhonda was already headed for the stairs. The two men looked at one another. The shorter one shook his head. “We’re good.”

“While there you might try out that NASA shower system they have.” Turning I headed out to check the dock. I needed to turn the alarm system back on. I had turned it off earlier anticipating our guest. Otherwise it would have been screaming its little heart out when I opened that front door.

With years honed in security and judging other people, their eyes followed the woman as she walked away from them. Walked wasn’t exactly the right word. She flowed or glided was in both their minds. Jim shook his head to clear his mind before he looked over at David. “NASA shower system?

“Search me. I don’t know what she’s talking about.” He was headed for the stairs.

Soon as this place stabilized into some sense of order I was going to move Pete to evenings and night for the more refined diners. Shift the morning kitchen crew to come in an hour before opening. That would give them time to make their buns, pies, cakes and get the food prepared. An eight hour shift would push them to five PM. Bring Pete in at five and his shift could finish up at midnight. I wouldn’t need a third chef to fill a middle hole between the two cooks. With Pete’s help, we talked JoAnn into being our morning cook. She was already working in the kitchen with Pete to reacclimate to how this kitchen worked. I made a mental note to talk to Pete and see if that was an arraignment he could live with.

============================

It was eleven AM Dale Weathers called Rhonda. “Miss Clark, I’ll be at that club we discussed yesterday in less than thirty minutes. Would you meet me there?”

Rhonda nodded even though the conversation was on the phone. “I’m there now Mr. Weathers.”

“Good, I’ll see you soon.” He hung up. Knowing he was going in at one of the busy times, food handling in the restaurant would be at its best or worst. He wanted to see how they handled it.

Rhonda and Margo met him as he came in the front door. “Thank you for coming, Mr. Weathers.”

He stepped up and grasped her hand. “I wanted to see myself the violations our inspector named. Do you need to inform management?”

She pointed back at me. “This is Jodi. She is the club manager now.” She looked over at Margo, “This is my legal assistant. She was with me when your inspector walked through yesterday. She has it all on the computer.”

Margo held up a laptop.

Dale was giving me an appraisal. Of course I was dressed to the nines for mingling with the dinner crowd. I was also wearing five inch heels which gave me a huge height advantage over most men.

Holding out my hand, I gave Dale my best heartwarming smile. “Thank you for coming, Inspector.”

“I think this is the first time anyone ever welcomed me to inspect their place. I want you to know that won’t change my intentions of looking over your club very closely.” He reached over and took my hand.

My smile got even wider as I gave his hand a firmer grip. “I’m pleased to know you aren’t biased then. Welcome to Eve’s Hanging Garden Club and please take your time. I hope when you’re finished you will give me your personal and professional opinion on what we did right or what we did wrong. If you have no objections, Miss Clark and her assistant Margo will accompany you and your assistant. I have been told they have video of all the inspections our city inspector, Kinor, did yesterday. You may want to look at that when you are looking at the violations we were flagged for yesterday. Don’t take my word for it, but nothing has been changed since yesterday. We are still the filthy, rat infested, moldy club Kinor claimed we were when he did his inspection yesterday.”

Rhonda’s head snapped around as she looked at me in shock.

Dale stepped back from me and looked around the sparkling dinning room and the immaculate waitresses efficiently carrying food orders in their brand new uniforms. A grin slowly spread across his face despite his best efforts to not show it. He shook his head. “Lady, you are one class act. If I wasn’t determined before to find something, anything, to gig you for, I’m now going to accept the challenge.”

He pulled a cotton swab out of his pocket. “My sword, my lady. Even though it is ungentlemanly for a man to accept a challenge from a woman, my male pride has been pricked. I will find something even if I have to go out in the parking lot and swab dirt off a car tire.”

Laughing, I knew I had read him right when he walked in our door. “Do your best.”

He looked at Rhonda. “I would respond but others might claim I was prejudice if I did.” He was chuckling as he headed for the kitchen. He pulled the list of violations out of his pocket Kinor had written up Rhonda delivered to him yesterday. “Let’s start at the top of this list and work our way down.”

Two o six PM all of us were seated at a table in the dinning room. Dale was still writing some notes before he stopped and took a sip of the German black beer, Schwarzbier, and cleared his throat. “I’ll make some calls. Kinor won’t be coming back for any more inspections. I found some…, I didn’t write them up as violations but only suggestions. Difference in opinion on how the health code is interpreted. Make the changes, don’t make the changes, probably won’t matter. The new health inspector might think the way you are doing it is right. The health code is a lot like IRS tax code and can be right or wrong depending on who the inspector is.”

He looked over at Rhonda. “I didn’t say that and you didn’t hear it from me. I hope you aren’t recording this conversation.”

Rhonda gave a slight smile. “I don’t have the recorder turned on.” What she tactfully didn’t say was, Margo might.

“Right,” He looked at his watch. “I need to get back. The two men who rode back with Rhonda last night are following me home. I’m not really paranoid. After hearing some of the things you people have been putting up with, I’m asking the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to assign a guard for me as soon as I get back. They will assign one or two Texas Troopers or Rangers. I’ve done this once before after I received threats when I closed a large club in Galveston.”

He looked directly at me. “I can honestly say I never enjoyed these inspections until now. Everyone is always uptight praying I don’t find too much wrong. I’ve been silently laughing for the past couple hours thinking I really was going to have to go out and swab a car tire to find some dirt on this place. I’ve managed to salvage my male ego by making these suggestions. You’re really the kind of manager I wish every club had.”

Kathy and Brent both nodded as she mentally thought. ‘You don’t know a tenth of it.’

He took another sip of his beer and set the glass down still a quarter full. “I better go before anyone suggests I was bribed and playing favorites. If anyone says they saw me sitting here at the table drinking I’ll call them a liar. Kathy, Brent, it’s been a pleasure.”

“Jodi…,” He looked me in the eyes, stood up, gathered up his notes and papers along with his briefcase and left with his assistant.

==========================

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WERE FIRED! What about that damn club? You were going to shut it down.” Craig slapped the top of his desk with his hands as he stared hatred at Kinor standing on the other side of his desk.

“Yeah, and you were supposed to take care of that attorney bitch, BEFORE, she made her little trip to Austin not after. I had run into her before and warned you about her.” Kinor wasn’t intimidated in the least. He was too valuable of an asset to the committee to be worried.

Crag waved his hand as if the subject wasn’t up for discussion. “Fortner screwed up and got himself killed. Who knew she would have an armed escort. We must get that damn club back under our control. Some of the other owners are hearing rumors and starting to think.”

He waved Kinor off. “Go, I need to call for a meeting because you couldn’t handle your end of this. Bolt…,” Crag rubbed his chin. “Bastard leaves without telling anyone where he’s going.”

Crag waited until Kinor left his office. He picked up his phone and punched in a couple numbers and waited until he heard a click on the other end. “Since your poisons seem to be so worthless in the club I have someone for you to test your new batch on. Kinor is no longer our employee.”

There was a click and his phone went to dial tone. He laid it back down on his desk and smiled. If the Criminal Division pulled Kinor in after checking his records on inspections, Crag had no doubt he would sing like a canary. Kinor had the backbone of a jellyfish. Loose ends were best taken care of before they became a problem themselves.

The fight for the Garden Club was far from being over. Harold was busy bouncing underage and fake IDs from the club. The overhead security cameras Spencer’s crew installed by the doors was getting a workout along with scanners which everyone had to pass their ID over before being admitted to the club. If we did get busted we could match face with scanned ID and prove they used a fake ID and lied to get in.

The day after Dale Weathers had inspected us, Scooter smelled a delivery truck before it ever entered the dock area. The meat had been poisoned. I thought Kitcha was going to beat the driver to death when he got out of his truck to open the cargo doors. He confessed to dropping off the meat we were supposed to receive from Fresh Packers Distributors and picking up an alternate pallet. The name Dagger came up again. The same name Jeb gave us as he tried to poison the bread dough. The assassin had slipped Arnie, the delivery driver, a thousand dollars to switch loads. I was becoming really interested in this Dagger guy, whoever he was. The truck was pulled over to the side of the back parking lot while Kathy and I made a couple phone calls. She called Rhonda first and then Dale Weathers explaining we had intercepted a delivery of what was suspected to be poisoned meat.

Dale gave that one some serious thought for a couple seconds. “Miss Perkins, not that I doubt what you are telling me. How do you know the meat is poisoned? Have you had it tested?”

Kathy hesitated as she tried to figure out how much to tell. “Mr. Weathers, what I wish to tell you is confidential information I can’t share over a telephone. Please believe me when I tell you the meat we were to receive has been poisoned.”

“All right, I’ll call for a priority on this one. Where is the meat now?”

“It is still in the delivery truck.”

“Still in the truck? Has anyone touched it?”

“No Sir, the van wasn’t opened after it arrived.”

“It hasn’t…, Okay, I’m mobilizing several teams now.”

“Thank you Mr. Weathers.” Kathy closed the connection happy she didn’t have to explain any more than she already did.

Dale was opening up the file the state had printed up for every department head after they joined in training exercises for these type of situations. Miss Perkins was very elusive about how they knew the meat was tainted without testing it. After activating the crews for hazmat and all his health inspectors in that area. His second call was to the Texas Criminal Division.

His third call was to someone he knew trained dogs to sniff for drugs, bombs, and rescue. It was answered on the first ring. “To what do I owe this call?”

“And hello to you too, Bobbi. I have a question. Can dogs be trained to sniff for poisons? I mean there are so many different kinds so wouldn’t that be impossible?”

Bobbi looked out across the field where one of the handlers was teaching Rex to search for drugs. “Dale, think of how many different kinds of drugs there are and our dogs are trained to alert on drugs. The answer to your question, yes a dog could be trained to alert on poisons.”

“Thanks Bobbi, that answered my question.” Dale hung up and stared at the phone. From the conversation with Kathy he didn’t think there was an informant who had alerted the club a shipment of poisoned meat was headed their way. He was pretty sure that club didn’t have a four legged blood hound. As long as those who converged on the truck with the toxic meat didn’t ask about the elephant in the room, he sure wasn’t going to say anything either. In his line of work sometimes it was best to leave questions unanswered.

Fresh Packers was my phone call. Spencer was becoming one of my favorite people around this place. He came up with the private phone number of the CEO of that company. I tried the company number first to see where we were in the importance status as one of their customers.

Barney Cole’s secretary walked into his office. “There is a lady by the name of Jodi insisting she talk to you. She says she is the manager of Eve’s Hanging Gardens Club.”

He waved a dismissive hand. “Tell her I’m busy.”

She walked back to her desk. “I’m sorry but Mr. Cole is indisposed right now. You may call back later if you like.”

“I don’t like.” I hung up and dialed his private number.

Barney looked at the number. It wasn’t any he recognized right away but he had contacts all over the states. Might be one of those. He answered it. “Barney.”

“Mr. Cole, I have one of your delivery drivers and your truck in my back parking lot…”

“Who is this?” Barney looked at the number again.

“In that delivery truck is a load of poisoned meat which your driver intended dropping off at The Garden Club.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about. If this is a prank call you are in serious trouble lady.”

“The State Health Inspector was called, along with the FBI, and the Texas Criminal Division. In about forty minutes our lot is going to be eyeball deep in badges. And then we are going to be eyeball deep in hazmat crews. After that a lot of those people are going to be pounding on your door with a warrant asking a whole bunch of interesting questions. I hope I haven’t ruined your day, Mr. Cole.” I hung up.

I also missed how soon they would converge on Fresh Packers. After listening to our story the day before describing what had been tried at the club, Dale didn’t waste any time. Thirty one minutes after I hung up four of his meat inspectors were already pulling into Fresh Packers, back docks. Another inspector, along with two Texas Rangers, was headed to the Lazy B restaurant where the driver told us the switch had been made. Up until now I don’t think anyone at The Garden Club realized how important those RFID tags were, when I insisted our distributors put one in and on each shipment coming from the warehouses. That pallet of meat at the Lazy B was going to show it should have been ours. Unless Fresh Packers was in on the swap and made sure the pallet of toxic meat still in the van was labeled for The Garden. Those tags would be enough evidence to send some people to prison.

Scooter and Kitcha were sent packing before we were flooded with badges. I took Eva’s place as Maitre d’ and sent her away. Spencer said he was good around badges. He had experience so I let him decide and he stayed.

“You’re security for this club?” The Health Inspector along with and FBI agent were questioning Spencer.

“I was hired as temporary help when a large number of their staff suddenly quit. Including their security guy.” Spencer scratched his nose in a casual manner. ‘Let the FBI agent figure out that body language.’

“Okay, how did you know about the supposedly tainted meat?” The FBI agent was writing on a pad and had his recorder going at the same time.

“We…, the club received an anonymous phone call informing us the meat had been poisoned.” Spencer ran a fingernail down a tooth like he was dislodging some remaining food from breakfast.

“And the driver? He looks pretty beat up. Did you beat a confession out of him?”

Spencer held both hands out in front and turned them over several times. There wasn’t a scratch or blood on them. “I never touched the guy. That might have been at the place where he switched pallets. Maybe they had to convince him he needed to make this delivery.”

Both the Health Inspector and the FBI agent looked like they weren’t buying the story. They had nothing to contradict the man they were questioning.

FBI cleared his throat. “He drove in here, volunteered he was delivering supposedly tainted meat, and confessed to it all? I find that very hard to believe Mr. Miller.”

Spencer held up his hands. “Hey, don’t blame me if the guy had a guilty conscience.”

This was an empty trail. Miller knew something and wasn’t telling. “Where’s the owner?”

Spencer pointed over to where Brent and Kathy had been separated and were now talking to more badges. “Owners. That’s them over there.”

“Don’t go away Mr. Miller, I may have some more questions.”

Spencer shrugged. “I work here and my shift has just started.” He looked at his watch. “I have another seven hours to go before I can go home.”

He handed the FBI man a business card, Impenetrable Security. “That’s the other company I work for. That is my telephone number on the card along with the company phone number.”

“Your address?”

“Private. I’m not giving you that. You want to push this then you will talk to our company lawyers. I haven’t done anything and you haven’t charged me with anything. I don’t have to give you my address if I don’t want to.” Spencer decided to spell it out for this agent in case he wanted to push the issue.

The agent mulled that one over for a few seconds and then walked away.

“May I have a card?” The Health Inspector wanted to know how to get in touch with Miller if he had any more questions.

Spencer shook his head. “Your boss, Dale Weathers, has all that already. I’m either here or at my other job, Impenetrable Security. You can reach me anytime you want.

It was in the waning hours of the afternoon before they had the truck pulled up on a flatbed and hauling it out. Dale had received a call from one of the inspectors who were monitoring everything at our docks. He also received a call from one of the hazmat men who transported a sample of the meat to Blakly Labs. He called and informed Kathy and Brent what the analysis was on the poison. The poison was really nasty stuff. Guaranteed to kill those who took the wrap off the pallet, those who put away the meat in the walk in refrigerator, and those who handled it cooking it. Most poisons don’t react to heat that well and become harmless. This one wouldn’t. Those who were served any of it would die. The pallets had been swapped at the Lazy B restaurant. Three men were arrested while an arrest warrant was put out for two more. The Lazy B was closed as hazmat crews swarmed the place.

This was going to cramp my style. This whole damn town was going to be crawling with FBI, Texas Rangers, and numerous other badges searching for the same man I wanted. Didn’t make any difference if Dagger was a mutant or not, he better pray to God the FBI or Rangers found him first. The way he was able to mix up different batches of poisons I was betting he was mutant. Probably immune to the shit he was sending out.

Two could play that game. So far I was immune to everything he had sent our way. My problem is, some poisons could kill me just as quickly as they did a normal. I wasn’t immune to all of them. My saving grace was I could sense the deadly ones before I touched or inhaled it. If Dagger was a mutant, there was no doubt he suspected by now there was a mutant at the club picking up on his poisons before anyone touched it. This could turn into a race to see who could take out whom first. I needed answers and time off.

A meeting was held in the suite after the restaurant and club had shut down for the night with Brent, Kathy, Spencer, Scooter, Kitcha, Eva, Pete, Harold, Ben, and several others. I knew everyone wanted nothing more than to crash. They also needed to know what I figured was coming at us and I might not be able to stop it.

“Listen up everyone. I called this emergency meeting for a reason and it isn’t to punish all of you who are doing so much and are vital to the survival of this restaurant. I believe a mutant is our poison designer. You people have blocked two attempts at poisoning the club. When word gets back to him about this last failure of his, I suspect his ego will be damaged. He doesn’t like to lose if I’m reading him right.”

Taking a breath I knew what I said next was going to shock and scare a few. It had to be said so they would understand what they were in for. “The past two attacks have been toward our food. After the first failure he wanted more body count when he had to try a second time. If I’m right, his next attempt will be someone walking in to the restaurant or the bar. It won’t be him personally. He will contaminate a customer or dupe someone looking to make a lot of quick, fast, easy money. We will lose this game because Scooter and I can’t cover all entrances all the time we are open.”

Most everyone turned to look at Scooter. She smiled. I thought she took the attention graciously. She was an exotic, beautiful woman there was no doubt. Her elf beauty came with a price. She had to be a recluse or cover up almost completely when she went out in public.

“I am going to take some time off to go hunting. Spencer, use all your contacts to find out if there is a cluster area where sickness or people dying is higher than normal. He can’t contain everything in his house or lab no matter how good he is. Some toxins will leak and people, animals, birds in that vicinity will be dying. Ask your boss to put as many people on the streets, in the bars, the slums, as he can.”

Kathy gasped as she wondered what the cost would be?

“No one and I mean absolutely no one confront this person. Tell everyone if they have a lead to contact the restaurant or Spencer’s company. The messages can be forwarded to me. They are not under any circumstances to follow any lead.”

Looking at all the serious faces, I knew this was troubling a lot of them. “Anyone who wants to leave knowing they could die if they stayed may do so with my blessing.”

Kitcha grinned as her eyes turned blood red with vertical pupils. “And miss a fight? If I’m not allowed to take on this poison guy, may I have the rest?”

Several of the men turned to look at Kitcha. They were double glad they weren’t ‘the rest’ she was talking about. Spencer wondered what he had stepped into? Some of the women around Nova made his blood run cold even if they were beyond beautiful.

“There are mats and blankets in the closets for those who are going to stay. Kathy can tell you about the fixings in the kitchen if you want breakfast in the morning.”

“I’ll probably be up before the rest. I can fix them breakfast from the restaurant kitchen if anyone wants.” Pete spoke up to be heard.

“Okay, that’s it people. Scooter, try and keep everyone alive while I’m gone. Harold, Spencer, assign one of your bouncers and one of your guards to protect her. They touch her instead of protecting her, they will be mine when I return. I knew Kitcha too well. She isn’t going to stay around the club if there is prey to be chased down. I’m gone and won’t be back until this one particular problem is taken care of, one way or another.”

“Spencer I need a common denominator of names off those cell phones we have been liberating off these people. I want names, addresses. Someone knows where Mr. Toxic is mixing his poisons. We’ll try the street people first. If no leads I’m going to ramp it up and make it personal until I get a name. Time is not on our side. We get this bastard first or a lot of people are going to die.”

Spencer gave me a serious look. “I’ll have those names for you before noon tomorrow.”

“Spencer, Harold, I need to talk to both of you before I leave. I want to know where the druggies, prostitutes, gangers, homeless hang out around this town.”

Kitcha rubbed her hands together. “Oh yeah!”

Pointing at her, I shook my head. “Pants, blouse, ratty and dirty. We blend in instead of looking like the recruiting poster for lost damsels in distress.”

“And…” I continued when she looked like she was about to protest. “Mess up your hair and dirty your face. We will look like one of the homeless ourselves.”

Brent, Harold, and Spencer all choked at the same time as the same thought hit their minds. Nova looking like a bag lady? Kitcha, the sex kitten, looking like a street waif? Impossible.

Kitcha and I put on jeans and tee-shirts after tearing holes in them. We borrowed jackets from Brent and Harold. To their horror we ripped them as well. Kitcha used liquid soap in her hair to matt it down. I used crankcase oil knowing within a few hours I’d need to do it again as my hair shed anything I put on it or in it. A couple of my front teeth were blacked out by magic marker. We both used dark makeup expertly applied in spots to make us look like ninety miles of life had run over us. My old Mercury served for getting us within four blocks of where we needed to go.

As we were getting out of the car after finding a place to park where I didn’t think it would get vandalized, I gave Kitcha a hard look. “Viper, try and not kill anyone no matter how bad they piss you off. We don’t need to attract any badges. Our primary goal is finding the person mixing the poisons. Time is not on our side. When your anger rises, think of those who will die if we don’t catch this bastard before he sends in another batch to the club.”

Viper was a name very few knew about Kitcha. She was fast and deadly when necessary. I don’t know if she was the fastest I had ever met but I wouldn’t hesitate to put her at the top.

“I’ll try. If they absolutely deserve killing without any doubt…. Contessa, thanks for letting me come along.” Kitcha gave me a steady look.

A name I hadn’t been called in over sixty years. “It’s all I ask. Now, we have a poison expert to catch before anyone else dies. You work the north side of the street and I’ll take the south.”

Because we had started so late, a lot of the action in that part of town had slowed down. The rest of the night Kitcha and I separated. We were scouting the parts of town where all the human trash and flotsam accumulated. This was where the drug dealers, crack heads, burned out meth users, prostitutes, and their pimps wasted the last bit of their lives. There were also the vultures who preyed on them knowing the police could care less who got robbed and murdered. It was another body off the street. The police would look for the killer in the doughnut shop.

Had no idea how many propositions Kitcha was receiving. Knowing her size wasn’t as intimidating as mine, she was probably receiving three or four times the number I was being offered. I prayed they didn’t think the little girl could be forced into accepting any offers. It was slow going as I couldn’t just walk up to people and ask if they knew where I could buy poison to kill a bunch of people. I would aimlessly wander down the street asking for money or a drink. If they were willing to talk I would steer the conversation towards those who I knew were great at handling poisons and killing people. Hoping those listening would bring up their own local poison expert.

Kitcha and I met back up around seven AM. We would try the streets again as it would be a different set of people on the streets now. We had grilled the night crowd who for the most part were now gone. This would be the day crowd.

“Anything?” I was hoping Kitcha had better luck than me.

“Nothing concerning our poison expert. Got a lot of job offers though. I could make a living down here.”

Laughing, I shook my head. “Until you killed all your pimps and clients.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “No job lasts forever.”

“Ain’t that the truth. Okay, you going to take a break? I’m going back in and taking your side of the street.”

“I’m good. As you said, time isn’t on our side. Let’s find and nail that bastard.”

I had worked down a couple alleys and was headed back to the street in a second alley when I saw something that might give me a little more credibility as homeless. I stepped up to the cardboard box and the shopping cart piled full of junk. “Hey, you in the box. I want to borrow or buy your cart and it’s contents.”

Feet wrapped in rags, the legs had on two or more pairs of pants came sliding out. The body they were attached to had on several layers of ratty old shirts and sweaters. She stood up and looked me over. “Mine ain’t for sale.”

“Possibly rent until tomorrow morning then.” Reaching into my pocket I pulled out some bills. I started unfolding twenties until I got to five of them and stopped.

“What you up to, Huntress? You ain’t homeless. You working for the law?”

That one shocked me as I took a good look at her face trying to picture where we had possibly met. I had picked up the vibes she was mutant before I ever got close to her box. Taking a second look convinced me we had never met. Over the centuries my memory had a lot of faces stored in it. As far as I knew it wasn’t leaking yet.

“Most of the law and me don’t get along so well. I’m needing information on the whereabouts of a person.”

“Nobody is going to share any information down here. It will get you killed. Out of curiosity who you looking for?”

“Someone who can mix up poisons. He would be local in the area and probably a mutant.”

“That would be Dagger. She comes down this way every now and then to try out one of her latest batches. People die, no one cares. Police don’t even check for poison. Some of the street people weren’t too bright and came right out saying Dagger poisoned them. That was when the police called in Bolt to take care of the wagging tongues. Going up against the Committee will get one killed.”

“You know about the Committee?”

“I didn’t say nothing.” She looked up and down the alley for feet attached to ears.

Unfolding another five twenties I was studying her face. She wasn’t moved. The money wasn’t worth dying over. Again I unfolded another five twenties. Still nothing. Money wasn’t going to buy the information I needed. “Look, this Dagger person has been trying to kill a bunch of people at the club. If I don’t stop him…, her, she is going to succeed. I need to know where I can find her.”

“Won’t do no good. Get close to her and she will kill you. Same as with Bolt. The police give them free reign to do whatever they want.”

“I’m pretty sure I can handle Dagger. As far as Bolt hurting anyone ever again, won’t happen.”

“You took him out? That’s pretty good even for you, Huntress.”

“Let’s just say him and Dreamer decided to leave town and didn’t leave a forwarding address.”

“That club you mentioned? Is that the one where Bolt killed that waitress? Is that why Dagger was called in?”

“The demise of a certain waitress was a little premature. Bolt didn’t quite get the job done.”

She stared at me for the longest before she nodded in agreement. “That was you? I heard you were impossible to kill. Maybe Dagger has met her match. She doesn’t live near here. She only drops by from time to time to test her toxic batches. She lives up in Woodland addition near Oak and Willow streets. Can’t give you a proper address but that will be close.”

Reaching out, I took her hand and put all the cash I had in mine in hers. It was over a thousand dollars. “Can you take care of yourself until I come back for you? I have a job to do first and then I want you to come with me. What in the hell caused you so much pain you bailed out on society?”

“They killed my sister. Didn’t give her a chance. Assassinated her after pulling her over on the road.”

That one shocked the hell out of me. One guess who her sister was. “Jenna?”

She was wiping tears as she nodded.

Now I knew how she knew who I was. She picked up the small insignificant things a Huntress carries in the way we move, our mannerisms, the way we constantly check for threat situations around us. I didn’t know Jenna but she must have heard about me. Living for centuries we pick up unwanted baggage with people talking about our existence.

“What’s your name?”

She hesitated for so long I was beginning to think she wasn’t going to tell me. “Sonya”

“Sonya, I give you my promise those who killed your sister along with those higher up who told them to do it, will pay. Stay safe. I will be back for you.”

Back out on the street I looked for Kitcha. She was coming out of an alley two blocks from me. Of course she spotted me. She might not be a Huntress, Viper was a killer in her own right. Nothing around her was left unchecked for safety reasons. Making a circle motion above my head with my right hand, I closed my fist.

Kitcha gave a slight nod with her head she understood. I had what we had been seeking. That was just as four men moved in on her. From where I was at they didn’t look like guys who took no for an answer. I closed my eyes and shook my head as I prayed Kitcha didn’t kill them.

Kitcha backed up into the alley. I knew she was luring them in, small helpless, defenseless little girl retreating out of fear. “Oh shit!” I could have run down there which would have told everyone who saw me, I was mutant. I’m a whole lot faster than normal people. All I could do was wait. A couple minutes later Kitcha came out smiling. I don’t know what she did as there weren’t any screams. As fast as she is, they probably didn’t have time to scream after she took out the first one.

“Idiots!” I was wondering if they would ever try to ambush another female? Provided Viper left any of them alive that is. The public makes a lot of lies up about mutants. There are a few things they will never admit. We are the ultimate deterrent against rape and assault against women.

Turning, I headed back for where we left the car. I didn’t want Kitcha to meet up with me in front of the alley where Sonya was. Someone might add up two and two if they were paying attention. The hand signal? I doubted anyone in this neighborhood was intelligent enough to figure it out even if they did see it.

“You’re driving.” I tossed Kitcha the keys after we returned to the car where two young men were taking an unusual interest in it.

“Guys, it’s old and the parts are hardly worth stripping. Go steal one that will make it worth your time.” Kitcha and I walked up to them.

“Big girl, you don’t scare me.” The one who stood about six foot tall was giving me the back off look.

That got me tickled. “Sonny, it isn’t me you need to be scared of. It’s the shorter chick beside me. She’s a real mental case and enjoys putting the maximum hurts on people like you.”

Kitcha squeaked as she looked up at me. “Mental? You call me mental after some of the things you’ve done?”

They were both laughing. “Is all this talk supposed to scare us? Get real, bitches.”

“Warned you. They’re yours.” I backed up.

Moments later we were leaving two seriously messed up young men who had received a very costly lesson in underestimating a small woman. Their hospital stay would be for a couple weeks there was no doubt. Kitcha was smiling ear to ear.

Yep, she was mental. I could live with that as long as she wasn’t putting the hurts on those who didn’t do anything to her. I was busy programming Oak and Willow into the GPS. It brought up the intersection.

“That’s our target area, there. Drive up Oak six or eight blocks each direction. If I don’t pick up a scent we will take Willow. I hope she hasn’t already mixed up her toxins and left for the club.”

“She?”

“Dagger is female. Not a name I have ever heard a female use. I’m guessing the name was to throw off anyone who might be looking for her.”

Kitcha looked worried. “Nova, I know you can pick up scents almost as good as Scooter. I also know you are immune to a lot of poisons. I don’t think you should be taking on this psycho alone. I’d never forgive myself if she managed to kill you.”

“I plan on being very careful. Don’t have a plan yet. She is not going to poison anyone ever again if I can stop her. Let’s worry about finding her before we start worrying how to bring her down.”

“Gun would work from a distance.”

“I don’t have a gun. Do you? I didn’t think so. You and I aren’t the gun type for killing. A sword, spear, arrow would be nice about now but I don’t have any of those in the car. This isn’t the first time I regret not bringing any of those things along.”

Our windows rolled down, Kitcha slowly drove up Oak. She was driving slow. I was hoping Dagger or whatever her real name was, wasn’t monitoring the cars going up and down the street. I was betting she felt pretty secure with all her poisons and wouldn’t be watching traffic if she was home.

After Kitcha had gone ten blocks up Oak she turned the car around and looked at me.

“She’s here somewhere. The toxic smells were stronger closer to the intersection with Willow. Go back and drive east down Willow.”

After ten blocks east on Willow there were scents but nothing definite I could point to. We were wasting time. I wasn’t sure if Dagger was still home or how much time we had to spare. Scooter could nail this down in minutes but she wasn’t here. It would take more than an hour for her to come even if we called her now. I was so damn sure of my own ability to follow the scent I screwed up. I should have called for help when Sonya told me where I needed to look. People might die because of my own arrogance.

When Kitcha drove back to Oak and Willow I had her stop. Getting out of the car, I licked my finger and held it up. There was a very slight wind out of the south. I was picking up the scent on a back swirl of wind. Dagger didn’t live on Oak or Willow. She lived on a street or two north of Willow.

Back in the car I pointed east. “Go north a block and drive east.”

Kitcha had gone less than a block east on Popular when I saw the house we were looking for. It had security cameras at the entrance, another covering the garage door, one covering the driveway, and one at each corner of the house. If that wasn’t enough,
the toxins leaking out of that house told me that was her home. There were poisons I caught a trace of I had no doubt would put me six feet under. If she had any neighbors still alive I would be surprised.

“Keep on driving for two blocks. Circle the block and park in a driveway four doors down from that house.” I pointed at the house in question.

“Think that’s her?”

“I don’t think. That’s her all right. I hope she’s still home.”

Moments later Kitcha had parked in one of her neighbor’s driveway. “Now what?”

I called Spencer. “We found the house. I need to know if she’s still there. It is three four eight nine Popular. Are you able to help? Don’t send anyone to her door. The toxins leaking out of that house would kill an elephant. It has to be a thousand times worse when she opens the door.”

“Just a minute.” I heard Spencer talking in the background.

Minutes later he was back. “We have a phone number listed for that address. I’m looking through all those cell phones you have been collecting. Yep, here it is on one of them. I’m betting if I call her from the phone she will answer it. I’m giving it a try now.”

I could hear the phone ringing from Spencer’s end but there wasn’t any answer. I was almost in tears. So close and yet so far. We were too late. “Crap! She’s left already!”

“Hold on, we aren’t finished. We’ll ping her phone and get a location.” It wasn’t the longest sixty eight seconds I had ever waited but close.

“Got it. She’s home but not answering the phone. Maybe the guy who owned this phone with her number wasn’t really supposed to have it?”

“Bless you and your security team! If you were close I’d throw you down on the ground and kiss you until you cried uncle.” I was almost in tears again with happiness.

Spencer was laughing as he shouted at Ken. “Did you hear that! She might be going on date you but it’s me she is going to kiss for days.”

“In your dreams, Ken yelled back at him.”

“Gotta go, I need to get ready for when she leaves. Hugs and kisses, guys.” I hung up got out, went to the trunk, and retrieved a rifle.

“I thought you said you didn’t have a rifle.” Kitcha had followed me to the back of the car.

Opening up a box I retrieved a dart among a dozen nestled in the box. “Air rifle.”

“You plan on tranquilizing her? Nova, I don’t think that will work. The woman is probably immune to poisons. Tranquilizers are mild poisons.”

“Tracker. It isn’t her but her car I’m going to dart.” Opening the breach I loaded the dart into the gun.

Walking away another block away from her house I crossed the street and headed for the alley of the houses across the street from hers. It was then I noticed was there were no dogs barking, kids playing, or people talking. Over a block around her house was essentially a dead zone. I wondered if everyone had died or if they got sick and left?

Across the street from Dagger was a house with some mostly dead shrubs in the front. I made it to them and waited. Three hours later Kitcha and I were still waiting for her to leave. I was beginning to wonder if Spencer and his guys had pinged a phone in her house she never carried with her? I was thinking about calling him when her garage door starting rising up. I waited as she started backing out. Just before the back of her car reached the street I pulled the trigger. It was a good solid shot. There was a dart in the trunk of her car. She would see it if she got out and looked but I didn’t think that would happen until she got where she was going.

She drove west to Oak and turned north. I had no doubt the club was her destination.

Running back to the car, I slid into the driver’s seat and looked at Kitcha. “This could get very deadly. You sure you don’t want out now?”

“You’re wasting time.”

“Yes, and maybe delaying our funerals.” Switching on the GPS I touched the screen several times. It lit up with a dot indicating Dagger’s car on the street map. She was on Coronado headed west. The club was in that general direction.

Frantically I was trying to decide how to stop her without any good options coming up in my mind. “Kitcha, any ideas?”

“Knock her off the road and kill her. No problem.” Kitcha was grinning as she looked at me.

“The world’s problems can’t be solved by killing everyone we don’t like.” Leave it up to Kitcha to be direct.

“Probably not but it’s a start.”

Fifty-two blocks later we were getting close and closer to the club and I was getting desperate. “Okay kid, tighten your seatbelt and hold onto your pantyhose. This is going to get rough.”

Speeding up, I caught up with her car in less than five blocks. She was in the inside lane of a four lane street. Coming up on her right side I whipped the steering wheel to the left into her right rear side panel. Her car started drifting across the street with the rear end getting ahead of the front end. Drivers coming at us from the other way started dodging around her. Her car bounced backwards across the curb, across a parking lot, and slammed the passenger side into a retaining wall.

When I had steered into her I hit the brakes to wait and see if my unprofessional PIT maneuver was going to stop her. Whipping into the parking lot, Kitcha and I were out of the car in less than a second after I stopped thirty feet from the toxic lady.

She opened her door, stepped out, and smiled as she looked at me. “Well as I live and breathe if it isn’t Huntress. Sorry I don’t have time to stop and gossip about old times. I really am on a schedule.”

“Oh? That crap you’re planning on sending into the Garden Club has a shelf life does it, Sally Ann?”

“You’ll never know. I figured you were around somewhere screwing things up. I made up a special batch for you.” She tossed a glass vial toward the pavement at my feet.

I was back peddling as Kitcha, the little speed demon, came past catching the vial before it had a chance to hit the pavement. “Kitcha NO!” If that stuff could kill me, Kitcha didn’t stand a chance.