//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: The machine is broke down // by RainbowAdmin //------------------------------// “Mike, baby, did I warn you about what would happen if you will do something wrong?” Hefty bumpkin stood anxiously looking down at the floor. “How could you miss this freak?” “But Boss, I have not seen anyone leaving the house. There was nobody there!” “And who then killed four of my people and set fire to an apartment? Or maybe they decided to shoot at each other and to play the instigators?” “Well... There was one. But he came out of the alley and went fishing.” “Fishing. At 11:00 pm. In the middle of the week. No rods. Are you an idiot? What kind of car he got?” “I do not remember... It was big. Perhaps Sergeant remembers. He was sitting on the hood...” Mike shyly looked at Boss, like a little kid who broke his mother's favorite vase. “But that guy seemed to me like moron. He smiled stupidly. And then put the bag in the car and drove away. This creature was not with him.” “And now you seem to me like moron. Okay, what was the address... Yeah, here.” He drummed on the keyboard, waits for the end of the search and whistled. “It seems we have a problem.” “What is wrong, Boss?” “Call Sergeant here, you moron, Bald and Chuck. It will be two birds with one stone.” The man at the table smiled slyly. He began when everybody assembled: “Where is this creature?” “Somewhere in the desert, according to the signal.” Said a thin guy with a bald head. Judging by the tone of conversation, he was sort of right-handed boss. “No, that’s a beacon, but not a creature. Stop searching. We are looking for a black Volkswagen Touareg with this number now.” Boss gave them a piece of paper. “Where the owner of this clunker - there and what we are looking for. Knowing him, he will carry it with him. And he has no place to leave this winged ass.” “Should we fear him?” Bald asked. “No, you should flee in terror as far as possible, if he notices you. Unless, of course, you will have time. It’s Pegasus.” “And who is this?” Sergeant asked. “We had once worked together.” Bald explained. “Then why do you want him as a bird?” “This is my own business. He decided that he is better than me and I wiped his nose. After that, he's looking for me.” “Boss, should we remove him?” Asked Mike. “You should remove a pile of shit from your pants when he will see you. You have no skills to handle him. We need to get this blue creature, and then he would come to me by himself. I just can not understand why he protects it. Go to the Guerrero’s basement. He did not kill anybody out there when he picked up our winged ass, so he’ll be back there. If you notch it - call, I'll tell you what to do. One more thing. Try to make the creature remained alive. Sooner or later we can sell it. And yeah... Tell Professor that I want him to come.” *** “Well, since we're sort of made it up, come to think of what to do next. What happened after they tied up you?” I looked at pegasus, brewing a new cup of tea. “The big guy punched me.” Dash said sadly. “It was hurt.” “Which of them? Was he then in the basement? Don’t be sad, so you're the coolest and the bravest.” I went to the little girl and gently passed my hand in her mane, from top to back, and when she looked at me I winked at her. “Yes, the biggest one. He seems to be called Squid.” She smiled. “Okay, and what was after that?” “I was shoved into a bag. It smelled bad.” She became sad again. “And then they took me somewhere. Then something… Sound… Almost like your ... Your cart, but its sound was just louder and more disgusting.” “They brought you in the car? For a long time? Shaking?” I sat down and stared at Dash. “For a long time. About an hour, or as you call it ... First, much shaken, I was even flying up, and then shaking stopped.” So they are not in the city. I need some one to talk. “Now we should return to the basement, where I got you. I can leave you here, but it is not safe.” “Why?” I saw in her eyes that she does not want to go back there. “It is necessary to communicate with the bad guys out there.” “You ... Are you going to kill again?” “Only if it needs to be.” I smiled and Dashie smiled back to me. Aw, she is so cute when she smiles. “Come on, finish your cup of tea and let’s go.” I put the dishes back in the cupboard, took the bag, pulled on Dash the same vest and we got out of the house. “Patrick…” “Yep?” “Where is... Toilet?.. I think I drank too much tea.” She looked embarrassed. “Choose any tree. Toilet is everywhere.” I said pointing toward the forest. “I’ll put my bag into car.” So, sir. The gun is behind my belt, the becket I loaded while we were talking, a second gun is in the glove compartment. I do not understand what is happening. Maybe after a little questioning things became clearer. Two minutes later Dash returned. I opened the door for her on the back sit and gestured her inside. “There is tinted glass; no one will notice you from outside. Just doesn’t looming between the front seats, you can be seen.” She nodded. I sat behind the wheel, pressed the engine start button and looked at the fuel level. “I’ll stop at the gas station, and looking to buy something to snack.” I stepped on the pedal and the vehicle moved with a smooth of locomotive. “And what is the gas station?” Through the mirror I saw that pegasus curiously stared at me. “The fact that my ... How you called, a cart, I mean a car goes not by itself. It needs fuel. And at a gas station people selling what it needs to "feed".” “It eats?” Dash a little frantically inspected the interior. “I would say that it eats like a blind horse.” “What? You got me confused. What does a horse?” “It does not eat, it burns fuel. How burns coal in a locomotive. This is just an expression, "eating like a blind horse." It means that the flow of the fuel is pretty much.” “We have locomotives. Now I think I understood. Is it fast? I love speed!” Winged girl looked at me with a twinkle in her eyes. Wow. In such a situation she can stay imperturbable and cheerful. “Now we’ll drive out of the forest on the road and I’ll ride you with the breeze.” I smiled in response. During a conversation we crawled to the road. I switched the suspension to sport mode and felt like the body of my car gets down towards the ground. Then moved a box of low transmission to the manual switch and push the pedal to the floor. Blue pegasus clearly did not expect such an acceleration, and she pressed into back of the sit. I didn’t race this baby for a long time. After seven seconds the speedometer crawled up to the mark of 60. 80, 100, 125 miles per hour. Diesel was cooing nicely under the hood. The road was smooth, straight and empty. But I didn’t accelerate more. Dash has already unstuck from the back and happily looking out of the window, clutching the front seat. I opened the manhole and a strong flow of air caused her mane to grow. Dashie closed her eyes in pleasure and slightly spread her wings. She is clearly not enough of these sensations. I was pleased to see her like this, even in the rearview mirror. Yeah, she is very beautiful. Stop. What? Ten minutes later, we flew to gas station and I had to stop. “Awesome!” Dashie just beamed with joy. “I’m glad you liked it." I smiled. "Sit here quietly, I’ll be quick.” “23 gallons on the second.” I said, passing the cashier. He just looked at my car and nodded in response. I got various fruits, and took a couple of bottles of water and a few packets of oatmeal cookies. Apparently, my guest liked them. Paying at the checkout, I went to the car, waited for the dispenser spit out the last drop of diesel fuel, took it out and went back behind the wheel, put the shopping bag on a nearby seat. “Want a bite?” She nodded. “Here, nibble an apple.” Under the energetic crunch from the back seat, I drove from the gas station. After about an hour, chatting about any nonsense, we drove to the entrance to the basement. The area near the abandoned factory did not look so dull as night, but there almost were no people at the street. I looked around. Nearby stood a white van. It looks it was empty. Leaving Dash sit in the car, I went out and went to the basement. *** “Boss, I see him.” “Where did he go?” “Into the basement.” “Is the creature with him?” “I don’t know. Maybe it’s in car. Should we get it?” “Yeah, take it and go to me. Just look, do not fall into his eyes, or you would not carry away your asses.” *** Once inside I saw a recent acquaintance that blew over the phone and some kind of goon, who was stunned staring at me. I looked at the goon: “Are you Squid?” “Yeah, so?” He looked at me threateningly. “You should not hurt her.” I raised my gun and fired. Quiet armor-piercing bullet clap has done its job. Squid’s brains are slowly creeping up the wall down. Then I turned to the second man. “What was she doing here?” “Who are you?” I reviewed him in detail. Tall, lean. Ugly face. “I have neither the time nor the desire to get acquainted with you. Oh, and you're not in a position to ask me questions. I repeat. What was she doing here?” “We had to give that thing to the client!” I can hardly restrain myself not to send him after the goon after these words. “Who is the client?” “I don’t know.” “Where did you get her?” “I don’t know.” “Repeat, please.” “I don’t know!” I raised my gun and looked into his eyes by my indifferent gaze: “It’s a pity. I don’t need you anymore.” “It’s a mistake! We needed another horse!” My interviewee whined piteously. “Where did you get her?” “Lab. In the desert.” “Where?” “I don’t know.” The muzzle of the pistol headed for his eye. “I really don’t know! I just know how to get there with GPS!” “If you tell me everything I'll leave you alive. Go on.” “Who are you?” “What kind of lab?” “Underground.” “What are they doing?” “I don’t know!” “Quietly, please. I can hear you perfectly. Who's there in charge?” “I do not know, I keep connection only with the chief of security.” “Who is it?” “Boss.” “Very informative. How to contact him?” “He calls me. Number is hidden.” “Give the coordinates of the laboratory. It is big?” “Not much.” He handed his navigator to me. “Here is the point!” “Now I really don’t need you anymore.” I raised my gun up to his head. “You promised not to kill me!” “I lied.” A clap. I heard a shout through the open door: “Patrick!” Then I heard a dull thud, someone curses, another blow and a female scream. Her voice is anything else I could be mistaken. Freaks! You will answer me for this! With this in mind I jumped out of the basement and saw a white van pulled away with a squeak of rubber. I raised the gun and made a couple of shots at the wheels. Of course, what did you expected, you fool? I rushed to the car, jumped behind the wheel, wound up and went after the van. Now they lead me to the right place. Stop. It's my jacket. On her. And it has a beacon! By free from the steering arm, I opened the laptop, lying on the passenger seat and started the navigation program. There were only two active beacons. One for me, the other on her. The rest were burned in the apartment. On the dashboard, I set the captured navigator. They were moving in the right direction to me. I was behind them enough to those assholes thought I lost them. We moved a distance of about a mile from each other. Van drove over the hill and I stopped. Van too. A few minutes later the signal was lost. Just at the point where the trophy navigator shows. Have gone underground. I slowly went to a nearby hill quietly to reconnoiter the situation. I can not lose her. I’ve gone too far. No, Dashie, I will not lose you!