Rise of the Dunamy (18 page)

“You mean the situation that you set up in the alley, with your buddies? You had one knock me out while you pretended to take a beating and had them fire blanks at you. Pretty simple explanation. I assume this is some elaborate thing you have put together to try and ‘turn me’.” She mocked, as she peered at him through squinted eyes.

“I most certainly did not set that incident in the alley up!” He replied angrily. “I had absolutely no desire to put you through the pain and anxiety that I saw you go through! I only allowed it to go on in hopes that I would have a better opportunity to get us out of it without you seeing anything.” Once again, his mood softened instantly as he continued his rebuttal. “But, you hung in there until there was no way to deny what happened. When the gun went off, I knew there was no other way. And I hated putting you through the torture that you were going through when you were tied up earlier. Like I said, I think I made a bad decision, I just thought I had to make sure I knew everything and I needed to be able to make an informed decision about how to proceed. Seeing your reactions earlier when you talked about me gave me reason to believe there might be some way for us to be together even if you know the truth.” Lucian’s words were sincere, of that Sofia had no doubt. She resisted every impulse to reach out to him and try and console him. She just stared at him for a few moments in silence before asking her previous question again.

“So is this the part where you turn me or ask me to join you or something?”

“No.” The abrupt way that he answered actually hurt Sofia’s feelings a little. She didn’t believe what he was saying, but it bothered her that he wouldn’t want her to be like him.

“Why the hell not?” she snapped.

“Can’t do it,” he said bluntly.

“It doesn’t sound like you’re going to make such a great leader of your people. I mean, in a crunch you can’t even recruit new prospects?” She was lashing out in response to the rejection she felt from Lucian’s responses.

“I understand it’s gonna take some time for you to get this, but the least you can do is ask me questions without mocking me, ‘cause it’s highly likely that you’re saying something stupid.”

Sofia was taken aback by his words. “I cannot turn someone because that is not possible. People are born this way. When we are born, our bodies develop the same as yours until around puberty. Once our bodies begin to change, they generally develop at an earlier age and at a faster pace. Most of your ‘early bloomers’ possess the attributes that would allow them to become one of my people.”

Sofia sat on her chair with a look of disbelief on her face as she tried to process everything that Lucian was telling her. It was all too much. Every question had an answer; every comment some response, that, although completely insane, was perfectly logical. She could hardly focus on what he was saying anymore. The biggest issue that she was struggling with was that the man she had been developing such deep feelings for in the past weeks, was clearly insane.

“I’ve heard enough. I want to go home now.” Sofia rose from her uncomfortable seat and dusted herself off as she began to scan the room for the exit, locating it across the way.

Lucian, surprised at her abrupt desire to leave, but aware of how tired she appeared, nodded in agreement.

“I understand. This’s been a bad day. I can get you a ride home.”

“No, I’ll walk. I have absolutely no desire to be near you. You’re a murderer! What about me makes you think that I would want anything to do with you?” Sofia glared at Lucian as she started towards the exit across the room.

“Sofia, I understand that you’re angry with me, but this is no place for you to be alone at your best, let alone at night when you’re exhausted. I didn’t bring you to the suburbs for this. Just let me get you home, or at the very least, let me walk with you.” Lucian pleaded with her as he followed her towards the door. Finally reaching out and taking hold of her arm gently.

Sofia yanked her arm away from Lucian, and turned. “Stay away from me Lucian. I don’t want anything from you. Everything that I’ve been through today is because of you.” She spoke calmly but firmly and glanced at his hand, which was all the warning that he needed. Lucian knew that she would not give in, so he released her arm and allowed her to leave.

35

C
ompletely oblivious to her location in the city, Sofia stormed out into the dark night, onto the sidewalk and began walking. Her knowledge of the city was extensive enough that she knew once she saw some landmarks she would be able to get herself going in the right direction. Her only concern at that moment was to get as far away from Lucian as she could.

She began processing everything that she had been through and heard in the past 24 hours. The physical drain that she had experienced over the past several hours became more apparent as she walked; her feet felt heavier and her back began to ache. Her knees, still stiff from having been straightened out for so long, further impacted her stride. She wanted nothing more than to be laying in her bed, wrapped in her sheets. As she contemplated that scenario, she couldn’t help but think of Lucian being there to hold her.

She had grown close to Lucian in such a short time. He had really shown her a side of herself that she didn’t know existed. She was actually having fun outside of work for the first time in years, and felt a real connection with him. She struggled with the idea of how she could have allowed herself to feel anything for someone that was capable of such things. Her job was to notice the sort of details that would have led her to see what he was. She rolled around all of the insight Lucian had given on the case and tried to remember him ever actively trying to throw them off the case. As drained as she was, she felt confident that she could accurately remember their conversations regarding the case, and couldn’t recall a single time where Lucian had tried to misdirect their investigation. One thing did make much more sense now that she knew the truth about his involvement; it now made perfect sense why the crime scenes had been completely stripped of all trace evidence. Lucian would have known exactly what to look for and what to remove or cover up.

Waves of embarrassment continued to wash over her as she walked on. The idea that she had allowed herself to be not only outsmarted, but completely ensnared by the very person she had been chasing was humiliating. She had never allowed anyone so close to her and that was why she had always been such an excellent officer, and how she became the best detective. Every other case she had worked on had gotten her full focus and undivided attention. When others would leave work and head home, she had always put in the extra hours and found crucial pieces of evidence that had been missed. She had risked everything that she had worked for on the very person she was supposed to be tracking. Every step that she took made her more furious. Then Sofia realized that she had been walking for several minutes in an effort to distance herself from Lucian but with no real idea of where she was or what direction she was heading.

When she began to look around, a cold, unsettling feeling came over her. He had not been wrong about her not needing to go walking off by herself. She was in one of the most dangerous parts of Atlanta. The area had been completely overtaken with gangs and there was no real police presence at night. Pulling out her phone, her heart sank as she realized she had never charged the battery from the night before. Taxis did not run through the area either, so finding some transportation was out of the question. The streetlights had all been broken, and although the moon was full, it was completely hidden by the thick clouds that had earlier provided such a serene setting for their walk home. The roads were dark, making visibility a huge concern for Sofia. Her heels clicked loudly as they met the concrete then echoed for what seemed like an eternity off of the run down, windowless houses. As she took notice of the loud clicking, she stopped abruptly and removed her shoes. She knew that the last thing she needed was to draw attention to herself. As she reached down to remove the shoes, she caught a glimpse of the clean, albeit very wrinkled, sleeve of her shirt and realized just how badly she stood out from her surroundings. After a quick glance around to make sure she hadn’t drawn anyone’s attention, Sofia slinked off of the main road and began to try and devise a quick disguise to help her blend in to her disheveled environment.

Sofia began by tearing one of her sleeves and letting it hang from her shoulder. Carefully moving over to the yard of what appeared to be an abandoned house, she searched for anything useful. Scanning the dilapidated porch that hung off the front of the house, she failed to see anything in the darkness that she could use for self-defense. Knowing there was a very good chance the house was actually filled with a bevy of drug addicts, she elected not to search inside for anything. As she turned to make her way back to the sidewalk, she nearly tripped over a large cement pot that she saw just in time. The pot lay on its side, the dried up soil, spilled out in front of it filled with weeds. Realizing that her best bet at this point was to keep herself from being noticed by blending in, she grabbed a handful of the dirt and rubbed it into the skin on her arm to see if it would have the proper effect. Sofia had always taken care of her skin, which had given it a soft texture, which was not the look of a vagabond. The dusty dry dirt did just enough to give her skin a more weathered appearance. Accepting that she could only do so much with what she had at her disposal, Sofia began rubbing the dirt on all exposed portions of her skin, focusing mainly on her face. As she continued to perform her dirt scrub on her face, she realized how hard she was trying to keep the dirt out of her hair. She knew that no matter how hard she focused on making her skin look dirty, her hair definitely did not reflect the same haphazard style of living. Begrudgingly, she began smashing handfuls of dirt into her hair; rubbing it in down to her scalp. She did all she could to crimp and kink her hair in every way in order to get the preferred level of grime that she needed to pull off her disguise. Finally accepting that her skin and hair could hold no more filth, she began to work on her manner of movements.

Taking a few seconds to make sure she could act the part, Sofia began attempting the slow stroll of a heroin addict. She worked to get her head and neck trained to reflect the limp nature of those she had become all too familiar with from working as a beat cop. After taking a few minutes to practice her new walk, Sofia began looking for some reflective surface to see how her costume had turned out. She wanted to make sure that she was prepared in case a situation came along that required her to blend in or even disappear. Playing the role of a homeless drug addict would be ideal for any such situation as they were commonly overlooked. Sofia was not surprised to find that there was no glass to be found in any of the surrounding buildings, so she had to make due with an old can that she found in the gutter. Sofia twisted the soda can in half several times and was able to create a large hole in the side of it. She then ripped the pieces apart and peeled the can back to reveal the shiny interior. While it did not provide an accurate reflection of the way that she looked, Sofia could tell that she didn’t look the part. No matter how much she tried to make herself look like a disheveled mess, she knew no one would buy her as homeless or an addict. Her clothes were too crisp and too new and her skin, while now very dirty, showed no signs of the tremendous wear and tear that she had seen on the faces of the miserable souls she came across on a daily basis. She knew that the only way that she would be able to blend in was if she covered who she was completely, not attempt to mask it.

She continued down the street in a much more cautious manner now that she was aware of her surroundings. This was an unfamiliar situation for her, which left her feeling very exposed and vulnerable. Sofia didn’t have to look far before she came across a group of homeless people entering one of the old buildings. She followed them in and began to search for someone who might be able to spare an overcoat and toboggan that she could use to cover her clothes, face and hair. Locating a woman with the appearance of a street veteran, she offered her the thirty dollars that she had in her pocket as compensation for the woman’s full-length overcoat, skull cap, and the shoes on her feet. The woman was hesitant to accept the offer, looking at Sofia as if she was trying to pull one over on her. Sofia knew from her dealings with street people over the years that they were always wary of a deal that seemed too good to be true. She also knew that mentioning that she was a police officer in trouble was more likely to get her thrown out of the building than it was to get her any closer to striking a deal. Referencing a shelter where she had seen a similar jacket and pointing out that the skullcaps and shoes were virtually everywhere gave the woman a much more suitable offer. The woman took a few seconds to consider the offer before eventually accepting the deal and snatching up the cash Sofia offered her.

36

S
ofia left the building, donning her newly purchased street urchin outfit. The coat was entirely too heavy for the weather and the skullcap was completely unnecessary, but they served their purposes perfectly. Sofia had noticed the stench of the coat before she had purchased it. It reeked of urine, booze, and years of body odor that accumulated into an amalgamation of filth that took Sofia several minutes to get used to. She had considered going for the less offensive jacket of the woman nearby but thought that the stench might be helpful in keeping others from taking a closer look at her and blowing her cover. She placed the heavy, moist coat on over her work shirt causing a puff of the recent layer of sweat and b.o. to come rushing out. Not wanting to offend the woman as she was still within view, she did all she could to keep from gagging and pushed on to put on the cap.

The thought of placing that filthy cap on her head made Sofia’s stomach churn as she continued to try and recover from the overwhelming urge to vomit that putting on the coat had given her. The only thing that kept her from losing her composure was the awareness that these things could potentially save her life. She flipped the hat inside out as inconspicuously as possible and inspected it for lice. Although there was a great deal of white flaky dandruff inside the wool cap, she found no signs of the tiny parasites. After patting off as much of the dandruff as possible, Sofia balled up as much of her hair as possible, and shoved it in.

The shoes were a no brainer and much easier to deal with than the other pieces of the outfit. There was no way that she could walk in the shoes that she had been wearing, and barefoot was out of the question. The constant clicking on the concrete was enough of a reason for her to do away with them, much less the fact that she would never have a shot at escape if she did encounter a problem. She had a long way to go to get to a point of safety, and her feet were as likely to give her away as her hair was. Forcing her foot into the shoe, she struggled momentarily as the moisture inside slowed her progress. She had noticed the woman’s feet were slightly smaller than her own, but preferred tighter shoes to larger ones in case she had to make an escape. While the smaller shoes would cause discomfort, larger ones could cause a very untimely fall.

Emerging once more onto the sidewalk in front of the tragic little house, Sofia covered herself as best she could and began making her way back towards safety. The most difficult part of exiting the area was that she was unable to walk directly out. She had to take the right streets or she would be in danger of running into gangs with members that knew her face. The path that would lead her out was a maze of backroads, sidestreets, and alleyways that would keep her from passing all major hangouts and bases of operation of ever small or large scale organization in the area. She couldn’t afford to run into anyone that she had met or arrested before. While she had always treated her suspects fairly, that didn’t always matter to them. She knew that most of them would hold a grudge for simply being questioned, so if she happened across someone that had been a suspect in one of their investigations it could result in a very bad situation for her. Jumping fences or cutting through yards was also out; trespassing would not be tolerated by the local gangs no matter who she was or how out of her mind she appeared to be. Also, it was highly unlikely that anyone that saw her jump a fence would ever believe her cover.

Sofia navigated the streets keeping her distance from every person she passed, no matter how innocent they appeared. As she walked, she wondered why Lucian would have brought her to such a dangerous area. Not only that, but he had allowed her to leave with very little resistance. She had, of course, not given him much of a choice, but if he cared about her he simply would not have let her go into the area alone. She hadn’t imagined the bond they had formed; it was real and it was strong. Although the timesepan that they had spent forming their relationship had been short, they had come to know one another intimately. She knew that Lucian could tell by the look on her face as she left that she would not be dissuaded, but she still felt like he would have followed her. Considering the lengths he had just gone to in order to get information from her, following her home when she was angry with him didn’t seem like too far a stretch.

She had looked back several times to see if Lucian was following at a distance to keep an eye on her, but there were no signs that she was being followed. While it was very hard to put anything past him at this point, Sofia couldn’t believe that he was capable of tailing her without her knowledge, or surviving in the area if he were ever located. He had talked a big game about all of his nonsense, but when push came to shove he was too small to ever fight off even a single member of any of the local boys. Sofia didn’t care. Lucian had taken up too much of her time and efforts, both personal and professional. She forged ahead alone.

It hadn’t taken long for Sofia to come across a situation where her cover was necessary and she had successfully slipped in and out of it several times and was becoming rather good at becoming “invisible” when needed. Rather than allow herself to focus on the insanity that had just taken place with Lucian, she had focused all of her energy on her task at hand in order to keep her mind occupied.

Now, as she rounded one corner she noticed a group of men standing down the street beneath what seemed to be the only working streetlight in the entire area. They had taken notice of her as soon as she turned onto the street. Recognizing the uniform of a street dweller, they turned their attention back to the conversation and away from her. Having already been noticed, Sofia knew that she could not cross the street or turn back without drawing some suspicion. If the men sensed fear, they were likely to come looking for trouble. She knew that her best option was to try and pass by them without drawing too much attention. Knowing that she needed to get past them as quickly as possible, Sofia considered changing personas in order to allow for faster movement than a typical junkie was capable of. She had seen enough of both as a beat cop to know the major differences between the two. A drug addict on the street had no shame and no sense of danger. They would ask anyone for money for drugs, be it a tourist, a business man, or even a gangster. A drunk, on the other hand, would generally just wade through foot traffic en route to their destination. The crazy ones were even more likely to just wander past people without paying them any attention, lost in their own thoughts and ramblings. Drunks asked for money too, but far less often than the drug addicts and they tended to show a little discretion when they could tell there was no hope. The reason being, drug addicts were always looking for their next fix, but as long as the drunks were drunk, they were happy. Also, the crazy drunks were almost as likely to attack you for talking to them as anyone; whereas the drug addicts would take a beating if they thought someone might give them money for doing it.

Sofia ventured on, adding an occasional sideways step to her walk. She then began muttering to herself incoherently, occasionally raising her voice loudly, while effectively saying nothing. For a brief moment she was reminded of her first date with Lucian and their experience on the train. Her heart sank as she thought of that perfect evening. Forcing herself to concentrate on her survival, Sofia shook her feelings for the moment and continued on. Staring at only the concrete before her and raving like a lunatic, she approached the men who continued speaking to one another and paid her very little attention.

She planned to pass the group by going out into the street to go around them, but as she began to turn toward the street a car approached the boys and stopped. The men in the car were apparently affiliated with the men on the street and they began talking. The three men that had been leaning against the building approached the car to join in the greetings that were now going on. This left a small gap behind all of the men, large enough for Sofia to walk through. Seeing the opening, she redirected herself and hastily tried to pass the men.

Sofia was nearly beyond the group when one of the younger men turned around to locate the source of the stench that had just crept into their area. He shoved her harshly, knocking her into the wall. Sofia had seen his intentions just prior to him making his move and was able to tuck her head and roll towards the wall, keeping her face out of sight.

The boy began taunting her about her smell and pointing at her. Sofia’s heart began to pound at the thought of what may happen if they looked beyond her thin disguise. The other men took notice of their partner’s actions. Laughing, they chimed in with their own comments about her foul odor, but no one approached her.

Sofia knew that looking them in the eye could give away too much or possibly make them combative, so she began to babble a little louder as she made her way past them. She knew that she had to keep them away from her without getting them angry and without allowing them to see beyond the filth. The boys continued to mock and shove her as she slowly made her way past them. Any attempt to defend herself or strike back would surely result in a much more violent reaction, so Sofia took the abuse and did everything that she could to maintain her cover.

As she was about to pass the last man he curled in against the wall, blocking her exit. He had clearly missed the substance of the comments about her as he began to make a move to grab her. He quickly realized what the others were referring to as he caught a whiff of Sofia’s coat, and recoiled in disgust, falling back against the car that his friends were in. The others began to laugh and turned their attention to him as he jokingly slid down the back of the car, holding his throat as if he were choking to death. Sofia saw her opportunity and moved away from the men as quickly as she could.

She stumbled on down the street as fast as she could, doing everything in her power to keep from breaking character. That was the closest that she had ever come to being victimized and she could hardly keep herself from breaking into a dead sprint, but somehow she managed. After what seemed like an eternity of bumbling down the sidewalk, she finally reached the corner before slinking around it and nearly collapsing.

She had never felt such anxiety. Never before had she been in such a situation with no backup, no weapon, and such a feeling of being overwhelmed. The attack in the alley with Lucian had been different because it happened very quickly and she had no time to think about it. Also, what was happening to Lucian was taking enough of her focus to keep her from thinking about what might happen to her. She had been considering the possibility of something like what had just happened since beginning her trek out of her dangerous surroundings. Vulnerability was not something that she had learned to deal with because she so rarely had to worry about it. She breathed deeply as she leaned against the brick wall. As she sat and gathered her wits, Sofia realized that the laughter and taunting of the men had stopped. The sound she heard now paralyzed her with fear. It was the sound of several men running in her direction.