I didn't come here to beat up Jerry Blum. I didn't come here to intimidate him. I came here to get a confession from him. And what happened after that, well, I was going to play that by ear.
"Tell me about the plane, Jerry," I said.
"Do you have any idea who I am?"
"You're Jerry Blum. Orange County's biggest crime lord. You are untouchable. Your enemies shudder in your presence. You've destroyed lives and businesses and spread fear far and wide. Did I miss anything?"
"Yeah, I'm rich. I can triple whoever's paying."
"Paying me to do what?"
"To kill me."
"They didn't pay me to kill you, Mr. Blum. I tossed that in as a freebie. Pro bono, so to speak."
He lay back in his bed, bleeding. His nose was perfect, probably surgically altered. His teeth were perfect, probably dentally enhanced. He let out a long breath. His breath was tinged with the scent of blood. In fact, blood wafted up from him everywhere. He wasn't bleeding a lot, granted, but a little bit of blood registered deeply with me.
I'm a shark, I thought, smelling blood in the water dozens of miles away.
"Tell me about the plane," I said. The blood, quite honestly, was driving me fucking crazy.
"Go to hell, cunt."
"Tell me about the plane, Jerry."
He threw his face at me, lips pulled back, cords standing out on his neck. His eyes veritably bulged from their sockets. He fought and fought and screeched in frustration and anger and pain, and when he spoke spittle shot from his mouth in a steady stream. "Of course I killed them, you fucking freaky bitch! Just like I'm going to kill you. You can't stop me, no one can stop me. I'm invincible. I kill who I want, when I want, and how I want. You understand, you crazy bitch? You understand? You're a dead woman. Dead! And so is your client and anyone else you fucking know! And that's after I fuck you every which way, you fucking whore! How dare you come into my house, how dare you come in here and - "
And that's as far as he got.
"Enough," I said.
I flipped Jerry Blum over and pulled his hands behind his back. I reached into my bag of tricks and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. I cuffed the bastard and then pulled a black, breathable hood over his face. I cinched it tight. He fought me like a demon on crack, bucking and twisting, but it did him no good.
When I was finished, I hauled him to his feet and threw him over my shoulder. I carried him to his beautiful alabaster balcony, where I set him down, along with my backpack, and ditched the robe. I closed my eyes and saw the flame and the hulking winged creature. When I opened my eyes again, I was easily five feet taller than I had been just seconds before. Jerry was still pinned beneath me, this time beneath one of my massive talons.
My hands in this form are quite dextrous; unfortunately, they're also attached to my wings, just like a bat. Still, I used my hands to drape the backpack over one of my talons. Once done, I gripped Jerry Blum by his shoulders. No doubt my claws hurt like hell.
I flapped my wings hard, causing a thunderous downdraft that whipped Jerry's hair crazily. He screamed and fought me some more, but had no clue what was happening to him. And as I got a little air under me, I adjusted my grip on the crime lord, using both talons now. I flapped my wings harder and now I was rising up into the night sky, Blum dangling beneath me like a kangaroo rat.
Chapter Fifty-two
We were in the predetermined clearing in Carbon Canyon. One of us unwillingly.
Still wearing the black hood, Jerry Blum was handcuffed to a tree branch, his hands high above him. He had cussed and hollered the entire twenty minute flight here. I flew on, ignoring him, catching a high altitude current that made flapping my wings a breeze. Once we had arrived in the clearing, I had transformed again and slipped into a little black dress that I had included in my bag of tricks. Blum was full of questions and vitriol and hate. I ignored all of his questions as I cuffed him to the tree branch.
Now from my bag of tricks, I removed my cell phone. I selected eleven recipients and sent out a single text message. I next made a call to my client, Stuart Young. In so many words, I told Stuart that the eagle had landed. I had our man. Stuart had paused, swallowed hard, and said he would be here as soon as possible.
I left Jerry Blum alone, secured to the tree. Jerry Blum, as far as I was concerned, had dug his own grave. From my backpack, I fished out a pack of cigarettes and fired one up and inhaled deeply. I had stepped out of the clearing and into a thicket of twisted trees. As I exhaled, I looked up at the full moon, now just a silver mosaic through the tangle of branches. My thoughts were empty. My heart was empty. I felt empty and cold. I listened to the sounds the forest made, and the sounds of my own distant beating heart. I finished the cigarette and immediately lit another just to be doing something. Jerry Blum bellowed angrily from the clearing behind me, but I ignored him. He dug his own grave. I finished the second cigarette but decided against a third. I finally leaned a shoulder against a dusty tree trunk and closed my eyes and stayed in that position until I heard the crunch of tires from somewhere nearby.
* * *
I met Stuart on the dirt road, about a hundred yards away from the clearing. Stuart did not look good. He looked sick and scared and probably had to go to the bathroom.
"I have to go to the bathroom," he said.
I nodded and he dashed off. A moment later, he came back, zipping up. He said, "So he's really here?"
I nodded, watching him. "Yes."
"I want to see him."
I nodded again and led Stuart through the forest and into the clearing, which was dappled in bright moonlight. Jerry Blum heard us coming and raised his head.
Seeing a man chained to a tree was no doubt unnerving to Stuart. He immediately stopped in his tracks. "Oh, my God."
Blum shouted, "Who's there, goddammit?"
I ignored Blum. Instead, I took Stuart's hand and walked him over to the shackled crime lord. I removed the hood and Blum shook his head and squinted. I handed Stuart a flashlight from the backpack and he clicked it on and shined it straight into Blum's face, who turned away, blinking hard and spitting mad.
"Goddammit! Who the fuck are you two? What the fuck is going on? How the fuck did I get here?"
"Shut the fuck up, Jerry," I said.
"Fuck you, cunt." He spit at me, tried to kick me. He succeeded in only losing his footing and hanging briefly by the cuffs.
Stuart said nothing. He simply stared in open-mouthed wonder at the man hanging from the tree. Still open-mouthed, Stuart then turned to me.
"You really did it," he said.