A Hard Rain Page 12

  After ten minutes of work on both sides of the door, the malfunction was corrected and the door opened. At that point, when Engineer La Forge turned to retrieve the Adjuster, it was discovered that the small golden ball of the material Auriferite was missing.

  There are no sides on the Adjuster, and the Auriferite was simply sitting on a small platform in the center, easily taken while the men worked on the doors.

  The staircase to that floor of the building was where Mr. Data and Chief Engineer La Forge could not see anyone coming up or down. And anyone seeing that device sitting there would instantly want the gold ball inside it, since it looks valuable.

  Both men assure me that without that small ball of Auriferite, the Adjuster will not work. It is somewhere in the program for Dixon Hill, and if the program is shut down, it will be lost into the holographic matrix, just as sure as if someone had transported it into space.

  La Forge and everyone with any knowledge or wild idea are continuing to work on the problem of shielding the impulse engines from the effects of the Blackness. It seems my only choice is to take as many people as possible into the world of Dixon Hill and work to find the ball.

  Mr. Data, using a small portion of the remaining Auriferite, has put up a shield around the main controls of the holodeck to keep it from shutting down, but it cannot be changed. The world of Dixon Hill is very much alive and working in there, and the safeties are off, which will make it a very deadly place.

  But there is no choice. The golden ball of Auriferite is in there somewhere, taken by someone. It can be found. But do I have enough time to find it? There are less than twenty-four hours left before this ship is torn apart entering the Blackness. Time is critical.

  This will be my last Captain’s Log until the ball is found, or this ship destroyed. Until that moment I will be Dixon Hill, the best detective to ever walk the streets of the city by the bay. I just hope the best is good enough.

  Section Two: Teamed Up

  Benny the Banger’s headquarters were in the back of a hardware store with a big front window and a door with the words HARDWARE AND TOOLS etched on the glass. Blinds had been drawn on both windows and Benny’s goon didn’t even slow down as he went past. Dix and Bev and the others followed the man around the corner and down the block to the alley where he stared down the dark, garbage-littered passageway between the buildings.

  Dix motioned as they entered the alley for Whelan and the rest to spread out along the street and wait while he and the Luscious Bev went in with their shadow escorts.

  “Oh, you’ll want your guns back,” Dix said, flipping the gun in his belt to the man who had done all the talking and was leading them. The other three goons got their weapons back as well.

  “Thanks,” the guy said, sticking the gun away inside his jacket.

  The other three did the same.

  “Don’t mention it,” Dix said.

  “Don’t worry ’bout that,” the guy said, laughing.

  The other three also nodded. It was clear that making a mistake with Benny and letting themselves get caught was a very bad thing.

  The inside of the hardware store looked like the back room of any other store, with shelves of tools and boxes of nuts and bolts. A counter along the back wall was cluttered with hammers and saws.

  “What is that smell?” Bev whispered.

  “Cigar smoke,” Dix said. The entire room was filled with thick cigar smoke. A cloud seemed to hang in the air and Dix’s first impulse was to duck under it.

  “Ughhh,” Bev said, softly. “This is going to be toxic.”

  “This way,” the guy said, opening up a side door that led into a well-lit and even smokier room. Five men sat around a green felt-covered table. Multicolored chips filled the center of the table and were stacked in front of each man. Cards were being shuffled by one man with his back to the door.

  All the men were in their shirtsleeves, with their gun holsters showing. All five had guns.

  And all five were smoking large cigars, and the ashtrays beside each man were full of old stogies. The smoke from each cigar seemed to drift upward and thicken the white cloud that filled the top half of the room. There was no window in the room to open.

  “I see you brought me a guest,” one man said. He stood, smoothed down his white silk shirt over his large stomach and motioned for Dix to come forward. He stood no more than five feet tall. Bev towered over him.

  “I’m Benny,” the short man said, smiling, the cigar a smoking stick in his left hand as he stepped around the table and extended his right hand for Dix to shake. “You play poker, Mr. Hill?”

  Benny was dressed in the most expensive clothes of the bunch, and sweat had stained his shirt. He had the remains of his last meal dotting his shirt and the largest pile of chips in front of his position at the table. Clearly playing in this game was a losing proposition for anyone but Benny.

  “No,” Dix said. “I’m hear to make you an offer. A deal of sorts.”

  “A deal?” the man asked, smiling at Dix, then winking at Bev. “I heard you was looking for me. I’m just glad ta hear it wasn’t to give me any problems.”

  “No problems,” Dix said. “I’m looking for a small, gold-painted ball.”

  “About gumball size,” Benny said, waving his hand for Dix to stop. “Yeah, I know, I heard. Why’s this ball so important to you that you spent the entire night lookin’ for it? I hear everywhere you look, people get killed.”

  Dix was stunned that the word had already reached Benny. This little man was not someone to take lightly, that was for sure.

  “Just say a special client of mine hired me to find it. It has no real value.” Dix winked at Benny. “But he’s paying me a big chunk of money to get it back for him. Something about it being his mother’s.”

  “Well, Mr. Hill,” Benny said, walking around in front of Bev and looking her over like she was something he wanted to purchase, “I sure wish I had that little ball.”

  “So do I,” Dix said, “but I have a feeling Harvey Upstairs Benton has it.”

  Benny stopped his pacing like he had walked into a wall, turned, and looked hard into Dix’s eyes. “And you want me to help you get it from Harvey?”

  “Basically yes,” Dix said.

  “Why would I do dat? Sounds like more people gettin’ killed to me.” Benny shook his head and took a long pull on his cigar, letting the smoke out in a direct line at Dix. “I don’t like when it happens to my men. Right, fellas?”

  “Right,” they all said, nodding and puffing.

  “Because I have something you want,” Dix said, “and that’s why I want to deal.”

  Benny laughed, the sound high and almost shrill. The other men at the table laughed along with him, like trained seals, and all puffed on their cigars, adding even more thickness to the already thick, white air.

  “What could you have, Mr. Hill, dat I would want?”

  “I have two things, actually,” Dix said. “The first I will give you to show you that my intentions are straight.”

  Dix nodded to Bev.

  She reached under her coat, but by the time she could pull out the book, five guns were trained on her, and every man at the poker table had stood.

  “Nothin’ cute, now, doll-face,” Benny said, the gun in his hand looking far too big for his frame. Yet Dix could tell there was no doubt the man knew how to use that big gun very well.

  “Not a chance,” Bev said. “Nothing cute, I promise.”

  She finished pulling out Slippery Stan Hand’s ledger and handed it to Dix, who then handed it to Benny.

  “You’re givin’ me a book?” The guy shook his head and laughed, putting his gun away in its holster. Again the rest of the men laughed, putting their guns away and sitting back down.

  “What am I gonna do with a book?” Benny asked.

  “Take a look at it,” Dix said, nodding.

  Benny flipped open the book, then suddenly got very interested. The pages flipped slower and slower, t
he sounds like a ticking clock in the silent room.

  Then, with a glance at Dix, Benny went back to the start and flipped through the ledger again.

  Dix just waited, letting the total effect of the book hook Benny into helping him.

  “Where did ya get this?” Benny asked after the longest time, slapping the book closed.

  “That, my friend,” Dix said, “is my secret.”

  “This is Slippery Stan Hand’s, right?”

  “It is,” Dix said. “And now it is yours, to do with as you see fit.”

  “To help you get into Harvey Upstairs Benton’s place?”

  “Yes,” Dix said. “And when we do, and get to search it for the object I am looking for, I will then give you the other book.”

  “And what book is that?” Benny asked, clearly not making fun anymore.

  “Cyrus Redblock had a ledger much like that one,” Dix said, pointing at the book in Benny’s hand, “only thicker. I would think that anyone who had those two ledgers would control this town, don’t you?”

  Benny stared at Dix for a long few seconds.

  “You have Redblock’s ledger?” Benny said, his voice almost a whisper.

  “I do.”

  Benny stared at him a moment longer, then turned and headed across the room, where he pulled back an ugly picture of a half-naked woman exposing a wall safe. He spun the dial a few times, then opened the safe, put the ledger inside, spun the dial again, and slammed the picture back into position.

  “Joe, Frank, gather up all the boys and meet in front of the store in twenty minutes.”

  The men at the poker table jumped up like the chairs they were sitting on were spring-loaded. The cigars were stamped out in the ashtrays as they grabbed their coats.

  The men were past Hill and Bev in a matter of seconds.

  Benny walked across the room and looked up into Dix’s eyes. “Mr. Hill, we have a deal. You just better not be double-crossing me.”

  Dix just smiled. “You get me and my people into Harvey Upstairs Benton’s place and you have Redblock’s ledger. That’s our deal.”

  “Then we have work to do,” Benny said, smiling. “Let’s go.”

  Dix and Bev followed the little man out into the back room of the hardware store and into the alley. The cool, damp fresh air of the dark night felt wonderful. Bev coughed lightly, clearing out some of the smoke. Dix just enjoyed a few deep breaths before motioning for Mr. Whelan to round up the rest of the men and join them.

  In ten minutes there were over thirty men, and one woman, standing in the empty street in front of the dark hardware store. Somehow, Dix had put together a small army to invade the last place the Heart of the Adjuster might be.

  If they didn’t find it in there, he didn’t know what they were going to do in the last hours of their lives. But he did know he wasn’t going to give up. Somewhere in this city was the Heart of the Adjuster.

  Somewhere.

  Clues from Dixon Hill’s notebook in “The Case of the Missing Heart”

  • Benny the Banger’s goon says he hasn’t seen any golden ball.

  • Benny the Banger wants to rule the city and is just about to get his wish.

  • Time is running low.

  Chapter Eight

  About Face

  Section One: Showdown Escape

  A CAT STREAKED ACROSS in front of them, ducking behind some garbage cans and then running down a dark alley, without interrupting their march. A stray dog dug in an overturned garbage can. They were the only things moving on the first four blocks of their dark walk toward Harvey Upstairs Benton’s headquarters. The rain was holding off, but the clouds and fog were swirling in low and fast, brushing past the tops of the buildings. It gave the night a black and white feel, with the wet pavement, dark stone and brick buildings, and the white clouds catching what little light there was from the occasional street lamp.

  Benny had told Dix that Harvey’s headquarters were in the back of a large car showroom. It was well guarded and there was no way to sneak up on it. “Goin’ ta be hard to get into without a good, nasty fight.”

  “You willing to fight?” Dix had asked the gangster.

  “For Redblock’s book, I’m willin’ to do just about anything,” Benny had said, which had made Dix shudder at the thought of what he might have started.

  Dix glanced around at his people following him. Bev was on his right, her heels clicking on the pavement. Maybe joining forces like this hadn’t been such a good idea after all. He didn’t want any of his people getting hurt. But at this point, with so little time left until everything was destroyed, Dix supposed he shouldn’t care how much fight was needed.

  They had to find that gold ball and get it back inside the Adjuster. And Harvey was the last logical person who might have it, or know who did have it, that Dix could think of.

  And that fact worried Dix more than any other.

  Suddenly in front of them, six cop cars sped into sight, coming from both directions, their engines like thunderclouds rumbling through the still night, echoing between the buildings full of sleeping people.

  “We have company, boys,” Benny said.

  Dix couldn’t believe this was happening. They couldn’t be stopped now, not so close to this last chance.

  He motioned for his people to stop and stay back.

  Benny didn’t seem to notice that Dix had fallen back as he and his men all drew their guns and kept on going, slowly spreading out over the entire street and sidewalk.

  “Not looking good for this plan,” Bev whispered.

  Dix could do nothing but agree. It didn’t look good at all. The last thing he wanted was police involvement.

  “How had they known and gotten such a force in front of us so quickly?” Bev asked, her voice just above a whisper.

  “Clearly Benny’s organization has a very large leak in it,” Dix said.

  “About the size of a drain pipe I would say,” Bev said.

  The cop cars slid to a stop, blocking the road, their flashing lights covering the buildings and the fast moving clouds and fog overhead with blood-red warnings.

  The entire world had turned red it seemed. Dix didn’t like the look of that at all.

  He glanced around and then motioned for his people to move toward the sidewalk on the right as more cop cars roared in behind them, blocking the intersection they had just come through as well.

  “Nice move,” Dix said about their retreat being cut off, more to himself than anyone.

  The army he had formed to take down Harvey Upstairs Benton was now surrounded by police and split into two groups. One marching into sure death, the other retreating, trying to figure a way out.

  Dix knew that they were going to be lucky to get out of this alive, let alone without being arrested and detained.

  And they didn’t have time to be arrested. That was also sure death.

  “Get out of our way,” Benny the Banger shouted to the police in front of him who had gotten out of their cars and were using them as cover, guns drawn. “We’re just out for a peaceful walk. No need to be bothering us.”

  “Then you won’t mind stoppin’ and talkin’, will ya?” a cop’s voice answered back.

  “Our fight’s not with you,” Benny said, his voice echoing like a bell of doom through the street, bouncing off the red-tinted buildings.

  “But a fight with us is what you’re going to get,” the cop said, “unless you stop. Now!”

  Benny and his men clearly were not going to stop.

  “Yeah, Dix,” Bell shouted from a car a half block behind where Dix had his people. “No fight tonight?”

  “Follow me,” Dix said to his people, just loud enough for them to hear. “And no guns. Get your hands in the air.”

  Everyone nodded and followed his lead as Dix put his hands up and moved toward where he could see Detective Bell standing in front of one of the cars.

  “You’re right, of course,” Dix said, just loud enough for Bell and the other co
ps to hear.

  He glanced over his shoulder. Benny and the twenty men who were following him were still walking right at the cop cars, spreading out more and more as they went. It looked like a gunfight in an old western between two rival outlaw gangs.

  From what Dix could tell, Benny hadn’t even noticed that Dix and his people were missing.

  “Stop now!” a cop ordered, his voice carrying all the way down the street. “Don’t be stupid, Benny.”

  Benny kept on being very stupid, as far as Dix was concerned.

  “Why is he doing that?” Bev asked.

  “I have no idea,” Dix said, “but we need to get out of the cross fire and fast.”

  “This entire town has gone crazy tonight,” Whelan said.

  “You’ll get no argument from me on that,” Dix said.

  Dix reached the corner building and turned, walked ten steps and stopped, making sure the rest of his people got around that corner as well. Safe, at least from the direct line of fire.

  They were just in time.

  Someone fired first, a single lone gunshot like the shot at the start of a race. The next instant there was so much gunfire going on it sounded like one continuous blast of sound, echoing and bouncing off the buildings.

  Lights flashed on in every room as glass smashed and bullets thudded into the sides of the cop cars.

  Display windows in a clothing store smashed inward, ripping apart a woman’s dress in the window.

  Lieutenant Bell, who had started toward Dix, suddenly dove for cover behind a car, then came up on the hood and started to return fire at Benny and his men.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Bev said as a bullet bounced off a nearby building and smashed into a window over their heads, sending glass showering down on them.

  Dix could not have agreed more. “Keep your hands in the air, like you are surrendering,” Dix ordered his people over the roar of gunfire. “Follow me, slowly.”

  The fight went on, bullets pounding into police cars with the sound of a child hitting dull drums.