Carnival Of Mayhem Part 26

The golf cart came to a stop in front of one particular cage. Plastic curtains created an opaque screen completely around it.

"This is your cage," Higgins said. "You see we took extra precautions."

"That's all?" Aaron said. "Just a curtain?"

Higgins swallowed. "We have special procedures, too. We only let specific, highly trusted workers inside. n.o.body is stealing from you. It's impossible."

"I'd feel better if the fence were electrified."

"You really want that? Sure. I'll make it happen."

"Let's take a look inside."

"I don't have the key." Higgins grimaced.

Ethel took a set of lock picks from her pocket and went over to the cage. She opened the padlock in a few seconds, her fingers moving so quickly they were just a blur.

"We don't need keys," Aaron said. "After you."

Higgins gave Ethel a fearful look. He opened the steel door and went into the cage. Everybody else followed.

As soon as they were safely behind the plastic curtains, Ethel kicked Higgins in the back of the head. The impact sounded like a hammer striking a melon. He crumpled to the concrete floor and lay still.

"When he wakes up," Aaron said, "he'll know he was duped."

"He certainly won't tell the Eternals," she said. "They'd kill him for being an idiot. Start looking around."

There were hundreds of boxes ranging in size from a few inches to large enough to hold a piano. He read the shipping labels, and it seemed like every box had a different name listed as the recipient.

"These Eternals are paranoid," he said. "They must use even more fake ident.i.ties than we do."

"Hurry," Ethel said. "Open the boxes."

Aaron took a knife from a sheath on his ankle and began slicing into cardboard.

"I found body armor," Smythe announced. "High grade."

"Bottles of benzene and styrene," Aaron said.

"Two hundred syringes," Ethel said.

"Diamond tipped drill bits," Smythe said.

"Black felt," Aaron said.

The inventory continued for several minutes. As expected, the Eternals had purchased a lot of military gear and chemical supplies, but many other odd items were mixed in. The combination had Aaron scratching his head. What are they planning to do with this stuff?

"This is interesting," Smythe said. "Business cards."

"We already got one," Aaron said. "It's black."

"These are green and pink. Wiley's Wild and Wacky Carnival of Fun."

"Huh?"

Aaron and Ethel rushed over. The business cards showed a silly clown face with rainbow colored hair.

Ethel took out her phone and made a call. "Edward," she said, "tell me about Wiley's Wild and Wacky Carnival of Fun." She turned on the speaker so Smythe and Aaron could hear the reply.

After a moment Edward said, "A traveling carnival. Rides, games, and small circus acts. Judging from the website, it looks like a good sized operation. It recently made stops in Missouri, Indiana, and Illinois."

Smythe's eyes opened wide. "Can you correlate those locations with PRooFS outbreaks?"

"Yes, sir," Edward said. "Give me a minute."

Smythe shifted from foot to foot like an impatient child. Aaron had never seen him so animated.

"You're a genius," Edward said. "The locations match perfectly! The carnival was in town a month before the start of every outbreak. It can't be a coincidence."

Smythe grinned. He put up his hand and Aaron gave him a high five.

"Good work," Ethel said. "Continue studying this carnival. I want a very detailed report."

"Yes, ma'am," Edward said.

She closed her phone.

"I can't believe it!" Smythe said. "We actually found a possible source of PRooFS! This is amazing."

"I'm glad you're happy, finally." Ethel rolled her eyes.

"We have to tell somebody. The authorities need to know!"

"No." She furrowed her brow. "This is a Spears investigation until I say otherwise. We won't tell anybody, especially not the authorities."

"But ma'am, innocent people are dying right now," he said. "Hundreds of them."

"We will deal with that issue at the proper time and in the proper way."

"I have a sworn duty to heal the sick."

"Yes, but not this minute." She stood close to him and stared into his eyes. "I've been in this business for almost three decades, and I know what I'm doing. Trust me. Every problem will be addressed in the correct order. Any other path always leads to disaster."

He clenched his hands. Aaron wondered if Smythe knew how close to death he was. Ethel hated insubordination more than anything else.

"Yes, ma'am." Smythe lowered his eyes.

Aaron noticed yellow light flashing on the ceiling. He went out of the cage and peeked around the plastic curtain. A golf cart loaded with four security guards was approaching rapidly, and it had spinning yellow lights on the front.

"Trouble," Aaron said. "Four guards."

"Armed?" Ethel asked.

"I can't see, ma'am."

She sighed. "It's time to go."

"You could knock these guys out the same way you did Higgins."

"Others are watching through the security cameras, and they'll call the police. Better to leave now. Aaron, you drive."

Aaron sat in the driver's seat of the parked golf cart, and Ethel and Smythe took the back seats. Aaron stomped on the accelerator. The cart with the security guards immediately pursued.

The distance between the carts stayed at a constant thirty yards as they hummed through the warehouse. The chase seemed ridiculously slow to Aaron, but the speedometer showed twenty miles per hour, which was faster than he could run.

"Halt!" one of the guards yelled. "Give up now! You can't escape!"

We'll see about that, Aaron thought.

He looked around for the nearest exit. He heard a warning siren, and then a rumbling noise reverberated from the walls. The docks had giant sliding doors, and all of them were closing at the same time. The guards were locking down the warehouse.

Ethel abruptly ran off, moving a lot faster than the cart. She disappeared from sight after turning a corner.

"Wow," Smythe said. "She's not human."

"She's mostly human," Aaron said. "I even caught her showing emotion a few times. She likes you, by the way."

"How can you tell?"

Aaron glanced at him. "You're not dead. Want some advice? Stop arguing with her."

"I'm not her dumb flunky. I'm allowed to have opinions."

"And she'll listen to them," Aaron said, "once. Repeating yourself just annoys her."

"If she really likes me," Smythe said, "why did she just abandon us? A good soldier never leaves his comrades behind."

"She's not gone. She'll be back. She just didn't want us to slow her down. Besides, I'm sure she wants to see how you handle a tough situation."

"This is a test?"

"Every mission is a test," Aaron said. "So, rookie, what should we do now?"

Two more golf carts loaded with security guards appeared directly ahead. Both ends of the aisle were now blocked.

"Stop the cart," Smythe said. "We'll escape on foot."

Aaron hit the brake and the cart skidded to a stop. He and Smythe jumped out. Smythe took the lead, and they crawled between packages through the open shelves to reach the next aisle. The security guards, who stayed in their golf carts, were forced to go around the long way.

"Good," Aaron said. "Now what?"

Smythe looked around. "There!" He pointed to a support pillar with an attached metal ladder. "We can get onto the roof."

They ran hard. By the time they reached the ladder, security guards were coming from all directions. Smythe climbed first and Aaron followed close behind.

"d.a.m.n!" Smythe said when he reached the top. "It's locked!"

Aaron leaned over. There was a steel roof panel, which could be pushed up and open, but a combination lock held it closed. He spat at the lock and it dissolved into bubbling, brown goo.

Guards started to climb the ladder. Fortunately, they were armed with oversized flashlights instead of guns.

Smythe pushed open the panel and crawled onto the metal roof of the warehouse. Aaron quickly followed. The surface was cold and slick with dew. Aaron looked down and spat at the bolts connecting the ladder to the pillar. It broke away, causing the guards to fall off. He closed the roof panel with a loud clang.

"That spitting trick is very handy," Smythe said.

Aaron nodded. "Indeed."

"Can you dissolve anything?"

"Anything that's not alive."

"The acid doesn't affect living tissue?"

"Exactly," Aaron said. "We have to move, so pick a direction."

The roof sloped up slightly to a peak in the center, but otherwise, it was very flat and open. Only some air vents, a solar water heater, and the darkness of night provided any kind of cover.

Smythe ran towards the loading docks. Aaron didn't approve of this choice because there was more light in that direction, but he followed anyway. Perhaps the doctor had a clever idea.

Red and blue lights flashed in the distance.

Smythe reached the edge of the roof and peeked over. Aaron joined him.

The distance to the ground was about twenty-five feet, too far to jump. However, trucks parked at the docks provided landing platforms. Aaron expected that he could fall onto a trailer without getting hurt. I guess the doctor knew what he was doing, Aaron thought.

He heard voices and looked back. Guards were climbing onto the roof through a different access panel. They had obvious trouble seeing in the darkness, but when their eyes adjusted, they would quickly spot Aaron and Smythe.

"If you're planning to get off the roof," Aaron whispered, "now would be a good time."

"Can you fall quietly?" Smythe replied.

"Like a cat."

Smythe positioned himself over a truck trailer, slipped off the roof, and dropped. Aaron heard the thump from the impact but it wasn't bad. When Aaron dropped, he made much less noise. Ethel strongly emphasized ninja skills in her training.

The trailer was vibrating, which meant the truck was running.

He and Smythe dropped a second time to reach the ground. Aaron felt better now that he had room to run and no walls around him.