Like all the rest of the attacking force, Liz wore phosphorescent patches front and rear of her combat suit. It wouldn't do for anyone to be shot dead by 'friendly' fire. Lit up like a human neon, gun in hand, she ran towards the doors at the top of the steps. Hanging askew, the doors were still giving off smoke from the grenades. Of soldiers there was no sign, but she could hear the occasional burst of gunfire from within…
A few minutes earlier, not far inside the same shattered doorway, Trask, Goodly, and the Major had found a wounded NCO sitting on the floor with his back to a slot machine. He had taken a bullet in the leg but had seen to the wound himself. 'This'11 keep,' he told them through gritted teeth. 'I'm okay here — but you should take this with you.' Trask accepted the man's flamethrower and pack, and the precog helped him into the gear. The wounded man retained his machine-pistol; when they left he was slapping a fresh clip into the magazine housing.
Then, moving deeper into the smoky gloom of the place, the Major spoke into his headset: 'This is Zero. My group is inside the main doors and advancing. Sitreps, over?'
And the answers came back:
'Zero, this is Alpha Group. We're on the stairs on the far side, going up one level. No opposition.'
'Zero, this is Bravo Group. Stairs your side, going up one level. No opposition.'
'Zero, this is Charlie. We're ahead of you toward the central spindle. We have a man down inside the doors — and we just found something nasty.'
'Zero for Charlie, how nasty?'
'Charlie for Zero, not life-threatening — but nasty.'
'Zero for Charlie, we saw your man,' said the Major. 'He's okay… but you should have taken his flamer.'
'Charlie for Zero, we couldn't stop. We're in hot pursuit. Our target is still in here somewhere. Towards the elevators, we think.'
'Zero for Charlie, wait there/ said the Major, and moved on with Trask and Goodly close behind.
Throughout the casino's ground floor, mainly on the perimeter, several hissing phosphor flares had been lit; they gave light but also made smoke, which in turn made for a very eerie, shadow-etched atmosphere. Charlie group (which was now made up of just two men, WO II Red Bygraves and an NCO) was waiting midway between the doors and the central column of elevators. And indeed they had found something nasty. Zeroing in on their reflective patches, the Major's group of three found the soldiers keeping well back from their gruesome discovery.
Hanging by its ankles, upside-down from a chandelier, the corpse of a thin, spidery male figure turned slowly on a triple loop of electrical cable. The man's throat had been cut ear to ear, and his flesh was like snow, drained of blood.
But on the floor, only a very few scarlet droplets had been spilled…
Despite that the body was inverted, Trask recognized him at once. 'Liz Merrick's watcher,' he said grimly. 'So much for working for a vampire! This will have to be burned. On our way out we'll burn this whole fucking place!' And the Major turned to him and said:
'Trask, steady up now, okay? Now listen, all of you. This group is now five strong. We're all armed and we have a flamer. We have men climbing the perimeter stairs, closing them off. We know our main target's trapped in the bubble on top of the casino, and that he has at least one soldier, guardian, or—' He looked to Trask for help.
'Thrall/ Trask told him hoarsely. 'Call him a thrall/
'One thrall/ the Major went on, '—the one you men were pursuing — watching his back down here; which might mean that he was guarding the elevators to keep his boss safe. So that's where we're heading, the elevators. But remember: this guy has the advantage of being able to see in the dark, and your flak jackets only give you so much protection. So spread yourselves out, but stay well within sight and sound of each other.. As he finished, the Major turned and headed deeper into the casino. And the others spread out on his flanks…p>
Shortly, the central hexagonal column of elevators became visible, and at the same time the stutter of automatic gunfire sounded from ahead. Ripping into a row of silent slot machines, the stream of bullets was like an invisible buzz-saw that gutted them and spilled their coins on the floor. Then the raking fire found Bygraves and lifted him clean off his feet. Shot in the right shoulder, injured, but by no means fatally, the W.O. went down in a stream of bright silver, a splash of blood red, and his own cries of disgust and frustration.
And in the central area, close to an elevator door marked PRIVATE, there stood a flame-eyed Thing in human form, cradling a gun that spat fire one more time, before the Major sent a single bullet in through his left eye. Swatted, the vampire thrall thudded backwards against the elevator doors; his feet slid out from under him, and he sank down onto the floor in a seated position.
While Bygraves's subordinate went to his aid, Trask and the others approached the vampire thrall. One of Malinari's pair of minders, he must obviously be dead… but wasn't. As his right eye opened, burning yellow in the gloom, so he toppled onto his side, turned himself face-down, and began to claw his way erratically away from the elevators. In another moment, however, the effort became too much for him. He came to a halt, coughed once or twice, and slurred out the words, 'Oh, fuck it!'
He had dropped his gun and no longer posed any real threat. He looked up at Trask and his colleagues, and his clenched left hand jerked and twitched where he reached out towards them. His left eye was a gaping black hole oozing blood and pulped brains, and the rest of his face was a red-and grey-smeared mess.
But as the Major stood back a little and took careful aim, so the thrall's hand opened and he dropped a metal key onto the floor. Then he gurgled, 'This is wh-what you want, right? So go on, f-finish it. Then find that fucker and f-finish h-h-him.'
The Major didn't have to finish it. For as the man's head slumped to the floor, so a gush of blood and morbid fluid erupted from his ruined eye, and he jerked once more and was done.
Trask had called the elevator; as the doors opened, Goodly picked up the key, and the Major called out to Bygraves's subordinate: 'Try to get the Warrant Officer out of here. And see if your number three is okay. We're going upstairs.' He got in the elevator with Trask and Goodly.
The push-button control panel in the rear wall of the elevator had buttons for two basement levels, the ground floor, and floors one and two; plus two keyholes, one of which was marked, PRIVATE — UP. The other keyhole was unmarked. The precog looked at the key in his hand and said, 'Couldn't be simpler… could it?'
'Too simple by far,' Trask growled. 'And we've been losing
men left right and centre.'
'Your talent?' said the Major. 'You're still uneasy?' 'Worried sick!' Trask answered. 'The whole thing is wrong.
But we're committed now.' He gave Goodly a nod, and the precog put the key in the UP hole and turned it…
Liz had found the wounded NCO inside the Pleasure Dome's main doors and helped him out of the casino into the fresh air. She had thought he might be able to call down Chopper One, but his radio had been damaged when he was hit. When she'd left him to go back inside, he had told her that when he'd last seen Trask and his party they'd been heading towards the central elevators. Then he had warned her that for all he knew the vampire sniper who had shot him was still on the loose in there.
Going back into the casino, and knowing what might be waiting for her, Liz hadn't dared to call out after Trask. By that time some of the flares had burned out, leaving it much smokier and a lot darker in there. So that when she'd heard noises from deep inside — shouting, shots, and crashing sounds — then she'd taken a circuitous route in the hope of avoiding trouble. In so doing, she had somehow managed to bypass 'Red' Bygraves and his man on their way out.