Gray noted both men’s reactions but it was the man with the scarred face who most disturbed him. Not only did he seem strangely familiar but the lion’s head on his walking stick looked eerily like the half-man’s head on the back of Gray’s medallion.
Samantha noticed Gray’s hesitation and stepped up. "Both of you need to back away from the girl and put your hands up."
Lunt noticed that Pemberley did so, though he was muttering under his breath. The German, however, did something far more surprising. He slammed the butt of his walking stick down hard on the floor and then tossed the stick away from him, throwing it with all his might toward Samantha and Lazarus.
Gray somehow sensed what was about to occur. He shoved Samantha behind him and moved to protect her. The stick seemed to shimmer in midair and when it landed, it was not a piece of wood at all… it was a fully grown African lion, its mouth open in a roar that shook the walls. The beast’s jaws were slavering and it looked like it was half-starved and mad with hunger.
"Chief, what the hell?" Samantha whispered.
Lazarus raised his pistol and fired as the creature rushed toward him. Two bullets sank deep in the mighty beast’s chest but it continued on, leaping upon him. His weight sent Gray to his back and only Gray’s tremendous strength managed to hold the snapping jaws away from his face. Gray let his gun drop so he’d have all his fingers free for the herculean task.
Samantha was momentarily taken aback but she quickly realized the deadly predicament her employer was in. She took a step toward the lion and directed her gun at the side of the beast’s head. It whirled toward her but this only meant that her shot hit home directly between its eyes. The lion let out a roar of surprised pain and fell forward onto Gray. A lion’s dead weight would be enough to leave most men unable to move, but Gray was wriggling free before Samantha even realized he was doing it.
Pemberley slammed into the girl, knocking her hard into the door. A cry of pain erupted from her lips and Pemberley drove a fist into her pretty face, knocking her out. Samantha was a wildcat in battle, with the ability to deal with men three and four times her size… but when taken by surprise, she was helpless as anyone else would be.
Gray saw Samantha fall and though his face did not show it, a burning ember of rage flared into an inferno in his heart. He gripped Pemberley by the collar and drew him toward him. One powerful punch later and the vile scientist was lying on the ground, blood and mucus streaming from his shattered nose.
A cry of pain drew Gray’s attention back to Lunt, who was holding a struggling Wilma by her hair. The girl’s eyes were glowing blue, indicating that the aquaas was feeling threatened.
"Seeing you here, like this, is a revelation," Lunt said.
"Who are you? How do you know me?" Gray’s voice was filled with emotion, which would have shocked his employees. He normally kept a tight lid on his private concerns but he was unable to do so now. This man before him might know the truth about who he really was, or at least know how Gray could find out more.
"You’re a hero to these people, aren’t you?" Lunt said. "I wonder if any of them know how much blood is on your hands? And the audacity of calling yourself Lazarus Gray!" Lunt shook his head. "The others will think me mad when I tell them that you’re alive… and that this is what you’ve become."
"Please help me," Wilma whined, straining her head so she could see Gray. "Please help me… or kill me." Her eyes flashed brighter with every painful word.
Lazarus realized that while he desperately wanted answers, he had to free Wilma. That was his first priority and everything else would have to take a backseat. He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a small dagger. "Let her go."
"No." Lunt cackled and the scarring on his face reddened, making it look like the veins between were about to burst out into the light. "If you want the bitch so badly, then take her!" Lunt yanked her back so her neck was stretched taut. With his free hand, he pulled out a knife of his own, one that gleamed in the warehouse lighting. "But if I were you, Mr. Lazarus Gray, I would drop your weapon and step away from the door. Otherwise, I’ll slit her throat from ear-to-ear."
Gray was calculating the odds of throwing his dagger and hitting the German. He was a crack shot with both throwing knives and handguns but it was still an awful risk. The girl had begged for her death but Gray wasn’t about to take that route. He would protect her until his own dying breath. She was an innocent victim in all of this, despite the crimes of her father.
Before Gray could make his move, Lunt began to cry out. The skin of his face and hands began to wither, as if something was sucking the moisture right out of him. He dropped his hold on Wilma but it was too late. The aquaas had sensed the threat to its host and was now responding, using all of its power to remove this dangerous creature. Lunt opened his mouth and he tried to scream something at Lazarus but Gray couldn’t make it out. The man’s mouth was too dry and his tongue was beginning to break apart, turning to dust that ran down Lunt’s chin. He fell to the floor, a horrible hitching sound coming from his chest. He ended up posed just above the floor, looking like a strange sculpture made of leather and bone.
Wilma fainted again, her will no longer enough to keep her going. Gray hurried toward her and had just knelt beside her when he heard the door to the warehouse slam shut. He looked up in alarm, his eyes scanning over the still form of Samantha. It was Pemberley, making a break for it.
Let him go, Gray decided. Justice will find him soon enough.
Wilma Nero smiled gratefully. "Thank you so much, Mr. Gray. I don’t know how I can repay you."
The girl looked so bright and cheerful, it was almost impossible to think that until a few days ago she’d been the host to an alien parasite. She sat with Peter Scanlon in the meeting room of Assistance Unlimited, facing Lazarus and his aides. She was holding Peter’s hand and the man looked ecstatic. Once Gray had told her that it had been Scanlon’s chivalric desire to help her that had led Gray on to the case, she’d warmed to the man considerably.
"No payment is necessary," Gray replied. "Your case has given me more than you know and monetary recompense would only taint that."
Wilma looked confused but she nodded. After she and Scanlon had been shown out, Gray turned to face his staff, all of which were looking at him with interest.
A faint smile touched Gray’s lips and vanished just as rapidly. "Ask away."
The three of them exchanged glances and it was Morgan who spoke up first. "The moisture-eating worm?"
"I removed it myself and threw it into the fireplace. I also disposed of the others that were in the warehouse."
"Pemberley?" Eun asked.
"Still on the loose. We’ll have to keep an eye out for him. He’s dangerous and growing more unstable by the day."
It was now Samantha’s turn and she realized that the boys had left it to her to broach the most difficult subject. "What did you mean about this case giving you so much?"
"Is that really what you want to ask?"
Samantha swallowed hard. "When I was on the floor, I heard some of what was going on. Between you and that German. It didn’t make much sense."
Gray sighed, looking quickly at Eun and then back to Samantha. "My name isn’t Lazarus Gray. I don’t know what my name is. I woke up in the harbor during the summer of 1933. All I know about myself are a few scattered memories… and this." He pulled out the medallion from his pocket, holding it up for the others to see. "A lion-headed man and the words Lazarus Gray scrawled on the back."