Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 08:57:31 -0700 Reply-To: Hank Wyckoff Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Hank Wyckoff Subject: (17A/30) Reading the Endtrails -- HL Posting -- Keep away from children This chapter is split in order to obey the maximum line limit. The Cycle of Axer Carrick, Part 4 Reading the Endtrails (17A/30) A continuation of: When the Veil is Lifted The Duplicity Frostmelt WARNING: There's something in here your kids shouldn't be reading Axer and Kate ran downstairs to see what all the racket was. The screaming, yelling, thumping, and crashing sounds were enough to wake the dead. They were on their way out of the bedroom anyway, but this was enough to send them barreling down the stairs, ready for combat. What they saw was enough to make them stop, open their eyes a little wider, and look at one another. Coleen, naked as the day she was born, had Bill cornered with a sword in her hand. Bill had thrown down some tables between the two of them, and held a chair in his hands, ready to hold her off for the moment when she got the last table out of the way. Axer, viewing this scene, came to the worst possible conclusion, and ran over to where the fight was. "What the hell's going on here?" he demanded, drawing his own sword and moving between Coleen and the tables. He didn't seem to notice her nudity. Axer twirled towards Bill, "And you? Who are you? What the hell were you trying to do?!" "It's not what you think!" Bill was nearly incoherent with hysteria. "I didn't mean to-" In the best of situations, that could be taken in the wrong way, and this wasn't the best of situations. "You didn't mean to WHAT?? You'd better start talking, boy!" Bill's stomach rebelled again, so instead of explaining himself, he retched bile. Axer's eyes opened in comprehension -- he knew what the cause of it was from direct experience. He turned back around towards Coleen, who had just enough time to cool off a little, "I know I'm missing a few pieces here. It's your turn to talk. For starters, who is he? And then you can tell me why he has alcohol poisoning!" Coleen suddenly lost her voice, stammering as she realized that she had a *lot* to tell him. That was when Nat walked into the room, her hair a mess, and a silly grin on her face. Axer noticed Coleen's eyes dart in that direction, and when Axer saw Nat, he drew the only conclusion. "You?? And NAT??" Coleen's grin was a little empty and helpless. Axer's head fell into his hands, where he shook his head slowly, "Great Mother! What else do I need to know?" Bill retched again. Axer walked over to the bar, muttering to himself about needing a strong drink. He rummaged around at the bar, then stopped suddenly. Coleen cringed when she heard a yell, "Coleen! You get your ass over here right NOW! You hear me?!" *********************************** Joe finished giving Peter Caine the background, and as Kermit gave him packets of incoming faxes, he whistled occasionally in shock and amazement. "Wait a minute!" said Peter eventually. "Are you telling me that this has been going on for weeks now, and we didn't even know about it?" "What can I say? -- it wasn't in your district. The question is, will you help us? He have the theories, but now we need heads -- forgive the pun." Peter was hesitant, and Joe could almost see him pulling his hair out -- a good thing they were talking by phone. "O.K., I think I know who I can talk to. I'll let you know what I dig up." "Thanks -- but remember, I need information, and not help. You get my meaning?" "Don't push your luck, Joe." Peter hung up, and Joe looked at the wall with a pensive expression. He made another call, and got a 'this number is not in service' message. "Damnit! Where could he be?" A few halls down, somebody else was slamming his hand on a table too. Nick was face to face with what he believed was a murderous immortal. "Answer me, dammit!" yelled Nick, his face just inches from the immortal's. The immortal's expression was bored. "I think I need a beer." That might have been true. From the smell of beer wafting from his unwashed body, the man practically swam in the stuff. The game was bad cop-worse cop, and Nick gave up on being the bad cop. Now, it was Tracy's turn, and she was the worse cop. The took over the interrogation, "Now look! We saw you there, and we saw you kill those men. So there's no use in denying anything!" "If there's no use in denying anything, then you already know the truth and there's no need for me to say anything." Tracy grinned viciously, "Nice try -- but that's a trap too. What if we 'know' that you're dead guilty?" "Then I'm dead," he shrugged. "You might as well let me go. There's not much I can tell you, punishment for crimes in North America is a joke, and there's nothing you can do to threaten me. Where does that leave you? With nothing." "You're a brave man, but I think it's all bravado." "But you can't prove it, can you?" Heimdall lazily picked at his fingernails, flicking peeled-off bits of fingernail on the floor. "You're linked to the crimes -- I think we can push for an execution." That got Heimdall's attention. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened, "Are you an idiot? It'll never happen! The law never goes for an execution, unless you're in Texas or Arizona. Do you hate your jobs bad enough to be made outcasts?" He started to laugh hysterically -- with genuine laughter, not maniacal laughter. Nick pulled Tracy back for a moment, into the observation room -- there was only a soundman recording the interrogation tape. Nick whispered so that only Tracy could hear, "I think he's right -- there's no way we can threaten him." "Then what do we do?" "Ask nicely?" "That might be a good start." Heimdall leaned back in his chair, grinning, "I don't talk to cops, but I have been known to associate with human beings on occasion." Tracy's eyes flashed, but Nick made a face, making his best civilized face, "As you wish. I'm asking you nicely then, what do you know?" "Are you sure you want that tape recorder on? I can tell you right off that this won't be admissible in court, any more than you could report everything that you saw earlier tonight." The two detectives considered for a moment, and nodded. Tracy went into the other room and told the sound man to take a coffee break. That tape recorder was turned off, but not the one in Tracy's pocket. "So, start talking." "Turn off the other tape recorder." Tracy made a face and turned it off. Nick gave her an odd look, and she gave him a furious one in return. Heimdall was either oblivious or uncaring of that exchange. "First off, to establish some credibility here, let me state that I know you're a vampire. That might make what I have to say more believable." Nick could accept anyone knowing about vampires -- rare people do learn about them -- but to have an immortal he never met tell him straight off that his secret is known... "That doesn't establish any credibility in itself," Nick held his surprise well, "but I'm listening." "Good. What do you want to know?" "How was it you came onto the scene tonight?" "I was hunting for the killers -- the ones your news media doesn't talk about. Tonight, I was lucky." "What do you know about the killers?" "What do you know about the Invisible Ones?" Nick took a seat. "I know enough about them -- but not how *you* tie in with this." "Get me a beer, and I'll start talking." Nick looked at Tracy pleadingly, who threw her arms up in the air and muttered, "Alright! *I'll* go to booking, if that's what you want!" Heimdall snickered a little bit at that, but became somber again when Nick glared at him. "Like I said, no beer -- no talk." He kept by his word too. When Tracy came back with two bottles of Bud, Heimdall shivered and made a face, but took them anyway. "Now that's done," snapped Tracy, "you'd better start talking!" "What do you want to know?" Heimdall would certainly make this as hard as possible. "What is your relationship with the Invisible Ones?" "Look, are you *sure* you want to know?" "Damnit!" Nick slammed his hand on the table, hard enough to crack it. "We got you the beer, and you promised you'd talk!" "Just making sure," Heimdall said in a soothing voice. "Since you want to know so bad, I guess I'll have to tell you -- but it's a bit of a long story, so you might as well have a beer yourself." He ripped off the caps with his hand. --------------------------------------------------------- Henry Wyckoff -- wyckoff@ag.arizona.edu Q: Want to know how to conserve bandwitdth? A: We all stay off the web and watch the servers shut down. =========================================================================