Hard Bite Read online

  HARD BITE

  a novel

  Anonymous-9

  Published by Blasted Heath, 2012

  copyright 2012 © Elaine Ash

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission of the author.

  Elaine Ash has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

  All the characters in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Cover design by JT Lindroos

  Visit the author at:

  www.blastedheath.com

  ISBN (ePub): 978-1-908688-30-9

  Version 2-1-3

  Chapter One

  I like to kill people.

  It's important to admit the truth to yourself even if you lie to others, and I do a lot of lying in my business. Inside my head I try to keep the truth black and white, no grey area: I like to kill. I love to kill people. Certain people.

  Sid knows we're going somewhere tonight because my eyes keep flicking to the clock, and it usually means we've got a job to do.

  I found my latest target online at a news site. A national story local to Los Angeles. Killing locally is a necessity since I'm not really mobile. A Mac with assistive technologies enables me to work the keyboard.

  Assistive technology is a code word for "stuff that helps cripples use a computer." Easy to understand, right? Because it's the truth. People have a hard time with truth when it comes bent and deformed, crushed, or hideous—so they invent terms like assistive technologies to sidestep the one word that makes it crystal clear: cripple.

  Crippled.

  Crippling.

  I went from noun to action verb riding a year-long bed of pain. After flirting with suicide, which lost its appeal contemplated deeply, a fresh start in rough justice sounded right. Why settle for cripple when you can be crippling, ha ha.

  I admit, I don't look very imposing. It's my motorized wheelchair, the steel hand, my pencil neck that looks like it could flop over and crack from the weight of my head. I look useless, you think. You think wrong. And fuck you, by the way, for your perception. I bring righteous vengeance to evil people. I make my way and take care of myself, by myself. What do you do with your life motherfucker???? .......... Sorry, I rant sometimes. Sorry, buddy. Keep reading. Please.

  Tonight, I'm meeting the driver of a Mustang who clipped a father of four riding his bicycle on a Sunday morning. There were no paint traces, no witnesses. Mr. Mustang would have gone clean except for a dent he got banged out. Moron told the body shop he'd struck a bicyclist. Illegal employees won't talk to cops, but they spilled it in Spanglish to me.

  Seeing they were so helpful, I let it slip that my passport was for sale. Pasaporte. Vente. Clean, no priors. In case you don't live in LA, where stolen and counterfeit ID does the briskest trade in the world, let me illuminate you—in LA, stolen and counterfeit IDs do the briskest trade in the world. When the phone rang the next day from a number unknown, I already knew who it was. Mr. Mustang was hot for some new ID so he could be somebody else until things cooled down. I played the stupid, down-on-my-luck loser for him over the phone and by the end of the call had an appointment.

  At this point, you're wondering why I do this—eradicate hit-and-run drivers. At first I called myself an assassin but Merriam Webster ruined that idea by defining assassination as "killing for impersonal reasons" and that's incorrect. I kill for extremely personal reasons. Starting with the individual who hit me, shattering my neck, crushing my left arm and feet, and squashing my large intestine to mush. I can't digest much of anything, but my dick still works. Go figger.

  Uh oh, look at that clock. Time's a-wastin'. One more run-thru before show time.

  I drop my right shoulder so my neck is exposed. "Soft bite, Sid."

  Sid scrambles up my body, so light and fast he's more like a breeze than a weight. His fuzzy blonde head cocks to the side and his chocolate-brown arms cradle my neck as he locates the bulging jugular vein. He gently squeezes it with his canines. Ever see a picture of a thirteen-year-old capuchin monkey's canine teeth? They're about a half inch long, curved and sharp. Sid lets go and gives me a lick.

  "Good boy. Get down. Fetch pencil."

  In one spring, Sid is on the desk, expertly plucking a pencil from a cup.

  "Here." I extend my lips like I want to be fed.

  Sid puts the pencil in my mouth.

  I grip it and say out of the corner of my mouth, "Hard bite."

  He snaps the thing off in one crunch. I taught Sid to bite using varying pressure—from a delicate bite that wouldn't break the skin on an overripe pear to a vigorous crunch right through wood. Then I got him used to gnawing close to my head and neck. He's smart enough to make the mental jump and ace a hard bite to a guy's jugular. This evening, hopefully.

  Would you look at that—Sid is jumping up and down; body language for let's roll. Got my passport in my pocket, check. Got the van keys. Sid hops on my shoulder, and we head for the elevator to the parking garage. The plan is really simple: meet in Lakewood, a nice 'burb of Long Beach—at a park. Late, there won't be anybody around. After Sid does his arterial chomp the guy should bleed out in two minutes or less, and away we go. That's the plan, anyway.

  ***

  The parking garage is well-lighted and spacious—1970s design. There she is: my chopped '81 Chevy van with handicap-access hydraulic ramp that extends and retracts out the rear. Sid and I cruise up the ramp through the back to the steering wheel. My chair locks into place. You're wondering how a guy like me with one hand and feet that don't work, got licensed. I didn't. My driving is 100% illegal. Illegal but not unsafe; there are five hands in my vehicle. One of mine still works, and Sid has four. Even his feet have opposable thumbs. Sid can't steer, but he hits the signal switch for me and assists with hand controls.

  I start the engine, idle it a minute and tell Sid, "Reverse." Sid hits the stick and we chug backwards out of the space.

  Outside, there's a light drizzle, which is great, because nobody in LA goes out in any kind of wet, especially after midnight. They call this "winter" in Los Angeles. We drive east on Washington Boulevard to Lincoln, head south a few blocks and catch the 91 to the 405. Sid is doing great with the signal switch. Wouldn't you know my cell phone rings, but Sid is all over it, pressing Call/Ans and Speaker.

  "Where are you?" Cinda's voice is low and steady. Sexy without trying.

  "In the van."

  "Are you...?"

  "Yes, on my way."

  Another surprise for you: a girlfriend. My girlfriend. A sex worker. A provider. That's the polite term for it these days. Are you shocked buddy? Think I could do better? Let me ask you, who would have me? I look like an AIDS patient already, my eyeballs sunk in the sockets, cheeks hollowed out. So what's the attraction? I guess when a woman's been kicked around like Cinda, a guy bolted into a wheelchair is a plus.

  "Are you in Long Beach?"

  "Close to." I turn into the parking area.

  "I'm here now."

  My van swings into the lot. Another set of headlights flash making the same turn.

  "He's here. I'll call you."

  The target parks and walks over. I motion him in the passenger side. Seeing Sid, he shakes his head, makes a face. A sign from me, and Sid rolls down the window.

  "I'm not getting in there with no fucking monkey."

  "He's a pet. He's harmless."

  He gives me the horrified, disgusted look I tend to attract from strangers—I have less visual appeal than Sid, obviously. It hasn't dawned on this guy that had the father of four lived, he might have ended up looking like me.

  "Fuck this, too
weird."

  He turns on his heel and starts back to the Mustang.

  I recall that the family man this walking depravity smashed into fought for his life a long time, hidden in a drainage ditch, while people who could have helped drove on by, not knowing. Dan Marshall was barely cold when a neighborhood search party traced his bike route and found him.

  I look at Sid, point to the target.

  "Hard bite."

  Sid blinks at me. For a second it looks like he doesn't get it—I'll have to watch this thug walk away with murder. Sid studies my face. Whatever his simian brain sees there catapults him out the window. In three jumps, he's across the pavement and has the guy's pant leg. A flash, and he's climbing, canines bared.

  The guy screams, arms windmilling, and breaks into a lopsided run. Sid takes a hard slap across the head. I hear Sid accelerate to monkey rage, and the two of them crash into a hedge. I lose sight; all I can hear is bracken crunching, branches whipping, the man screaming over Sid's guttural grunts and chirps.

  All goes still.

  My heart hammers. The whole park, quiet as death.

  Sid erupts from the bushes, bounds toward the van, and throws himself through the window dripping blood and goo, wild-eyed.

  I hear a long moan from the undergrowth—wrestling with the gears—fumble, miss, grind into reverse. Same drill to get it back into drive—fuck these crip hands!—and we turn shakily out of the lot. Sid's in no shape to help, but we have to get a move on.

  Chapter Two

  A few miles down Carson Boulevard is a nice, suburban neighborhood, not so fancy an old van will be out of place, not so ghetto that people watch every move. I pull in a few streets, cut the engine, and press Cinda's number. Sid stops bouncing off the walls, now covered with bloody splotches, and curls in a ball on the floor. His fur is shiny and slick with blood. I can't tell if the blood is his.

  "The guy was alive when I left the park. If Sid just nicked him, he could still spray some blood and be fine."

  Neither of us voice the obvious; if the guy is "fine" my description will be circulating with police soon.

  "You need Sid washed, find out if he's wounded and clean the van. Can you find a coin-op car wash?"

  "Hosing Sid with cold water right now might not be a good idea. I've got to find a warm place to bathe him."

  Back on Carson several gas stations turn up, but the ones with bathrooms outside and around the back don't have hot water. Restaurants pass by but the restrooms inside are multi-stall. If somebody walked in and saw a blood-soaked monkey splashing in the sink it would be over. I'm considering the wisdom of ordering about fifty cups of takeout tea at a drive-through, just for the hot water component, and rinsing Sid cup by cup, when I see a sign: 24-Hour Gym Inc.

  I leave Sid with the van and roll inside. It's as busy as you'd expect at nearly one in the morning.

  I approach the lone guy at the desk. "How ya doing? I want to buy a membership."

  You should see the guy's face. He's taking a good look at me; could go either way.

  I point to a poster. "Platinum level."

  Interest sparks in his eyes. I continue, "I need a sauna. It's good for my injury."

  His brain works that around, making sense of me, the crippled guy who likes heat, the commission on a Platinum membership. Ka-ching.

  "You get towel service with Platinum."

  I know this already because it says so on the poster. I also know the facility is handicap access and by law, there has to be at least one shower you can roll a chair into, usually equipped with a hand-held shower wand.

  "Would you like a tour?"

  "Nope I just want to sign up and get in there."

  Paperwork and a credit card later I'm rolling back to the van, supposedly to get my gym bag. I keep an old backpack full of monkey treats in the rear. My plan is to empty it and convince Sid to get in so I can smuggle him into the shower.

  He's shivering on the front seat. I make a mental note never to travel without a blanket again. He doesn't look happy, but lets me coax him into the bag with a treat, and zip it over his head.

  I hear a little monkey sigh something like, "What a frickin' night."

  I pat the bag. "It's okay, Sid. Hot shower coming up."

  Too bad there's no beer, he could use a drink.

  The desk guy gets me a towel and doesn't notice the faint chewing sound coming from the backpack.

  Sure enough, in the men's change room there's a cripple shower. I pull the curtain closed and unzip.

  Sid rolls his eyes up like, WTF?

  I get the shower going—a gentle spray, nice and warm, and for once Sid doesn't complain about getting a bath. Two liberal soapings and he's good as new. Not a mark on him.

  I rinse the backpack, intent on drying it at the hand blower before getting Sid back inside. I shove the curtain open and in the shower opposite a woman has her back to us. A woman. This is the men's change room. Curvy hips and nice round butt cheeks, small waist—here comes my hard-on. She turns around, soaping her breasts, and we both scream at the same time. She has a dick. Not a big dick like those operated-on she-males that are just guys with implants—but a real little two-inch soft dick with pussy lips below.

  He-she is bug-eyed at a monkey in the room, and my jaw is hanging, looking from titties to dick, dick to titties. We make eye contact.

  "EXCUSE ME," we both shout at the same time.

  She snaps the curtain shut, and I wheel the hell out of there.

  Sid and I get back to the van without incident Have to admit, I'm a little shaken. Some people have their bodies altered by accident, like me. Others come out of the womb that way. I'll remember that the next time I want to feel sorry for myself.

  ***

  Back in the van, I call Cinda.

  "Sid's okay."

  Cinda makes a relieved sound. "There's a coin-op carwash at Norwalk and Del Amo."

  "In Lakewood?"

  "More like Hawaiian Gardens."

  "Gangbanger Gardens?"

  "'Fraid so. I could send you to Cerritos, but there's more police presence."

  "I'll take my chances with the Mexican mafia."

  "Stay in touch."

  The carwash is a bargain for six quarters and the change machine even works. It's one of those open air, cement-stall drive-in places where you work the hose yourself. Nobody's here, no pedestrians, hardly any traffic on the wet streets. I throw the van doors wide, put Sid on my shoulder and turn the high pressure hose on the interior. It's going to be a squishy ride back to LA.

  We're nearly done when Sid does the unexplainable—he leaps away and goes bounding down a back alley.

  I roll after him, whisper-shouting his name—the last thing we need is attention from the locals. Grimy, cinderblock garages line the alley. One has the door up, spilling a square of light onto cracked cement. Sid stops in the dingy yellow and cringes, watching. The tortured sounds of an animal stands hair up on my neck.

  A man with his back turned is hanging a muscular pit bull to death. It gags and jerks, drool dripping from the swollen, protruding tongue. Another dog, scabbed and scarred, is tied close, barking like hell—the graceless end of a failed fight dog.

  "Let the dog down!" I hear myself command, immediately thinking what the fuck am I doing?

  The dog convulses. His executioner, a scrabble-survived son of the third world, whirls, and laughs.

  "What you going to do?"

  I said, "CUT THE DOG DOWN."

  "Hey man, you look dead already, maybe I help you faster."

  He leers in my face, as a rock smacks the bridge of his nose. I don't have to look—Sid is a sure shot with projectiles. I lash out my steel hand and catch a corner of the guy's mouth, ripping it open to his ear. He falls, gurgling blood, and I slash the hanging dog free—he thuds to the dirt, hauling great gulps of air. The tied dog gnaws ravenously at his own rope.

  We don't wait to see the credits. Sid leaps onboard as my chair reverses out. The tied pit break
s free. One mighty lunge, and his slavering jaws lock around the fallen man's windpipe. We clear the garage door, ram into forward gear and beat it up the alley. Grisly sound effects—gargle, snarl, crunch, rip—fade from earshot.

  My van is still okay in the wash bay. We need to be quiet—super quiet—and it feels like forever getting Sid secured in the front, the ramp back down, then back up again, and my chair locked into place behind the wheel. We pull out as the two pits lumber into view, drooling red. They look sorry they missed us and head right back down the alley. We don't wave goodbye.

  Sid seems to be okay on the way home, responding to commands and helping me with the hand controls. We make it back, through the dark, drizzling streets. The few drivers we meet seem distracted and concentrating on the slippery road. My van doesn't even register on their radar.

  Cinda meets us in the apartment. She has the news on, plus the police band radio, but there's nothing. Yet. For hours we sit together on the couch, listening and watching, while Sid sleeps between us. We avoid the subject of traceable evidence.

  "I have to go soon," Cinda says. "You okay?" She moves gently away from Sid, snoring like a band saw. She wanders over to my desk.

  "Yeah, I'm fine."

  Her bottom plunks on the desktop and she spreads her legs almost wide enough for a cheerleader split. Her red thong doesn't cover anything it's supposed to. I mentally thank the manufacturer.

  "I'm feeling a little tense myself. Think you can help me out here?"

  I'm already rolling toward her. Thong, your days are numbered.

  Chapter Three

  Under a rain-washed dawn in Lakewood Park, a lone deputy busies himself with yellow crime-scene tape. It coordinates in an ironic sort of way with the lush and leafy surroundings. Down the street, an unmarked Dodge Charger pulls over without attracting the deputy's attention.