Parasite Lost

Parasite Lost Chapter 6

Hive metropolis Vytal was notorious for segregating the wealthy from the poor. It is common for communities to have upper, middle, and lower class castes but on Vytal you were either a mogul or a miscreant. Vytal's slums were what Alistair had called home since he was a child, and that was where he chose to make as much of a difference as he could.

Her name was Gayle. She was ten years old, which made her old enough to do just about anything someone would buy her for and young enough to be helpless when she was sold. Alistair Preest had been looking for her for the better part of a month and finally narrowed down the search to a warehouse owned and operated by Viktor Cetti, a notoriously ruthless human trafficker.

Alistair wasn't ashamed to admit he enjoyed getting rough with the scum of the earth if a situation called for it, but when he did it was often in the company of a child he was rescuing. The horrified faces of every child he ever saved were burned into his mind. That moment when they didn't know if he was there to save them from their torment or if he was something even worse was an experience Alistair had too many times. It never got easier.

This search took longer than usual, and Alistair hoped he wasn't too late. Normally if a week had passed from the day of the missing persons report, then the child would already be sold or dead by the time he caught up to them. This was the third week, and it worried Alistair his search might lead him to a corpse. Even worse, he might find nothing at all. That didn't change the situation, he was determined to track Gayle down and return her to her parents, assuming they were still alive.

Armed with his trademark incendiary equipment – inferno pistols, nova grenades, and a torch sword – Alistair set out to find poor little Gayle. The torch sword was definitely his favorite weapon for jobs like this, but it was a high-risk item. It operated similar to an acetylene torch albeit with a flame that was three feet long, two inches wide, and able to cut through almost anything if you had enough fuel and patience. It also made a wicked sound as it sliced through the air and devoured oxygen. The only real problem with a torch sword was the need for an abundant fuel source and the fact that one wrong move could easily sever and cauterize an arm with little effort.

Alistair waited for the man guarding the entrance of the warehouse to meander off for a smoke before he crossed the street. Fortunately, the man was too interested in his cigarette to notice anyone behind him. Alistair used his forearm and bicep to block both arteries on either side of the man's neck. He held the choke tight and dragged the guard back into the shadows like a lion territorial over a kill. Another two minutes of squeezing ensured that both blood and air stopped going to the man's brain long enough to kill him.

Alistair lifted the man's body into a nearby empty oil drum that smelled of burned garbage and circled the warehouse for any more guards, careful to avoid windows lest he be spotted by someone inside. Alistair wasn't surprised when he didn't find anyone else. More than one person outside a building meant something interesting was inside, and most criminals didn't like to attract too much attention to their affairs.

A few quick glances through the windows revealed that most of the defenses were inside. At least a dozen men armed with automatic weapons paced around the inside of the warehouse. There was also a man drinking beer and lounging in a pop-up chair next to a tripod-mounted machine gun a short distance from the main entrance. Alistair didn't see Gayle anywhere, but that didn't mean she wasn't stowed away somewhere out of sight.

Peering through the grime-encrusted window, Alistair saw that some of the skylights were either open or broken. That was probably the easiest way to get in undetected, since the catwalk of the warehouse was close to the ceiling. Alistair found a fire escape on the side of the building and climbed up to reach the roof. He walked over to a broken skylight and looked around, gaining a better assessment of the interior of the warehouse. Two cranes flanked the main storage area but one was obviously broken and the winch was released so the hook and wire lay in a heap on the ground.