Nocturnal

Civic Center

Aggie had changed his mind. There was a God, and whatever God was, it hated Aggie James.

The Magnum pulled into the parking lot of Trinity Place at Market and Eighth. The psycho cop on his left finished his drawing and dropped his pen on the floor. He held up his black mask, examining his handiwork.

Aggie stared at the design. What did I ever do to deserve this?

“You ain’t much of an artist,” Aggie said.

Clauser nodded. “I’m not looking for fans.”

The mask had already been disturbing enough. With the paint pen, the crazy cop had added a childish, skull-smile line drawing that glowed an electric white against the flat black fabric.

And this man, this scary-ass Bryan Clauser, was going to force Aggie back into the tunnels.

If going in meant there was a chance Aggie could get his baby back, he had to take it. He had a plan — he just had to wait for the right moment, have a giant set of balls, and hope to finally get some luck to fall his way.

The cop set the skullcap-mask in his lap. “Everyone, listen up,” he said. “The entrance to the Civic Center station is right behind us, on the sidewalk. At this hour, the station is probably closed so we shouldn’t run into anyone. We walk out of the car and head straight down. There’s cameras all over and we can’t get them all, so ignore them and just descend. If there are any BART cops, I’ll handle them. We move fast, we’ll be down there in twenty seconds and into the main tunnel before anyone can react. Muni trains have stopped running this late, so Aggie will lead us right off the platform and into the tunnel. Right, Aggie?”

Aggie nodded.

“Good,” Clauser said. “Everyone does what I say, when I say it. Hoods up, tuck your weapons in, and let’s go.”

“Wait,” Aggie said. “I need one more thing.”

The cop stared at him with those cold eyes. He put the black skullcap on, then lowered the mask. The white skull smile grinned.

“You already asked for one more thing, Aggie. What do you want?”

Time for the giant set of balls; it was now or never.

“A badge,” Aggie said. “I know we’re going to fight monsters and all that, but cops are gonna show up and I already got two strikes. If you all get killed, I need enough bullshit to get away.”

The skull-smile shook his head. “No way.”

“Then I ain’t going.” Aggie crossed his arms and gave his best hard stare. He’d never been much of a poker player, but now everything was on the line.

Bryan Clauser stared back. Angry green eyes glared through slits. The skull-smile grinned. “Fuck it,” he said. “Not like I’m going to need this thing anymore.”

He reached into a pocket and handed over his badge. Aggie took it, amazed that his bluff had worked. Now all he had to do was stay alive just a little bit longer.

“Time to go,” Clauser said. “Everyone follow me. If you fall behind, you’re on your own. Aggie, you stay with me, and don’t try anything.”

Doors opened. Out of the black station wagon stepped two men in hooded cloaks, two men in black peacoats and black masks, and a scared-shitless black man with a gun and a badge. They crossed the dark parking lot to the brick sidewalk, then to the U-shaped concrete wall surrounding the escalator down to the subway.

Terror tried to tangle Aggie’s feet. He felt like his head might explode, like he might go crazy at any moment.

He was going back down … maybe he was already insane.

Aggie kept moving for one thing and one thing only: for the baby.

Clauser went down first.

Everyone else followed.