The man with no name sat on the roof of the inn where he was staying. He watched

  the suspect hotel in the distance. He had decided that he should go in and look

  around.

  One of his fugitives was in the building. The pertinent card glowed slightly whenever

  he went by it. And the target had not come out the three days that he had watched the

  place. He had to go in and look for him.

  And in three days he had been on watch, one of his other cards had dispersed. He

  knew that was because one of his fugitives had been taken without any help from

  him.

  He couldn’t count on natural enemies dealing with the rest of the fugitives. It would

  be nice, but why would he be given the job of chasing them down if they were that

  easy to disposal by their rivals.

  The dead man decided the easiest thing to do was ask for a room and use that to look

  around the building.

  That was the easy part of things as far as he could make out.

  He doubted the staff would allow a guest to bother whomever owned the building, or

  anyone who had a permanent room there. He was likely going to get killed and

  dumped on the street as a common burglar.

  He had gone over the building, and just asking for a room seemed his best bet. The

  second idea he had thought of consisted of using another building to get in through

  the roof door and just look around.

  He liked breaking in more than sneaking around.

  The man with no name decided he should put his plan in motion. He still had cards

  to serve nearby. If he could take this one out of play, that would get him closer to

  being able to chase down the rest on his list outside the city.

  Once he was done with the hotel, he still needed to track down the Alvas on his list.

  Maybe a circuit of the city would let him get lucky enough to get close to his enemy

  so he could track the fugitive down without too much effort.

  He doubted it would be that easy. His quarry didn’t have a listed place, and there were

  too many places to hide. Add in possible magic, and it might take years to find the

  target.

  He decided that he would give himself some reasonable time, but if he couldn’t do

  the job on the first pass, he would head out of the city and find the rest of the names

  on the cards he carried. He didn’t have to devote his time to one name when he had

  so many he needed to deal with before he was done with his job.

  And if he was picking up others, maybe someone here in the city would take care of

  the Alvas for him.

  The dead man walked over to the hotel. He entered the establishment. He nodded at

  the wooden walls shining under the electric lights in the ceiling. The carpet cushioned

  his steps as he walked toward the wide reception desk. It looked the same as the

  walls, except a brass rail had been installed to put your foot on while you stood and

  waited for the clerk to acknowledge you.

  “Welcome, sir,” said the clerk. “How can I help you?”

  “I would like a room for the night,” said the dead man. “Then I have to get my horse

  and ride on in the morning.”

  “Certainly, sir,” said the clerk. “Please fill out the guest book, while I get your room

  key.”

  The dead man wrote down a fictitious identity and lodging in another city while

  waiting for the clerk to return. He took the key with a nod and headed for the stairs

  leading up to the floor where his room rested.

  He supposed there were hidden doors in the walls. He would look for them when he

  searched his room.

  He checked the card he had set aside for the hotel. The blue stripe still ran down the

  front. His target was close. He just had to find him.

  The dead man stepped into his room. He ignored the luxurious appearance of the

  room and went over every inch for anything out of place. If he could find a passage,

  he could get inside the hidden part of the building and really start talking with people.

  He found a shutter disguised as part of the wall. He assumed it was to let someone in

  and out of the room without having to use the outside halls. Pulling and pushing on

  it told him it was locked on the inside.

  He pulled one of his pistols and fired into the shutter. The whipcrack of flame

  punched a hole through the wood. He peered inside at the dark room.

  He reached inside and felt around for the lock. He worked the knob. The hidden door

  opened up. He stepped inside the passage.

  He found a lantern hanging on the wall just inside the doorway. He paused to light

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  it up. He didn’t want to stumble around in the dark while he was exploring.

  He followed the passage to a set of stairs. Side halls seemed to go to the rest of the

  rooms on his floor. He wondered how many people went to a bad end while trying to

  stay in the place before moving on.

  He found a ladder at the end of the hall. He looked up, then down. He decided that

  any work would be at the bottom of the ladder. Why carry a body up, when you

  can just drop them down to where you need to go?

  He looked around the ladder. He found a dumb waiter hidden in one of the walls. It

  was big enough for a body to be carried to wherever they took bodies.

  Should he take the ladder, or the dumb waiter?

  He decided to take the ladder. If he ran into someone, he could shoot down the shaft

  at them. The dumb waiter was a trap where he could be kept pinned until someone

  found something to deal with him.

  And he didn’t know if he could fight his way out of the waiter against whatever was

  hidden at the bottom of the hotel.

  He started down the ladder, pistol holstered, lamp in one hand. He kept an eye out,

  but the only light seemed to be from his lamp and whatever was at the bottom of the

  shaft. He heard movement, but it sounded like they weren’t expecting someone like

  him to invade the hidden parts of their facility.

  He didn’t blame them. Would he be doing this if he didn’t have a warrant card telling

  him his enemy was on the premises? He doubted it.

  The only thing they would have to worry about is the local authority stumbling

  over their operation and putting an end to whatever it was. If they had a spotter

  out, things could be moved before a raid happened.

  He wondered what they could do to stop him.

  He reached the bottom of the ladder and put the lantern down on the floor next to

  it. He might have to get out in a hurry. Being able to find the ladder seemed more

  important than lighting his way when there were electric lights everywhere.

  The dead man took in the scene slowly. A lair had been built under the hotel. Wiring

  and pipes went everywhere. There were consoles with levers taking most of the

  central space. Tubes of green liquid reflected the light from the overheads. Things

  moved in the tubes.

  He looked around. No one else seemed to be in the room with him. He didn’t expect

  that to last. Someone had to check on what they were growing in the tubes. He would

  have to ask them where his quarry was.

  He decided whatever he had to do, the tubes had to be destroyed. He couldn’t let what

  was growing out on the city. That was just adding to the problem instead of solving

  it.

  He pulled out the faintly glowing blue card from his deck. His quarry was close. He

  should look around and see how close. He could wrap this up in the next few minutes

  and move on to the next names on his list.

  The man with no name crossed the room, eye on the tubes as he went. He had an

  idea one of the levers he noted could open the tubes and dump the growing monsters

  in the room with him. He didn’t like that idea at all.

  He couldn’t do anything about that until he tracked the target down. If someone

  got to a lever, he would deal with it.

  The dead man found living quarters off the laboratory. A desk held a pile of papers.

  A rumpled bed rested against the far wall. A small area made up a kitchen. A door

  led off at the end of the kitchen counter to what he assumed was a bathroom.

  He didn’t feel like there was anybody in the rooms. He checked the other door to be

  sure. It was an empty bathroom like he thought.

  He decided to find another door. That was where people would come in when they

  didn’t have to grab people from their rooms. That would take him to other parts of the

  hotel.

  He might have to deal with the staff. He doubted this was a one man show. He

  supposed if he made a lot of noise the Guard would rush in and have a look around.

  Who knew where that would lead, if anywhere?

  The dead man found a door on the other side of the lab. He frowned at it. It was

  heavier than a regular door of its size. He supposed the people behind this thought

  their main door should be fortified long enough for them to escape through another

  door, or up the ladder.

  Did the ladder go all the way to the roof? Was there another exit up there from the

  hotel?

  The main door swung open. The dead man stepped back as silently as he could,

  leaning against the wall. He pulled the pistols from his holsters and waited.

  “We are close to a breakthrough,” said one of the men entering the room. “The

  train experiment worked. No one knew they were boarding a monster designed

  to look like a train. We couldn’t have foreseen someone being able to kill it from

  the inside.”

  “I know,” said the other man. “Still, we have almost enough to seed the city and

  watch everything grow. It will be amazing.”

  The dead man didn’t think it would be amazing unless you counted a massacre as

  something amazing.

  “Which one of you gentlemen is Emil Moreau?,” he asked from the darkness. “I have

  a warrant for you.”

  The men spun to face him. One of them reached for something at his belt. That was

  a bad move on his part. A bullet of flame lifted him up and dropped him down on

  the floor.

  “Are you going to kill me too?,” asked the survivor. He glanced at the burning body

  of the other man. A small trace of sweat ran down his face from his thin hair to his

  pointed chin.

  “No,” said the dead man. He put one of the pistols up. He pulled out the glowing

  card from his deck and flicked it at the other man. “I’m just here to give you papers

  for court.”

  As soon as the card touched Moreau, it turned into a flash. The fugitive vanished

  straight down through the floor.

  The man with no name smiled. Another job well done without a lot of fuss. He

  doubted the rest of his fugitives would go along so quietly.

  He shut the vault door and walked back to the ladder. He fired his pistol into the tubes

  as he went. The solution the things moved in must have been flammable because

  each shot released a wave of heat and fire in the air.

  The room might contain the fire, or it might burn the building down. He needed to

  raise the alarm somehow. He decided to do that from the outside.

  He reached the top of the ladder. He hoped the seeds they were talking about went

  down with the hotel. Otherwise, they were out there waiting for someone to stumble

  over them and release them in the city.

  The dead man pushed out on the roof of the hotel. He took time to shoot into a locker

  holding miniature tubes like the giant ones he had seen downstairs. He hoped this was

  the seeds they wanted to let loose. He jumped to the next roof and made his way

  down to the street. He still had to make sure the innocent people were cleared out of

  the hotel and none of the other buildings burned down because of what he had done.

  Then he could get Stupid and move on.