Hellboy: Unnatural Selection(85)

"Jim, are you in touch with anyone inside that hotel?" Liz asked.

"Not directly, but I can patch messages direct to the American embassy. They've got people inside."

"Do it. Tell them to get everyone down into the basement, if they can."

"If there is a basement," Hellboy said. "That things built right next to the river."

"There is a basement," Jim said. "That's where I spent some time when the thing was being built."

"Then they need to get down there," Liz said. "We can hope the army and police on the ground will realize that. Easier to defend, especially against those flying things."

"What the hell are the kraken going to do when they get there?" Hellboy said.

"The hotel's right next to the water," Liz said. "My guess is that they'll try to bring it down."

Jim started talking into his satellite phone, and Hellboy and Liz watched events unfolding below. There was a terrible sense of inevitability about the whole scene. The flying creatures circled the hotel, darting in now and then to take on a helicopter, dodge fire from the hotel itself, and veer away again, skimming the rooftops of surrounding buildings and battling the snipers positioned there. The things that walked — Liz could not identify them from this high up, and she was grateful for small mercies — approached the hotel, darting from cover to cover, and fresh firefights broke out south and east of the Anderson. Explosions erupted between buildings, gushing flame and smoke at the sky. Bodies fell in the streets, mutilated by things with long bodies and many legs.

Closer to the hotel there was a larger explosion as a helicopter went down. Something was wrapped around it as it fell, a creature being whipped and torn to shreds by the rotor blades. It crashed on a walkway beside the hotel, and both creature and aircraft were engulfed in flames. The smoke rose high, staining the sky.

Liz could see men running back and forth across the roof of the hotel. Machine guns spewed bullets into the sky, but they seemed to be firing wild. A dragon flew directly up the side of the building, tail smashing windows and scoring a scar in the edifice, and when it reached the roof it hung on to the parapet and poured flames at the men. Some ran, others were caught, thrashing briefly until the fire scorched them into stillness.

"They've patched me through to an SAS sergeant in the hotel," Jim said. "Seems the minister of defense has suddenly realized there's a problem, and as we're on the scene — "

"We won't be for long," Hellboy said.

"What do you mean?" Jim asked.

"They're all coming upriver," Liz said, "which means we'll be going downriver. There's not much we can do here, other than relay what we know to that SAS guy. We have to find Blake."

"What good will that do now that he's released these things on us?" Jim asked. For the first time Liz heard a note of panic in his voice.

"Stop him, and maybe we stop this," Liz said. "Hellboy?"

"It's worth a shot," he said. "He's got to be controlling things somehow, guiding this. As I said, these are animals. Where's their purpose? What's motivating them to destroy a hotel? They're puppets. We need to find the guy who's holding the strings."

Liz nodded. "And cut them. Here, let me talk to the SAS guy." Jim handed her the satellite phone, and she pressed it to her ear, covering her other ear to try to shut out the roar of the rotors. "Sergeant?" she said.

"Smith. Who's this?"

"I'm Liz Sherman from the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense."

"Hey, this must be just your cup of tea." Liz heard some shooting in the background, someone shouting, and then the gunfire was suddenly lessened by the slam of a door. "Excuse me if I talk while I'm on the move."

"No problem. Listen, Sergeant Smith — "

"Just Smith."

"OK, Smith, now listen. You have to get everyone down into the basement or whatever the lowest point is in that building. Understand?"

"I'm approaching the conference hall right now. If I can get anyone to listen I'll do my best. You in a chopper?"

"Yes."

"How does it look?"

Liz paused for a couple of seconds, looked down at the battle. There were more fires now, more explosions, and the sky was fining with smoke.

"That bad, eh?" Smith said.