CHAPTER 29--RE-ENTRY

June 1997

Here they come to snuff the rooster.

-Alice in Chains

P

assed out cold. Regained consciousness moments later; don't know exactly how long. What I remember was waking up and seeing a sea of naked human flesh engaged in carnal acts galore. Must have been the default programming. I reached up and pushed the button on the tool bar that said, "Freeze Program."

Nothing happened.

I pushed again.

"Fuck," I yelled. "Rooster, get me outta here. What the hell is going on?"

Nothing. Quiet.

Absolutely fucking quiet, Queen.

Then I noticed it was getting warmer. Imagine what it's like to be trapped inside a porno movie where you're the star, but sensing that outside in the real world, real danger lurks, such as a fucking fire. No amount of fantasy, flesh, and virtual delight could have kept me in there. Something was wrong. Something was terribly fucking wrong. Now, I could smell the smoke. How in the hell did I get out of this thing? Where the fuck was Rooster?

"ROOSTER!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. "LOUIE! GINNY! Somebody help me I'm trapped."

And that is when I saw it, Queen. Don't know why I didn't see it before, a bar below all the other control panels that was clearly marked--and I must be fucking blind--Emergency Shut Down and Exit. I reached up and pushed the button.

The orgy vanished.

I could hear mechanical parts whirring and whizzing. The lid to the chamber started to move upward. I could see a thin sliver of light. But something was keeping it from fully opening, like something was on top of it. I could hear the motor whizzing and whirring, struggling to finish the job. Could smell the smoke of the engine burning itself out.

Shit.

I pushed as fucking hard as I could. The lid went up. And then there was a loud, dull sound of a crash, like something soft but really heavy hitting the ground. I sat up in the chamber, my naked body dripping wet Virtual Fuck fluid, and looked around.

Oh, my fucking God!

It looked as if a small war had been waged. Bullet holes pocked many of the surfaces in the lab. Several machines were on fire. Computer monitors were shattered. Fluid dripped down out of some of the severed tubing. Then I looked down, and I saw him.

The Rooster.

My benefactor.

Riddled with bullet holes, his white lab coat splattered with blood. One bullet had squarely landed in the center of his forehead, splitting the frames of his glasses and shattering the lenses. Turned around, feeling quite sick to my stomach, and started to puke into the sex chamber. That's when noticed that the thing as well was riddled with bullets. Realized those were the dull punches I had felt while inside. The machine had saved my life. Did whoever kill Rooster know I was inside the machine?

Wanted to just freak right there, Queen. I mean, here was the Rooster, dead, and I thought I knew why. Rooster's paranoia all along had been justified.

D'Alfonso really wanted to build his little love parlors from coast to coast.

Rooster, why was the pornware worth you life?

But at this point I really didn't care about the DATs, the porn, anymore. Let D'Alfonso have it. There was nothing I could do about poor Rooster. Was worried about the newly engaged. Grabbed my clothes and got dressed quick. Reached for my Glock, and pulled it out. Wasn't taking any fucking chances. Whoever killed Rooster might still be here. Moved through the house, and noticed everything was torn up. Poked my head out and saw that there were no cars outside in the driveway leading up the hidden garage. The security system was still working, and the video monitor in the kitchen was still working. I pressed the button that said: subterranean garage. Good, the Dodge was there and appeared to be in one piece. That's when I heard their voices. Couldn't quite make out what they were saying.

Turned around, and that's when I saw Junior. He'd been shot in the kitchen, riddle with bullets up his back into his neck and the back of his head. He had fallen head first into the sink, which was filled with blood. The bullets that had passed through him had passed through the kitchen window. That's why I could hear them. I peered out through the frame of the shattered window pane, over Junior's corpse, and shouted. They appeared from beyond the wall, where the trail was. Louie grabbed me and hugged me. So did Ginny.

"We thought you were dead."

They told me about how they were just looking out at the road leading off towards the I-15 when they saw two vehicles cruising up the road to the Rooster's place. One was obviously a van of some sorts, and the other a black BMW.

"Did you get a look at the license plate?"

"No, amigo, we were too far away."

"Did you see what they looked like?"

"Tried, but it all happened too fast. And we were pretty scared."

"Lots and lots of gunshots," Ginny added.

Made up my mind, Queen, there and then. If this indeed was the handiwork of Anthony Tarantino Domenico, then it made perfect sense. Soldier of fortune work. Tony must have been on to me somehow. Resolved right then and there I was going to finish the job I failed to finish in Vietnam. I was going to exterminate this rat poison, this thing, this evil called DDT. I didn't care how many times I'd have to position my cursor in the delete button, drag his icon to the trash, and empty trash.

He was history.

"Oh my God, the fire," Jenny screamed, pointing back at Rooster's place, which undoubtedly would soon also be history.

"Yeah," I said. "This place is about to go up."

Ginny stared at the smoke coming out the windows with disbelief.

"Well, Dorothy, are you sorry you ever left Kansas?"

"What the fuck do you mean by that?" she demanded.

"I don't have time to explain. Rooster's a fucking chemist. Who knows what kind of volatile chemicals he's got laying around the place? Let's go!"

We piled into the Dodge.

"Wait," Ginny said. "What about Rooster?"

"Rooster's dead, Ginny," I said. "Rooster's dead."