The Devil's Assassin Read Online Free

– like Homo hatherus or something. Haha .”
    Linus chuckles at the thought as
well.
    “I need to make a phone call or
two if I can use your phone. Then I’ll take my laptop into the basement and
record my initial observations of the creature.”
    “Sounds like a plan. I’ll put on
some coffee.”
    ›
    An hour later the ring of the
doorbell brings Linus from the kitchen. Jay bounds up the stairs from the
basement and joins Linus at the door to greet the guests. Four people are on
the doorstep. A long haired, self-important looking man in his mid-fifties and
an attractive brunette in her mid-to late thirties stand in front of the door
and two more men stand just behind. The two in front are already staring at the
huge tree in the living room against the wall.
    Jay smiles widely and greets the
newcomers. “June, Doctor. Hope your drive over was pleasant. This is Linus
Hather. He and I were roommates in college. We took a lot of biology classes
together before he switched majors. Linus, this is Dr. Alexander Van Houten,
the head of the lab and Dr. June Dituro, the chief scientist.”
    Linus shakes hands with each as
they come in. “Pleased to meet you, Mr. Van Houten, Pleased to meet you, Ms.
Dituro.”
    Van Houten is dour and unsmiling,
while Dituro smiles pleasantly. She introduces the other two men. “Mr. Hather,
this is Dr. Sheeran and Dr. Huggins, also from the lab.”
    “Pleasure to meet you, Mr.
Sheeran… Mr. Huggins.”
    Jay lowers his voice and chastises
Linus. “It’s Doctor, Linus.”
    Everyone, except Linus and Dr. Van
Houten are uncomfortable that Jay has said this. But Linus responds. “I can
call you all 'professor' if you like, it’s just that I
reserve the appellation ‘doctor’ for medical doctors. Nothing against your hard
earned Ph.Ds.”
    Van Houten is visibly impatient
but strikes a diplomatic tone. “That won’t be necessary, Mr. Hather. We’ve run
across the problem before. So how about we see this mysterious animal that Jay
is raving about?”
    Jay inserted himself into the
conversation before Linus could increase the tension even more. “I think you’ll
be very pleased when you see it, Doctor Van Houten.”
    Linus leads them from the front
door and through the living room where all eyes wonder at the huge tree there,
then into the kitchen and down the stairs to the basement.
    At the bottom of the stairs, each
of the newcomers makes the right turn and stops short, staring with their
mouths open. The creature sits still in the cage, looking a little tired. There
are some half-eaten fruits and vegetables on the floor near him. The scientists
become excited after they process what they see. The dour Van Houten is the
first to break the silence.
    “My God, June. Do you see this? It’s earth shattering!” Jay smiles.
    “Yes,” June says. “I’d have to
agree. I’ve never . . . Look at his feet; you’d swear they were human. His
hands and body are more apelike, except the face reminds me of something else…”
    Linus gives her a moment to try to
figure it out and then supplies her with the answer. “A
leprechaun.”
    “That’s it!” she says. “A leprechaun. It’s amazing!”
    Van Houten looks at Linus and
points to the cage with his thumb. “How’d he end up in this?”
    “He snuck into my house. He
threatened my pet with a weapon and then as he was about to enter my bedroom,
to do who knows what…”
    “I see,” said Van Houten. “Where’s
the weapon?”
    “I haven’t been able to find it.”
    Van Houten nods. The creature
picks up an apple core and throws it. Amazingly, it finds its way through the
chain link of the cage and hits Linus in the chest.
    Van Houten laughs. “I think your
friend here, may not like you, Mr. Hather.”
    “The feeling is mutual, I assure
you.” He’s studying the creature, trying to determine if its action was founded
by intelligence or if it was just a caged animal acting up.
    “Well,” says June. “It’s a good
thing you had