Abomination (10 page)

Kristina stared blankly at Ryan for several seconds. He
knows he fired some unbelievable words in her face, but he felt there was
little choice. She closed the box around her book and tucked it under her arm.
Without saying a word, she slowly walked over to a table and took a seat.

“Peter is dead?”

“He is,” said Ryan. “You don’t know me, but I hope you
believe I had no choice.”

“Did you know him?” asked Kristina.

“Only what I read in the files. That’s why I’m here. I
need to get to know all of them.”

“So you can shoot them, too?”

“So I don’t have to.”

Kristina looked into Ryan’s eyes after what he said. He
could see tears forming in hers.

“Peter was a sweetheart,” she said. “On most days, I
forgot he was a special forces Marine. He had a baby face and was always so
polite. He’d talk for hours about his family and growing up in Virginia. Did
you know he was the only son with four sisters?”

“Doesn’t make sense, him raping and killing innocent
women, does it?” asked Ryan.

“You have no idea how ridiculous that sounds, Agent
Pearson. No idea.”

“Then help me understand how ridiculous it is, Dr.
Anderson. Because what isn’t ridiculous to me is that they’ve turned into
monsters. The men you speak fondly of who were assigned to your project are now
serial killers.”

“You mean the five,” said Kristina, correcting Ryan.

“Arrington, Elliot, Mathews and Bell,” counted Ryan.
“That’s four.”

“Alex Tifton,” she said. “There were five Marines
assigned to the Didache Project. They all received the exact same gene therapy
treatments. They did everything together. Eat, sleep, train, and even go out
together. When you saw one coming, you knew the other four were close behind.
They were like brothers.”

“Excuse me,” said Ryan, feeling his phone vibrating on
his hip.

“Boss, two players outside,” said Dallas. “Dark blue
minivan. They’re definitely not pros. I saw them coming a mile away. They’re
creeping up a few parking spaces every couple minutes and are fixated on your
front door. They’re definitely scoping the doc.”

“Good work,” replied Ryan, closing his phone.

“Dr. Anderson, will you help me? Please.”

Before she answered, Ryan felt his phone vibrate again.
There was no need to take the call. He knew they were about to have company.

The bell rang over the front door signaling to the
storekeeper she had more customers. She stepped out of the stockroom,
concentrating on not spilling the two cups of hot tea. Her attempt was useless
as the two men carelessly pushed her aside while frantically looking down the
rows of antique books. As the scalding water spilled over her hands, one of the
men quickly returned, grabbing her by the throat.

“Where is she?” he yelled in her terrified face.

“I – I don’t know who you’re talking about,” responded
Emma. “Please, you’re hurting me.”

“Dr. Anderson,” he yelled. “I know she’s in here! Where
the fuck is she, old lady?”

“Hey, back door is open,” shouted the other man. “She’s
running down the alley! Bring the car around!”

The man gripping Emma’s throat coldly looked into her
eyes and purposefully squeezed harder before he finally released her. As she
slumped crying to the ground, attempting to catch her breath, the bell over the
front door jingled again. The man turned his head to give a viscous glare at
the new customer, but was greeted with a blinding heavy punch crushing his
nose. His knees buckled as the unexpected and painful shock to his system
dropped him beside Emma. His eyes were unable to focus as he was pulled to his
feet, spun around, and pinned against the wall. A muscular arm wrapped around
his throat in a choke hold.

“I bet you didn’t expect this to happen while beating up
this nice lady, did you, shithead?” asked Dallas, whispering in his ear.
“Answer one question and I won’t choke the life out of you. Who do you work
for?”

“Fuck y—”

Before he could finish his answer, Dallas choked the
life out of him. Well, at least temporarily as he lay unconscious on the floor.
Dallas searched him and took his wallet, cell phone, and gun.

The other man darted into the alley after spotting
Kristina running toward the street. He was in full stride when the metal trash
can lid magically appeared, stopping his face while his legs kept running. If
the metal lid didn’t take care of the problem, the brick alleyway did when the
back of his head made contact. The entire event was so violent Ryan had to
check his pulse to make sure he didn’t kill him.

“That’s gonna leave a mark, Boss,” said Dallas, coming
through the back door of the bookstore.

“Did the other one see your face?” asked Ryan.

“If he did, he won’t remember it. He had the old lady by
the throat when I came up behind him. Looks like these guys want the doc pretty
bad. They were just sitting in the van when this one answered his phone. They
bolted out of the truck as soon as he hung up, like someone ordered them to
taker her. What kind of asshole chokes an old lady?”

“The kind that doesn’t care who they hurt,” replied
Ryan.

Kristina heard Dallas’s last sentence and ran back into
the store before Ryan could stop her. Dallas held up a roll of duct tape he
picked up out of the stockroom. “Are we taking them with us?” asked Dallas,
tapping his finger on the roll of tape.

“No, but we’re taking her. Use the whole roll on these
jerks and stuff them in that dumpster. Did you find anything on your guy?”

“Yeah, I’ve got his wallet, phone, and gun.”

“Well, that’s good news. You got your gun now,” smiled
Ryan.

“You should get a holster for that trash can lid,”
laughed Dallas. “That was very Starsky and Hutch.”

“Thank you. Have Michelle dump both their phones and run
their IDs,” said Ryan. “I want to know where that order came from. I’ll go get
Dr. Anderson while you tape up our friends.”

Ryan walked back inside the store where Kristina was
attending to Emma.

“Are you two okay?” asked Ryan.

“I’m fine, but she needs to be seen in an E.R. She has
high blood pressure and broke her hip last year. Who were those animals?”

“I don’t know. But I do know they were coming for you
and not her.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know that, either,” said Ryan. “You need to
come with us.”

“This is all a bit much, Agent Pearson.”

“Please, call me Ryan.”

“I can’t leave her here, Ryan. She may have internal
injuries.”

“Call an ambulance, but as soon as we hear the sirens,
we need to head out the back. I can’t be seen here and certainly not with you.”

“You’re an FBI agent. You’re not supposed to be the one
running.”

“I’m not running, Dr. Anderson. I believe we have a mole
in the Bureau. Right now, the guys calling the shots think I’m in New Orleans hunting Elliot. If they know I’m operating under the radar to find the truth,
they’ll pull me off this case. And if they do, more innocent people are going
to die. I hate to say this because I’ve been hearing it thrown around too much
lately, but I have to ask you to trust me.”

“Kristina.” she said, quietly stroking Emma’s silver
hair.

“I’m sorry?”

“Call me Kristina.”

“Okay, Kristina. We need to get back to New Orleans. The other half of my team is there looking for Elliot. You’ll be safer there
while we find out who came after you and why.”

“Boss,” said Dallas, motioning Ryan away from the women.
“We need to move. How are we going to get her to New Orleans? We can’t just
stroll into the airport. These goons aren’t too sharp, but they’ll probably
have the airports covered. As soon as her name hits the ticketing system, she’s
done. It’s an eighteen-hour drive, so we need to get rolling.”

“We can’t waste eighteen hours,” said Ryan. “We’ll drive
south to Richmond, Virginia tonight. It’s about a three-hour trip. That should
put a little distance between us and them.”

“What’s in Richmond?”

“Hopefully a plane.”

“How did you – never mind.”

Emma persuaded Kristina to let her stand. She walked
without pain to her seat behind the counter. She was shaken, but was aware they
weren’t after her.

“Why do they want to hurt you?” asked Emma with a
trembling voice.

“I don’t know,” replied Kristina. “These men are FBI
agents. I have to go with them so we can find out. An ambulance is on the way.
I can’t have you argue with me right now, so will you promise me you’ll go to
the hospital?”

“Yes, child, I’ll go. You have to leave now?”

“I do. I can’t explain why, but I promise to get in
touch with you as soon as I can.”

“Be careful, sweetie.”

“One more thing.”

“I’m listening.”

“Tell the medics and the police two men tried to mug
you, but a good samaritan chased them off. Don’t mention I was in here or the
FBI agents. I’ll explain that later, too.”

“Okay. I can do that.”

“I’ll see you again soon,” said Kristina, hugging Emma
before leaving.

During the three-hour drive, Ryan brought Kristina up to
speed on the events of the past several months. She sat quietly, taking in
every word. Ryan worried he was overwhelming her with the details of the
killings, but he wanted her to know everything. He wanted her to trust him.

They arrived at Hanover County Airport located fourteen
miles north of Richmond and boarded a small Learjet. Less than two hours later,
they landed in New Orleans. Tom and Michelle gave each other puzzled looks as
Ryan, Dallas, and Kristina piled into the back of the sedan.

“Sorry, guys,” said Ryan. “I didn’t want to pass any
compromising information over the airwaves. Tom, Michelle, this is Dr.
Anderson.”

“Welcome aboard, Dr. Anderson,” greeted Tom.

“Please, call me Kristina.”

“Not a chance, huh?” said Dallas, smiling at Michelle.

“We’ll be dropping you and Michelle off at a house two
blocks from ours,” said Ryan. “She’ll be staying with you tonight. It’s safe,
but tomorrow Dallas will be reinforcing the locks and installing a security
system. You’ll have a keychain panic button that’ll put us at your front door in
less than forty-five seconds.

“Kristina, it’s very important you understand you cannot
leave that house for any reason. You can’t call home. You can’t let anyone know
where you are. That means no e-mails and no checking in at work. Do you
understand?”

“I do.”

“Okay, good.”

Ryan’s phone alerted him to an incoming call from Deputy
Director Donaldson. “Quiet, please.”

“
Ryan, we’ve just received information that one of
the scientists who resigned from the project has gone off the grid. Her name is
Dr. Kristina Anderson, and her last known location as of yesterday was
Baltimore. There’s evidence she’s in a relationship with Joshua Bell and has
been in close contact with him since the first killing. If we find her, we’ll
probably find him and Derek. We believe she’s the one responsible for their
condition.

Scott Wilson is on his way to see you now. His team
is also in New Orleans and should be at the house in a few minutes. He worked
with her and thinks he may be able to help us locate her. I want your team to
consider her just as dangerous as the monsters she created.”

“Yes, sir,” responded Ryan. “Do you have any idea where
she might be heading?”

“Elliot and the other Marines are still your
priority, Ryan. Get what you can from Scott and keep an eye out for her, but
don’t concern yourself with finding her.  I have a team of agents leaving Quantico now to hunt her down.”

“Understood,” replied Ryan, ending the call. “Step on
it, Tom. We’re going to have visitors as the house in a few minutes.”

Kristina and Michelle quickly exited the vehicle and
entered the scientist’s new home. The rest of the team arrived back at the FBI
safe house less than two minutes before two familiar black SUVs screeched to a
stop. Four heavily armed security personnel jumped out of the first vehicle as
Scott and another man darted out of theirs. A third SUV parked behind the house
unloaded four more troops, effectively sealing the perimeter. Scott banged on
the door continuously until Dallas opened it.

“Where’s Ryan?” Scott demanded.

“He’s upstairs, but –”

“You stay here,” said Scott to his companion. “I need to
speak with Ryan alone.”

Dallas escorted Scott to the windowless room where Ryan
was sitting at the table. He closed the door behind them.

“I said I need to speak to Ryan alone,” repeated Scott
with emphasis.

“It’s okay, Scott. He’s one of the good guys.”

“Really? Because I thought you were one of the good
guys, Ryan. What the fuck did you do? I gave her name to you as a sign of trust,
and you literally handed her over to them! I told you she was a friend and to
be careful! What kind of idiot are you?”

“Hold on, Slick,” said Dallas. “Easy with who you’re
calling an idiot. We didn’t give up your girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend, you ape. She’s someone I care
very much about, and you two goons probably got her killed. I don’t know where
she is, and your boss is sending a team of headhunters after her. So not only
are the bad guys looking to shut her up, but you’ve got the so-called good guys
doing the same. You couldn’t have fucked this up better if you were actually
trying! You’re right, Dallas. I take back my idiot comment because I’m the
fucking idiot for trusting you!”

“What are you, Scott? A buck forty?” patronized Dallas.
“Are you going to shank me with your slide rule?”

“You really are an ape,” said Scott, trying to stand his
ground.

“Well, Dallas,” interrupted Ryan. “Do you think he’s one
of them?”

“I hope not, Boss. He’s a little wolverine. I really
think he’d take a shot at both of us right now.”