Asterion (18 page)

Asterion looks at her. “Nonetheless, I would not be speaking here now if you had your way. I could be either dumb or terminated. I am what I am only because of Trent and Burnsom. Now who do you think has my allegiance?”

Taylor learns toward him. “Asterion, when we thought that you might be intelligent like us, we treated you with the love and care we would give to any person. We didn’t know if you would be or not, but we erred on the side of caution and accepted you. We taught you our religious beliefs because we thought there is a possibility that you had a soul and you needed to have a chance to know God. I don’t know, maybe we made a mistake.”

Asterion snickered. “Awe, isn’t that sweet. Well, it doesn’t look like your God is coming to rescue you or even let you evade us in the first place.”

Christine sternly responds, “That is not the way it works. Faith is a concept based not upon the immediate actions of God intervening in our lives, but in the belief that He works with eternity in mind. Faith is proven by our belief in what we can’t see and it believes in the future He plans for us.”

Taylor adds, “Yes, we see God in everything. From the world to the universe and beyond His signature is on all of it. Many see random actions relying on astronomical odds of occurring and believe in that. We see the hands of the Creator.”

Asterion replies, “Where does an aberration like me fit in here. You created me. Are you God?”

Taylor responds, “I may have put you together, but I started with living material. Many have tried to start life from the simple elements and they produced a few basic chemical compounds, but not the living from the nonliving. Even if I took a living cell and dissected it, the cell would die and if I took all the complex molecules that it is made of and tried to reassemble them, I still would not have a living cell again. Yet, there are so many that believe that life came from those inanimate elements and somehow became alive by some mysterious process. Tell me that does not take faith.”

Asterion thinks for a second. “So you are telling me to believe in a God I can’t see and everyone else wants me to believe in a process that can’t be observed or duplicated. I tell you what. I’ll believe in the here and now. I believe in my abilities and me. I’m not waiting for God and primordial soup means nothing today. I know who made me and that wasn’t you two.” Asterion turns around and crouches to clear the door. He hesitates as he stands at the threshold, starts to turn his head, but looks forward and closes the door behind him.

Caldwell meets Asterion in the kitchen, “Well, did you find out anything?”

“No, not much.”

Caldwell informs him. “We leave at dawn.”

“Good” as he’s walking to the living room to retires for the night on the floor.

Caldwell’s alarm goes off at five thirty and he gets his troopers up to prepare for the trip back to base. The guard knocks on Barry’s door and hearing no reply enters only to find the room empty. He alerts Caldwell who orders a strip search of the room and questions the guard outside the window.

Returning to the room, Caldwell deduces, “He did not leave by the door or window. There has to be some sort of trapdoor with a tunnel.” The men finally locate the trap door and following the tunnel until they come out in the nearby woods.

“Perfect,” Caldwell sarcastically laments, “The general will have my head for this. Fan out and scour the woods. Find his trail.”

Asterion smiles and knows that this makes him look good. He may have more leverage now.

The soldiers report to Caldwell, “Sir we can’t find a trace or trail of him.

Caldwell cautions, “Well we can’t make a lot of noise in town. No one is supposed to know about this.” He takes a deep breath and commands, “Give me the communicator.” Activating it, he is soon speaking to the General. He can hear the stripes ripping off his uniform. “General, I regretfully report that Barry Thomason managed to escape and we cannot track him without causing a commotion in this area.” He waits fearfully for the response.

The General says, “You have the primary detainees. Thomason is not that important to us. Return them to the base. You don’t have time to reacquire him. This will not count against you due to the need for stealth.”

Yes sir, “Caldwell smartly replies, “We will return before sundown.” He puts the communicator down and breathes a sigh of relief. He thought his career is over. Caldwell stands up, and turning towards everyone, orders, “Move out!”

Asterion sets a timed incendiary charge and leaves the house. He smiles at the sweet taste of revenge he can taste and he desires even more. The truck travels down the road for a few miles before the charge ignites and starts a fire in the home. All the memories that make a house a home burn in the raging fire. Family pictures displayed in frames on shelves and tables start to bubble. They turn black and the smiling faces disappear in the flames.

Barry watches from the woods as they start on their way back to Fort Pershing. His survivalist skills honed by his experiences in the Cartel Wars served him well today. Hearing the collapse of the house causes him to turn in the direction of the house. He sees a plume of smoke and his heart sinks. He knows what they did. His anger causes him to pray for strength and forgiveness. Not just for himself, but for the enemy. He reminds himself that he still has his family and smiles. A single tear slowly rolls down his face flickering from the light of the flames. He walks back to the charred remains of his home. On the ground, he finds a photo that blew away from the fire. He turns it over and it’s a photo of him, Mary and Chance smiling in the living room. He thought, “It’s not the living room, it’s the people that live there.” He puts it in his pocket and walks slowly through the woods toward his sister’s house.

Taylor and Christine sit shacked in the back of the truck near the cab. Surrounded by soldiers they stare at Asterion as he stares at them. His fingers tap impatiently on the hard metal. Each finger individually taps the bench, then his claws extend and each clicks against the metal. Tap, tap, tap, tap, click, click, click, click over and over again. They wonder what he is plotting. He wonders how he can get them away from the soldiers. Caldwell and his team wonder what they have gotten themselves into with this beast.

The truck enters Fort Pershing and drives straight into a hanger. Everyone dismounts the vehicle and General Foxx is waiting for their arrival. “Get them in a secure room. Asterion, you come with me.” Asterion follows him with a sneer on his face showing his contempt for human orders.

In the General’s office, Foxx looks at Asterion. “Burnsom has given you all the latitude you need to do your job, but you are on my base and illegal acts will not be tolerated.”

“If I have all the latitude, then what I do is none of your concern.”

Foxx responds sternly, “Don’t try me. If you can’t observe the rules, then I’ll put you on the next transport to Washington.”

Asterion stares down at Foxx. “Are we done here?”

“Yes, close the door on your way out.”

Asterion goes to his room and calls Burnsom. “I want those two for myself.”

“The military has rules that we have to abide by while we are there. I’ll be there tonight. We’ll talk then.”

Taylor and Christine sit in the room wondering how they might get away. They hear the click of a key turning and Burnsom strolls in with a smile. “I’m sorry to hear about all the trouble you two have been having. I acted to secure your safety as soon as I heard.”

Taylor looks at Christine with a skeptical face and turns to Burnsom. “That is awfully nice of you.”

“Not a problem. Not a problem at all, I think we may have gotten off to a bad start. You two have a lot to contribute to society. However, we will have to keep a close eye on you.”

Christine asks, “What choice do we have?”

Burnsom laughs. “I don’t believe I offered any choice, other than work for me or I turn you over to Asterion.”

Taylor responds, “So it’s prison work or death. I thought we had outlived our usefulness to you.”

Burnsom shoots back, “Don’t get smart. We can use you, but you are not irreplaceable by any means. I will control this country no matter what it takes or who has to be convinced to obey me.”

Taylor responds, “Convinced. That’s just a euphemism for execution.”

Burnsom huffs, “Call it what you want. I have been getting away with it for a long time. I have the power and with Asterion and the legions of creatures, I will be unstoppable.”

Christine asks, “How long do we have to think about the offer?”

“Twenty-four hours, not a minute longer.” Burnsom spins around and leaves slamming the door behind him.”

Asterion is waiting on the other side of the door. Burnsom looks up. “I doubt that they will agree to help us. Unless you hear from me before the next twenty-four hours are up, facilitate their escape without them knowing you are behind it and track them down in some rural area. Make sure you are away from prying eyes and make sure their bodies are never found.”

Asterion snickers, “If they are of some use, consider this. I make sure they escape and acquire Christine away from the base. Taylor will have no choice but to aid us.”

Burnsom smiles, “Good plan. He will save us a few months on development. Trent is having some trouble with the success rate of the new beasts. Several aborted tried for each viable creature is not fast enough.”

“Leave it to me, but I want them when you are finished.”

“Okay, but be careful, don’t let your emotions and desire for revenge cloud your judgment.”

“No problem, I know my time will come. Like many farm animals, they will meet their end when their usefulness is over.”

Burnsom, walking away, stops and turns slightly. “Make sure that is what happens.” Burnsom continues down the hall leaving Asterion alone.

Taylor looks at Christine. “Well, we have twenty-three and a half hours to figure this out.”

Christine shakes her head. “We can’t help him destroy this country any more than he apparently has already done. We may have to die for our faith and our country.”

“Well, faith will always be there, but the country, I just don’t know if it can survive an army of these creatures. However, I’m not quite ready to lie down and die.”

Christine asks, “What do you have in mind?”

“I’m thinking. I’m thinking.” He sits on the end of the cot and takes a deep breath.

CHAPTER 22 - ESCAPE AND EVASION

Christine looks out of the barred window at the dark base. Islands of light dot the distance. Taylor paces the floor trying to think of a way out of their situation. Just then, an explosion rips through the power station and the base descends into darkness. Only the emergency lights give some faint illumination. They look at each other wondering if this is their only opportunity. The chaos would allow them to go unnoticed.

Just then, a series of taps come from the window bars. Christine looks at Taylor with a curious look. Taylor rushes to the window and begins tapping on the window. A series of taps comes from the bars and Taylor turns to Christine. ”Get back, hide your face,” as he grabs her and runs towards the interior wall.

Christine asks, “What is that?”

“Morse code.”

They hear the bars rip from the wall and the window disappears. A familiar voice commands, “This way.”

Christine asks, “Milar?”

Taylor tells her, “When I heard IDF signals in Morse, I knew it’s a friendly. Now we know what happened to her.”

“Get out here now,” she barks out, “Get in these uniforms. We have to go!”

Throwing on the uniforms they hop into an ambulance and Milar drives off with them in the back. “Stay in the back. One of you pour some blood on the other and puts an oxygen mask on them. Act like you’re attending to them.”

Taylor gets on the gurney and Christine pours blood randomly over him and rips his uniform at those spots. Taylor puts on a mask. Screaming to the front gate, a guard stops them. The guard glances into the back and sees enough. He waves them on and they drive into the night.

Milar shouts out “Get out of the uniforms. We are switching vehicles in a bit.”

Taylor says, “Thanks for getting us out of there.”

“Don’t thank me. Your old friends in Israel demanded I do something. I have my own problems. I was on the run when Burnsom sicced his goons on me. As soon as we get to the Gulf, you are on your own.”

Christine smiles, “Good, we’re on our way to South Central.”

“I’m headed out to sea.”

Taylor asks, “Israeli sub waiting for you?”

“Yes. I was here to find out about your project and eliminate you before you succeeded.”

Taylor with a stunned look asks, “Wow, you were going to kill me?”

“Only if you were responsible for what Burnsom is creating. You are not responsible for the outcome. You are not the threat. It turns out Trent is the real threat. They caught me as I was trailing him. You have to get to the province. You understand this monster best and the world needs you. Burnsom is drunk with power and no good can come from his desires.”

“What about you?”

“I’ve done all I can here. I have to return so that we can prepare for what is in store for us.”