Morvicti Blood (A Morvicti Novel Book 1) (40 page)

“That’s Jack’s motorcycle.” Keeping hold of the M4, Austin opened the door, jumped out of the car, and raced to the building.

“Wait, Austin,” Belisarius yelled.

Not a chance of that, Commissioner.

He ran into the server room that had been full of wires this morning but now was stripped clean.

The door to the stairs was open.

The space below, where he’d found Walt Turner’s body and head, was empty, but he could hear Jack’s voice coming from the inner room.
Where I woke up into this nightmare.

Quietly he went down the stairs, weapon at the ready.

“Too bad for you, human, that Austin thinks more of you than me,” The Ripper said.

“Does he?” Michael asked.

Thank God, he is still alive.

“After I slice you up, Austin won’t think much of you. Neither will that wife of yours. She will come around or I’ll cut her pretty neck, too.”

“I’ll kill you, you son of a bitch,” Michael shouted.

Austin got to the door and saw Michael and Jack.

With his head dangling, Michael was tied to a chair, his eyes black and his face swollen from being brutalized.

Jack stood behind him, holding a knife to his throat and a gun to his head. “Hello, Austin. I’ve been expecting you. Put down your gun.”

“You first.”
I don’t have a clear shot.
He switched the M4 to semi-automatic, knowing the full-auto setting would likely end up hitting Michael.

“Funny man. Either you do as I say or your friend loses his head.”

“Austin?” Michael choked out. “Is that really you?”

Jack leaned down and spoke in his ear. “I doubt you can see him, but yes, Austin is here and your miserable life is now in his hands.” The Ripper glared at Austin. “Put. Down. Your. Gun. I won’t say it again.”

“He won’t. He’s a SEAL.” Michael swung his head, slamming it into Jack’s. The thud it made echoed off the walls.

Stunned and enraged, Jack swung around, his eyes bulging with hate and insanity, shooting in every direction. At the same instant, Austin crouched low, avoiding being shot, and sent a single bullet into the bastard’s body.

The Ripper fell, his gun sliding across the floor. Blood poured out of his chest. “Damn you to hell.”

He rushed forward, stepping on Jack’s wrist. The bastard groaned and released the blade.

Holding a gun, Belisarius rushed in. “Austin, you okay?”

“I’m okay, thanks to Michael using his head.”

Michael laughed. “Who’s your friend?”

“You’re not going to believe this, but you know him as Commissioner Poole. He’s on our side.”

“No kidding?” Michael sighed. “I suppose a lot has happened since I got snagged. Damn, what a fool I was.”

“No, Professor. It’s just a very capable enemy we’ve been battling.”

“We’ve got to hurry.” Belisarius untied Michael. “It’s very likely that someone outside heard the gunfire.”

“I can barely see with these two black eyes,” Michael said. “What happened to The Ripper?”

“I shot him, and the son of a bitch won’t be hurting anyone, ever again.” He leaned over and looked at the psychopath.

Jack’s mouth twisted into a crooked smile. “You have no idea, do you?”

“Idea about what, asshole?”

“Your father is a coward, constrained by Morvicti law,” he choked out. “He cannot execute me. It is not allowed. Listen to me.”

Austin saw the blood on Jack’s lips and heard his ragged breathing. “Better talk fast if you have something you want to say to me. You aren’t long for this world.”

“They will stake me, Austin. Just like they did before. And some day someone will want to use me like David Bathry did to do their dirty work and slice off some heads. And just like you, I will rise again. And when I do, I will come for you and your bitch sister.”

He’s one of them. He’s a Morvicti.

“I’m not a monster like you, Jack. Before I cut off your head, here’s some immortal anesthesia.” He switched the M4 to full-auto and fired three-round bursts until every last bullet was inside the bastard.

Jack’s eyes were glassy; his body was unmoving.

You won’t be talking your crap to me any longer, asshole.

Michael stood with the help of Belisarius. “How’s Angelique? Where is she?”

“Safe, but worried about you.” He couldn’t stop staring at Jack.
I need to remove his head.

“And on her way here, too,” Belisarius said. “Damn it, Austin. You should have waited with me. You could’ve been shot.”

“But I wasn’t shot.”

“Thank God you and Angelique are okay.” Michael let go of Belisarius. “I can stand on my own, Commissioner.”

Belisarius nodded and stepped back.

Michael was a little unsteady, but his determination kept him on his feet. “Austin, I was sure I was a goner.”

“Not today, Professor.” Austin checked The Ripper’s pockets for more weapons, but only found three cell phones. Remarkably, only one had been hit by a bullet. The other two were still operational, one with a call in progress.
To the phone on the charger in Doc’s lab, no doubt.
He clicked it off.

Turning on the other working cell, he checked the call log. At the top of the list was ‘
999
.’ The call to the police emergency services had been placed at the exact time as The Ripper had left the cemetery. Had the bastard taken it off one of the dead men?

What about the third phone? The number frozen in the cracked screen was Dr. Wilson’s. The Ripper had undoubtedly used this last cell to pose as John Reeves.

“Check The Ripper’s pulse,” Belisarius said.

He placed his finger on Jack’s wrist, leaving it there. Feeling a beat after a couple of minutes, he walked over to where the knife had landed.
His head has to come off.

As he grabbed the blade, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs, recognizing one set of them being his sister’s. The other had to be from his biological father, the so-called
king
.

Seeing the person who appeared in the doorway with Angelique stunned him. “Lieutenant Davis?”

Michael shook his head. “What the hell.”

Their former commander sighed.
The voice. It was his voice I remembered, though with a different accent.

“Michael.” Angelique ran into his arms. They showered each other with comforting kisses of relief.

“Sweetheart, I was so worried about you.” Michael held her tight.

“And I was worried about you, too. Oh my God, what did he do to you?”

“Nothing that won’t heal.”

Austin stepped in front of the man he had known as Lieutenant Warren Davis. “You?”

“Me.” Octavian gave him a tired smile, then turned to Belisarius. “Do you have blood and a transporter receptacle in your car?”

“Yes. And also oil of vitriol.”

“Get up top and check your police radio. See if the shots have been reported, and then bring the receptacle, the blood, and sulfuric acid back down so we can clean up this place.”

“Yes, my lord,” Belisarius said, running out of the room.

“He has a pulse.” Austin turned back to the unmoving body of Jack. “I’m going to cut off this bastard’s head.”

“No, soldier. You’re not like him. You’re not a cold blooded killer.”

“Maybe not, but I can’t let him come back from the dead.” Austin raised the knife.

Octavian grabbed him by the wrist.

He turned and glared at the man. “You can’t stop me.”

“Even if I could, I wouldn’t. But think of your sister. Angelique is looking at you right now. Is this the image you want her to remember for the rest of her life?”

Austin glanced over at his sister. Her eyes were wide. “No.”

“Then let me handle this. I know what to do.”

“Jack told me that your laws will constrain you from executing him.”

“Austin, he won’t hurt you, your sister, or anyone ever again. I swear it.”

“He better not, or you will have to deal with me.” He tossed the knife to the ground.

Angelique let out a long sigh. “You did the right thing, Austin.” She stepped over and gave him a hug. “Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for saving Michael.”

“Your husband had a part in saving himself, Sis.”

“You give me too much credit, buddy.” Michael smiled. “Though I do have a horrible headache from butting that asshole’s head.”

“Angelique, take my keys,” Octavian said, reminding him of the commander who he had once looked up to and respected. “Drive Michael back to Dr. Wilson’s. Austin, Belisarius, and I will finish things here, and then we’ll meet you.”

She nodded, leading Michael out.

Octavian’s gaze landed on him. “I can see by the look on your face you have a million questions for me. No surprise. Yes, we need to talk, and we will. But first we need to get Jack into Belisarius’s trunk and get the hell out of here. Understand?”

“Which should I do? Bow or salute, father?” Austin knew he was being unreasonable, but he was exhausted and this was one revelation too many.

“Neither, let’s just do the job.”

Belisarius rushed back into the room, carrying what looked like a body bag, some acid and a plastic container of blood. “Bad spot of luck, my lord. We’ve got less than two minutes before the police arrive.”

“Give Jack some blood, Belisarius.”

Austin watched the man place the blood to The Ripper’s mouth.

“We don’t have time for this.” Without waiting for Octavian’s next orders, Austin lifted Jack up and over his shoulders and ran up the stairs.

CHAPTER 72

2:02 AM

Dr. Thomas Wilson sat across from Gita. On the table between them were two half-eaten bowls of the meal she had prepared earlier for Austin and Angelique.

They were not very hungry, so the soup had gone cold.

“We should have heard something by now,” Gita said.

Thomas was worried, too, but knew they needed some kind of distraction. He looked into her beautiful eyes. “Everything will be fine, my dear. Would you mind answering some questions? That way we could pass the time until we hear from them.”

Gita sighed. “You deserve answers, Thomas. No more lies. I don’t understand why you’re being so forgiving of me after what I’ve done.”

“You were protecting your people, your family. How can I blame you for that?”

“But I stole your specimens you worked so hard on. I kept you from proving your life’s work.”

“I understand why you did what you did. I suppose I always suspected the world teetered on a precarious tipping point. I just never knew that the species I was hunting for was keeping it in balance, saving humankind from self-destruction. Were your people involved in taking the headless mummy and destroying the research in Guatemala?”

“No. That was The Brotherhood of Purity. Morvicti orthodox fanatics. They operate outside our laws in secret.”

“And what about China? My friend died in that fire.”

“That was an accident. He wasn’t supposed to be there.”

“What else, Gita?”

“No one broke into the lab today. I was responsible for that, too. I took Nancy and Gail’s fingers.”

“That’s a relief to know.”

Her lower lip quivered. “Prior to the last twenty-four hours, your lab received samples with Morvicti DNA seven times throughout the years. I destroyed them all.”

He took a deep drag on his pipe. “Seven times? The young tech I fired who had the neighbor with the genetic markers I was searching for…?”

She nodded.

“I sacked that poor man, Gita.” He laughed, recalling how careless the tech had been over the short time he’d been in his employ. Gita’s robbery, while thwarting his research, had given support to letting the lad go. “You should be ashamed of yourself,” he said with a grin.

“I am ashamed, Thomas. Deeply ashamed. I saw you working so hard, being ridiculed by your peers. It is the worst thing I’ve ever had to do.” Her eyes welled up. “I hope you can forgive me.”

He reached across the table and took her hands. “Let me have a look at your palms, Gita.”

As a tear fell from each eye, she complied.

He kissed her pale violet palms. “These are the most beautiful hands in the world to me, my darling. I forgive you. Every crime you committed against me.” He leaned back in his chair. “It is good to know that I was not delusional and that my work had real merit. The truth is…I’ve been in love with you for years. Foolish, I know, but true.”

“And I’ve been in love with you, Thomas.” She came around the table and touched his cheek. “That brusque exterior you present to everyone is just a façade. You have the biggest heart of anyone I know.”