Operation (35 page)

“Did you get the neutralizer?” Reese asked as he braced himself against the wall. His skin was pale and his eyes vacant.

“Yeah,” Barkley answered as he stared intently at Reese. “You look like shit, John. “And this is your doctor asking, are you alright?”

“Thanks Doctor,” Reese replied. “But your flattery won’t change a thing. Did our mad scientist give you any trouble?”

“No.” Barkley continued. “He saw the green and he made the elixir neutralizer in less than an hour.” Sam removed a small vial of a gold liquid from his coat pocket and handed it to Reese.

“Thanks, I really appreciate you doing this, but I can’t ask you to go in on this one. If something should go wrong, you‘ll be implicated in the entire affair.”

Sam looked at Reese, his facial expression perplexed. “I’ll worry about me. What about you?” he asked. “What are you going to do?”

“I’ll just claim I was under their influence,” said Reese making it sound like the only possible explanation. “It worked with Samantha, it should work again.”

“And if that doesn’t work?” asked Sam.

“Well then, I’m in a world of shit,” Reese said and smiled halfheartedly. “We’ll leave you here, locked up in one of the cells. It will clearly look as if you were taken against your will.”

“What are you going to do?” Sam asked.

“Simple. I’m going to waltz in there with Dimitri and the others and just take Iliga and the two girls out.”

“Come on, John, be serious. How are you going to get into a secured compound with three vampires and get out with six?.”

“I am being serious. We have the equipment van here. I plan to drive it into the compound and park it in the loading bay.”

“You’re crazy!” exclaimed Sam. “Do you need me to certify that fact before you go through with this? That way at your trial they won’t be able to convict you due to your obvious insanity.”

“Might not be a bad idea,” Reese said in a somewhat somber mood, “perhaps I am.”

“I was joking,” Sam said, his face turning serious. “What the hell happened, John? What did they do to you?”

Reese looked at Sam and shook his head, a wry smile on his lips. “I wonder if they did it to me or if I did it to myself.”

“Huh?”

“It’s a long story,” Reese said and then changed subject. “We’re leaving soon, you want to pick out your cell and get some stuff in there? It might be a while before they get to you.”

“I’m going with you,” Sam said.

“Sam.”

“Forget it, John. I’ve been in this since the beginning. Either way, I’ll fall under suspicion no matter what happens. So the way I look at it, I have nothing to lose by going along with you. Hell. I might even add some credibility to this crazy plan you have in mind. They know I left with the van so if I bring it back, they won’t think anything is wrong. Besides you’ll need someone to administer the elixir neutralizer.”

“I thought they drank it?” asked Reese.

“They do,” Sam said and smiled, “but it must be under a Doctor’s supervision of course. I’d hate to get sued for malpractice.”

Reese’s perplexed face softened. “Thanks,” he said. “You’re a good friend even after all I’ve done to you.”

“Do you think we’ll get a cell together at Fort Leavenworth?” Sam asked.

“Only if we’re lucky,” Reese replied. “Let’s get the others. It’s almost dusk.”

C
HAPTER
S
EVENTY
-T
WO

As Samantha observed the two girls in person for the first time, one word resonated through her thoughts—perfection. They appeared so innocent that she imagined them not even having to fight to get through rigorous security measures; they would simply walk through them. Who would suspect such ferocity from two little girls? Now all she had to do was get them out of here and back to Driver.

During the time she waited for the interrogation to begin, she had been in communication with her superior at the agency. It was as she had thought; her orders were to cut their losses to avoid any implication into their current status. Apparently there had been a shake up in the current administration and any risky measures were not to be attempted. She was instructed to keep Christina and the two other vampires where they were at the abandoned base for the interim. She had accepted the orders at the same instant that she had decided she would disobey them entirely.

She would implement her plan without the approval of her superior. If the plan that Reese had in mind worked, it would come out perfectly and she would continue to increase her personal power and eventually change the course of history. She would control the agency while wielding the ultimate force at her command, her vampires. If the plan failed, she would be able to still salvage the three vampires and turn Reese in as the traitor. It was a win-win scenario.

“We’re getting ready to begin,” General Morris said interrupting her thoughts as he entered the observation room. She glanced at the two men that entered with him, the General’s bodyguards. She watched, amused, as they assessed her as if she was some sort of threat. Well I am, boys. I am. she thought.

“They’re bringing the one called Iliga into the interrogation room. This should be interesting,” the General continued. “Finally we’ll learn how they snuck in here and took the girls.”

“I assume you have additional assets ready in case something should go wrong?” she asked. “These creatures are so unpredictable one never knows what to expect.”

“Good point,” Morris said. He turned toward one of his bodyguards. “Have control shift all internal guards to this area of the compound.”

“Yes, sir,” the man answered and hurried off to comply with the General’s orders.

Samantha casually placed her hand inside of her pocket. Her fingers closed upon the tiny cell phone and when she found it, she pressed the send message button. Her earlier pre-recorded message would be on the way to Reese, informing him that it was time to start the operation.

“He hasn’t said a word since their capture,” Morris said. “He’s a tight lipped one.”

“Maybe he can’t speak,” she offered.

“Or maybe he is in telepathic communication with the other two,” the General said, his voice asserting authority and apparently newfound confidence in his information.

“Really?” she asked, interested in the General’s new attitude.

“I’ve had Commander Pattoon go through Reese’s files with a fine toothed comb. He’s my new advisor on this project and he’s suggested some things about these creatures that Reese was perhaps, how would I say, not as forthcoming as he might have been.”

“I see,” she answered. “Are you saying that you don’t trust him?”

“No. He just doesn’t see the big picture. He’s not an operator like we are. He doesn’t see the potential as we do.”

“Potential?” she asked.

“The things we can do with these creatures,” he said, his face almost glowing with anticipation. “We can change the face of modern day warfare.”

Things have really changed, she thought. The way the General was talking and the way her superior had urged her to use caution, it sounded as if the administration had turned control completely over to the military since their recapture. At least for the time being.

“Yes I suppose we could,” she said agreeing with the General. “We could do a lot of good with them.”

“General Morris,” a voice from a speaker called out. “Line one please.”

Morris picked up the phone. “Morris here.”

Samantha appeared to turn her attention back toward the girls while she listened to the General on the phone.

“Commander Reese and Lieutenant Colonel Barkley, the General said. “Go ahead and send them directly through.”

The General replaced the phone. “Perfect timing,” he said.

“Yes,” Samantha agreed, “perfect.”

C
HAPTER
S
EVENTY
-T
HREE

The van passed through the primary checkpoint and a deep sigh of relief came from Barkley as he shot Reese a puzzling look. “How the hell did you know that they’d wave us through and not search the van?”

“I didn’t,” Reese replied. “I was kind of winging that part.”

Dimitri, Andre, and Christina emerged from where they had concealed themselves. Reese continued, “If they’d searched, we would have had to improvise, but knowing that the General might be anxious for us to get back to show off his prizes, I assumed he might instruct the guards to pass us through.”

“Are you winging any more of this?” asked Barkley.

“Hopefully not,” replied Reese. “The rest is up to you and them,” he said gesturing with his chin towards the vampires in the back of the van.

Reese’s cell phone rang. He removed it from his pocket and pressed the receive button. A recorded message in Samantha’s voice played, “All personnel in main area of control center.” Reese pressed the end button.

“She has them all in the main area,” Reese said. “You’re sure this gas is going to work?” he said indicating the canisters in the van.

“It will work, but we don’t have enough to keep everyone out for very long. At the best shot, maybe fifteen minutes.”

“That will have to be long enough,” Reese said.

The van approached the entrance to the main loading bay. The large metal door rose as they approached and they drove inside. They parked the van and sat inside observing the area. They noted two guards on duty, both stationed by the door.

“Security is at a minimum in the bay,” said Reese. “Their focus will be on the interrogation. I’ll go and make my presence known while you,” he said to Barkley, “deploy the gas into the ventilation system.” He grabbed two compact gas masks from the rack in the back of the truck and placed them into a small carry bag. Next he turned his attention to the vampires.

“Remember, no killing,” he said. “Most of them will be incapacitated by the gas. You get in, get the girls and Iliga and then drive this vehicle out of the bay. We have to blow this van as soon as it clears the bay to pull this off so don’t waste any time getting out. I repeat, once you have cleared the bay, get out of the van as quickly as you can. If you’re in it when the time comes, I will have to still blow it up. Make your way by foot to the vehicle we parked outside the security area. Drive back to the underground base and we will meet up later. Barkley and I will cover back here. Okay? Any questions?”

“And you believe these,” Dimitri began indicating the bags of ashes from the bodies of Smith and the other agent, “will convince them of our deaths?”

“You’d better hope so,” Reese said. “Let’s go.”

C
HAPTER
S
EVENTY
-F
OUR

Reese walked into the control room and joined General Morris and Samantha. As he looked through the window, his eyes focused upon Iliga who was strapped into a chair in the otherwise empty interrogation room. Reese knew he had to give the appearance of shock that the creature was still alive when he should have been dead. After all, he had supposedly killed the entire Team of Darkness.

“What the hell?” Reese exclaimed. “Where did he come from?”

“Commander,” the General said, “glad you could make it. I thought you might want to be here when we find out why this creature is still alive when you reported that it was dead.”

“I’d like to know the answer to that myself,” Reese said trying to sound surprised and confused why Iliga was still alive. “I killed them all that night when I activated their collars.”

“Yes we are all aware of that, Commander. But, apparently something did not work as it was supposed to and that is what I intend to find out. If this one survived, then it is a likely assumption that the others survived as well. I want to find out where they are. I want them back. All of them.”

“So do I sir,” Reese said firmly. “So do I.”

“Then we should begin,” the General said as he clicked on a switch that opened communications to the interrogation room. “This is General Morris,” he began, “I know that you are the creature called Iliga and that you were part of a military team. I want to know what happened to that team and how you broke into this compound and removed the two girls. The procedure of our little talk is quite simple. I am going to ask you questions. I expect answers to the questions. If I do not get answers I will inject quantities of the elixir in small dosages from the collar. Continued lack of response will result in larger dosages being released. Do you understand?”

Iliga said nothing. He remained motionless in the chair staring directly in front of him.

General Morris moved his hand toward a button on the console and quickly depressed it for a few seconds. Iliga shuddered in the chair, jerking his head back from the sting of the elixir that the General had administered.

“I asked if you understand?” the General repeated.

“Yes, I understand,” Iliga said his voice angry. He glared up at the control area with eyes that glowed with fearful deep red.

“General,” Reese began, “I would advise caution on how much and how often you inject the elixir. There could be long term effects that damage the subject.”

“I will find out what I want to know, Commander,” the General said, his voice hard and cold. “Is there perhaps something you do not want me to learn?”

The two body guards now turned their attention to Reese as if waiting for a word from the General to remove him.

“No, sir,” Reese replied. “I just suggest caution because we don’t know if there is any residual effect from the elixir.”

“Well I guess we will find out then, won’t we…ah…”

As the General stuttered on his words, Reese smelled the change in the air. There was a sudden heavy feel to it which he knew was the effect of the gas being released into the ventilation system. He could feel his eyes starting to sting.

“What the…h-e-l-l,” the General groaned as he became unsteady on his feet. The two body guards stepped toward him but they too moved as if their coordination was now effected. Samantha, the smallest of the group was the first to collapse, her smaller body succumbing to the effect of the gas. Reese went to her and slid her out of the way of the men who were now staggering uncontrollably as the realization of what was happening overcame them. With his back to them, he slid one of the masks out from his bag and placed it on her. He then placed her face down so that no one would see the mask protecting her.