Specters: A Monster Squad Novel - 8 (6 page)

Stepping to the mirror, he noted a smear of blood near his mouth. Kalen opened his mouth and inspected the area. A perfect piercing of his lower lip bled out onto his chin. He dabbed at it and noticed it wasn’t sore. He touched it with his tongue and flashes of memory shot through his mind.

He sat down on his bed and closed his eyes. “We are destined to be, Brooke.”

4

Mitchell sagged in the command chair, playing with the controls to the screens, his eyes absently scanning the different views. Static suddenly filled the air from the overhead speakers and Delta One’s voice boomed, “OPCOM, Delta Actual. All clear. Jammer located and FUBAR’d. Standing by for cleanup crews.”

Colonel Mitchell sat up and keyed the coms. “Casualties?”

“Negative, sir.”

Mitchell released the breath he had been holding and sagged in the chair again. He motioned to the logistics tech, “Notify the cleanup crews. Get ‘em onsite ASAP.”

“Roger that, sir.”

Mitchell keyed his coms again, “By chance is Major Tufo with you?”

“That’s affirmative, sir.”

“Put him on the line.” Mitchell spoke through clenched teeth.

“Go for me.” Mark’s voice sounded a bit too flippant.

“Major, switch to a private channel.” Mitchell switched the coms and waited for the green light. When Mark came back on he forced himself not to light into him right away. “Care to tell me why you entered a communications dead zone?”

“Well…uh, they sort of had a gun to Spanky and Little John’s heads and were counting down. It was a ‘shit or get off the pot’ situation.”

Mitchell dragged a hand over his face and pinched the brow of his nose while mentally counting to calm his blood pressure. He keyed the coms again, “Tell me you didn’t have to engage.”

“Don’t make me lie to you, Matt. But you can rest easy, it was a by-the-book hostage situation. Two snipers high, to shooters low. Bad guys are all feasting in Valhalla.”

“Oh, for the love of…” Mitchell bit off the epithet he was about to let loose. “You and I are going to have a long talk when you return.”

“Copy that.” Mark pulled out his earpiece and turned off his radio.

Mitchell noted the coms go dead and sighed. He wasn’t sure if his best friend was going to be problematic or if he just needed one last hurrah before riding the desk again. He sincerely prayed that this wasn’t a sign of things to come.

*****

Allister walked about the third level and eyed the empty space that Evan offered. “This should be adequate.” He turned and nodded to the vampire academic who escorted him through the maze to find the place.

“There is a freight elevator that you and the larger members of the team should be able to use. It goes from here to topside. No other stops, otherwise we could have brought it down.” Evan lifted the gate and Allister poked his head inside.

“This will hold our combined weight?”

“It should. It’s a commercial freight elevator.” He pulled the door shut and turned back to the room. “We can have furnishings brought down here shortly. A conference table and chairs for those who can use them. Computers, couches, whatever you like.”

Allister shook his head. “I defer to your expertise. I have not had to deal with human desires in a very long time.” He marched past the vampire and stared at the narrow doorways leading out to the hallway and stairs.

“I will see to their needs then.” Evan watched the griffin carefully. “Are there any special needs that you will require?”

Allister shook his head. “I ate a deer before I came here. I will be good for at least a few more weeks.”

Evan swallowed hard and nodded. “Very well, I have a side project that I must address and then I will make arrangements to get furnishings provided. After that, you and I can start with your lessons.”

Allister turned to him and nodded. “Thank you, Doctor. I look forward to it.”

Evan waited for him to turn and follow him, but Allister simply sat in a corner and watched him. “Will you be staying here then?”

“Until your return.”

Evan gave a slight bow and exited. His mind instantly switched to Laura’s problem and he began trying to calculate the effects that an overdose of the serum would have. Would it do any good to follow up with the secondary serum? Even if she gave larger doses? His mind couldn’t wrap around the possibility as he hurried to his lab. He simply couldn’t find an analogy worthy of the situation.

At 15CCs per dose, the subjects would be genetically altered to the point of being the equivalent to a natural born wolf. At 250CCs… he had no idea what a dose like that would do to a human body. Especially one battling a life-threatening illness.

Evan pushed the smaller items from his desk and pulled his computer keyboard closer. He quickly filled out the requisition form for the furniture and hardware he thought Jack’s team might need, then hit send. He switched to a modeling program that he hadn’t used in nearly a decade. Shortly after they revamped the augmentation program he had developed the program to predict the outcomes of the new serum and its results were nearly spot on. It was what gave him the 15CC dosage levels that proved reliable in the test subjects.

He started with new subject parameters, inputting a sick human, near death, cancer-ridden. He then allowed for a single dose of 250CC and watched the results calculate. His eyes widened as he saw the predictors range from rapid, near manic-depressive mood swings to uncontrollable shifts without triggers to possibly even having the ability to control other animals with nothing more than their mind. The worst case scenario was a total takeover by the wolf.

“No, this won’t do.” He began changing the serum parameters. With a secondary dose of the primary, it only became worse. No matter the dosage levels, the subject would eventually lose their mind and shift into a wolf, never to regain their humanity.

Evan fought back the panic rising within and switched to the secondary serum. He adjusted the different dosage levels and read the projected results. He felt his hands shaking as he read the projections. Without a full dose of the secondary, within twenty-four hours of the primary, the subject would be lost to the wolf. If she could get a full dose of the secondary serum into him in time…

He snatched up the phone and dialed Laura. He tapped his nails against the stainless steel countertop as he listened to the phone ring. When she answered, he nearly shouted into the phone, “Tell me you still have the secondary serum!”

“Uh…yeah. I still have it. Evan, what’s wrong?” Her voice switched to one of concern from the panic in his tone.

“Laura, listen to me. You don’t have much time. You have to give him the
full
vial. The full dose. All 250CCs of it, within twenty-four hours of when he took the first protocol, do you understand me? That’s the only thing that can save him.”

“What do you mean ‘that can save him’? Is he going to die?”

“Worse,” Evan sighed into the phone and gripped the receiver tighter. “He could be lost forever if you don’t. Look for massive mood swings. I’m talking like bi-polar type swings. He could lose the ability to control the shifts, even with bane in his system. He wouldn’t even need a trigger.” Evan ground his teeth as he fought with himself. Should he tell her? He had to… “Sweetheart, listen to me. If he doesn’t get the full dose right away, he could be lost to the wolf forever. The feral part of the wolf could take over and he might never switch back. If he did shift back, his
mind
would still be that of a wolf’s.” Evan sighed and shifted the phone. “There’s something else. Even if he gets the full dose and it’s in time…there’s only a fifty-fifty chance it will work. I know that sounds horrible, but it’s all I have. And as bad as it sounds, it’s better than nothing.”

“Oh, my God. What have I done? And he just…” she trailed off as she jumped for the window to see if she could see her father outside. “Evan, he stormed out of here earlier. He said he was going home, but I really thought he would return. He has no ride home and…I have to find him!”

“Hurry, love, you don’t have a lot of time. The longer you wait, the more effect the serum will have and the harder it will be to convince him.”

“Wish me luck, Evan. I love you.” She hung up before he could reply.

Evan stared at the phone a moment before slowly hanging it up. “I love you, too.”

*****

“Boss is pissed.” Mark leaned against a concrete pillar and crossed his arms. “Apparently I was supposed to sit outside and just report as you boys got your brains splattered across the floor.”

“Well, I for one am glad you didn’t.” Donovan gave the major a mock salute. “I’d rather you run in and pull my bacon out of the fire, thank you very much.”

“Copy that.” Spalding patted Mark on the shoulder. “I dunno if my talking to him will do any good or not, but I’d be more than happy to let the old man know we probably wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t breached.”

McKenzie snorted. “What am I? Chopped liver?”

“Were you here, too? Sheesh, Mac, in all the fun, I didn’t see you,” Little John teased. He punched him playfully in the shoulder. “Thanks for covering our six, buddy.”

“So now we’re buddies?” Mac raised a questioning brow at him.

“You save my life, I’ll call you buddy.” Little John shrugged. “If you don’t like it, I can go back to calling you an asshole.”

The other men watched the pair as they spoke, each waiting to see what was about to happen. Mac bristled for just a moment then turned to Sullivan. His features slowly softened into a smile. “As much as I enjoy being called an asshole by you…I think I can stomach ‘buddy’. Just don’t let anybody else hear you. They’ll think you went soft.”

Spalding chuckled as he clapped John across the shoulders. “Of course he’s soft. In the head. He followed me out here, didn’t he?”

Lamb stepped out of the office holding a small handful of papers. “Didn’t you say you were looking for a fellow named Bigby?”

Spalding stiffened, and Tufo took the three steps up into the office quickly. “Let me see that.”

“Tell me the son of a bitch is dead.” Spalding pushed through the small crowd of operators and stood beside Tufo.

Mark shook his head. “He was here.” He handed the papers off to Spalding. “Spread out. Search every corner of this place.” He pointed to Donovan and Mac. “Search the perimeter. Look for prints leading away, probably in a hurry.”

Lamb pointed back into the office. “Outer window is open. He might have hauled ass when he heard the shit hit the fan out here.”

Spalding pushed past him and ran to the window. He sniffed the air hard and shook his head. “I don’t know why I thought that might work.” He strained his eyes in the early morning light and could just make out where feet had landed outside the window. The packed ground gave little clue as to what direction the person may have went. “Son of a bitch.”

Little John appeared by his side. “Come on, I’ll go with you. We’ll help do an outside sweep.”

“He’s long gone.” Spalding shook his head.

“You can’t be certain.”

Spanky turned and looked up at the large man. “It’s what I’d do.”

“Let’s hope this joker isn’t as smart as you then.” John pulled him from the window and handed him his rifle. “Come on.”

*****

Laura ran to the front of the hospital and pushed through the large double doors leading to the parking lot. She trotted out toward her Jeep and paused, her eyes scanning the surrounding area. “Where are you, Daddy?”

She dug her keys from her pocket and climbed into the Wrangler, starting the engine and popping the clutch, chirping the tires as she pulled out of her parking space. She drove slowly, her eyes scanning the surrounding area as she headed the only direction she could think to go: Home.

She pulled off the main road and hit the smaller side streets. “If I were on foot and walking home, I’d want the shortest route.” She drove slowly through the mini-mall, through the edge of a residential area, and finally she came back to the main road leading back to her father’s house. She goosed the gas pedal and shifted up, her eyes still scanning the surrounding area.

She merged onto the highway and set the cruise on her Jeep. If he walked this way, she might see him on the side of the road. She pulled her cell phone and called Derek. He finally answered and she all but yelled at him, “Have you seen dad?”

“Isn’t he in his room with you?”

“No, D. He took off. He got dressed and said he was going home. I…” She paused as she realized she left her brother at the hospital. “You’re still there, aren’t you?”

“Well, duh, Einstein. We went down to the cafeteria and got coffee. I thought you were calling to tell us to come back up.” She heard him cover the phone and when he uncovered it, Crystal was near hysterics.

“Great. Listen, Derek, I’m making my way toward the house. I’m looking for him. I really—”

“How could you just let him walk out, Punk? Jesus, he’s a sick man!”

Laura ground her teeth and squeezed the steering wheel. “He’s not
that
sick anymore, remember, Derek? And do you think either of us could stop Dad once he made up his mind to do something?” She slowed the Jeep and stared down the side of a steep embankment as cars whizzed by on her right. “Besides, I really thought he would come back…that he was just blowing off steam.”