Homecoming (31 page)

“There’s a flaw in your plan,” Apollo deadpanned, his eyes never leaving the men as they worked.

“Nonsense, we’ve calculated for every contingency. The teams will be disbursed doing what they do best, Jack will be off playing butt buddy to Thorn, both places will be left with a skeleton crew.”

Apollo considered attacking Thorn’s compound with Jack not being there and it ate at him. He wanted the man to suffer as much as he suffered. It was Jack, after all, who continually told him to relax. Maria wasn’t up to anything with the Padre. They were just friends. They were just student and teacher. They were just…lying to him. And Jack knew. Jack hid it from him to keep him on target until the end of the op. Jack played him. Now Jack had to pay.

“We got two squads of wolves, right?”

“Of course. They have the strength of ten men. We’ll need that strength to—”

“And you want to attack both places on the night of the
full moon
?” Apollo raised a questioning brow. “Can these wolves shoot a weapon? Can they throw grenades? Can they tell who is who in a battle if they’re surrounded by other wolves?”

Sheridan took a half step back and gave him a wide eyed stare, his smile slowly fading. “I can’t believe I didn’t consider…”

“Like I said, there’s a flaw in your plan.” Apollo turned and crossed his arms. “We either have to attack the night before or the night after.”

Sheridan’s mind raced as he considered the possibilities. “If we attack the night before, they’ll still be anxious from the coming full moon.”

“True dat, but a lot of them will be in transit, too. At least some of them will be on their way to help Jack. Others will still likely be in the field.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder to the men working in the warehouse. “And if we wait ‘til the day after, we have to figure out what to do with these guys when they shift and then they’ll be on the downhill slide afterward. Both sides being fatigued makes for sloppy shooters.” He turned back and stared at the men he knew little to nothing about. “I ain’t so sure I want to be in a shooting match under those circumstances.”

“Point taken.” Sheridan considered Apollo’s advice then nodded. “We attack the night before then.”

“Sounds like a perfect plan to me.” He turned back to Sheridan, “But I want two boats taking these guys out there. Not just one. I want to hit that island from two different sides at once. No chance of them taking all of us out with one shot.”

“Of course. Whatever you think is best.”

“Fast boats, too. None of that slow assed crap. We want them sport boats like the drug runners use.”

“Cigarette boats?”

“Cigarette, cigar, pipe, I don’t give a shit, as long as it’s fast.”

“Consider it done.” Sheridan gave the larger man a weak smile. “We’ll steal them if we have to.” He paused and glanced away. “You have considered that Jack will be there if you attack early, haven’t you?”

Apollo nodded knowingly. “I’m counting on it.”

*****

After disembarking the helicopter and forming up on high ground, Dom gathered his squad. “We have a signal on this thing and it’s moving slow. We got lucky that one of the spotters tagged it for us.”

“Let’s just hope we don’t have to chase this thing through the swamps.” Marshall swatted at a mosquito that had already decided he tasted good.

“Tag shows that it’s headed inland.” Dom transferred the data to their ruggedized PDAs and highlighted the terrain. “If it stays on its current heading, it will be emerging from that tree line. Just beyond that ridge.”

“Want us to set up pairs on either flank?” Hammer was already scoping the area for a good ambush area.

Dom nodded. “Chad, take overwatch. Try to get to a high enough area that you have a good view on this clearing. I don’t want it slipping past us. Dave, you and Hammer take the west side and put about twenty yards between each other. Make sure you stay in visual contact, but maintain radio silence. Doc thinks this thing is some kind of troll, but we don’t know how tight its hearing is. Me and Ben will do the same on the east side. Everybody, make sure you stagger, and be aware of your field of fire if we have to open up on this thing.”

“Copy that.” Dave slapped Hammer on the shoulder and the two men broke off for the edge of the tree line.

Dom pulled Ben aside and pointed out a rock outcropping. “Stage behind there. I don’t think this thing will be much problem. If it is a troll, it’s a lot smaller than most that we’ve dealt with. Doc is estimating the height at about eight foot.”

“Tiny little buggar. Think it might be a juvenile?”

Dom checked his weapon once more. “Your guess is as good as mine. They want samples if we can’t take it alive.”

“Alive? They sent us out with rifles and hand grenades and they want it alive?” He snorted in derision. “If they wanted it alive, they should have given us a net.”

“Roger that.” Dom turned and broke away to set up his own location along the edge of the clearing. He could just make out Ben’s head between two of the larger boulders, the barrel of his SCAR hidden between the limbs of a bush. He keyed his radio, “Mac, you set up?”

“Wait one,” came the whispered reply. “Had to take to a tree, boss. Not much in the way of high ground with good visuals around here.”

“Copy that. Report when ready.” Dom peered across the clearing and could barely make out his men on the other side. He sent up a silent prayer that whatever this thing was didn’t have natural night vision.

“Overwatch is set.”

“Okay, boys, you know the drill. Radio silence until bingo.” Dom waited and listened. The waiting was always the hardest part. Let the monster come to you if you could. Out here in the woods, away from any form of civilization, this was the best option. Let it break into the clearing and drop it. He checked his PDA and saw that the creature hadn’t altered course. It was still headed straight for them. He watched as the red dot drew closer to the map overlay. Before the dot broke the edge of the artificial tree line, he could hear the creature stumbling in the woods. Twigs snapped and limbs broke as it made its way through the dense growth. Whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be deterred from its path.

Dom waited until the red dot on his PDA was right on the edge of the tree line. What he saw break through the scrub brush definitely took him back. “OPCOM, we have visual,” he whispered into his mic.

“Copy that, Team Leader. Use extreme caution. This is still an unknown hominid.”

“Are you certain of that, OPCOM? It looks more like a mutated salamander.”

“A troll is a troll, Sierra One.”

Dominic heard the tone being used and decided that regardless of how unorthodox the creature may be, it was still an unknown. It could breathe fire like a dragon for all he knew. “Copy that.”

He watched carefully as the creature stumbled out of the berry vines and scrub brush and into the clearing. The creature paused for a moment and stared up at the evening sky. It seemed to study the position of the moon for a moment, cocking its wide head first one way, then another before slightly adjusting its course and stumbling off again. Dom didn’t feel right just opening fire on it. Although it had a wide flat head with large bulging red eyes, its lack of size made him think that just possibly this troll might have more common sense than its larger cousins.

“Hold fire.” Dominic stepped out from his position and walked slowly toward the slick-skinned monster. He noted a short, thick tail behind thick, muscular legs. It walked upright, but had shorter, heavily muscled arms. As the doc noted, three wide fingers on each hand ended in sharp curved claws, much like a bird’s. He slowly approached the creature from the side and noted that the eye closest to him seem to shift slightly and focus on him, but only for a moment. It quickly went back to scanning the area around itself as it trudged along.

Dom positioned himself in front of the creature and stopped. The troll, if it truly was a troll, paused for a moment and seemed to assess him. It cocked its wide, flat head first one way, then another before stepping aside, attempting to go around him. Dom stepped in front of it again and held his hands out, his carbine extended in his hand. “I don’t want to hurt you, big guy, I just want to talk.”

The creature paused again and stared at him. Dom heard static across his earpiece as one of his men keyed their mics. “Boss? Are you sure about this?”

“Negative. But I’d rather find out for sure before we just shoot the damned thing.” He held his hands out and the creature sniffed the air around him. “That’s it, I’m not going to hurt you.”

As the troll leaned forward and sniffed again, Dom barely had time to register the multiple rows of razor sharp teeth inside the mouth that snapped down on his carbine. He could feel the warm drool of the mouth sliding down the stock of the weapon and coating his hand as the creature tried to bite through the offering.

Dom pulled as hard as he could, but the weapon was jammed tight, caught between the multiple rows of teeth. “Dammit, give me my gun back.” Had the creature not been grunting so loudly, he would have heard Hammer break into laughter and Marshall utter a string of swear words that would make any well-educated sailor blush. His men quickly converged on the two as they stood off in the middle of the clearing.

Dom pulled and the troll pulled back, trying its best to wrench the weapon from his grip. The troll finally lifted its head, taking Dom from his feet before opening its mouth and bellowing into the night air. The sound reminded Dom of something like a cross between an elephant and a fog horn. Only louder.

Dom found himself on the ground, staring up at the troll, its blank stare and bulging, blinking eyes making it obvious that the wheel was spinning but the hamster was dead. The creature bent down again and gripped the carbine in its powerful jaws once more.

Dom was lifted from the ground as the creature tried to shake him loose. During the shaking process, Dom fired three rounds, creating a unique and gently smoking blowhole in the top of the creature’s head. The troll paused and smacked its lips, dropping Dom and his weapon back on the ground. He quickly rolled away and noted that the creature seemed to quiver abruptly and blink rapidly a few times before a thick, smelly, white ooze began sweating from its skin. The creature fell to its knees then collapsed to the ground in front of them.

“I think I want to read that write up,” Hammer commented as he watched the troll convulse slightly on the ground.

Dom tried to wipe the thick, slimy saliva from his hand. “That was nasty.”

“Smells like rotten fish.” Ben held his nose.

“It didn’t before it started oozing that white stuff,” Dom noted.

“I was talking about you.” Ben pointed at Dom’s arm, covered in goo. “I think it threw up on you.”

“So much for taking it alive,” Mac chimed in over the radio.

Dom sighed and pulled his knife. “We still have to get samples. Somebody get me a pouch to seal up part of this.”

“I don’t get why the clean-up crews couldn’t—” Dave was interrupted by Dominic suddenly swearing and wiping his hand against the grassy ground.

“That white stuff is like acid. It fucking burns!” Dom held his hand out while Ben poured fresh water from his canteen over his palm. The reddened skin began to bubble and blister even as the cold water soothed the wounds.

“Great.” Hammer leaned down and inspected the creature. “It’s covered in that stuff. How are we supposed to…” he was cut off by a familiar howl in the night. It was soon echoed by another.

Dom looked to his men and shook his head. “This thing wasn’t alone.”

Mac’s voice came across the radio. “We got a lot of thermal activity in the woods, gentlemen. I suggest you take some kind of cover.”

*****

Thorn stood just inside the foyer and out of the lowering sun as the men carried the wood crate into the castle. It had been delivered by boat after an overnight flight from Europe and Rufus felt like a child about to open a new gift. He directed the men to place the crate inside his study where the package was opened and Rufus pulled the polished stainless steel device from inside. It resembled a rifle in many ways, but was much heavier. The men quickly gathered the remains of the crate and the packaging and removed it from the area.

Paul stood by, staring at the new device. “Is this the weapon you spoke of earlier?”

“
Oui
, it has just been finished.” Rufus ran a hand along the gleaming side of what could only be called the barrel. Radiation and biohazard emblems were engraved into the sides of the metal.

“How does it work?”

Rufus shook his head. “I assume you merely pull the trigger. It did not come with instructions.”

“Should we test it?” Paul’s excitement was nearly as heightened as his brothers.

“
Non
!” Rufus pulled the device away from Paul and held it protectively. “You do not understand. This is not merely a weapon.”

Paul gave him a questioning stare. “What do you mean?”

Rufus carried the weapon to the far wall of his study and set it on the table. He pulled back a book shelf and began working the tumblers on a large safe. “This…device. It has properties that could be most dire.” Rufus pulled the door open on the safe and placed the weapon inside. “My engineers tried to turn a Doomsday weapon into a…” he searched for the right words. “A precision instrument.”