Homecoming (38 page)

She paused and remembered how she had been sickened at the idea of him collecting the blood. The idea of innocents dying to bring her back to the physical world had disturbed her and now, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t remember why it had bothered her so. She truly couldn’t care if a hundred nuns or a thousand infants were sacrificed to her cause. Many more would die before she was done.

Rachel stretched her arms out and closed her eyes. She sent psychic probes out into the physical world. She needed to be sure that all of her dismembered body had been collected before he began otherwise the experiment was for nothing. She could feel the strings of life that was interwoven across the planet and with her psychic feeler she strummed individual threads, feeling the vibrations of the resonating thread. The harmonics of life vibrated, giving her a resonant tone. A tone that reassured her that there were no stray pieces left behind. Everything that mattered was right here.

Rachel stepped down from the upper level and appeared to float to the floor below. “It is time.”

Damien nodded. “The blood is coming.”

“The elder?”

“Being prepared.” Damien gave her a sideways smile as he drew the silver bladed dagger that would end the elder’s life. “Apparently there are those on the council who were ready to be rid of him.”

“Did they know our intentions?” She pranced around the stainless steel tub and stared at her remains.

“Of course not, they never would have turned him over.” Damien fell into step behind her, his desire to touch her overwhelming. “They just wanted him removed and didn’t have the guts to do it themselves.” He closed on her and whispered in her ear, “I promised them that his death would be slow and agonizing.”

She nodded slowly as she stepped away from him. She suddenly turned and dropped the robe, exposing herself. “Then we should prepare.”

Damien felt a familiar ache in his groin as he took in her form. “Yes, m’lady, we should.”

She immediately noticed the effect she was having on him and laughed. “You can eat this body once I’m done with it, lover. What little power is within her young form will be yours.” She held a hand out to keep him at bay. “But not until the spell is cast.”

Damien practically shook with anticipation. “As you wish, so must it be.”

20

Mark fell into the chair behind his desk and ran a hand through his close cropped hair. “Jesus, that was a close one,” his mumbled voice complained as he pulled his trusty notebook from his breast pocket. He began making his notes in the pages while trying to recall the ideas he had to prevent such a clusterfuck from ever happening again when he saw the lights dim slightly then brighten again.

“What the…” He stood from his chair and went to his office window. Pulling the blinds he didn’t see anything that looked out of the ordinary. Most of the personnel were either in other areas or in their bunks. He glanced at his watch and noted the time. “Christ, it’s late.”

He slipped back into his chair and pulled up his computer. As he began transferring his notes to his electronic files a loud rumble vibrated through the walls of the underground facility. “Son of a bitch!” Mark was on his feet and running for the door as the emergency claxon sounded and the lights went out, immediately bringing up the emergency red lights.

Pulling his two way radio, he called for Mitchell. “What the hell is going on?”

“We’re under attack!” Matt responded, his voice frantic. “Tangos topside.”

Mark ran down the hallway and hit the door for the stairwell rather than even attempt the elevators. As soon as he was in the stairwell, he was nearly run over with security forces swarming topside, weapons in hand. “How many?”

Most of the black clad men ignored him, but one responded over his shoulder absently, “No idea, Major.”

Cursing under his breath, he jumped the handrail and landed on the next flight of stairs down. He had to get to the armory and arm up. He fought against the flow of men working their way topside. Matt met him in the stairwell and practically dragged him aside. “They took out the main communication dishes. We’re blind and deaf.”

“Who the hell is it?” Mark yelled above the noise. A steady staccato of weapons fire could be heard from the floors above.

“No idea yet. The cameras have been taken out.” Matt ground his teeth as he watched the security forces continue to flow past them. “Whoever it is
knows
this place.”

Mark shook his head. “I can’t accept that.” He pushed past Matt and fought against the flow of bodies.

“Where the hell are you going?” Matt yelled.

“Armory!” Mark yelled back as he continued to push past rapidly moving men. “We need weapons.”

Matt waved him back. “This way.” He pushed across the stream and into the gym. Mark gave him a cockeyed look, but fell into step behind him.

“Where the hell are we going?”

“Evan’s lab. I know for a fact that he has weapons there.” Matt hit the door running and came out on the other side. Evan’s lab was across the expanse, the good doctor approaching them slowly.

“Please tell me that isn’t weapons fire I hear…”

“We’re under attack, Doc. What kind of weapons do you have here?” Matt pushed past him and stepped up onto the laboratory platform.

“Lethal or non-lethal?” Evan asked. Matt gave him a deadpan glare. “Er,..yes. I should have assumed as much.” Evan quickly went to the end of his lab and kicked open the door of a metal locker. “.308 Lapua. Depleted Uranium rounds. I was testing the…”

“I don’t care.” Matt pulled the rifle from his hands and slammed a magazine in and racked a round. “What else?”

Evan shook his head. “Standard P90s, FiveseveNs…I was testing different rounds through them. Do you have any idea what we’re facing?”

“Just give me a mix, Doc.” Mark pulled two pistols from the metal locker and held his hand out for magazines. “Lots of mixes.”

In a fluster, Evan handed Mark a handful of magazines. “Try them all, Major. I have no idea what is what. If one won’t work, switch to another. There’s silver nitrate, silver mixed with essence of garlic, silver with a holy water bubble at its core…”

“As long as it goes bang and makes a hole, that’s all I’m worried about right now.” Mark slammed a magazine home and racked a round into the chamber. He looked to Matt. “Ready to rock and roll?”

“Let’s do this.”

*****

Jack stood at the table explaining his original plan and taking suggestions from his new volunteers when one of his Lycan warriors stuck his head in the door. “Boat approaching.”

Jack looked at his watch and raised a brow. “Wow. They made good time.” He stepped out from the table and excused himself. Following the Lycan out to the beach, Jack stood at the end of the dock and watched the boat approach. Using the binoculars with night vision, he verified it was their Monterey. He saw someone in the bow wave and he returned the motion. “Light ‘em up.”

The Lycan pulled a lever and the dock lights came to life, a large strobe at the end blinking rhythmically, showing the way. Jack put the binoculars back in their case and listened to the motor throttle down as the boat pulled up and the line cast to the men standing on the dock.

He watched as his three former team mates grabbed their gear and hopped from the bobbing craft. “A little further and I’d be green,” Pedro joked as his feet hit the wood of the dock.

“You Army guys never were worth much on the water,” Jack teased as he pulled the man into a quick embrace. “Good to see you again, Popo.”

“Good to see you too, Chief.” Popo turned and motioned to his two compadres. “You remember Gus and Jimmy.”

“Hell, yeah.” Jack extended a hand to both. “Glad you agreed to this mission fellas.”

“Wouldn’t miss it.” Gus shook his hand and moved past him to get back on dry land.

“Chief.” Jimmy took his hand and shook it. “I hear we’re making a HALO jump.”

Jack grinned and turned toward the castle. “Actually, our plans may have changed a wee bit, but that’s still an option. We’ve had a few more volunteers that have agreed to assist on this mission.”

“Squad members from other teams?” Popo asked.

“Not exactly,” Jack paused at the stone gates. “But I think you may remember them. They helped us in Nevada.”

“Incoming!” A voice yelled from near the water. All four operators turned as one and stared out toward the water. Jack could see two watercraft leaving a white trail in the ocean. Whatever they were, they were moving fast. Jimmy patted his arm and pointed up. Then the sound of the approaching helicopter hit them and Jack felt his blood run cold.

“Everybody, gear up!” Jack began pushing the squad members past him and into the castle. “Marco! Get them weapons! Robert! Go to the library and warn them that we’re about to have unwanted company!”

Mueller jumped off the wall watchtower and ran past the other operators, sliding to a stop at the library doors. He had a horrible feeling about what was about to happen. He also knew that he had to warn Barbara and Bobby.

*****

Laura nearly jumped when the plane screeched on the tarmac. She quickly got her bearings and sat up, a soreness in her neck that she wasn’t expecting. “Where are we?”

“Please put away your tray tables and put your seats in their full upright position. We’d like to thank you for flying with us today here at Pterodactyl Airlines and hope that you truly enjoy your stay at Jurassic Park.” Mick motioned outside to the dark jungles slowly coming to life as the sun threatened to rise in the distance.

“I take it we’re here?” Jennifer sat upright and pulled her headphones off, stretching.

“We are most definitely here. Wherever the hell ‘here’ is.” Mick looked about for a safe place to taxi the craft. He slowed the plane and pulled it in as tight as he could to the only building he saw. It was obviously too small to house the craft. Shutting down the engines, he tossed his own headset aside and reached for the door. Men in black uniforms seemed to appear from the surrounding jungle, weapons pointed at them. “Bloody hell!” Mick stared at them then turned quickly to Laura. “Tell me these are your friends.”

Laura stared out the window and couldn’t tell. From the darkness and the mist she couldn’t make out any faces. She took a deep breath and opened the door. “I’m going to find out.”

“Wait!” Jennifer called, but it was too late.

Laura stepped out into the darkness and called into the dampness, “Pablo?”

“Miss Youngblood.” A figure appeared out of nowhere and quickly closed the distance. “I am here.”

Laura sighed heavily and felt a sudden heaviness on her bladder. “What the hell? Why the guns? You knew we were coming, didn’t you?”

“You do not know?” His face was painted with concern and she suddenly worried.

“Know what?” she asked cautiously.

“Your people, they have been attacked,” his voice was metered and unemotional. “You did not know?”

Laura felt her knees weaken. “Which people, Pablo? Where? When?”

“Just a moment ago, I’m assuming they still are.” Pablo lowered his eyes then quickly spoke in Portuguese to his men. They all lowered their weapons and relaxed somewhat. “I was on the radio with one of your people. There was some noise and they said that they were under attack. Somebody was going after their communications arrays. Then…silence.”

“Oh no…” Laura felt a pair of strong hands take her by the shoulder just before her legs went out from under her.

*****

Sheridan sat in the van marked as a telephone repair service vehicle across from the hangar and watched as his wolves attacked. They performed nearly flawlessly. He would have expected better reactions and better timing from his crew with Team One, but considering these men weren’t trained like they were, he was more than satisfied.

He watched as the lights went out and the emergency lighting came up, just as Apollo said it would. He almost felt sad for the security personnel in the guard shacks. They never suspected the sniper rounds that shattered their skulls and sprayed their brains on the inside of the shacks. The people working ‘topside’ as they called it didn’t expect the invasion and were quickly mowed down.

How any military group could allow their people to work unarmed, he didn’t understand; especially a group like this one. Every man, woman, and technician should be armed at all times, but then, he wasn’t in command. Mitchell was.

Sheridan radioed contacts that he could see to the wolves attacking that they might not be aware of. When two men came around from the outside and tried to enter from a side door, they were shot through the thin metal walls of the hangar without missing a beat. Sheridan simply smiled as he continued to coordinate the attack.

Once the hangar itself was secured, he stationed his men on each side and toward the rear in a funnel formation. Then as troops exited the lower levels, it was literally like shooting fish in a barrel. They didn’t stand a chance.

*****

“That’s odd,” the Chinook pilot stated as he continued to flip through different frequencies.

“What’s that?” Dom asked as he leaned against the chopper, bored out of his skull.

“The OPCOM. It went off the air.”

Dom nodded. “Yeah. We’ve had com problems all through this op.”

“Well duh.” The pilot pointed to the hillside where the larger troll laid slowly dissolving in its own acid secretions. “Bigfoot over there stepped on one of your guys’ rucksack.”

Dom shrugged. “So.”

“He was the guy carrying the transceiver.” The pilot continued to try different settings on his radio. “But we had coms from the time we left until…well, just a moment ago.”

Dom stared off at the dead troll and shook his head. “Well I’ll be.”

“This isn’t right.” The pilot turned his attention fully to the radio. “They should be
right here
.”

Dom turned and glanced over his shoulder. “Somebody probably kicked a cord or something.”

“No,” the pilot shook his head, “it doesn’t work that way. Our coms are both radio and satellite. In order for us to lose both…”

Dom suddenly sobered. “Wait. You have both?”

“Yeah. Well, we did. We don’t now.”

“So…” Dom waved him on.

“In order for us to lose both, OPCOM would have to go dark.”

“They can’t go dark anymore. Colonel Mitchell had backups installed just so that couldn’t happen again.” Dom suddenly became worried.

“Exactly.” The pilot shook his head.

Dom stared up into the sky to see if the drones were still in the air. “Where is our air support?”

“Sent back as soon as we landed.”

Dom ground his teeth together then keyed his mic. “Sierra Group, converge on me.”

“What are you doing?” the pilot asked. “The cleanup guys aren’t done yet and—”

“And you said it yourself. If the OPCOM is off the air, something is wrong. You’re taking us back. Now.” Dom crawled into the back of the chopper and pushed the door all the way open.

“Now hold on just a cotton picking minute. You don’t have the authority to—” Dom leveled his weapon at the pilot and released the safety. “I mean…uh…right. We should investigate.”