Alpha Male (8 page)

“You all look the same to me,” said Silas.
 

“Racist.” Tala laughed.

“What are you…clones?” asked Mel.

“In a way.” Tala dodged the question.

Tala led them over to the far end of the chamber and raised her hand, indicating the canisters on the wall. “Behold our life’s work.”

Against the far wall were rows upon rows of canisters labeled
A Minus.
Fluids bubbled through transparent pipes that criss-crossed the room like a spiderweb. A whirring of centrifuges filled the air.

“What is it? What is it for?” Mel asked.

“A Minus is a nano-virus,” explained Tala. “We are going to use it to eradicate war from the planet. For too long, men have waged wars against each other and destroyed the planet for greed. We are going to end that.”

“But how? How is that possible?” Mel’s eyes widened.
 

“We have weaponized the A Minus. Once we seed the atmosphere with it, it will affect the whole planet. It works via genetic modification, and it only affects men.”

“Danny,” said Silas.
 

“Danny?” asked Mel.
 

“They tested it on him. That’s why he acts like a child now.”
 

Silas’ hand tightened on Mel’s. He leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Stay calm; don’t say anything negative or they’ll kill us.”

“We’ve tested it on a number of subjects. It’s harmless. All it does is remove aggression. The aggression that is leading this planet to Armageddon!” Tala raised her voice.
 

“When? When are you planning on deploying it?” Silas tried to keep his voice steady, showing minimal interest.

“Tomorrow. Final testing is underway, and the launch tube is being readied. We need to time the launch to coincide with the catalyst. If we deploy it in the atmosphere at the wrong time, it will disperse. We need it to reach the stratosphere at exactly the same time as the solar flare reaches Earth tomorrow.”

“Recent testing on human subjects has been successful. Fatality is down to ten percent,” said Faye. She walked over to a console full of buttons and pressure indicators, hit several of the buttons in sequence, and pulled a lever. A robotic arm started grabbing canisters of A Minus and loading them into a transparent tube. Then they shot up into the ceiling with a pneumatic pop.
 

“Launch tube?” Silas looked around the room. “Aren’t you too far underground?”

“This is only part of our complex. We built a rail gun to fire the pressurized containers of A Minus. The top of the gun is in the Hoh Rain Forest. It’s half a mile long.” Tala beamed with pride.
 

“And what about Daelius? Aren’t they going to stop you?” Mel asked.

“They might try, but we’re ready for them.” Tala pulled a black device from her belt that looked like a toy gun with a silencer on the end. The grip was transparent and held tiny silver darts.
 

Faye punched more buttons, and a digital clock lit up on the console. It was counting down from sixteen hours and twenty-seven minutes. “Almost there, Tala. We just need to hold position until noon tomorrow, then launch.”

“Daelius is out of time.” Tala looked at Silas. “So you’re the wildcard. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Attack

The Daelius agent broke the surface of the ocean and pulled the regulator out of his mouth. “I found it. It’s forty feet down and covered with an illusion generator. Their base must be down through the tunnel beneath the rock.”

Drake stood on the edge of the ocean next to five agents wearing scuba gear. One of them extended a set of gear toward him. He shook his head. “I don’t need it. The Augmentor enhanced the oxygen capacity of my blood. I’ll just hold my breath.”

“Are we ready?” asked the agent floating in the water.
 

“Ready,” said Drake. “Check your weapons.”
 

The agents pulled guns from holsters, examined the clips and chambers, then holstered them and strapped them in place.
 

“What about yours?” asked James, looking over at Drake who stood unarmed, encased in his blue polymer suit: silver wires traced through it like an external nerve system. His silver eyes reflected the ocean waves.
 

“I
am
a weapon.”

“Do we have any idea how many Sirens are down there? What about the wildcard and the witch?”

“I’m guessing there will be at least twenty. And we can expect the witch and her bastard boyfriend too.” Drake put his hands on his hips. “Don’t let the witch touch you. She burns. Kill everyone. We have to prevent them from deploying the nano-virus.”

“Roger,” said James. “There are seven of us. Six and
you
, I mean.” He looked at Drake.

“It will be enough.” Drake laughed. “Let’s go.”
 

Drake dove off the edge of the rock into the water. The six agents slipped their masks down over their faces, placed regulators in their mouths, and followed.

Beneath the waves, Drake followed Henry—the one who had spotted the entrance to the Siren’s cave. The light on Henry’s mask lit up the rock wall as he descended toward the hidden entrance. An octagonal glyph marked the entrance to the tunnel. The rock face shimmered like a pool of mercury as Henry swam through it.

Drake’s lungs felt powerful. Data flowed across his vision showing the temperature and proximity of the other men. He kicked his feet and swam through the illusion of rock, into the tunnel. The other agents followed.
 

“So this is where you’ve been hiding.” Drake’s low rumble of a voice echoed throughout the chamber. He was standing at the end of the silver tunnel with three Daelius agents on each side of him. All of them drew their guns.
 

“Damn.” Silas turned at the sound of Drake’s voice. He pushed Mel behind him protectively.
 

“You are too late to stop us.” Tala faced Drake. Sirens came from the far end of the chamber and from in-between the machines to stand at her side.
 

“We’ll see about that.” Drake counted Sirens, and his eyes lit up when he saw Silas and Melanie. “I see the witch is here. And her bastard sidekick. Excellent.”

The agents spread out and readied their weapons.
 

“Give us the nano-virus and no one gets hurt.” Drake couldn’t contain a chuckle at the end of the sentence.
 

“No.” Tala took a step forward. “It’s men like you that we are sworn to eliminate.”

“There are no men like me!” Drake moved like a blur from one end of the room to the other. Tala flew through the air backwards, and Silas was thrown onto his back. Drake stood against the wall full of A Minus canisters with Mel in front of him. He had one arm wrapped across her chest and was pulling her back against him.

“Mel!” yelled Silas. He struggled to sit up.

Mel could feel Drake squeezing her breast painfully, and his swelling manhood pressed against her back through his plastic suit. “But that’s impossible. I burned it off.”

“If you use your powers I’ll snap your neck, witch.” Drake’s arm was like steel. “The Augmentor repaired
all
the damage you did. And then it improved me.”

“Improved? No.” Mel searched out Silas. He was sitting on the floor across the room. His eyes were flamed with anger. Tala was slumped against a silver centrifuge with blood running down her face. Her eyes were closed.

“Let her go or I’ll kill you.” Silas stood up and faced Drake.

“It’s time, agents.” Drake looked at his men. “Kill them all.”

All hell broke loose in the room. Shots erupted. Sirens crouched and leapt, dodging bullets. When the bullets did hit them, they ricocheted off their nano-polymer bodysuits. The Sirens shot back with their dart guns. Each agent that was hit dropped their gun and stood where they were, shock registering on their face. Some of them dropped to the floor and clutched their heads. Then they started to scream in unison. The agents that weren’t hit kept firing.
 

“I’m going to do things to you, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me,” said Drake.
 

“Silas will stop you.” Mel struggled against Drake’s iron grip.
 

“I’ll fuck you to
death
for what you did to me. He can watch.” Drake’s fetid breath made Mel gag. Two Sirens fired darts at Drake and then rolled behind some machines. His grip on Mel loosened as he dodged to his right.

 
“You sure do have a high opinion of yourself for a fucking rapist.” Mel gritted her teeth and dropped to the floor. Drake’s hand ripped the top of her black bodysuit open, exposing her breasts.

“Run, Mel! You have to get further away.” Silas’ eyes were dark with rage, and his hands were extended toward the floor. He ignored the shots ringing out around him.
 

 
The Sirens were firing at the remaining agents. Three of the agents were hit and no longer firing, while the other three were hiding behind machines and aiming at the heads of the Sirens, having noticed that body shots were bouncing off. Six of the twenty Sirens in the room were down on the floor dead or bleeding.

Mel ran for her life, getting as far away from Drake as she could. Then she tripped over the body of a Siren and fell to the floor. She turned around in time to see Drake go from standing still to moving so fast he was no more than a blur. He streaked toward her.

Black spots formed on the floor next to Silas. The scars on his arms lit up from within. The spots swirled around and around, then joined together and shot across the room like a pool of dark water. The pool grew larger and stopped between Mel and Drake.
 

“Too late,” yelled Drake. He jumped over the blackness at high speed. “You never were any good.”

Mel screamed and raised her arms in front of her defensively. She scooted backwards on the floor, slipping in the blood.
 

Silas groaned and lifted both hands. They trembled. Drake arced over the circle of blackness, heading right toward Mel. Mel slid back, trying to get to her feet so she could run. Her eyes were wide and full of fear. An agent saw the dark pool on the floor, then turned and fired at Silas.

The pool of blackness lifted sideways off the ground into the air like the entrance to a tunnel. Drake reached Melanie before Silas could stop him.
 

Or rather, his head did. His body vanished within the blackness, which dissolved into tiny black dots. His head, mouth hanging open in victory, rolled to a stop at Mel’s feet. The neck was neatly cauterized. No blood emerged. The lips twitched as if trying to say something, and the silver eyes went red.

Silas dropped to his knees. Blood ran down his shirt and dripped on the floor. His eyes were as dark as the blackness he controlled. Mel ran to his side. “Time to go, Si. This isn’t our fight.”

Silas struggled to his feet and let Mel pull him toward the tunnel leading to the pool. Behind them, more shots rang out. There were bodies of Sirens on the floor of the chamber. Tala was still slumped against the wall, unmoving. Faye vaulted to the top of a silver machine and fired down at the remaining agents. Half the agents had dropped their weapons and were sitting on the floor with unfocused eyes. One of them was trembling as his skin turned slowly to powder.
 

“You’re hit, Silas.” Mel looked at the blood streaming down his chest.

Silas nodded. “Time for that once we are out.”

Mel ran to the edge of the pool and then stopped. “In case we don’t make it out, Si. I just want to say—”

“I know.” His eyes met Mel’s.
 

“You better put those away.” Silas looked down at Mel’s exposed breasts. Drake had torn her bodysuit open down the middle when she had escaped from his grasp.

“What, don’t you like them?” Mel pouted, sticking her lower lip out and arching her back.

“I like them…in my mouth!”

Silas grabbed Mel by the waist and pulled her up against him until only her toes were touching the ground. Then his hands slid up until they were squeezing her breasts. Her lips met his and parted. The kiss made Mel’s knees weak, and Si’s hands felt like heaven on her body.

Drive

Silas climbed into the driver’s seat of the black jeep Vena had stolen. Mel got into the passenger side. They had been lucky to find it in the dark. “She left the keys.”
 

“Let me look at that.” Mel pulled Silas’ shirt up, revealing a bullet wound in his left shoulder. Blood covered his shirt, and his face was pale. Silas turned the key and gunned the engine to life. The fuel gauge said they had half a tank of gas left.
 

“We need to get out of here, Mel. What if Daelius is sending more agents?”

“This will only take a minute, Si.” Mel placed her hands on his chest and closed her eyes. She willed her energy down her arms and into Silas. Her vision filled with a green glow, and she could hear music in the distance. The air smelled of lavender. The nine-millimeter slug oozed out of the wound and fell to the floor of the jeep. And then the flow of blood stopped, and the wound sealed over.
     

“God you’re good, Mel. You’re a beautiful gift.” Silas reached out with his arms and held her. Mel’s eyes fluttered and closed. Her hands fell, and she collapsed against him.

Silas leaned down and let his lips touch the top of Mel’s breasts. He placed one hand behind her neck and held on. “I know you can’t hear me right now, Mel. But I love you.” He carried her to the back of the jeep and laid her down gently on the seat, pulling her bodysuit closed where it had ripped.
 

Silas pulled the shard of granite from his pocket and turned it over and over in his fingers. His lips moved in silence. Then he put the piece of Suzi’s headstone back in his pocket, got in the driver’s seat, and put the jeep in gear.

Tala’s eyes opened. Pain erupted throughout her body. It felt like her ribs were broken, and she could feel dried blood on her face. The bodies of her sisters were strewn all around the chamber, lying in pools of blood. The Daelius agents that were still alive were rocking back and forth on the floor and gibbering. Drake’s head was on the floor. There was no sign of his body. The room smelled of death and gunpowder. Tala’s eyes went to the countdown clock. It read 1:59. She pushed herself forward and began crawling toward the console. Her ribs ached where Drake had kicked her, and her vision was blurry from the concussion.
The mission. The mission. To end all war. Must not fail.