Different (9 page)

"Ok. I agree,” he said.

Janine was waiting for them at the Manor House that barred the approach onto the Devil's Footprint. “There's an American Army Truck, and a guy with some hounds in the compound,” she said. “He says you've hired him to track down the children, but his dogs look as though they're liable to tear the children apart."

"Not unless we let them,” Russell said. “Not that it matters because we've decided to terminate ‘em anyway."

"It's about time. I was getting tired of being their nursemaid; we should have got rid of them years ago."

"Yes, but we didn't,” Russell said. “That's something we're going to fix once we've found them and whoever helped them escape. So let's get this business wrapped up quickly, and then we can all relax."

The man with the four hounds, and their owner who Russell introduced as Seth smiled at them revealing tobacco stained teeth. The hounds were straining on their ten-foot-long leashes, and looked bigger and heavier than the English version

"Just give old Red here a whiff of some of their clothes and he'll be on their trail quicker than a possum up a tree. He's the best damned tracking hound in the state of Montana and the other three are almost as good."

"Before we do, I'd like your dogs to cast around a new hole we've found in the fence, Hank,” Russell said. “It seems there might be someone we don't know about snooping around."

"Iff'n they is, then my dogs'll find him fer sure. You want him in one piece or should I set the dogs loose?” Seth looked at Russell hopefully.

"No keep them leashed,” Henry said. “We'll want to talk to him."

Hank shrugged. “Suit yerself. It ain't no skin off my ass. Where's this hole you want me to look at? My dogs are gettin’ restless with all this here jawing."

Henry nodded to Richard who punched some numbers into a small metal box by the huge wire mesh gate that was topped with razor wire. The gates slid open and Russell and Janine led the way onto the land known as The Devil's Footprint.

Russell examined the perfectly round three-foot hole in the fence and frowned.

"The wire was melted, apparently. Look the ends have been welded together. I haven't come across anything that could make a hole like this."

"Red's got himself a scent,” Hank said. “He's a raring to go."

"Then give him his head,” Russell said. “Let's go!"

Hank slackened the dogs leashes and was almost pulled off is feet as the dogs lunged away from the fence with their noses skimming the ground. They didn't bark, Henry, noticed but gave small muted whines as they headed across a patch of grass and towards a dirt road that ran into the trees.

Russell must have noticed Henry's observation, because he said, “Hank's trained them not to bark. He gets a lot of work hunting down cons that have made a run for it while working in the fields. He doesn't want them to know he's got the dogs on their trail."

"How will we know when we're getting close to them?” Henry wouldn't admit it, but he was finding jogging in order to keep up with the hounds, hard work. Only Richard Anderson looked as though he too might be struggling, Janine, Russell and Jeremy seemed perfectly relaxed. Hank himself must have been over sixty and he ran in an easy ambling gate behind his dogs. Henry made a silent promise to start working out, for voters didn't seem to go much on thirty-five-year-old overweight politicians.

"When we're almost on top of him the dogs will kick up such a racket that the guy we're chasing will either admit we've got him and give up, or he'll run himself into the ground. Either way it makes no difference. Once the dogs start barking he'll be ours within an hour.” Russell glanced at Henry and grinned. “Relax and enjoy yerself Henry. It ain't often we get the chance to hunt down a man."

A few minutes later, Henry saw the dogs had stopped and Hank was struggling to haul them back from the edge of the swamp. Russell ran over and gave him a hand and eventually the hounds were hauled back six or seven yards from the edge of the ground from which grey, white tendrils of mist rose as though dragging themselves free from its clinging embrace. Henry breathed easier in the cooler air. It was always cooler by the marshes.

"Red almost got himself killed, the stupid mutt,” Hank spat a squirt of tobacco juice at the dog in disgust. “A straight down drop of sixty foot you told me Russell. Well that's where you'll find whoever it was we were chasing. The damned fool ran straight out onto the marsh. Being dark fooled him I guess."

Henry felt a rush of relief. The guy had drowned in the marsh, an accident. They hadn't been forced to kill him after all.

"Are them the kids y'all are looking for?” Hank was pointing along the edge of the marsh and Henry saw them. The boy and girl were wearing red tartan shirts, jeans and trainers. They were sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree and watching them.

"It's Ben and Eve,” Janine said, hurrying towards them. “But I can't see Adam."

"Perhaps he went into the swamp with the guy who was helping them,” Russell said.

"We'll waste these two kids and throw their bodies in after them.” He looked at Henry and smiled without humour. “I'll take care of the wet work myself while you and the others head back to base."

"That's good of you Russell,” Jeremy said hurriedly. “I'm not sure I could actually kill anyone."

"Me neither, especially kids,” Henry said. “We'll leave it to Russell, he's used to this kind of thing. Richard why don't you and Jeremy take Hank back to the foundation? Janine, Russell and I, need to question the kids and find out who was helping them, before Russell wraps things up."

"Right, I'll do that,” Richard said. “But what if Adam's still alive and wandering about somewhere?"

"It's not likely,” Janine said. “He's only seven and not nearly as big or strong as Ben. Adam's at the bottom of the swamp, otherwise he would have stuck with Ben and Eve, for sure."

Richard nodded and then shouted to Hank. “We're finished here. Lets get back to the house, Janine and the others will take care of the kids."

"Wait Richard, look at Ben!” Janine cried. She'd stopped in her track and was staring at the boy. Henry was still trying to figure out what she'd seen when Richard gasped.

"His ear's grown back,” he said.

Henry saw it then. Ben definitely had two ears now. He remembered the small boy who struggled and screamed when Richard had sliced off the boy's ear. He hadn't used an anaesthetic in case it affected Ben's ability to grow a new one.

Eve kicked off her shoes and Henry saw she'd grown her missing toe back too. What the hell was going on?

Eve rose to her feet and looked at them with an expression of such contempt and revulsion that Henry wanted to slap her around a bit.

"You mess with us and you're going to be sorry,” Eve said. “We're not helpless any more."

Janine snorted and ran towards her, Eve stooped and picked up a rock that must have weighed at least twenty pounds and lobbed it at her.

Henry watched helplessly as Janine stopped and stared in horror at the rock that was about to crush her skull. There was a blur of movement and she was swept off her feet and carried safely sideways and the boulder thudded harmlessly to the ground.

Eight-year-old Ben opened his arms allowing Janine to fall onto the grass before jogging back to stand by Eve.

"That was a warning,” he said. “Please don't make us hurt you."

Henry gaped at Russell and then the others and saw his own growing fear of the children reflected in their faces. Eve's display of strength had been as nothing compared to Ben's speed and he'd carried Janine to safety as though she weighed no more than a child.

"We have come into our own now,” Eve said, “and this is what you will do unless you want us to tell the police what you have done to us; Richard Anderson, Janine Schroeder, Henry Matherson, Jeremy Marchant and Russell Downey. Yes, we know who you are, Adam told us. He's got powers you'd never believe."

"Where is Adam?” Richard asked. “Did he go into the swamp with whoever it was that helped you?"

"We all did,” Eve said, “but Adam's gone now. Now, there's just me and Ben. But that's ok, because you have no idea what we can do."

"Let's find out,” Russell growled. “Hank, loose your dogs on them!"

Henry turned just in time to see Hank unleash his dogs, which bounded snarling towards Ben and Eve.

Red was in mid-leap when Eve snatched up a branch and with perfect timing rammed it down the dog's throat. “Bad dog!” she scolded as Red squealed in pain, trying to free himself from the stick that had impaled him. He screamed even louder when Eve grasped the branch and swung Red in the path of three of the other dogs bowling them off their feet.

Ben was too fast for the remaining dogs and they broke off their attack and fled with their tails between their legs back to Hank. Eve grasped the whining Red by his collar with one hand and yanked the branch free from his throat. Parting his jaws she lowered her face within an inch of his fangs and blew down the stricken dog's throat. From her hands a blue light shot out engulfing the dog whose whining eased.

Eve held his head on her lap until the light began to fade and then disappeared and Red sat up. “You'll be ok boy,” she said. Red lunged towards her face. His tongue flicked out and he licked her. Eve giggled and hugged him. “Good dog,” she said.

The whole episode was over in seconds and Ben spoke with an authority that belied his years. “You cannot risk letting us go and we do not want to go. We're not prepared to be your prisoners any longer, nor you lab rats. We're freaks thanks to your experiments, so what we thought was that we would like to live here on the land, but by ourselves. We would need a cabin with a toilet and a water supply and some basic tools, that's all."

"Forget it!” Russell snapped, but Henry stopped him and turned to Eve.

"How do we know that you won't use the tools to escape?” he asked.

"That's silly,” Eve said. “You saw the hole in the fence and our widow, we didn't need tools for that. Like Ben says we want to be free but here on this land. We like it here and we've found things you'd never believe."

Henry nodded and walked towards her with his hand extended. “I guess I can understand that, Eve. If we do as you ask, do you promise that you and Ben will stay here? Will you shake hands on the deal?"

She looked up at him, nodded and put her small hand in his and shook it. “We promise,” she said.

He held her hand a moment longer and met her eyes. “We didn't mean to hurt you, not really. Not when it all began."

She nodded and gave him a brief smile before releasing his hand. “We know that too."

He turned to Ben and again offered his hand and to his relief Ben shook hands too. “Thank you Ben,” Henry said gruffly. “I'll see you get what you need.” He reached into his pocket, removed his gold cigarette lighter and handed it to Ben. “You can build yourself a campfire using this. I'll have some proper supplies ready for you by this evening but the cabin might take a couple of days, so I'll send some tents and camping stuff."

Ben smiled looking just like any normal eight-year-old kid again. “Thanks a lot Mr. Matherson, that would be great."

"It's my pleasure, Ben,” he said, turning on his heel, he rejoined the others.

"Let's get back and start organising some supplies for Ben and Eve,” he said. “We've got ourselves a deal. Oh and Russell, lets not have any nasty surprises like a bomb or poison in their supplies. We can't be sure of getting them both that way and you've already seen what they can do. No, I want surveillance in and outside of the cabin, everywhere. We'll monitor their every move, but as long as they play ball we leave them be. Is that understood?"

Russell nodded. “Ok. But I want to strengthen the fence, electrify it and put up an outer fence about six feet away from the existing one. We'll have dogs patrolling between the fences just in case someone does try to get in, or out."

"That makes sense,” Henry said. “I'll leave that part to you."

1993

"You're sure she's got a baby? It couldn't be a pet rabbit or something?"

"No, it's no rabbit, Henry, it's a baby,” Richard said. “We've known that Ben and Eve have been sleeping together for almost two years now, but this is the first time we've known about their child. It seems to be between one and two years old, I'm amazed they've been able to keep it a secret from us for so long.'

"They spend most of their time in the woods,” Janine said. “It's almost as though they know about the hidden bugs and cameras."

Russell frowned, “It doesn't make sense. Why haven't we seen the baby in the hut when they return at night, and where did Eve give birth? There's no way you'd leave a newborn baby in the woods by itself. How have they managed to hide the kid from us for eighteen months?"

"Who knows what they can do,” Henry said, “but they've kept to their side of the deal and in the last eight years, they've never given us any trouble or tried to escape.”

"When the child appeared out of the woods, Eve and Ben were taken by surprise,” Richard said. “They hadn't expected her to come after them, that much was fairly obvious. I think Henry's got it right. They've made some kind of secure nursery in the woods somewhere. But whatever, we need to examine that child."

"You think she might be like her mother and father,” Henry said. “So what if she is?"

"If she has the organ and limb regeneration ability, we could find out what genes are involved and possibly make a vaccine from some of her cells. We could be back in business,” Richard said.

"We could use stun grenades, to take Ben and Eve out,” Russell said. “Grab the kid and then dispose of Ben and Eve permanently, end their involvement once and for all. For the past eight years, they've been a sword that's been hanging over our heads. We should end it, now."

Henry reluctantly had to admit to himself it would be for the best. He'd thought he was about to suffer a heart attack when Richard had phoned him last week to tell him about the child. “Are you sure stun grenades would be effective against them?"