Obsessions: A Monster Squad Novel 7 (33 page)

“True, but they’re
human
allies. Not monsters.” Jameson blew out a breath hard and eyed the analyst firmly. “We can’t allow the inmates to be running the asylum. The monsters cannot be policing the monsters.”

“But…to create…
this
?”

“This? This what? At least they’re human.” Jameson pulled the file from the stack and opened it. “Project Gladiator is a super soldier program that was shelved in the early Nineties. We simply revived it.”

“But, sir…genetically engineered humans?” Stevens’ mouth went dry as he tried to speak. “
Are
they human?”

“Of course they’re human, Stevens. They’re stronger, faster, smarter…and they aren’t monsters.” He narrowed his gaze at the smaller man. “They’re soldiers, and they’ll do what they’re ordered.”

“But—”

“No buts, Stevens.” Jameson shut the file and tossed it into his waste basket. “You never saw this information, do you understand me? You aren’t cleared for this.”

“But, sir—”

“What did I just tell you?” Jameson glared at the man.

Stevens nodded. “Yes, sir, I never saw it. I know nothing about it.”

“Very good, Stevens.” Jameson waved him out. “I think you have a surveillance party to get ready for, don’t you?”

Stevens nodded. “Yes, sir.” He backed away slowly.

“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, son.”

17

Mitchell adjusted the chair he was in and continued to work the buttons on the arm of his chair. “Dammit! My kingdom for something that worked around here.”

Mark spun in his chair to face him. “Just give the word, sir.”

“It’s easier to do it myself, XO,” Mitchell huffed as he slumped back and crossed his arms. “Pull up the helmet cams from Sierra One. Run it side-by-side with the overhead from the bird.”

“Aye, sir.” Mark punched up the commands and nodded to the tech in the front row. “On my mark. Three, two, one, shift.” Both men switched the feeds and the dual view came up on the large screen above.

Mitchell watched as the live feed from Dom’s helmet camera played out in a green glow, the artificial night vision adjusting contrast much too rapidly as he moved within the trees. Mitchell leaned forward and tried to study the images. “Can you clean that up any?”

“Roger that, Colonel. On it.” The tech ran an algorithm that input best guesstimates for the fuzzy data, sharpening the image. “Best we can get, sir.”

“Very well.” He turned to Tufo, “Distance to the tangos?”

“About a quarter-click, sir. They’re slowly moving out to the flanks.”

“Feed that data to Dom and his crew. They need to be made aware.”

“Roger that.” Mark spun back to his console and began typing the data into his keyboard. “Update sent.”

Mitchell watched the screen as Sierra One paused and glanced at his ruggedized PDA. He punched a button and glanced at the screen. The coms snapped with static for just a moment then Dom’s voice filled the overhead speaker again. “On your toes, ladies. Spread out and contain.”

Mitchell watched the heat signatures begin to widen their spread and close the distance to the slowly moving dark targets. “Vulture, let’s drop altitude and prepare to provide support.”

“Copy that, OPCOM.” Jericho didn’t complain as Colonel Mitchell seemingly took over operational command. He half expected the man to step in once the team had closed the gap.

Dom’s helmet cam slowed, and his fist came up into the frame, indicating the squad should stop. For those within eyesight of him, they would pass on the order to those further out. Stopping the advance, he waited and listened, his ears straining to pick up anything out of the ordinary. He slowly turned his head and closed his eyes. His fist turned into two fingers and he pointed ahead and to his right. He stepped off in the general direction of the noise. “Advancing.”

Mitchell watched nervously as the group began moving again, slowly closing the gap. They should be making contact at any moment. He knew that once they did and the first of the vampires were dropped, the rest would scatter into the wind. With their speed advantage, he could only hope that the Predator could catch openings in the tree canopy to effectively stop the targets.

Dom crested a short rise, his barrel scanning left and right, his night vision scope lighting up the darkest of shadows. He stepped through a thin thicket and was suddenly thrust forward, a grey-white hand grasping his ankle from under the ground and pulling him backward, his forward momentum forcing him face first into the mossy floor of the woods. He grunted as he impacted the floor and tried to roll to the side to bring his attacker into view. The hand continued to pull, effectively pulling the owner up from the dark rich soil as it did so. Almost simultaneously, the other members of the squad swore epithets into their mics as their bodies impacted the earth.

“It’s a trap!” Dom leveled his barrel to where he assumed the owner of the arm would be and pumped a half dozen rounds into the soil, waiting for the arm to erupt into orange ash.

He reached for his silver-plated survival knife and thrust it as deeply into the shoulder attached to the offending arm as he could, watching with morbid satisfaction as the flesh immediately flashed into orange flame and ash rose from the soil, a depression forming where the body once lay.

Dom rolled to his side and brought the SCAR to his eye once more, scanning the surrounding area. “OPCOM, Second Actual! It’s a trap! They were waiting underground for us.”

Mitchell was up from his chair and staring at the satellite feed as the darkened figures converged on the squad, more and more ‘bodies’ appearing from nowhere and joining those moving en masse. “Good heavens…Vulture! Engage! Repeat, Vulture, engage targets!”

Jericho’s voice was stone as he responded, “Negative, Colonel. Tree canopy is too thick to engage tangos.”

Mitchell stepped down from his command platform and approached the big screen as dozens of dark figures turned into fifty, then into a hundred. “Oh, my God…”

*****

Jack sat as quietly as he could as he listened to Viktor play out his plan. He really didn’t want to listen, but if Lilith truly had hundreds of flunkies working for her at this place, he needed to know every bit that they did. “The two larger…beings should probably head straight to the roof when we get there. They can use the excuse of mounting the satellite dishes and running cables.”

Foster stared at the crude drawing of the old auto plant, his eyes studying the exits. “They have multiple guards at each entrance. We’ll have to keep them busy so that they don’t notice the…big guys.”

“The gargoyle and Nephilim.”

“All the more reason to keep them hidden until they’re needed. If Samael is truly with her, he may be able to sense the offspring of an angel.” Viktor held a level gaze on Jack, waiting for him to argue.

Jack merely nodded. “A smart precaution. No sense in tipping our hand.”

Viktor blew out a long breath and tapped the drawing. “There are numerous skylights across the ceiling where they can maintain watch. You can give them a sign that means to enter and bring the wrath of the giants with them.”

Jack nodded, his eyes studying the drawing. “I think the screaming and people bleeding will be a good enough sign.”

“This is no time for light hearted banter, Jack. We may need to all strike at once in order to save…to take down the demon Lilith.” Viktor eyed his son-in-law, waiting.

“Agreed. I’ll come up with something that isn’t too obvious.” He tapped the drawing. “What is this?”

Foster cleared his throat. “That is, what appears to be, an office of some sort. We saw the winged demon exit from there.”

“And you think this is their headquarters?”

Foster nodded. “It’s the only part of the warehouse that affords any privacy. We saw makeshift bunks set up on this far end here.” He pointed to the northern most part of the warehouse. “The equipment that was left appeared to be mothballed, but they were utilizing this area here. We couldn’t tell what they were doing.”

Jack gave him a skeptical glance. “Why not just move to another skylight and observe until you had a better idea what was going on?”

Foster sighed and shook his head. “Rufus wanted me to attempt to call Damien. When I did…the demon answered.”

“The demon answered?” Jack shrugged. “Why the hell would the demon answer?”

“I have a theory on that.” Viktor pulled a book from his satchel. “I relieved this from my…well, from a witch.” He flipped through pages then laid the book out. “For an angel to manifest on this plane, it must have a willing host. A
body
, if you will. I believe that the demon is actually an angel, and that it took Damien’s body.”

Jack fought off the urge to laugh. “Wait, a demon isn’t an angel. A demon is a twisted human soul. An angel is—”

“A
fallen
angel, Jack.” Viktor flipped back through the book and tapped the page. “A third of the angels rebelled after the creation of man and were cast from Heaven. A fallen angel is still an angel.”

“So…you’re talking one of Lucifer’s minions?” Jack raised a brow.

“Technically, Satan gave up the title Lucifer when he fell. He was no longer the light bearer, but yes. One of the angels that fell with the bright and morning star.” Rather than explain angelic history, Viktor continued on. “If history and lore are correct, Samael was Lilith’s first lover. If I were to bet money, I would bet that the angel is he.”

“Okay…so we have this demon bitch, Lilith. We also have a fallen angel named Samael and a couple hundred minions that are most likely demons?” Jack shrugged. “No fucking problem. Nothing my tiny little band of warriors can’t handle.” He rolled his eyes and glanced at the group who stood and watched the exchange.

“Not a few hundred, Jack.” Viktor flipped through the book again and propped it open on a section that dealt with Lilith. “Samael promised her a legion of demons.”

“A legion?”

“One thousand.” Viktor closed the book and stared at him.

Jack felt his knees grow weak. “I knew I had a bad feeling about this when we left the city.” He leaned across the table and lowered his voice, “I did
not
bring these kids here to run some kind of suicide mission!”

“Nor did we.” Viktor placed the book back into his satchel and tapped the drawing. “The secret here is to find the lynchpin. That one target that, once it is dropped, the dominos fall with it.”

“Great. And how do we find that amongst a thousand demons?” Jack ground his teeth so hard that his jaw ticked.

Foster interjected, “It is either the angel or Lilith. It has to be. The angel promised the legion to her so he has authority over them. But she is recipient of the legion, so she has control. It
has
to be one or the other.”

Jack sighed. “Well I guess that narrows it down.” He rubbed a hand across his stubbled chin. “But how do we know which one?”

“We must strike them both at the same time. That is the only way.” Viktor stabbed a knife into the paper to emphasize his point. “We strike them both and watch the demons flame out.”

Foster nodded. “There is even a small chance that once they do, the humans they inhabit will be restored.”

“Joy,” Jack groaned. He turned to his crew and motioned them over. “New game plan. Everybody huddle up.”

*****

Jim Youngblood sat up in his hospital bed and turned slowly to stare at Crystal sleeping quietly beside him. He smiled as he watched her in the soft glow of the monitors and the silvery shaft of moonlight that beamed through his window.

He turned slowly and dangled his feet from the edge of the bed, feeling the blood flow into his extremities for the first time in a very long time. He held his hand out into the silver-white light of the moon and turned it slowly, watching the shadows play across the surface of his skin. He watched as the shadows formed and disappeared over the thick veins and ridges of his thick hands. He watched the shadows play off of the tubes sticking out of his forearm and he shook his head.

Since nightfall he’d had a surge of energy unlike anything he’d felt in a very long time. He slid gracefully from the edge of the bed and felt the IV tubes tug at him. His first instinct was to pull the damned things from his flesh and toss them aside, but he didn’t dare. Should he set off an alarm or worse, waken Crystal, he’d be forced back to bed, and he really didn’t want that right now.

He carefully reached across the bed and unhooked the tubes from where they were caught on the rails and lifted them carefully over the mattress. He then turned and took the single step toward the window. He carefully and quietly pulled the curtains back and stared out into the darkness of the night. His eyes rose into the sky and settled on the moon hanging lifelessly in the sky. He could feel a ‘pull’ from that giant piece of rock hanging up there. He couldn’t explain how, or why, he just knew that it was there.

Jim didn’t know how long he stood and stared at the glowing orb, but he allowed his mind to drift. He imagined that he was outside, in the woods, naked and running; his heart pounding in his chest as he raced through the woods. He lifted his nose and caught a scent…prey! He didn’t know exactly what it was at the moment, but he knew it was food.

He turned and followed the scent, his sharp ears picking up the sounds of a rushed scurrying. Rustling leaves, twigs breaking as something small darted about, trying frantically to dart first one direction then another to escape the certain death that it knew was coming.

As he closed on the sound, his nose picked up a stronger scent. Fear. He now knew what he was chasing. A rabbit. Not a huge meal, but it was red meat nonetheless. He increased his speed and darted between two large pines, his feet gaining purchase in the loose pine needles. He darted under a fallen tree then jumped over a thicket, coming down nearly on top of the startled animal.

Jim saw the fear in its eyes as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere and that fear exhilarated him. He felt his mouth water and his heart rate increase at the potential meal. The rabbit froze for just a moment before darting off, Jim hot on his heels.

He could see the rabbit now, its rear feet kicking up little tufts of pine needles and dirt as it fought like hell to escape, but he knew it was for naught. He had the little creature and it would soon make a nice snack.

He watched the rabbit approach a small fallen branch and he knew it couldn’t go under…it had to jump over. He poured on the speed and leapt, his mouth opening and then snapping in the air, closing like a trap on the soft body of the hare as it attempted to escape in mid-jump.