Winter's Storm: Retribution (Winter's Saga #2) (26 page)

“
Hey, at least you get to snuggle with her in bed most every night. Don’t think I’m not jealous of you, too.” He patted the coyote’s meaty flank good-naturedly, then sighed.

“
You wanna go check the house with me again? Maybe you’ll get lucky and find a juicy gecko to chase.”

Maze stood beside Cole obediently and walked the already well-worn path around the house. As they were passing through the living room, the coyote deviated from the path and walked to the back door. He scratched twice then turned to look at Cole.

“
Dude, do you have to go?”

Maze whined in response.

“
Hum…okay, but make it fast. We’re supposed to be in lock down, remember?” Cole walked to the door and pulled the curtains aside just enough to look out. He saw the blue of the sky and the blue of the ocean. He saw the green plants leaning with the will of the wind. He saw birds preening themselves on the telephone wires. What he didn’t see was Farrow three-quarters of a mile away in full camouflage peering through her sniper rifle’s scope.

Cole unbolted the lock and opened the door just enough to let Maze through, then closed it behind the coyote. He watched as Maze sniffed around the grassy area seven yards away from the door.

48 K.I.S.S.

“
I need to call mom,” Evan said after a few minutes of silence.

“
Okay. The code is 992-996, and then wait for the dial tone,” Creed called to Evan who was seated next to his sister again.

“
Thanks.” Evan picked up the phone and dialed as instructed. It only rang once before he heard his mother’s familiar voice.

“
Hey, mom. It’s Evan.”

“
Evan, is everything okay?”

“
We’re fine mom. We’re on schedule to arrive at nineteen-hundred hours.” Evan and Alik had decided not to worry their mother about the low fuel issue, so they hadn’t told her. There’s nothing she could do about it and they had already made up their minds to turn back anyway. She had enough to worry about as it was.

“
Meggie? How are her stats?”

“
Stable, thankfully. She’s been stable the entire flight.”

“
Listen, Ev. It’s malaria. Not any of the normal species of parasite, but Paulie’s sure it’s malaria. He thinks Williams tipped the dart with some super mutant species he created. We’re trying to figure out if any of the known treatments will work on this strain.”

“
Mutant Malaria? Doesn’t this man have a life outside of his evil science? What’s next? A new plague? Mind-controlled gorillas? Flesh-eating tomatoes?”

“
Evan, calm down.” Margo had to remind herself sometimes that he was just a thirteen-year-old boy, however intelligent. And sometimes he was going to have age-appropriate reactions under extreme stress.

She heard him take a deep breath and exhale.

“
Better?” she asked.

“
I guess I have to be,” he resigned.

“
How’s Creed? Can you tell if we have his allegiance or is he still on the fence?

“
No, he’s a good guy now. He threw his lot in with us the minute he told the pilots to turn the plane around. There’s no turning back for him now.”

“
Good. I thought that’s what happened, but I wouldn’t have put it past you and Alik to have duct taped the boy to the wall if he tried to stop you from bringing Meg home,” Margo only half teased.

“
Duct tape probably wouldn’t have held this guy, mom. He’s incredibly strong. Let’s just say I’m glad he’s on our side now.” Evan looked over at Creed and smiled into the phone. “Williams is going to be livid when he finds out.”

“
Speaking of Williams, how do you guys plan to get back into the house safely? That female meta is still outside waiting for a target, right?”

“
Yeah, that’s really the reason I called. I need you to make us one heck of a smoke screen.”

“
Excellent idea.”

“
Yeah, I was thinking you could make the kind out of instant cold packs and newspapers. Remember when we did that back at the ranch?”

Chuckling Margo said, “Oh, yes. I remember that mess! The breeze blew all the smoke right into the house!”

“
Yeah, those were some good times.” Evan was grinning widely.

“
We’re going to have to time it perfectly,” Margo said.

“
Make as many as you can, mom. Smoke grenades may come in handy later, too.”

“
Will do. I’ll get Theo and Cole to help me.”

“
Okay, I’ll call in thirty minutes to check in. I love you, mom.”

“
I love you, more, Evan.”

Click.

Evan didn’t hang up the phone right away. Instead he held it to his forehead, thinking. He was trying to remember everything he ever read about malaria.

“
That’s the plan?” Creed asked. “Smoke bombs?”

“
Sometimes the simplest tactic is the best.” Evan looked up, and shrugged at Creed.

“
Ever heard of K.I.S.S.?” Alik interjected. He had been drawing a schematic of Paulie’s house from memory and didn’t look to have been listening to the conversations going on around him.

“
Kiss?” Creed blushed as his eyes darted involuntarily toward Meg.

“
No, not ‘kiss,’—K.I.S.S. It’s an acronym for Keep It Simple, Stupid.” Alik smiled widely at Creed before returning to his drawing.

“
Oh, right. K.I.S.S.” Creed murmured as though he knew it all along.

“
Sometimes the more elaborate the plan, the more room for errors. See what I mean?” Evan said.

“
Yeah, that’s a military tactical maneuver we were taught at the Facility. One of many. It just wasn’t called that,” Creed thought back to his life on the campus and shook the memory from his head.

“
How do you know about ammonium nitrate bombs? That’s not exactly common knowledge to American kids, is it?” Creed asked.

“
Not much about our childhoods could be considered ‘common.’ Mom taught us how to make different bombs when we were little kids,” Alik answered. Evan was still listening to the conversation, but had stepped over to the gurney and was retrieving a new bag of I.V. fluids for his sister.

“
How did she know about bombs?”

“
Mom knows a lot about a lot. She’s a very intelligent and resourceful person. She was special forces before she was our mom.” Evan’s skilled fingers were checking his sister’s vitals.

“
I had no idea she was anything besides a doctor,” Creed picked up the broken arm rest from their fight and pulled out a Swiss-Army knife.

“
She’s still a regular human being though she acts unbreakable. She really is just all heart with a fragile body. That’s why we’re so protective of her,” Evan was finishing his notes on Meg’s chart when he heard Creed inhale sharply through his teeth.

“
What’s wrong?” Alik was up and out of his chair in the blink of an eye.

“
Nothing. I’m fine—just a little tender from getting my ass kicked by two metas a couple hours ago.” Creed had been kneeling beside the broken arm rest with his small screwdriver. Alik and Evan watched as Creed’s facial expression changed from a grimace to blank. Then he stood looking as though nothing had happened.

“
What the heck was
that
about?” Alik asked genuinely confused.

“
Nothing. I told you; I’m fine.” Creed said nonchalantly helping himself to a soda from the small fridge bulk side. “Anyone want a drink?”

Evan squinted at the meta and said, “Lift your shirt, please.”

“
What? Why?”

“
Don’t freak out, dude. He’s basically a doctor. Let him check you out.”

Creed rolled his eyes, but lifted his T-shirt up over his head.

Even Alik could see the problem. Something was wrong in his lower left ribcage area.

“
You have at least one, possibly two broken or fractured ribs,” Evan said matter-of-factly. “I would need to do X-rays to be sure.”

“
It happens,” Creed said with a shrug and began putting his T-shirt back on.

“
Let me at least wrap that for you.”

“
I’m fine. It doesn’t even hurt anymore.”

“
C’mon, we’re on the same side now. You don’t have to keep playing tough meta soldier with us.”

“
I’m not. Look, it hurt at first, but I just turned off the pain, so I’m good.”

The brothers exchanged looks.

“
You ‘turned off the pain?’ What does that mean?” Alik asked.

Creed felt embarrassed talking about himself, especially to these two guys who he really admired…and because they’re the brothers of the girl he couldn’t stop thinking about.

“
Do you mean you can turn off your pain sensors at will?”

“
I don’t know how it works, but yeah, I guess so,” Creed really wanted to change the subject.

Realizing they weren’t going to drop the subject until he explained more he said, “Look, most metas are strong and smart, right? Williams always wanted you three back because you weren’t just strong and smart. You each had at least one enhanced ability he believed came from the formula he gave you to turn you into metas.” Creed paused to shrug humbly, again.

“
I don’t know why, but I seem to have an ability, too. Nothing as cool as you three, but…,” Creed was fidgeting with the top of the soda can in his hands. “Yeah, I can turn off my pain, like flipping a light switch. It’s how I survived the match against my brother Gavil.”

“
Does Williams know about your—gift?” Evan asked.

“
I think he suspects. After the match, he questioned me about how I could come back from being stabbed in the kidney to win the fight. I told him I didn’t know.”

“
Hum…, interesting,” Evan said thoughtfully.

“
What do you mean ‘nothing as cool as you three?’ I can’t tell you how many times I would have loved to switch off pain! I think that is an awesome ability,” Alik said with a grin.

Creed wasn’t used to compliments at all, so he just shrugged and turned away.

Missy, who had made herself very scarce since witnessing the boys fighting, timidly walked into the main cabin and asked, “Is there anything I can get any of you?” All three boys looked up at Missy as though they had forgotten all about her until now. “The pilots insisted I offer.” Her eyes darted to the floor then got huge as she caught sight of the passenger seat that was still missing an arm rest.

“
Food would be nice. You guys hungry?” Creed asked casually.

“
Sure, I could eat.” Alik smiled innocently at Missy.

“
Food would be a good idea,” Evan said.

“
Okay. It’ll just be a few minutes, gentlemen.” Missy smiled warily at the boys before turning to busy herself in the galley.

“
That poor girl is probably going to hand in her resignation the moment we touch ground.” Evan shook his head in an exaggerated gesture of sadness.

“
Yeah, this trip has not been an easy one for her, poor kid,” Alik teased knowing the lady was at least ten years older than himself.

“
She’ll probably consider suing for post-traumatic stress disorder that forced her to give up her promising career. Then she’ll write a book about how to survive an in-flight threat from terrorists and make millions.”

“
Now there’s an idea.”

“
Which part?”

“
The writing of a book part. Maybe after all this is over, I’ll write a book about what happened to the three of us.”

“
Well Ali, you have the memory for it, but you may as well plan for it to be considered science fiction, fantasy.”

“
Yeah, you’re right, Ev. No one would ever believe it really happened, anyway.”

“
There are times even
I
don’t believe it,” Evan muttered mostly to himself.

Creed chuckled at the brothers, leaned back and closed his eyes. He was hoping to get a short nap before the dehydrated meals were served. For the first time in longer than he could remember, he felt hopeful about his future.

Moments later the brothers heard Creed snoring softly from his seat.

49 Target Practice

The wait was getting to her. Farrow, a soldier known for her ability to stalk a target for hours on end, was feeling very itchy. Three hours had passed since she last saw movement outside the house and for three hours she had waited for her chance to finish this assignment. So, for six and a half hours, Farrow had lain on her stomach in the dirt and grass with her eye glued to her scope.

It was hot and humid. She had to wipe her hands on a chalk bag periodically to help her maintain her grip on the rifle. A pool of sweat had formed in the small of her back, and the front of her uniform was drenched, but she didn’t know whether it was more from perspiration or the moisture in the dirt. Yeah, the wait was definitely getting to her, but not because of the aforementioned conditions.

She wasn’t getting tired. No, that wasn’t the problem. She was getting very angry. This woman and her metas felt like a personal threat to Farrow, and the longer she had to think about it, the more she determined that life as she knew it was hanging in the balance here. Farrow was resolute in her intention to remove that threat.