Subject 624

by Scott Ferrell

  Carina grabbed the front of my shirt. “We have to get out of here,” she yelled as if she knew what I was thinking.

  “Nathen—” I started.

  “There’s only so much you can do,” she insisted. “Does tear gas have arms that you can break?”

  “I—”

  “You took one bullet from that kid, but can you take two? Three? A dozen?”

  “We can’t just—”

  “We’ll help him! Just not now. We have to save ourselves to be able to help him.”

  “How?” I pushed closer to the house as more bullets struck the ground near my feet. “We don’t even know who they are.”

  “Yes, we do.” She held out her hand; a chain necklace swung back and forth. “Dog tags,” she said, answering my unasked question. “I took them off that man whose arm you broke and kicked.”

  “I can’t see it. Military?”

  “No, but we know who they are, so we’ll know where they’ll take Nathen.” She gripped my arm. “Conor, please. We’ll help him. We just can’t now. We need to figure out what to do. We can take this to the police. The National Guard. Whatever. Please.”

  She was right, of course, but right was a concept I had a problem grabbing onto. I wanted to charge across the lawn and beat the mess out of anybody who got in the way of making it to Nathen.

  As I struggled with anger and common sense, the memory of the searing pain from being shot a few nights ago popped into my mind. I had recovered quickly from it, but Carina was right. I had no idea if I could survive multiple gunshot wounds. I wasn’t immortal. Punch enough holes in me and I had no doubt I’d be as dead as the next guy.

  As a reminder of my mortality, I touched the tender spot in my side where the rubber bullet had struck and growled. “Fine. Let’s go.”

  We slid along the house until we came to the opposite corner and I took a quick look around it. Not to say I could see much in the dark with blurry vision, but I’d used up all my caution deciding not to save Nathen for now. I crossed the few feet to the far fence. Nobody shot at me. That was a welcome surprise. I grabbed the top of the fence and lifted a foot.

  “Conor Ferguson,” a voice called out into the night.

  I froze.

  “Carina Hass,” the voice continued. “We have your friend, Mr. Martin, here. We really don’t want to hurt anybody, but we’re under orders to bring you three in and we’re quite adept at accomplishing our missions. No matter the means,” he added after a loaded pause.

  Carina crept up to me and laid a hand on my shoulder. “Conor, no.”

  It really was quite astonishing how she seemed to have the ability to read my mind. The past day or so, she put a voice of reason to what I thought before I even knew it myself.

  “There doesn’t have to be any more violence. We just need to talk,” the man called out.

  “Conor…” Carina hissed.

  It said something that this group of paramilitary was attempting to talk us into giving ourselves up. They had the numbers and firepower. For all I knew, they had night vision goggles and other toys I’d only ever seen in movies. Yet, they were holding back, calling out for us to surrender. Were they the ones who really didn’t want to be hurt? Had they found the guy I had taken out in those moments while blinded and coughing up a lung? They were scared of us! I bet I could take them.

  “Conor!” Carina shook me. “They’re baiting you. We’ll save Nathen, but we can’t do that with you hurt or dead.”

  “Fine,” I said again. I pointed at the flat piece of metal in her hand. “But, when we find out who they are, I’m going after them. They had something to do with your dad. I know it. They took my family and now they’re taking Nathen. I will go after them with the help of the police or not.”

  “Okay, let’s just go before they decide to come after us.”

  I nodded. “Get ready to run. If there are any of them on the other side, run right at them. They can’t hurt you and I’ll be right behind you to take them out.”

  “Let’s just go,” she replied.

  I turned and with two swift kicks, sent two boards off into the dark yard beyond. Carina squeezed through the gap with me right behind. It turned out; I was right about them trying to flank us. She ran as soon as she was through, startling a dark figure right on the other side of the fence, no doubt confused by the sudden flying boards right zooming past. Carina never saw him as she ran across the yard, but she distracted him long enough for me to fit through the gap and rush him. One punch sent a high tech looking pair of goggles flapping into the dark and he dropped to the well-trimmed grass.

  Shouts followed us as they realized we were making a run for it. A few shots rang out, but I was pretty sure they were blind shots. Maybe.

  I caught up to Carina as we rounded the other side of the house. I overtook her as we ran down the side yard. There was a five-foot fence protecting access to the backyard. I didn’t let it slow us down. I launched myself into it, using my body to crash through it, sending boards and splinters showering over the front yard.

  We turned the opposite direction of Nathen’s house, jumped some low shrubbery separating the next yard and ran as fast as we could, or dared, in the dark.

  I thought we actually might get away if we could keep ahead of them long enough to find a hiding spot. They couldn’t have been prepared for us to get away and run. They had us surrounded. I hoped we had caught them by surprise at least long enough to escape.

  Escape wasn’t meant to be. My heart sank as a vehicle came to life down the street. With a roar and screech of tires, a massive, black Hummer barreled toward us.

  Chapter 24

  10:32 p.m.

  We ran through lawns until fences, shrubs, and cars made it too impractical. I wanted to avoid going closer to the street as the roar of the Hummer raced toward us, but the obstacles just slowed us down.

  When we came to a particularly tall fence—the owner must have really not liked their neighbors—we swerved out to the sidewalk. I glanced over my shoulder and saw the black vehicle barreling down the street with no lights on—just a roaring shadow.

  “We’re not going to outrun it,” I yelled. I slid to a stop. “Keep going.”

  Carina stopped, too.

  “Run!”

  “Conor,” she began.

  “I’m going to slow them down. I’ll catch up.”

  She looked like she was about to object but nodded instead and started running again.

  I turned to the tiny car parallel parked along the curb. It was a small import. It couldn’t weigh that much. I was about to find out. I glanced down the street. There were only a few seconds before the Hummer reached me. I took a deep breath and grabbed the car’s bumper. I really had no idea of the extent of my abilities. I’d never pushed myself to find out, but I was about to see if lifting a car could be added to my repertoire.

  As I bent over the corner of the hood, I remembered the advice to lift with my knees, not my back. Strange thing to think of when a vehicle full of trained soldiers raced down the street at me, but I squatted, took another breath, and stood. The car came with me. Well, the front tires did, anyway. I tried to lift it further but only managed a few more inches. The rear tires remained firmly planted to the asphalt.

  I glanced over the car’s hood. The Hummer was almost on me. I wondered how many guys were packed in there—what kind of weapons they wielded. I didn’t want to find out. With a grunt, I sidestepped away from the curb, dragging the car with me until it sat sideways across the road.

  The Hummer’s screeched as the driver tried to avoid slamming into the import but, they had too much momentum. I had just enough time to dive to the side before the monster vehicle plowed into the car. The two vehicles slid another ten feet before coming to a stop.

  I had hoped to slow them down long enough to get away, but the crash didn’t quite accomplish that goal. The read driver-side door popped opened. I rushed at it, planting a kick into the side panel. The door slammed shut
, pushing whoever was about to come out back in.

  The driver’s door opened. A gun of some sort came out before a person. I grabbed the muzzle and yanked. I landed a right to the dude’s jaw as he stumbled out and he dropped to the street.

  A blue car roared around the wrecked import and screeched to a stop beside me.

  “Get in!” Carina screamed through the window.

  I wrenched open the rear door and dove into the backseat. She stomped the gas pedal down, the force of the car taking off slamming the door shut for me.

  “Stay down!” Carina yelled as we passed by Nathen’s house.

  Bullets thunked into the side of the car. One shattered the driver side window. It ricocheted off Carina’s head and exited through the windshield.

  Carina took a corner and the bullets stopped.

  “Where did you get this?” I asked as I crawled into the front passenger seat.

  “The keys were in the door.” She had sounded so calm in the backyards, but now her voice had taken on a note of hysteria—high-pitched and fast.

  “And you just took it?” I asked, my own voice trending higher on the tonal scale.

  “Are you really complaining right now?”

  “No! No, I just never thought grand theft auto was on our to-do list for today.” I grabbed the handle above the door as she took another corner a little too fast. The tires even squealed a bit.

  “It’s not on my to-do list any day,” she said, checking the rearview mirror.

  I turned to look out the back window. There was no sign of pursuit. “Did we really get away that easy?”

  “You call that easy?” She spent more time checking her rear and side view mirrors than actually watching the road.

  “I guess not.” I turned straight in the seat and took a deep breath, dragging a hand through my hair.

  Now that we were several blocks away, the past few minutes of adrenaline was wearing off leaving my heart thumping and my hands shaking. I pushed them against my thighs and slid them down to my knees before balling them into fists.

  Carina glanced at the side view mirror, the rearview mirror, at me, then back to the rearview mirror before turning back to the road. “Did you really just throw a car?”

  “No,” I said with a mirthless laugh. “Not quite. More like kinda dragged it into the road. I still can’t believe you stole a car.”

  She shrugged a shoulder.

  “I didn’t even know you could drive.”

  She glanced at me. “I can’t. Legally. But, my dad has been taking me out on back roads and let me drive his car for practice since last year.” She fell silent.

  Just the mention her dad had brought on that pain she had temporarily forgotten in our chaotic escape. I had forgotten about my family, too. There was something about trying to survive that pushes all other thoughts from the mind until the situation has passed.

  “We need to figure out what’s going on,” she said after a few long moments of silence. “That’s the only way we’ll get Nathen back and figure out what happened to your family.”

  “And your dad,” I added. “But I have no clue where to start.”

  “Here.” She leaned in the seat to dig into her pants pocket. She reached over to drop the dog tags into my hand. “That’s where we start.”

  There were two tags connected to the ball chain. I held it up, but couldn’t see it clearly enough to make out the imprinted bumps. I ran my thumb over the flat surface. It felt warm from being inside Carina’s pocket.

  “What does it say?” she asked.

  I held it up at different angles, but couldn’t catch enough light. “I can’t see.”

  “This might help.” She reached up to click on the small light just above the windshield.

  I held the tags to the light. “Lt Johnson,” I said, examining the first. “49556-72. You sure these guys weren’t military?”

  “What does the other one say? There were two.”

  I flipped over the first and took in a hissing breath.

  “What?”

  “Sterling Securities.” I held up the second tag to show her the company’s logo. “What does this mean?”

  “It means we need to figure out the connection between Lindström and Sterling.”

  “And Salt Lake Pharmaceuticals,” I added.

  “Right,” she agreed.

  “But, how do we do that? My dad never brought work home.”

  “Mine did,” she said. “He was obsessed with it at times.”

  “Your house was trashed, though,” I reminded her. “That was probably what they were looking for.”

  “Or it was him going crazy,” she said after a moment.

  She had a point. I wasn’t an expert on ransacking homes, but the level of destruction didn’t indicate a thorough search. The wreckage felt more like a random fit of anger.

  “Do you really think we’ll find anything there?” I asked.

  “I don’t know where else to go,” she said with a shrug.

  “What about the police?” I suggested.

  “You heard how they reacted when I tried to report Dad missing. What makes you think anything has changed? If anything, it’s only gotten worse for them. Things are out of control and now the power’s out.”

  “But Nathen’s just a kid. They take missing kids more seriously,” I said.

  “There’s no way they’ll believe operatives from Sterling Securities kidnapped him,” she said, checking the rearview mirror. “They’ll just assume he ran off to join in whatever is going on in town.”

  She had a point, but I was still reluctant. It was hard to believe I had been so gung-ho to run out into danger just a couple of nights ago. It all seemed so stupid now. I should have listened to my inner voice and never gotten involved. I should have stayed home and protected my family.

  Now they were gone. Nathen was gone. Carina’s father was running around like some crazed Hulk. We were assaulted by military types shooting real bullets at us with real guns. How could we really justify continuing to put ourselves in danger when that’s what the police were for? When the National Guard was camped right outside the city?

  I stared at the small hole the bullet that had punched through the windshield. “Are you okay, by the way.”

  She glanced at me, then at the hole. “Yeah. I’ve been in stone mode ever since they stormed Nathen’s place. It ricocheted off my head.”

  “I always knew you had a hard head.”

  She smiled. “You have no idea.”

  11:01 p.m.

  The drive to Carina’s was uneventful. I was grateful for that. We both needed a little uneventful. We passed only one other vehicle driven by a frazzled looking man with glasses too big for his face. He hadn’t even turned to look as we drove by, meticulously doing the speed limit.

  I tried to urge her to go faster, but she didn’t want to risk being pulled over in a stolen car. I told her we were likely to be stopped whether we were speeding or not just for being a couple of teens out that time of night. She refused to listen, continuing at the posted limits.

  The outskirts of the city were like a ghost town. While I knew it would be like hell on Earth downtown, out in the residential areas, everybody had holed up in their houses. Maybe if they were lucky, they got out of town before the National Guard had cordoned it off from the rest of the world.

  Driving down those streets with their dark houses, dark lawns, and dark streets was eerie. By the time we pulled into her driveway, we were both wound tight like a couple of guitar strings ready to pop. We sat in the car, looking at the dark house and trying to decompress.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “No,” she breathed. “Not at all.”

  I rested a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll figure it out.”

  “We’ll find your parents,” she said with a nod. “And Nathen.”

  “And your dad,” I added.

  She shrugged. “He’s a monster now. C’mon, let’s go.” She killed the engine and
stepped out of the car before I could reply.

  We followed the sidewalk up to the front door and hesitated outside. We stared at the large, mostly glass door in the dark.

  “What exactly do we hope to find in here?” I asked.

  “Anything that will connect those three companies and what’s going on here. Papers. Computer files. Anything.”

  “What if your dad is home?”

  “He hasn’t been home in days, remember?” she said, her voice catching a bit. “He won’t be.”