Homecoming

by Heath Stallcup

  “Yeah, I have been. I couldn’t sleep since we left.” She couldn’t hide the tone in her voice so she didn’t try.

  “Oh?” He shot her another quick glance. “Well, we still have a few more hours before we land.”

  “I couldn’t sleep if I had to.” She continued to bore holes into the back of his head. He continued to ignore her.

  Laura could feel the adrenaline flowing through her and couldn’t decide if she should confront him or not. She had just opened her mouth to accuse him when the light on the panel began lighting up in response. “Ah, your people are sending their coordinates.”

  “My…what?” Laura’s brain couldn’t quite absorb what he was saying.

  “I thought you both were asleep, so I messaged them using Morse code. They sent me coordinates to the closest private field and they got us permission to use it.” He gave her a lopsided grin and Laura suddenly felt sheepish. “The closer we can land to them the less of a car ride over very rough terrain.”

  “Oh…” her voice trailed off as she suddenly felt even more foolish. “That was nice of you.”

  “Nobody wants to sit in a plane this long and then have their butt bounced all over on a rough Brazilian dirt road.”

  “No. I suppose not.” Suddenly, she felt very tired. “You know, I think I might try to catch a little sleep before we get there after all.”

  “Okay. I’ll wake you if we crash.”

  She smiled as she laid her head on the armrest again. “You do that.”

  *****

  “Feel any better?”

  Little John looked up to see Spalding leaning against the doorway of his quarters. “I dunno. I guess.” He shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “I dunno. Maybe?” Spalding stepped inside and pulled the chair from the desk, spinning it around and sitting in it backward. “I can tell you that your squad mates feel a lot closer to ya.”

  “That’s a good thing, right?” John smirked. “Do you want us to sit around a campfire now and sing Kum-Ba-Yah? Maybe hold hands, do some team building exercises?”

  “The smart ass runs deep in this one,” Spalding teased.

  “Sorry, boss, I’m just not a touchy feely type of person.”

  Spalding ran a hand through his close cropped hair and nodded. “I understand. But getting the whole sister thing off your chest? That didn’t help any? Even a little?”

  John sat on the edge of his bed and placed the book he was reading on the nightstand. “Honestly?” He considered the situation and nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I feel better knowing that they don’t feel like there are any secrets. They know what I’m thinking when I’m out there. But really? When you look at the big picture, it doesn’t really change anything does it?”

  “I think it changes a lot. The guys have a better idea of where you’re coming from and what you’re dealing with.”

  “No, I mean, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m still going to do my job. Regardless of what private demons I may be dealing with, I would always do my job.” Little John sighed softly and stared down at Spalding. “They do realize that, don’t they?”

  “I think they do. Heck, I’m sure they do. We all know that you’re a professional, John. That was never in question.” Spalding pulled a photo from his breast pocket. “This was her.”

  “Her?” John took the photo and stared at the dark eyed beauty.

  “Maria. The woman that was killed in the desert. She wormed her way into all of our hearts in one way or another.” Spalding remembered the hot blooded little Latina that could fight as well as any of the men on the squads. “To some of us, she was like a little sister. To others, she was a lover. To others, she was just a friend. But she was a friend that would kill to protect you and vice versa.”

  “She’s pretty.” John handed the photo back.

  “You can see how Apollo got so messed up over losing her then.”

  John nodded, his mind trying to imagine loving someone who was in his line of work. “It must have been hell.”

  “It wasn’t easy. For him or for us.” Spalding put the picture back into his pocket. “Losing her and Hank was like…well, it drove home just how quickly any of us can go.”

  “You said you lost an entire team before?”

  Spalding nodded and leaned back against the wall behind him. “Yeah, before she was brought on.” His mind raced back to the op in Texas that cost them nearly all of First Squad. “We had our best out in the field and they got ambushed by wolves. That was when we first discovered that natural-borns could shift at will. They attacked during the day.”

  “Wow, a daylight attack. That’s ballsy.”

  “And effective.” Spalding pushed off the wall and tried to get out of the negative mindset that reminiscing about loss pulled him into. “And it wasn’t just us. Almost every team across the globe got hit at the same time. They all lost people.”

  “A global attack?” John’s eyes were wide. “That doesn’t seem possible.”

  “Normally, no, but this was all being coordinated by a very bad dude. He was trying to bring on the vampire Armageddon and…” Spalding’s voice trailed off.

  “What happened?” John was more than just curious now.

  “Well, we obviously beat him.” Spalding stared at the floor. “We lost a lot of good people. And a lot of vampires volunteered to fight with us.”

  “No shit?”

  “Yeah, the Lamia Beastia. The ones that feed off of animals. Anyway, that was what happened in the desert. The big bad ass forced his way through his own forces and got into our control room and that was where Hank and Maria got killed.”

  “But you stopped him.”

  “Yeah.” Spalding stood and turned for the door. “Too bad we weren’t allowed to kill the son-of-a-bitch.”

  *****

  Rachel watched from the upper levels as Damien worked around the clock gathering the necessary items to complete the ritual to revive her. She could feel the shreds of humanity slipping from her as each item was collected and brought to the warehouse. She felt the warmth that had wrapped itself around her earlier slip away and the cold grip of hate and anger slip back into her host’s heart. Whatever the previous spell was that had weakened her was rapidly fading as he cleansed the area and painted the pagan symbols upon the walls and floor with goat blood.

  He placed the unlit black candles in their proper places and set up a silver bowl with herbs and incense. Everything was falling into place and the excitement within her grew as the time grew closer. She knew that only two critical pieces remained. The elder vampire to be sacrificed, and the blood of virgins to restore her physical form.

  She paused and remembered how she had been sickened at the idea of him collecting the blood. The idea of innocents dying to bring her back to the physical world had disturbed her and now, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t remember why it had bothered her so. She truly couldn’t care if a hundred nuns or a thousand infants were sacrificed to her cause. Many more would die before she was done.

  Rachel stretched her arms out and closed her eyes. She sent psychic probes out into the physical world. She needed to be sure that all of her dismembered body had been collected before he began otherwise the experiment was for nothing. She could feel the strings of life that was interwoven across the planet and with her psychic feeler she strummed individual threads, feeling the vibrations of the resonating thread. The harmonics of life vibrated, giving her a resonant tone. A tone that reassured her that there were no stray pieces left behind. Everything that mattered was right here.

  Rachel stepped down from the upper level and appeared to float to the floor below. “It is time.”

  Damien nodded. “The blood is coming.”

  “The elder?”

  “Being prepared.” Damien gave her a sideways smile as he drew the silver bladed dagger that would end the elder’s life. “Apparently there are those on the council who were ready to be rid of him.”

  “Did they know ou
r intentions?” She pranced around the stainless steel tub and stared at her remains.

  “Of course not, they never would have turned him over.” Damien fell into step behind her, his desire to touch her overwhelming. “They just wanted him removed and didn’t have the guts to do it themselves.” He closed on her and whispered in her ear, “I promised them that his death would be slow and agonizing.”

  She nodded slowly as she stepped away from him. She suddenly turned and dropped the robe, exposing herself. “Then we should prepare.”

  Damien felt a familiar ache in his groin as he took in her form. “Yes, m’lady, we should.”

  She immediately noticed the effect she was having on him and laughed. “You can eat this body once I’m done with it, lover. What little power is within her young form will be yours.” She held a hand out to keep him at bay. “But not until the spell is cast.”

  Damien practically shook with anticipation. “As you wish, so must it be.”

  20

  Mark fell into the chair behind his desk and ran a hand through his close cropped hair. “Jesus, that was a close one,” his mumbled voice complained as he pulled his trusty notebook from his breast pocket. He began making his notes in the pages while trying to recall the ideas he had to prevent such a clusterfuck from ever happening again when he saw the lights dim slightly then brighten again.

  “What the…” He stood from his chair and went to his office window. Pulling the blinds he didn’t see anything that looked out of the ordinary. Most of the personnel were either in other areas or in their bunks. He glanced at his watch and noted the time. “Christ, it’s late.”

  He slipped back into his chair and pulled up his computer. As he began transferring his notes to his electronic files a loud rumble vibrated through the walls of the underground facility. “Son of a bitch!” Mark was on his feet and running for the door as the emergency claxon sounded and the lights went out, immediately bringing up the emergency red lights.

  Pulling his two way radio, he called for Mitchell. “What the hell is going on?”

  “We’re under attack!” Matt responded, his voice frantic. “Tangos topside.”

  Mark ran down the hallway and hit the door for the stairwell rather than even attempt the elevators. As soon as he was in the stairwell, he was nearly run over with security forces swarming topside, weapons in hand. “How many?”

  Most of the black clad men ignored him, but one responded over his shoulder absently, “No idea, Major.”

  Cursing under his breath, he jumped the handrail and landed on the next flight of stairs down. He had to get to the armory and arm up. He fought against the flow of men working their way topside. Matt met him in the stairwell and practically dragged him aside. “They took out the main communication dishes. We’re blind and deaf.”

  “Who the hell is it?” Mark yelled above the noise. A steady staccato of weapons fire could be heard from the floors above.

  “No idea yet. The cameras have been taken out.” Matt ground his teeth as he watched the security forces continue to flow past them. “Whoever it is knows this place.”

  Mark shook his head. “I can’t accept that.” He pushed past Matt and fought against the flow of bodies.

  “Where the hell are you going?” Matt yelled.

  “Armory!” Mark yelled back as he continued to push past rapidly moving men. “We need weapons.”

  Matt waved him back. “This way.” He pushed across the stream and into the gym. Mark gave him a cockeyed look, but fell into step behind him.

  “Where the hell are we going?”

  “Evan’s lab. I know for a fact that he has weapons there.” Matt hit the door running and came out on the other side. Evan’s lab was across the expanse, the good doctor approaching them slowly.

  “Please tell me that isn’t weapons fire I hear…”

  “We’re under attack, Doc. What kind of weapons do you have here?” Matt pushed past him and stepped up onto the laboratory platform.

  “Lethal or non-lethal?” Evan asked. Matt gave him a deadpan glare. “Er,..yes. I should have assumed as much.” Evan quickly went to the end of his lab and kicked open the door of a metal locker. “.308 Lapua. Depleted Uranium rounds. I was testing the…”

  “I don’t care.” Matt pulled the rifle from his hands and slammed a magazine in and racked a round. “What else?”

  Evan shook his head. “Standard P90s, FiveseveNs…I was testing different rounds through them. Do you have any idea what we’re facing?”

  “Just give me a mix, Doc.” Mark pulled two pistols from the metal locker and held his hand out for magazines. “Lots of mixes.”

  In a fluster, Evan handed Mark a handful of magazines. “Try them all, Major. I have no idea what is what. If one won’t work, switch to another. There’s silver nitrate, silver mixed with essence of garlic, silver with a holy water bubble at its core…”

  “As long as it goes bang and makes a hole, that’s all I’m worried about right now.” Mark slammed a magazine home and racked a round into the chamber. He looked to Matt. “Ready to rock and roll?”

  “Let’s do this.”

  *****

  Jack stood at the table explaining his original plan and taking suggestions from his new volunteers when one of his Lycan warriors stuck his head in the door. “Boat approaching.”

  Jack looked at his watch and raised a brow. “Wow. They made good time.” He stepped out from the table and excused himself. Following the Lycan out to the beach, Jack stood at the end of the dock and watched the boat approach. Using the binoculars with night vision, he verified it was their Monterey. He saw someone in the bow wave and he returned the motion. “Light ‘em up.”

  The Lycan pulled a lever and the dock lights came to life, a large strobe at the end blinking rhythmically, showing the way. Jack put the binoculars back in their case and listened to the motor throttle down as the boat pulled up and the line cast to the men standing on the dock.

  He watched as his three former team mates grabbed their gear and hopped from the bobbing craft. “A little further and I’d be green,” Pedro joked as his feet hit the wood of the dock.

  “You Army guys never were worth much on the water,” Jack teased as he pulled the man into a quick embrace. “Good to see you again, Popo.”

  “Good to see you too, Chief.” Popo turned and motioned to his two compadres. “You remember Gus and Jimmy.”

  “Hell, yeah.” Jack extended a hand to both. “Glad you agreed to this mission fellas.”

  “Wouldn’t miss it.” Gus shook his hand and moved past him to get back on dry land.

  “Chief.” Jimmy took his hand and shook it. “I hear we’re making a HALO jump.”

  Jack grinned and turned toward the castle. “Actually, our plans may have changed a wee bit, but that’s still an option. We’ve had a few more volunteers that have agreed to assist on this mission.”

  “Squad members from other teams?” Popo asked.

  “Not exactly,” Jack paused at the stone gates. “But I think you may remember them. They helped us in Nevada.”

  “Incoming!” A voice yelled from near the water. All four operators turned as one and stared out toward the water. Jack could see two watercraft leaving a white trail in the ocean. Whatever they were, they were moving fast. Jimmy patted his arm and pointed up. Then the sound of the approaching helicopter hit them and Jack felt his blood run cold.

  “Everybody, gear up!” Jack began pushing the squad members past him and into the castle. “Marco! Get them weapons! Robert! Go to the library and warn them that we’re about to have unwanted company!”

  Mueller jumped off the wall watchtower and ran past the other operators, sliding to a stop at the library doors. He had a horrible feeling about what was about to happen. He also knew that he had to warn Barbara and Bobby.

  *****

  Laura nearly jumped when the plane screeched on the tarmac. She quickly got her bearings and sat up, a soreness in her neck that she wasn’t e
xpecting. “Where are we?”

  “Please put away your tray tables and put your seats in their full upright position. We’d like to thank you for flying with us today here at Pterodactyl Airlines and hope that you truly enjoy your stay at Jurassic Park.” Mick motioned outside to the dark jungles slowly coming to life as the sun threatened to rise in the distance.

  “I take it we’re here?” Jennifer sat upright and pulled her headphones off, stretching.

  “We are most definitely here. Wherever the hell ‘here’ is.” Mick looked about for a safe place to taxi the craft. He slowed the plane and pulled it in as tight as he could to the only building he saw. It was obviously too small to house the craft. Shutting down the engines, he tossed his own headset aside and reached for the door. Men in black uniforms seemed to appear from the surrounding jungle, weapons pointed at them. “Bloody hell!” Mick stared at them then turned quickly to Laura. “Tell me these are your friends.”

  Laura stared out the window and couldn’t tell. From the darkness and the mist she couldn’t make out any faces. She took a deep breath and opened the door. “I’m going to find out.”

  “Wait!” Jennifer called, but it was too late.

  Laura stepped out into the darkness and called into the dampness, “Pablo?”

  “Miss Youngblood.” A figure appeared out of nowhere and quickly closed the distance. “I am here.”

  Laura sighed heavily and felt a sudden heaviness on her bladder. “What the hell? Why the guns? You knew we were coming, didn’t you?”

  “You do not know?” His face was painted with concern and she suddenly worried.

  “Know what?” she asked cautiously.

  “Your people, they have been attacked,” his voice was metered and unemotional. “You did not know?”

  Laura felt her knees weaken. “Which people, Pablo? Where? When?”