The wounded coyote came around this side of the pillar, blood trailing from its back leg. It didn’t hesitate or offer any threats before jumping into action, jaw snapping at Darien as it lunged forward. Darien dropped the taser and shifted into a red fox, ducking under the coyote’s head and running in between his legs. His stomach burned as he moved, and he hoped the wounds weren’t starting to open, but it wasn’t like he could stay still and hope the others took care of everything before it was too late.
Scurrying out from underneath the coyote, Darien leaped and jumped on the pillar. As his feet touched the cement, he turned his head and pushed off, getting more height and landing on the coyote’s back. He gripped on with his paws, holding tufts of hair as the coyote jumped to the side and shook its entire body, trying to dislodge the small predator. Darien’s back end flopped around, but he held on with his front paws, working his way up to the neck. Each bounce sent a flash of pain through his body, but he refused to let go. He reached the animal’s shoulders, then bit down as hard as he could.
The coyote dropped flat on his stomach with a howl and rolled onto his back, trying to squish Darien with his weight. If he wasn’t injured, Darien wouldn’t have cared. But the extra pressure on his abdomen made him yip and let go as fire lit on what felt like every nerve in his body. When the other animal rolled off, Darien saw his blood matting the coyote’s fur. He scurried away, trying to get to one of the side walls.
Gunfire continued to echo in the chamber, dominating most of the other sounds, but Darien heard a shout of pain suddenly cut short. It seemed like at least one of the gunmen on the other side was brought down. He couldn’t see Vladimir and the cat, but could hear their mingled growls and hisses coming from the other side of the room. A quick glance at the elevator showed him that the bull was still alive, backing out of the cab too small for its body.
That was as much time as he had to assess the situation before his opponent advanced and captured his attention again. Darien saw the other coyote recovering from his shock, standing up on shaking legs. He needed to put an end to this fight quickly. He felt the blood dripping out of his midsection and could only wonder how many of the wounds had reopened. If he didn’t have time for a drawn out battle, he’d have to rely on timing and trickery.
The wounded coyote stalked forward, head turning from one side to the other as it watched Darien drag himself towards the wall. For his part, Darien slowed down, trying to over-emphasize his weakness and exhaustion. The coyote saw the trail of blood and began to pant, drool dripping down its tongue and falling to the cement in large drops.
It lunged forward, snapping at Darien, but he knew it was a feint. The beast was checking distance and his reactions while staying safe. Darien shuffled away, hoping that he moved fast enough to look frightened, but slow enough to be a target. The coyote tested him again, changing direction and snapping from the other side. This time when Darien shuffled, he deliberately stumbled, falling onto his stomach. Seeing an opportunity, the coyote reached out for the killing blow.
Before it landed, Darien shifted again, this time becoming a black mamba. He slithered out of the way faster than the coyote could track, and before the canine’s jaws closed, Darien snapped out and bit the other shifter four times. With each bite, he pumped as much venom into his opponent’s system as he could, not wanting to take any chances. The coyote tried to spring away, but the neurotoxin already started to have an effect and it moved without being able to control all of its limbs, stumbling and collapsing on its side.
Darien shot forward, sliding across the cement and trying to ignore the pain in his stomach. He needed to take out the other coyote while still in this form. Unfortunately, moving as a snake made the wounds on his underside more aggravated. The coyote still twitched from the heavy dose of electricity from the taser and tried to focus on the snake coming towards it. Darien sprang forward, sinking his teeth deep into the dazed creature’s muzzle. It pushed back, pawing at its face and knocking Darien free, but the venom was already delivered. Darien collapsed to his side and watched the coyote stumble away, its body starting to lose control.
Shifting back into human form, Darien laid his arm against his stomach, cradling his wounds and trying to examine the extent of the damage with his fingers. Gregory gave a shout, and Darien heard his body slam into the floor. He didn’t have the energy to turn around and see what had happened, but he was a little surprised to find that he hoped Gregory was all right.
Darien’s fingers came away red and wet when he lifted them up to his face. At least it felt like the sutures were still in place, even if the wounds had opened up again. He was bleeding a fair amount, but not bad enough to make him weak from blood loss. Darien rolled over, propping himself up on his elbows to keep his stomach from touching the ground.
The chimpanzee dropped from the ceiling into the small of his back and slammed him against the floor. Darien opened his mouth to scream, but the pain was so overwhelming that no sound came out. The chimpanzee planted its feet on his hips and reached down to wrap its large hands around Darien’s neck. They squeezed hard, crushing off all air flow as the chimp pulled back, arching Darien’s back at the same time. He felt like his head was about to fly off or his spine was going to break in half, but either one would be moot since he couldn’t breathe. Darien reached up and tried to pry the fingers off his throat, but they were too thick and strong. His ears filled with a hollow ringing sound, like he was underwater and waves were crashing into the surface just above him.
Then all at once the pressure was gone and he dropped back to the floor gasping for breath. The chimpanzee slid across the ground to his left, an arrow going all the way through its neck. It looked like one of those joke arrows you could get at a prank shop, but with a lot more blood. The chimpanzee’s eyes were open, but there was no light behind them. For a few seconds all Darien could do was hold himself up on his elbows and cough.
He became aware of someone grabbing his arm and helping him to stand up. It was then that he realized the gunfire and other sounds of battle had stopped. He heard people panting and grunting, and the sound of small pieces of cement tumbling to the floor and rolling across it as they caved to the incessant call of gravity. Keegan waited until Darien could stand on his own before taking his hand away. The hunter had a genuine smile on his face that was made more disturbing by the blood streaking down the side of it.
“Thanks.”
“Doing what I’m paid to do. He wants you to live through this.”
Darien puzzled over those words as Keegan walked away, heading back towards the bull to collect a trophy. After a few breaths to steady himself, Darien followed in that general direction to see how the others had fared.
Gregory sat with his back against the pillar, a bullet hole in his left shoulder. It was high enough that it wouldn’t be a threat to his life, but it looked like it might have shattered his collarbone or entire shoulder. Alyssa knelt over him, dressing the wound as best as she could given her limited supplies. She looked grimy and sweaty, but appeared to be uninjured. Vladimir stood just behind her, panting hard and bleeding from several scrapes all over his body and what looked like a missing chunk of skin and fur from the side of his neck. His eyes were alert and he stared at the door on the other side of the room.
“I think they know we’re here.”
Chapter 28
After Alyssa finished dressing Gregory’s wound and put his arm in a sling, they made their way to the only other exit from the battleground. Keegan collected another trophy from the chimpanzee, but Darien made a point not to watch. He was thankful that the hunter saved his life, even if he was confusing with that parting comment, but Darien didn’t want to see him partake in his bizarre rituals.
The door on the other side opened as they approached, sliding to the side to reveal a short white hallway with three doors on either side. The doors had thick handles on them, the kind that you’d see on a walk-in freezer. At the end of the hallway opposite the
m was another sliding metal door. Darien walked up to the first of the freezer doors and looked through the small window in the center. The room beyond looked like a cell. There was no furniture, no other exits, and the room couldn’t be more than ten feet on a side.
The room on the opposite side looked much the same, but there was a medical table inside, complete with leather straps for restraining a patient. A small surgery tray rested nearby containing a bunch of medical tools, some syringes, and a couple of bottles. Neither cell was occupied. They checked the other four as they moved forward, but they were also empty, except for the occasional collection of tools or furniture.
The group approached the large metal door at the end of the hallway, and it slid to the side as they approached. The room beyond was dark and only lit by the glow of electronic equipment. There were three rows of computer terminals running the entire width of the room, tiered like it was stadium seating. The wall opposite the door was covered with six large monitors, each showing either lists of data or maps of the United States. The only thing like it Darien had ever seen was when he saw pictures of the base control station at NASA. It was overwhelming.
At the bottom of the tiers was a large table with six chairs positioned around it, each turned in such a way that someone seated in that chair could look up at the screens. Five of the chairs were empty. The sixth one was occupied by an older man with thinning grey hair dressed in a military uniform. The plaque of ribbons over his chest looked like it barely fit between his shoulder and breast pocket. Darien had no idea what they meant, but he was willing to go out on a limb and guess that this man was the colonel. He glared at the intruders as they entered his war room. Darien noticed that he had a sidearm holstered at his hip.
The man didn’t stand up when they entered. He remained seated as they came around and down to the same level where he was. Keegan stayed near the doorway, looking back down the hall and keeping an eye on their only escape.
“Do you have any idea who I am or what you’re doing here?”
At first, his sheer arrogance and confidence threw Darien off. The man exuded power so strong that you could feel it in the air like a miasma. Even Gregory hesitated, not able to respond immediately. Alyssa was the first to recover.
“We’re here to find out just how far your corruption goes and how much you’ve infected the Arm. And the Shadows.”
The colonel barked a single laugh, a note that carried all the superiority and mocking that a single syllable could.
“Like we would need to. Give you a few doctrines to follow and you stumble along like marionettes. Your precious little conclaves are pure.”
“But then how…”
The colonel stood up, that sudden motion shutting off the conversation. Alyssa and Gregory both raised their guns as Vladimir let out a low growl. If any of that mattered to the colonel, he didn’t give any indication. His lips moved, but as Darien strained to hear what was being said, he couldn’t make out the words.
It felt like the temperature in the room dropped several degrees as the monitors seemed to grow dimmer. Darkness coalesced around the colonel, shrouding him and making his form indistinct and impossible to focus on. Darien recognized the armor for what it was immediately, his mind racing back to the first time he ran into the Shadows. His eyes went wide as the realization struck him.
Gregory, Alyssa, and Keegan all fired, but their attacks couldn’t penetrate the shadow armor. Gregory cursed and stopped firing after two rounds, while Alyssa continued until her magazine was empty. Vladimir rushed forward, jumping at the colonel and leading with his fangs. The colonel lifted up a hand and his fingers grew long black spears, skewering Vladimir four times and leaving him hanging in the air. He whimpered and twitched a few times as Alyssa screamed. The colonel withdrew his weapons, letting the darkness coalesce around his fingers again. Vladimir’s body dropped to the ground and Alyssa moved to run towards him, but Gregory pulled her back and up the stairs, seeking cover behind one of the rows of terminals.
“How? You’re not a Shadow.”
Darien still stood in front of the colonel, his mind struggling to grasp everything that had happened in the last few seconds. He was also scrabbling in his brain, trying to think how they could avoid getting slaughtered. The only thing he knew that penetrated a Shadow’s armor was sunlight, and they were currently three levels below the surface.
“Who do you think gave them the rituals in the first place?”
The colonel lifted his hand and more spears shot out, pointed at Darien. He dropped to the ground, feeling the air grow cold above his body as they passed within inches of his flesh. Rolling to the side, he found himself under the table, staring at the colonel’s shadowy legs. They wavered, as if they were not really there and Darien’s eyes couldn’t focus on them.
The colonel turned away for a moment and Darien heard a metallic clatter as another arrow bounced off the armor and skittered across the floor. The sound was followed with the painful screech of metal sheering. Keegan grunted loud enough to be heard over it, but Darien had no way of seeing what was going on.
“You should never have come. You should have gone about your own little lives, dancing the path we laid out for you. This is all your fault, Darien. I knew we should never have offered to bring you into our organization.”
The colonel turned back to the table and bent forward at the waist so that he could peer under it. Darien saw the shapeless haze that was the man’s face as he felt the weight of a stare that made his entire spine tremor. This far away from the sun, there was nothing they could do. The colonel reached out with his hand and Darien tried to slide away, but the cold fingers closed around his shoulder, numbing his entire arm. The colonel dragged him out and picked him up, pinning him against the table.
Gregory popped up from behind the terminals, firing off a few more bullets, but the colonel didn’t even turn to face the threat, letting them bounce off of his armor. He reached up behind him with a hand, letting his finger spears launch again. Gregory ducked just in time to keep from being skewered. When they retracted, the colonel brought his hand over Darien’s chest, positioning those claws over his visibly bleeding abdomen. At least the numbing sensation eased some of the pain.
Up in the corner of the room, Darien saw Keegan creeping forward holding something small in his hand. He made a hugging motion and then covered his eyes. Darien hoped he interpreted the gesture correctly.
“Goodbye, Darien.”
Darien shifted, changing into an octopus and wrapping his long tentacles around the colonel, one on each arm and leg and several around his body. The cold burned and he wanted to scream, but he held tight, pulling hard to keep the colonel from being able to move. Darien shut his eyes as he pulled, praying that whatever Keegan had planned would work. He heard a couple of light metallic pings, and then there was an explosion and loud hissing sound. Even through his eyelids he felt like the blinding light would burn through his sockets. Then he noticed that he was holding onto flesh, not cold shadow armor.
Darien shifted back, not wanting to stay in that ungainly form for long. The colonel stood over him, hand brought up to his eyes now that he was free. He stumbled backwards, reaching out with his other hand to try and keep from running into anything. There was another hiss, softer but long and drawn out, as Keegan pulled back on his bow. With a twang, he let it loose. The arrow pierced the colonel in the center of his chest, and he dropped to the floor.
For a moment, everything was still. Then Alyssa bolted around the corner, shoving her way past Gregory to reach Vladimir. She checked for a pulse, but then picked up his limp body and cradled it in her lap. Darien had never seen this side of her and it made him uncomfortable to see her so vulnerable, so human. He turned away, walking towards Keegan. Gregory was already standing there.
“How did you know that would work? Why did you have one?”
“It’s important to research your employer as much as your target.”
Keegan walked
away, marching up the stairs back to the hallway. Apparently, he didn’t pride himself on taking human trophies. At least there was that. Darien turned to look at Gregory. The Shadow stood tall, giving off the same regal persona as ever, even with his arm in a sling. Darien stuck out his hand, not knowing what else to do. Gregory smiled and shook it. Alyssa walked up to them, recovered from her moment of weakness. She shook Darien’s hand as well, and then turned to do the same with Gregory.
Now they needed to get as much as they could off these computers and get out before the morning shift arrived.
Chapter 29
The group met for what Darien hoped would be the last time, at a small family-owned restaurant in Bellingham. Gregory’s arm was still in a sling, but the prognosis was that with surgery, he would be able to recover partial use of it. A few of the bones were shattered and that was addressed immediately. Going under the knife for repair work needed to wait until some of the swelling had gone down. Alyssa looked as pristine as she always did in public. Either she had healed incredibly quickly, or was using makeup to disguise the worst of her bruises.
Garth and Susan were none the worse for wear. Apparently, Karl did not have much in the way of personal security and relied more on secrecy than any kind of forceful deterrents. Darien imagined that after this encounter, that was going to change. Keegan was not part of the meeting. His contract fulfilled and payment received, he wandered off and Darien didn’t want to know where. As for himself, Darien needed a few more stitches in his torso, but otherwise was healing well. This was the first day where he didn’t feel the need to use the pain killers Alyssa had acquired.
“Have you had a chance to look through any of the data we were able to get off of their servers?”
Both Gregory and Alyssa nodded. She gestured to him, yielding the floor so that he could speak first.
The Torn Soul (The Sheynan Trilogy Book 3) Page 21