by SW Matthews
“Seats are more comfortable too,” added Tuck from the copilot’s seat.
Andy flipped a few switches. “Okay, let’s see what happens.”
A quiet whoosh sounded through the open cargo door, and the hull began to vibrate.
“Looks like one prop on my side is out,” Andy said. “Must be what those guys were working on. No time to fix it now.” He turned to Tuck. “Go grab all the tools you can find. We’re going to borrow them to repair this thing when we get home.”
Tuck stood and exited.
“Hey, open the door while you’re out there!” Andy called after him.
“Aye, Skipper,” came the response.
After a few minutes, Andy heard the overhead door opening and a car door shutting. Then Tuck was back in the seat next to him.
“Good to go, Skipper.”
“Plenty of tools?”
“Everything I could carry, two loads. Put them in the back of the SUV.”
“Okay,” Andy said. “Let’s get this thing out of the hangar, then we’ll go find everyone.”
Andy carefully lifted the helijet just off the ground. As he was turning it in the hangar, it accelerated and hit the side of the building.
“She’s a little jumpy,” he said, without looking at Tuck.
“You okay, Skipper?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. It’s just been a while, you know?”
***
The nurse and Rosie rushed to Hoff’s side.
“Oh my God! Dr. Hoff!” Janis cried.
Hoff sat up, pulled the knife from his chest, then looked at the nurse and backhanded her. The blow sent her flying across the room. She hit the glass wall of the green boy’s cell and fell to the ground. Piper rushed to her side and knelt down to help the woman.
Rosie backed away from her uncle as he came to his feet, an expression of rage on his face. He narrowed his eyes at his nephew, who was standing with his sword drawn.
“You fool!” he snarled. “You do not understand what I have sacrificed, what I have achieved!”
“You hurt a small, defenseless boy,” replied Bandit. His own rage was barely controlled.
“Boys,” said Hoff, emphasizing the plural. He nodded to the glass cells. “His brothers endured the same!”
Bandit glanced at the cages, then back to Hoff. “All the more reason for me to kill you.”
Behind Bandit, Pol turned to stare at the brothers he never knew he had.
“You are an idiot, dear nephew,” Hoff growled. “What I did to those boys will result in the survival of the human race.”
“You will never know!” yelled Bandit.
He lunged at Hoff. His sword flashed, and the sound of metal on metal rang out as his blow was met with the knife that Hoff still held. Hoff kicked Bandit in the stomach, sending him flying across the room, his sword falling to the ground.
“The serum also increases strength and reflexes,” Hoff explained to no one in particular.
As Hoff moved toward Bandit, Piper leaned over to the nurse. “Suck the gas out of their rooms,” she whispered, indicating the two boys. “We need to get them out of here.”
Janis was still composing herself, but she nodded and crawled over to the control panel.
Doc reached a hand to Pol, who was still staring at his brothers. “Pol!” he whispered.
Pol looked at the old man and Rosie. He smiled and waved. But instead of walking over to them, he picked up Bandit’s sword and turned toward his father.
Bandit had regained his feet. He threw a second knife at Hoff, then pulled two long knives from his belt and lunged.
Hoff raised his right hand, and the thrown knife lodged in his forearm. He pulled the knife free just as Bandit was upon him. The two men fought, both with a knife in each hand. Hoff had a height advantage, plus enhanced strength and reflexes. He also knew he would heal from whatever damage his nephew was able to inflict. But Bandit had training on his side, and he continued to back his uncle up.
A knife blade across the face caused Hoff to step back, but the laceration—which extended from Hoff’s right brow, across his nose, and over his left cheek—healed almost instantly. Hoff grimaced and started forward again.
He never even looked at his second attacker.
Pol swung Bandit’s sword, taking off Hoff’s left foot at the ankle. Hoff fell to his knees, a stunned expression on his face. He looked at Pol, at the bloodied sword in his hand, then back at Bandit. With obvious effort, he stood once more, balancing on his one remaining foot.
Bandit hesitated only a moment before coming at Hoff with both blades. Hoff was able to deflect the first blade, but the second separated his left hand from his wrist. With a primal yell, Hoff punched Bandit squarely in the face with his right hand, again sending the young man sprawling.
Janis had cleared the air in the cells during the fight, and the cell doors opened. At the sound, Hoff turned. He saw the open doors—and saw the nurse at the controls. Without hesitation, he dropped the knife, retrieved the handgun from his lab coat, and fired three times at his employee.
One bullet hit the wall behind her. The other two struck her in the head. Janis toppled to the floor, lifeless.
Hoff then spun on Pol and fired three more times. All three bullets hit Pol in the chest, and the boy fell to the ground.
Hoff then staggered toward Bandit, who lay motionless, knocked out by the last blow. He nudged him with his ankle stump, and the young man didn’t move.
Hoff pointed the gun at his nephew’s face. “Stupid child,” he muttered.
A shot rang out. Hoff stumbled and turned. Rosie was aiming a gun at him, smoke rising from its barrel. The first shot had hit him in the back. She fired again, but missed. Two more shots—both missed as well.
Hoff moved toward her. “Roswitha,” he said. “Do you not understand? Do you not realize what is at stake?”
“I do,” she whispered.
He was close to her now. “Do you not appreciate the miracle I have accomplished?”
She was weakening, her lip quivering. “I do, Uncle. I truly do.”
“Then why?” he asked. “Why not help me?”
She lowered the weapon and shook her head. “It’s wrong,” she whispered. “What you have done is wrong. Aunt Kat, these boys… You’re insane.”
Anger formed on Hoff’s face as he raised his weapon at his niece. “You’re just like the rest,” he growled.
***
Andy followed Tuck through the door. Before Andy had even fully taken in the scene, Tuck had fired five shots from his sidearm. All of them connected with Hoff’s chest. The scientist fell to the floor, and Tuck advanced, his gun still trained on his target.
Andy spotted Piper, and immediately limped over to her. They embraced, Piper laughing and crying while they kissed.
“Sorry we took so long,” he said. “We had to go get an ID badge from the pilot before we could get in.”
Andy looked around the room. Bandit lay motionless to one side. Pol also lay on the floor, but was starting to rise. Doc and Rosie were huddled together, and Tuck stood over Hoff. A dead nurse lay next to Piper.
“What the hell?” he said. Then he saw the two small figures starting to stir in their open cells. “Who the hell…?” He held Piper at arm’s length and looked in her eyes. “What’s going on in here?”
“Long story. Let’s go.” She grabbed his hand.
To Andy’s amazement, Cregor Hoff struggled to his feet. “Uh, Piper…”
“I am surrounded by a league of buffoons!” Hoff shouted. He was standing on one foot. “None of you have the intelligence to understand the importance of what I have done! To realize that I am the savior of your poor, pathetic descendants!”
Bandit awoke and rose to his feet. Pol approached his father, Bandit’s sword in hand.
“Yes, I did the unspeakable to my own children!” Hoff shouted, his voice rising, “and the entire human population owes me their lives for it!”
He s
tarted to raise his gun, but Pol’s sword flashed, and Hoff’s remaining hand flew from his wrist. Bandit stepped in and stabbed him multiple times with his knives, including a deep slice across the neck, and Tuck unloaded the rest of his magazine into Hoff’s chest.
For a moment, Hoff just stared at his attackers and smiled. Then a strange, surprised look came over his face. He looked down at his severed ankle. The tissue around it was bubbling and swelling. The same thing was happening at his wrists. Slowly, the transformation spread over his body, and his startled expression was replaced with a swollen mass of pulsating, sticky tissue.
He collapsed to the floor. After a few moments, only a puddle remained.
The team stared at the pool of fluid, then at each other.
“Damn,” said Andy. “That son of a bitch still owed me twenty thousand dollars.”
Piper smirked.
Doc and Rosie hugged Tuck, then rushed to Andy and Piper.
“I can’t believe you’re alive,” said Doc as he embraced the pilot.
“You didn’t think I really had a plan?”
Doc held Andy at arm’s length. “I won’t doubt you again!”
Doc and Rosie then went to attend to the boys in the cages, removing their monitors and tubes.
“So,” Andy said. “Hoff was a demon?”
“What?” Piper said.
“Hoff. He turned into a blob of goo, like the demons did.”
“You saw the demons?”
“Oh, yeah. One of them punched Tuck in the face. They turned into mush, just like Hoff did.”
“He made a healing serum from Pol’s genetic code,” Rosie explained. “It worked to reverse tissue damage to a certain extent, but eventually the hosts turn to ‘mush,’ as you put it.”
“He took the serum, knowing it would turn him to mush?”
“He had cancer, so yes, he took it. And he thought he had solved the mush problem. He hadn’t.”
“Dumbass. I hope it was painful.”
The boys were now slowly waking up. Bandit lifted the gray child, Tuck retrieved the green one, and the group turned toward the exit.
“We need to get Kat,” Doc said to Andy. “My sister. She’s upstairs.”
“Whoa! I thought she was dead.”
“I’ll explain once we get out of this madhouse.”
Chapter 15
While Doc, Rosie, and Pol were retrieving Kat, the others went to prepare the Super-Bee for takeoff.
Piper saw the two bodies lying in the hangar. “There’s the other two,” she said to Bandit.
Bandit nodded.
Piper turned her attention to the aircraft. “Quite an upgrade here, Tiger,” she said to Andy.
He smiled as they limped up the cargo ramp. “Yeah. And as soon as we’re airborne, I need you to disable all tracking and identification tags on this thing. We’re keeping it.”
“And a new car?” she asked as they passed the SUV. “You shouldn’t have!”
“Only the best for you, babe. Need to get the tags off of that thing, too.”
Piper smiled.
Tuck and Bandit carried the boys to the passenger cabin and strapped them into the leather seats. The boys were awake now, and watched everything with intensity, but they didn’t speak.
“You stay with them,” Tuck said to Bandit as he entered the cockpit. He descended into the lower seat. “I’ll take the turret.”
“I guess that makes me copilot,” Piper said, sitting down. Andy had already taken the pilot’s seat.
A few minutes later, Rosie, Doc, and Pol entered the craft. Rosie and Doc were pushing Kat’s hospital bed, which was loaded with medical monitors, bags of fluid, and other supplies, as well as Kat and Pol. Once on board, Pol went to sit with his brothers and Bandit, while Doc and Rosie maneuvered past the SUV and secured the bed and cart using straps. Kat was breathing on her own, but wasn’t awake yet.
“Okay, we’re good to go!” Doc yelled.
“Roger that,” Andy called back, and the cargo door closed.
The craft rose from the ground, hovered, then turned west and gained speed and altitude as it aimed for Lakeland.
***
“The trip will be a lot quicker in this thing,” Andy said as they cruised above Great Bay.
“Ride is smoother too,” said Piper. She was working to disable all identification and location devices.
“This is going to make a huge difference in our business. We can go to any location now. No more limits on lake size. We don’t need a long stretch to take off or land. Cargo space is probably three to four times what we had in the Loon.”
“At least,” Piper agreed.
“We can start delivering to the ‘tail,’ and maybe even the ‘head’!”
“Sure can.”
“And pirates won’t stand a chance against us!”
“Ummm hmmm.”
Andy glanced over at his wife. “You don’t seem too enthused, babe.”
Piper raised an eyebrow. “You really think they’re going to let you keep this thing? This is a multimillion-dollar piece of equipment. Someone will miss it, and they’ll find it, no matter what I disconnect. We can’t keep it.”
“You can keep it,” Doc said, stepping into the cockpit. “I’m still a vice president. I’ll take care of it. It’s the least I can do for you guys.”
Piper stared wide-eyed at Doc, then Andy, then back at Doc. “Are you serious?”
“Absolutely. It’s yours. Cregor certainly doesn’t need it anymore.”
“Wow, thanks, Doc,” Andy said, grinning. “So—how’s the patient?”
“Stable, but not awake yet. Once we get her back to my cabin I can get her up and around. It will take a while—a lot of physical therapy, and probably some counseling as well—but a caring family is the best for that.”
“Dad! She’s waking up!” Rosie called from the back. Doc hurried out of the cockpit.
Andy smiled as he rubbed the console. “Tuck and I are thinking of naming her ‘Gertie.’”
Piper shook her head. “How about the flying shoebox?”
***
Kat had just opened her eyes. Doc cradled her face with his hand and leaned in close so she could see him. Bandit, Pol, and the two other boys had also crowded around.
“Kat,” Doc whispered. “Kat, it’s me, Billy.”
She blinked several times. She was obviously confused, and was shaking her head. She tried to speak.
“No, wait,” Doc said. “You’ve had a tracheotomy.”
Her eyes widened.
“It’s okay,” Doc assured her. “You’re fine.”
She tried to speak again, and again Doc stopped her.
“Let me try deflating the cuff and blocking your trach. You may be able to speak a little. Ready?”
Kat nodded.
Doc proceeded to block the trach, then lowered his ear beside her mouth. “Okay, try to talk.”
“Y-y-y-you’re old, a-a-a-and fat,” she whispered.
Doc started laughing and crying. He kissed his sister on the forehead. “Oh, Kat,” he said. “It’s great to have you back!”
Doc introduced everyone. Kat stared in amazement at her grown niece and nephew, and she gaped in awe at her sons. When Doc was finished, there were tears in her eyes.
“It’s okay, I’ll explain it all to you,” Doc said, squeezing her hand.
***
As Doc talked with Kat, Pol and his two brothers moved away and sat on the floor.
“I didn’t know about you until today,” Pol said. “My name’s Pol.”
“We knew about you,” replied the dark one cheerfully. “They talked about you all the time.”
“And you knew about each other, obviously.”
“Yes. But they never let us talk to each other.”
“How did you get a name?” the green one asked. He seemed as cheerful as the gray one.
“My—I mean, our—aunt named me,” answered Pol, pointing at Rosie.
“She�
�s very pretty!” said the dark one. “Do you think she’ll name me too?”
“And me?” asked the green one.
“She’s busy right now, helping our mom,” Pol said. “Maybe we can come up with some names.”
“We can name ourselves?” the dark one asked.
“I will name you!” the green one insisted. “You can breathe water, so I’m naming you… Gill!” He laughed at his own joke.
The other boys laughed too.
“Gill! I am Gill!” said the dark one. He laughed some more, then scratched his chin. “Well, you’re green, like a plant, so I’m calling you Leef!”
The three boys laughed hysterically.
***
They had been traveling for about an hour when Doc reappeared in the cockpit.
“How’s she doing?” Piper asked.
“Shocked, of course. Embarrassed. Ashamed. Scared. Physically, she appears fine—it seems she received excellent care. But she’s been totally immobile for a long time, so she’s very weak.”
“Well, we should be at your cabin in a couple hours,” Andy said.
“Actually, that’s why I came up here. She wants to go see our dad. William the Sixth. She wants to let him know she’s not dead.”
Andy looked over at Piper. She shrugged, then nodded.
“The threat is over,” Doc said. “Cregor is dead. We’re safe now. No more hiding.”
“Okay, Doc,” said Andy. “So, where’s your dad?”
“Denver.”
Chapter 16
As the sun dipped below the horizon, the lights of Denver came into view in the distance. With a population of ten million, Denver was by far the largest city in the UNA. Second place belonged to the capital, Calgary, with a population of three million, and then Edmonton, at two million. The remaining thirty million people of the UNA were spread out all over North America, with no other metro area hitting the one million mark.
“One hour to Denver,” Andy called back to his passengers.
“Where exactly are we going when we get there?” Piper asked.