Destiny

by A D Starrling

The man in front of him twisted on his heels and brought his leg around and up, his movements lightning fast. Conrad jumped back, air whooshing out of his lips. He missed the roundhouse kick by a hairbreadth and took another hit to his left flank from his second attacker. He gritted his teeth and healed his broken rib.

  One minute, the guards he’d been shadowing had been down by the pier, the next, they had appeared in front of him.

  Conrad knew he’d masked his presence well as he’d made his approach to the lake.

  The fact that they had not only detected him but closed in on him so fast he’d missed seeing them until the very last second shocked him to the core.

  He’d managed to rid the two men of their pistols before they could take a shot at him. Unfortunately, they had also disarmed him; his staff weapon and gun lay uselessly on the ground some twelve feet to his right while he engaged them in vicious hand-to-hand combat.

  He landed a hook kick on the first man’s left thigh, followed it with a knee thrust to the gut that brought his attacker down on one knee, and jabbed his left elbow toward the face of the second man as he came at him.

  A hand blocked his strike an inch from impact.

  Conrad felt bones grind as his opponent slowly pushed his arm away, knuckles whitening where his fingers dug into the Immortal’s skin.

  A cold conviction filled the Healer as he registered the men’s strangely blank expressions.

  Shit! Super soldiers!

  Reid trapped the hand holding the gun leveled at his head, twisted it sharply upward, and felt the draft from a bullet as it sang past his face. He shook his head to clear the ringing in his ears, ducked beneath a swinging fist, and hook-punched his attacker in the jaw. The man’s head snapped sideways.

  Reid knocked the weapon out of his hand, rammed his left shoulder into his chest, and drove him backward toward a tree.

  The first soldier rose from the ground to his right, where he’d fallen after Reid had disarmed him and back-kicked him in the chest.

  He’d been waiting for Conrad’s all clear when the men he’d been tracking had suddenly vanished before his eyes. They had appeared next to him before he could make sense of what was happening, their movements so fluid and fast only Reid’s instincts as a former Marine had saved him from their initial attack.

  The second soldier collided heavily with the trunk, his head leaving a trail of blood on the dark bark. He raised his arms and brought his fisted hands down on the back of Reid’s neck.

  Air wheezed out of Reid’s lips at the power of the strike. Electric tingles shot down his spine. He pushed away and stumbled back, chest heaving and the taste of blood on his tongue.

  The other soldier grabbed his right shoulder, wheeled him around, and hit him in the solar plexus with the heel of his palm.

  Stars exploded in front of Reid’s eyes. He felt a rib snap as he was thrown off his feet. He landed hard on his ass, saw the axe-kick swinging toward his left thigh, and rolled to the opposite direction. Twigs snapped and leaves fluttered wildly as the soldier’s foot smashed into the ground next to him.

  Reid snarled, grabbed the man’s ankle, and tugged, sending him flying onto his back. A boot swung toward his head from the left.

  Lucas heard a gunshot to the south as he deflected the claw fist headed for his throat. He clamped his hands on the sides of the man’s head, yanked it down, and thrust his knee up into his face. Bone crunched, his opponent’s nose giving way in a flood of hot blood.

  The second soldier kneed him in the left flank.

  Lucas grunted and sagged awkwardly. He dropped, rolled out of the way of a hammer kick, and brought his leg around in a backward spinning sweep as he rose into a low crouch. His foot connected with the side of the second man’s calf and sent him crashing into the first soldier.

  Lucas twisted and lunged for his katana where it had fallen on the forest floor behind him. It was closer than the guns that lay in the undergrowth just beyond it.

  A hand closed viciously on his right ankle when his fingers got within an inch of the lacquered handle. He gasped as he was dragged along the ground and away from the sword.

  Conrad spun the double-bladed spear in his hands, his pulse racing in his veins. The staff juddered in his grip as he blocked a low kick to his stomach and a hook fist sailing toward his head. The super soldiers grabbed the wooden shaft and pushed.

  Conrad cursed as he skidded backward, boots sliding on the wooden planks of the pier. He clenched his jaw and shoved against his attackers with all his strength, blood throbbing at his temples. A knife flashed toward his chest. He jerked away from the blade, lost his balance, and tumbled off the edge of the pier.

  Conrad drew a deep breath a second before the cold waters of the lake closed over his head. His hip found the rocky bottom three feet below the surface just as the men jumped in after him. He righted himself and started to rise.

  A hand gripped the top of his head when he surfaced. Conrad gasped and spluttered as the super soldier forced him back down into the water. He reached up, grabbed the man’s wrist, and yanked on it with all his strength.

  He might as well have tried to move a mountain.

  Silt stirred on the bottom of the lake as the second man threaded through the water toward them. Conrad let go of the soldier holding him, wrapped his arms around the man’s left thigh, and placed his boots flat on the ground beneath him. He grunted and heaved up hard, trying to flip the guy off his feet.

  Another hand shot into the water and closed around his throat. Conrad choked as both men drove him inexorably down to the bottom of the lake. Black spots swam across his vision as he struggled for air.

  Something glimmered in the murky depths to his right, next to one of the pillars under the jetty. He let go of the soldier’s leg and reached out blindly.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Reid parried the soldier’s blade with his K-bar, kicked him in the side of the thigh, and jumped out of the way of the other man’s hammer fist.

  Blood pounded in the former Marine’s ears as he fought his attackers, his every breath sending pain shooting through his chest from his broken ribs.

  Something caught his eye on the moss-covered forest floor to his left.

  He retreated a few steps and bared his teeth at the super soldiers. ‘Come get me if you can, assholes!’

  They charged him as one, their faces expressionless.

  Reid feigned to the right. A knife sliced across the Kevlar vest covering his abdomen as he changed direction and lunged left. He struck the ground with a grunt, rolled, and reached for his Glock where it lay wedged under the root of a tree.

  Pain exploded in his left arm as one of the super soldiers stamped down on it. He cried out, numbness blooming along his skin as the bone broke on impact. The man raised his foot again.

  Reid growled and stabbed his K-bar into the top of the soldier’s boot. Rubber gave way to flesh, the blade slicing straight through and out the other side, pinning the man to the forest floor.

  Reid gritted his teeth and backpedaled toward the gun, his injured arm lolling at his side. His fingers closed on the butt of the Glock just as the shadow of the other super soldier swooped over him.

  Lucas roared and drove his wakizashi between the soldier’s ribs. The man blinked and stopped in his tracks.

  A blade hummed on Lucas’s right. He let go of the wakizashi, blocked the second soldier’s knife with his forearm, and punched him in the solar plexus. The man staggered back a step.

  Lucas dove to the ground and rolled. His hands found the handle of the katana as he shot to his feet. He twisted on his heels and swung the long sword toward his opponent’s throat.

  The man dropped his dagger and blocked the blade between his bare palms, millimeters from his neck.

  Lucas stared into the dead, unfeeling eyes opposite him and knew with absolute certainty that he was looking at a super soldier. He clenched his teeth and tugged on the handle of the katana.

  The man curled his hands
around the sword, unheeding of the razor edge slicing into his flesh and the red rivulets running down his wrists.

  The soldier with the wakizashi embedded in his chest stepped toward them.

  Lucas gritted his teeth and grabbed the short sword when it came within arm’s reach. He yanked it out of the man’s rib cage, front-kicked him in the gut, and slashed the soldier holding the katana across the side of the neck. Both men fell to their knees before him, the one gripping the katana finally letting go.

  Hairs rose on Lucas’s skin. His knuckles whitened on the handles of the daisho as he stared into the super soldiers’ blank faces. He moved, piercing their hearts in one smooth thrust.

  Each man stiffened at the end of a blade. Lucas watched the light dim in their eyes, a shudder racing through him. He yanked the swords out of their flesh. They sagged to the forest floor, unseeing gazes directed at the overhead canopy, their blood turning the green ground scarlet.

  Lucas bowed his head and leaned on the crimson-stained katana, his breaths leaving his lips in harsh pants, sweat rolling down his face.

  The sound of an engine reached his ears.

  Lucas looked up and saw movement under the cabin’s west-facing porch. His eyes widened when the 4x4 shot out from beneath the building, wheels spinning and sending arcs of dirt and moss spiraling into the air.

  He cursed, sheathed his blades, and swooped to pick his guns off the ground as he broke into a run. He stopped on an incline and jammed the Glock into the holster at his hip as the vehicle charged past twenty feet below him. He steadied the Smith & Wesson in his hands and fired several shots at the blurry figure in the driver’s seat.

  The pops of the bullets leaving the suppressor were swallowed by the squeal of the 4x4’s tires.

  A cry sounded from inside the vehicle. It swung wildly across the dirt track, its front right fender glancing off a row of trees and plowing through the undergrowth.

  Lucas caught a glimpse of Miller’s face twisted in a mask of rage and pain as he clutched his right shoulder. His heart thundered against his ribs as he raced down the slope, his finger moving repeatedly on the trigger of his gun. His bullets pinged off the vehicle’s tailgate and peppered the rear windshield with spider cracks as it veered from side to side.

  He heard the click of his empty magazine, swapped the Smith & Wesson for the Glock, and bolted onto the road after the 4x4. He had swung his arm up and fired four shots when a figure suddenly appeared in his path, eclipsing his view of the vehicle.

  Lucas gasped and dropped beneath the massive fist flying toward his head. He skidded, lost his balance, and landed hard on the ground. Momentum sent him tumbling along the track, gravel taking the skin off his knuckles and elbows.

  The 4x4 righted itself before disappearing between the trees up ahead in a cloud of dirt. Acid burned the back of Lucas’s throat as he rolled to a stop on his front and stared after it.

  ‘Lucas!’

  Reid’s voice jolted him out of his stupor.

  Lucas looked over his shoulder and saw a man looming over him. He had barely registered that this super soldier was a hell of a lot bigger than the ones he’d just fought when he was picked up and hurled into the air as if he weighed nothing.

  He sailed across the road, saw the tree, and braced himself. Pain exploded in his side when he struck the trunk. He felt ribs snap and slid to the ground onto his hands and knees, his breath locking in his throat.

  Reid started firing at the giant super soldier, his bullets striking the man in the back at point blank range. The soldier blinked, twisted on his heels, and headed steadily for the former Marine, his expression eerily vacant despite his wounds.

  Reid backed up toward the cabin, his face set in grim lines as he continued shooting. He discarded his empty magazine, reloaded awkwardly with his left arm, and raised the Glock again.

  Fear stabbed through Lucas as the super soldier closed in on his friend.

  He struggled to his feet and gulped air into his lungs. ‘Run!’

  Reid glanced at him, tripped, and fell onto his back. He swung the gun up and kept firing as he backtracked clumsily across the ground.

  Lucas ignored the shooting pain in his chest, reached for his swords, and stumbled toward the two men. The giant reached Reid and raised his foot to stamp on his head. Reid clenched his jaw and brought his hands up defensively.

  Lucas’s heart lurched. He switched his grip on the wakizashi, drew his arm back, and hurled the blade with all his might, a roar of fury on his lips.

  It flashed through the air and thudded into the giant’s back.

  The super soldier paused for a fraction of a second. Reid rolled just as he brought his leg down hard on the spot where he had been.

  Metal glinted in the trees to the right. A gilded spear whined across the dirt track and impaled the super soldier in the gut. He stilled and looked down curiously at the weapon before grabbing it with both hands. Lucas gaped as he started pulling it out of his body.

  Conrad bolted out of the woods, grabbed Reid under the shoulders, and hauled him to safety.

  ‘Do it!’ he barked at Lucas. ‘Now, goddamnit!’

  The spear left the super soldier’s flesh with a sickening, wet sound. He gripped the weapon and started to turn.

  Lucas swooped in low behind him, dropped to the ground, and swung the katana at his heels as he skidded past. The blade sang as it carved through skin and tissue, slicing clean through the giant’s Achilles tendons. He tottered for a moment before falling heavily onto his knees.

  Lucas twisted, scrambled into a low crouch, and brought the blade up and across the soldier’s throat as he rose.

  The giant let go of the staff. The weapon clattered onto the dirt track. He reached a hand out toward Lucas and tried to climb to his feet, a gurgle passing his lips. Scarlet froth stained his chin and the gaping slash on his neck.

  Lucas growled and drove the katana straight through his heart.

  The giant stiffened and stilled. He looked at the blade stuck in his rib cage before raising his head to meet Lucas’s gaze. The ground trembled as he slowly collapsed onto his side. Air left his throat in a guttural rasp. He went limp, his face as impassive in death as it had been during their fight.

  Lucas yanked his swords out of the man’s body and stood swaying for a moment. He stumbled across the dirt track and dropped down next to Conrad and Reid where they sat breathing heavily on the ground.

  ‘Remind me to praise that snot-faced brat when we see him,’ Conrad said in between pants. ‘How many of these guys did he and Olivia take out in Yuma?’

  ‘Dozens.’ Fire scorched Lucas’s body as he wheezed and fought for breath. He registered Conrad’s wet clothes. ‘What happened?’

  ‘I fell in the lake.’

  His wounds faded before Lucas’s eyes. Conrad moved and started healing Lucas’s injuries. Lucas clenched his teeth as his ribs snapped back into place with cracks and pops. His pain dulled immediately.

  Reid paled when Conrad placed his hands on his broken arm. ‘Shit, that hurts.’ He drew a shaky breath. ‘Well, at least now we know there are several kinds of super soldiers. The ones who look like your average Joe and that—thing.’ He indicated the body on the dirt track.

  Lucas followed his gaze.

  ‘And not all of them are Immortals,’ Conrad added thoughtfully. ‘Reid and I wouldn’t have managed to kill them otherwise.’

  Although Lucas was dismayed Miller had escaped their grasp, their encounter with the enemy had revealed two things. First, it had proven the general’s culpability beyond any doubt. He would now be a hunted man, with both US Intelligence and Immortal Hunters on his trail. All his associates in the DoD would automatically become subjects of interest.

  Second, it had shown them the nature of their foe. This latter fact worried Lucas more than the general’s disappearance. He stared at the dead super soldier, dread a heavy weight in the middle of his chest.

  Miller won’t get far before we pick up hi
s trail again. But these men? These men won’t be easy to stop. Not if there are hundreds of them.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Alexa observed the dark building sitting on the banks of the stream-fed, private lake two hundred feet east of their position.

  ‘It’s quiet.’ Ethan stared into a pair of infrared binoculars next to her.

  Anatole looked up from his scope. ‘You guys sure this is the right place?’

  Alexa nodded, her gaze on the two-story, winged, Georgian home. ‘This is her last known address. County and title records show no one living at this house since.’

  Seven hours had passed since the incident during which Ethan and Olivia had lost control of their powers. It had taken a while to uncover any trace of the woman the Seer had seen during her psychic connection with Lily and Tomas.

  Eva was the one who had finally found mention of a female scientist by the name of Dr. Jessica Marie Wu Chen Hong in a paper published by Harvard University in 1963. She had been listed as a contributor working for the university’s Biology Department at the time. More than the name, it was the subject matter of the publication and its principal author that had piqued the AI’s interest.

  ‘The paper was entitled “Future Applications of Genetic Research,”’ Eva had informed them. ‘The lead author was one James D. Watson.’

  Alexa had shared a startled glance with Ethan where they waited on the tarmac at the airfield in Maryland. ‘You mean, the James Watson? As in one of the guys who discovered the structure of DNA?’

  ‘Yes,’ Eva had replied. ‘What is even more intriguing is that there is no other mention of a Dr. Wu Chen Hong in any publication before or after that time.’

  Alexa had narrowed her eyes at that. ‘So, she’s a ghost too? And an Immortal. Judging from Olivia’s description from her vision, she has the appearance of someone in her thirties.’

  ‘Indeed. If she is the scientist you are after, then it appears she has done her utmost to hide her identity,’ Eva replied. ‘Her contribution to this paper was redacted shortly after publication, but I found the list of original authors mentioned in a reference in another paper. Unfortunately, the human resources database at the university does not list details of their staff that far back. There may very well be physical records somewhere on site, though.’