by Kells, India
The very words sliced through her heart, but she waited until he closed his eyes to kiss him.
“I love you, Sullivan. Even if you hate me until the end of days for what I have done.”
With one last glance at her husband, who was now sinking deeper into slumber, she walked out the door.
Chapter 8
Two hours until the deadline and Gabrielle was already in the compound. Not that it had been easy, far from it. Two of the possible entry points were heavily guarded and she had to improvise by climbing a side wall to access a window on the second floor. No electronics in that part, but three triggers to deactivate on her way in. All she had to do before actually attempting the rescue was what consumed most of her time.
Another floor, another trigger. The more she closed in to the rooms where lights were reported by the nuns, where she had seen Simon last, the more she had to slow down. An error, a bad step at this moment would be fatal. The preparation time was long, but necessary, both outside and inside the building.
So far, she had disabled ten guards, using great little darts found in Abbess Brigit’s bag of tricks.
How many more? The walls were too thick to use her standard heat detector. So, the only option was to continue.
The door where she supposed Beatrice and the admiral were kept not only had a trigger, but a nasty little bomb attached to it, taking her previous added seconds to get through.
On the other side of the door, bound to the same chairs, in the same place, were Beatrice and James. Beatrice was barely recognizable, her face bloody and battered. The sick bastard didn’t go easy on her after Sully and her left. James wasn’t in the best of state either.
Before making her move, she examined the room and, after a moment, she couldn’t detect any trap.
She came behind Bea to release her. The movement woke Bea, who jerked.
“Shh, it’s me, it’s Gabrielle. Stand still.” It took a second to cut her bonds. As soon as her hands were free, Beatrice removed the tape over her mouth.
“He’s close by; he can come here at any moment.” Bea tried to get up, but she swayed and had to lean on the chair.
“Yeah, I guessed as much.” Gabrielle knelt behind James and cut his rope, before removing the tape keeping him silent. The man was looking around, at first disoriented.
“Are you alone? Where is Thorne?” His voice was hoarse, broken. She couldn’t imagine what a man captured and tortured by his own son would feel.
“I’m an army of my own and Sully is safe.” She forced her mind to stay on track and not think of him. That thought would play against her for sure.
The admiral moaned when he got to his feet.
“We don’t have a lot of time, are you able to walk?”
“Yeah, I can hold a gun if you have one.”
Gabrielle handed him her backpack. She had enough for them to counterattack if they got into trouble.
“So where is the extraction point?” The admiral checked for ammunition and slung the backpack on his shoulder.
“I wouldn’t count on it, Father.”
Shit! Gabrielle turned to see Simon, aiming a gun in her direction. As a reflex, hers did the same.
“Well, welcome back, Gabrielle. It is a pleasure to see you again.”
“Don’t be disappointed if I’m not as pleased to see you so soon.”
Simon smiled. “Darling, I wouldn’t expect anything less from you. Now, lower your gun.”
“Not a chance.”
“Oh, I see you’re ready to risk killing Beatrice or the man who fathered me. That’s brave of you. Stupid, but incredibly brave.”
“I can risk anything to see you dead.”
“You may not have understood the concept I explained last time we saw each other, but you see, I cannot die.”
“I beg to differ. I will kill you as many times as it’s necessary for you to stay dead. I mean the entirety of your creation.”
“Wishful thinking. Now, step aside, Gabrielle, let me start with these two relics. Bad experiments that should become extinct, it seems.”
Gabrielle stayed in place and turned her head to cover her voice.
“The second window on the right behind you. There is a line attached to the building. All you have to do is run and jump. On the street behind the bakery, a red car awaits. Keys are in the bag.”
Bea touched her shoulder. “I’m not leaving you behind.”
Another friend, another lie. “I have a plan B, don’t mess it up. When I start to fire, go.”
Simon took a step forward, his handsome face disfigured by fury. “Enough! It’s my last warning, stand aside or be dead like the two others.”
Taking a step forward, Gabrielle fired. Simon yelled, returning fire. She drew his attention by sprinting to the opposite side of the room, as Bea and James took a jump through the window. As there was nothing to hide behind, she ran, trying to avoid flying bullets. Fire tore through her leg and her side, but she kept running until her legs gave out.
Out of breath, Gabrielle dove behind stacked tables. She fired again and Simon took cover behind a column.
“Oh, my lovely Gabrielle, I couldn’t choose a greater subject than you if I tried. Once I perfect the process, you will make an invincible army.”
She winced as she moved to have a better view of the column, ignoring the pain and blood. “What do you mean, perfect the process? You successfully cloned people at a fast speed. I’d say it’s perfected enough.”
Simon laughed, but didn’t move yet. “I can clone all right, but unless I leave them with their current consciousness, they don’t survive. In fact, they don’t live. Well, none apart one. A very important one I will do everything to get back.”
“Alie’s baby.” Simple deduction, in her own opinion.
“Yes. The key I was searching for. Only a matter of time before I get it back and complete the process for all the others.”
“We will stop you. We know about your laboratories, your experiments. We will stop you, by destroying each of them.”
“You will be destroying ghosts, my lovely. The laboratories had their use for a while, but they mostly act as decoys these days. The only one standing was the one where Alie escaped. One sad mistake. And now, it’s an empty shell.”
“So the soulless clones, the one you wish to use for transfer if you die, are useless?”
“Oh, no. They’re in waiting. All in waiting, for a new beginning.”
“Only if you succeed.”
His voice moved closer. “Oh, I will succeed. No more need for scientists and researchers. We’re soon beyond that. I’m soon beyond all that. You can search for us, all the time you want, we’re entering another phase by going deep under, in a faraway land, blending into crowds, protected by the Durga. I’ll be a good prince and tell you India is the place to go, but as it’s almost a continent in its own, I don’t think you will ever find me. If you survive our little conversation, of course.
Gabrielle needed to relay the information, but how? She had to tell the others about his plan. And to protect Alie and her newborn baby at all costs. Or maybe the ultimate goal was to neutralize him here and now. Was she about to behead a snake or a hydra that would survive and create two more heads?
Simon came into view and shot at her. She dodged and he laughed, almost sounding like a maniac.
“You think you’re so clever, but even if you kill me, what I have accomplished won’t be in vain. Never in vain. Come and join me, see what a bright future we can raise together.”
“No, way.” She rolled and shot two rounds at him, missing both times.
“I’ll try to convince you, as you are worth it. And all that is worth isn’t easy to have.”
Gabrielle stood ready for him to move. She knew she was running out of ammunition as she made the mistake of leaving them in her backpack. Two bullets left, and at least one had to blow Simon’s head.
He came at her—one bullet grazed his arm, and the other was lost. Powerle
ss, she watched as Simon came forward, smiling.
“I think you’re out of ammunition, fair lady.”
The two bullets in her and the blood loss made her dizzy. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to think, but she still had an ace to play. She threw her gun aside.
“I’m out of bullets, but I’m not out of options, darling.”
She opened her palm enough for him to see a trigger. He yelled as she pushed the button and all hell broke loose. The whole building trembled when the bombs she had placed as she came in exploded, one after the other in a deafening symphony. She had avoided placing bombs directly underneath the room, but the building would collapse onto itself nonetheless.
Gabrielle heard Simon yelling and more bullets being fired, but all she felt was falling, surrounded by crumbling concrete and swirling dust. And it was the end.
***
One month later …
Sully was walking the white tiled floor another time, trying to ignore the lingering pain on his side. Since he started training again, his muscles whined easily, but he knew he had to get over it, to feel human again. Physical exhaustion had been the only thing to keep him sane since …
His mind wandered to Gabrielle again. His wife. He could detail her face as if he had seen her a minute ago. When he woke up after the drug finally left his system, his first sight was not the woman he loved, but Admiral Feander, battered and bruised. That’s when his superior killed part of his soul by explaining the in extremis rescue mission of Gabrielle, how she allowed Beatrice and him to escape. And the explosion, turning the entire building into a pile of rubble.
At first, he didn’t believe the words he heard. Nor when Beatrice came limping into his room and repeated the same exact words, tears silently streaking down her battered face. A part of him stayed numb, convinced it wasn’t true, needing to see for himself.
Unfortunately, his body was against him, preventing him from even going to the site. Then, local authorities taped the perimeter and started digging. By the time he could stand, they were not searching for survivors anymore. He couldn’t go there. The simple thought of never seeing her again destroyed every cell in his body. So he did what he always did in times of crisis … think about the next step.
The admiral had proposed a leave, offering to extend it if he requested. James stayed with him a while, but Beatrice disappeared quickly after. He didn’t know what to think about it. Wasn’t she Gabrielle’s closest friend? Was it current mercenary behavior not to care when a friend was probably dead? Wouldn’t she want to retrieve her friend’s body?
When the admiral returned stateside, Sully remained in Prague some more. He heard local authorities had extracted several corpses from the destroyed building. Each and every day, he went to the police station, harassing the cops for information. Each and every night, he went back to his room. Abbess Brigit never said a word, offering a bed and food without question. In return, he helped whenever he could. It wasn’t much in the beginning, his body still recovering, but after a while, it seemed the priory was in need of a man around. At least, in a handyman function. It made him move more until he could start training full strength again.
Now, a chapter was about to be turned. The police lieutenant he constantly harassed for details had called him to the medical examiner’s office. Well, the morgue, by the strong smell of disinfectant and chemical products in the air. And Sully paced again, biding his time to ask the question he was dreading.
As he was about to go to the medical examiner himself, a man with a white lab coat pushed the door of the waiting room. In his late fifties, the man was bald and clearly annoyed. He skipped any introduction or hand shaking, clearly wanting to get rid of Sully as quickly as possible.
“Ask your questions. I have other things to do.”
“What? Preventing the dead from running away?”
The man frowned. “You think you’re the only one here impatient to pick my brain? Annoying me with questions I barely have the time to check out yet?”
Closing his eyes, Sully reminded himself to slow down and be more patient.
“I’m sorry. But it’s been one month since the explosion and I would really need to get answers. I need to know if … someone I love was found. The remains. So please, I only need this and I will leave you alone for the rest of your life. I swear.”
The medical examiner sighed and sat on a chair, rubbing his face. “Sorry, man. I mean, sir. It’s just that sorting body parts for the last month has been … bad. And you’re the only one standing between me and my bed. If it wouldn’t have been for Lieutenant Marstin, and your stubbornness … well, you’re here, I’m here. Ask away.”
Sully sat beside the examiner, his elbows on his knees, apprehending the answer and doubting his knees would hold up.
“I only want to know if you have found the remains of my wife, any remains.”
The man frowned. “Your wife? You think your wife was in the building before the explosion?”
Sully shook his head and clasped his hands. “I know for a fact my wife was in that building.”
The man straightened up. “We have completed our investigation and we haven’t recovered any female body, or body parts of the female kind. We have found male bodies and some of them were deceased prior to the explosion. Also, two others needed to be reconstituted, but no female.”
Sully’s ears buzzed. She wasn’t there.
Unable to speak yet, he squeezed the older man’s shoulder before walking through the door like a robot and grabbing his cell phone.
“Admiral? I thought about your offer and if it still stands, I’m accepting it.”
Chapter 9
Clouds gathered in a stormy mess over the sea. Rain begged to fall, and it wouldn’t take much for a full thunderstorm to be unleashed.
Sully drove from highway to paved road to dirt road toward the Maine shore. For months now he had zigzagged through US mainland, following breadcrumbs of information to find his definite destination. Beatrice Dante and Purgatory, her dying organization, folded onto itself and almost disappeared. Even Admiral James Feander, the friend—and maybe even more—of Beatrice kept mum. Of course, he allowed Sully to have more time off to pursue other leads, and as soon as he knew Gabrielle was alive, it became his sole obsession. He had to find her. And he knew the sudden disappearance of Ms. Dante after the explosion was no coincidence.
Every clue, finally led him to this house in coastal Maine.
The landscape opened up and all he saw was the sky, the coast, and the sea. And a house made of glass.
Two cars in front of the garage door. No neighbors. Nobody guarding the perimeter. And for him, nowhere to conceal his arrival, so he parked behind the very red sports car shining beside a very sensible gray van that had seen better days.
As he got out of the car, salty air and sea spray hit him. A part of him as a SEAL rejoiced in it. When he ultimately decided to test his skills and capacities and apply for the Teams, he didn’t care much for the sea, the ocean, the lake, or any body of water for that matter. But he found peace in these depths. Being reminded of that steadied him for the first time since he woke up from his drug-induced sleep.
The chill in the wind announced an early fall on the East Coast. Or a wind of change. It made Sully smile when he came at the door and rang the bell.
He was glad to be so perfectly grounded when Luke opened the door. By the way the young doctor’s face twisted in surprise, Sully was surprised Luke didn’t have an aneurysm when he saw him.
“Sully!”
Pushing the young man aside, Sully entered the house. The entrance veered into a large living room with a breathtaking view to the turbulent sea. At first, the space appeared empty.
“I didn’t know you were stateside, Luke. I thought you were rebuilding your mission back in Africa. You’re far away from your home, Doctor.”
Luke raked his disheveled brown hair and seemed to consider going back to bed. Or anywhere else.
“Sully
, what are you doing here?”
“I’m searching for Gabrielle. And your presence confirms I’m getting closer.”
The doctor shuffled, decidedly admiring the floor more and more by the second.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Luke mumbled, his answer very unconvincing.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to insult Sullivan Thorne, SEAL extraordinaire, by insinuating he’s a complete idiot, my dear Luke.”
Bea rounded the corner from the kitchen and crossed her arms. Sighing in relief, Luke scurried from the room, happy to get away from the line of fire.