Fuller stepped forward.
“Look you’re wasting time. The tests on your water sample and the autopsy on the cat show that the water is the cause of the sickness in town. It’s all part of the preppers plan. This situation is bigger than either you or that small-town sheriff badge you’re wearing, or the FBI.”
Shaw stabbed Fuller a look. “Is that right—Alice.”
Frank tugged at Shaw’s sleeve.
“Remember at the silver mine when I told you they were filling the tanker and not emptying it. Then there’s the tire tracks at the water plant.”
Shaw noticed the double wheels on the tanker truck.
“So are you saying they were emptying the tank at the filtration plant and not stealing the water?”
“You’ve answered your own question,” said Fuller.
An SUV van headed their way from inside the sanctuary. Shaw recognized the young women from his last visit. Four of them climbed out of the back, followed by the driver and a passenger climbing out of their seats. Shaw noticed two of them were holding machetes.
“Tell them to stay back,” said Cox.
Cat grinned. “These are your leopards that you asked about, Sheriff. You know what you saw. Yes, it happened. It wasn’t an illusion. Professor Bastet will explain,” said Cat, “If you don’t let them cut up the preppers into pieces, these bodies here will come to life. Then they’ll transform into rabid dogs like the one that ripped out the vet’s throat. Then they’ll probably rip out your throats.”
Shaw, Frank, Cox and Carla all exchanged glances that smacked of incredulity as to what they had heard. She was right about one thing though. He knew what he had seen. It definitely happened before his eyes. The two women with the machetes stepped forward.
“Stay back and drop your weapons,” said Cox.
Shaw reached out, grabbed the barrel of her rifle and lowered it to face the ground.
“I think we’d all better drop our weapons,” said Shaw.
All along the tree lined driveway, women stepped out from the cover, pointing rifles at them. Shaw counted maybe twenty and dropped his gun to the ground.
“Now get these cuffs off me,” said Fuller. “Then I’ll tell you where Amy is being held.”
Chapter 49
IT was looking as though they had been checkmated at the animal sanctuary.
“Not so fast,” a voice called from behind.
Shaw snatched his head to look back along the entrance road. Two of Frank’s militia who he recognized from back at the barn knelt in the road, pointing their hand held rocket launchers through the gate.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa there,” Shaw said, waving his arms in the air. “Let’s stop all this now. Everyone stand down with their weapons before someone gets hurt. Frank, release his cuffs.”
“Who are these monkeys?” said Fuller, and rubbing at his wrists.
“There’s more than these two. This is my posse. Isn’t that right, Frank?”
“Yeah, less of the monkeys. Be careful not to twitch.”
Cat signaled to the women. They lowered their weapons and melted back behind the cover of the trees.
“Frank. You heard me.” Shaw sent him a stare.
Frank heaved a sigh “Stand down boys.”
This wasn’t the time for a full-blown shootout, or the time for calling out Frank for going against his orders. If Fuller knew who was holding Amy, Shaw knew it called for some trust on both sides. He signaled for Frank to follow him with a sway of his hand, and walked over to one of the guys with a rocket launcher. Shaw spotted some of the others from the militia, partly hidden by the cover of the bushes and trees. Across the road, they had tethered their horses. He recognized his own horse right away, and wondered just how they’d gotten them through.
“Listen, Frank, I need you and your guys to stay here. We’re going into the sanctuary to find out what they know about Amy. If we’re not back out, or we don’t radio within two hours, round up all your buddies and start World War Three.”
“We have enough men and fire power, don’t worry none about that,” said Frank.
“I heard that,” said Cox. “Look, I’ll go in with you, Carla will stay here. We have cell signals here outside the boundary. No disrespect to your posse, but Carla will phone for backup from our guys if needs be.”
“Only if we’re clear that it is if needs be,” Shaw said.
“Clear,” said Carla.
“You good with that, Frank?”
Frank shuffled his feet on the gravel. Frank didn’t look pleased at the idea of joining his militia with the FBI.
“Yeah, but we ain’t waiting for no one—if needs be.”
“I’m good with that,” said Cox.
Frank grinned. Shaw turned and walked over to Fuller.
“Have you contacted Summers about the water supply?”
“I was just about to when these guys arrived.”
Fuller took out his cell phone.
Shaw turned to Fuller, and said, “How did this all start?”
“One of them slipped up and wound down his window. The girls here could smell them.”
“Smell them?”
“Wait I have Summers on the line.”
Fuller relayed the details. Shaw interrupted.
“Better tell him that Grimes is somehow involved and to stop the sale and distribution of water bottles from the general store.”
Fuller walked around in circles talking on his cell, then stopped to pick up his pistol. Shaw stooped, picked up his revolver and slid it into his holster. Fuller closed his call. Saw had noticed that fuller hadn’t told Summers where he was, or how he’d found out about the contamination.
“Right, let’s get going and meet Cleo. Then I can show you where we think Amy is being held and how I plan to get her back.”
“Just tell me where she is.”
“No point telling, best I show you the proof, then you can see for yourself.”
Cat and Kitten walked ahead with Cox. Shaw passed the bodies and sidestepped to one side. One of the bodies twitched.
“Jesus!”
The guy’s chest heaved violently, popping his shirt buttons. His eyes opened, bulging from their sockets. Shaw stumbled back, drawing his revolver. Fuller grabbed his wrist.
“Let the girls handle this.”
Shaw looked on, wide eyed and dumbstruck. The guy’s skin on his face bubbled as if it was frying. His features contorted, taking on the appearance of a rabid Doberman, but much bigger. One of the women held her arm aloft, then struck down with her machete on his neck, repeatedly hacking at him until his head was severed from his body. Bile rose in Shaw’s throat, just short of throwing up. He spat out the acid taste from his mouth.
“What the hell is it that I’ve just seen? He was dead, Christ’s sake.”
“Cleo can explain better than me. Like I said, the situation is bigger than anything you could imagine—then some. Leave them to their work,” Fuller said, and grabbing at Shaw’s arm, he guided him along the driveway. Fuller let go of his arm and Shaw dropped back.
He stumbled on in a daze, repeatedly looking over his shoulders. Both women were hacking away, dismembering both bodies. Shaw’s mind turned to Amy and he quickened his pace. He narrowed his eyes, staring at Fuller from behind. With him not saying outright where Amy was being held, Shaw wondered if it could be a ruse that Fuller was using to get them inside the bowels of the sanctuary. Cox looked over her shoulder, glancing Shaw’s way, tightening her lips. Shaw could have sworn he was reading her mind as he recalled her words. ‘No risk, no reward.’ But the look on her face told him this was all risk and to stay alert.
Chapter 50
THE elevator descended at the sanctuary. Shaw’s mind puzzled. He knew what he had witnessed with the guy transforming to a dog creature. It wasn’t imagined. Then there was the leopards changing to human form. The former could explain the human footprints and dog tracks at the vets. Then there was what Rigby had witnessed before he shot th
e mountain lion, and Frank’s photographs at the cliff side where Johno had fallen. Amy’s description of Johno freaking out at the hospital and calling them monsters could have been him reliving him seeing the transformation of a human to a dog creature. But just where had these creatures come from, he was damned if he knew.
Whatever was happening, he reckoned Grimes was in the thick of it, but just what motivated him to try and poison his own town, defied an answer. He recalled Cleo saying they might move to Britain to carry out genetic experiments. Maybe she already had, and the experiments had gone wrong. He wondered if the poisoning of the water supply, and say some kind of genetic experiments were not connected. In any event, it fried his brain as to what connection if any to either event could have led to Amy’s kidnap, and the attempt on Johno’s life. Just where Ted fitted into the scheme of things, he couldn’t be sure. All he knew was that Ted would be toast as far as Amy was concerned when she returned.
The elevator stopped at the second level. He exchanged glances with Cox. Kitten ushered them along the corridor and signaled for them to sit outside the lecture room door. Fuller and Cat walked on through the door.
“What’s on the third level?” Cox asked.
“Our laboratory.”
Kitten had been quick enough to respond, but didn’t elaborate.
Cox fired back. “What about through the double doors at the end of this corridor?”
“Private quarters for the students.”
“We’re ready now,” said Cat, popping her head around the door frame.
Shaw followed Cox into the lecture room. Fuller was stood over at the operating table, spreading out papers. He moved some leg-stirrup apparatus from the table to one side.
“This is where we think Amy is being held,” said Fuller.
Shaw looked at an aerial photo on the table.
“If I’m not mistaken, that’s the silver mine. It didn’t look like that when I was there.”
What had been an open compound, surrounded by containers, was now completely closed in. Shaw recalled them welding a container to start a second tier. If he wasn’t mistaken, the closed compound now took on the form of a pyramid, built with the metal shipping containers.
“Yes they’ve been busy, but then I think they knew what to expect,” said Fuller. “The main thing to look at is the vehicle parked among the construction equipment.”
“Shaw studied the image, then stepped back.”
“That’s an ambulance.”
“Yeah, the numbers correspond to the one stolen in LA.”
“What are we waiting for, let’s get in there.”
“It’s not that simple. Did you see a doorway into the compound when you visited the quarry?”
“Well no, but I didn’t walk all the way around.”
“See now, our miniature drone has. There isn’t an opening that we can determine. All that’s poking out of the top is what we think is a communication mast. Obviously they must have a way in, but we don’t know where.”
Cox pulled on Shaw’s arm, and looked over at Fuller.
“Can we have a private word?”
“Sure,” said Fuller.
She guided Shaw out of earshot and whispered.
“They could have photo shopped the ambulance in the image.”
“What would he have to gain by that?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t trust him. What have homeland security got to do with kidnapping? He should have called in the FBI, and they should have the area surrounded by now.”
“Well let’s ask him.”
Shaw looked over and called out. “Have you notified the FBI?”
“I think I just have. Agent Cox is FBI, right?” He sent a smug smile in Cox’s direction.
“So you won’t mind me phoning our office to have a recovery team sent out here.”
“Well actually, yes, I would mind. You need to hear the rest of what I have to say.”
They walked back to the table.
“I’m all ears.” said Shaw.”
“The problem with the situation is we don’t know which agency to trust, so we need our own plan.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Cox asked.
“Politics. Factions. Call it what you will. Take Summers and his CONOP crew. Their mission is to destroy the silver mine and everything in it, Amy included. At the same time they intend to mount an assault here and destroy everything, and with everyone inside. Our side, well, we want to get at the girls and their children locked away inside the silver mine, and to get them to safety. The rest, apart from Cleo and her supporters, okay, they can go to hell as far as we are concerned.”
“Which girls and what children?”
“The kidnapped girls you were investigating before you resigned. See here.”
He pointed to another image on top of a pile on the table. Shaw studied the image and thumbed through the others. The last one had a woman looking up into the sky. Shaw counted nineteen women and around sixty children and babies inside the compound.
“Sex slaves?”
“Sort of. Breeding disciples they call them. See the one looking up. Facial recognition software identified her as one of yours. Caitlin Blake. The one who flipped burgers.”
Shaw’s mouth gaped. He recognized her from the images imprinted in his memory, despite her shaven head.
“But why would Summers and the Pentagon want innocent women and their children dead?”
“Cleo will explain, but only to you in private. I need agent Cox to stay here and look over some plans.”
Chapter 51
WALKING through the door to Cleo’s living quarters, Shaw noticed a young man in his early twenties exiting the door from her room to the corridor. He briefly glanced over his shoulder at Shaw. His blond hair swayed on his shoulders as he turned his head and exited, closing the door behind him. The vision of his penetrating blue eyes stayed with him.
“I thought you didn’t have male company here?”
Cleo laughed. “Do I detect a hint of jealousy? Men are a necessary evil, don’t you think? Arranging to close down our facility at such short notice means beggars can’t choose their company.”
In his mind, Cleo was odd, with a sexy disposition, but this wasn’t the time for her flirting and innuendo.
“I understand you have some answers for me as to just what the hell it is I’ve witness and what it’s all about.”
“Ah, yes. Where to begin?”
“You could begin by telling me why Fuller says that the Pentagon is going to destroy the silver mine and the sanctuary, especially since it’s looking like Amy is being held captive over at the mine.”
“Ah yes, Amy. Special girl. More special than you could ever imagine. Fuller has a plan to rescue her and the breeders with their children. He’ll be explaining his plan to Agent Cox as we speak. Arrangements are being made to mount a rescue.”
He looked over at the corridor door at the sound of scratching. Cleo stepped over and opened then closed the door. Gyp bounded over to him, sat, then offered a paw. Shaw shook Gyp’s paw and patted his head.
“Good, boy.”
Gyp stood and ambled over to an armchair and jumped on the cushion. Cleo snickered.
“What’s to laugh about?”
“Oh, nothing,” she said, and sat on the sofa. “Please take a seat.”
Cleo was becoming more irritating by the minute.
“Right, let’s begin shall we?”
“I’m all ears,” he said, and took a seat on a chair.
“Well, you can’t deny what you’ve seen, from my girls changing form from leopards to human, or the men from the mine changing to dog form. Those blessed with the ability are called chimeras for want of a better explanation.”
“But where do they come from? Is it some sort of government experiment?”
“Not really, but you could say it’s an experiment in the future governance of the Earth.”
Her talking in riddles tested his patience. I
t was all he could do from holding back to start shouting.
“Damn it, speak English. Just spit it out.”
“I will, but don’t interrupt.”
Shaw sighed, shook his head, then ran his finger across his lips as a signal that he understood to button it up.
“Me and my kind are not fully of this Earth. What you see before you is our human form, true flesh and blood. We have emotions, feel pain. We can love and we can be loved. We live and we die. But then there is the DNA in us that we can use to transform to our animal form. Your scientists call it junk DNA, because they don’t know any better. It gives us different senses, one of them being a powerful sense of smell and cunning in combat to kill efficiently. In our animal form we can live and die, but only if we are cut into pieces and submerged in bitumen for twenty-four hours, otherwise the body can regenerate. Well, actually that’s a lie. That custom has become a ritual, passed down over thousands of years. Severing the head will do it,” she said and laughed. “Only it’s more of a comfort when your enemies are cut into pieces and set in bitumen.”
Shaw stared at her, thinking she was crazed. But there was no getting away from what he had witnessed.
“So is that why I could smell the asphalt when I first arrived and just now outside.”
“Yes, the first time you arrived, we had caught one of their experiments. There is another, but it escaped. The one we caught was probably responsible for your young boy tumbling over the cliff.”
“Johno?”
“Yes, Johno. They had tried DNA experiments with a breed not used before to build an army. Unfortunately it came with madness at maturity.”
“But where does Amy come into all this and the other kidnapped girls?”
“It’s all about where we came from and what is needed for us to survive in eternity on Earth. I should explain where we are from. Saying that, there’s proof of our existence is hidden in plain sight in all the ancient civilizations of the world. There has been more than our mission, in all corners of the world. You can see proof in the Egyptian artifacts adorning the walls. What I can tell you is that our faction will not harm you.”
The Killers Amongst Us: Chimera Dawn Chronicles Page 31