“That’s more than enough firepower to take down a shapechanger,” Keegan responded. She was tired of standing around and talking.
“Depends on what shape he takes. And it’s shapeshifter,” Josie said. She looked down at her own SIG P226 in its belt holster. She hoped the Colonel was right about her poison bullets. She’d already noticed he had them loaded in his gigantic pistol-machine gun as well.
Kenslir walked past Keegan and Victor and looked the FBI men over. “We’re hunting a shapeshifter today, fellas. One who can turn into more than just people.”
Kenslir pulled one of his Bowie knives from its sheath. It was eighteen inches of hardened steel, with a clip point and the size of a small sword. With no warning, he held up his left hand and rammed the knife through his palm. The blade punched through his hand, pushing out the back. The knife was buried halfway up the blade through Kenslir’s hand, the point covered in blood.
Keegan was shocked, as were her men. “What the hell are you do-”
Kenslir pulled the knife back out of his hand and turned his palm so all the agents could see. The blood on his hand quickly soaked back into Kenslir’s flesh, which had turned gray around the wound. The gray skin merged back together then turned flesh colored again.
“Unless you can do that,” Kenslir said, “Let me handle all the fighting on this one.”
Keegan stormed up behind Kenslir and grabbed his left hand. She examined both sides of it, while he calmly resheathed his Bowie knife. “How did you...?”
“Don’t worry about it, Agent,” Kenslir said. He pulled his hand free and walked away from Keegan, picking up a small cooler on his way toward a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter sitting nearby. He motioned for the FBI capture team to follow.
The men looked toward each other, then Keegan, then fell into step behind Kenslir. Josie hurried to keep up with Kenslir, clutching her black briefcase.
“That was beast,” Victor said, standing beside Keegan.
“Get in the chopper,” Keegan said, frowning.
Beside Kenslir, Josie was watching the Colonel quietly as they walked. “Did that hurt?”
Kenslir kept looking straight ahead as he neared the helicopter. He held a hand up in the air and moved his finger in a circle. The pilot nodded and began starting the engines.
“Stepping on a landmine hurts. Being burned alive hurts,” Kenslir said before he opened the side door on the helicopter. “That just stung a little.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
They had been flying steadily northwest for some time. In the back of the helicopter, three of the FBI capture team sat along the back bulkhead, with three more across from them, back to back with Keegan. Across from the blonde Agent, Kenslir and Josie sat with their backs to the pilots. Victor sat beside Keegan, across from Josie.
Kenslir had a thermos out and was drinking from it. Josie leaned over and peeked into the thermos. She had recognized it from the crime scene at Jimmy’s house—the second one from the small cooler Kenslir had brought on board the helicopter.
“What is that stuff?” She had to almost yell over the loud noise of the helicopter’s rotors.
“Meat shake.”
“Meat shake?”
“That’s what I call it,” Kenslir shrugged, finishing the last of the thermos off. He burped a little as he screwed the lid back on.
Josie made a face at the smell. “Why?”
“Water works great at healing me, but if you mix in some protein, some amino acids, calcium and all the other little building blocks we’re made of, I get a quicker result.”
Kenslir reached down and pulled another thermos out and opened it. One more remained unopened in the cooler.
“You’re going to drink all of that?” Josie asked. She couldn’t hide the look of revulsion on her face.
“I like to fill up before a mission.”
“It smells awful.”
“It doesn’t taste any better,” Kenslir said, tilting his head back and drinking the thick, blended concoction from the thermos.
“Ever think about heating it up or something?” Josie was trying not gag as Kenslir drank from the thermos. “How can you stand it?”
“It lasts longer cold,” Kenslir said, after he finished the third thermos. He calmly put the lid back on then switched it out for the final thermos.
Keegan was watching the conversation quietly. “So how long do we fly around up here?”
Kenslir finished the fourth thermos then put it back in the cooler. “Until we reach our destination or run out of fuel.”
“Are we getting any closer?” Keegan asked impatiently.
Kenslir looked to Josie as he popped a peppermint candy in his mouth.
“Yes, I think we are. I get a stronger feeling now. Much stronger.”
Keegan frowned. She didn’t like sitting. Even in a helicopter. “Think you have enough weapons there?”
“Probably not,” Kenslir said. “We’ll have to wait and find out.”
Keegan pointed to the shotgun Kenslir had between his legs, the stock on the floor, the barrel pointed upwards. “What’s that white band on the ammo drum for?”
She was referring to a one-inch white band painted on the tan drum of the weapon. The entire weapon was painted in desert camouflage, save for the white band.
“Willy Pete,” Kenslir said. “A little something special for our shapeshifting friend.”
“Willy- do you mean white phosphorous?!” Keegan said, shocked. “That’s illegal!”
“So’s ripping the hearts out of innocent civilians,” Kenslir said. “We’ll just have to call it even.”
Keegan was furious. “What if you hit me or one of my men? Do you have any idea how dangerous that stuff is? There’s a reason it’s been outlawed!”
“I’m aware,” Kenslir said. “Let me ask you something, Agent. How many shapeshifters have you hunted before? How many parahumans have you hunted?”
Keegan frowned and gritted her teeth. The only experience she had with parahumans was babysitting Victor Hornbeck. And clearly, Agent Kenslir, allegedly of the Department of the Interior, knew that.
“Lady,” Josie said, leaning forward, “He’s been hunting monsters since before you were born. He’s got this.”
“Before?” Keegan had thought the girl accompanying Kenslir was weak before, now she sounded crazy.
Josie reached across and grabbed Victor’s hand. The postcog jumped at the sudden touch.
“Isn’t that right, Victor?” Josie asked.
Victor looked over at Keegan and shook his head positively.
Keegan looked back at Kenslir—at his thick black hair, his tan skin and the zero traces of wrinkles. No way this guy was over thirty-five. “What, you use a lot of Grecian Formula?”
Kenslir sat still, saying nothing.
Victor wanted to change the subject. He pointed to the gun holstered on Kenslir’s right thigh. “What is that?”
“OA-93.”
“It looks kinda like an M-16...”
Kenslir pulled out the large weapon, removing the magazine and tucking it under one arm. He worked the bolt on top of the gun, ejecting a bullet he caught with his free hand. He held the empty weapon out to Victor, butt first. “You a shooter, Victor?”
Victor started to reach for the gun, but Keegan pushed his hand away. “Guns are dangerous.”
Kenslir shrugged, then reloaded the weapon and re-holstered it. “To answer your question, yes, it’s based on the M16. Shoots a 5.56mm bullet.”
“Loaded with more phosphorous?” Keegan asked, rolling her eyes. It all seemed excessive for a serial killer—even one who could change his form.
“No—poison bullets,” Kenslir said.
Josie all but leapt to her feet. “Turn around, turn around!” she yelled. She climbed to the front of the helicopter and started talking to the pilot. Keegan couldn’t hear her over the thrum of the rotors.
The helicopter banked and circled back around, decelerating. Keegan looked out
the left hand window.
They were flying over Arizona’s northwest desert now, not far from the Grand Canyon. A scenic landscape riddled with canyons and ravines. Far below, on a plateau overlooking a narrow ravine, there was a box truck.
Kenslir slipped on a headset and switched it on so the pilot could hear him. “Put us down near that truck—slowly.”
The helicopter banked again, and turned, slowing to a hover.
“What could he be doing out here?” Keegan asked. “You sure about this?”
Josie nodded an affirmative. “I can feel him right below us—he’s close. Very close.”
Kenslir took off the headset and then opened the side door of the helicopter, letting sand and wind blow in. He pulled the pair of dark goggles down from his forehead, covering his eyes. “I’ll check it out first.”
Then he jumped out the side door.
Keegan gasped, as the helicopter was still a good sixty feet up, lowering slowly.
Kenslir dropped quickly, landing on both feet, his auto shotgun up, the stock tucked tight against his shoulder. He absorbed the fall with no apparent effort, throwing up large plumes of dust where his feet struck the ground.
Kenslir ran over to the van, circling it and looking in the back, keeping the barrel of the shotgun aimed wherever he looked. When he was satisfied the van was empty, he lowered his shotgun and gave a thumbs up to the helicopter as it was still descending.
When the helicopter was down, Josie and Keegan were the first out. They each offered a hand to Victor. He chose Josie’s.
The capture team was quick to jump out, weapons at the ready. They spread out in a circle around the helicopter, ready for any attack. The helicopter quickly took off.
Josie was still holding her slim metal briefcase. She pulled her hand free from Victor’s and used it to pull out a set of black goggles similar to Kenslir’s from a pouch on her body armor. She slipped them on quickly, a thin wire trailing from one side of the goggles down into another pouch.
As soon as Josie had the tactical targeting visor on, its head-up display came to life, filling Josie’s field of view with a variety of information. A compass heading was visible across the top of her field of vision. On either side of the heading the temperature and altitude were displayed. Arrow indicators pointed towards the retreating helicopter and Kenslir, who was marked as ANTAEAN on the display.
“Where are they going?” Keegan demanded. She had to squint as the helicopter’s rotors threw up sand.
“Don’t worry, they’ll be back,” Josie said. Using the cybernetic pickups in the goggles she typed Kenslir a message. >>>SHE’S FREEKNG OUT. CAN U GE OVR HRE<<<
>>>YOU NEED TO WORK ON YOUR SYNTAX AND SPELLING<<< Kenslir responded.
Josie briefly considered pointing out she’d only been using the visor for a week now, but decided against it.
Kenslir jogged over to the team. “Van’s empty. Looks like there were maybe a dozen people in it.”
“How do you know that?” Keegan demanded.
“I can smell them,” Kenslir asked. He looked to Josie. “Stay behind me. ”
Kenslir started walking toward the edge of the ravine. “They went this way.”
Keegan put her hands on her hips. “We can’t all jump down cliffs, Agent Kenslir.”
“I’d suggest you take the path down then,” Kenslir said.
***
The hike down into the ravine hadn’t taken very long. Kenslir had carefully followed tracks Keegan couldn’t see, but which eventually led to an opening in the side of a cliff, about ten feet across.
The ravine was wide in the area of the cave opening, nearly sixty feet across, and roughly bowl-shaped. Kenslir thought it would make a great place for an ambush.
“Huey, Louie and Dewey,” he said, addressing Keegan’s capture team. “You three set up over there.” He pointed to one side of the ravine, where some large rocks were.
“Moe, Larry, Curly—you’re over there,” Kenslir directed, pointing to the other side of the ravine. “You’re going to set up a cross fire and hit anything that comes out of the tunnel that isn’t one of us.”
The team looked briefly to Keegan, who nodded an approval. They then set off at jog, taking their positions.
Kenslir wished they had worn something that actually blended in with their environment. He figured that in this noon day sun, they’d soon be wishing they had.
“You think he’s still here?” Keegan asked.
Josie nodded her head affirmatively. “He’s very close.”
Kenslir was scuffing at the ground in front of the cave entrance with his boot. “Looks like ten, maybe thirteen men. Hard to tell. And they dragged something heavy in. Maybe a rock or a boulder.”
Keegan turned toward Victor. “You stay here with the capture team.”
“How about you all stay here,” Kenslir said. “I’ll go in and scout it out.”
“No way, mister. This is my investigation.”
Josie spoke up as well. “If it’s all the same to you, Colonel, I’d feel safer with you.”
Keegan looked surprised. She’d caught the Colonel that Josie had directed toward Kenslir.
“I want to go too,” Victor chimed in. Kenslir couldn’t tell if the boy was scared or not, since he was always so pale and his hair hung down over his eyes.
“Absolutely not!” Keegan said. “You’re my responsibility and you’re staying out here, where it’s safe.”
“What if the shapeshifter’s not in there?” Josie asked. “And he’s out here, hiding, watching us?”
Keegan looked around, reaching for the pistol on her belt.
Kenslir smiled. >>>WAY TO GO, WINTERS<<< he typed over the tactical visor.
>>>DON’T MENTUN IT<<<
Kenslir pointed toward the cave. “Let’s hit it then. And no lights.”
Turning, Kenslir held the shotgun up to his shoulder and stepped into the dark opening of the cave. Josie followed along behind him.
“No lights?” Keegan said. “How are we supposed to see anything?”
Victor reached into his pocket and pulled out a small packet. He tore the plastic as he walked and pulled out a slim glowstick. Flexing it in his hand, he cracked the inner ampoule and then shook the stick, mixing its chemicals. The stick glowed a pale green.
“Here, Pam,” Victor said, pausing in the opening of the cave and offering the glowstick to Keegan.
The agent frowned and snatched the stick from Victor’s hand, then pushed past him into the cave.
The cave was only thirty or so feet deep, and barely ten feet wide. Keegan had no idea if it was the result of erosion or some other natural force. It was just a dark hole in the ground to her.
For Kenslir and Josie, the cave was a bright green, illuminated by the augmented reality of the head-up display of their tactical visors—the lenses of which had now turned almost transparent in the dark.
In the back of the cave, they saw what looked to be a wall, made of blocks. The tactical visors marked one of the blocks, outlining it in blue and reading out its dimensions: 20.6 inches. The word CUBIT flashed briefly beside the block.
>>>CUBIT?<<< Josie texted. >>>IS THAT RUSSAN OR SOMTHNG?<<<
>>>OLD TESTAMENT<<< Kenslir responded. He was looking at the opening hammered in the wall, the dozen or so blocks pulled out to make a man-sized entrance. Pick axes and hammers lay on the ground, against the walls of the tunnel.
“Watch your step,” Kenslir whispered to Keegan and Victor. He frowned when he saw the glowstick. “And keep that covered—you’re going to give away our position.”
Kenslir stepped through the opening, followed by Josie, then Keegan and finally Victor. In the near pitch black, Keegan and Victor could barely make out the shape of Kenslir and Josie in the dim glow of the light stick.
Victor hesitated at the opening, running his hands over the blocks. He flinched at the images he saw.
Victor hurried up to catch up to Keegan. “Pam!”
“W
hat?” Keegan whispered, not taking her eyes off the dim figures of Josie and Kenslir.
“These blocks are really, really old,” Victor said quietly.
“How old?” She assumed they were in some bunker or old mine or something.
“Thousands and thousands of years,” Victor said. “Like so old, I can’t even tell.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“They were chiseled by hand. By slaves. I can feel the pain, the suffering that went into the blocks.”
“Stay close,” Keegan warned. She moved her right hand to her pistol, but kept it holstered. This was getting weirder and weirder.
>>>WHT IZ TIS PLAC?<<< Josie texted Kenslir.
>>>ANOTHER ANTEDILUVIAN SITE—PROBABLY BURIED WHEN THE CANYONS WERE CARVED OUT IN THE FLOOD<<<
They progressed down a long corridor, also made of the cubit-sized blocks. Ahead, a dim glow could be seen. As they neared it, Keegan realized it was coming from around a corner.
Kenslir held up his left hand, making a fist. >>>HOLD HERE<<<
Josie nodded and reached out to stop Keegan and Victor. Keegan started to say something, but Josie held a hand up to her lips. Between the glowstick’s faint green light and the dim glow from around the corner, she was just visible.
Kenslir stepped around the corner slowly, his autoshotgun at the ready. He had just noticed a body on the ground ahead, when he heard a click behind him and something slammed into the back of his right thigh.
The impact of the blow staggered Kenslir forward a couple of steps. He looked down and saw a long metal spike sticking out of the front of his leg. To his right, two more spikes were sticking out of the wall behind him. A trap.
Josie, Keegan and Victor were horrified. Kenslir was standing there, a long metal spike sticking through his leg, thrust out from a hidden recess in the wall of the corridor.
>>>R U OK?<<<
Just as suddenly, the spikes pulled back, retracting out of Kenslir’s leg and disappearing back into the wall.
>>>FINE<<<
Kenslir stepped to the side as he turned around. Again, the spikes leapt out from the wall. But this time, they missed Kenslir.
Brothers in Stone (Stone Soldiers #2) Page 7