by J. C. Diem
The explosives had been powerful enough to cause the entire complex to collapse, leaving a gigantic hole in the ground that was filled with rubble. It was doubtful that anything could have survived that blast. With luck, the hydra had been destroyed along with the building.
Kala looked slightly ill and I felt the same way. We’d left the captive shifters and other assorted creatures behind to die. If we hadn’t come along on the mission, Flynn would have been buried beneath the ruins as well. Mark sent us a shamed look, but he remained silent as we hiked back to our vehicles.
Zeus trotted forward to meet us when we reached the SUV. He sniffed Flynn’s hand and looked up at me, sensing that something was wrong. “He’ll be okay,” I said and hoped I was right.
Flynn remained docile as he was strapped into the backseat of the SUV. Zeus jumped into the cargo area and leaned forward to rest his head on Flynn’s shoulder. Kala blinked away tears as she tried to hold herself together. Apparently, rescuing him wasn’t going to be enough. He was still beneath the influence of whoever had drawn him here in the first place. I hoped moving him away from the compound would be enough to break him free from the prison in his mind.
Mark led our diminished convoy of two vehicles back towards the campsite that we knew would be empty. As an alpha, Aiden was territorial in the extreme. His instinct would be to protect his turf. Even so, he wouldn’t allow his pack to be wiped out. They were only twelve up against twenty O Squad members. If they remained under the radar as Mark had advised them, they should stay safe.
“I hope you have a good reason for leaving the shifters behind to be slaughtered,” Kala said to Mark once the decimated compound was far behind us. He flinched at her betrayed tone. “Don’t give me that BS about it being classified information.” We’d both chosen to ride in the back with Flynn rather than either of us sitting up front beside him.
He met her eyes in the mirror then switched to me. I knew my gaze was just as accusing as hers. Defeated, he let out a quiet sigh. “Very few people in the PIA are aware of what I’m about to tell you. Only agents with level eight clearance and above are privy to this knowledge.”
“Yay for us,” she said flatly. “Spill it.”
“EERI have long been a rival to our agency.” She impatiently motioned for him to tell us something we didn’t already know. “What you don’t know,” he said with a hint of annoyance, “is that they have a secret agenda and we don’t know what it is.”
“Wow, that tells us nothing,” she said in mock admiration. I was seeing a side of her that she rarely showed. Apparently, she could be extremely bitchy when she wanted to be.
“They’ve been collecting every type of paranormal creature they can find,” he explained. “We have it on good authority that they’re planning something that could turn out to be catastrophic to mankind.”
“Who told you that?” I asked.
“I’m not at liberty to say,” he said apologetically. It was another way of telling us the information was classified. “All I can tell you is that we’ve been tasked with stopping them from proceeding with whatever their mad plan is.”
“Exactly who are Kendricks and his team?” Kala queried.
“They’re the Obliteration Squad. Their sole purpose is to find and destroy all EERI compounds. That includes their staff, equipment, research and any specimens they’ve collected. Kendricks would have located their database and copied everything they had on file. The information will be given to a team who are dedicated to discovering EERI’s plan.”
That alarmed Kala as much as it did me. “EERI knows Flynn is a shifter,” she said in near panic. “They’ll have that written down in their files!”
“They did,” Mark confirmed. “But I hacked into their database while we were infiltrating their compound. I wiped all of the information they’d gathered on Flynn.”
“What did they know about him?” I asked.
Mark’s response was bleak. “Everything.” I sensed him struggling for control before he continued. “They had copies of his files from when he was a child. They’d apparently been keeping track of both Flynn and Kala. I don’t know why they decided to snatch him now.”
Kala muttered a string of expletives too quietly for our boss to be able to hear her. It couldn’t have been easy to hear the people who had turned her into a monster had been keeping tabs on her.
“Why do the O Squad destroy the captives without knowing if they’re harmless or not?” I asked to change the subject.
“Because we don’t know what they want with them, what they’ve been doing to them or what their agenda is.” None of the captives had shown obvious signs that they’d been experimented on, but I wasn’t an expert. “Do I need to explain to you how fortunate we are that they allowed us to rescue Flynn?” he asked.
“No,” Kala and I said in tandem. If it had been up to Kendricks, Flynn would have died in the implosion along with the rest of the specimens.
₪₪₪
Chapter Twenty-One
Flynn was still showing no signs of rousing from his stupor when we reached the campsite. From the absence of vehicles in the makeshift parking lot, the place was empty. Aiden and his pack had taken Mark’s advice and hadn’t returned to their camp.
Leaving Flynn buckled in his seat, we left the SUV. Zeus jumped to the ground and stayed close to me as Kendricks pulled up beside us in his truck. His men climbed out and took up defensive stances, searching for signs of movement. At their leader’s nod, half of his team headed for the top of the hill. After a short search, they returned. Cortez shook his head to indicate the camp was empty.
Kendricks pressed his lips together in annoyance for a moment. “I thought the plan was to rendezvous back here,” he said to Mark. “Where are Aiden and his people?”
Mark shrugged and did a fairly good pretense of looking mystified. “Maybe they’re running late.” He checked his watch. “Dawn is still a few minutes away.”
Feeling a premonition of danger, I held my hand up to silence Kendricks before he could descend into a tirade. “Shh,” I said and everyone went still.
“What is it?” Kala asked. She looked around, but didn’t see or sense anything.
Zeus’ ears twitched and his hackles began to rise. He leaned against my legs and his body began to vibrate as he growled. I knew something bad was coming even before one of Kendricks’ men spied movement.
Squinting into the pre-dawn light, he drew in a breath when he made out the threat. “Snakes!” he shouted and the alarm in his voice had all of us reaching for our weapons. Seconds later, dozens of reptiles boiled out of the darkness. Most were rattlesnakes, but other species were interspersed throughout the horde.
The O Squad weren’t used to dealing with creepy crawlies. Most of them panicked and opened fire. The snakes might be numerous, but at least they were made of flesh. Blood and gobbets of meat splattered the dry ground when the bullets ripped into them.
Kala, Mark and I stood in a small circle facing outwards, shooting at anything that wriggled too close to us. Zeus leaped forward and snatched up one of the larger reptiles. He shook his head, growling savagely before biting down. The snake fell to the ground in two pieces. They continued to twitch as if they were still alive as he turned his attention to his next victim.
One of the men was bitten and went down with a pained shriek. More snakes converged on him, swarming over him so thickly that he was covered in their writhing bodies. I saw several more of the reptiles climbing another agent. Wrapping itself around his torso, a long black snake bit the man on the throat. I was pretty sure it was the Black Mamba that had been stolen from the reptile park. More snakes were attacking his legs. He died seconds later, making horrible gargling noises and foaming at the mouth.
I wondered when the hydra would turn up and like a portent of doom, the ground trembled. Then the gigantic stone reptile burst from the soil in a shower of dirt right in the middle of our group. All five of its heads swiveled as it searched for
victims. Ignoring the bullets that peppered its body, it chose an agent at random and one of the heads darted down.
Snatching up the screaming man, it sank its fangs deep into his torso. I wasn’t sure how something made of stone could have venom, but noxious liquid squirted as it bit down. Almost instantly, the agent’s skin turned black and his eyeballs burst. The hydra spat him out and he died even before he hit the ground.
Remembering how it had paused briefly when I’d targeted the middle head, I aimed for its eyes again. As soon as the orbs were destroyed, the other four heads went still. The eyes re-formed a few seconds later and it went into motion again. “The middle head is in control,” I shouted over the barrage of gunfire. Some of the men were shooting at the hydra and the rest were aiming for the snakes that were squirming around our feet.
Kendricks nodded at my warning and fired a prolonged burst from his assault rifle. Stone chips flew and half of the snake’s middle head was obliterated. The monster paused until it healed again. I looked at Mark for instructions and he shrugged at me helplessly. Our guns might be able to render it motionless for a short while, but they weren’t powerful enough to destroy it.
The sound of screeching metal drew my attention. I turned to see the backdoor of the SUV go spinning through the air. It landed with a thump several yards away. Flynn climbed out and his eyes latched onto Kendricks with the clear intention of killing him.
“Stand down, Agent Bailey,” Mark shouted as Flynn began to walk towards the squad leader. “That’s an order!”
Flynn ignored him and kept on walking. Unaware of the danger, Kendricks continued to fire at the hydra. One of his men saw our teammate stalking his boss and took aim. Mark shouted in alarm, but Flynn smoothly sidestepped the bullets. Leaping through the air gracefully, he landed in front of the agent and put his hands on either side of his face. With a vicious twist, he snapped the man’s neck.
“Well, that guy is dead,” Kala said to me in tones of finality.
“Yep,” I agreed dispassionately. “He won’t be blowing up any other helpless ‘specimens’.” Neither of us was at all bothered to see the man die. He would have shot us in the back in a heartbeat if he’d known what we were.
Finally realizing that he was in peril, Kendricks turned to see Flynn stalking towards him. There was no mistaking the murder in his green eyes. Kala and I were already on the move and we tackled our friend to the ground before Kendricks could open fire.
“We’ll take care of Flynn,” Kala shouted over the unceasing gunfire. “Keep shooting at the hydra!”
Snarling and struggling to free himself, Flynn was like a man possessed. I was very much afraid this might be the case. It was obvious to me that the hydra was controlling him. It knew that Kendricks was the leader of the people who were shooting at it and it had ordered its most dangerous minion to dispose of him.
“What are we going to do?” I asked. I didn’t want to hurt Flynn, but we couldn’t allow him to tear the squad apart. He’d already killed one man and he was lucky no one else had witnessed the murder.
“Put him in the truck,” Mark suggested as he hurried over to us. A snake reared back, preparing to strike at him and he calmly blew its head off.
Working together, Kala and I lifted Flynn to his feet and dragged him over to the armored truck. Kendricks sent us a startled look, but he didn’t protest as we manhandled our companion inside. Mark threw the door shut and Kala drew the bolt. Flynn’s fists thumped on the door, but the walls were too thick for even a shifter to be able to make a dent in them.
Hissing in frustrated rage, the hydra abruptly aborted its assault. It turned away and darted back into the hole. Like magic, the remaining snakes melted away into the rapidly fading darkness. Flynn continued to thump on the door, screaming incoherently.
Kendricks made no move to follow the hydra. That was our job, not his. He was still trying to come to terms with encountering a creature that he’d never seen before. “You fight these kinds of things on a regular basis?” he asked Mark in stunned amazement. While we weren’t the only PIA team that faced the monsters, we tended to hunt the most dangerous supernatural creatures.
“Yes, but they’re not usually this hard to kill,” our boss said wryly.
“It’s going to come back, isn’t it?” Kala asked. She slid a glance at the truck, meaning it would come back for Flynn.
“I’m afraid so,” he replied. “It seems to have a vendetta against us all.” I admired his clever manipulation. Kendricks now believed that he and his men were targets.
“What’s your plan?” the O Squad leader asked.
“We should return to the base for now,” Mark replied. “I’ll put Agent Bailey under sedation again and lock him in one of our cells. Then I’ll perform some research on hydras. That thing might not be made of flesh and blood, but it seems to share the same traits as a normal hydra. There has to be some way to kill it.”
Still shaken, Kendricks looked at the bodies of his fallen. Four men had died, including the agent who Flynn had killed. “I’ll call the Cleanup Crew,” he said tonelessly. Three of his men could fit into the front seat of the truck. We could accommodate two in our SUV if we squished in together. The rest of his team would have to remain behind. None of them were happy about it, but they didn’t voice their fears out loud.
Choosing a few men to accompany us back to the base, Kendricks promised he’d send a vehicle back with food and water for the men who would have to wait. I overheard the Cleanup Crew advise him that it would be five hours before they would arrive to take care of the bodies.
With the arrangements made, we headed for our vehicles. Kendricks looked at the door that had been torn off the SUV and shook his head. “Can you explain how your agent managed to kick the door clear off its hinges?”
“EERI knew we would try to break Flynn free,” Mark said. “They injected him with a slow release drug that gave him hyper strength when it finally kicked in. They were probably hoping he’d surprise us and that he’d be able to take some of us down before we could neutralize him. I’ve seen it before and it should wear off soon enough.”
We received suspicious glances as one of his men picked up the door and placed it into the back of our vehicle. Kala and I weren’t exactly large. We shouldn’t have been able to wrestle Flynn to the ground or into the truck if he truly was hyped up on drugs.
Kendricks took the front seat and Cortez climbed into the back next to the missing door. I was squished in the middle, as usual. Kala slanted me a look, knowing I wasn’t comfortable being so close to Cortez. His flirtatiousness had been replaced with wariness. He knew there was something strange about me even if he didn’t know what it was.
Zeus sat directly behind Cortez. Balancing unsteadily on the car door, he stared at the back of the agent’s head. Cortez turned to see my guardian glowering at him. He slowly turned away again, wisely being careful not to make any sudden movements.
Kala and I could hear Flynn screaming and banging on the door during the drive back to our compound. He went quiet when we were about halfway there. I wasn’t sure whether to be glad of his abrupt silence, or frightened.
The truck followed us closely all the way back to our base. I didn’t feel the usual sense of safety when the gate closed behind us. The hydra had an uncanny ability to burrow through the dirt. It could pop up anywhere at any time.
“Feel free to use our van to retrieve more of your men,” Mark said to Kendricks after he backed into the garage and climbed out. “They’ll have to buy some supplies in town. We don’t have enough food to feed this many people.”
Kendricks nodded at the offer, but he didn’t voice his thanks. Climbing out, he drew Cortez aside to give him instructions. I listened in, but didn’t hear anything alarming this time.
Mark hurried inside and returned a few minutes later with a syringe. At his gesture, we moved to surround the backdoor of the truck. Mark held the syringe ready as one of the O Squad members drew the bolt on the doo
r. Kala and I were ready to lend a hand as the door was thrown open.
Instead of launching himself at us, Flynn stood with his hands hanging limply at his sides. His eyes were blank again and I sensed that his mind had gone quiet. Maybe he’d moved too far away from the hydra for it to be able to control him.
“The drug seems to have worn off,” Mark murmured as two agents warily climbed inside.
“Give him the shot anyway,” Kendricks suggested.
Mark deftly exchanged the syringe with one that he’d stashed in his pocket while Flynn was being lowered to the ground. He inserted the needle into his vein and injected the clear fluid. I could tell by the smell that it was harmless saline. “Bring him inside,” he instructed the two men.
Kala pointed at our spare vehicle that sat beside the SUV. “The keys to the van and the remote control for the gate are inside the glove box,” she said to Cortez. Kendricks nodded his permission for the sniper to head out for supplies and to pick up the bulk of his team. Someone would have to stay to guard the bodies and make sure no one discovered them. I was glad that wasn’t my task. There was no telling when the hydra would return.
₪₪₪
Chapter Twenty-Two
Mark opened the door to the long hallway and turned right instead of left. He stopped at the door that would take us to the cells below. He was the only one who could open this particular entrance. Kala and I followed closely behind Kendricks’ men as they escorted Flynn down the stairs. I didn’t think he was going to become aggressive again, but we weren’t taking any chances. He’d tear them apart in seconds if the hydra had followed us and took control of him once more.
Stopping at the first cell, Mark placed his palm on the scanner and the door swung open. The two agents walked Flynn inside and sat him down on the cot. Flynn stared at nothing, barely blinking. His mind remained blank and empty of thought. I shook my head when Mark looked at me and his expression turned grim.