Pale Death

by Aimée Thurlo

“Stay to the right of the road, I’ll take the left.” Lee reached behind the seat, pulled out Diane’s shotgun, then handed it to her as they met in front of the vehicle.

  “Thanks. I’ll watch your back and provide cover,” Diane said, clipping her flashlight onto the shotgun, turning it on, then working the pump to rack a shell into the chamber.

  “Okay. Here goes.”

  Lee moved quickly and quietly, his .45 Smith out. Diane followed, staying in the headlight beams from their own vehicle. She’d be silhouetted, of course, but anyone looking at her from farther down the road would have their night vision destroyed as well. Vampires could be blinded by the light just like regular people, even when the wavelengths weren’t harmful to them.

  Someone rose out of a low irrigation ditch on the driver’s side and fired a pistol twice into the brush farther down. Then two more men jumped out of the ditch at the same spot as the first one and sprinted toward Lee and Diane. The man with the pistol moved to the SUV, putting it at his back, and stood still, watching but not firing.

  “One of the men coming this way looks like Dr. Wayne,” Diane said to Lee. “What’s he doing here?”

  “I can guess.” Lee ran forward.

  “Tanner’s back,” Dr. Wayne said breathlessly as he approached Lee. “He tricked us into stopping, then ambushed the federal marshals. Two are down, and they look dead to me.”

  “How’s Tanner armed?” Lee asked the other man, who was carrying what looked like a Browning Hi-Power semi-auto. He looked over at Lee, fear instead of cockiness showing in his eyes.

  “A big knife, no gun. But he’s silent and quick, with eyes like a cat in the dark. Don’t let him get close to you,” he said, his words tumbling out quickly.

  “Go with Hawk, Arnsworth,” Dr. Wayne ordered. “He’ll need more backup.”

  Arnsworth had to think about it a second. “Okay. Lead the way, Officer Hawk.”

  Diane intervened, seeing a wound on the man’s left hand dripping blood through a hastily contrived handkerchief bandage. “No, you stay with Dr. Wayne, here. I’ll back up Officer Hawk.”

  Arnsworth was relieved. “Good idea, you’ve got a shotgun.”

  Dr. Wayne looked annoyed, but Arnsworth glanced away, scanning their perimeter and avoiding eye contact with the doctor.

  Lee and Diane jogged down the road toward the remaining marshal, who was slowly turning, his pistol ready, as if an attack could come from any direction. His upper arm was badly slashed and blood was soaking his jacket.

  “The bastard’s a devil. He yelled out like a loon, said he’s going to kill every fed he can find. I believe it. If you see him, shoot … and keep shooting,” the short stocky man in his early fifties said with a growl, pointing down the road. “He took off when he saw your lights, running faster than anyone I’ve ever seen. You’ll never catch up to him without a car. He’s gone.”

  Lee looked over at the SUV, and saw the body of a tall, muscular black man in a sports jacket. Blood was everywhere, though, because his head had been nearly severed. There was no way he could be alive, yet Lee had to make sure. As he was feeling unsuccessfully for a pulse, Lee saw a pistol on the road beside the dead man, and beyond, a few steps, a shattered night-vision device. Two of the vehicle tires were flat from large punctures in their sidewalls, and the headlights were broken. A big rock lay on the road among the shattered glass.

  “Got a first aid kit in your unit?” Lee asked, keeping his gaze scanning the area. Tanner wasn’t going to make another sneak attack from darkness with him around.

  “In the front seat, under the passenger’s seat,” the man said.

  “I’ll get it.” Diane hurried around the SUV, keeping her eye on the bosquc beyond in case the vampire had circled around. After confirming that a second, blood-covered agent on the side of the road was dead, she stepped over to the vehicle, reached in, and switched on the interior lights, which had been kept off for normal tactical reasons. No officer wanted to open the door and turn himself into a spotlighted target.

  Finding the first aid box, she returned to where Lee and the wounded man were. Taking the flashlight from her shotgun, she located a compress and placed it over the man’s wound. “Just hold this in place until we can move to a safer location and bandage you up right.”

  “Yeah, okay. Let’s get out of here.” The man grimaced as he covered his wound. He was reluctant to let go of his pistol, and trying to hold on to both was a struggle.

  “Want me to carry your weapon?” Lee offered, but the man shook his head.

  “No way.” He put the pistol in his jacket pocket.

  “I understand completely.” Lee knew what it meant being unarmed and pursued by a vampire. That was how he’d become what he was today.

  “How’d it go down?” Diane asked as they hurried away, Lee taking up the rear and guarding their backs as they walked up the road.

  “All kinds of bad shit happened. I stopped the Chevy after nearly running into what appeared to be a drunk passed out in the road. He was facedown and there was a bottle by his hand. He played us for suckers. We all got out and never saw it coming. It was Tanner, of course. He took out Bruce, the black guy over there, first. Damn near decapitated him, and smashed the night scope in his hand. Then he broke the headlights out with that rock. We couldn’t see shit in the dark, couldn’t risk shooting each other, and Tanner kept away from the taillights. He kept pouncing out of the bushes like a friggin’ panther, slashing, then ducking back out of sight. All he had was a knife, but he was so fast we couldn’t get our pistols around in time. He took out Steinberg next, luring him off the road on the passenger side. Gutted him like a fish. We made it to the ditch, but meanwhile, Tanner cut the tires so we couldn’t drive away either. None of us had a handheld, and we couldn’t raise anyone closer than Farmington on a cell phone.”

  The man continued, his voice stronger now that it appeared they were out of danger. “We tried to duck into the SUV twice, but he came over the top of the vehicle from the blind side. I thought I hit him solid, but he kept coming. Finally we got down, back to back in the ditch so he couldn’t sneak up on us. Glad you came along when you did.”

  “Didn’t he grab a pistol from one of his victims?” Diane asked.

  “No, and that was a welcome surprise,” the man said.

  “Panther doesn’t need a gun,” Lee said under his breath.

  When they reached Diane’s unit, Dr. Wayne was using the radio while Arnsworth anxiously kept watch. He’d grabbed Diane’s big flashlight from her car, and was constantly aiming it into the brush on both sides of the road.

  “Any more help is still about ten minutes away,” Dr. Wayne said to Diane as she came up to the window.

  “Tanner has a death wish, coming back at us like this,” Lee said, looking at Diane, not Wayne. “We’d better make sure he hasn’t reached the lab and made a move on the officers there.”

  “I called them already,” Dr. Wayne said. “They’ve taken up a defensive position beside the front entrance with their backs to the building, and they’ve got flashlights.”

  “He took on all of you with a knife. They’re not safe either,” Diane argued. “Pile in. We’re going over there right now.”

  CHAPTER 6

  Diane drove, with Lee keeping watch and Dr. Wayne patching up the wounded driver, whose name was Chase. Lee wanted the man functional in case they had another encounter with Tanner tonight. Arnsworth’s nerves seemed shot so his usefulness was questionable, and Dr. Wayne, supposedly, was a physician, not a hired gun. But at least Wayne was armed, and hadn’t been completely unnerved yet.

  “Want me to check in with the tribal cops?” Lee offered, gesturing toward the radio.

  “Not the two at the lab. They need to concentrate on keeping alive. Think I’ll let them know—and Tanner too, if he’s still close by—that we’re nearly there.” She reached over and turned on the siren and emergency lights.

  Within four minutes they arrived at the lab, tires slid
ing in the loose gravel of the parking lot as Diane quickly braked to a stop. The disabled vehicles from yesterday were still in their spaces, and the white tribal unit was nearly on the sidewalk. Lee’s state police vehicle was where he’d parked it earlier in the day.

  Lee looked toward the entrance to the building, where a battery-powered lantern was sitting on the sidewalk about fifty feet from the entrance. Beyond, barely visible, were two Navajo officers standing side by side beneath the porch overhang. They both held shotguns.

  “Good strategy. Tanner would have to go through that circle of light to approach the officers,” Diane said, climbing out and turning around to view the entire area. Arnsworth and Dr. Wayne followed.

  “Unless Tanner had come over the roof from above and behind and dropped down right in their faces,” Lee said, moving forward quickly, his eyes scanning the roofline of the laboratory. It seemed clear of vampires. With daylight not far away, Lee knew that Tanner had probably shot his wad for the night. He’d have to get behind shelter—at least a vehicle with good windows, since ordinary glass screened out the wavelengths of light deadly to vampires.

  Sirens could be heard in the distance, closing in from the highway. Reinforcements would soon arrive. “Thank God,” Arnsworth said, his eyes still searching the parking lot.

  Lee turned and nodded to the tribal cops, who hadn’t moved from their protected positions. One of the men motioned to Lee with his hand.

  Lee caught Diane’s attention. “I’m going to speak to the officers for a minute, but don’t let your guard down. Tanner’s unpredictable. He may be out there among those vehicles right now, waiting to take out one more person before calling it a night.”

  “Daylight’s coming. He’s not worried about us. He has to go into hiding someplace soon,” Dr. Wayne said confidently. “Once the sun’s up, we’ll have the advantage and can start looking for him again.”

  Lee nodded, then walked down the sidewalk to the Navajo officer who’d signaled him. The officer pointed up toward the roofline, where there was a chipped-off section of stucco right on the edge.

  “He tried to come at you from up there?” Lee asked. “Good thinking, getting back under the overhang so he’d have to show his face.”

  “We both fired. Almost got him too. Pale face, that Anglo. White as a ghost.”

  “Pale as death,” the other officer mumbled. “What in the hell is going on at this place? It’s no weather station—more like a nuthouse. That man on the roof was … strange.”

  The first officer shook his head. “Don’t talk about evil. You’ll draw it back.”

  “Just between the three of us,” Lee said, his voice low, “he’s not going to stop killing. Supposedly, he said he’s after feds, but I’m sure not taking his word on that. Don’t go looking for him alone, always have someone to watch your back. Tanner’ll have to hide in full shade during the daytime. The sun causes his skin to burn very quickly. But he’ll be hunting again tomorrow night—count on it. Make sure that the other tribal officers understand the danger. If they corner Tanner, they should shoot him in the head and heart. Nobody should try to take him alive. Insanity increases his strength and resistance to pain.”

  The officers nodded. These men had already seen what Tanner could do. Lee knew the message would get out.

  “What is Dr. Wayne up to now?” Lee looked up from the late Dr. Krause’s computer terminal. Diane and he were alone in the office section of the research laboratory.

  “I think he finally decided to leave. He and the OMI finished examining the bodies of the two dead marshals. Afterward, they walked around, studying the facility for a while, although Wayne looked beat. He got a little pissed off when he found the destroyed blood and tissue samples in the lab, but blamed that on Tanner. Then, weird as it sounds, Victor, as he insists I call him, actually invited me to breakfast,” Diane said, looking exhausted.

  “He’s got an agenda. I’ve been watching him and he seems to know his way around this place pretty well for a man who claims he never heard of the facility, much less been here.”

  “I noticed that too.” She looked at the big paper bag sitting on the desk. “What is that wonderful smell?”

  “I think you must have charmed the tribal officers we dealt with last night. They gave these to me when their relief arrived. They’re called naniscaadas, homemade tortillas filled with diced hash browns, ground beef, green chile—stuff like that. No cheese or rice, like with Mexican food. All very fattening and incredibly good.”

  They ate greedily for the next ten minutes, then finally Diane looked up from a bite. “I didn’t get the chance to ask. What did you tell those tribal officers last night when we came here looking for Tanner? They looked so relieved to see us, and they pulled you aside more than once later.”

  “There was some stuff they didn’t feel comfortable telling Dr. Wayne and what was left of his entourage. I don’t know what’s going to show up in the reports they file with the tribe in Shiprock, but Tanner did beat us back here last night. The tribal officers were grateful we’d warned them. They were ready, and almost took his head off when he looked down for them from atop the roof.”

  “So that’s why I saw one of them pointing at the roof. Do you suppose Tanner was after them specifically, or that he’d just come back for a quick look around the lab?”

  “Probably the latter, but we beat him to the punch at Prescott’s home, then here as well. Whatever he’s looking for has got to be worth a lot for him to take risks like that.”

  “I think it’s the history behind his situation—how he got exposed as a vampire, and why he ended up here.”

  “That’s likely. Add who’s really behind the operation here—and that’s all the press and public will need to nail those responsible for imprisoning and torturing a civilian.”

  “So if we don’t find whatever it is, you think Tanner will be back, regardless of the risks?”

  Lee nodded. “I’d count on it, if he’s really out for revenge. What arrangements have you made for stepping up the search for Tanner?”

  “Agencies in the area are on full alert—BIA cops, tribes, counties, municipalities, even the sheriff’s posse. Roadblocks are in several locations, teams are working the neighborhoods between Farmington and Shiprock, inclusive, and every report of a stolen car is being run down aggressively. We still don’t know how Tanner left this location the second time, if, indeed, he did. All we know is that it wasn’t in the pickup he used to try and take us out. Once the sun came up it was found in somebody’s field two miles from here.”

  “The tribal cops got my message about the need for overwhelming force, and you’ve been pumping up the other agencies,” Lee said. “But I don’t think we’ll find Tanner before dark without a good lead. He’s holed up again, and the man is one crafty son of a bitch.”

  “The sheriff has got a bloodhound team trying to pick up a trail now, and two helos from Albuquerque will also be helping us tonight. They’re equipped with low-light devices. It could make the difference if he gets into open country. There’s not much cover once you leave the bosque.” Diane yawned, and took a swallow of coffee. They’d raided the snack room and brewed a pot hours ago.

  “Better get some rest, partner. There’s that big padded table in the laboratory, and two fire blankets you can use for a pillow.”

  “Hell if I’m going to use that table for a bed. You’ve seen the array of lights overhead. That was the toaster oven for Tanner. Tell me where the blankets are and I’ll curl up in Lynette’s chair.”

  “There’s a red metal box in the snack room, and another one in the lab. They’re just wool blankets, not mylar, so you don’t have to worry about the TV dinner look.”

  “Don’t you need to catch some zzzzzzs?”

  “Maybe tomorrow. I’m good again once I’ve stuffed my belly. Meanwhile, I can screen the rest of the records and see if I can find what Tanner’s after besides government employees.”

  It was nearly noon when Lee f
inally made a breakthrough in his search, though the information was on a single sheet of paper stuck in a dusty medical dictionary among a hundred other equally entertaining volumes.

  Krause had typed a short note on his word processor, printed it out, then either erased the information on his computer or else hid it among thousands of other files.

  According to Krause, they had been contracted by a federal employee—ostensibly from the CDC—to set up a research facility. Their sole mission had been to study and conduct tests on a civilian who’d been discovered to have miraculous abilities to heal himself—as well as other unique physical attributes and a few potentially lethal afflictions.

  “No shit,” Lee mumbled, then heard movement and saw that Diane had sat up, and was looking at him through sleepy eyes.

  “No shit what, Lee? You find something?” She stood, wearing the blanket like a poncho, and walked over to see what he was reading.

  He handed her the note, and a spark jumped between their fingers as they touched. “Ow,” she exclaimed, then looked down at the wool she’d been wrapped in for the past two hours. “Guess I’d better get rid of this before I damage some computer hardware.”

  She tossed the blanket over the back of a chair, then reached down and touched the metal static strip on the table. There was another snap and a small spark. “Okay. Now I’m discharged. Whcre’d you find the note?”

  “Krause stuck it inside a book few people would be interested in browsing through. It was the fifth book I’d looked through, fortunately, not the sixty-fifth.”

  Diane held the paper up so she could read it. Then she spoke. “Okay, this confirms that this facility was created to put Stewart Tanner under the lights, inside the test tube, and whatever else they could think to do. And his abilities were discovered accidentally by someone with federal connections and an overdose of curiosity. Everything they’re doing here is probably a violation of Tanner’s rights as an American and a human being. No surprise there, though, according to Krause, they’d been told the project was sanctioned by the executive branch of the government and classified as Top Secret.”