Operation

by Tony Ruggiero

  “Yes.”

  “Then why is it so hard to comprehend that we ourselves are creatures of God, put here on this Earth to play a role in the scheme of things, just as man does. We have feelings just as you do. Do we not hunger, do we not lust as you do? Do we not seek out friendship? We love, we hurt, we are happy, we are sad. Are these not feelings that you also possess?”

  “No, I don’t believe all that. I can’t. What of the stories—the myths and legends that tell us of your destructiveness and wanton murder?”

  “They are what they are. Fabrications of the period of time that they were written in, to entertain and amuse those that wrote them. Things that were not understood or explained by ordinary means were subjugated to the realm of the supernatural and became your myths and legends. Were not people burned at the stake for saying or doing things that were contradictory to what was commonly called the truth or doctrine of the day?” Dimitri asked, but answered his own question before Reese did. “Of course they were. So here we are; creatures that live not in accordance with the norm of the period, would we not be branded the evil denizens of hell?”

  “I suppose it’s possible,” Reese conceded.

  “I cannot show you proof of what I am asserting, but even in your society today, prejudices still exists against those that are different in one way or another. It may not be in the depth of what it had once been, but it is still there.”

  “That’s true,” Reese said. “But what you suggest is still a far stretch.”

  “You want proof, I have none to offer, only my beliefs of the world and the creature’s within it. But then I ask you, is not religion itself only a theory? Can you show me proof that God even exists?”

  “No,” Reese said. “I cannot.”

  “So you ask me what we would do if we were released? We would go on with our lives, as we have been doing before we were discovered. Because it is the things we do that make us what we are, and perhaps that is what we were meant to do all along,” Dimitri said with conviction. “You removed us from where we belong, but was that fate? Who knows.” Dimitri shook his head. “But the one thing that remains is that we have been on this planet as long as man has been, whether placed here or created by one of the creatures that God also put on this Earth. If there is logic to what happens in the world, the natural assumption dictates that we fill some role that we were destined to whether right or wrong.”

  They sat in silence for a few moments.

  Reese had come here to give Dimitri the opportunity to explain his own thoughts in the matter and he had. The question that remained was could Reese live with what he knew had to be done. He looked into the eyes of the vampire with feelings of admiration and fear. There was a certain undeniable logic to his argument that Reese could not deny. Baring all religious aspects from the discussion, for they were always the most controversial and biased, everything else pointed toward the conclusion that Dimitri had argued, with the exception of perhaps one point.

  Mankind had overwhelming and consistently used the media of literature and film to portray these creatures in a certain light dependent upon the social climate of the society. What Reese wondered was why had the vampires been used, instead of some other form of expression? Why had they become timeless over the centuries? Was there some other driving motive of the use of these creatures he didn’t understand? Or was it, to use Dimitri’s term, their fate? Was it God’s will that they be the figure used to portray the good and bad in society?

  “Dimitri,” Reese said. “Answer me one question.”

  “What?”

  “What is the goal of your existence?”

  “Goal?” Dimitri asked.

  “Yes. What do you see as your prime motivation to live?” clarified Reese.

  Dimitri looked upon Reese, his eyes unmoving. “Like every other man, to find our purpose in the grand scheme of life.”

  Reese smiled. “Yes. We are alike in many ways, aren’t we? We all must have purpose, our own destiny to fulfill.”

  “And yours?” Dimitri asked. “What is your purpose? What do you want?”

  “What I want and what I must do are two completely different things. I guess there is a difference after all in the way we look at things.”

  “How so?” Dimitri asked.

  “You have time to wait for things to happen. On the other hand, we mortals do not have that luxury. We must decide among the existing possibilities for the greater good.”

  “Commander,” Dimitri said. “For the first time since we have met and talked, I do not understand what you are trying to say. Perhaps it is something that our length of life no longer permits me to understand?”

  “Perhaps,” Reese agreed. “But now is not the time for such discussion. I have a plan I want to talk with you about but it will require that you trust me implicitly. Can you do that?”

  “Our lives are in your hands,” Dimitri said simply.

  Chapter Fifty-eight

  The USS Cyclone was two hours from entering port at the Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, under the darkness of a moonless night. As Reese walked onto the bridge of the ship he allowed his eyes to adjust to the darkness and the glowing red lights of the equipment. As his vision improved, he saw the young lieutenant, the ship’s commanding officer, looking through a pair of night vision binoculars, scanning the ocean for any other craft.

  There were several other crewmembers at the various watch stations, busy beginning to make the required preparations for entering port. He heard several of the low-key conversations going on, which consisted of the usual banter of returning home. As was the usual custom, the crew was anxious to get home again to see family and loved ones. Reese slowly approached the lieutenant.

  “Almost home?” Reese asked.

  “Yes, sir,” he answered. “Less then two hours. The current is with us, so we should—”

  “What the—” screamed one of the petty officers on watch.

  Both men turned in the direction of the petty officer, just in time to see three dark figures exploding onto the bridge, brandishing weapons. They knocked down anyone who approached them. The boatswain mate on watch dove for the ship’s announcing system to call a security alert; however, one of the men took him out with the butt of a weapon before the he could get to the microphone.

  Reese stared in disbelief at Dimitri and his two men as they quickly took control of the bridge.

  “What are you doing?” Reese shouted. “You will die for this!”

  “Only if you are alive to press that button on the device you carry on your belt,” Dimitri said, as he held up another similar device in his hand.

  “Where did you get that?” Reese asked, his voice both questioning and nervous in its tone. “It won’t do you any good—”

  “The two guards guarding us below had a slight accident,” Dimitri said calmly. “If you do not wish to have the same fate, I suggest you do as I say.”

  Reese did not answer, but his hand slowly moved toward the device on his belt.

  “I didn’t think so,” Dimitri said as he moved forward in a blur of movement and removed the device from Reese’s belt. In the same instant, Dimitri reached up toward Reese’s head and grabbed a handful of hair. Removing a knife from its sheath, he sliced the handful of hair from Reese’s head. He then wrapped the hair around the sensing device of the remote control.

  “DNA is a wonderful thing,” Dimitri said. “It’s everywhere on the human body, even in hair. The remote control device is happy, see,” he said, as he held up the device taken from the guards below. It too had hair wrapped around the sensor area, just like the one taken from Reese.

  “Son of a bitch!” Reese exclaimed. “It doesn’t matter. Where will you go? You can’t hide from us! You filth—”

  Dimitri backhanded Reese, knocking him off his feet and sending him sliding across the floor of the bridge.

  “That was for capturing us. I won’t kill you because that would be too easy. We want you to keep looking over yo
ur shoulder for us, because we will come for you later. You just won’t know when.”

  Dimitri then turned toward the other two figures. “Put the raft in the water,” he said. The two moved silently off the bridge and headed aft to do so.

  “Your crew is unharmed,” Dimitri said to the lieutenant. “We did not kill anyone...yet. We will leave peaceful as long as you do not interfere with us.”

  “And where will you go?” Reese asked. He still sat on the floor, the lieutenant alongside him, trying to assist him to stand. Reese wiped at the blood that flowed from his lip where Dimitri had hit him.

  “That is none of your concern,” Dimitri said.

  “You will be hunted down and killed.”

  “Maybe, but I don’t think so. What is General Stone going to tell everyone? That there are vampires on the loose?” he laughed. “I don’t think so.”

  “But you...” Reese started.

  “I’d love to talk some more, but I really must be going now.” Dimitri walked over to the communications console and slammed his hand into the equipment several times, watching the sparks from bursting CRT screens erupt, ensuring that it was unworkable. He turned toward the lieutenant. “If anyone follows us, we will kill them.” Then he turned toward Reese. “Until we meet again, Commander.” Dimitri smiled and then disappeared from the bridge.

  “Help me up,” Reese said. “I have to get to my quarters!” The lieutenant helped Reese up to his feet.

  “What do you want us to do?” he asked.

  “Nothing. Do not do anything until I get back!”

  “But they are getting away!”

  “Do nothing, Lieutenant!” Reese screamed. “I am in operational control of these creatures! Just track their movement.”

  “Yes, sir!” the lieutenant acknowledged, his voice sounding unwilling to Reese’s order.

  Reese dashed off the bridge. Less then a minute later, he returned to the bridge. In his hand, he held another remote control device, similar to the one on his belt that Dimitri had removed from him.

  “Where are they?” Reese asked.

  The lieutenant standing next to the radar screen spoke. “About 200 yards to the east.” Turning away from the screen, the lieutenant saw the device in Reese’s hand. “What’s that?” he asked.

  Reese smiled. “It’s another device that Dimitri did not know about. We had it made just in case—in the event something like this would happen. I need all of this recorded in the ship’s log,” Reese said. “There will no doubt be an investigation into this and we have to make sure of all of the facts.”

  “Yes, sir,” the lieutenant answered. “Boatswain’s mate!”

  “Sir,” the petty officer answered.

  “Ensure this is all logged with appropriate times.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Lieutenant,” Reese said. “Do you agree that we have lost positive control of the members of my team?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Do you agree that there is no other recourse but to eradicate them?”

  The lieutenant hesitated.

  Reese said firmly, “The longer we wait, the more we risk them getting out of range of this device.”

  “Yes, sir, I agree that there is no other recourse,” the lieutenant answered. “Logged and noted in the ship’s log.”

  Reese pressed the illuminated button on the device. The small LED bulb flashed from green to red.

  “That’s it,” Reese said, as he tossed the device on the floor. “As soon as some of your crew is revived, we can collect the raft.”

  “And bodies?” the lieutenant asked.

  “There won’t be any bodies,” Reese said calmly. “Just a raft with some ash remains.”

  “Sir?”

  “Never mind, Lieutenant. The less you know the better. I’m going to my quarters.” Reese turned to leave the bridge, but stopped and looked back at the confused lieutenant. “If I were you, I would start preparing for the debriefing from hell. There is going to be one pissed-off four-star general that’s going to want someone’s ass, probably mine. You won’t want to piss him off, so make sure that the log reflects everything.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Chapter Fifty-nine

  “Such a waste,” Stone said to Reese, Barkley and Scott as they sat around the conference table at the facility in Little Creek. Everyone had a copy of the ship’s log, which delineated in excruciating detail the events that had transpired on the bridge of the USS Cyclone hours ago.

  “What I can’t understand is why?” Scott asked. “Why did they do it if they knew it would be their deaths?”

  “They didn’t know about the third device on board the ship,” Reese said. “They assumed that two was all there was and that they had eliminated that threat by using the hair to maintain the DNA integrity of the device.”

  “But wasn’t there an anti-tampering device built into the collars?” Stone asked.

  “Yes, sir, there was,” Reese answered. “I believe they knew that if they were out of range long enough, the elixir would lose effectiveness and when it did, it wouldn’t matter anymore if they were injected or not.”

  “It’s over,” Stone said. “Damn it, here we had the perfect opportunity to change the world, and now it’s gone.” He turned toward Reese. “Any chance of finding any more of these creatures?”

  “Who knows?” Reese said. “There are probably more out there, but they are very good at not being found. You would have to devote a lot of assets to trying to locate others—if they exist.”

  “No. We can’t afford to attract any more attention,” Stone said. “I already have a lot of explaining to do as it is. But at least two missions were accomplished.” He looked at Reese and Barkley and said, “You will be returned to your original units with a reminder that all of this is top secret and not to be discussed with anyone until it is, if ever, declassified.”

  They nodded in understanding.

  “Then that’s it, gentleman, “Stone said as he rose. “You are dismissed.

  As they walked out of the room, Reese couldn’t help feeling uneasy. The ease by which Stone had accepted the loss of the creatures was not as he had expected. Perhaps he had become more rational about them and his ideas for the future. Reese had a hard time swallowing that line of thinking, but for the moment, there was no reason to think anything else. It was over.

  * * * *

  As Reese and Barkley closed the door behind them, Stone turned to Scott. “Is the backup plan proceeding?”

  Scott’s demeanor became cautious. “We’re not sure, sir. The two bodies you had me bring back from Kosovo have remained in some sort of coma or sleep.”

  “What does that mean?” Stone said, with an edge to his voice. “I’m not in a very good mood right now, Commander. More bad news is not what I am in the mood for.”

  “Sir, we can’t explain—”

  “Commander,” Stone said, raising his hand to silence Scott. “When I told you to bring back the bodies of Idriz Laupki’s two dead daughters when this all began, I gave specific orders on what I wanted done with them. Didn’t I give you a list of things?”

  “Yes, sir, you did,” Scott replied.

  “Was not one of the things you were supposed to learn was how to revive them?”

  “Yes, sir, it was. However, in all the recorded conversations we have of Dimitri and Reese, the subject was not addressed.”

  “Why not?” Stone asked, the anger clearly evident in his voice.

  “We don’t know, sir. For some reason, this subject was clearly avoided.”

  “They probably knew their conversations were being recorded and didn’t want to give away details that we could use,” Stone said in disgust. “That damn Reese, he thought he was above all this with his moralistic bullshit.”

  “Sir, perhaps we should bring him in on this—”

  “Hell, no!” Stone shouted. “That’s the last thing we want to do. You saw the way he reacted with using grown men. How do you think
he would feel if he knew we had two small girls? He would bounce off the bulkheads screaming how inhuman what we are doing is!”

  “But sir, he may be the only one who can assist us,” Stone offered.

  “That might be true, but there must be other types we can go to. He can’t be the only vampire authority. Christ, can’t our own people tell us anything?”

  “They’re not sure what is happening to them, but we do know what is not happening.”

  “Scott,” Stone said. “Stop talking like a fucking idiot. What the hell do you mean?”

  “The doctors we have on this can’t tell specifically what is happening to the two bodies, but what they do know is that their bodies are not decaying either. So something is or has happened to cause this.”

  “Don’t they have any idea on how to bring them to consciousness?” Stone asked.

  “They are pursuing many different approaches, but none have been successful. They think that perhaps the process was not completed and—”

  “I don’t care what they think!” Stone shouted. “All I want is results. I have a mission I am going to finish and I will have them. Do you hear me? I will have them alive and conscious.”

  “But, sir—”

  “Shut up and listen! These doctors are probably too smart for their own good. How have they tried to revive them?”

  “They have used drugs to try and restart their bodily functions. Then they tried to stimulate their hearts with electricity to—”

  “They look to modern medicine for answers to century-old questions. These dumb asses can’t stop thinking in terms of a normal living being. These two girls are no longer living beings so the traditional approach does not apply. Tell them to give them a transfusion.”

  “A transfusion?” Scott asked. “But if they aren’t—”

  “Yes, a goddamned fucking blood transfusion!” Stone screamed.

  “No, sir, I don’t believe they have tried that.”

  “Idiots! Then get them to do it now. These creatures live on blood they ingest—even I know that. Theses doctors are wasting time in trying to restart organs that they no longer require. Of course, it’s not going to work. Tell them not to give them that frozen shit either. I want them to give them blood directly from a living human being.”