American Mutant

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  Connor could feel the blood running down his back, and he knew he needed to stop and heal. His vision had begun to blur, when he finally stopped near a clump of trees at the edge of the estate. He laid Karen down on the ground. She released her grip from around his neck. Her teeth were chattering, and her eyes were glazed, but other than that, Connor could find no evidence of any wounds. He looked back the way he had come, and saw no immediate pursuit. Connor held Karen close to him. She put her arms around him as she began to sob. When she felt how wet the back of his suit coat was, she pushed him away.

  “My God Thomas,” Karen said as she turned him away from her. “You’re cut to ribbons. Lie still.”

  When he did not answer, Karen turned him over a little. Connor had lost consciousness. She hurriedly tore the jacket off she had worn and held it tightly against his back. She glanced up, and saw the flaming wreck in the distance. Connor had carried her at a dead run for over half a mile.

  She saw figures standing around the fiery wreck, and after a few moments, they began to move slowly towards them. She could see blood everywhere, but it had slowed considerably. Karen considered dragging him, but she knew they would follow easily, and she might kill him in doing so. She started to get up to go and surrender, and plead for their lives. Connor pulled her down, and then rolled over to his side.

  “I’ll get them to help you Thomas,” Karen said quickly. “We can get them a lot of money. I.”

  “Karen,” Connor said quietly, “take it easy. I’m healing. I just need some time.”

  “They’re coming Thomas. You’ll never get well enough by the time they get here.”

  Connor looked up at where the men were proceeding carefully, following the blood trail he had left. He counted eight men he could see. He looked at her and smiled. “Did you ever see The Thirteenth Warrior Karen?”

  “We don’t have time for game show questions Thomas.” She looked into his eyes, which were bright and cold. “Are you fading out again?”

  “Nope,” he replied sitting up. He could not see any of them searching with binoculars for any kind of trap. They were confident. “In The Thirteenth Warrior the leader of these Viking warriors stood dying on his feet, and facing a horde of oncoming enemies. They had a chant, which I always loved, and he recited it as he faced them. The.”

  “Lie still Thomas,” Karen sobbed as she watched him weakly lie back down on his stomach, and inch forward so he could see the oncoming men clearly.

  “. The other warriors joined him in the chant: Lo there do I see my Father. Lo there do I see my Mother, and my sisters, and my brothers. Lo there do I see the line of my people, back to the beginning. Lo they do call to me. They bid me take my place among them, in the halls of Valhalla, where the brave, they live, forever.” Connor’s voice had risen as he recited the movie lines. As he ended the chant, he moved. Karen reached to hold him, but he was not there.

  “Thomas,” she yelled, but he had already begun to zigzag quickly towards the men. They did not spot him until he had gotten within what Karen figured to be about seventy yards and closing. They opened up with automatic weapons fire, but he was amongst them in seconds. They closed on him, and she could hear the screaming, even from where she had begun to run to join him. Bodies flew literally into the air as she watched, spellbound at the carnage she was witnessing. She halted fifty feet from the scene, as Connor tore the last man screaming into the air, and slammed him head first into the ground. She heard him grunt as he twisted the man’s head and tore it from his neck.

  Karen screamed, clamping her bloody hands to her face as he turned in a rage at the sound, the man’s head dangling grotesquely by the hair from his right hand. Covered from head to toe in gore, Connor dropped the head and straightened, looking around at the bloody scene around him. Bodies lie broken and maimed in twisted lumps all around him. He saw Karen staring at him in disbelief. He waved comically at her as he collapsed.

  Thunder sounded in his head, coming from the hooves of many horses. Connor rolled and twisted to avoid the crushing blows. The darkness hid the riders mounted on the beasts, but the silhouettes against the slightly lighter sky were that of horned devils. A thick mist covering the ground around him receded. And the pain in his arms, legs, and back rushed into his consciousness, awakening him to groggy awareness. Memory of his last moment caused him to start to his feet, but a hand pulled him back.

  “Keep still Thomas,” Karen whispered. “We’re okay for now.”

  Connor rolled painfully to his side and looked around. Karen had dragged him away from the dead bodies, and now sat cross-legged with an AK47 on her lap, watching the Chateau. She looked back down at him and smiled.

  “Your healing powers are amazing. I’ve been watching your body for the last twenty minutes, sealing your wounds. I didn’t think you could do that while unconscious.”

  “I’ve only been out for twenty minutes?” Connor asked.

  “Plus the time it took me to drag you out of the blood.”

  “Anyone come out to check on things yet?” Connor continued.

  “No,” Karen replied. “They must think that bunch are still out hunting for us. You look like something from hell.”

  “I feel like hell, but anybody in that Chateau is going to feel a whole lot worse.” He stroked her leg with his bloody hand. “I can see up your dress.”

  Karen shook her head. “You are stark raving mad Thomas. That chant, and then you charging out right at eight armed men. And then.”

  “I know. I’m sorry you saw all that, and I sure didn’t mean for us to walk right into a trap.”

  Tears began to course down Karen’s cheeks. She brushed them away with the back of one hand. “I.I’m glad you’re okay Thomas. I thought we were dead.”

  Connor sat up next to her. He looked down at himself. “I guess I need a shower.”

  “You go first,” Karen laughed.

  Connor patted her hand. “I will be right back.”

  Pierre sat in a lounge chair, staring out of his window. He could see the still smoking hulk in his driveway. His men had been gone a long time, but one of them had told him the people in the car were badly injured, and they would be getting them soon. That had been almost an hour ago now. A scream of agony came from the floor below. He jumped to his feet, as he heard more screams and commotion. Running over to his dresser, he pulled out the 9mm automatic stashed in the top drawer, and shakily aimed it at the door. He jacked a round into the chamber and waited. The screams had stopped. A moment later, the door to his room burst right off the frame, and to the floor. A ragged, bloody spectre stood in the entrance, smiling from cracked lips at him.

  “Hi there.”

  Pierre jerked the trigger, and the gun bucked in his hand and then he no longer had it. The pain hit him then, as he looked down to the hand he had held the gun with. His hand flopped loosely at a right angle to his wrist. He screamed as he fell to his knees, hugging his maimed appendage to his chest. Pierre threw up. Connor grabbed him by the back of his shirt, and dragged him away from his vomit. Dropping him again to the floor, Connor crouched down next to him.

  “I am going to make this simple and fast because I know you are in a lot of pain. How did you know about us,” Connor asked in French.

  Pierre looked up through pain filled eyes into his torturer’s face. The bloody face was still smiling at him. “I.I checked with my.my contact in China. He said they ha. had not heard from Yee. They felt he had been compromised. I.I have money, we can.”

  “We will get to the money later Bub. I want the list of girls who you took from the United States,” Connor said, “and I want to know all about where they ended up.”

  Connor leaned down, and pulled Pierre’s face up by yanking his head back by the hair. “I do not have a lot of time. If you do not put everything you have on them in my hands in the next short moment, I will make your other hand and feet look like this one.” Connor poked at the man’s broken hand, evoking a blood-curdling scream.

>   Connor pulled him to his feet. Pierre stumbled over to his bookcase and pulled out a book. A section of the bookcase swung out, revealing a safe in the wall. Pierre shakily worked the combination, and Connor opened it for him. Pierre stood off to the side, eyeing the distance to the doorway. As he reached into the safe to pull out its contents, Connor kicked backwards with his right foot, snapping Pierre’s ankle. Pierre’s undulating scream as he collapsed to the floor echoed loudly in the large room.

  Just as Connor had suspected, the files on the girls were in notebooks kept in alphabetical order. There were fourteen notebooks, each containing pictures and locations of each girl’s buyer. The profiles on the buyers were almost as complete as those on the girl’s. Connor turned back to the whimpering figure behind him.

  “You only took fourteen girls?”

  “Th.Those are the only ones.”

  Connor killed him. He hurried back out to Karen. Rather than walk in on her, he called out to her first, after he had approached to within fifty yards of her. She stood up with the assault rifle at the ready. When she was sure it was him, she lowered the weapon and joined him.

  “It’s over Thomas?”

  “Yep, and I have the information we need too. Pierre was very helpful.”

  “How many more in the house?” Karen asked.

  “Three besides Pierre,” Connor replied.

  “How are you holding up?”

  “I’ve been better,” Connor admitted, “but I’ll live. Let’s go get cleaned up, and then we will pick out a car to drive back with. We will dine in Paris my dear.”

  “I know, as a mutant, this jet lag has not affected you, but I feel like something out of Night of the Living Dead.”

  Connor put an arm around her. “Come on, I’ll wash your back, and you can wash mine. Remember now, anything you touch, we have to wipe our prints off of. I don’t really care if they find them, but why leave traces if we don’t have to.”

  Connor had dragged the bodies out of the house before going to get Karen. In the shower together, Karen went over Connor’s wounds, which were still closing up. She sponged him off carefully where they were still open.

  “You had so many past scars, I will have a hard time knowing what’s new and what’s old,” she told him.

  “I drank the quart of orange juice my buddy Pierre had in his refrigerator, and ate some fruit he had. I know I lost a lot of blood, but I feel pretty good now.” Connor turned and took Karen into his arms underneath the hot water spray. “In fact I am feeling much better.”

  Connor found a suit in Pierre’s closet, which fit him comfortably. Karen found enough women’s clothing to make a decent ensemble. While waiting for Karen, Connor found a phone, and after getting through to the redline on Attila, he heard Nate answer.

  “We clear?”

  “Yea Mutie, go on,” Nate answered.

  “Sprung trap, goal achieved, still breathing, on our way out, must hook up with on site help to transfer data, will advise in two hours,” Connor intoned quickly.

  “Understood, take care Mutie.”

  “Will do, Mutie out.”

  Connor found Karen in the bathroom, putting on some lipstick she had found. “I called Nate, and told him we would be in touch in two hours.”

  She turned to face him. “Did you tell him anything else?”

  “I did not elaborate. We can fill him in later. We have to hook up with Johnny, so he can send these files on a secure line into Attila. Pierre called the Chinese to check up on Yee, and found out they had been out of contact with him, which I guess does not happen. I did not foresee that, and I should have. I would have been better off just showing up. This mistake almost cost us our lives, and now we will have to move even faster on these missions.”

  “You mean every one of these people has been warned?”

  “Maybe,” Connor replied, “but our ace in the hole is I will be going as Pierre from now on, and these folks do not know each other.”

  “I guess we better get going. Did you find some keys?”

  Connor held up a set of Mercedes keys with a tag attached. “I guess Pierre has more than one in his garage, so he has the license on each set. Come on, I have the contents of his safe already in a bag. He had a lot of francs, but he also had over thirty thousand US dollars in there. I guess we will have to go on a little shopping trip for you in Paris. Would you like that?”

  Karen came close, and stroked his cheek with her hand. “I will like it much better than watching you rip the head off of someone’s neck.”

  Connor’s eyes darkened momentarily. “You can always go home Karen. They know something, because they sent their own driver to his death just so as not to tip their hand. This may well get more complicated and bloody, and I certainly am not infallible.”

  “I know Thomas, and I have no intention of leaving you, ever. Let’s get going. I do need some clothes.”

  After wiping down the Mercedes, they left it in downtown Paris. Connor called the number he had for Johnny. He explained where he and Karen were. Johnny showed up twenty minutes later. Connor and Karen drank coffee at the café Connor had called him from. Connor left some money at the table, and then they went out to meet Loo. As soon as he saw them emerge from the café, Johnny ducked back into his car, and unlocked the doors. The couple entered the back gingerly, and Johnny drove away.

  “I heard you had some trouble,” Johnny said over his shoulder, “and I notice you are no longer in disguise.”

  “That character proved unhelpful to us. Leave us off at the most expensive looking clothing place you see Johnny,” Connor instructed. “I will leave the files here on the seat, and this black plastic bag has some clothes and things I need you to get rid of, preferably by fire.”

  Johnny nodded, “I will get the files uploaded, and then give you a call.” He handed Connor a cell phone. “The notebook at your feet has all the bells and whistles. The cell phone has uplink capabilities, and cannot be traced. Are you all right?”

  “Yea Johnny, we are just a little tired,” Connor answered. “Is everything ready to go, once we get the go ahead?”

  “We’re all set. Just don’t push yourself too hard here.”

  “Don’t worry about that. Karen and I will get rested up today, while they coordinate the information. We will be ready. Thanks for coming in person Johnny.” Connor changed himself into Pierre.

  Johnny jumped, as he looked into the rear view mirror. “What the hell.”

  “I will explain it all when this ends,” Connor said. “I will be in this disguise from now on. You saw this guy in your prep for the mission. His name’s Pierre.”

  “What the heck smells, those clothes I’m supposed to get rid of?” Loo asked.

  “Pierre’s head and hands are in the bag,” Connor replied. “We need a clean up crew out there at his estate, if things stay quiet over the next day. I only did this to give us some time, in case the police get tipped, and get out there before housekeeping.”

  “Well, small chance of him ruining your disguise,” Johnny commented. “How about you guys get out of here, and stick the bag in the trunk. You can find some clothes I am sure around here. In fact, I know of one of those places, which sell both men and women’s clothes, called Galeries Lafayette. It’s only about five minutes away.”

  “Can you recommend a good hotel Johnny?” Connor asked. “We will be staying in the area for another day. One of the girls was sold to a guy in Aubergenville, just outside of Paris. We will rest, coordinate, and hit him tomorrow. Can you be ready that quickly, once you let Greg know where the first hit will be?”

  “You bet. I will tell Nate to put Aubergenville on the top of the list, and tell him you want to move on it tomorrow. How long should we wait before cleanup.”

  “Late tonight might be the best,” Connor answered.

  Johnny pulled over, and popped the trunk lid, while Connor took his grisly bag out of the car. Connor then tossed it into the trunk. Loo pulled up in front of a huge c
omplex minutes later.

  “Do you have enough for the hotel and shopping spree?” Johnny asked. “I imagine nothing you had survived the trap.”

  “You have that right,” Connor confirmed. “Pierre made restitution for his wrong doing. We will be fine. Luckily, we had our personal ID’s and passports on us, one of which was for my Pierre disguise. What about a hotel?”

  “Stay at the Le Grand. You guys earned it. Their Café de la Paix would be a great place for you to eat too. It has a terrace.”

  Connor shook hands with Loo. “Nice working with you again Johnny. See you tomorrow.”

  “Stay out of trouble Pierre,” Johnny laughed. “Watch his back boss.”

  “Always,” Karen quipped.

  Chapter 29 The Rescue Begins

  Karen and Connor both picked out lavish wardrobes. The universal language of money, coupled with Connor’s fluent Pierre French, made them the store’s top priority. They had a limousine called to take them, their wardrobe, and new baggage to the Le Grand Hotel, where they paid for the Presidential Suite. Alone in the beautiful suite, Connor made love to Karen with a passion almost capable of sweeping away the nightmarish visions from the beginning of the day. They both slept, wrapped in each other’s arms. Connor woke her as night came.

  “Let’s get a shower, and try on our new clothes. I need some food.”

  “I love you Thomas.”

  Connor sat down on the edge of the bed, and bent over to stroke the side of her face gently with his hand. “I love you too Karen. Will you marry

  me?”

  Karen shot up in the bed, and gripped Connor with all of her might. “Do you mean it Thomas?”

  “You must know by now I would never joke about something like that. Two people who can stay sane together, after what I did today, have a good chance to make it. After this ends, we will come back here and stay for a few days while you pick out the most beautiful engagement ring in the world. We will have to use this as a base anyway, until they get on to me as Pierre.”