“Stuck?” the driver asked.
“Yeah,” Morgan hollered back. “Broke down right in the middle of the road. Just died on me. I think it’s the battery.”
“Got cables?” the driver asked.
“Yes, I do.”
“I’ll pull as close to your car as I can.”
The truck’s engine growled to life as it crept up to the Camero. The driver, a small man, got out of the truck, leaving the door open and the engine running.
“Never jumped a car with a big rig before,” he said, chuckling. “Hope I don’t melt your engine.”
Karen dove into the man’s mind, searching for something she could use to break him. She found it; the practicing with Paul paid off. Pulling the horrid fear to the forefront of the man’s mind, she emerged from the tree line. The image was of his son, long dead from cancer but never forgotten, not even for a day. Her heart hitched in her chest. He seemed like a nice person; a man simply doing his job and delivering fuel.
The man—his name was Hank—dropped to his knees. Tears streamed down his cheeks. Reaching out, he said, “Billy, my boy.”
Much more and Hank would give up completely. “I need you to obey me,” she said. “I can continue to hurt you, or I can make the pain go away.”
Hank looked up at her. She heard his thoughts; how he hated her but would do anything if she’d take the torment away.
“Hank,” Karen said, standing in front of him. “Just do as I say and everything will be fine.”
He nodded, saliva dribbling from his mouth.
“Anything,” he muttered.
She released the fear, shoving it back down into the man’s mind. He would remember, but the immediate pain would be gone.
“I’m going to get into the truck with you,” she told him. “You’re going to take me on your next fill and do whatever I say. I’m your new partner, a trainee sent out with you to learn the fueling process. Understand?”
“Fine,” Hank said. “Just please, don’t hurt me.”
Karen looked into the man’s eyes. “He’s with us,” she told Morgan.
“Good,” he said. “You guys get in the truck and head onward. I’ll travel on foot through the woods, making sure I’m well out of camera range. But I’ll have you in view the entire time.”
Karen helped Hank to his feet. He shook her away. Maybe she could work on him, using suggestion during the ride. There wouldn’t be much time, but whatever she could do to help, she would.
Chapter 55
Karen’s blood pulsed with adrenaline. She was no longer in Hank’s head, wanting to conserve her strength. She doubted he would need any coercing after their little session. Hank, from what Karen had seen from him, was scared to death and more than willing to do whatever was asked of him. He simply wanted to make it back to his family. That could all change when the man was confronted by the guards at the Murphy gate, but she was ready, using her ability of suggestion to help Hank keep his mouth shut.
Hank downshifted as they neared the guard shack. The truck slowed. Karen didn’t think she could’ve been more nervous if someone was holding a gun to her head. She was entering the enemy’s realm. Fear gripped hold. It suddenly seemed so foolish that she was anywhere near the place, let alone willingly. Her gorge threatened to rise. She choked it down.
“Remember what we talked about,” she said.
“I’ll do as you asked, don’t worry.” He sounded sure of himself, allowing Karen to relax a bit.
Hank stopped the rig as a guard walked toward the truck.
From her vantage point, Karen was unable to keep the soldier in her sights when he approached the driver’s side of the vehicle. She tapped into Hank’s mind and listened.
He was frightened on the inside but maintained a composed expression for the guard’s benefit. “Hello,” Hank said through the open window.
“Afternoon,” the guard returned.
Three more guards exited the shack, each with machine guns hanging off of their shoulders. Two carried poles with large square mirrors on the end. The device reminded Karen of the mirrored tool that dentist’s used for seeing behind a patient’s teeth.
The guards began checking the truck’s undercarriage.
“Kill the engine, please,” the guard told Hank. “And I need the two of you to exit the vehicle.”
Karen stiffened. Hank had said nothing about having to leave the vehicle. Still connected with him, she saw that he was confused. He’d never been asked to perform such a task before.
“Something wrong?” Hank asked.
“New protocol,” the guard answered. “We’ve got to have a look inside all non-personnel vehicles entering the facility.”
Hank looked at her quizzically, and for a second, Karen worried he might freeze up.
“What’s up?” she asked, fully aware that Morgan’s escape had heightened security.
“We have to get out and let them have a look-see.”
Hank undid his seatbelt and climbed down.
Karen swallowed and was ready to slide along the seat and follow him when her door opened. She turned to see another guard hastening her exit.
“This way,” he told her.
She inwardly screamed. The guard was one Mike’s buddies from the bar. She quickly climbed down, hoping he wouldn’t recognize her.
“All yours,” she said, then connected with him.
The guard climbed into the truck, his mind switching from thoughts about her to his job. He wasn’t expecting to find anything, but took his job seriously and would perform a thorough search of the cab.
She disconnected with him, not wanting to seem concerned about what he was doing inside the truck. There was nothing to find, at least nothing about her plans to blow the place up. She had the phone-bomb in her pocket, and as long as Hank didn’t have anything suspicious, like a firearm or dope, they’d be okay.
The guard stepped down from the truck. “You’re good to go,” he told Karen, but remained focused on her. “Do I know you?”
“No. I’m new to the area.”
Karen went to go around him, but he stepped in front of her. “Where’re you from?”
Was this guy hitting on her? She wanted to connect to him, but she was too busy thinking about Hank. He was out of her sight and she had no idea what he was doing or saying or planning.
“Buffalo,” she answered quickly.
The guard in front of her chewed on his lower lip, a worrying tell.
“I don’t mean to be rude,” Karen began, “but I have to get back to work. We have a full day of deliveries after this one.”
The guy frowned, then nodded. “Be my guest,” he said and moved aside.
Karen felt the man’s eyes on her ass as she climbed into the truck and was glad when she closed the door on him. To her relief, Hank was already inside. He smiled at her, but it was an uneasy expression. Turning the key in the ignition, the truck’s powerful engine roared to life.
Chapter 56
Morgan watched Karen climb back into the truck and drive onto the Murphy grounds. Three of the five guards returned to the shack, leaving two remaining in front of the now closed gate.
He was positioned behind a thick oak tree’s trunk, thirty feet away from the compound’s perimeter. If anything went down and he was needed, he was near enough to help. Tearing through the electric fence most likely wasn’t an option, but smashing through the guardhouse door and opening the gate would be. But he didn’t have to worry. Everything would be fine. He ground his teeth, still frustrated with the plan to send Karen in by herself, let alone at all.
Morgan shoved the thought aside and focused on the mission. Karen was inside and there was no turning back. He gripped the sniper rifle tighter, remained still, and, for the first time in a very long time, prayed.
Chapter 57
Karen stood a few feet away from Hank, who leaned against the tanker as fuel pumped into the compound. Filling the place’s fuel tanks was relatively easy: open the cap
on the connection valve, connect the hose, and then pump in the gas by pulling down a lever.
Karen kept her hat on low and her head down. She couldn’t believe she was standing inside the Murphy compound, in the heart of the beast. She found it hard not to glance around, to look up at the guard towers, the fence, and the so-called barn.
“Don’t do that,” Hank told her.
“Do what?”
“Eye the place. Drivers are told specifically not to look around and to mind their business. Fill the tanks and leave. Plain and simple.”
Karen nodded and shifted to a casual stance. Thoughts of Paul and Morgan and the reunion that waited back at the house sustained her.
Hank lifted the shut-off lever, and the pump stilled. “Tank’s full,” he said, walking over to where the truck’s hose connected to a valve in the ground. Karen followed; feeling the phone press against her leg, reminding her that the moment was now.
Hank disconnected the hose and walked back to the truck, leaving Karen standing by the connection valves. She glanced around, slid her hand into her pocket to remove the cell-phone bomb. The front gate opened and three guards raced out of the shack, their weapons trained upon Karen.
Something was wrong.
A noise, like the opening of a heavy door, sounded. Then Hank’s arms went up. Behind her, the tanker truck stood like a wall. Even if she ran, she wouldn’t get far without running into an electric fence or bullets. She put her hands in the air. The soldiers assumed a semi-circle.
“Don’t move,” one of the soldiers bellowed.
Karen closed her eyes, certain the end of her life was near.
Chapter 58
Morgan watched the scene unfold. What the hell had gone wrong? Did they recognize Karen?
Murphy soldiers surrounded her and Hank.
Morgan glanced up at the guard towers. From what he had seen during his previous visits, the guards in the towers carried M-4 rifles. Now they were holding sniper rifles, all aimed at Karen.
Things had happened too quickly. There was no way he could do anything without risking Karen’s and Hank’s lives. Remaining neutral was not an option either; he couldn’t risk Karen getting captured.
General Krueger exited the barn, flanked by agent McKlintock and another soldier.
If Morgan made a move, he’d be cut down by sniper and machine gun fire. There was a chance he’d survive, but with so much fire power raining down on him it wasn’t likely, and then Karen would be taken alive. The Murphy Unit would have two of their most prized possessions. He couldn’t let that happen.
Morgan hefted the sniper rifle. He couldn’t risk her falling into Krueger’s hands. She was the poison that would bring down the world, change it forever and give the Murphy Unit power beyond imagination. The weapon’s steel cold against his flesh, he tracked Karen through the scope, a woman who had become a close friend. He saw quite clearly that she was frightened, her face pale.
He closed his eyes, unable to pull the trigger, unable to end his friend’s life, and unable to end the world’s problem. Karen’s death would only be a temporary solution, because the Murphy people would eventually find the spaceship.
He opened his eyes. Shooting Karen would only save her from the experiments, captivity, and torture. Dead or alive, she was a problem. They could still use her body to extract the alien contagion. He turned the gun toward the tanker truck.
Except for the minute amount of gas remaining in the tanker, the container was still filled with flammable fumes. Fumes were what caused gas tanks to explode, not the gasoline. Gasoline simply allowed for the burning. A spark from a bullet penetrating the metal tanker would ignite the fumes and cause quite an explosion. Maybe even enough to incinerate Karen, making her corpse unusable to the Murphy people. Or it might cause enough of a distraction for Morgan to get in and remove her body.
With tears falling down his cheeks, the wetness an almost foreign and forgotten sensation, Morgan came away from the scope, needing to see Karen with his own eyes. He wanted a final look at the woman to whom he had come to love, to call a friend, and in such a short amount of time. He wouldn’t need to peer through the scope to hit the tanker, the target almost too big to miss.
Tears slid down Morgan’s face as he wrapped his finger around the trigger. He had to concentrate, to almost force the finger to bend as it fought against his wishes, as if it had a mind of its own. Karen reached into her back pocket and pulled something out. What the hell was that? It wasn’t the phone-bomb.
Focusing on the object, using his superior vision, Morgan saw that Karen held a syringe. What the hell was she doing with a needle and where did she get it from? Was it a suicide needle, filled with some kind of toxin?
Morgan thought for a moment, then realized the only place she would’ve gotten such a thing was from Paul. Damn him. Paul and Karen must’ve worked out a plan so that she could kill herself if she was captured. Maybe it even counteracted the contagion, although Morgan doubted that.
He paused, taking his finger off of the trigger as Karen plunged the needle into her flesh, just above the waistline of her jeans.
He heard General Krueger order his soldiers to stop her, but it was too late. The contents of the syringe were already inside Karen.
Three guards grabbed her, knocking the used needle to the ground. Why hadn’t she told him about the needle and what was in it? Now, he could only watch, hoping the poison or whatever was in the syringe did its job quickly and painlessly. He thought about firing, sticking to his plan, but would wait and see what transpired.
Karen’s body went limp in the soldiers’ arms. The General was demanding to know what was in the syringe. One of the soldiers picked it up and went running into the barn, probably to have the trace amount of substance analyzed. Karen’s body began to convulse, shaking violently almost to the point that she was a blur. The guards holding her were thrown off; Karen spilled to the ground.
Krueger told his soldiers not to shoot. He called for a medic and to have a lab prepared immediately.
Morgan heard the words. They were going to take her inside. He couldn’t let that happen, and Karen was most likely dead or dying now anyway. Ready to pull the trigger and blow the tanker, his head suddenly exploded with agonizing pain.
Lying on his back, he looked down and saw his chest being ripped open by the priest who had changed him.
“No, not this again,” he yelled. The pain of his chest and organs being pulled apart was too much. Why was this man here again? He’d wanted to find him, but not like this. What was he doing? He’d come back to change Morgan, but not to make him human. The man had come back to make Morgan a vampire again, the one thing Morgan feared most. As the priest began the ritual, Morgan passed out into darkness, the agony too much for his soul to bear.
Chapter 59
Karen didn’t feel the needle puncture her flesh. She didn’t think about the possible side effects the solution might have on her. She only saw the end; that all was lost and whatever was in the needle would or wouldn’t help them complete the mission. She knew Morgan was nearby, but there were too many soldiers on the scene for him to do anything except get himself killed or captured.
After injecting the syringe’s contents into her body, two soldiers stepped in, grabbing her. They were too late. Karen wanted to laugh at them, but her entire body went limp, as if her bones suddenly dissolved. If the soldiers hadn’t been holding her she would’ve collapsed to the ground. Her body was numb. Sadness rolled over her. Had Paul truly given her a substance meant to enhance her abilities, or a suicide solution? Thinking about Paul, she wasn’t angry with him. He’d only done what he thought was the best thing: to end Karen’s life without having to suffer at the hands of The Murphy Unit.
Ready to accept her death, Karen’s body was suddenly riddled with icy pain, as if thousands of needles were penetrating her flesh. She tried to scream but couldn’t. As the pain worsened, she thought she’d eventually pass out and no longer be a part of the
world, her worry gone.
Unsure of how long her state of agony lasted, it suddenly ceased.
She was on the ground; the guards that were holding her were on the ground too, and looking dazed.
Looking up, she saw a man, dressed differently than the other soldiers. He stood at the head of them as if he was the leader, barking orders, asking for a medic, and yelling for a lab to be ready. He demanded to know what was in the syringe and wanted to take Karen inside to a lab. She couldn’t let that happen.
She connected with the man, her eyes widening. It was General Krueger, the individual who ran The Murphy Unit. Her eyes became slits. She wanted to hurt the man, to find his most horrid fear and unleash it on the bastard.
Another nasty soul was standing next to Krueger. It was Agent McKlintock, the man responsible for Melanie’s death. Her anger flared. The agent locked eyes with her, as if caught in a trance. Immediately, without disconnecting from General Krueger, she connected with McKlintock.
If his face didn’t say it all, his mind did. Agent McKlintock was frightened of Karen. He’d never backed away from a fight, let alone a downed opponent, but something about her scared him. He began backing away, knowing that shooting her, something he desperately wanted to do, would lead to severe punishment from General Krueger. Karen grinned. McKlintock’s worry deepened.
Killing the Murphy people wasn’t enough. Karen hated them all, needing them to suffer before they died. And they needed to die from their worst fears.
Looking from soldier to soldier, Karen connected with multiple thoughts. She had somehow tapped into all them, even the ones she couldn’t see. She could understand and listen to each one as if her mind had split into numerous parts. She closed her eyes, no longer needing to see the enemy. Sifting through each head, she came upon Morgan.
He was farther away and should’ve been out of her range, but somehow she was able to read him. Paul’s serum had increased her abilities ten-fold, maybe more. Her face grimaced, her heart sinking at what she saw. Morgan had been about to send a bullet her way. He didn’t want her to be captured, to suffer, to give the enemy the ability to control the world. She would deal with that ugly truth later if they survived. For now, she needed to bring The Murphy Unit to its knees.
Tears of No Return Page 24
