Loose Ends (The Hammer Commission Book 3)

by John Van Stry

  "Yes, Carlos. I'll start the large-scale culture vats tomorrow, that process doesn't need much power. I'd been putting it off until I'd figured out the other production problems, but if I can't use my main lab, this will at least let me make some progress."

  "Well the sooner you can start producing the strength drug, the better. Are you sure you can't come up with a date for me?"

  Huffman shook his head, "It could be months, how long did the original researcher take to figure it out?"

  Carlos considered that a moment, if he was going to kidnap somebody, maybe he should go after that one, instead of just anybody.

  "If I had him here, the original researcher, the man who discovered how to make it all work, how long do you think it would take?"

  "Even if I had to send for additional equipment, I'm sure I could have test samples coming out within a month. With the vats starting up tomorrow, it would simply be a matter of setting up the production line after that."

  Carlos nodded, "I will need a list of questions from you, which you need answered. I don't know if I can bring him here, but I'm sure I can get access to him long enough to get you the answers you need, Doctor."

  "Are you sure he'll cooperate?" Huffman asked.

  Carlos laughed, "Don't worry yourself; you know I have very persuasive methods at my disposal. He will talk, sooner or later, they always talk. It will just be a matter of you finding out if he is telling us the truth or not."

  Carlos noticed Huffman looked a little concerned there for a moment. Huffman might not have issues with the way his test subjects or even his assistants were treated, but he didn't extend those feelings to his colleagues. Carlos suspected that Huffman felt if he did not treat them that way, then should situations ever change, they would not do those things to him.

  It was nice to see that Huffman drew the line somewhere.

  They had almost gotten to the door to go inside when Carlos noticed a large number of men come running around the building. He recognized them immediately; they were all indigenous natives, from one of the tribes that lived in the area. They were swarming the place, quickly overpowering the few guards on the grounds; he quickly noticed that the guards in the towers were nowhere to be seen.

  How they had gotten into the compound, he had no idea. Why they were here, he also had no idea. They had never been a problem before, but they were attacking now!

  He dodged several of the tribesmen and pulling his pistol he shot two more that got in his way as he yanked open the door to the building. But he had come to the attention of the others now, and a white man dressed the same as the local tribesmen turned and came at him. Carlos took a shot at him, and then ducked inside the doorway of the warehouse, locking the door and quickly running up the two flights of stairs to the living quarters on the top floor. Huffman was in front of him, moving a lot faster than Carlos would have thought possible.

  Panting, he came out into the main room with Doctor Huffman, as the Doctor's assistants and the two women who cooked and cleaned for them gathered in the living room looking rather worried. Jaffe was nowhere to be seen, but he then heard the sound of his helicopter starting up on the roof. Jaffe was a good pilot and a smart man. Smart enough to know what would happen to him if he returned to Guatemala City without Carlos.

  "What's happening, Carlos?" Huffman asked, panting heavily and looking very scared.

  "I am leaving, now," Carlos said, trying to catch his breath as he went over to the ladder that ran up to the roof. He could hear his helicopter up there, running, waiting for him.

  "Take me with you! You must take me!" Huffman said, panicking and grabbing at Carlos.

  The gun in Carlos's hand went off with a very loud bang as Carlos shot him. He pushed Huffman away as he fell to the ground, eyes wide open in shock.

  "Stay back, all of you!" Carlos said and then sticking the gun in his pocket he climbed up the ladder and out onto the roof as the sound of pounding footsteps of someone running up the stairs followed him.

  Running over to the helicopter, he got inside and started to buckle the seatbelts, Jaffe taking off the moment Carlos's butt was in the seat.

  Panting, Carlos looked out of the window as the helicopter started to rise off the roof, the emergency floodlights were all on now and the grounds below were in complete disarray, all of the guards were down, with the local tribesmen holding them at gunpoint. Others were being marched out of the lab buildings, also at gunpoint. A couple raised their guns to shoot at them, but then stopped.

  "Madre de Dios," Jaffe said looking out the window.

  "Yes," Carlos said still panting, "that was a close one," and he shook his head. That had been close, very close. He wondered what had gotten the locals upset enough to attack?

  Herman, it had to be Herman. He must have shot a couple of them or something, and now they were taking it out on him!

  Shaking his head slowly, Carlos wondered if maybe it was time for a change, all of this blood, this carnage. He wondered then just how he'd gotten to this place in life? He had a wife, he had children, and yet he had more blood on his hands than a man would think possible.

  Just then, the helicopter shook.

  "What was that?" he exclaimed, looking at Jaffe.

  "We have an unwanted passenger!" Jaffe said and flying away from the building, he started to shake the helicopter from side to side.

  29: Laguna Del Tigre, Guatemala

  Michael looked up at Mark as he came into the camp.

  "Who are these people?"

  Mark smiled, "The local jaguar clan has decided to help us with our task."

  Michael looked at the men gathered around their small camp; they all looked very imposing, even if they were all unarmed.

  "We'll go in at dusk," Mark told Michael, "we'll destroy the labs and leave."

  "All of the labs?"

  Mark shook his head no, "Just the ones we're concerned with."

  "You sure about that?" Michael asked.

  Mark nodded, "We're not here about the drugs, and honestly, the clan leader is worried that if he takes out the drug production, he'll have a war on his hands with the local drug cartel, and even maybe some of the government.

  "Not all of the tribes around here are lycans; they would be exterminated if a war was to take place."

  Michael nodded slowly, "I guess I see your point, and we don't have to live with the results of what happens tonight."

  "Exactly, we take out those labs, we tell them it was a perversion of nature, or something like that, and hopefully that will be the end of it."

  Michael, Jess, Gail, and Clem all nodded.

  "So, what happened to Herman?" Mark asked, looking around the four of them.

  "I did that," Michael sighed. "He came out to hunt us with another man, and well, it didn't go well for them. I just wanted to question him about which building had the stuff and what the codes were to get in."

  "And?"

  "And I thought about what an all around scum he was, and as he'd already shot me several times and realized something wasn't quite right," Michael shrugged, "I killed him."

  Mark shook his head and sighed, "I can't say he didn't deserve it, because he did. But you're supposed to be a fed, Michael."

  "Not in Guatemala I'm not, I'm not even here legally. You read the file they gave us on him, besides, if I'd let him go, he would have just come back with a more powerful weapon."

  "What happened to the other man?"

  Clem spoke up, "I dragged him back near the gate, in the underbrush. He's just unconscious; he's not in any danger of dying. I figure when he comes around, he can just drag himself back."

  "Well, go keep an eye on him, so nothing decides to make him its lunch."

  "I will send one of my men," Estuardo said, "I'll have them blindfold him and tie his hands. We can bring him into camp after we have taken it over. Just how bad a man was this Herman?"

  "Very," Michael said.

  "We can tell them he shot one of our people then," Es
tuardo told them, "it's not like it hasn't happened before. It will make them less likely to strike back if they think we were provoked."

  "So, why'd they agree to help us?" Clem asked.

  "Because it's the alpha's job to remove threats to his clan," Estuardo said and nodded towards Mark. "Javier, our alpha knew that your father would not stop until he'd removed the threat to his brother. Destroying this lab will do that."

  "As simple as that?" Michael asked.

  Mark nodded, "Just wait until you have kids, Michael. It changes you."

  "But your brother isn't one of us."

  "But he is still family, and that is all that matters," Estuardo answered.

  "This is another one of those lycan things that I'll grow into then?"

  Estuardo smiled, "I would think the very fact that you are here, shows you've already done that."

  Michael frowned and thought about that for a moment, Estuardo had a point.

  Mark grinned at Michael, "Now, let's go over our plan, before it gets dark."

  Mark waited with the others until the sentries in the towers had been taken out. Estuardo's people had a proclivity for the sling that was quite impressive. They used these heavy balls of rubber made from a local tree sap wrapped around a smooth rock that would knock a man senseless, without killing him, and it was impressive to see them take out the three men in the watchtowers without a sound.

  Then they'd used something as common as a pair of wire cutters to open up a large hole in the perimeter fence, on the far side of the compound from the front gate, behind the buildings that housed the cocaine labs.

  Mark had gone in first with Javier and Estuardo, climbing up on top of one of the lab buildings, along with a dozen other men. The rest slowly assembled into a group that would come around the south side of the labs and swarm the barracks as well as the rest of the guards. A second group would secure the labs and those working inside them.

  Mark and the others moved quietly across the roofs to the front end of the buildings, then laid down to look over the lab entrances. Surprisingly, there were no guards there at all. Mark was just about to signal them to start when two men came out of the building on the end where the demon flesh was housed and started walking towards the living quarters above the warehouse. Mark had already noted the helicopter parked up there that they'd all heard come in earlier. Someone important had come to inspect the damage he figured, which made their striking tonight all the more important.

  Mark could hear them talking, one was obviously the man doing the research; the other was just as obviously his boss. Apparently they'd run into problems, just like the ones back at the lab in California.

  When they started talking about kidnapping his brother, Mark almost growled!

  Then they both came close enough for him to see that one of them was Carlos! Carlos definitely had the means, as well as the ability, to kidnap his brother. When he hinted at torturing him, he turned and gave the signal to attack.

  Mark waited just long enough for the men on the ground to charge around the buildings and start attacking the installation, then he jumped down from the roof and went after Carlos, who had just realized that something was very wrong and pulled out a gun as the other man ran inside the building.

  Carlos shot two of the tribesmen who were running by him, then he noticed Mark and shot him, hitting him in the chest as Carlos ducked inside the doorway. Mark could hear the helicopter on the roof, winding up for take-off.

  "That bastard!" He growled. He wasn't letting Carlos get away, not with all he had to answer for!

  When he got to the warehouse he found the door locked, it took him a moment to force it with his strength, thankfully it wasn't as heavily built as the ones on the labs. As he ran inside the building he heard another gun shot from somewhere up above as he started up the stairs.

  He heard Carlos yell at the others, and when he got to the top of the second flight he saw that the man who had been talking to Carlos outside was now lying on the ground in a quickly growing pool of blood. There were several women and young men also in the room, but they were huddled on the far side of the room, eyes wide in fear.

  Mark spied the ladder to the roof then, just in time to see Carlos's foot disappear. He ran straight for the ladder, leaving the others behind. He wasn't going to let Carlos get away; he wasn't going to let him hurt his younger brother.

  Mark climbed up the ladder to the roof, just as the helicopter lifted off, the pilot swinging the tail around, either trying to knock Mark over or kill him with the tail rotor. Quickly ducking under it, Mark ran forward and leaping up into the air, he grabbed one of the landing skids and pulled himself up onto it, still focused on one and only one thing: getting Carlos.

  He could feel the helicopter shifting violently from side to side, the pilot must have realized Mark was holding on to one of the skids and was trying frantically to dislodge him, as they flew quickly away from the compound, before any of the attackers below opened fire on them.

  Mark got his legs wrapped around the skid, and pulling himself around and on top of it, he grabbed the step that protruded from just below the door with his left hand, and reached for the latch to open the door, as the craft shook violently from side to side once more.

  On his fourth try he grabbed the handle and opened the door, coming face to face with a pistol. Ducking his head as the gun went off he felt the burn of the bullet as it entered his right shoulder, from the top, his hand momentarily going numb as he lost his grip on the door.

  The gun went off a second time, and he felt a pain in his thigh, as Carlos leaned out and shot him in the leg and the pilot shook the helicopter a second time trying to dislodge him.

  Carlos flailed for a moment, as the helicopter shook and Mark reached for the gun, his fingers still numb as he fumbled for it, Carlos leaning back in and forcing Mark to grab Carlos's leg instead as he tried to pull himself further into the cockpit.

  Too close to get a good shot, Carlos struck him on the top of the head with the pistol's butt, on the third try Mark lunged forward and grabbed Carlos's wrist with his mouth and bit down hard. He might be in human form, but Mark could taste blood and he heard Carlos swear as he tried to pull his wrist away and the gun went off.

  Mark got his hand on the seatbelt then, and tried to pull himself further into the cockpit as the helicopter started to spin.

  That was when he noticed that the pilot was dead, and had collapsed against the far side of the cockpit.

  He heard Carlos swear again, and he turned to shoot Mark again, this time in the left shoulder. As the gun went off, Mark swore and grabbing the seatbelt it came undone and he started to fall back out of the helicopter as his left hand momentarily lost its grip.

  But without the seatbelt, Carlos was also thrown towards the open door and Mark wasted no time and grabbing the belt of Carlos's pants he pulled Carlos towards him, and they both fell out of the helicopter, which was now spinning wildly out of control.

  Falling away from the helicopter Mark shifted, and grabbing Carlos with his claws he flipped him face down as Mark put Carlos between him and the ground. Carlos might survive the fall, but he wouldn't survive a two hundred pound body hitting him after he did, and if Mark was going to die, he'd make damn well sure that Carlos did as well.

  After a moment, Mark realized that they hadn't hit the ground yet, and looking over Carlos's shoulder he could see that the forest's canopy was coming up fast. Obviously they were a lot higher than he had realized.

  This was definitely going to hurt.

  They hit the trees then, the branches helping to slow them down as they crashed through them, and ripping away Mark's already torn clothing. Carlos however was faring even worse, breaking bones and getting cut repeatedly as they crashed to the earth below.

  Then they hit it was with a loud thud, and Mark passed out.

  When Mark regained consciousness, he was in pain, a lot of pain. Of all the stupid things he had done, this one might very well have be
en the dumbest. Turning his head to look at Carlos was an exercise in pain, but he could see that Carlos was most definitely dead. Somewhere on the trip through the branches, he'd lost an eye and his skull was now cracked.

  Mark tried to roll over, but from the pain he felt as he did so, he suspected that all four of his legs were broken, several of his ribs, and he could feel a lot of cuts and gashes as well. But he wasn't healing, at all. That confused him, sure he'd taken a lot of damage, but why wasn't he healing?

  He wondered then, suddenly, if he was dying? Maybe he'd pushed his body past the point of no return.

  "No, you're not dying," came a voice he'd only heard once before, but he remembered it still.

  "Lucisignious," Mark grunted, or tried to. He was barely able to speak, "What are you doing to me?"

  "Saving your life, you fell over a thousand feet. You should be dead."

  Mark sighed, and laid there a minute, he'd been in pain before, fairly often actually, but right now, he couldn't remember ever being in this much pain. Mark coughed then; he could taste the blood in his feline mouth. He was too seriously wounded to even try and shift back to his human form, and he hurt over every square inch of his body.

  After a couple of very long and painful moments, Mark felt it then, his body was starting to heal, but slowly, very slowly.

  "Well, that is all I can do," Lucisignious said, "and I've probably done more than I should have."

  "Thank you," Mark sighed.

  "Oh, don't go thanking me yet, Mark," Lucisignious warned. "What you did today, that was a step too far, even for you."

  Mark blinked, it was about the only thing he could do right now that didn't hurt. What did he do wrong?

  "You didn't need to go after him; you especially didn't need to kill him."

  "What?" Mark gasped, "But he would have gone after my brother!"

  "Not without any samples he wouldn't. There was no longer any point to it."