“What the hell,” Lester muttered, taking his eyes from the screen to the woman holding it out.
“Would you believe,” she said slowly, “that though his body has failed, his mind, his presence, is still very much active?”
“I’ve seen enough,” Joseph told her, looking up to her and stepping back.
“He is no victim. This was his will, his work.”
Joseph held up his hand to stop her. “I’ve entertained your ideas and found them to be outside of my tastes. Miss M—”
“No,” she snapped, her face suddenly distorted with frustration, appearing less than pleasant for the first time since the meeting began. “You haven’t heard all that I have to say. You haven’t—”
“What will it take?” Joseph asked. He took a step forward again and towered over her. “If you continue down this road, where will it lead? Where will it end? Not one of us will ever enter one of your oversized test tubes alive.”
“Yet again you misunderstand me, sir. I wish—”
“I understand perfectly well,” he said over her. “I understand both human ambition and the terrible frailty of the all-encompassing human condition. I understand the difficulty of letting go of those we care for. I understand the hardships life inflicts on the living, and certainly I understand the instinctual predetermination to survive as long as possible, as well as possible. The fact is, Miss, the human race is bound by limits, as I am bound by limits, though they are not the same limits as yours. Meddling beyond your scope of understanding is dangerous, and the results, as near as I can tell, are ghastly.”
She threw back her head and laughed. “Meddling. Is that what you call it—trying to enhance life, trying to ease suffering?”
“If indeed you are telling me the truth, and your father’s essence is still present in that tank, do you honestly feel you’re doing the man any justice?”
“What is justice?” she barked. “To work all one’s life for a great cause, and have it all ripped from you? Is death justice?”
“You are far from being the first to question this world,” Joseph said. “There are sentiments within your arguments that I share with you, but I do not share your view of a solution. I never will. The bottom line is, Miss, I cannot give you what you seek, even if I did agree. As far as I’m concerned, this meeting is over.”
As he started to turn away from her, Joseph noticed the bodyguards filing cautiously into the room. Their weapons were not drawn, but a glance at their faces showed how near they were to doing so. The other Snows noticed as well as they turned to face them.
“Stop,” Rowan Merrill shouted to her men. “I have not called for you. Leave us!”
One of them began to speak.
“Out!” she roared, then stood rigidly until they had all complied.
“Now,” Joseph said calmly once the men had gone, “my family and I are bowing out. I will arrange to have your chopper refueled and—”
“No,” she interrupted. After her outburst, her tone was now much softer. “Mr. Snow,” she pleaded. “A simple act on your part could give me ample information for greater study. The strength hidden within your mind could unlock wonders. I am not a monster trying to attain terrible ends. My father studied and labored his entire lifetime to give life to the ill and dying. Still he serves that purpose, and I am following in his footsteps to the best of my abilities. Help me. Share with me the secret of length of days and vitality. Help us all.”
“I’m sorry,” Joseph said. He was viewing her now as more of a desperate and pitiful creature rather than a dangerous foe. “I cannot help you. That is the truth.”
“You can,” she insisted. “Your minds surpass any human brain. You are an intelligent man, Mr. Snow. You know that even the average mind is capable of greatness … if unlocked. I am not asking to harvest … only to map and study that we might duplicate some of—”
“You have attempted to harvest us in the past,” he interrupted. “Am I not correct?”
“I resent that,” she hissed. “Before my time, I have no doubt that—”
“Stop,” he ordered firmly, causing Miss Merrill’s eyes to widen in surprise. “Let’s say that you are able to reach some of your goals in the coming years, though I don’t believe you could; what would follow? Longer lives to those who can afford to buy it? Then you would only breed tyrants and monsters. You say that your family is against the Aryans. You might leave off the race issue in your work, but ultimately your efforts would only realize the Aryan goal of supremacy over the masses. As the world now stands, are the poor and weak not already low enough for your taste?”
Miss Merrill made several attempts to speak but found that the words would not come.
“All right,” Joseph said. “I’ve given you my final answer, and now I will give you a warning, as I did with your grandmother. I’m walking out of here now. I expect none of your men will try to stop me. After this evening, I expect never to hear from you, or whatever ragtag exploratory team you can muster with your broken finances, again. If I do—if even a smell that reminds me of you drifts into this town carried on the breeze—I will react very differently than I have today. I am tired, and I will play no more games with you or anyone of the like. Do I make myself clear?”
***
“It looks to be turning bad in there,” Lars said. The sun was behind the horizon now and all around them darkness was slowly falling. “How does the road look?”
“Clear,” David said.
“This party might spill outside any minute.”
“The pass is lined with wolves now. I can smell them.”
“Good. Let’s just hope they aren’t needed.”
~17~
Rowan Merrill stood shaking with rage and despair. A tear started down her cheek as she watched the powerful elder exit the lounge. She knew that there were others like him in the world, but they were so very few and far between. The others were likely not as well-mannered as he, not as concerned about the lives of humans. It was highly unlikely to find any that were willing to entertain her proposals, and certainly they were not as easily accessible. Joseph Snow, as he turned and calmly walked away, seemed to take with him every shred of hope she held.
“Ma’am?” her bodyguard said. “Are you okay?”
“Load the cars,” she muttered, watching through the windows as the Snows moved away from the building across the parking lot.
***
“What about the others?” Lester asked his father.
“She’s not done with us,” his father said. “Miss Merrill is quite accustomed to getting her way, I believe. By the time she reaches the airstrip she’ll have recovered her strength; then she’ll be ready to lay out all her cards.”
“I hate to gamble it.”
“I don’t trust her for a second,” Evelyn said.
“Me either,” Ellie agreed.
“Well we don’t want a confrontation here, do we?” Joseph said.
“No,” Lester said.
“Move along,” his father said. “She won’t be far behind us.”
***
Lars watched the old man as he exited the building. Very clearly he shook his head from side to side in a slow, exaggerated manner.
“All clear.” David said.
“Looks that way. Once the family leaves the parking lot, we’re out of here.”
“It’s more fun climbing in the light than in the dark, eh?”
“We’ll see who laughs last once I’m down the hill and on that four wheeler.”
“No way,” David laughed. “Even if I give you a head start, I’ll still beat you to the airstrip. Easily.”
Lars laughed along with him. The first stage of ridding Ludlow of Miss Merrill seemed to go off smoothly. He had been dreading having an incident at the hotel, though having the kid watching the road and keeping him company had been a source of relief. Seeing the family walk calmly from the building took a great weight from his shoulders.
“Care to make it i
nteresting?” he said, turning to David.
“You mean a bet?”
“Just a small one. Twenty bucks. That’s safe enough.”
“It’s robbery no matter what the amount, Mr. Olsen. But hey, what the hell.”
“There they go,” Lars said, seeing the two vehicles moving out to the road. “Let’s get off this damned rock.”
***
“I’ve never felt such negative energy,” Evie said. She and all the youngest of the wolves were gathered around the oak farmhouse, while the older, more experienced of the pack were on the front lines. Of the younger generation, Evie was the youngest of all, and as the tension of that night climbed, her stress level climbed in accordance. Every twig that snapped in the nearby woods she likened to a shot from a gun. Every stomp of a cow’s hoof from the barn she construed as the earliest signs of helicopter rotors in the distance.
Inside the house, those of the family that were either too young or did not receive the gift of the wolf waited, some nervously, some obliviously.
“If there’s one thing I hate,” Matthew said, “it’s waiting.”
“We’re needed here,” Evie said, trying to calm herself as she paced back and forth. “If the worst happens, we’re needed here.”
“Run laps around the pasture,” Sara suggested. “Anything to burn the nervous energy.”
“It’s too dark for the kids to see us now,” Matthew said to the silver-white. “Run a lap or two; I’ll try to keep up.”
***
Miss Merrill followed her head guard to the car while the others gathered up all the luggage. She felt heavy with defeat, drained of all energy. She sunk into the car and had to fight the urge to curl up on her side. Her stomach felt sick.
After a moment she lifted her phone from her designer purse. She moved into her inbox and read the most recent text:
Fueled. Ready. Awaiting your order.
She stared at the text for a minute or more, considering the consequences that might arise.
Proceed, she finally replied. The old black MUST LIVE. Kill the rest. Burn the village. If you fail, do no bother returning.
“You liken me to a monster, Mr. Snow,” she complained under her breath. “Come morning, when the news of the events of this night reaches you, you will regret denying me. Then we will see how confidently you dole out warnings. Then we will see the limits of your stoic composure.”
Without looking again at the phone’s screen, she dropped the phone into her purse.
***
The two cars were moving through the mountain pass south of the hotel, and above the noise of the car, Rowan Merrill heard her phone beep. She retrieved the phone and unlocked the screen, expecting to see a reply from the sweeper team. Instead she saw a failure to send message glaring back at her, blinking, almost laughing in her face.
The urge to throw the phone gripped her tightly. Her rage could not be summed up in anything shorter than a list. She took a deep breath and tried to steady herself. If anyone understood the depth of the mind’s power, and so the necessity to maintain strict control over its thoughts and pathways, it was she. They had been between close mountain peaks since the moment the cars moved away from the resort. The phone had worked inside the building, so she rationalized it would work again once she was away from the mountains. And if not, it would surely work once they began flying south.
***
Lars secured both of his rifles to the racks on the back of the ATV. He climbed on, started it up, and looked over at David.
“I’ll give you ten seconds,” he said over the rumble of the ATV. “The first one to touch the pavement wins.”
Lars nodded and took off at full throttle. The young man shifted into the wolf just as he faced forward. Don’t crash this thing and wreck yourself, he told himself. He’ll probably beat me anyway, no matter how fast I go. It’s for fun. That’s all. This is how normal people have fun, although we’re sure not normal. Not by a long shot.
With the last light of day fading overhead, the woods around him seemed ink black beyond the four wheeler’s headlight.
David followed the red tail lamp of the ATV like a beacon. Rushing at nearly his full speed, he quickly closed the gap on the mercenary. Though the four wheeler was relatively new, with a 600cc engine and advanced suspension, the machine was no match for his natural agility. If it had been a drag race on a smooth, flat surface, it might have been more of a challenge. But on uneven ground, ups and downs and sometimes sudden turns, his four strong legs were so vastly superior to the machine that it was hardly a fair competition.
When he saw the faint light of the air strip in the distance, David raised his intensity level. At the last bend in the trail before the outlet, he dove inside of the noisy ATV and shot by like a dark shadow.
Lars let off the throttle as the knobby tires began to vibrate on the pavement. His eyes were watering from the cool air, but still he could see the face of the dark wolf staring triumphantly at him as he slowed to a stop. “If I was wearing a hat, I’d tip it,” he said after cutting the motor.
In the next instant his attention was drawn away from sport to work. Joseph Snow was walking toward him.
“I don’t expect to wait long for her,” the old man said. “There’s no sense in moving to the edge of the strip; just kneel behind the ATV when the cars arrive.”
“Yes,” Lars said. He stood and began unstrapping his rifles.
“Watch for my signal.”
“Yes, sir,” Lars said, feeling already a different person as his work personality took him over again.
***
Miss Merrill saw her chopper in the glow of the spotlight shining down from the hanger. Two vehicles were parked nearby, and between her and her chopper stood Joseph Snow and several of his sons. She could not see the dozens of wolves pacing along the tree line, but as she stood from the car, the sense of being surrounded was overwhelming.
“You’re sending me off personally?” she said as her men cautiously exited the vehicles.
Joseph moved toward the nearest car and politely informed the driver that he and his family would be seeing Miss Merrill off; there was no reason to wait.
On that cue, Miss Merrill’s guards began taking the luggage from the cars. Rather than carrying the items directly to the chopper, they grouped them on the pavement halfway between themselves and the line of men opposing them.
At that point Miss Merrill took the chance to survey her surroundings. If she had not been expecting to see the glow of eyes from the dark edges of the strip, she might not have noticed them. But right then she did notice them—faint, blinking, partially obscured by the underbrush bordering the open space. Her skin began to crawl. Her heart began to beat from fear rather than frustrated rage.
Cautiously she lifted her phone from her purse. The meter showed one little bar of service. Then the sound of Joseph Snow’s voice drew her attention to him.
“Miss,” he said as the cars began to back away from the scene, their headlights striking the hanger as they swung around and exited the area. “We have one final issue to discuss before you leave us.”
“I don’t suppose you’ve had a change of heart,” she sneered.
“No, I have not,” he said, stepping slowly closer to her.
“If one of you moves for a weapon,” she addressed her men in a louder voice, “it will likely be your last act on earth.”
The men all stood still after moving the luggage. They were in a rough line between their employer and her opponents, seeing clearly that they had allowed themselves into a highly unfavorable position, though, as most expendable hired hands, they were in the dark as to the true threat before them. The pilot in particular was becoming increasingly nervous. He could see that the Sikorsky had been anchored since their arrival, and on those grounds alone, they were at the mercy of the landowners.
“To the east,” Joseph said, “my family has reported an increase in helicopter traffic as of late. Particularly at night, they
inform me that these helicopters are much quieter than the norm.”
“Fascinating,” Rowan Merrill said.
“Indeed,” said the elder Snow.
“And what does that have to do with me, here?”
“I’m asking you kindly to suspend any further patrols, to abort any missions you might have planned. End this conflict now, for all of our sakes. Allow us to refuel your chopper and get you on your way. I have no doubt, seeing what you’re capable of developing, that you have fruitful years of work ahead of you, if you—”
“You flatly reject my peaceful advances,” she snapped, “and then insult me by speaking down to me as I if am a child in need of your encouragements. And this … this little presentation of strength masked as good will … Your intimidation tactics are a joke to me. I—”
“That’s not what I’m doing.”
“Stand aside, Mr. Snow. I have taken the liberty of calling the state police to ensure my safety,” she bluffed. “I doubt you will remain so confident and uncooperative with their eyes looking on.”
Joseph Snow eyed the phone in her hands. Nothing worked well in the pass they had just come through. If she had indeed called for support, she would have had to have done it prior to leaving the resort grounds.
“I am not speaking down to you,” he said. “If I am confident, it is because I am certain. Call it off, Miss Merrill. Call it off now. I am not ordering you, I am pleading.”
***
Look at her, Lars thought, kneeling behind the ATV with his M4 resting on the seat. Her full profile was unobstructed, her hand clutching the phone dead in his sights. She has no clue that I’m here, though by the way she glanced around, I think she knows the wolves are out there. She is accustomed to meetings, not action. She is shaking, either with rage or fear, or both. She must realize how reckless she is behaving. I wouldn’t expect her to care about these men who serve her, but I would think she’d have more regard for her own life. She can’t be as foolish as she seems now … unless she has truly lost her head in her anger.
Seasons of Wither (The Great North Woods Pack Book 3) Page 16
