Return of the Phoenix - 01

by Heath Stallcup

  Matt picked up the folder and headed for Laura’s office. She needed to know that there was a possibility that Jack was alive. If the monsters had him, there was always the possibility that he could be compromised.

  *****

  Senator Franklin walked through the lonely house, drink in hand, housecoat flapping behind him. His lambskin slippers didn’t echo on the hardwood floors as he settled in to his favorite chair of his private study. He reached for his humidor, pulled out a Romeo and Juliet, and clipped the end. His true vice was illegal cigars…which he allowed himself to enjoy only at home.

  As the flame licked the end and he pulled the smoke into his mouth to bring the end to full burn, he noticed movement in the shadows of his study and nearly dropped the lighter.

  “How the hell did you get in here?!” he demanded.

  “Hello to you, too, father,” the shadowy figure answered, never quite stepping out of the shadows. “I would say that I’ve missed you, but we both know that would be a lie.”

  “Damien,” Leslie Franklin stammered. “I didn’t realize it was you.” Franklin stood and approached his son. “Why are you hiding in the shadows, son? Come here and sit. Talk with me.” But the shadow in the corner never moved. Franklin could almost feel the animosity radiating from his only son.

  “I’d rather stand, thank you.”

  Franklin waivered a moment, then remembered his position. The power he held both in wealth and in title. He raised his chin slightly and went back to his chair. “Suit yourself, son.”

  “Son?” Damien responded. “Is that truly how you see me?”

  “You’ve always been my son,” Franklin stated flatly, without emotion. “What would you have me call you?”

  “Truly?” Now the shadow moved, but not into the light. Staying at the periphery of the table lamp, Damien circled the desk to stand closer to the study window. “While mother was dying of cancer, and you were so busy screwing anything with a short skirt and a pulse, did you have the time for me then?”

  “Do we have to go through this again?” Franklin sighed.

  “No,” Damien responded, “I suppose not. Nothing we say will change the past.”

  “No, it won’t.”

  “What of the future, father?” Damien asked, an edge to his voice. “Have you taken care of Mitchell and our little problem?”

  “I’m working on it, son. It hasn’t been as easy as I thought it would be,” Franklin replied, his voice wavering.

  “Perhaps I should do it for you? Sometimes a politician isn’t the best tool for the job. Sometimes—”

  “It’s taken care of,” Franklin interrupted. “If you’ll learn a little patience, you’ll get what you want. All of you will. The Monster Squad will be irreparably embarrassed and there will be no possible way for them to continue doing what they’ve been doing.”

  “What wheels have you set in motion, father?” Damien asked, his voice dripping with accusation.

  “You’ll see, my son.” Franklin was smiling now. “The Monster Squad will be outted to the public. The whole world will know exactly what they do, who they do it to, and it will appear to be an inside job.” Franklin was actually proud of himself.

  “You FOOL!” Damien snapped. “We can’t risk the world finding out that monsters exist!” He stepped out of the shadows and approached the desk. His eyes were so pale, it was impossible to tell where the whites began. His skin so thin and translucent that the blue veins appeared ghastly and like that of a corpse. His incisors had grown out to attack position and his nails extended. Franklin knew he was not long for this world.

  “Damien!” Franklin exclaimed. “Don’t you see? Monsters don’t exist to the rest of the world! The squads will be made out as tax-dollar wasting idiots, jetting around, partying on the military’s dime, all in the name of fighting off boogeymen that aren’t real!” The good senator was almost hyperventilating now as Damien stood over him, hand pulled back to a strike position.

  Damien considered his father’s words for a moment. Slowly he lowered his hands and retracted his nails. Slowly his incisors drew back up and his skin darkened until he looked almost normal. And when Franklin looked into his son’s face again, his eyes were sky blue…just as his mother’s had been. “This had better work as you think it will.”

  “It will,” Franklin stammered, breathing a sigh of relief.

  “If it doesn’t, and it is we who are outted…it will be open season on all humans,” Damien said as he turned for the study window. Turning back to his father he added, “And you will be at the top of the list, father.”

  *****

  “So why would a werewolf carry me to you, Rufus?” Jack asked.

  “This particular wolf works for my family, Mr. Thompson,” Rufus answered. “We had to know what the Lamia Humanus clans were up to. They employ many natural-born wolves to secure them during the day. Many years ago, we urged one of our wolves to infiltrate and feed us information as she could.”

  “Wait a second, bub. One of your wolves?” Jack asked.

  “Oui,” Rufus responded as if Jack should simply accept what he was saying. When it became obvious that Jack expected Rufus to explain further, Rufus sighed and settled further into his chair. “Many centuries ago, an accord was met with a natural wolf family and my own. We both were of the same mind that human life was precious and should be protected.” Jack nodded his head for Rufus to continue. “We came to an accord, an agreement. A contract, if you will, that our two families would bind ourselves together by blood oath and agree that no longer would either allow any in our clans to feed upon, prey upon, or hunt another human, so long as our lines continued.”

  “That’s some pretty heavy shit, Rufus,” Jack said.

  “True. Very heavy when you consider that both wolf and vampire usually hunt humans to sustain themselves.” Rufus took a deep breath and continued, “However, we both knew that we could satisfy ourselves with lesser animals. And so we chose to do so, and in doing so, we tied both our families together, forever.”

  “By blood?” Jack asked.

  “Oui,” Rufus answered. “By blood, by sacred oath, and by honor. Three things that neither family would ever break.”

  “Okay, so the wolf that brought me here was one of your wolves that had infiltrated the group?”

  “Oui,” Rufus said, “And by saving you and breaking away from the group, she cannot return or risk revealing herself as a traitor to their agenda.” Rufus stood and replaced the chair along the wall. “We risked much to save you, Mr. Thompson.”

  “Why? Why risk your only spy to save my sorry ass?” Jack asked as Rufus opened the door.

  “Because it is our sincerest hope that you will believe our tale and take the truth back to your people before it is too late. Before more Lamia Beastia are killed and the Lamia Humanus get everything that they desire…to rule the earth and subjugate humanity as their cattle.”

  *****

  “So if Jack’s alive, what does that mean for the team?” Laura asked, studying the forensic data.

  Matt toyed with the items on her shelf as she perused the file. He picked up a trophy from her college days. Tennis. Another trophy was for swimming. She earned it in high school. Another row of trophies were all softball. A real athlete, this one. He sat the trophy down and noticed there was no dust anywhere. Not unlike his own office, but he had stewards that took care of such things.

  “That’s what I wanted to pick your brain over,” Matt sighed. “I’m not sure if we should consider him compromised or if we dare hope that he’s holding his own.” He turned his full attention back to Laura. “What does your gut tell you?”

  Laura looked through the photos again and set the folder down gently on her desk, as if she were actually handling the remains of the men she once knew. She took a deep breath and looked Matt in the eye. “Sir, I don’t think we can jump to any conclusions just yet,” she began. “We both know that Thompson is a strong soldier. One of the best there is.” />
  “True. But we have no idea what they could be doing to him right this moment, even if he’s still alive.”

  “I understand, sir. And that is exactly why we need to keep this to ourselves.” Matt nodded. He never intended to release the information to the squad or they would expect to tear through the countryside looking for the soldier, regardless of the lack of intel.

  “Agreed. No sense in giving them false hope, and I definitely don’t want them trying to man a rescue attempt when we have no idea where he may be.”

  “However, sir, should the time come that we do discover where he is, what then? Do we consider him persona non grata or do we attempt a rescue?” she asked.

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, Laura.” Matt sighed. “We simply don’t have enough information to form a rational decision at this time. Hell, at this point, we don’t even know if he is still breathing. They could have taken him for a midnight snack!” Matt exclaimed, then immediately regretted it. Laura looked up at him with shock and confusion and Mitchell threw up his hands, “I’m sorry, Laura. That was totally uncalled for. I’m just at a loss right now.”

  “I understand, colonel,” she said.

  Matt reached across her desk and picked up the file. As he thumped it across his thigh a few times he noticed the small ice chest in the corner of her office. “Were you able to get more blood for Evan?”

  “Yes, sir,” she said without looking at him.

  “Have you two been talking much?” he asked.

  “Some.”

  Matt avoided her eyes. “I’ve been thinking about his…’situation’. I may have a solution.”

  Laura looked up, more than hopeful. No matter how much she tried to hide her feelings for Evan, more people than she was aware of knew that she cared for him. Perhaps even as more than just a friend. Yet, she was the Executive Officer, so nobody was stupid enough to ask, nor ever say anything while anywhere close to being within earshot of her. “I’m all ears, sir.”

  “I want to talk to him first. You’re more than welcome to join me if you wish,” Matt said.

  “Of course, colonel.”

  “And if everything goes well, we might have him out of that cage by sundown,” Matt said.

  10

  Senator Franklin paced the floor of his office, his private cell phone pressed to his ear. His face was a nice shade of crimson to match the power tie he wore. He tried very hard not to yell as he whispered into his phone, “You promised me that you could deliver!”

  “Well, that was before I actually got a chance to hack this system. You didn’t tell me what I was getting into. They have a stand-alone system. I can’t actually hack them without being there. If they were connected to the internet, I could work my way in, but I can’t. It’s like they don’t exist,” the voice on the phone said.

  “They have to have an internet connection somewhere. I can e-mail them for shits sake!” Franklin all but screamed.

  “You still don’t get it. You can have a network that is connected to the internet for day-to-day stuff like email and ordering parts and food and hammers and toilet paper and porn and Hulu and whatever. But if their operational stuff is on a totally different server and the two aren’t connected…”

  The little light bulb above Franklin’s head was just starting to glow a bit. “If they aren’t connected, then all of their operational data is unreachable…”

  “Bingo! You win the stuffed teddy bear!” the voice said.

  “Don’t be a smart ass, you little…”

  “Whoa, hold on there, senator. Let’s not forget who the ‘Distinguished Gentleman’ is here,” the voice said with a laugh.

  Franklin sighed and rubbed a hand down his face. He swore under his breath then put the phone back to his ear. “Fine! Tell me then…what exactly do you have to have in place for you to be able to access their data and do what I need done?”

  He could hear breathing on the other end of the line so he knew the hacker was still there, but Franklin was just about to lose his patience. “I need to get one of their computers that are plugged into their main hi-security server online. Or, I need to get the server itself online. Either way, if I can get access to either one long enough to download the data and hack just one of their email addresses, I can do what you need done.”

  “So what you’re saying is, I’m going to have to go there,” Franklin said. “And I hate that fucking state. The most boring, backwoods fucking state in the world next to Utah,” he muttered.

  “I don’t care how it’s done, senator, but that’s what I need. The rest is easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.”

  “Fucking teenagers,” Franklin muttered. “Fine. I’ll call you back when it’s done.”

  Franklin pressed the ‘End Call’ button so hard he almost wished that it had broken. He hated going to Oklahoma with a passion. They always made him fly a military transport to get there, and they were the most uncomfortable and odd smelling planes in the world. Plus, it never failed. As soon as he set foot on the tarmac to board the plane, some kiss-ass would call ahead and Mitchell would know that he was en route. No surprise there. So he couldn’t even pull the old ‘surprise inspection’ routine. He wanted to scream at the very idea of having to shuffle his schedule, put off the meetings and the dinners. He’d much rather be rubbing elbows with the movers and shakers and doing what he did best. Moving money and making deals.

  But, this had to be done. It was the best way he could think of to bring down the teams. All of them. In one fail swoop. Let them be undone by their own doings. Surely nobody in their right mind would believe that American troops were being used on American soil, spending taxpayer money chasing down creatures that go bump in the night?! Surely they would be laughed out of existence. Nobody could justify their existence once word was made public? It would be a PR nightmare for a short time, but like anything else that was a PR nightmare, it would make the rounds, promises of investigations would be made, heads would roll, people lower than him would be hung out to dry and the program would be shut down. No more Monster Squads. No more threat to his son…his only son. He had to protect him just as he had always done. Just as he always would.

  *****

  Sanchez had found that co-ed living with over a dozen men wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. There was no such thing as privacy. Luckily, for the most part, even though she didn’t have the same plumbing, the boys pretty much treated her like one of the guys. Oh, there were the jokes. Like when Lamb found her bra and commented that he didn’t know they made ‘double-barreled slingshots’. Ha ha ha. Very funny. Not. Or when Mueller stumbled across her undies and asked if SWAT issued thongs. Again, not funny. But for the most part, it was all in fun. She would wait her turn, patiently, until the guys were done in the shower and then quietly go in and do what she needed to do. And though they could just as easily have walked back in and harassed her, none ever did.

  One time, though she wasn’t absolutely certain, she thought she saw the back of Apollo’s head standing just outside the showers, standing guard while she was in there, but when she was done and stepped out, he was nowhere to be found. Another time, when she went to the bathroom, she heard voices outside. She could have sworn she heard Ing Jacobs, the Asian guy with the Jewish last name (seriously, what gives there?) say that he really needed to take a piss, but she could have sworn that Hammer told him ‘No, Sanchez was in there.’ Were the guys making accommodations for her because she was a female? She smiled to herself. At first, she thought it was sweet. But then, after a bit, she got a bit angry. Who were they to treat her any differently? She was every bit as tough as they were. She earned the right to be there, didn’t she?

  The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Her Latin blood started getting hotter and she hatched a plan. One that would either make her part of the team as an equal or drive a wedge between them that couldn’t be pulled out.

  The following day, both teams endured physical training, hand-to-hand combat
training, live fire exercises and CQB drills until they were almost ready to drop. After they ate, they went on a twelve-kilometer run and then were allowed to shower. The men hurriedly stripped down and hit the showers. This time, Sanchez stripped down and followed them in. As she walked into the shower room, she could hear the guys all laughing and joking around, but as she turned the corner and they heard her shower shoes against the tile, they all clammed up and did an about face to face the walls. Suddenly they were silent automatons, going through the motions of taking a shower. Eyes front, slowly going through the motions, mouths closed.

  Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea, she thought as she approached an open shower head and turned on the water. She sighed as the hot water stung her skin and soaked her hair. She closed her eyes and tried to forget that thirteen naked men were in the room with her. Thirteen very well built, extremely muscular, very large, very strong extremely naked men were in the same shower with her. She sighed and reached for her soap box. When she snapped it open, she realized that in her haste to make her grand entrance, she forgot her soap.

  “Fuck!” she yelled, her voice echoing in the dead silence of the shower.